Umi_Niwa

A woodchuck would chuck all the wood he could if a woodchuck could chuck wood. lol.
 
Do you believe in karma?

Hmm well out of none-vk bands MUSE have some of my favorite album arts.




 
 

Ahahah this is good

This piece of news brought tears to my eyes. Oh how I would love to be at that concert ;_;

1: Do you buy multiple versions of releases, or buy at all? 

 

Being a jobless teenager sure has it's downsides, so at the moment I buy nothing. As for buying in the future, I highly doubt I'd buy multiple versions. I guess it also depends on the artist, though, but most releases are way too expensive for me to do that.

 

2: Do you collect cheki or other non-music related items from bands?

 

Not as of yet, but I'd like to have band t-shirts in the future. Collecting picks and drumsticks is also that something interests me, but I think cheki is rather pointless. I might collect a few chekis of my favorite artists, but I wouldn't go out of my way to get them all the time.

 

3: Follow them on Ameblo, Twitter?

 

I don't have an ameblo, but I like to check certain artists blogs sometimes. Mainly just for the purpose of looking at some cute pictures of theirs. I follow most of my favorite artists on twitter, simply because I like to read the little bits of information they post. It's a lot better than trying to read through a long blog post on ameblo.

 

4: Would you follow them on the street?

 

I might ask for an autograph, if the time seemed right, but as for following them around...no. I thought that was harassment anyway ;_;

They deserve to be able to walk through the street without being bombarded by fans.

 

5: Dig through their trash? 

 

I didn't even know people did this. Uh, not something I'd do.

 

6: Does Visual Kei or other forms of your musical taste influence your style or personal life?

 

I mean, I studied Japanese for a few years because of Visual Kei making me interested in it. It has of course, made me more interested in fashion, hair, and make up, but other than that...I wouldn't say it's "influenced" anything for me.

 

7: Desire to move or visit Japan influenced by music

 

I'll admit that the idea of moving there is pretty tempting, but I highly doubt I'd be comfortable living there. I'd absolutely love to visit though, and hope to be able to do it one day.

 

8: Do you read dirt-sheets of bands, like rumours, gossip, etc...?

 

 Music is my main priority, of course, but when I need a good laugh I'll read them. 

 

9: Ever fantasize about being friends with band members? 

 

Maybe not fantasize, but I think it'd be kind of neat to hang out with a band member here and there. I doubt I would actually go out of my way to be friends with one, though. It's just something that comes naturally.

 

10: Do you want to be in a Visual Kei band (or any other kind of band)?

 

I would hate to be in an actual poppy-glitzy-sparkly visual band, but I would certainly love to be in some sort of shoegaze or post-punk unit, like G-SCHMITT or nookicky (or maybe even something gothy like velvet eden). Sadly enough, I'm not skilled enough in the instruments I play to do that, so I'll continue staying a fan.

This is an illustration for Sakurai's 80s song cover.

I don't think that's the complete picture. Yes, overwork and suicide are common, women are choosing a working lifestyle, and saving face is one of the biggest problems(?) with Japanese culture. But having now been here for over a month staying in a university dorm I would beg to differ. The younger generation is coming out of that rut and while showing affection in public is still pretty rare, I would say that a majority of the Japanese students in the dorm are in a committed relationship, and they're all aged 18-22 or so. Because it's an international dorm a couple of them are actually dating foreigners, even after they returned to their home country. Hell, I even started dating a Japanese girl last week. So don't think it's all doom and gloom for Japan, in the next 50 years or so I expect the more open-minded younger generations to start making a change on the country's public image.

Found this one today. Ban is awesome

^ the idea is pretty awesome actually
 
Proud single over here too. I haven't find a single person yet i was interested into (neither sexually nor emotionally or mentally). And I like to be alone and having the whole day for myself. I guess that's also why I don't have many friends because too many people interferring in my daily plans would make me crazy. I also rather stay at home doing stuff than go to parties- except it's with one of my few but really good friends. But I'd hate to do things with a person who clinches me like a dog and where saying "I don't want to see you for the next 8 days" isn't so easy...
 
Or maybe I am just too egoistic, I don't know.

