that foreign music blog🌎

If you’ve been reading any Japanese news, you’ll know that this summer has hit record-breaking temperatures. To California natives like myself, forty degrees Celsius doesn’t seem like such a big deal, but paired with Japan’s humidity, people have literally been dropping like flies. However, being a relatively young and healthy individual, I didn’t expect my summer festival experience to end up with me passing out on the dirt.

Luckily, I’d decided to go with my Japanese friend who wanted to go to his first summer festival. On the train and bus ride, I handed him sunscreen and moist towelettes, all while reminding him about the importance of nutrition and hydration. However, as we waited for the first artist in the blistering sun, my body finally decided that it’d had enough of these monthly concerts and I’d suddenly felt light-headed. The hosts of the event were telling us to raise our hands if we needed help just as my vision went blurry. When I woke up, I felt extremely lucky to have been able to go with a friend this time around because, even with my Japanese ability, I can’t really speak for myself when I’m unconscious.

I’d been carried to an emergency tent on the venue and was met with several bags of ice, sports drinks, and sodium tablets. It was within a matter of minutes that two other girls entered the tent, showing just how serious the heat was.

Given that my friend and I had gotten a total of five or six hours of sleep, along with my burnout from work, I imagine it really was my body finally giving up. Even so, particularly for this blog, I was determined to enjoy the festival to the best of my ability. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get lost in the energy of the mosh pits and circle dances that’d formed in the center of the crowd, but I’d eventually coaxed my friend to join me in the more relaxed crowd dances in the back. I was particularly happy that I’d been able to see the Nagoya-based group, 04 Limited Sazabys, which is a group I’ve been dying to see live. It was also hilarious to hear the vocalist, Gen, share his Nagoya-based views on Osaka, making jokes about the dialect and his experience with an aged masseuse while getting treatment in the bustling city. While I’m not a Nagoya-native, it always gives me a sense of pride whenever I encounter others from Nagoya.

We stayed until around four. I had fully intended to stay longer, but after leading my friend to the bus stop, I found that I had no energy to go back to the venue and decided to stay with him. I’d like to say that I had a lot of fun, but with my head clouded by heatstroke, most of the festival was spent sitting in the shade trying to recuperate. I was also really disappointed that my friend’s first festival experience was forever darkened by my fainting.

To end, while I’m always happy to go to a concert or festival for the sake of music, I apparently do have limits. With my summer vacation just around the corner, I’m looking forward to doing nothing for a few days. For those of you who are scheduled to go to a festival this summer, whether it be in Japan or in California, STAY HYDRATED.