Ju-ken, fall and winter, 2008

I’ve been keeping up with the 2008 activities of the Japanese bassist Ju-ken (just finished touring with VAMPS and occasionally playing with Anna Tsuchiya, will be in Gackt’s upcoming tour, has toured with Tomoyasu Hotei for the last few years, and occasionally performs with a variety of other artists); that post is getting large, so I’m giving the upcoming information (mid-November onwards) its own post, but anything in here will also be there. There’s some information about the bands he’s actually a member of (Hellmetz, Quintillion Quiz) and some other general information in that post as well. There’s not a lot of upcoming events beyond Gackt’s tour.

Releases:

• as a member:
• Quintillion Quiz: their second single was sold at their August 12 show and is being sold via mail order; the disc itself has a picture from Ju-ken’s birthday, but no song titles have been mentioned.
• as support:
• probably on some part of Anna Tsuchiya’s album Nudy Show (CD and CD+DVD), released 2008.10.29; few songs had performance credits. The band composed and arranged and were credited with performing “Blood on Blood”, though. The DVD had PVs and some backstage clips; he was in some of those.
• in part of Gackt’s 「nine＊nine」 set (2008.10.29, live CDs from all concerts + an extra DVD + mini tour pamphlets)
• in the PV for Gackt’s “Jesus”, but didn’t record on the single (CD+DVD is Dears-only; regular version available 2008.12.03)
• in the VAMPS live DVD to be released in February

TV:

• Nov 1, CDTV with Masaharu Fukuyama
• Nov 14, Music Station with Anna Tsuchiya (also with Jun-ji on drums; Muta had a conflict)
• Nov 21, Music Station with Gackt
• Nov 29, Music Fair with Gackt
• Dec 4, Music Japan with Gackt
• Dec 19, Music Fighter with Gackt

Live:

• Gackt, December – April 2009, “Requiem et Reminiscence II ～再生と邂逅～” (dates and information)
• Anna Tsuchiya, Dec 31 at Shibuya DUO Music Exchange
• Several dates with Quintillion Quiz in January and February (details; generally they update the original post instead of making new ones): January 7 at Omotesando FAB: 【TRANSMISSION ‘09】 QUINTILLION QUIZ/Obiwans/JOVO; January 14 at Meguro Live Station with 遠藤一馬 (Kazuma Endo) and KING; Jan 20 at Takadanobaba Club Phase: マンスリー企画 BULL ZEICHEN 88 Presents [BULL ZEICHEN QQ] (sold out!) ; Jan 28 at Nagoya ell.SIZE: QUINTILLION QUIZ/INSIDE TOWN MONKEYS/The stAnd/他; Feb 8 in Osaka: 霊-kotodama- 4manLIVE!! w：LUTE・LOSTONE・nex-tage; Feb 11 in Tokyo (tba); and Feb 21 “主催イベント！Welcome to the FUCKIN’QUIZ　VOL.６!!!QQ１周年PARTY！!” (one-year anniversary party)

Other:

• new goods: a new T-shirt (commemorating Gackt’s tour) and a new set (“あなたの日常のお側セット” — hand towels, coaster, mousepad, pen, pencil) (the set is sold out); selling via mailorder and on Gackt’s tour; information and pictures are on the main page of his site
• jewelry with CRAFT: a ring (“friend of the eternity”), a pendant (“guardian of the eternity”), and a chain (“bond of the eternity”); the pendant and chain are both listed under necklaces (site is flash, so no direct links). These are the items he was referring to in an earlier blog entry
• was in the October 2008 issue of Bass Magazine (on sale Sept 19); the article is about the relationship between singers and their bassists, and includes five bassists, two with singers (including Ju-ken and Anna Tsuchiya). The cover itself is Robert Trujillo of Metallica, but there is a small picture on the cover for this article of Ju-ken x Anna.
• was interviewed in Monthly VAMPS #3; will probably be in any recording/live/backstage reports in future volumes (was definitely in #2, #3, #4, #5)

Gackt – Training Days 2006 Drug Party

I pre-ordered this, but never watched it; I had a bad case of buyer’s remorse due to problems with amazon.jp and the reports of lip-syncing or wholesale re-recording that came out before i received my copy. Lip-syncing wouldn’t have bothered me as much as re-recording; I want my concert DVDs to be as close to the concert as possible. I don’t think any of the concert reports really mentioned lip-syncing (for Diabolos, every attendee thought a couple of songs were lip-synced; usually different songs, though). I watched just to watch it and didn’t pay enough attention to have an opinion about re-recording, though I did notice a few songs that sounded very different from the surrounding songs. I would not be surprised if he had re-recorded parts, though. Overall, I liked it, but kind of wish I’d saved my money or bought one of the other concerts instead.

