London Trip + Masayoshi Takanaka Concert

03 Apr, 2026

Pre-ramble:

The time has come. Finally. It feels extremely surreal to even type this out.

Seeing Masayoshi Takanaka live in person has been a dream of mine since I found out about him in July of 2018. At that point in time, I didn't even know he was still going in Japan! Imagine my surprise when he's been putting out yearly DVD/Blu-rays of his live performances! Hint-hint-wink-wink-nudge-nudge...

You can read more about my introduction to Takanaka's music here.

This blog post is mainly going to focus on my first ever solo London (Brixton) trip, and the whole experience with the concert as a VIP ticket holder. Not bragging! Just very surreal to have managed to get one. Ticketmaster isn't too fun to deal with when you're on a work break.

This will be a long one...

The journey (and rambling) begins:

2026-03-30

So... After double checking I had everything packed, including my beloved KK Slider plush and some wonderful Scottish delicacy: Tunnocks caramel wafers, along with some traditional shortbread biscuits which I was going to share with fellow papayas¹ staying at the Brixton Premier Inn - I was off!

The weather has been really weird as of late. We've been getting intermittent snow mixed with rain for a few minutes at a time in Scotland. I believe it was happening nationwide too. Strange country.

My five-and-a-half-hour train trip begins with me heading to Motherwell in a train from [REDACTED] at 9:30am. All went swimmingly. I had a bit of a struggle opening a door at the station until I realised it was a pull door. Typical Kyle moment.

Waiting at Motherwell for the London Euston train, and it was delayed for 20 minutes due to trespassers on the tracks. There was a man who was extremely cross and started to get more flustered as the minutes went by. Judging from my ears picking up on certain keywords as he was on the phone for quite some time standing next to me, he seemed to work with the Scottish Qualifications Agency. Eurgh. Good riddance.

The train arrived eventually and I had to jump on quick. I was a few carriages down from where my reserved seat was. First class area looks swanky as hell from passing by it! I'm not using my left kidney as payment for that though, I'll pass.

Gave the ticket inspector the wrong ticket by accident when he was checking it. Whoops! Given this is my first ever solo trip, I'll make mistakes like that. It's expected.

Guy next to me has a National Rail lanyard/card holder which looks really nice. My top jacket pocket will suffice though.

As we arrived in Carlisle, I had just finished my sandwich, when we got a notification from the conductor that this train would unfortunately be cancelled due to those trespassers on the tracks. Still had no idea what station they were at. Cue some passengers and myself going "for fuck sake". Platform 3 it is. Going to take longer now.²

New train is heaving from other passengers boarding this train. A woman in front of me is making a bit of scene shouting out that she's claustrophobic. When she moved up, you had passengers behind me muttering "get aff the fuckin train" to her.

On the new train at Plat. 3, finally managed to get a random seat - C3. Estimated arrival is about 30-40 minutes late.

Arrived in Oxenholme. A bunch of new passengers board the train. Had a good samaritan help out an Asian couple getting off at Preston to then head to London. She kept reminding them "next stop!".

One of the cleaning ladies sounds like Gollum. Not trying to be mean, but how many cigarettes do you have to smoke a day to sound like that?

Preston time now. Started chatting with nearby passengers. Travelling from Crewe to Wales to go back home. Lovely folk.

Weather is certainly better down here at Stafford.

The staff let us know about free water bottles just after passing Coventry. I like my water. Yum. I forgot about England's tap water not being as clean as Scotland's. Bottled water tastes fine!

Just passed by Rugby, and the train is now directly going to London Euston now. Hooray!

Arrived in Euston, met a Dad and his son (4yr) on the train, and they were very friendly. We waved each other goodbye and safe travels as we went our separate ways. On to the Victoria line which was underground. It had a direct route to Brixton! Absolutely roasting heading over there, it was blowing out hot air from the AC.

Arrived at the Premier Inn, checked in and went to my room. Now, this is quite embarassing to type, but I didn't realise you were supposed to put your key card at the door to engage power on things. I actually went down to reception and asked him about it. I profusely apologised for my grave error which he laughed off. "This guy seriously hasn't been to a Premier Inn before?", those thoughts crossed my mind. Funny mistake on my end!

Booked into the restaurant for 7:30pm. Had some skin chips, pepperoni pizza and a chocolate brownie! Might as well treat myself today for the 6 hours of travel down I just had.

Whilst I was down there, I heard some Japanese behind me, and I had a little check, and it was none other than Akira Okazawa³ (Takanaka's bassist) and presumably a member of management!?

