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fti5 · 5 years

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[Trans] FTISLAND - The last tour before enlistment! During the final, Hongki announces “As 4, we will protect FTISLAND.”

During this final performance, on this day, in this venue, it was certain that everyone thought, “even with only 4 people, this is FTISLAND.”

The Korean rock band FTISLAND held the finale of its ‘FTISLAND JAPAN LIVE TOUR 2019 FIVE TREASURES’ tour at Hyogo World Memorial Hall on May 5th. Although already announced, this tour was their last before enlistment. Starting from Tokyo’s Toyoso PIT on April 4th, there were 13 performances during their 1-month long tour. From live houses to halls, to Budokan and finishing in an arena.

Before the show started, the fans in the fully sold-out audience naturally clapped along to ‘God Bless You,’ the lead track from their 9th Album ‘Everlasting’ (released on March 27), as they waited impatiently for FTISLAND to make their entrance. To mark the entrance of the members, the SE (Sound Effect) comprised of an edited and rearranged version of ‘FT Island’ from their 1st Korean album ‘Cheerful Sensibility’ (2007).

They announced, “since we can’t do a live next year to celebrate our Japanese Major Debut’s 10th anniversary, this tour will reflect our history, from our indie days to now.”

In line with this, the song ‘FT Island” was a concert staple during their indie days. As the clapping of the fans grew louder to this SE, Minhwan (Dr), Seunghyun (Gt) and Jaejin (Ba) entered. Then, as Minhwan started to drum a tight beat, Hongki (Vo) entered and they surged triumphantly into their major debut song, ‘Flower Rock’. Despite being a fast-paced song, Hongki was impressively able to stitch together a few words. Fans jumped vigorously with Hongki, and there was a sense of unity from the start.

During the section with FTISLAND’s anime and drama compositions, the lyrics to Satisfaction ‘I’ve been searching for the meaning of happiness. I wondered where it was’ were changed to ‘I wondered if it (the meaning of happiness) was in Kobe.’ Hearing the fans sing this loudly, Hongki grinned broadly. During ‘Haruka’, the theme song for a Japanese drama in which Hongki starred, Seunghyun demonstrated his rapping skills for the first time in a while.

As Hongki commanded the crowd to ‘Give me your voice!’, the ‘WOWOWO’ sing-along to ‘Aqua’ was born. Hongki opened his arms wide as if preparing to receive their voices. Then, he added his own voice thunderously to the fans’ singing. During the one Korean composition section, Hongki, Jaejin and Seunghyun head-banged to the heavy rock beats. To the fans riding the momentum of the music, Hongki sang back to them, returning the favour with his voice. During the sing-along hook of ‘Pray’, as the title suggests, Hongki clasped his hands at his chest as if in prayer. Hongki and the fan’s voices became entangled with each other in a whirlpool. As the song finished and the applause sounded, it felt as though they (the fans and FTISLAND) understood each other through the music. In FTISLAND’s lives, the rapport between the stage and the audience during this sort of stage is huge.

After the intense music, they continued on to a ‘cooling down’ acoustic set. Minhwan said, “We were worried about how we should let you hear the music from our indies era.

Seunghyun added, “so the songs we’ll play have been put into ‘blocks’ divided by season. In Japan, it goes spring, rainy season, then summer. However in Korea, the rainy season comes after summer. Without knowing this, we created the order according to Korea.”

To the backing of Seunghyun’s acoustic guitar, Jaejin started singing ‘Soyogi’, the ballad which conjures images of spring. Then, the bass was layered on top, and the vocal baton was passed to Seunghyun. During the hook of the song, Hongki’s vocals and Minhwan’s cajón overlapped, resounding in a beautiful harmony.

The mutual voices of Hongki and the fans in the venue took hold for the summery ‘Brand new Days’. Although it had been performed in this style since the first day at Toyosu PIT, the timing was changed from the original, and fans struggled to align with the new arrangement. However, fans finally succeeded during the final, and in response Hongki’s entire face lit up, and he gave the audience a thumbs up.

‘Raining’, the song coloured with the rainy season, started with Minhwan’s vocals and the fan’s voices layered upon each other. As the fans sang the chorus, Hongki would provide the harmony. He praised the fans, saying “I love hearing you sing. If I compare it to the first day, you’ve gradually gotten better.”

However, it wasn’t just FTISLAND’s main vocal Hongki singing, Jaejin, Seunghyun and Minhwan all took turns at the vocals. It was the addition of the fans’ vocals, creating perfect unity, which made this song so attractive. Sometimes intense, sometimes gentle, FTISLAND do not only push with power, but have also built up songs with varied expressions. Especially during this tour, there were many such scenes. The face of Hongki, who watched the fans singing along with gentle eyes, also created a lasting impression.