I have to admit that Gackt is one of my guilty pleasures, especially the concerts; my usual preference is for lives where the music takes priority over the show, and Gackt does not fall into that category at all, though I think this is the closest he’s been to that (or at least the closest someone on the other side of the world could actually see). I don’t know why I feel the need to buy his DVDs, but I do (at least this and Diabolos; I plan to get the others eventually). I do love some of his music, but am not interested in him personally; I find his various band members more interesting, which makes lives occasionally frustrating.

There was a fan club version and a regular version; the regular version was sold through amazon.jp only. The DVDs were the same, but the fan club version had a slightly different cover (Gackt with wings + band members in the background vs. Gackt with wings only) and came with an extra booklet. The regular version has the front cover as an insert with credits, and a folded up page with lyrics. This (and the upcoming Platinum Box VIII) were released by Dears (fan club) instead of by his label; the back mentions Gordie Entertainment Co.Ltd. and Dears Co.Ltd. The credits do have a section for record label staff (and I’m entertained by the part of the credits which are obviously because of Ju-ken and Jun-ji; there’s a Harley Davidson logo in the list). Nippon Crown is mentioned on the DVDs themselves, after the other two; I can’t read the kanji to see what they are credited for.

The band for this concert consisted of:
You: guitar (no violin at all, unfortunately)
Chachamaru: guitar
Ju-ken: bass
Jun-ji: drums
Jun-ichi “Igao” Igarashi: keyboards — he’s usually offstage, but was actually visible a little; he was offstage to the rear on Chacha’s side

The Concert

This was in some ways a stripped-down version of his usual shows; the shows were at smaller venues than previous tours. The stage was less elaborate, and there were no costume changes, less choreography, and fewer dancers (only two dancers in two songs). It sounded fine, but it looked a bit dark in places due to the lighting (lots of red and blue spotlights). Everyone started out energetic but were dragging toward the end. I enjoyed watching it, but it’s not one of my favorites.

Random thoughts (notes taken while watching):
Jun-ji was enjoying himself during Redemption.
Speed Master sounded very, very different from previous performances; partly voice, partly something else I couldn’t place.
It was weird seeing Lu:na without dancers; there were two masked female dancers in Storm and Papa Lapped a Pap Lopped, and that was all.
Kalmia was a rest break: Chacha and You were sitting on the steps (on each other’s side), with Gackt at the top, and Ju-ken leaning on a speaker/monitor to the side; everyone was starting to look a little tired.
You actually had the solo in Fragrance; they never showed Chacha up close, oddly; also, Gackt had a close and personal relationship with his mikestand.
The encore Mirror starts off in the middle with the yelling at the audience; his voice sounds appallingly hoarse (though it’s ok singing); I think Drug Party version in the extras might have been the first part; at the end of the extra version, everyone’s changing instruments and going back to their own places..
There’s a drum solo after Mirror while everyone changes guitars
Everybody except Chacha looks tired during Another World
Whatever sort of introduce-the-band was done did not make it onto the dvd, sadly.

Shallowness: Everyone looked very good, though Chacha’s hair was inexplicable, and Ju-ken’s makeup (warpaint?) was interesting (it’s something he’s done before with others). There was only one minor instance of fanservice with bandmembers (with Ju-ken in Speed Master), though there was some with the female dancers and might have been something between members off-screen (Ju-ken and Chacha during Speed Master).

Annoyances: The video itself was kind of dark and murky due to the lighting at the show, and the various members were generally not in good light (red or blue lights, usually, and impossible to see them). There were far too many closeups of Gackt’s hands, and there were a few of instances of people doing interesting things off-screen. Also, no violin at all, though I think there was only one song other than Mirror that had a violin part (and I’ve given up on him ever playing violin during Mirror again).

Extra: Commercial Film Collection
The commercial film collections are ads for Gackt’s other recent releases (collection included on the Drug Party DVD, not collections of Drug Party ads); I was disconcerted, to say the least, that the Japanese section started out with a reference to 9/11 (ad for 12月のLove Song~Complete Box~, and included scenes from the video, but still…maybe they should have started with a different ad; that’s not what I was expecting). It also included ads for Crisis Core (PSP), 野に咲く花のように single, the Orico card/Upty ad, Platinum Box VII, and the opening movie of this concert (clips from all previous tours). The Korean and Mandarin versions have the voice-overs dubbed and the rest subtitled in the relevant language; the opening movie had effects with the Japanese concert titles; the other two had those parts redone in their languages.

