Live at Sumire no Tenmado

Hello dear readers!

How are you? My cough took a turn for the worse last week, but now I'm feeling much improved. 

In fact, I feel wonderful, because last night I saw Kokusyoku Sumire perform at their cafe in Shinjuku!

Not only that, but I had cute curry and a cocktail called 赤いバイオリン(Red Violin).

And I bought their new album, and got it signed!

It contained cassis, ginger ale and something else yummy that I forgot!

My curry has a face! Look at the cute coasters too~

That evening was like a dream. Yuka and Sachi are so pretty, and wonderfully talented, and kind and friendly too! Sumire no Tenmado is tiny so the performance was very personal. I was quite amazed by Yuka's voice, it's so clear and powerful! Sachi's violin was beautiful, and she looked adorable playing the recorder. Who would have guessed a recorder could sound so lovely? My mother still hasn't recovered from the trauma of the days of my recorder practice.

Sorry Xin Yu, I stole your photo! Thank you so much for inviting me~

I'll never forget this experience! I hope I'll meet them again sometime.

Dear readers, do you like Kokusyoku Sumire? Have you seen them perform? I'd like to hear from you!

Tokyo Metropolis

Hello dear readers, hello from Tokyo!

Today I'll tell you about the Versailles special anniversary live, Tokyo Metropolis.

Remember my 'rock kei' outfit from a little while ago? I went for the same sort of look with a more elegant atmosphere. I used the same hairstyle. I wore my bisque doll onepiece from Juliette, though in this photo the print is sadly washed out. 

~Rundown~

Onpiece: Juliette et Justine

Tights: Vivienne Westwood

Others: Offbrand/Handmade

The live was in Liquid Room in Ebisu. I got a bit lost and couldn't find who I was supposed to meet, so I just followed some people who looked like they were going to a concert and sure enough I got there, and, thank goodness,  met my friend too. 

D were the first to play, wearing their Dying Message costumes. My friend later observed "Wow, you really changed when you saw your drummer...." Haha, yes I'll confess I'm a big fan of D and particularly HIROKI.  I feel like he's a very reassuring sort of person, so with his presence and knowing their songs and furi quite well, I suppose the result was a complete evaporation of my natural shyness. I hope I didn't look too mad, but anyway I had an amazing time! 

Moi dix Mois were next. There was an almighty audience reshuffle of fans getting into their desired places (ie in front of Mana). I was very excited but a bit apprehensive too. I've spent so many years admiring Mana, what would he really be like? Well, the answer is he's beautiful and just as I thought he would be, but with the added bonus of a guitar with a light-up cross that flashed blue and red. He looked into the audience most of the time, giving us lots of opportunity to admire his lovely face! I really do want to see Moi dix Mois many, many times more and get to know them better. So, I'm very very very glad to have a ticket for Deep Sanctuary III in September!

Me and the lovely Angelica! She's a long-time fan of Mana. 

Her straw hat is soooo cute!

Versailles were last, and it was obvious that the majority of the audience were there for them. I loved Kamijo and LAREINE for a long time, so I always want to be more of a Versailles fan, but few of their songs really capture me. Even so, I enjoyed their set. It was a huge contrast to their live in London last year when they were obviously rather tired; tonight I think they were at their best. Kamijo was wonderfully flamboyant and Teru and Hizaki were really cute! Something about Teru's face makes me want to laugh.... it's a good thing though! 

During the MC, the bands all expressed their friendship and admiration for each other, and Kamijo talked about his time as a Malice Mizer roadie. Sadly I could only understand bits and pieces, but it seemed very heartfelt and I feel so glad to have been there on such a special occasion. It would have been nice if all three bands had been on stage together at the end, and I did expect it, but it didn't happen. Perhaps it would have been a bit of a squish with all those hairstyles and costumes.

I'm also really happy to have found some new friends! Everyone I've met has been so kind and friendly. Tomorrow I'm going to a lolita meet up, so I'm sure I'll find even more good friends there!

Thanks for reading,

Sapphira

xxxx

D Talk and Handshake

Today's post is another Japan write up!

Since I bought the A- and B-type package of D's latest mini album, I got a ticket to a fan event. 

Huang di ~Yami ni umareta mukui~

皇帝（ファンディー）～闇に生まれた報い～

A- and B-type. A-type comes with the PV, and there was also a making-of dvd included in the package.

