So today my plan, GPS willing, is to visit both Yasukuni shrine and Sengakuji temple, but before I do that I need to take the time to properly thank my hosts for giving me such an amazing birthday experience that was completely not expected or required.
I don't really think there is much I can say to truly encapsulate how incredible a gesture that was, nor how it made me feel, but it will remain a close and cherished memory for the rest of my life.
It's no exaggeration to say this was the best birthday I have ever had, and it really shows the spirit of Babymetal fans is accurately depicted when there fans are referred to as "the one" - to treat a stranger and foreigner whose language you can't even adequately speak as a brother and "one" under the fox god is truly remarkable and what this world desperately needs in a time of divisiveness, competition and separation.
So accustomed to this I have become in life that the emotion I felt to have that perception so resolutely challenged caused me to shed tears of joy. I will never forget sitting there and hearing the sudden roar of happy birthday.......at first I even thought it was probably in reference to the upcoming birthday of Suzuka, because the last thing I would have expected is the entire room to be in on a birthday party just for me, the only people I thought who knew were my immediate friends who invited me in the first place.
The level of detail and thought you put into the gifts you gave me was also overwhelming, so many Yui metal presents and an amazing hand crafted "Dark Knights" samurai helmet is incredible. A gift that would make any Babymetal fan envious of receiving! but to do so on their Birthday, after having been treated to the most amazing live performance of your life and for the first time being able to actually see and hear the band up close is absolutely mind blowing.
The original artwork, the badges, the Yui chan phone cover (someone must have told them I am Yui crazy?) the copies of Sakura Gakuin and Babymetal lives that are not released overseas or onto official Delorean format.....all of it will be kept and held in the highest regard for as long I am walking this earth.
Even down to the smallest things like making a cake with a Sakura Gakuin theme and concentrating on the fact that Yui from the resteraunt had made it is amazing.
I also want to thank the young man who came up and asked me in Japanese (which was translated for me by Junya) why I love babymetal so much, that is also a touching gesture and no matter how many times I explain the reason I never get tired of it because the truth is I wouldn't be here today without babymetal, they appeared at the lowest point of my life and they have taken me to the highest point of my life - literally.
I am somewhat surprised to discover (or maybe I shouldn't be) that this is the case also for many other fans, including this young man who asked me. In that moment I felt so connected and understood and explains the incredible energy manifested in that venue on both those nights and the unity I have never felt before.......tens of thousands of people all acting in concert, literally jumping for joy and love.
A time where you can hug the person standing next to you and you will be hugged back in kind, for no other reason than you can't actually contain what is building up inside you. This is something we all deserve and I am glad I met you and I am glad we both found babymetal when we needed it most.
Just as is said before Ijime Damai Zettai - we must never give up and we must run the race to the finish always trying to do our best. Together we can achieve anything and with the fox god working through us we can change this world for the better, just as our lives have been personally improved because of it.
What you did for me was exactly that. You can't know, just as the girls can't know, just how important their work is, they may never know but we can show them at each live event how they have given us fresh hope for the future and the courage to tackle life head on......in the wall of death.
You truly, like Babymetal, are phenomenal ambassadors for your country and your culture and all I can do to finish this off is bow humbly and reverently and declare......arigatou gozaimasu!
I will no doubt see you all @ Tokyo Dome and we can once again bring the light of the fox god to this world that so desperately needs it.
David Maher Oh and please add to this message. Music and love is our religion
いいね!を取り消す · 返信 · 3 · 12月15日 10:05
David Maher
David Maher The universal brotherhood of "the one"
追記ですが、本日の彼のFBへ、オフ会のときにいただいたcatch me if you canとbabymetalのイラストが投稿され、「なんて素晴らしいんだ」と言ってました。いただいた際、なんとかコミュニケーションをとろうとしたのですが、お名前を聞くことができなかった、と申してました。プレゼントしてくださった方、お名前をいただければ伝えさせていただきます。