Sailor Moon

It was really a hot day yesterday, we skated 13.5 km and I went home like a cooked shrimp.

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I postponed my pilgrim trip to Kyoto for the Zen class this weekend because there was this so-called very special farewell concert of the Akihabara band on Saturday and the inline skate slalom practice on Sunday. Compounded that I have a party to go to next Friday in Nagoya, gee, I'd better save money by going to the west in one trip next weekend.

My colleague, M, is the very much fan of those young bands. The singers are usually 16 years old school girls and base/guitarist are men (Cannot quite tell their ages, they all dress the same way, very pronounced coloured hair and big pair of sun glasses though the hall is very dark). M kept telling me how exciting/innovative the musics are and how friendly the fan club people are, when I arrived to the heart of odaku (geek) heaven, I knew immmidately that I should not be so trusting.

The so call fans are mostly middle-age men and balding (it would be an interesting study to find out if there is a correlation of liking some 16 year old sailor uniform dressed singer and balding). The younger looking people are all nerdy, yet trying very hard to make themselves look cool by micmicking the guitarist's hair style or put on funny cowboy hat. OMG, it would be more effective if they spend one hour in gym or just simply go jogging in the morning. OK, I do not discriminate nerdy or geeky people (in fact, most of my university friends are of those types) but for some reasons these geeks are a bit revolting.

After a long wait, finally the first singer appears. She looks like one of those amine girls, big eyes and light brown curly hair in little cute pink dress. Everything about her is cute (kawaii) but you don't see anything else other than that. My friend managed to find me a spot at very front, he wants me to experience the craziness and fun, I resigned the moment all those middle-age, balding uncles(ojisan) started to jump up and down and waving their arms like mania when the cute girl sang her cute songs (I cannot quite tell one from another, they all sound the same). Soon the tiny, badly ventilated concert hall was filled with men's sweat, body order and breath. I quickly retired to the pub outside and tried very hard to sterilize myself with a lot of gin and tonic.

What is the Japanese man's complex about cute and pink girls? Why are those fans cheering and chanting exactly the same way? Why are those bands playing more or less similar music/songs? What are they getting from this mania-like cheering? So those people can bond with each other?

I like young girls as well (nothing kinky about it, I just think young people are naively brave). But I like to see them as individual on their own right, everyone has her/his own personalities and quirkiness, that's why it is interesting. Unfortunately, I just don't see it that night.