MIKA AGEMATSU

Today's plan was to see Mika Agematsu.  This concert was for her 30th birthday, and was announced some time around February.  At the time I had no idea whether or not I'd be able to go, but SURPRISE, PAST ME.  I WENT TO IT.

I had a big breakfast, but I knew I'd need something more.  I staved off any empty feelings the way all real men do: with strawberry milk.

On an impulse, and partially because I just finally wanted to get it out of the way finally,  stopped at the Tower Records in Ikebukuro while I was there to buy Kalafina's last album.  There was no way I was leaving Japan happy without a copy, so it feels nice to finally get that out of the way.  It cost me the chance to get a CD at the concert, but overall I'm not too broken up about it.

Anyway, I've been here for three months now and it's still exciting to see cardboard displays for things I actually care about.  Here's T-ara!

I got to go on the subway from Yoyogi to Roppongi where the concert was being held.  Empty Japanese subways are positively spooky, and I'm sad that I didn't get any pictures.

This is the event hall/restaurant.  IT'S ADORABLE.

Here's the poster for the event.  In addition to it being her birthday concert, Miss Agematsu was joined by her band Cruz, two other people that play arpa, one cellist, and a percussion trio that played the marimba and did any other miscellaneous noises that were required.

This is just Roppongi being itself.  It's a weird place.  Some of it looks totally American (I found an Outback Steakhouse), and some of it looks more like Tokyo than anywhere else in the city.  Guess which parts I photographed.

Again, I was getting hungry, but lunch was not in today's budget.  Instead, I had this yogurt drink that is always reasonably satisfying.

More of Roppongi.  That bland structure under those windows on the right is a public bathroom.  It's just there; it doesn't belong to any of the surrounding businesses.  That's still new to me.

Another event poster, this time right before we went inside.

Here are the flower stands for this event.  There are more later.
I told you they're at everything.
I was also really scared when I took this, because people that had lined up before me were handing 10000 yen ($100) bills to the guys at the counter and getting change back and I was thinking I might have missed some kind of charge.  It turns out those people, despite being early, just hadn't bought tickets yet.  Come on, guys  I bought mine a month ago and they've been on sale since March.

They tore my ticket and then gave me this thing.  I don't know what it was for, just that they told me to keep it until the end.  I still have it, leading me to believe it was indeed useless.

Here's the inside of the place before the performance started.  You might notice that no one looks younger than 35.  In reality, you could probably count the number of people that young on one hand.  Since it's not just classical, but Latin-influenced classical, there were a LOT of older people there.  That made talking to anyone beyond "Where are you from?" pretty awkward.

Dinner came before the show, though you could eat things during it, too.  They actually dug up an English menu for me, even though I could read the Japanese one perfectly.  My first order was this non-alcoholic combination of orange juice and chamomile tea.  They called it "Peter Rabbit Juice", and as you can see, they made a rabbit out of an orange slice.

The main course I chose was shrimp and octopus pizza, and it was not bad.  The cheesy was a little melty, but overall I enjoyed it a lot.

Here's how close I was to the stage, by the way.  Close enough to use it was a foot rest.

The guy next to me was probably 70 years old, but I risked being totally awkward and asked for a picture of his ice cube.  It's just a sphere!  Why?

For dessert I had the vanilla mousse with melon slices.  You may have noticed by now that this was a pretty fancy place.

Again, filming wasn't allowed during the show, but that's okay with me because I still got to see it.  She did ALL my favorite songs.　Most exciting of all was "Hikari no Kioku" (Memories of Light), but she also got to Moliendo Cafe, the Lupin III theme, and even Nana Mizuki's "July 7th".  She and Nana Mizuki are best friends, by the way.  "Vino Blanco" didn't happen, but that's okay because everything else I needed to see did.  My favorite performance was probably "Solzinho", which was a song Miss Agematsu made just for today.  It was GREAT, and I need a recorded version this instant.  She played the cowbell.  Make all the Saturday Night Live references you want.

Here's the place during the intermission.

Look, more flower stands!  There were considerably taller.

On the left is a flier for Miss Agematsu's next live, somewhere near the ocean.  I can't go to that one, but today's birthday concert probably beats it anyway.  On the right is the program, listing all the songs that happened and in what order.  "Tesorito" and "Moliendo Cafe" are not on the list because they were encores.

Nothing special happened on the way home.  Also, I forgot to take a picture of the Kalafina CD I bought, but you guys don't care anyway.

Expect a Mika Agematsu post again tomorrow or something.  I need sleep, but I still have so much to show you.