Extra: Mirror – Drug Party Version
This features You on vocals, wearing what looks like the Afro wig Chacha had in the Diabolos movie and Uptys everywhere (carrying a large one, small ones in his shirt, in his pants, under his arms). Chacha is also on vocals and guitar, with Uptys on his guitar. Ju-ken has a guitar, with Uptys, Jun-ji has a bass and one of the dancer’s wigs, and Gackt is on drums. It was nice to see and hear Chacha singing; it would have been better if he and You had been somewhere in the same key, though. I’m not sure how many of the instruments are actually live; no one is playing the lead guitar part, but Ju-ken looked like he was concentrating on his playing (he may have just been tired, though; Chacha actually looked tired in part of this). The camera annoyed me a bit; it tended to show the bits I was least interested in. It was nice to see Gackt smiling and laughing, though.

Disc 1

1. Cube
2. Maria
3. uncontrol
4. 絵夢 -for my dear-
5. seven
6. REDEMPTION
7. Ash
8. NINE SPIRAL
9. Speed Master
10. Lu:na
11. Storm
12. Papa lapped a pap lopped
13. Kalmia
14. Fragrance
15. mind forest
16. Metamorphoze
17. Birdcage

Disc 2 (Encore + Extras)
18. Mirror
19. ANOTHER WORLD
20. 君が追いかけた夢

Extras
Gackt Commercial Film Collection on DRUG PARTY (Japanese, Korean, Mandarin)
Mirror (DRUG PARTY Ver.)

Ju-ken, 2008

Ju-ken is a Japanese bassist who plays as support for a variety of people (mostly live, occasionally recording); he just finished touring with VAMPS (Aug-Oct 2008), will be touring with Gackt (Dec 2008 – Apr 2009), has often toured with Tomoyasu Hotei and Anna Tsuchiya, and occasionally performs with other musicians. He is also a member of two bands: Hellmetz (with a singer + two of Anna Tsuchiya’s other band members) and Quintillion Quiz (with myco and Masanori Mine).

In 2009 he moved his website and blog to a new site: ju-ken.velvet.jp and blog.ju-ken.velvet.jp. As of August 2009, his old blog entries are still up at the old site.

I’m breaking this into parts because it’s continuously updated and is getting too long:

Part 1 (this part): general information, endorsements, interviews, goods, etc.
Part 2: band information (Hellmetz/Quintillion Quiz)
Part 3: support information (Hotei/Anna/Gackt/VAMPS/etc)
Part 4: schedule (performances, releases, other events, also livehouse links)

I also have information for 2007 in a previous post, and some other random information here.

Currently this is mostly taken directly from his site; hopefully, he won’t delete everything again. I’ve put the full schedule at the bottom; I didn’t do that last year due to working from memory and a lack of actual schedule on his previous blog. My Japanese is not the best, which is why I’m sticking to music-related info and not attempting to translate blog entries. I do (slowly) go through the notes of the day, and anything relevant does eventually end up here; a lot of the notes are just random thoughts or things like off to do this, back from there, etc; currently (early Dec) the ambition is the new goods and the attention is an offer for whoever hits 999999 and 1000000 on his site’s counter and the CRAFT jewelry. This entry might explain the lack of dates in March; in it, he talks about corrective eye surgery, and the subsequent notes of the day indicated he was recovering from it (hopefully, it was successful and he recovered quickly and had no complications; he hasn’t really mentioned it since); there’s now a post-surgery entry, and the note of the day mentions rehearsal. He also sounded like he spent a good portion of March and April recording with various people, some named, some not. The lack of dates in July were due to rehearsals for the VAMPS tour; the lack in November and early December are probably due to recovery from the VAMPS tour and preparation for Gackt’s tour.

The section (removed late November) 幸運の朝顔’０８ on his site is documenting an attempt to grow some variety of morning glory; he did that last year too, though the entries are gone. If I’m remembering correctly, last year the idea was definitely from Muta; I think the seeds were as well. (Muta’s results; there are also occasional progress reports before then). myco of Quintillion Quiz is doing the same and posting pictures of hers on their blog. He had some success (as did myco).

