torahime ichiza in asakusa

Being a personl fan of a number of acts, and artist belonging to Amuse. Inc, needless to say i was quite excited to attend torahime review show at the amuse cafe in asakusa thanks again to our gracious friend hiro. Unlike other acts that amuse. Inc is known for outside of japan, torahime is virtually unknown, if fact, its only now become known due to the announcement that former sakura gakuin member taguchi hana will be joining this summer. As we enter the amuse cafei soon discovered that, Torahime is unique in that, the performers are also the servers and bartenders within the cafe itself! As we take our seats our friend hiro then begins introducing us to each member individually to which they were all very sweet, very humble, and quite excited to have foreigners attending their show to which we were told doesn't happen often. As the lights dim, the curtain is projected with an introduction into 1960's american plays in japan immediately following a performance by the ladies that you would recognize straight out of west side story. The 1960's american theatre theme continues through for the first few performances even including oldies american songs such as "stand by me" and "calendar girl". As the mixture between american and Japanese musical theatre seems to be the main theme of the show, the curtain then closes for just shy of a minute, it then reopens to reveal a young lady wearing a beautiful kimono with a big traditional taiko drum behind her and two young men on either side of the drum. Right when the spot light hits her she begins to sing ancient traditional japanese style followed by a taiko drum performance that is just simply beautiful and rich with Japanese stage history. So as the intermission begins all performers are back in their server uniforms back behind the bar and refreshing your drinks as if they weren't up on stage singing and dancing, which to me is amazing, you wont find that anywhere in America. So after about a 10 minute or so intermission, the second half begins with the james bond movie intro as the 1960's theme continues. The second half contained more of a comedic edge than the first half but equally as impressive with the costume changes and acrobatics, including another traditional style japanese song, this one more of a festive feel to it as it was more upbeat and included more performers wearing mask and dancing. Finally as the performance comes to an end each member introduces themselves and what they do within the cafe and thank everyone for coming to the show, as this is happening one of the performers look at us and ask if her karate chops were performed ok to which we assured her they were perfect hahaha. As the last performer is on stage closing out the show she asks us where we were from and we responded with "the U.S." she then asks us to please tweet about our experience to which we assured her we would. So the show is officially over and all the performers are back to work serving everyone as well as thanking everyone ,we had the fortune of being able to conversate with each individual member much like before the show and we got to express our genuine entertainment and appreciation of the show, to which they were extremely greatful! We spent a good amount of time conversating with a performer named abi, who was very fun to talk to and was genuinely curious about us as foreigners, although she expressed interest in talking with us alot more it was time for the cafe to close so after saying one last good bye to everyone and assuring them that we will return some day (hopefully soon) we headed back to the station to call it a night. I used to be a big fan of theatre, i used to participate in theatre, but it seems now a days its a dead art form, but torahime reassured my appreciation for stage performances, when you see how talented and hard working these young men and women are, and then to find out how humble and courtious they are, you cant help but admire and support them.

synchronicity at club 251

On my recent trip to japan with my best friend ryan, we were invited to attend a number of local shows by our gracious friend hiro. I've always had a curiosity of Japan's underground music scene and finally had an opportunity to find out first hand exactly what its like. We met up right outside the hustle and bustle of shibuya and met with our friend and discussed exactly what the plans were for the evening. We then walked a few minutes down a narrow street to a small music venue called "club 251". As we enter, the crowd is just starting to pour in a few people at a time. The venue being a rather small venue was beginning to fill with youths and business men alike (which you will not find at any show or concert in the states, but i digress), the first act to take the stage was a 3 piece, all female rock group named "chirol" which i happened to thoroughly enjoy very much. After they completed their set and cleared the stage to attend their merch stand and hand out promotional flyers for their next show, our friend hiro tells us that the band we came to see perform, a band named "synchronicity" , a 4 piece all female rock group, was the next band and we made our way to the front of the stage. As synchronicity begins to play the stage presence is immediate, every member playing their role as well as reflecting their energy to on the crowd which, as everybody knows, is the best way to get the crowd into the music and the performance. After playing about a 4 or 5 song set they exit the stage and proceed to their merch table where we met them and was introduced to each member by our friend hiro whom has known them for some time now. They were very awesome girls and very excited to see foreigners at their show to which we assured them we enjoyed very much! We hung out with the drum player, a young lady we met simply as "paul"  for the remainder of the evening, checking out the rest of the bands on the bill and just having casual conversation about one another and she answered some questions we had about synchronicity, after taking a few pictures and exchanging social media info, club 215 was closing for the evening. One last thank you and reassurance that we were going to help promote synchronicity in the u.s.a (to which they were extremely excited about) we said goodbye and headed back to the station. I had idea's of what the local music scene was like in japan but until i actually experienced it i never knew exactly how fun and awesome it really is. You won't find bands like chirol or synchronicity in the u.s. which is a bummer but that's just another element of japan that you have to be there to see and appreciate.