GACKT Official Blog update. Translation below:

Arrived in London.
It felt like I arrived in the blink of an eye but it was a 7-hour flight.
For me, a flight of this duration is one that is bearable.
With this time’s flight, I get the feeling that my jet lag has completely disappeared.
At best, it’s just a 【feeling】 though…

I left New York at 22:00 and arrived in London at 10:00.
Because there’s a time difference, I can’t really feel how many hours it was that I was actually in the plane.

Based on information from earlier on, I heard that Heathrow Airport was quite crowded and that immigration would be rather bad but
in reality, I only queued and waited for around 5 minutes at immigration.
This is quite rare…

I was great until I went through immigration smoothly and called an Uber,
when I had no idea where I should be waiting for it at all, and kept going round and round in circles.
Oh well, it happens often.

I decided to anyway, I ask the people around me and slowly headed towards my destination without getting flustered,
but there were no airport staff as I neared this car park.
And most of the people were tourists so there were only lots of people who were lost, like me.
In other words, the answer that I get from asking them may not be correct.
This negative chain of events began, and we were all in a situation where we were going round and round in the same place.
Then everyone somehow started walking behind someone, as if out of instinct,
when that person has it wrong in the first place too, making it worse.
This is one hilarious chain.

At such times, the one who takes a direction that is different from everyone else’s
tends to unexpectedly arrive at the destination faster.

I safely boarded the car I called for, and headed to London’s city centre.
Each of the exceptionally beautiful buildings that lined the streets were all tasteful.
It can be said that this is the culture and result from the country’s firm regulation of the buildings’ appearances.
Renovating the inside of the building while holding on to the history of it, making it easy to live in.

I’ve said this before but,
if Japan does something like this firmly with the law,
I think Japan would become one of the world’s unparalleled few tourism destinations,
and the economic effect from this tourism will be incomparable with what it is now.

It’s really such a waste.
If a part of Tokyo did something like what the streets in Kurashiki or Kyoto,
where the keep the historical appearance of the streets while changing only the inside of the buildings,
I think that will make it a wonderfully picturesque city.

Since after the war until around a few decades ago, Japan underwent rapid modernisation
and steadily changed all the old streets.
I think Japan has to regulate this from here on but
well, I suppose there aren’t any politicians who will earnestly promote this.
I can only say that it’s a pity.

If we continue modernisation, then like Dubai,
we have to often create new roads all the time.
All that work is actually much more troublesome but…
Well, whatever.

Having said something like this,
I suppose comments like 『GACKT is speaking with an air of self-importance…』
will appear again on 2ch and third-rate gossip papers will get carried away and get fuelled by this so,
I’ll end my drivel here.

That’s just me saying that I want to say.
Because I really, sincerely, think that it’s waste.

Alright,
while getting this and that done, I arrived in the centre of London.
After checking into the hotel and getting a shower,
I decided to just walk outside and have a look.
It’s wonderful to feel this moved by just walking in the city.

I thought this while having tea in a nearby cafe.
It would be great if they could make delicious food…

A lot of people say that food in England is extremely unpalatable.
This isn’t something that’s only limited to England though.

Of course,
since this is just one opinion, I would like to find it.
A place with extremely delicious food.

In New York too, I popped into a certain Thai restaurant to eat
and was surprised by how delicious it was.

Then, when I spoke about this Thai restaurant
to my local friends who have lived there for a long time,

they said, 『If you’re a Thai in New York, you’d definitely know of it!』

so it seems it’s really so delicious that it’s famous.

If I search for it, there will definitely be one.
I’ll go looking for a delicious place while believing in that.

While having tea, I glanced up and
I saw a couple of men who were simply talking about something
but I thought that it was so beautiful that I instinctively took a photo.

『It looks picturesque…』

The words flowed out.

Anyway, it’s so cold…
Why is it so cold although it’s only July?
It’s unbelievably cold.

Anyway, I decided to go and buy a heavy parka.
If I stick with my thin jacket, that is suited for summer, I’ll catch a cold.

I walked and headed towards Dolce & Gabbana.
I thought of getting a thick parka but
the first D&G was of a new concept and only had their formal line,
and I couldn’t find anything at all.

On the other hand, I found something interesting.

Somehow…
there’s a barber inside Dolce & Gabbana…
I’ve never seen something like this before.

I asked the shop’s staff,

『Is this simply just for design’s sake or
can you really get your hair cut here?』

and then,

『Of course we’ll cut it!』

they replied, full of confidence.
For real… I thought, while talking to the staff for a bit.
Apparently, there’s one other shop in Milan that’s like this too,
and this is the second one that they decided to create with the same concept.

Such a combination is probably an idea of the modern era.
Hm, interesting.

London is interesting.
I’m somehow excited.
I feel like I know why Hotei-san likes this city…
As expected of him.

I wonder if I should try walking to Zone 3…
Well then, I’ll go exploring in the city.

Source: GACKT Blog

Translation: GACKT ITALIA Team

Translation © GACKT ITALIA