Rocking on the Sonset Strip

I was waiting for this weekend all week long... because Saturday held the promise of a trip to Ohsu, and I was invited to a punk rock concert in Sakae after. One of my friends knew one of the vocalists, and got us a great price on tickets.

So we started the day at Ohsu Kanon Temple, a spot hidden behind the sprawling shopping arcades and alleys. It's surprisingly quiet there, as if the whole thing is in a sound proof bubble.


From the court yard in front of the temple, you can see a building tattooed with graffiti the same brilliant red as Ohsu Kanon. It's a strange but fitting fusion of the old and the new; the past and the future, as you stand between them in the present.


Around the corner is a cafe selling dango for 80 yen. I grabbed a serving dusted in matcha powder, and sat with my friends on the fountain, enjoying the view and people watching. The sun started to set soon, so we headed back in the Sakae direction to head to the venue.

The venue was an underground live house called the Sonset Strip. The hall was small, so when the bands played music positively saturated the air. It was so loud, everything actually sounded muffled. The vocalists were screaming out notes to throw their voices over the instruments, unsuccessfully, but the energy in that room was explosive. 

I think four or five bands played, all with their own different style and sound, from punk rockers with Ramones style hair...


To my personal favorite, good old visual kei.


We were invited to the after party, so missed the last train home. We took a cab back from Sakae, a college students worst nightmare... but split between five people, the cost wasn't bad at all. 

When I got home the next morning, a package had come for me in the mail. Inside, was proof that my mom reads my blog. 


She sent me Halloween towels for my bathroom...


... and a card with Blue Morpho butterflies on it. 

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