At the moment I’m on a plane headed to Dusseldorf, Germany.

To start off, I drank one can of the super dry beer I always drink. Then, two bottles of red wine.

Ah-they were small bottles.

My first in-flight meal was katsu curry which tasted more normal than I was expecting, so I was happy.

TOUR15 THE UNSTOPPABLE LIFE went by in a blink of an eye.

There were a few shows on this tour that had a really good feel for me.

I don’t know if “good feel” is the right way to put it but without a thought I could effortlessly give it my all, becoming one with my guitar. Then while intensely concentrating on the song I would become more and more excited.

That kind of time feels really good.

It makes me wanna keep playing and not get off the stage.

But even if I think “I’ve got it!!” there will be a whole week before the next show and the feeling will have disappeared off somewhere.

It’s difficult, no matter how many years you’ve been doing it for.

But that’s what makes it fun.

On this tour we visited a few places we haven’t played at in a long time, and it really felt like a tour, so I personally enjoyed it. In Kanazawa I was also able to eat the best soba in Japan for the first time in 6 years.

The soba store normally only opens for lunch, stops service when all the noodles have been used, and is very popular so I took the bullet train by myself from Tokyo at 8am and waited outside the store until it opened. How much do I love it ?!

As was the same as every other time I’d visited the store I needed to wait a long time for my meal after ordering, which I was fine with. Totally fine with. I could totally wait.

Eating it for the first time in 6 years… It was so so delicious I had such a big grin on my face while eating.

My heart and lips were both numbed. It was a moment of pure happiness.

Since I’d come all this way I visited several places I’d been to in the past for previous Haiiro no Ginka issues and photo shoots.

I love the atmosphere of old tea-house streets.

Cold perms are still very popular but I wonder if Kimura has shut his cold perm shop by now. It has been 15 years since I was last here.

The rusted, worn out sign out front of his store gives it a Shouwa era (1926-1989) feel.

Afterwards, I went to kenroku park but it was so hot, and I was struck by the drowsiness you often get after eating, so I did what I’d come to do and then quickly left.

Writing this has taken a fair amount of time, but I still have four hours of this flight to go. Once we arrive in Dusseldorf, it’s a 26 hour bus ride to Belarus, so I can sleep on the bus. It’s my first time going to Belarus. I wonder what kind of place it is.

In any case, I hope nothing bad happens while we’re there.

Our tours in Japan are blessed with carefully crafted stage production, full equipment, and lots of staff, whereas our tours in Europe only have the bare minimum of equipment and staff.

The conditions and places where we play may be different but wherever we play I want to perform concerts which make people think “that’s a Dir en grey concert!”

I’m looking forward to TOUR2015 NEVER FREE FROM THE AWAKENING.

