I'm an American living in Japan. I've only been here a month and I've gone to the same live house four times already; five this evening. I go to Urawa Narciss. Why? Because it's close, small so you can talk to the bands, and there are lots of free lives, which I've discovered, as you will see, are much better in quality than when you pay money.
The day I first went there I had come straight from work, which by a stroke of luck was literally across the street. Urawa is an area of the main capital of Saitama, Saitama City, which was formed when the cities of Yono, Omiya, and Urawa merged. So, still in shirt and tie, I walked over there while putting in my earrings. I had to feel a LITTLE bit rock 'n' roll and a LOT less country. (lol donnie and marie)
Narciss (http://www.zmf.co.jp/index.html) is very tiny. Just click the 'hall' link and you'll see. Sometimes it's not very packed, but on the free live days it's a little hard to get to the back of the hall FOR MY STUPID $5 BEER. Stupid mandatory drink ticket...
Almost immediately, 3 very kind girls could see that I was alone, smiled at me, and when I returned it they beckoned me over. It was nice of them to keep me company the whole evening; we talked Kagrra, Dir en grey, and the bands that were playing.
The first band was Ameria (whose homepage I can't find and whose flyer I disposed of), and they were amateur and didn't look like they enjoyed themselves so *schloop* out of my memory they went.
The next band was Axia (http://www.geocities.jp/axia_official_web_site/), whose singer didn't look like the rest of his group (i.e. he looked normal, the two guitarists looked vis/metal, and the bassist was wearing a Stitch suit, because Stitch is bigger than Jesus over here, and thank you to John Lennon for such a vivid quote), but he was really smiley and cute and sang well, and the music definitely had some X/Luna Sea influences. Live I loved them. In between sets I walked up to the singer (because I'm white and I'm a boy and that's okay) and told him that I thought he was really good, and I really liked the twin guitar work. He ran over and got his guitarist, and the three of us talked for awhile. Just before the next band started, he grabbed the CD single they were selling from their merch table and gave it to me. I asked, how much? He said, especially for you, free! I thought that was very nice.
...it's a damn shame, though, because it's awful quality and it doesn't reflect their live skill at all. I'm finally starting to see that I shouldn't throw out a band based on a bad recording, although that's plenty of reason... they may have redemption live.
After them was this band that totally cheated—no drummer, lots of synths—and their bassist was a total mess and didn’t deserve to be on stage. The guitarist wasn’t much better, although he at least had decent presence. The singer was a super-goth Kyo clone who screamed very, very well. He at least was entertaining. I don't remember their name, thusly I cannot look them up.
Then this band came out of nowhere and kicked our butts; they were called WhiteBlack and they were using a support bassist and holy crap I can play support because you guys rock oh god please let me man you guys ripped. (http://crow-m.vis.ne.jp/whiteblack/)
The girls had come to see this band, Ren, and I should have known from the look of their flyer that they would suck. No one in the band had any presence whatsoever except for the chunky singer who frightened me but not deliberately. I’ve never seen a guy so oblivious to the fact that the rest of his band really doesn’t seem that in to, you know, being in a band and such.
And the last band was some cheery, punky, oshare outfit called Mag. They weren’t awful but it’s certainly not my style. I enjoyed the singer’s MC’ing, but hey, I like comedy. The guitarist on the right kept looking at me for my consent (I’ve been told I enjoy concerts like a scenester from Jersey would hate them: toward the back, arms folded). I thought, whatev, they’re having fun and getting a great reaction; he threw back all my gestures with a big grin.
All in all, a good first experience... I'd definitely be coming back.
The day I first went there I had come straight from work, which by a stroke of luck was literally across the street. Urawa is an area of the main capital of Saitama, Saitama City, which was formed when the cities of Yono, Omiya, and Urawa merged. So, still in shirt and tie, I walked over there while putting in my earrings. I had to feel a LITTLE bit rock 'n' roll and a LOT less country. (lol donnie and marie)
Narciss (http://www.zmf.co.jp/index.html) is very tiny. Just click the 'hall' link and you'll see. Sometimes it's not very packed, but on the free live days it's a little hard to get to the back of the hall FOR MY STUPID $5 BEER. Stupid mandatory drink ticket...
Almost immediately, 3 very kind girls could see that I was alone, smiled at me, and when I returned it they beckoned me over. It was nice of them to keep me company the whole evening; we talked Kagrra, Dir en grey, and the bands that were playing.
The first band was Ameria (whose homepage I can't find and whose flyer I disposed of), and they were amateur and didn't look like they enjoyed themselves so *schloop* out of my memory they went.
The next band was Axia (http://www.geocities.jp/axia_official_web_site/), whose singer didn't look like the rest of his group (i.e. he looked normal, the two guitarists looked vis/metal, and the bassist was wearing a Stitch suit, because Stitch is bigger than Jesus over here, and thank you to John Lennon for such a vivid quote), but he was really smiley and cute and sang well, and the music definitely had some X/Luna Sea influences. Live I loved them. In between sets I walked up to the singer (because I'm white and I'm a boy and that's okay) and told him that I thought he was really good, and I really liked the twin guitar work. He ran over and got his guitarist, and the three of us talked for awhile. Just before the next band started, he grabbed the CD single they were selling from their merch table and gave it to me. I asked, how much? He said, especially for you, free! I thought that was very nice.
...it's a damn shame, though, because it's awful quality and it doesn't reflect their live skill at all. I'm finally starting to see that I shouldn't throw out a band based on a bad recording, although that's plenty of reason... they may have redemption live.
After them was this band that totally cheated—no drummer, lots of synths—and their bassist was a total mess and didn’t deserve to be on stage. The guitarist wasn’t much better, although he at least had decent presence. The singer was a super-goth Kyo clone who screamed very, very well. He at least was entertaining. I don't remember their name, thusly I cannot look them up.
Then this band came out of nowhere and kicked our butts; they were called WhiteBlack and they were using a support bassist and holy crap I can play support because you guys rock oh god please let me man you guys ripped. (http://crow-m.vis.ne.jp/whiteblack/)
The girls had come to see this band, Ren, and I should have known from the look of their flyer that they would suck. No one in the band had any presence whatsoever except for the chunky singer who frightened me but not deliberately. I’ve never seen a guy so oblivious to the fact that the rest of his band really doesn’t seem that in to, you know, being in a band and such.
And the last band was some cheery, punky, oshare outfit called Mag. They weren’t awful but it’s certainly not my style. I enjoyed the singer’s MC’ing, but hey, I like comedy. The guitarist on the right kept looking at me for my consent (I’ve been told I enjoy concerts like a scenester from Jersey would hate them: toward the back, arms folded). I thought, whatev, they’re having fun and getting a great reaction; he threw back all my gestures with a big grin.
All in all, a good first experience... I'd definitely be coming back.
What the hell is this?! *off* " 
I'm sorry. But it means the other ones weren't very good!! 
Come on, stick to your guns! Ah well, hopefully he learned a thing or two anyway.
Our teacher in Japanese class actually went over that phrase today in class. We were learning about the kore, sore, are, ect., which I already knew, but still. XDD That's ironic. 
That's really interesting. XD Apparantly people have been talking about you. 