Hi People!

So if your visiting Osaka Castle and want to check out where Scandal got it's start let me fill you in on the easiest way to find the place (it's a huge area).  Just go to Osakajokoen Station and get out at the North exit and voila, there it is.   If you continue walking along the canal (going west) you'll reach Osaka Jo Hall.
Kinda cool how they went from playing in the Park back in 2007 to headlining at Jo Hall in 2013, only steps away.   If you go there on the weekend you'll most likely see other young aspiring bands playing, no doubt hoping to do the same.

Cheers!
ImageDreadlock

Edit:  Whoops, totally had the wrong station (I put Morinomiya Station before).   Everything should be correct now.    My apologies to anyone who went to the wrong station and got confused.

@ImageDreadlock

Thanks for the info !

I would also want to visit Namba in Osaka where NMB48 started

Namba is a cool district of Osaka.   Definitely worth a visit if your in town.   Lots of fashion, music stores and good eats.   Actually I just bought a guitar there a couple of days ago.

Can't say as I'm too familiar with NMB48.   I get confused when there is more than 10 people in a group  

Well NMB48 started in 2010 as the second sister group of AKB48 and has 70 members, so definitely more than 10

Their theatre is in the basement of the Yes-Namba Building.

Wow, so that's like a dedicated venue for them.  Never heard of such a concept.

Dance/Vocal groups are cool, I followed some Kpop groups like 2NE1 and Sistar and I like some stuff by E-girls.

But as a musician, I prefer bands.  I've played a fair amount myself so when I watch a group like Scandal I'm totally tuning into what's going on between them musically as they perform live.   

Scandal is a great band and their getting better and better.   Love Masterpiece!

Hi, Image Dreadlock! Agree with you entirely (sorry, Tony Miller), if they ain't got guitars in their hands they ain't a band. But while you're in Osaka why not go the whole hog in tracing SCANDAL's roots & take the metro to Kyobashi & visit the CALESS School of Vocal & Dance, where they all met,  & STUDIO BROTHERZ nearby where they'd hire out practice space in the early days, & below which is the infamous den of iniquity known as Sukyandaru from which they nicked the name "SCANDAL".

How very scandalous.   

And what a great band they are!   Saw them live last night, for the first time.   Brilliant!  Super solid groove from Rina and Tonomi on de riddim and bass, with Haruna and Mami sailing along like birds on the breeze.    And they're all havin' so much fun:  a magical sonic image.

The landmarks are cool, for sure, but ya gotta see 'em play, yo.   They totally rule!

@ImageDreadlock

Yes I was lucky enough to see SCANDAL on one of their trips to London and they are awesome live

And I played bass in British Groups ( nobody famous ) for many years but I enjoy many different kinds of music.

Cool!   If the music is good it doesn't really matter how its played.

Since your a bass player yourself, I'm sure you can appreciate Tonomi's playing.   And she makes it look so easy!

@ImageDreadlock

Yes I have watched her get better and better over the years, plus she is far more pretty than me.

The closest I'll ever get to it is checking it out on google maps.  

Awww

tonymiller wrote:Awww

It's not so bad as you can get a good street level view from it.

I love Google maps, with friends from Japan I can see where they live now.

You can see where they live, Tony Miller? Sounds kinda voyeuristic to me.
And yes, Image Dreadlock, I don't just visit sites associated with SCANDAL, I've seen them twice in London &, of course, I have all 7 of their live DVDs which I play continuously to keep me reminded of them til they come back to the UK or I'm visiting a part of Japan at the same time as one of their gigs. I'm back in Japan this October for the Rugby World Cup so we'll see what might happen. But anyway there is no doubt that they are a band that is best appreciated live.

@The Sherwood Shinobi

Not really, I cannot go to japan as my Indian wife does not wish to and she does not trust me to go on my own, but at least I can see where my friends live.

@The Sherwood Shinobi

Absolutely.  The DVD's, though enjoyable, don't quite convey the real experience.  They burned through the first several songs of the set like a card shark dealing out five card stud, flawlessly, effortlessly, totally engaging the audience all the while.   Given that a lot of their songs are quite complex - key changes, timing changes, little hooks here and there and almost as many chords as a Charlie Parker tune -  I am deeply impressed.

Hope you get lucky and they have a few gigs for you to attend on your visit.   Personally my trip here is dedicated to seeing several bands that I really dig.   Been a Scandal fan for a number of years now, so I made sure they were on the list.

Peace!

Not to bring this back from the dead but in my trip to japan last august, i did check out osaka jo park after my friend randomly decided to spend the afternoon in Osaka before going back to tokyo from Kyoto. There was a boy group playing where (i think) Scandal use to play in all the old osaka jo park videos. It's a pretty cool park and the tower is cheap to check out if anyone gets our there!

@dchan419

A friend who lives in Osaka said a popular greeting there is "Mokarimakka" ? ( Making much money ? )  and she said Osaka is so different to Tokyo.
No wonder SCANDAL are always happy to go back there, and there is that famous bridge at Dotonbori in Osaka where loads of idols ( and SCANDAL ) have posed for pictures.

From this :



to this.... 



Their dream came true in just 7 years!  I hope someone will make a biopic of Scandal like they did for Queen with Bohemian Rhapsody - a mandatory scene would show them play the first few bars of this song from the dorky Castle park video & segue to the performance at the Jo Hall with Tomomi's bass & Rina's beats driving the intro..... so awesome! Tears every time I think about it!  

PS: amp up the volume!

Oops, I guess trying to operate this site from my Smartphone isn't the best idea. To be honest I wasn't even trying to reply but sharing this interesting comparison between then and now with a good friend.

Forgive my incompetence and thanks for the Post Hitotsu Dake.

M