Nagoya: Nagoya Castle & Perfume Night 2!
Mäneka
As this trip approached, I had wondered to Kamala whether it was too over the top to attend two Perfume concerts back to back. She reassured me that since I watch the DVDs over and over again I would probably enjoy watching the live show twice in a row too. She turned out to be right and I guess I should trust my obsessive instincts by now because the second concert was even better than the first!!!
This was mostly because I lucked out this time and got to sit in the arena rather than the stands. The fans down there are hardcore and are the heart of the audience’s energy. Nonstop clapping, fist-pumping, shouting, and jumping.
As I mentioned, you receive your seat assignment on a slip on the way in. I was in row 25, seat 55 and as I looked at the handy map of the seats outside the hall it dawned on me that I would be six seats to the right of the smaller front stage. What luck! Perfume would be mere feet from me and I’d have a perfect view of the main stage. Other audience members poured in after me, each one just as awed at the prospect of being so close to Perfume.
I loved seeing Tokyo Girl live again. From the arena, the graphics are incredible and it looks like Perfume are dancing on skyscrapers with all of Tokyo below them. The spotlights at the concert nicely mimic the music video. The teenaged girls seated near me knew all the moves too.
Fusion was another number where seeing it an angle from the stands didn’t do it justice. There was so much play with the shadows and silhouettes (similar to their Reframe performance) that is too hard to make out from any other vantage point. There wasn’t much audience interaction for this song, but I think it is because everyone is just sitting back and enjoying the visuals.
The ultimate highlight for me was the songs where Perfume walked out to the front stage for 575, Everyday, and Fake It. The latter are two of my favorite songs and to see them dancing so close was everything I could have hoped for. Nocchi is a stunning dancer in person and I find her facial expressions to be one of the best elements of her performance. Both of these were on full display from where I was sitting tonight. 😍
As before there was a mix of demographics, from teen boys and girls to moms and men in business suits. During PTA Corner a~chan had the audience cheer by their ages (teens, 20s, 30s, etc.) and both nights there were people in their 70s there. Respect!
Photos were strictly forbidden at the concert. I did get to buy some Perfume swag though.
Earlier in the day we had started off with breakfast at Sarabeth’s at Nagoya station. Linda was so famished from our light eating the previous day that she required a Lumberjack Breakfast, three fluffy pancakes with limp Japanese bacon, two eggs, and a salad. She ordered it because of the salad. I had Morning Crunch with a side of sausage with the seasonal marron latte, a coffee drink with chunks of chestnuts and pistachios in it. Very autumn and very weird.
Our daytime excursion was to Nagoya Castle. Despite having been to Nagoya before, we had not seen its main attraction. The weather was excellent and the leaves were beginning to turn red. The castle itself is undergoing restorations, but we were able to see the restored paintings in one of the halls. They are based on digital scans of the originals and covered with gold leaf. This explained the soft serve covered with gold leaf we spotted on the way in.
Another Nagoya specialty is hitsumabushi or eel served three ways. We opted to try this at Maruya Honten in the Meitetsu department store near Nagoya station. Both Mom and I opted for mini hitsumabushi, about half an eel.
The first way to enjoy the eel is plain with just rice. Simple and delicious! The unagi is nice and crispy on top in contrast to the soft, but not mushy, exterior. The second method is add wasabi, green onion, shiso, and nori. This ratchets up the flavor! Lastly, you add the above ingredients and then pour soup over the top. The dashi adds a nice smokiness. Mom went rogue and added a dash of tsuyu with the soup, a great idea. We agreed that our favorite method was the second. The accoutrements are delicious and provided great fuel for me to have a fantastic evening at Perfume Night 2!