Today was the Tokyo Game Music Show 2019 (東京ゲーム音楽ショー) !! I wasn’t able to go to the show last year because of work or something else that was scheduled at the same time, but since LieN was scheduled to perform and have a booth, I really wanted to go.

This year’s show was held at Ota City Industrial Plaza PIO just three minutes from Keikyu Kamata Station, which was a relief because I remember walking forever to get to the Tokyo Port Terminal in 2016. Plus, Plaza PIO was only a 20 minute train commute without needing to transfer anywhere. I was very grateful for the convenience.

My first stop was to check out LieN’s booth. I’m pretty sure I have all of the CDs already, so I didn’t buy anything this time. Sorry! The official CC2 Info account on Twitter posted this really nice, full shot of the booth:

Here’s a look at the whole event hall with all the people!! It was a big hall, so it didn’t feel that crowded.

After walking around for a while, I got in line at a couple booths to purchase some goodies. These are the booths I visited:

But actually… I was supposed to go to concert practice for GameTakt, but I absolutely skipped out. In the meantime, I was caught by our GameTakt leader, Sakamoto Hideki! I’m so sorry! Please forgive me!! I will do my best to get back up to speed!

I also ran into Mari, a violinist who performs a lot with Noisycroak, while I was talking with Sakamoto-sensei, and she asked me, “Is it okay that you don’t go to practice…?” I was like, “Umm… Not really, but…” ^^;;

Then, I was going to say hello to sanodg at his booth when he was called to Stage A for his demonstration of the KORG Gadget for Nintendo Switch.

sanodg demonstrating the KORG Gadget for Nintendo Switch with three others. It was funny to watch the chaos as they all began entering notes and even erasing each other’s work. “Hey!!”

I only watched for a little while because LieN was just about to begin their talk session on Stage B.

At 3:45, LieN had a talk event in which they talked about a bunch of stuff, like how they’ve been friends since childhood and pretty much went to school together even through college. Vocalist Mitani Tomoyo originally learned to play the piano as a child but eventually switched to vocals instead. For the most part, both of them mostly practiced classical and opera music.

Composer/Pianist Fukuda Chikayo told a cute story about her son, who’s now a 1st year high school student, and how he grew to become a gamer because of her. It seemed like they are a family of gamers. But when Mitani was asked if she played many games as well, she said, “Ahhh, no, not really.” She mentioned that although she didn’t know everything in the .hack games, she could still write the lyrics with the detailed information she was given about the setting and feeling that the songs were meant to convey. Pretty amazing!

Stage B: Talk session with LieN

I also stopped by Kikuta Hiroki’s booth. I never had the opportunity to speak with him before even though I saw him at the 8-4 pre-TGS party (he quickly left before I could introduce myself). I bought his new CD that was made specifically for this event. Then he proceeded to take out a long sign board and asked me what was something that’s been worrying me lately. I don’t think it took me very long but the question caught me off guard and I sort of fell to my knees as I began talking about it: my career problems. I told him that I’ve been teaching English here in Japan for over 14 years and have absolutely hit a wall. There is no future in this profession, not unless you’re a thoroughly dedicated to education like its your life’s blood. It’s not to me; it never has been, so I explained to him that I’m looking to see what I can do possibly in the gaming industry, but I’m worried because I have no experience plus I’m not young any more. He said that it doesn’t really matter because the best way to learn how to do stuff is on the fly once you get hired. He said that I shouldn’t worry so much and just do my best anyway. He wrote: Nayamanai de ganbaru: Don’t worry; Just do your best.

Then even before the live performances wrapped up, they asked all the composers and performers to come to Stage A for a group photo. I almost didn’t notice that everyone was gathered over there but still managed to get a nice shot of everyone on stage!

Stage A: Group photo

Toward the end very end of the event, LieN performed five songs:

Shinjitsu no Yukue (真実の行方) / The Whereabouts of Truth

(真実の行方) / The Whereabouts of Truth Yasashii Ryoute (優しい両手) / Gentle Hands

(優しい両手) / Gentle Hands Kokoro no Mama ni (心のままに) / As You Please

(心のままに) / As You Please Sakura Ka Getsu (桜花月) / Month of Cherry Blossoms

(桜花月) / Month of Cherry Blossoms Yasashiku Kimi wa Hohoendeita (優しくキミは微笑んでいた) / You Smiled Kindly





After LieN’s mini concert, I went over to their booth and asked them to autograph several of my CDs. Sign boards were also being sold at the venue, so I quickly bought one for 100 yen! So cheap! I’ll be adding it to my sign board wall. <3

So, thanks to everyone I was able to speak with today, my fellow .hack friends that let me hang out with them both during and after the venue, and thanks to Sakamoto-sensei for not killing me for skipping practice. TGMS is always a fun event and I hope to go again next year!