I didn't want to be awkward and attempt to speak broken basic Japanese, so I just looked away back at my table and internally blew up. Holy. Shit! I believe a bunch of the band members are staying at the Premier Inn in Brixton, which is really cool!

Met a fellow Takanaka fan walking back to my room. Shout-out to Frank from Norway! Sorry it was so brief. I just had my dinner and was a little full...

2026-03-31

Today is the day. Oh my God. A seven-year long dream is going to be fulfilled.

Went downstairs at 9:30am to have some breakfast. Very good selection!

I saw some fans having breakfast wearing Takanaka shirts but didn't want to interrupt whilst they were having their meal. That can wait for later!

Met up with a fellow fan called Adam, and we started heading over to the venue just after 2pm. Originally we thought, "huh, this doesn't look that busy", that was before we went around the back of the venue and there were fifty people already there!

I had some Scottish shortbread on hand and started handing them to folk in the crowd, because of myself doing that we met three other folk: Noah, Sam and Tom. They were super chill! Lovely to hang out as line buddies.

Eventually we split into groups of VIP and General. All of us in our small group were VIP holders, so we moved up further in the line and got given some VIP goodies! Laminated lanyard, Takanaka keychain and a vinyl single of Tokyo Reggie and Black Ship, June 4th recording from last year in Los Angeles!

NHK Japan were filming some footage at the line too! They interviewed some folk wearing Takanaka's iconic red suit. Lovely to see!

Merch time! In our little group of five, we all headed to the merch stall. The "very limited edition aloha Hawaiian shirt" was £150. I passed on that and got a lovely t-shirt and poster.

Whilst we were in there, we heard them do rehearsals inside the room, which was fucking surreal. Hearing Blue Lagoon being played outside, we all looked at each other with amazement.

Just after 6pm, the doors opened and we were told to not run or you'll end up at the back of the line. None of us wanted that! Away we walked down to the stage. In our little group of five, we ended up right at the barriers, right at the front. All five of us were taking it all in; the banging Brasilian music playing; the decorative set-pieces; the speaker setup; all of it. We chatted for a bit about how surreal it is standing where we are.

We saw the staff members take some photos from the sides briefly, presumably for fanclub content? Then they started tuning the instruments and one of the tech members had a little ovation when he played a few notes whilst tuning. He found it very funny how expressive the crowd was pre-concert. Eventually the camera crew came in at the front and started setting up. Two main cameras (one regular, and one tiny GoPro-style camera, presumably wide-angled?). There was also two photographers there who were taking shots of the crowd and the band members. I'm assuming they're recording both nights in a way and mixing it together.

7:57pm arrived. The fade-in of the Takanaka chant started, and the band members took their place on stage. The atmosphere was amazing. The crowd roaring for Takanaka's appearance. A few seconds later, Takanaka popped out raising his fist to the air a few times with a brimming smile on his face. The crowd (and ourselves) were ecstatic.

I would go into the setlist in full here, but I don't want to spoil folk. All I'll say is, my lungs were a little sore after the fact!

During the last few songs, specifically Jumping Take Off, Takanaka brought out his original surfboard guitar from 2004. Dawning its iconic red paint and Takanaka branded decal. To say it was loud when that happened is an understatement.

At the end of the performance, they all gathered on stage together for some photos. They took one with them bowing towards the crowd, and another few doing little poses in front of the crowd. The photo was sent to the fanclub afterwards and I can see myself in it at the front right! Absolutely surreal. Genuinely.

Heaven from his 1993 album Fade To Blue, started to play and I just took a few minutes to process it all. Then me and Adam went for a quick toilet break and we started heading out of the venue.

The merch stand was packed, I'm so glad we picked what we wanted earlier on, cause I would not be waiting in that line for however long it would take.

We exited the venue and just before we started heading towards the Papaya After-party (run and funded by takanaka_vibes on Instagram), we saw a few Japanese fans wearing the sombrero from last years tour. I asked them politely if they could take a photo with us and the Japanese fan and they obliged. I thanked them for it and away we went to Bricks, the location for the after-party.

The whole experience in there with the DJs on set playing some great City Pop and Takanaka music throughout was incredible. I met some fans of my channel who thanked me for my uploads. Being given that praise in person, I felt like a million quid, not going to lie. I met so many folks who came from different countries all to see Takanaka live in person. Lovely Portuguese couple, class Irish lads, a Swede, Danish, Finnish and a Spanish papaya. We all got into a pretty deep conversation about our different cultures and it was genuinely fascinating.

1:50am came and we were getting pretty sleepy. We waved folks goodbye as we left to get Adam's belongings from my hotel room and wait on his Uber back to Clapham Premier Inn.

