Today I rode the Shinkansen, and this is as good a time as any to address my convoluted itinerary.
Two weeks sounds like a good length of time aborad, but after travel it’s effectively only 10 or 11 full days. The original plan was to spend a little over half those days in Tokyo, move to Kyoto for the rest, and then hoof it back to Tokyo in time for the return flight. But then something came up that meant I had to spend two of my Tokyo days in Nagano. To make up for it, I’m shifting a day from Kyoto to Tokyo round 2 next week.
I recorded a bunch of videos out the window of the Shinkansen while gawking at how fast it went. I wonder if it looked silly to the other passengers, and I wonder if I’ll be like them after the 3rd leg. The results aren’t very pretty to look at, anyway. Just gray skies and fog. There’s been zero reprieve from the rain so far in Nagano. The forecast seems to think there’s hope for tomorrow at least.
So… why am I in Nagano?
You’re not allowed to take photos or videos at concerts in Japan, which is really nice for not having to look around other people’s phones to see the show, but smarts a little when your brain is so social media poisoned that you have to Post to prove you were there. Guess I have to use words instead.
J-rock band Polkadot Stingray are on their 10th anniversary/5th album tour. I have zero memory of how I became aware of this band, just that their first two albums were in my regular rotation back when they came out. While they’re definitely not the reason I came to Japan, I had my eye on this date as I planned everything. There was no guarantee I’d be able to attend either. Concert tickets are difficult to buy abroad, often requiring a Japanese phone number. About a week before departure I managed to snag a resale ticket, and that’s why I left the largest city in the world after only 4 days.
I can’t show you any footage of this show, so here’s the most recent video of a live performance from their YouTube channel. It was a similar vibe, just in a much smaller venue.
Concerts in Japan really are much more participatory than in the West. Even at this scale every song had segments for the crowd to pump their arms and chant, and the audience clapped along to the beat so much that they could probably replace the drummer if you coordinated them enough. Unfortunately Japan has not found a way to eliminate the worst part of every concert, the fake finale to bait and then satisfy a call for an encore.
It was a high-energy, satisfying show, a little sloppy but in an endearing way. Twice one of the band members missed a cue and lead singer Shizuku led an investigation live on stage. She seemed fatigued but managed to find a surge of energy for the big moments. I did my part and bought as much merch as I could justify.
I’m here in Nagano for another day and have some plans that rely heavily on not being rained on for 6 hours straight. Here’s hoping.
