X JAPAN TOUR HITS VANCOUVER, 2010 NORTH AMERICA VISUAL KEI CONCERTS. CYBER GOTH DREADS FALLS, BUY CYBERLOX.
X Japan! X Japan! The Visual Kei megastars are in the midst of their very first US and Canadian tour. I had the good fortune to attend the Vancouver concert… prepare thyselves for a report and exclusive live photos.
This epic occasion warranted an epic headpiece. Vickilyn’s Closet kindly sent me these dazzling cyberlox. If you’re not familiar with cybergoth hair “falls,” they’re two bunches of sparkly tubing, tassels and other synthetic material. The designer sent me black/rainbow and red/black ones (I wore both). The lox are long, lightweight and got so many compliments! Vickilyn’s Closet also sells Goth Lolita Cyber Punk clothing and accessories; anything on her site can be made to order, so come take a look.
The jagged decal under my right eye is handmade by Takuya Angel. Excellent news — his store is not closing after all, but will reopen on October 10th in the very same Harajuku location (only now, you use the back door to enter).
Eye shadows: purple and magenta shades, gifted from Annabelle Cosmetics. They’re handy circle compacts that fit into a square case.
Fake eyelashes: Marrlliss brand, from a Tokyo 100 yen ($1) store
Lips: Outlined with dark purple eyeliner, then blended with red lipstick.
Who says you can’t mix Cyber Goth and Lolita? I arranged the dreads so that the red ones peek out on one side.
Dress: Alice and the Pirates, from Closet Child
Black Goth jacket: gifted from Gloomth (better photos here)
Spiky red bracelet: bought it years ago in Camden Market
Fishnets, socks and shoes: Old things
There was a large turnout of Japanese fans at the Vancouver show (held at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre). Guess which of these hardcore gals is also flying to Chicago and Toronto to see the Jrock band perform?
Many brought along cute Hide and Yoshikitty (Yoshiki x Hello Kitty) plush toys.
Thumbs up to the pink-haired Hide cosplayer and Doraemon kigirumi with… a fetish top and rocking horse shoes?
When the doors opened, everyone ran inside and swarmed the merchandise both. Instead of paying for a $30 official t-shirt, one economically-minded fan taped red duct tape on her top (in the shape of a giant X).
The two girls in the center brought roses and made this flag.
Avery and I were interviewed by X Japan’s videographers. We talked about how the rockers inspired us and how excited we were about their North American invasion. The band will later decide what to do with the footage (perhaps it will appear in a tour video).
The League of the Extraordinary Hair.
No matter what language you speak, X is the universal hand symbol among the group’s fans.
Inside, the energy was electric… we are X! Bookmark this blog — tomorrow, I’ll be posting live photos of Yoshiki, Toshi, Pata, Heath, Sugizo (and the ghost of Hide)!
Have you seen X Japan in concert yet? What were your impressions? Did they meet your expectations?
Japanese Word of the Day: Shinkou = Faith, belief
Song of the Day: X JAPAN – Forever Love (Last Live)
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GHOSTLOVE PIRATE JEWELRY GIVEAWAY! JAPANESE TV LOCAL PRODUCTION COORDINATORS, HARAJUKU FASHION, OTAKU COSPLAY GUIDES & EXPERTS.
Naomi and I want to thank you for supporting La Carmina & The Pirates! Twenty-four hours after unveiling our coolhunter / Japanese TV fixer (hosting and arranging business), Naomi and I already have a new offer… I’ll soon post photos from our Tokyo travel TV shoots with Pepsi and Sony, which will give you a better idea of how we work and what we do.
Speaking of scurvy sea dogs: let’s celebrate with a generous pirate jewelry giveaway from Ghostlove.
Ghostlove has hand-crafted nine collections of dark, beautiful jewelry and accessories, specializing in Couture Noir, Gothic Lolita, Neo-Victorian and Steampunk. I fell in love with everything on the website — but especially these gold treasures from the Pirate collection.
Black high-waisted dress: Westmend, a Chinese Lolita brand
Polonova velvet gloves: gifted from Sock Dreams
Gold splash metallic thigh highs: gifted from We Love Colors
I’m wearing Ghostlove’s A Mighty Ship, an intricately detailed steampunk schooner with a dangling anchor. I can’t wait to accessorize my next outfit with the Ghost of the Kraken antiqued brass octopus brooch, nautical charms dangling from his tentacles. (Thank you to Ghostlove for these beauties, as well as the cute cat toys for Basil Farrow!)
Makeup: 100 yen ($1) fake eyelashes on the bottom lids and Daiso flower gems. I outlined my lips with OhMyGoth! smudgeliner and filled them with Adrenaline red lipstick, both gifted by Annabelle Cosmetics.
A fair wench look.
Black corset tank top: got it a while back in a cheap Hong Kong lingerie store.
Long sleeve black top: Numph, from my mother
Red knee highs: from the infamous Los Angeles 99 cent store
Above are close-ups of my makeup. The light pink eyeshadow is gifted from Shrinkle’s Sugarpill Makeup.
Manicure: I painted the tip of each nail red, added a white stripe, and filled the base with black (using Daiso $1 nail art polish).
And behold the Jolly Roger necklace Ghostlove created for me (they accept custom orders). Guess what — the designer made not one, but two identical copies. One of them is for you to win… so we can be like sisters; the only two people on the planet with this glorious pirate gold!
HOW TO ENTER GHOSTLOVE PIRATE JEWELRY CONTEST
To win the gold skull-and-bones necklace, please help us get the word out on our trendhunting / Japan TV coordination services, La Carmina & The Pirates. You receive one (1) point for each of the following:
† Vote Up our website on Boing Boing (click the green square)
† Dig the site on Digg (click the yellow button)
† Stumble on us via StumbleUpon (“I Like It” button, top left)
† Be creative! Please write about us in a blog post, forum etc. We’re also happy to answer interview questions; just contact us. It’d be great if you could use keywords like “Tokyo TV fixers” and “Japan coolhunters” and link to https://www.lacarmina.com/pirates/
Then comment here, telling us how you got the word out.
*** IMPORTANT *** You must do at least one of the above AND comment in this post (letting us know what you did) to be eligible.
Contest is open worldwide and ends Wednesday, October 13 at midnight Pacific Time. You may only enter once and must the requirements to be eligible. The winner will be picked at random. If you have difficulty leaving a comment, try enabling Disqus in NoScript or email Carmina.
All hands on deck? Time to ship out. Looking forward to your entries!
Japanese Word of the Day: Tenkin suru – Transfer
Song of the Day: Noisuf-X – Deutschland Braucht Bewegung (Dance dance dance.)
LA CARMINA