Endorsements, Interviews, etc:

• endorses Sugi basses
• is associated with 59’s Laboratory, Inc., which did the music for a number of Dragon Ball Z video games, among other things; the site says he worked on the theme for Dragon Ball Z: Sparking! Meteor (“Super Survivor”) for the PS2 and Wii (game released in Japan at least in October 2007; the theme will be released in a mini-album by Hironobu Kageyama July 23 and on the soundtrack Aug 27). Their site is fully bilingual; he is listed on the “Friends” page, but the arrangement is random.
• was in a sidebar to an article in the March 2008 Bass Magazine about Trace Elliot equipment (amps, etc.)
• was (June-July) featured on Fostex’s (equipment for recording, mostly) website, with a brief article (when first posted, it mentioned a summer tour; checked the link and it now says VAMPS); the front page has changed, but the article is still there
• was in the October 2008 issue of Bass Magazine; the article is about the relationship between singers and their bassists. He and Anna Tsuchiya were interviewed together; they also talked to another bassist x singer and three other bassists. The cover is of Robert Trujillo of Metallica, but there is an inset picture for this article with Ju-ken x Anna. (his blog entry about the interview)
• was at Zero Fighter Sept. 16, manager for the day? (１日店長体験, starting at 1pm); the details were in a note of the day; the event is also on his schedule
• was interviewed in Monthly VAMPS #3 (and is in some of the other volumes in the live reports and backstage pictures)

Goods (currently available):

• new T-shirt for Gackt’s tour (short sleeve, black with orange, blue, or pink camo designs); information and pictures are on the main page of his site (selling via email and on the tour; there is a space for member’s goods to be sold)
• jewelry with CRAFT: a ring (“friend of the eternity”), a pendant (“guardian of the eternity”), and a chain (“bond of the eternity”); the pendant and chain are both listed under necklaces (site is flash, so no direct links). These are the items he was referring to in an earlier blog entry.
• with DARTS, a bracelet and a strap (new in Feb.)

Goods (limited availability only and/or sold out)

• new set “あなたの日常のお側セット” (limited to 200 pieces, sold out (or at least all reserved): 2 hand　towels + one each of coaster, mousepad (suitable for optical mice only), pen, pencil)
• long-sleeved T-shirt, to be sold at the Zepp Tokyo VAMPS dates only (might be selling via mail order; they don’t have their own page, but the notes of the day have a section about them); black long-sleeve shirts with pink or yellow designs (they do look more or less like the pictures up); no longer available.
• Goods #4, a T-shirt (“Vamp up your new body”) and a summer set? (towel, fan, flip-flops, bag — these were the items he had on the front page for a while); I think these will be sold on the tour or via mail order. (all sold out)
• Goods #3, another set of picks (five: black with gold, silver, green metallic, pink metallic, blue metallic) (sold out)
• Goods #2, new T-Shirt “Fight for Your Peace” (sold out)
• Goods, two different sets of picks (two black with gold and silver; four white with gold, silver, red, black) and a T-shirt (all sold out)

Pages: 1 2 3 4

Gackt -The Greatest Filmography-Red/Blue (US releases)

This is one of two DVDs of Gackt’s videos; Red is the rock-type songs and Blue is the slower songs. I rented Red from Netflix because I was curious about the US release and wasn’t planning on buying it at this time; I don’t like a lot of Gackt’s slower songs, so I didn’t bother renting Blue. I ended up buying them both after all, though. These are the official US versions of these DVDs; they have English subtitles (by Gackt and/or his staff, apparently; the European CD releases seem to have the same English lyrics). They are missing the Japanese subtitled versions of the videos, which were separate versions with the subtitles incorporated in the videos, not a standard subtitle track. Each video is preceded by a brief clip with the credits (director, cast, location, release date). The songs themselves are the Sixth Day versions instead of the original version, when applicable; this was true of the Japanese version as well. The three unplugged songs on Blue are the Seventh Night versions and were originally included on the Platinum Box V (2004). They are all “live” performances with Dears members as audience.

The DVDs have the same covers as the Japanese versions (front at least), and have an insert listing the songs and the PV credits with a picture from each video (and also an ad for Viz’s other live-action movies and a subscription card for Shojo Beat magazine). The Japanese editions had full booklets with lyrics and more screencaps; the credits are taken directly from the Japanese versions, with the English song titles replacing the Japanese. The covers are eyes; Red is the right eye and the packaging is right-to-left and Blue is the left eye with left-to-right packaging; this is apparently the same as in the Japanese version.

