Darlo's World

There’ve been more than a few times where friends have asked me if I wanted to go to gigs and concerts and even though I’m in Japan and should be experiencing as much as possible, my answers have normally been the same:

“I don’t have the money“, “I don’t have the time” or “I really don’t fancy going that far“.

I then normally explain that I’d love to pop along to one of the plenty of groups who play in the streets of Osaka. Hmm … perhaps plenty’s a bit of an exaggeration, but get on down to Umeda on a Saturday and you’ll normally find a group. If not you could always just go to Yodobashi Camera and have your eardrums burst by the incredibly irritating American announcer as a continual loop of different language give you information on the store.

Now skip back a few months (feel free to look through the old journals in order to do that) to when I was gutted to find that DragonForce, a band worth paying £16 to go and see, were playing at Leeds University (aka my uni) but waited until after I’d left the piggin’ country.

Redemption came to me earlier today whilst working through Kanji in Context and faffing about on the internet as I discovered that once again Dragon Force we making a trip to my doorstep. On the 27th of March DragonForce will be coming down to Osaka and playing at the Zepp. I check the price … 7,000 yen! That’s … that’s … more expensive than a cheeseburger! Right now that’s about £54.50.

I think to myself about some of the conversations I’ve had with home, and how much they want me to enjoy myself and do at least one awesome thing, so I begin to seriously consider going. After all seeing a band I like is one thing, but seeing them in the city that I adore is something else.

I’ve shown many times here that things can and never will go as smoothly as I’d like, and this also comes into play right now. For you see, Konan University were kind enough to line up various trips for us while we are here to experience new things and see new places. This means that on Friday 27th of March at 7pm when DragonForce kicks off … I’ll be over in Hiroshima, 176 miles away on a trip I’ve already paid through the (fire and flames, lol) nose for.

Oh cruel irony, why dost thou mock me so.

No your eyes aren’t deceiving you, it really is morning. Which means it’s about 11:41 last night back in England. Today’s Christmas Eve, but it’s business as usual in Japan.

Without breakfast yesterday, with it being the Emperor’s birthday and all, I did enjoy a nice lie in. I’d made plans before hand to meet with friends in Umeda and head to the Umeda Sky building to see the German christmas market. Yes, what better thing to do on your first (and hopefully not only) trip to Japan than visit a German Christmas market … the exact one (though a different branch) that came to Leeds!

My friends enjoyed the delicacies like Glue Wine (yeah that’s spelled wrong for sure) and sausage, while I took up my usual hobby of photography. Unlike Leeds, this market had a staged area with live performances. It was both entertaining and good listening practice. After a trip to Yodobashi Camera where we tasted Mango wine, we said farewell and parted company.

Going to bed last night I wished that I’d wrapped up warmer, as my nose was beginning to block and my throat began to feel groggy. Well, at least if I get sick now I’ll have some recovery time.

I’ve made a start on the main Japanese page of the site, which ties in well with my agenda for today … kanji practice!