It was an astonishing day filled with one surprise after another, from the WBC game between Japan and Venezuela, women’s golf in Taiwan, sumo, and a world boxing title match, to Yoshiki’s Carnegie Hall concert and BABYMETAL’s solo performance at Intuit Dome in Los Angeles on WOWOW.
What struck me most was the overwhelming power of BABYMETAL and the sheer fervor of the American audience.
Just as I was astonished on New Year’s Eve 2020 when I discovered Natsuho Murata and Himari, I now find myself, six years later, once again stunned by a different form of Japanese genius.

Today was an astonishing day.
Yesterday and today, I had decided that I would spend my time looking forward to the following things.
First, I would watch the WBC game between Japan and Venezuela on Netflix, starting at 10 a.m.
When I saw the relay of pitchers, I wondered.
Then Japan was overtaken, and I thought they would lose.
I was surprisingly not all that disappointed.
That may also be because, from the outset, I had been looking forward even more to watching the Dodgers this season since Opening Day.
As a spectator, what I look forward to the most is the United States versus the Dominican Republic.
That would, in effect, be the real championship game.
I am also interested in the possibility that Italy might advance to the final.
Then I watched the women’s professional golf tournament in Taiwan, wondering whether Suga would win.
I also watched Giants versus Nippon-Ham to see how Norimoto would do, though that was entirely casual background viewing.
Then I went out to buy an air purifier for the bedroom.
I watched the grand sumo tournament.
I watched a world boxing title match on U-NEXT, though that too became background viewing partway through.
After finishing watching sumo on NHK BS4K, I looked at the program guide and watched Yoshiki of X JAPAN in concert at Carnegie Hall on WOWOW Live.
I had never listened to X JAPAN, but I thought I would watch it.
It was strangely good.
For some reason, it moved me.
The scene at the end, when many Japanese women fans began singing Endless Rain, was especially good.
The applause from the entire hall went on and on.
I caught a glimpse of Rakuten’s Mikitani in the audience.
I thought, I see.
What astonished me the most was the program that followed, the BABYMETAL solo live concert now being broadcast, held in November 2025 at Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, America.
It was my very first time seeing them.
At the same time, I realized one thing.
In May 2011, I fell seriously ill and was hospitalized for eight long months.
From that time on, I stopped listening altogether to things like Last.fm, which I had previously listened to often.
I began concentrating on this column.
That is why I knew absolutely nothing about them.
My immediate thought was that they were like Perfume turned into metal.
But the audience, Americans from all kinds of backgrounds, including many heavily muscled men, filling the venue, was no ordinary thing.
One reason I had known nothing about them is that, since August 2014, I have not watched TV Asahi at all.
They had appeared at key moments on TV Asahi’s music programs.
Still, I imagine that Westerners seeing them for the first time must also have been astonished.
After all, shrine maidens were singing and dancing atop heavy metal.
There was one more curious thing I learned.
When I discovered on New Year’s Eve 2020 that Natsuho and Himari had appeared in Japan, they had been performing in the Kōhaku Uta Gassen.
From the beginning until partway through, I had been watching it because I wanted to confirm the quality of the acoustics at NHK Hall and NHK itself.
But before they appeared together with Yoshiki, I switched over to YouTube, and so I did not see them.
I was astonished when I discovered Natsuho and Himari on YouTube.
Today, six years later, I am astonished as I watch BABYMETAL and the frenzy of a full American audience.
To be continued.