“The atmosphere has become sad with only ballads, so we’ll raise your spirits with our favourite songs now,” said Hongki as ‘Hold the Moon’ started. When it was time for ‘Golden’, a song which Hongki professed he loved, he put his foot on the step and yelled ‘C’mon’. Gathering his voice, the excitement in the audience was roused.

The last section started with ‘Freedom’. Hongki descended from the stage and sprayed the audience with a water gun. After Seunghyun’s scream, Seunghyun and Jaejin both went from left to right, moving around all over the stage. At Hongki’s command of ‘sit down!’, the audience all sat in their seats at once. Then, at the height of the song, they all stood and shook their towels.

Continuing the excitement, next was the FT-style party tune ‘Puppy’. It was enjoyable experiencing the duet between the fans and FT, and there was also great unity enveloping the room for ‘Mitaiken Future’. With Minhwan’s drums gaining momentum, they brought their story to a close with their latest song ‘God Bless You.’ Its powerful sound enveloped the hall right until the end.

The encore opened with the magnificent ballad ‘Paradise’. On Hongki’s lead, Jaejin and Seunghyun sang solo, and then he pointed to the male fans in the audience and said, “just you (sing)!” Afterward, he said “Everyone!” and the whole hall sang as one.

“The next song is the last song of the tour. Everyone, you’ve worked hard,” Hongki said, while hanging his head low, “It’s been a long tour. We were ok with performing in small venues, because we said we just wanted to perform throughout Japan. To be the only Korean band to have been able to perform in so many different places, we held that sort of pride too.”

“Oh!” he shouted excitedly.

“Soon, we’ll have to head off, but we still have the Hiroshima live in August (replacement live), and my solo fan-meeting in July. We want to hold concerts until the very last moment before we leave. Even if it’s a sudden, surprise announcement, will you come play with us?” he asked the audience.

“This concert held a lot of meaning for us. We wanted to say ‘bye bye’ with smiles on our faces, however instead we made you worry. We will protect FTISLAND as 4. Even when we return (from enlistment), we will continue to be a band, so I ask that you please give us your continued support,” he said, which was met with long applause.

“We still have many things we want to show you, music we want to do, things we want to do. So we want to hold concerts until you all get sick of it,” he conveyed passionately to the fans.

Seunghyun, who became the lone guitarist this tour said, “during this tour, my position changed. Because there was not much time to practice, I considered cancelling the tour. However, I tried my hardest in order to protect our promise to you. You never know where life will lead you next. I received a lot of power from you. Thank you very much.”

On the first day at Toyosu PIT, his performance was filled with uncertainty. However, by the last day he showed us a stable and relaxed performance. There’s no mistaking it, Seunghyun was the one who grew the most during this tour.

“I’ve spent more than half my life with FTISLAND. From now on, we will work hard to protect the precious name of FTISLAND, so please give us your continued support.” (Minhwan)

“I used to worry about things like ‘why do you guys like us?’. Now, I just want to move forward with you all. We were nothing. Thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to shine.” (Jaejin)

One by one, they expressed their gratitude to the fans. Then, Hongki continued.

“Your support has strengthened our bond. You passed it on to us during every live, and I felt myself sigh after it was over. It wasn’t a sigh of worry, but rather a ‘thank goodness.’ I’m grateful,” Hongki said.

As he brought the concert to a close, he said “This is ‘Arigato’, a song that carries many meanings,” and launched into the first line of ‘Arigato’.

“We did it yesterday, so you would be mad if we didn’t do it today, right?” Hongki added as he surged into ‘Stay What You Are’. Hongki showed an amazing smile as he watched fans sing along determinedly. When the song finished, calls for another encore immediately rose. With ‘Orange Days’, this became the first triple encore of the tour. One final time, the sound of fans singing along swelled, bringing the concert to a close.

From now on, FTISLAND has become a 4-person band. On the first day, the fans conveyed their worries, however the 4 members responded one by one to these feelings during their performances. It felt as though the bonds between them and their fans have gradually grown even stronger. During this final performance, on this day, in this venue, it was certain that everyone thought, “even with only 4 people, this is FTISLAND.”

After this, FTISLAND will return to the Hiroshima City Cultural Exchange Hall on August 24 for a make-up performance. The previous performance on April 20 was cancelled due to the poor condition of Hongki’s throat.

Hongki will also be holding his solo fan-meeting ‘Never Ending Story’ on July 12 and 13 at Pacifico Yokohama, National Convention Hall of Yokohama.

Jaejin will be participating as a guest bassist during ‘N.FLYING 2019 Live in Japan Brotherhood’ starting from June 4.

Hongki gave a teaser that “there might be a surprise soon.” It seems that FTISLAND could be preparing chances for concerts right up until the moment they leave.

