AKIHABARA Backstage PASS

[kikkawame]

I am in japan on holiday and have been backstage pass three times, always as awesome as ever. On my left arm I have a tatoo of cyborg circuitry... So all the girls started calling me a cyborrg, cue me doing my best Terminator/Borg impression which scared them all

Also Kaori has just blogged that from tomorrow BSP has special valentines goods and on the 14th they are having an event, long-shot but if you are here, go along!

[Celedam]

From the official channel: "TsunTube Presents! Chōshi Bukkoki-matsuri 2014 Haru"…



First, reporting from last weekend's shows in Okayama and Fukuoka. Then, announcing the upcoming shows in Niigata, Nagoya, Sendai, Osaka, and Tokyo. Lots and lots of regional indie groups.

http://backst.jp/news/201401/403/

---

Also, Sixth Gen auditions…

http://backst.jp/special/audition6th/

[JonCC]

Kohime at 2:03

[riversong]

The album is fab. Aiya Papaiya reminds me of Odoru 11 with that sort of yelling in the background.

[Celedam]

Here they are at the iTunes Store…

https://itunes.apple.com/jp/artist/id639574834

Not available outside of Japan, of course, but at least you can play the previews in your browser.

[JonCC]

Kind of silly they separated the tracks.
Bought Aiya Papaiya nonetheless.

[Celedam]

^ How did you set up your account? I know a few ways how it can be done, but I'm curious how you in particular did it.

[JonCC]

Bought a Japanese iTunes gift card via J-LIST/J-BOX and followed their instructions.
http://www.jlist.com/product/ITUNESCARD

Before you begin, you will need:
1. the 16-digit code from your iTunes card
2. an E-mail address that has never been used in iTunes before.

How to use your card:
1. Load iTunes on your Mac or PC, and choose "Japan" in the iTunes Music Store popup at the bottom of the iTunes Store window. If you've already got an account in your home country, sign out by clicking on the Account button in the upper left hand corner.
**The Japanese iTunes will not work with your home country account, you will need to make a new account. This will require using a different E-mail address from the one you usually use to sign in to iTunes with.**

2. Click the "Redeem" link on the left hand side, and in the box enter the iTunes Music Card number we sent you.

3. Select to create a new account, using any address in Japan you like (you may use ours as a dummy address if you like). You can do this in English or any language that's supported by iTunes -- no need to use Japanese.
a) For Phonetic Name, just reenter your name in English.
b) For Credit Card, be sure to select "none". At this time, it appears that iTunes Japan only accepts credit cards with a matching Japanese address. If you aren't able to get the "none" option for the credit card section at first, check the steps and retry from the Redeem link. We are aware that sometimes the initial attempts may not give you an option for signing up without a credit card, but for some reason when trying again the option appears.
c) For a phone number, Japan phone numbers are three to four digits for the first field, always beginning with a zero. The second field is 7-8 digits (e.g. 060 and 12341234).

4. Enjoy purchasing great music and albums from Japan's iTunes Music Store!

If you like, you may use J-List's address for the registered address of your card. This registration will not and does not entitle J-List to use or listen to your music. This is simply for our customers' connivence. Our address information is:

Postal code: 372-0001
Prefecture: Gunma
City: Isesaki
Address: 4222-3 Hashie-cho,

They don't actually send you the physical card, just the code. So no shipping costs.
Been using them for over a year and a half now. No issues thus far.

[Celedam]

Do you have any problems with tracks from different countries' stores in the same iTunes library?

[JonCC]

No, once downloaded they play and behave just like any other track. You can switch back to your original account without issue.
When it comes to re-downloading past purchases from the cloud, it's just a matter of logging in with the right account.
Although I generally don't have a need for that particular functionality and try to stay away from anything that even remotely has to do with Apple's iCloud.

It used to be a big hassle a while ago since Japan's iTunes store was one of the last to go DRM-free.
Luckily that isn't an issue anymore.

I don't use iTunes Match, although I don't see how that would present a problem.