This is a thing and I don’t know how to feel.
https://x.com/bbs_2026
Not specifically Vkei related, but Idol Twitter is blowing up over reports from an Arashi show where multiple foreigners with FC tickets were denied entry due to putting down Japanese hotel addresses instead of their (foreign) addresses on their passports…which they weren’t allowed to put anyways.
I understand that it’s a farewell tour for Arashi, so it was really important for a lot of foreign fans to make the trip out.
Of course, there were a couple of people trying to argue that the denials were justified, because Japanese people have the right to see shows in their own country without foreigners coming and driving up the price of tickets.
But this isn’t Taylor Swift, with apparent millionaires following her around the world buying up the best tickets. This is an idol group that almost never plays outside of Japan (maybe occasionally South Korea or China). Foreigners kind of have no choice. Nor do most Japanese concert organizers jack up prices intentionally to capture foreign tourists.
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TIL That there are people who take offense at foreigners attending a concert 
The thought would never have even remotely occurred to me.
I have a hard time imagining that so many foreigners are interested in going to concerts in Japan (no matter which band) that it would affect the ticket prices?! I mean, how big could the average amount of tourists on an average concert be? 5%? As I never been to Japan, my estimation could be very wrong, of course.
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I’d say that’s about right in almost all cases. I can think of only a couple shows that I went to where Japanese attendees weren’t at least 90%+ of the audience.
I’m thinking the Damned and Lyrica shows I’ve been to.
it’s a play on their fanclub names, dezert’s fanclub is calles Himawari-kai (Sunflower Club) and Royz’s is called Wings.
Himawari no Tane (Sunflower seeds) is a phrase from Hamtaro (the hamster anime)'s theme song.
this poster says Himawari no Hane instead of Tane - “Sunflower Wings”.
The hamster is a reference to hamtaro.
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Tbh I think it’s the idol fandom itself. Surely not all fans but the Super crazy people are somehow always idol Fans….
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Folks with obsessions are the same, wherever you go 
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I can relate. As a Black American living in The Netherlands (and a city that’s not particularly diverse) I often get lumped in with “problematic immigrants” despite the fact that I actually work, have a Dutch partner, try my best to respect Dutch culture, and am taking all the proper channels to integrate. There’s still people that look at you as if you just game to leech off of Dutch society or something. It’s pretty ignorant.
I even had a Dutch woman tell me once that “the others messed it up for me”. 
“The others” she was referring to were Africans from the continent, of which I have no relation to culturally or ethnically - but hey, I guess black ppl are a monolith to some folks.
Even in one of my integration classes - the teacher told us straight up that no matter what - we’ll always be outsiders here.
Thankfully, I’ve already had a lifetime of experience knowing what it’s like to be a stranger: that’s what being black in America feels like. I can’t say that I’ve ever felt an ounce of connection or patriotism to the U.S. outside of my own people.
Regardless of all this, God has been good to me.
I also relate to this! You’d think it would kill people to just show a bit compassion and understanding.
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I think about this a lot, and to my horror I’m starting to understand why in every country there are groups of foreigners who refuse to integrate into society. That society gives us nothing but a sense of abandonment, alienation, and insecurity. You’re an outsider no matter what you do. And for most people there’s no such thing as a “good foreigner” or a “bad foreigner.”
On top of that, what they call “integration” almost always means giving up your own identity and culture. And again, you get nothing in return - when you try to adopt their culture or language, you’re still told you’re not good enough, or even that you’re ridiculous: “you’ll never be like us.” So what’s the point of it all? I swear, I’ll end up like Greta Garbo.
Haha, funny thoughts from a conventionally attractive Slavic woman who has the privilege of being married to a citizen of this country… but if even I feel completely drained and worn down by everything that’s happening, I can’t imagine how people feel who carry the weight of being rejected by society even more heavily…
In my defense, in Russia everyone hates everyone - that’s exactly why I always wanted to leave. What difference does it make where you’re an outsider…
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I feel you 1000% on this!
In the case of the NL, I realize that there is definitely a problematic subset of foreigners that come here and are no doubt bad actors. But it’s also not right to throw all foreigners into the same pot. I get that it’s easier to throw the baby out with the bathwater and lump all foreigners together than it is to view people as individuals and take things on a case-by-case basis. I get that. But that doesn’t make that approach right.
Thankfully, in the same way that “not all foreigners” applies here, I also know that not all native Dutch people think this way.
So in light of that, I try to surround myself with people who actually see and appreciate me for who I am as a person - not as an avatar for one of their ridiculous prejudices.
Even if that means it’s just gonna be me and my wife rockin’ out by ourselves. Then so be it. I’m wit it.
But I think that if you keep your focus on that - even in the face of how unrighteously these nations tend to deal with foreigners - if you keep your focus on those who actually love, appreciate, and value you - and you do your best in turn to appreciate, value, and love on those around you - then no matter where you are on this planet, you’ll find a higher level of acceptance and integration. One that no man or woman…no nation or government can give or take away from you.
I stand on that.
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my first electric was an LTD f-50 lmao
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i went out drinking for my 30 or 40th birthday with my girlfriend for korean fried chicken/soju tower. and i forgot she COULD NOT read the menu (its entirely in korean) so i got to play translator. and she thanked me at the end and i cried, because this is the first time i didn’t have someone mad at me they couldn’t understand something?! baffling.
also my doctor decided i was OK to stop ambien!!! goodbye weird jrock dreams i will miss you
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This is the SECOND time my post on visting hide’s grave got reposted on the vkei subreddit by an imposter…
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it’s so annoying how half of reddit is just bots now
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Ghost noises: It brings me a deep, deep form of grief.
I got my girlfriend into japanese music (diru, gazette, kagerou) and now she listens to bands I never did (mamireta, gravity, rides in revelion etc.). But she is taking it a step further: she started to learn japanese and read lyrics and is in general pretty invested and she was pretty shocked when I told her that I, for as long as I‘ve been listening to diru, have never read a single note of lyrics because I really don’t care. It just sounds awesome and I like the strange sounds these people make when they sing in this (to me) unknown language and having it translated into words would lose the magic, at least to me.
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This is real. Depending on the artist, the lyrics can hold up the mystic though.
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I agree! But growing up on nirvana and later death metal (cannibal corpse) and thrash metal (slayer) just left a somewhat sour taste in my mouth when it comes to lyrics. I mean Kurt used to just stick words together that fitted the context so most of his lyrics are just incoherent sentences. And with cannibal and slayer, it’s pretty obvious why I stay away from the lyrics I think 
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