gotoizumi+accordion albums launch at Organ-za

miss_sophie has posted some great shots from the live show at Organ-za which launched two new albums by gotoizumi+accordion last week. More on this great act and the new albums on GetHiroshima soon.

  

Go to miss_sophie's photostream on Flickr to see more

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Skream + Benga at Sacred Spirits

The sound system at Sacred Spirits just about handled Skream and Benga's dubstep set on Sunday. It was a great night, and good to see people out and enjoying the sound. Big thanx to the Heartbeat Of Dragon crew for bringing them down.

Great shot of the scaffolded A-Bomb Dome at night

Flickr user Tokyololas has posted a nice capture of the currently scaffolded A-bomb Dome at night. It looks great at original size on black here. Check out her other work, there's some fantastic stuff in her photostream.

Ticket prices for new baseball stadium announced

Ticket prices for the new baseball stadium announced today. The cost of standard tickets at ¥800-3500 are ¥100-300 more expensive than the old stadium, but you do get a lot more space. While negotiating the 11 ticket choices at the old stadium posed enough headaches, the new stadium will have 29 to get your head around. Options such as private wood decked terraces (¥3500) and lounge areas where you can watch the action horizontally on cushions (¥7000) are great ideas, but one wonders if the offerings aren't a tad too complex.

Comfy?

What are described as suna kaburi seki seats, which take their name from the seats closest to the dohyo at sumo tournaments, offering great views (like this) of the action, are the most expensive in the Central League at ¥8000.

I'll be going through the options and putting them on GetHiroshima over the next couple of weeks. Tickets for the opening series against Chunichi Dragons (4/10-13) go on sale at the old stadium downtown and convenience stores from March 15 and tickets for all other games from March 21.

New stadium lights up

At the risk of making this the "Get New Hiroshima Baseball Stadium Blog" here are a couple of news clips from here on the progress and preparations for the opening of the new baseball stadium. The content is kind of dry, full of the kind of uninspiring detail that only Japanese news seems to be able to provide, but there are some shots of the stadium all lit up.

Translation

This evening the nights sky is lit up by Hiroshima's new pro baseball stadium. With completion and handing over to the city government just a month away, the stadium's 6 floodlights are being tested.

This is live from the stadium. The lights were switched on at sundown at
around around 5:30pm on February 5, illuminating the green baseball field.
Testing began on February 4 and brightness will be checked in a total of
135 places. Work, which includes adjusting the angle of the floodlights,
each of which contain 108 bulbs, and checking the illumination needed for
post game maintenance of the field, will continue until 8pm tonight.

The current municipal Shimin Kyujyo uses 2 kinds of light; yellow and
orange. The new stadium will be bathed in only white light, which is most suitable for high-definition TV broadcasts.

According to Hiroshima city government, the stadium is 90% complete, and
builders are is now at the stage of making checks on air conditioning and
sound systems. Construction is to be completed on schedule by March 16.

The second clip discusses how the local train stations are planning to cope with the increased traffic; basically 3 new ticket machines and some signs.



Translation

JR is to increase the number of automatic ticket reading machines on the
the south side of Hiroshima Station from 2 to 5 to deal with the expected
increase in traffic through once the new baseball stadium opens.
Underground exits which are currently open until 9:30pm will be open until
an extra hour for night games.

The platform at Tenjingawa Station is to be lengthened to accommodate an
extra machine.

JR West divisional manager Shibata says, "We'd like people from around the
local area to be able to enjoy baseball as well as Carp fans".

Also, to help fans get home after night games, 12 special trains departing
Hiroshima Station, named aka-heru "red helmet" will be laid on
during spring. Summer schedules will be considered after seeing how the
first few months go.

This Chugoku Shinbun article adds the following information.

It is estimated that pro baseball games will pull up to 10,000 extra passengers through Hiroshima and Tenjingawa Stations. There will be signs showing the way along the 800m route from Hiroshima Station's South Exit to the new stadium in 14 places). For safety, new 1.5-2.5m high fencing will be put up where the route runs alongside the train tracks.

The "Red Helmet" trains will run between 9 and 10pm after the 15 night games between the first home game on April 10 to June 26.

Monthly cinema round ups. Better than nothing?

Last autumn we had a great response to our call for opinions about our cinema listings (or more precisely, about their disappearance). We were quite surprised by the strength of feeling, and we thought long and hard about how we could make them work (this stuff keeps me awake at night, if you can believe that). In the end I have just had to admit that family commitments make setting aside the hours needed to provide meaningful listings week after week is impossible.

I have been posting weekly round ups here on the blog semi-regularly, but this month I've tried a monthly round up. The month's English language new releases are listed with trailers and links to reviews, and clicking on the movie theater names takes you to the times listed on their own websites.

I'd really appreciate your thoughts as to whether this is helpful to you and something worth continuing. Also, if there are any movie buffs who would like to have a go themselves, please don't be shy!