The English subtitles were a little distracting; I have a little knowledge of Japanese, and have read multiple translations for some of these songs and had a few moments of ‘that’s not what he’s saying’ or ‘there should be more translation there’ though the first could be explained in part by the translations being more verse-by-verse than line-by-line (and both by my ignorance). In a few places, the English subtitles were not the same as the English lyrics, which was disconcerting. I would have liked to have the original Japanese subtitled versions and a romaji subtitle track, but I am happy they had an official US release.

Ju-ken, 2007

Ju-ken is a Japanese bassist who plays as support for a variety of people (mostly live, occasionally recording); regularly for Gackt, Anna Tsuchiya, and Tomoyasu Hotei, and occasionally for a wide variety of other people. He is also in the band Hellmetz with Masahiro Muta (dr/leader) and Masanori Mine (g) of Anna’s band + T-2SubLow (tetsusaburo?) (v); they released a CD at their December 10th performance and it is now up for preorder everywhere with a release date of Jan. 11, 2008.

2008 information is in a new post.

In 2009 he moved his website and blog to a new site: ju-ken.velvet.jp and blog.ju-ken.velvet.jp. As of August 2009, his old blog entries are still up at the old site.

This page shows up in image searches from people looking for his Darts x TSUTAYA pictures; they were linked at the very bottom (and only ever links, so I don’t know why they show up in image searches). They are here: 1 2 3 4 5 6 (missing one, but it was just hands)

I’m going to dump this here to get it out of my head and somewhere I can find it later; most of this is online somewhere, but due to his blog deletions (deleted all entries in February, disabled comments for a while, re-enabled comments, deleted everything at the end of June, and started a new website+diary in July), is scattered across the internet. He now seems to have deleted all entries before November 13; I’m not sure if it was intentional or accidental.

This is probably not a complete list, since I was working from memory for most of it; it is probably as complete as it’s going to get, though I may go back through some of the Japanese fan’s blogs and confirm some of the vague information. There is post for 2008, which will hopefully be more complete than this one, and I plan on doing an overview of his past career eventually.

His site has a new address: www.ju-kenthebass.net, though it seems to be a redirect to the web.mac.com site.

Things Ju-Ken did this year:

Gackt

• performed in the Training Days/Drug Party shows in Korea (Jan 28-29) and Taiwan (Feb 7-8) and is in the documentary DVDs released for those, as well as the DVD of the GACKT TRAINING DAYS 2006 DRUG PARTY (Zepp Tokyo)
• Played on the single 「RETURNER～闇の終焉～」 released 2007/06/20 (Returner~Yami no Shuen~)
• TV performances for single 「RETURNER～闇の終焉～」
• unsure about 「野に咲く花のように」 (2007/02/07 release; he does not mention it, and the TV performances were Gackt-only) (No ni Saku Hana no Yo Ni)
• Fanclub trip to LA in March (with a visit to West Coast Choppers; hopefully, this is still up on Jun-ji’s site somewhere)
• Fanclub ski trip in February 2007
• is not supporting Gackt in the November performances (did not play on the new songs on the upcoming album) but has the 2008 fan club ski trip on his schedule.

土屋アンナ (Anna Tsuchiya)

• played in a variety of live performances with Anna Tsuchiya (some earlier in the year; more recently several in Japan + festivals in Korea and Taiwan and at Anime Expo in LA); two dates in September, three in October, and one in November. He’s not playing all of her fall dates due to conflicts with Tomoyasu Hotei’s tour, but will be at her year-end dates (Back Night Tokyo 2007-08 Shibuya AX Dec. 30 and Back Night Osaka 2007-08 Namba Hatch Dec. 31).
• was in the “Bubble Trip” PV (and probably played on the single released 2007/08/08; the credits were ambiguous)
• played on a few tracks on her ANNA TSUCHIYA inspi’ NANA(BLACK STONES) CD
• is in her next PV (“Cocoon”, release 2008.01.30) filmed in December

布袋寅泰 (Tomoyasu Hotei)

• played in the Tomoyasu Hotei/Brian Setzer/Char: Super Soul Sessions in January (DVD released in June)
• will play for HOTEI and The WANDERERS FUNKY PUNKY TOUR 2007-2008 from October 2007 to February 2008; The Wanderers are currently featured on the top page of Hotei’s site
• he is occasionally posting in the tour blog and is sometimes mentioned in the backstage info
• was mentioned (with the rest of The Wanderers) at Hotei’s appearance on Yahoo Talk Dec. 11 (is streaming, available through 2008/01/17)
• in the PV for “Wanderers” (in the yahoo talk around 40 minutes in)
• I think there was also a performance with Hotei for something related to Cartier in the spring or summer