Here are my furry feline friends
 
 
 

My dad likes old country music (ewww xD) and blues for the most part but also has some Pink Floyd, Queen and David Bowie in his vinyl collection. Both him and my mom enjoy listening to Shania Twain and Anastacia from the more contemporary artists. Oh, and random Hungarian bands kind of in the alternative pop and/or jazz-pop spectrum, such as:
 


 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnLVED2LxSU

"Could it be that bald gramps who always says "Rock n' Roll!"? "



lmao this made my night.

Yes. Some random gifs i made:
 










I think i will stop now! I could go on forever.

Figured I'd post some animated gifs I made of Maximum the Hormone, but it seems like there isn't an animated gif thread already, so this can be it if anybody else has some to post.












I have a couple more I'll get together. I just made these and they were small enough to fit on imgur. I also made the one in my sig, but it's big.
 
I didn't make these:
 














 
 
Feel free to save, or link for sigs, etc.
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When I first heard Origin of Symmetry by Muse in 2001/02, I wondered whether some of the melodies, which were not often found in Western rock, had been inspired by J-rock. I wasn't quite sure since I wasn't really a huge fan of J-rock back then. Wherever they got their inspirations from, Muse have made a few albums with genuinely good music. And they wrote good lyrics in their own language. Isn't it a good enough example for younger bands to follow?
 
Here is an interesting discussion on the difference between J-music and Western music (especially rock) on AnimeSuki forum: http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=97468 I tend to agree with most of what those people said on that topic.
 
Seriously, those whatever-kei wannabe bands should stop. I don't care whether they actually get signed to a label or not. They should stop trying to be cheap knock-offs of all the shitty generic nu-metal/fake metal Visual Kei bands. But shitty generic nu-metal/fake metal VK bands seem to be the most popular type among Western fans, especially young ones. That's why they all form those whatever-kei wannabe bands. Cheap VK image knock-off is even worse than just music. And what's with all those cheesy fake Japanese band names? Maybe they start a band to pick up the VK fangirls. Maybe they are successful at that. lol
 
Do they realize that there is a lot of good Japanese music existing outside of all the generic nu-metal/fake metal/metalcore J-rock bands and the Visual Kei scene? I do think it's high time that Western pop/rock learnt from J-music, became more experimental and put more effort on the instrumental and melodies like J-musicians, instead of being boring, simple and confined to conventions like a lot of mainstream rock bands. Don't forget that rock music originated and once flourished in the West. You could become an "it" band like the Strokes were in 2001 and why not? I am not saying the Strokes were experimental but bands like that were "new" and refreshing back then. It's 2013 now and bands certainly know they shouldn't do the same things as bands in 2001 did.

I'm a Lio and born during the year of the Tiger. So basically I'm a Liger.
I also don't believe in this stuff :U

Lol me too. I hate Hollywood films, most of them anyway Oh the mental image xDD

I thought it said Bollywood Now I'm disappointed, cause that would've been epic.

I keep thinking of Oresama and how crappy that was and going WHAAAAAAAAAT?!?!
 
XD

I started to draw in the beggining of the year, so...sorry if i'm not that good to post here yet XD
 
This was my last draw, made 2 days ago:
 
Okumura Rin - Ao no Exorcist:
 

 
P.S.: I took this from my Instagram XD

This is one of the things I've written. If you guys will like this I'll post some more.

will probably be boring

Thanks Yasu!
After that first post about the drumset I made quick a new one as a little thanks to Syu xD

Gonna hand all over those fanarts to these guys @ their EU tour lol.

Being one of the people who's been here for years, and being one who listens to kpop at that, I still think this isn't a good idea.
 
This forum is supposed to be about Japanese music, right? We already have a section where we upload rock music that isn't necessarily Japanese, but it still is Asian. Isn't that good enough? Also, it's been years since this forum was only about all the VK. I get most of my Japanese rock music from this place, and I haven't been really listening to VK in years.
 
There are a lot of blogs and websites out there sharing Kpop music. Now I'm not against listening to kpop, but it would result in a surge of kpop kids who, if you've seen anything at all, are pretty much brain dead (not everyone, but I'm sure you know what I mean) and you'd get threads full of oppa oppa ooppppaaaaaaa. Aren't there already enough websites for this? Call me narrowminded or ignorant or anything you'd want for that opinion, but as someone who's seen enough of the kpop world, I'd like to see Monochrome as some kind of website that still keeps to its original idea.
 
Besides, how could we have split forums for every genre for instance, when so many rock bands are such a mix of thousands at once?

lol no.

The only original thing from Japan is Nintendo.