Wednesday 11 May 2022

The City in the Deep Sea - Yuming Matsutoya gig review

Yumi Matsutoya, Yuming's concert tour 'The city in the deep sea' will be performed on sixty-three stages, in thirty different cities from September 2021 to July 2022. Fortunately, I have had several opportunities to see the show, and the latest one was on 23rd April at Tokyo International Forum.

This time my seat was at the very center of the concert hall, which was not close enough to the stage to be excited but I could see the whole stage at one sight and enjoyed the stage-setting, and the lighting effects such as her avatar dancing, and the famous huge mirror ball, which provides a full of lighting shower as if from the heaven.

The set looked like a room of a submarine and there was a big window with a big screen at the center of the stage background, and a woman wearing diving gear sinking down to the bottom of the deep sea… and we were in her dream.

The sound of a pipe organ echoed solemnly. The concert started with my most favourite tune that I knew so well that my eyes were full of tears already, just hearing the introduction.

Yuming wore a Captain Nemo (of the Undersea Adventures) costume, and the members of the band were the crew, all sailing together in the deep sea.

As I knew the setlist quite well, I was ready for the next song and relaxed to be seated or to stand up for dancing. The audience was quite good and they seemed to get used to seeing a concert, they enjoyed themselves in their own way, so I enjoyed myself very much as well.

This concert is based on Yuming's 39th original album released in December 2020, which included the music about this world crisis, the pandemic and the fire of the Notre-Dame. When I saw the first concert, I was just happy to be able to attend such a big event in October 2021 when the pandemic seemed to be quite settled but this time we are still in the middle of the sixth wave of the pandemic and witnesses to the Ukraine War. Eventually and unexpectedly her album and this concert represent or even predict this uncertain world itself : the endless pandemic, unpeaceful world.

I enjoyed the concert very much as the perfect entertainment and also I was touched with the deep meaning of her rather prophetic music with no political messages but in style. I am going to see the same concert two more times again and am looking forward to it very much. I will never get bored no matter how many times I see the same stage, which always gives me a lot of hope and strength
Posted for super-fan Sayuri!


Tuesday 10 May 2022

Enjoy sport in Japan - a letter to my friend -

Dear my friend,

Hi, how have you been doing? It’s so hot here in Japan. Do you have any plan to come to Japan? When you visit Japan, I will show you around Japan. There is a traditional sport called Sumo which is a Japan style of wrestling, and I will recommend you watching it.

It started about 1,500 years ago and has been practiced as the Shinto ritual that people pray for the productiveness of grain or peace and calm. You can see a unique Japanese traditional style at a match. When Sumo wrestlers enter a ring, they bow to show respect and through salt to purify the ring. There is no sign to start the match, and wrestlers get of synchronization with each other to start the match. After the match, they do not show their emotion even if he wins.
 

It is held six times in a year, but I recommend you going the final match held in Kyushu. Because there are ranking hierarchies for Sumo, and it is decided whether Sumo wrestlers can rise through the rank based on result of matches for a year. Both wrestlers and audiences get excited for the final match. The top ranking is called Yokozuna, and he must continue to win.

I’m looking forward to meeting you!

Best wishes,
Sammy