Kolla and I became avid crowd followers on the train out to Makuhari. Almost everyone we saw was wearing some sort of 2ne1 apparel, from concert t-shirts to a group of four dressed in one of the outfits in 2ne1's Clap Your Hands music video. We followed them to the right trains, and the right building. Thank you random Japanese people with all of the 2ne1 apparel! The concert started at 6pm, and the doors didn't open until 5. We got to the area around 4:30. We followed the crowd part of the way to the hall where the concert would be held, and then took a short detour for food. We ate a quick meal at a small cafe in the building next to the hall.
Then we booked it to the concert area, bought ourselves some t-shirts and light sticks, and got in line. The line moved pretty fast, and we soon found our seats: the back row, but who cares, we were in! Kolla and I took turns standing in line for the bathroom and watching our stuff. I ended up using the men's restroom, because 1. no one else was using it, and 2. The lights had just gone off and I didn't want to miss the start.
I made it back to our seats in time for the entrance. And what an entrance it was! Lights galore!Coming from the stage, from the ceiling, and from the light sticks almost every member of the audience had. They sang all of my favorites: Fire was the opening song, Ugly and Clap Your Hands were near the end, and Go Away was the encore. All the other songs were amazing as well. There's always the worry that a band won't be as good live as they are on CD, but though I could tell it was live music, the girls were absolutely amazing! The only bit of disappointment was that the guest appearance was Seven, and not Big Bang. He sang well, but I'm just not a big fan of his. *shrug* But the rest of the night was wonderful!
The concert ended a little after 8, and we began to make our way back to the train. Everyone was funneled out of one entrance, which made for a long line to get out, but they gave out free water at the exit, so it turned out alright. Kolla and I turned out of the crowd to stop and a 7/11 to grab some snacks and a rest. The train ride back to Tokyo station seemed to take forever. We were packed like sardines into the tin can of the train car. Thankfully, though we grabbed one seat, and were able to trade off who sat and who stood.
Once we got to Tokyo Station, we caught a quicker train to Shinjuku, where we finally figured out which train to take to meet Victoria in Omiya. That train was even longer, because we had to stand the whole time. In Omiya we meet up with Victoria who showed us the small line she takes to her home. The train station is a couple of blocks from her apartment building. She had already set out some mats for Kolla's and mine beds, and we collapsed into them as soon as she unlocked the door. It was a little after midnight, and had taken us FOUR hours to travel what we had previously figured to be a two hour trip! I was SO happy to take off my shoes and sit down, and I just wanted to go to sleep. However, we had to figure out how to get Kolla and I to Yokohama station where we were to meet the bus to take us back to Osaka. A couple of different options were figured out pretty quickly, and then we all crashed.
Our alarms went off at 6:15am, and we were out the door by 6:45. We got to Omiya around 7:30 and were able to catch a train that went straight to Yokohama station. After an hour and a half we arrived, and without too much trouble, this time, found where we were supposed to meet our bus. We were actually 20 minutes early! The bus left at 10am, and made several stops at rest stations along the way, which we took advantage of to get food and stretch our legs. This bus had much less leg room than the night bus, but it did have screens in the backs of the seats, like on long plane flights. Kolla listened to the music provided, and I watched a movie: Elizabeth: The Golden Age. We both worked on our homework.
Here's what was written on the wrapping of my sandwich: "We send to you the lovely flavor of the wind in the meadows." Hilariously bad English, but it was a good sandwich.
We ended up getting off in Kyoto instead of staying on the bus for another 2 hours and getting off in Osaka. From that station we took a short train ride to a station where we got on the Keihan line that runs through Hirakata. I was home by 7:30, and had some instant ramen for my supper. I took a long shower, doctored my blisters, and was in bed for a good long sleep by 9pm.
All in all, the weekend was a lot of fun, and I'm really glad I went. But it was a lot to do in just two days. I hope I can get back to Tokyo, and see some other areas at a more leisurely pace, but I'll have to wait for another long weekend!
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