Day 3 aka THE DAY - Japan

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The day has come! Tonight Yasu and I go to what should be the highlight of this trip - BAND-MAID opening for Guns N Roses at the Saitama Super Arena. But before we do so, Yasu insisted that he take me to a sushi place to which I "reluctantly" agree 😊

Met him at his hotel workplace after he finished a graveyard shift. This fella is amazing, don't know how he gets the energy to still show me around. From his hotel we walked to a nearby restaurant for lunch and is just 5 minutes away. It's a conveyor belt sushi which I've seen in the Seattle area but never actually experienced it. He told me the place just opened 4 months ago and it really showed. At the heart of lunch hours, it was busy but since the place was huge, we got seated just after a couple of minutes waiting. Needless to say, the seafood was amazing!

After that we took a train to Akihabara that is popular for its Anime stores and its Maid-Themed cafes. It is here that I found a souvenir for my Anime-obsessed teen (you know I'm just kidding sweetie - not about the souvenir but about your obsession 😊 It is also here that I visited a specific maid-theme cafe. Reason is that the founder of the rock band BAND-MAID is a former server that worked in that cafe. Thus where her concept originated where each band member wears a maid outfit while performing hard-rock tunes.Yeah-yeah I've been told bands like that cannot be taken seriously. I mean the same way nobody cared for KISS, David Bowie, Culture Club, Alice Cooper, GWAR, etc ? This is how I met Yasu as we are both members of a FB Fan Group for the band.

It is approaching 2:30 pm so we decided we should make our way to the venue as the band is scheduled to perform at 4 pm which is 2 hours before GnR gets on stage. So we took yet another train to the arena. The place is huge! It seats 37,000 and this is a great for the band to get additional exposure. Yasu explains that the band is more popular overseas such as US, Mexico, & Europe instead of Japan because there is just way too much Rock/Metal bands that already has established their presence in the music industry.

We got to our seats (the event was reserved seating only) at 3:30 pm and the venue is practically empty. While waiting, we spoke to the folks near us to ask if they knew anything about the opening act and found no one that did. We tried to explain the band to which as expected returned us a puzzled look. By the time the band got on stage, I'd say the place was only 20% filled. The ladies rocked hard as expected but the best part was witnessing several non-fans jaw dropped. Oh yeah I can tell despite everyone wearing masks by the expression of their eyes that were glued to the stage. By the end of the band's setlist (they only played for 24 minutes a stark contrast to their Seattle show last month where they performed for 1 hour & 45 minutes), everyone were cheering them on! Even GnR fans were tweeting about them saying "Holy ****". Seeing them in Seattle was special since I've been following their music for 2 years but this show was even more special as I was in a show where new fans received them so well. GnR was great too but the level of excitement for me was less as I have seen them before and Axel's voice was not as impressive as it used to be.

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