Happily my stay coincided with my friend's, who is a big fan of D. As I wrote last time, we had fun shopping together in Harajuku. The next day was the event! 

The event wasn't until the evening, so before that I did a bit of shopping in Shinjuku. There was a time sale in Marui One, but I didn't get anything. However, I did go back to Closet Child for something that had caught my eye before.... here's a teasing picture!

Sometimes my camera takes super-clear pictures!

Pretty lace~

I wore my new Emikyu jsk and vintage lace collar blouse, plus a lot of perfume! According to our old friend Novala Takemoto, who likes perfume a great deal, eau de parfum does not fade, whereas eau de toilette quickly loses it's scent. Therefore I always buy/ask for eau de parfum, but it seems to fade anyway. I bought some with me to touch up before the handshake! I wear Paul Smith Rose, a simple rosy scent. Any readers know of a good rose perfume? I'd like to try another one next time!

The event was held in a community centre in Yotsuya. It seemed like a funny venue, but the auditorium was really quite nice, and luckily huge enough to accomodate the many fans.

Seeing the other fans was great fun for me, and very interesting. We were 80 or even 90% Lolita! A mix of sweet, classic and gothic outfits, tending to be fairly toned down. I did see a harlequin bonnet though! Although it was probably 99% girls, there was a good mix of ages. I noticed a slightly incongrous girl who looked rather like Xiaxue sitting in the front row. I'm sure it wasn't really Xiaxue but maybe this girl caught her appearance on NHK's Tokyo-Kawaii TV and admired her style. Everyone was nice, and I met a very sweet lady who spoke good English- we've talked on twitter a little since!   

It was quite a long wait to get in. First we queued outside to get numbers then we waited inside for our numbers to be called. When we were let in the staff stamped our flyer with a little dragon stamp. I've mentioned before that my year is dragon (this year) so it's a really lovely momento!

He's quite a cute little dragon!

On the left the questionnaire, on the right the flyer/ticket

Once seated we were given the little form above to fill out. The top box is for your question, and the bottom box is where you write what you'd like each member to say. Unfortunately I couldn't read it at the time and didn't fill it out! At least I got to keep it.

The event was called a 'talk and handshake'. The talk part was the band answering questions. They came on stage wearing their suits from the PV, and very nice they looked too. I had expected them to be wearing street clothes and no make-up. I wouldn't have minded either way I suppose!

They all sat down behind a desk in the usual sort of way, and a staff member with a rather alarming hat (huge, electric blue, woolly, bobble on top) sorted through the little questionnaires and asked them some of the questions. 

I'm afraid neither I or my friend could follow much of the talk, but evidently HIDE-ZOU was being the star that evening. He took off his jacket and did one-armed push-ups at one point!

Although we couldn't follow it closely it was nice to see the band smiling and laughing so happily, and all the talk was very jolly! It was nice for me since I arrived in Japan after the tour was finished and so didn't get to see a live. 

I think the talk lasted half an hour or so? Next up was the handshake! Oh, I feel nervous now just thinking about it. We went up row by row. A lot of people brought presents and letters. The first person I shook hands with was HIROKI. He said "Hello!!" very brightly in English! In fact the others all said "Thank you" in English, which I thought was ever so sweet of them. But perhaps I liked "Hello" best.

Ruiza's fringe needed cutting and the way he looked through it, blinking, was very cute! I wished ASAGI a happy new year, and when he replied voice was so refined and gentle. Tsunehito kept touching his eyelashes during the talk. I suppose he was checking that they were fastened on properly. 

They are all wonderful I think, and I'm really happy that I had the chance to go to that fan event! I can't wait to see D again!

D are having a European Tour this year! Here are the details:

[D Europe tour schedule]

Date / Venue / City / Country

04/20 Replugged Club, Wien, Austria

04/22 Feierwerk, Munich, Germany

04/24 Legend54, Milano, Italy

04/27 Poste à Galene, Marseille, France

04/28 TGS Ohanami, Toulouse, France

04/29 Apolo2, Barcelona, Spain

05/01 Divan Du Monde, Paris, France

05/02 Melkweg, Amsterdam, Holland

05/04 Werkstatt, Cologne, Germany

05/05 Charlatan, Gent, Belgium

05/06 Knust, Hamburg, Germany

05/08 Gloria, Helsinki, Finland

05/09 Plan B, Moscow, Russia

I just copied and pasted from the OHP, so please check here it in case there are changes after this!

Thanks for reading,

Sapphira

xxxxx