福山雅治 (Masaharu Fukuyama)

• TV performances for the “Tokyo ni mo Attanda/Muteki no Kimi” single (did not play on the single itself) (東京にもあったんだ / 無敵のキミ)
  • “Tokyo ni mo Attanda” on the Music Station Spring Songs Special (2007.04.06)
  • CDTV 2007/4/15 (far in the background on both of these)
  • “Muteki no Kimi” on Music Station 2007/4/27 (can actually be seen and is singing backup)
• an actual live performance in the late spring/early summer
• Support for KOH+ (Kou Shibasaki + Masaharu Fukuyama) on ”２００７FNS歌謡祭” airing Dec. 5 at 19：00（JST）.

星村麻衣 (Mai Hoshimura)

• Yahoo Talk performance (announced a few days before and had sheet music in front of him during; not sure if he was on the single)
• performance 2007/08/07:　Date FM Starlight Explosion 2007
• performance 2007/10/21: 岩船山クリフステージ　2007 Cliff Stage Special #7

Other Musical:

• Support for S.K.I.N. (Yoshiki/Gackt/Sugizo/Miyavi) at Anime Expo
• Played on Inoran’s CD 「ニライカナイ」 (Niraikanai, tracks 3 and 8) + an instore appearance on 7/21
• played several gigs with Hellmetz, and sold a CD at the 12/10 show:
  • Feb 20 at 原宿ルイード (Harajuku RUIDO) 「魂の共演　SMALL4 !」 feat. tko, The CIGARPOCKETS, HELLMETZ, CRAVE, KATSUMI SETZCHER With SMALL3
  • May 6 at morph-tokyo (六本木モーフ) with Fifty50/50Fifty,　BULL ZEICHEN 88
  • Jul 9 at morph-tokyo (六本木モーフ) 「人生いつでも工事中　vol.1」 with Lion Heads,
    ビートン（ピンストライパー）
  • Aug 8 at morph-tokyo (六本木モーフ) 「人生いつでも工事中　vol.2」 with ストロボ, Dakota Star
  • Dec 10 at morph-tokyo (六本木モーフ) 「人生いつでも工事中 vol.3　～HELLMETZ CD発売記念ワンマンライブ～」 (one-man, CD release)
• performed at 「魂の共演　SMALL4 !」 feat. tko [TOSHIYUKI KISHI] / THE CIGARPOCKETS [MASANOSUKE,NON,YUI]+ MARCY,Shue / (YELLOW)HELLMETZ [Ju-Ken,MUTA,MINE,T-2] / CRAVE [Ju-Ken,SHUE,SCHON] / KATSUMI SETZCHER With SMALL3 [KATSUMI ONISHI,TOSHIYUKI KISHI,Ju-Ken,Shue] (02/20 at 　原宿ルイード (Harajuku RUIDO))
• Performed on and wrote music for a track on 酒井愁 （Shue）’s solo album 「夜露死苦哀愁」 (tracklisting, Ju-ken’s entry)
• A “Secret Live” Dec. 16 = 浜崎あゆみ(Ayumi Hamasaki) – イクスピアリ
• something with Ends (fan club trip in March and two unplugged dates in May)
• a performance with Heath in February, maybe (was mentioned before the deletion in Feb, but was supposed to happen afterwards); the pictures from Feb 2007 on Heath’s site are carefully cropped to show only Heath, but he was singing and so presumably needed a bassist (and I’m fairly sure he was on Ju-ken’s list before then).
• I swear there was a mention of playing with Olive Sunday (Mine of Anna’s band/Hellmetz), though I don’t know if it was this year, and they have an official bassist

Non-Performance

• became an endorser for Sugi basses and was in an ad in Bass magazine (I think it was the 2007/07 issue with Paul McCartney on the cover)
• model for the Collaboration the 9th of Darts x TSUTAYA and possibly designed a ring (one is labeled Darts x Ju-Ken). It was only through Aug 30; the pictures are here: 1 2 3 4 5 6
• a limited edition jersey (30 pieces!) with Zero Fighter
• Action figure! (nifty, but not seriously, unfortunately)
• T-Shirt! selling on Hotei’s tour or through his site (now has a “Goods” section).

This ended up being longer than I expected; I don’t know why this sort of information stays in my head while useful things are forgotten. It’s now 2008, and I’ve started a new post; I will update this if I find out anything I missed, though.