Credits: Sakamoto Yukari @ Excite News

Translated by: [email protected]

Setlist:

1. Flower Rock 2. BEAT IT 3. Boom Boom Boom 4. SATISFACTION 5. ハルカ (Haruka) 6. シアワセオリー (Theory of Happiness) 7. AQUA 8. Take Me Now 9. Pray 10. Soyogi 11. Brand-new days 12. Raining 13. いつか (Itsuka) 14. Distance 15. Hold the moon 16. Golden 17. FREEDOM 18. PUPPY 19. 未体験Future (Mitaiken Future) 20. God Bless You

＜ENCORE＞ 1. Paradise 2. アリガト (Arigato) 3. Stay what you are 4. Orange Days

#ftisland #ft island #f.t.island #news

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peregrinology · 6 years

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Toyosu market is the new Tsukiji… sort of, anyway.

Tokyo’s famous Tsukiji fish market closed in October 2018 and was relocated to Toyosu – a man made island south-east of the old site – to free up development space ahead of the 2020 Olympics. Lots of controversy surrounded the move – not least because it was discovered that, as well as being over budget and over programme, the new site was heavily polluted with things like benzine, cyanide and arsenic… (For those interested in more details, check out: https://www.eater.com/2017/7/25/16019906/tokyo-tsukiji-toyosu-olympics-delay). However, against the odds, the new facility opened on 11th October 2018 and replaced the old market, which had always been a popular spot for tourists wanting to view the early morning tuna auctions. Tuna of up to nearly 500kg can be sold for hundreds of thousands of pounds, the record being USD1.76 million!!! That’s a lot of sashimi.

A representation of one of the largest tuna to have been caught in Japanese waters and sold at Tsukiji market in 1986. 2.88m in length and 496kg!!

Tsukiji was hectic and bustling: forklift trucks sped around the narrow alleyways, the drivers shouting (with various degrees of politeness) to get out of the way, vendors selling their wares (you could buy direct from the stalls); you took your life in your hands as you wandered between the stalls and checked out the fish. When it was all over, you could walk a couple of hundred meters to the outer market and have sushi for breakfast among the discarded polystyrene ice packing boxes and general fish-related paraphernalia.

Toyosu is kind of the same… yet totally different. The timings are the same and you need to get there EARLY – I got the first metro at just after 5am, which got me to Toyosu around 5.45am (including the time it took me to walk when I got off at the wrong station… Note: Use Shijo-Mae station, not Toyosu…). It was already busy, so I headed straight to the auction area. You can still see the auctions, but you’re kept away from the heart of the action in an observation area on the first floor. You need to get a visitor pass (issued on a first-come, first-served basis, then it’s ‘one in, one out’, so you may have a short wait if you just miss out on one). There’s a new ground-floor viewing area opening on 15th January 2019, but for now, you’re limited to looking down on the action. Some people have been a bit derisive of the ‘lack of authenticity’ of the new facility, but the bonus of it is that you get a great view of the tuna all laid out on the floor, and you get to see the large scale hustle and bustle – there is literally always something going on to watch (also, it’s important to remember that this is a live fish auction and wholesale warehouse, rather than a tourist attraction, so let’s be honest… it’s a privilege rather than a right, that us tourists can view it in the first place). Tuna are being brought in, taken out, auctions are happening, inspections are happening etc – there is constant movement. There are also signs to explain the hand movements of the wholesalers buying the tuna, so if you’re really into it (and eagle-eyed) you can see which tuna go for which price!

An auction in progress – the guy in the grey top standing on the yellow crate is the auctioneer

That’s a lot of tuna! They have been caught up to three months prior, and frozen on the boat for bringing back to the market

The viewing corridor is lined with photos from the old Tsukiji market – this one is the New Year market (the first offering of the year of a food is considered good luck, and often increases the price above standard market value).

The viewing corridor of the new Toyosu facility

A sign explains the hand signals of the auctioneers and bidders

What comes from where in the market…

Market timescales… these guys start early!!

The wholesale side after the sale has been made

All you need is a visitor’s badge (free, first come first served) to access the viewing area.

A few of the restaurants from the old Tsukiji have relocated, but a lot still remain in the old outer market area. The new market has an unavoidably new feel, and it does all seem rather sanitised and slick in comparison. Which isn’t as bad as it may sound – it’s too early to be disparaging of the new facility from a tourist perspective: it’s a working market, not a tourist attraction. That said, it’s easy to forget that when it feels like you’re not really ‘in the thick of it’ like you used to be. There is plenty to see from the observation deck and, when the lower level viewing opens in January, you can get even closer to the action… You’ll even get to be at the same temperature as the auction floor (about 8 degrees Celsius)… Personally, since I can’t follow the action to too great a degree anyway, and I’d also rather be warm, the upstairs observation deck suited me just fine… The morning I was there, there was also a guy doing explanations – I’m not sure if he’s there all the time, or I just got lucky on the timing – but I felt I got more out of it listening to him than I would have done just wandering around on my own. For instance, the floors in the new market are green, so that the wholesalers (around 100 of whom are the ones authorised to buy direct from this market) can see the red flesh of the tuna (and thus the quality) better.

