March is already over and it’s April. Time really flies. Last Sunday it suddenly hit me that I’ve been living in Tokyo and still haven’t been to ageHa even once. How could that possibly be… So I checked the schedule right away, and there was a capsule event on Monday. It was too short notice to get advance tickets, but there was no way I was passing up this chance. Monday night I headed straight to ageHa.
capsule were hugely popular back in the day for their Shibuya-kei electronica and cutesy girly vocals. Their popularity faded for a while, but lately they’ve been putting out albums that completely reinvent them as club music, and people are loving it. I listen to them a lot myself. Still, however popular capsule are, they don’t play ageHa all that often, so if I skipped this one, who knows when the next chance would come. Plus, with an event on a Monday like this one, trying again would be even harder unless I took a day off work.
I didn’t bring my DSLR, so I shot these on my phone. The picture quality is lousy, but if I’d brought the DSLR I couldn’t have partied. I’d like to buy a compact camera, but I haven’t found one I like yet. If Sigma improves the DP1 a bit more, I might get one…
ageHa is in Shin-Kiba, out toward Chiba.
The event started at 11, and I got there about 30 minutes late. As you all know, the main DJs you really have to see at events like this come on late. Unless you’re very confident in your stamina, there’s no need to go early and wear yourself out.
As you can see, it was my first time there and the entrance was dark, so I wandered around a bit. From Shin-Kiba Station you walk a little toward the sea. The entrance isn’t at the front but on the left, and there are coin lockers up on the upper left. They check your ID and belongings at the door, so make sure to bring ID, and traveling light makes partying easier, right?
ageHa has four DJ booths: the main floor, the lounge, the outdoor lounge, and the tent. Each has DJs with a different style, so if the music in one gets boring you just move to another. When you party here, there’s honestly not a single dull moment.
DJing inside the tent
The first DJ on the main floor often doesn’t show what they’ve really got. Their job is to warm up the crowd and make the main DJ who follows look good. I think it was RAM RIDER, but the music was so ordinary that I went looking elsewhere, heard some good stuff coming from the tent, and went in. The DJ had great taste and a great performance.
Tent, part 2
The visuals are seriously good too. Japanese club culture really is something else… Lately a lot of Japanese DJs seem to be playing in Korea too; I wonder what the vibe is like there.
There’s a food stall in front of the tent, for when you get hungry… I didn’t try it. I’ve put on a lot of weight lately, so I’m trying to avoid late-night snacks. Also, ageHa’s admission doesn’t include a drink. Just so you know if you go…
Outdoor lounge
There’s a pool too… though it’s a bit shabby ^_^ You can see the sea, but the night view isn’t much, since the area around it is all factories… On a warm day it looks like quite a few people would jump into the pool. Surprisingly, the DJs out here were really good. It was a party playlist with no particular character, if you want to call that a character, but that kind of thing is actually easier to just relax and have fun to. Later on it gets so packed there’s barely room to stand.
Time to head back to the main floor.
The first DJ was probably RAM RIDER, but not very impressive. The first DJ’s job is to get the crowd going for the main DJ, after all. The next DJ, on around 1, was RYUKYUDISKO, and he was really good.
Dazzling lights…
or so they were supposed to be, but they didn’t come out dazzling -_-;; The lighting and sound systems are really well done.
Midway through I head back to the tent again.
There’s a party going on. The kids partying up front like that are usually the DJs’ friends. Anyway, it’s fun just to watch. Everyone’s having a great time…
When I got back, capsule were starting.
Vocalist Toshiko Koshijima was singing live. So glamorous ^_^ In person, Toshiko Koshijima is seriously cute. You could call her the cutting edge of 21st-century makeup technology… Yasutaka Nakata looked cool too… and the atmosphere was hitting its peak.
Near the end
capsule’s DJ set ended around 3 and they handed over to the next DJ. I rested in the lounge for a while and came back around 4. When I went to the lounge, some beautiful foreign woman was DJing. That was pretty fun in its own way too. (It was too dark to get a photo of her. What a shame…)
And so I had a really fun day. I’m definitely going again next time. Though first I’ll need to build up my stamina…