After that was all said and done, it was just after 3am. Time really did fly. I spent a good 30-40 minutes after the fact reviewing some photos and videos I took of the performance and just letting it linger.

2026-04-01

Had a wee lie-in until 12pm, after I accidentally scared my Mum into thinking my phone was nicked cause she had been phoning me for a little while before that. Forgot to turn Silent mode off on my phone. Sorry, Mum! Won't let that happen again.

I decided on getting a Greggs that was nearby, and to my surprise the food was actually hot! I tried a Tottenham Cake for the first time and it was lovely. We don't have that type of thing up here in Scotland. The closest thing I can think of is "school cake". It was a bit mental seeing the glass used during covid still there. To be fair, it is Brixton...

I wanted to do a bit of solo sightseeing, so I jumped on the underground from Brixton to Waterloo. Or at least I thought it was. Turns out I missed the change to the Northern line which goes directly to Waterloo, and I ended up in Elephant & Castle. Who came up with a name like that? Again, the underground train was like a bloody sauna. I don't know how folks can wear jackets down there. How do they do it?!

Anyway, I walked to Waterloo station (about a 12 minute walk roughly) and decided on checking out the London Eye and Big Ben/Westminster. I didn't want to get in the London Eye cause I'm really bad with heights. I struggle with going upstairs in Tesco, I'd rather not melt into a puddle thanks. After four attempts of taking a photo of Big Ben (bloody French tourists), I headed back to Waterloo station. Big buildings and stuff, aye, no bad I guess.

I don't think I could live in a city like London, it's all very hustle and bustle. Though it is nice that everyone is unique here. It could just be that I'm used to my small town brain in Scotland as that's all I've known, but London specifically? Nah, not for me! Especially those bloody loud motorbikes/scooters constantly, boils my piss.

2026-04-02

Woke up quite early at 7:30am. Train to Motherwell departs at 11:30am. Had my double check list open on my phone, but I already had everything packed from last night, as I don't want to be faffing about at 8 in the morning packing things.

Done one last double check, and I was away down to reception. Handed my keycard down to reception and away I went to Brixton underground.

Platform 2's train AC wasn't working again as the train began packing like sardines. Made sure I got on the right platform, which went directly to London Euston after 20ish minutes.

Arrived in just after 9:30am, decided on getting some breakfast food before I jump on a 6 hour train ride. Went to a food place called Leon. Lee-on? Leh-on? Some French thing I guess. I have a friend called Leon, so I sent a photo to him. American timezones in their beddy-byes still.

Had a sausage muffin, basically a breakfast roll but the bun was lightly toasted. I have to say, the ketchup used, that being spicy mango sauce was really lovely. A little pain au chocolate and a hot chocolate. I haven't personally paid £4 for just a cup of hot chocolate, but it was directly within Euston, so standard prices I guess.

Waited for another 40 minutes until the Glasgow Central train showed up for Platform 13. A pigeon kept trying to perch on my leg, before a child chased after it. I'm not the woman from Home Alone 2! Wrong person!

Arrived on my train with plenty of time, nice and comfortable in my reserved seat.

On the way to Warrington Bank Quay. Weather is really nice for the time being!

Fast forward to Carlisle cause I really didn't do anything for the next few stops. I listened to the VGC weekly podcast and their Patreon exclusive podcast (patreon.com/videogameschronicle - shout-out!). None of the people in our little carriage were speaking or wanted to speak, so I let them be.

Homeward bound to Motherwell, and then to [REDACTED]! Had a semi-short transfer for my train at Motherwell. Just sat in the seating area admiring the history of the murals on the wall. Trains go back quite a bit, don't they?

Arrived in my town, and my Mum was waiting to pick me up from the station. We went and got a Chinese for dinner and that leads me to typing this up.

What an experience I, and many other fans had in London. I hope the rest of his World Tour goes well, and that fans in the US and Australia/New Zealand have a great time seeing him and his wonderful band members live! I cannot wait for the August performance at Crystal Palace Bowl with Takanaka, Himiko Kikuchi and Ginger Root! I'm going to be pishing with sweat, but it's gonna be so worth it!

I never thought that, coming up to 8 years now, that I would see this man perform in front of thousands of international fans in person. I still haven't come down from the post-concert hype even after 2 days since the concert happened. I get quite sappy and sentimental looking back on this, but it truly has been a life dream of mine for years now. That dream was finally fulfilled.

Thank you to Masayoshi Takanaka for your wonderful music. Truly. I can't quite put it into words how much it means to not only myself, but for fans overseas and in Japan. Long live the Rainbow Legend!

Typed up with my own two paw--hands!

Footnotes:

#london #masayoshi takanaka #ramble #takanaka