I wandered through the fish market after the auction; again, there is plenty to see and wow over, and it feels slightly less hectic than the old market at Tsukiji, but to be totally honest, I didn’t spend that much time here. My priority had become eating, and the outer market area at the old site is still open… I wanted to go and explore there again and, since the sun was up by then, I walked over the wharf area and Sumida River in the morning sunrise to meet Jamie and Hugo for a sushi breakfast…. there is literally no better way to start the day than with some raw fish!!

Sumida RIver

Looking towards Southern Tokyo

Tokyo at dawn

We worked on the principle that nowhere was going to be awful, and picked the place with the friendliest person outside their restaurant, and we weren’t disappointed! The Tsukiji Sushi Sen lady was really friendly, and the sushi was really good! We went for two selections: a general one (prawn, tuna, salmon, salmon roe, scallop, tuna, and omelette) and a tuna one (fatty, belly, seared, and normal), then picked a few extras that we fancied (horse mackerel, sea urchin, and seared horse meat). We got a chawanmushi (savoury egg custard) and a prawn head miso soup to accompany.

Horse mackerel, sea urchin, and seared horse meat

Tuna selection

Chawanmushi

Prawn head miso soup

Sushi selection

Then it was off to explore the outer market. There’s plenty of street food, and plenty of samples. We tried less than we’d expected to, having over-indulged at breakfast, but did manage a few treats… The first – and yet hardest won of the day – was definitely a matcha green tea mochi (rice ball) stuffed with a fresh strawberry; I had to wait for three older ladies to negotiate their increasingly large orders of dried squid jerky… at one point one of them started to try the pickles that were also for sale and I considered letting my patience get the better of me…. but for once I didn’t, and managed to stick it out to get the mochi, but it definitely took longer to buy it than eat it…

A moment of silence for the mochi that triumphed over my impatience please…

There is plenty in the way of grilled fish on offer; scallops are our favourite, but eel, prawns, salmon and many others are also on every corner, as well as wagyu beef, the ubiquitous pickles and cured products, and desserts. The cool thing is that you get to see so much of it being prepared. You can see matcha being ground from green tea leaves, bonito flakes being shaved from the smoked fish fillet, oysters being shucked and grilled in front of you, and sushi rolls being made and – like the Nishiki market in Kyoto (45. Street Food Tour; Nishiki Market, Kyoto), it just adds an extra dimension to your snack.

Cutting the fresh tuna for sashimi

Octopus, squid, scallops and prawns ready for the grill…

On the grill…

Fish packed and ready to go!

There were little hidden corridors all over the place!

Fresh shellfish

Fresh fish

Fishcakes on sticks

Preserved and cured products

That’s a big selection of mushrooms

Bonito flakes – freshly flaked on site!

There are also plenty of non-food items here – mainly knives, it has to be said…. And boy, do they have some knives!! One day… but not this trip. This trip, I settled for some matcha (powdered green tea) in a lovely tin!

Knives…

More knives…

The green tea (and seaweed) shop

We also stopped for a taste of sake; two different ones, in fact. A ‘raw’ one, and a ‘premium’ one. The premium one being made only with the very centre of the polished rice grain, the raw one being partially-fermented and cloudy in appearance; you could definitely taste the yeast, and I couldn’t help but compare the difference to a pilsner vs a wheat beer. And talking of beer, we also stopped to try some of the Asahi brewery’s offerings…

The sake shop

A choice of 4 for tasting

Some very fancy sakes here…

The shop was lovely and had all kinds of artisan foods to accompany the sake!

The sake – premium on the left, raw on the right

The Asahi Brewery stall

Asahi

Anyway, the upshot of the early start was that it is still totally worth getting out of bed at a hideous hour to see the tuna auction – especially if you’ve never seen it – but equally, you should still head over to the old Tsukiji outer market for breakfast afterwards, you wont be disappointed!

48. Toyosu Fish Market, Tokyo (the ‘New Tsukiji’) Toyosu market is the new Tsukiji... sort of, anyway. Tokyo’s famous Tsukiji fish market closed in October 2018 and was relocated to Toyosu - a man made island south-east of the old site - to free up development space ahead of the 2020 Olympics.

#Asia #Fish #Fish Market #Food #Food and Drink #Japan #Market Food #Markets #Seafood #Street Food #Tokyo #Toyoso #Travel #Tsukiji #Tuna

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