Last Sunday (the day after I posted my previously long ass post), I had what appeared to be a failure of a day. I headed to the Kanda district of Tokyo, the area which has all the used book stores. I located a copy of an out of print book called "Oni no Kenkyu" (lit. "Demon Research" or "Research on Demons") which I wanted to pick up. It's about an hour and three transfers to get there from Yokohama, so it's not the easiest of trips to get there. Something told me I should maybe abort the mission for the day cuz the weather forecast called for heavy rain, but I really wanted that book! (Not that I can read it or anything, but still...) I got lost trying to locate the bookstore, and I must have passed it about 5 times before I realized that you have to go into another store to get to the store I was looking for. Oh Japan and their address system. As luck would have (my luck at any rate), the store was closed for the day cuz it was raining pretty heavily. Stupid me, I should have called ahead before going all that way, cuz really, who goes bookshopping in the pouring rain??? Especially rare book shopping!! *sigh*
What's funny is that I owe an obnoxious European tourist for inadvertently helping me find the store. I was lucky to have an umbrella on hand to get some shielding from the rain. But a group of tourists (I am assuming they were tourists since they appeared to be white, didn't speak Japanese, and instead spoke what sounded like some type of Eastern European language) didn't have any umbrellas so they were getting drenched. But what really kinda irritated me was that one of them actually stole someone else's umbrella! In Japan, it's common practice to leave your umbrella in the umbrella stand outside the shop so that you don't get anything wet. (I know this is pretty common practice in the States too but Japanese people take politeness to a whole new level so that's there's never any suspicion that someone might actually steal your umbrella.) I just thought that was such a fucked up thing to do, to take someone's umbrella when it's pouring outside. I know that I probably commit a whole lot of faux pas here in Japan (like walking and eating, I'm definitely guilty there!) but I at least try not to do anything that will negatively effect someone else. Anyway, the store where he stole the umbrella was the store I was looking for! So at least the asshole helped out in that respect.
Anyway, after my failed attempt to get that book, I headed to Shimokitazawa to confirm the sublet I will be renting for when my brother gets to Japan. At least I was able to accomplish that much. Then I headed to Musashisakai for the Battle of Disarm show which I have been anxiously awaiting since arriving here....
So once I get to the club, they tell me that Battle of Disarm won't be playing because the bassist couldn't take time off of work!! Arrrrgh!! I was so disappointed. Another failure! But I came all that way, and I got a free ticket to the show, so I figured I would just make the most of it. There were five bands on the bill that night, and the first three were kinda just, eh. But the last two were great so I ended up having a good time. Here's some pics of one of the bands, Amour, which were celebrating their demo release:
The lead singer was awesome. She seemed like a pretty chill person when she was hanging out while the other bands were playing, but once she got on-stage, she was crazy, in a good way. Kinda made me think of all those assumptions and presuppositions that the guy I hung out with on Saturday was blurting out from his diarrhea mouth--if I cared enough (I don't), all I had to do was drag him to a show like this to prove to him that things, including people, are just not what they appear to be at times. Simple lesson, which I hope he learns with age. But I'm tired of wasting time and space on him, so moving on....
Here's pics of OldDickFoggy, who are one of my new favorite things to listen to. They were sooo fucking great. I picked up their 7 inch, and I guess they are in the process of getting their full-length cd ready. I really hope to see this band again soon...
So even though Battle of Disarm didn't happen, it was still a great show. And Battle play the last Sunday of every month, and I was assured by Ryuji that they will be playing at the end of July. I will keep you all posted about whether this will happen....
Oh, and by the way, I ended up just ordering the book online and had it mailed to be, which would have been cheaper and less hassle, had I done that originally. I actually received it today and it looks great. Not many pictures, but looks like it would have a lot of really good information. Now if only I could get my reading level up to par....
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