We are just playing six shows in eight days. I suggested we retroactively label it such (”Hidari’s Accidental Tour” or the like), but nobody seemed to go for it. We set out tomorrow at noon for the land known as Nagoya, then work our way back to Kobe via Osaka, bounce between the two cities for a while, jump over to Tokyo for a change of scenery, then resume alternating between Kobe and the big O. Hopefully we will not burst into flames from the atmospheric friction. We will be wearing ceramic undergarments for added protection.

This Monday, we played at Thunderbaum’s record release show. It featured a veritable who’s who of local underground bands, a guest appearance by a masked drummer, a headbanging reindeer, and somebody lost a tooth. The general consensus was that it was a resounding success.

First of all, I finally got the store to validate last night, at the same time fixing the final major display bug in IE (I also got the main site to validate as well. Hooray!). The final adjustments were made to the payment and shipping calculations, and live payment tests were completed. What does all that mean? It means you can now give us your virtual money in the brand spanking new online store. Yay! We are still recovering from Saturday’s all-night monstrosity of a show. We took a bus from Osaka at 10AM, arriving in Tokyo around six or seven. Things kicked off at 11:30, we went on at 12:20, and the event ran until 5 in the morning. Surprisingly, most of the people attending stuck it out the whole night. Well, almost everybody.

The next morning, our bus was scheduled to leave at seven. We rushed all the way to Tokyo station only to discover that it had been canceled due to the typhoon. So we got our refunds and shelled out some extra cash for shinkansen tickets. We got in line for the 8:03 train, which was already sitting at the platform, but the doors never opened. Announcement after announcement was made, saying the delays would be a bit longer, to be patient. Several news teams had been sent to shoot footage of the people huddled and waiting for the train. Eventually we got sick of the spray from the rain being blown under the platform roof, gave up our places in line and took shelter downstairs. Many people had elected to cancel their travel plans and were lined up for refunds.

There was a huge crowd waiting outside the turnstiles, being held at bay by legions of station attendants.

All told, we spent almost seven hours standing there, waiting for a train. (Almost as long as the bus ride would have been.) When service was finally resumed, it was a zoo, so we got in line for the second train out.

We had been up all night, after all, and it was worth waiting for a seat. The first train was standing room only in the cars with unreserved seats.

At long last we were on our way home, and arrived in Osaka three hours later. We returned to our respective homes and promptly died.

The store is basically done. I could have it up in a day or two, even, but I’m waiting on Daisuke and/or Hiroshi to finish up customizing the Japanese translation. Soon you will be able to send us piles of money with the magical powers of the Internet! (capitalized)

Um, we played a new song at the “Do you trust people over thirty?” show. That makes two songs that are almost done since I joined the band. That is an average of a song every two and a half months or so, not counting the other two songs which are in a rather more primordial stage. The record company wants us to release another album this fall, but we haven’t seen a dime (or ten yen coin) from the last one, so there’s not a lot of impetus to do so. Aside from the whole, you know, compulsion to create something beautiful, molding the shapeless ether into something that has the power to transport the audience out of the mundane for a few moments, the moments that fuel us as artists…

But I only play for money.

Sannomiya Friday.