It's not about access to the music, it's about access to a community of people who like that music.
...Which is why L.A. is famous for live houses and bars with indie bands looking to hit the big time?
Are you saying they will go to hang out at a record label, as if hanging out in a corporate office is cool or interesting or allowed?
Considering I didn't, no.
I don't remember Mitsuki saying she wanted a career in the recording industry.
She hasn't said literally anything about her future career or aspirations. The chapter where Joe found an EMPTY career/job form that Japanese schools have students fill out is meant to show she doesn't know what she wants to do and likely isn't aware of what she could do.
She's not trying to become personal friends with Anthony Keidis, which would be cringe the dude is in his 50's. Sure, being in a major city gives you a higher chance of being on their tour stop but that's the only additional benefit.
...I just love how you're completely ignoring how many indie bands play all over in venues in L.A. Hell some of the bands she likes got their start that way.
One of those major cities is Tokyo where in this comic RHCP just performed.
Bands touring and giving shows stay in that city for... usually a few days at best. Bands recording a new album at a studio can be there, living there, for weeks or months. False equivalence.
literally works in a CD shop where she can easily buy their new records. I don't see how LA is more than "kinda" better, from the question of "access to the music."
From that matter I can live in a cave and with Apple Music and a satellite link can have access to even more music than Mitsuki can from a digital catalog. I'm not sure how you think this is a slamdunk argument.
You also keep forgetting/ignoring the indie band scene in L.A. that I brought up and I think you're doing it on purpose because you know how weak it would make your argument based on things like this you bring up.
I can already see you "addressing" it with coming back with things like, "WELL! They have indie bands in Japan, too!" Yes... Do they have many
western rock indie bands performing in Japan? ...Well... No...
To use your pasta analogy; Sure I can eat pasta in Italy. I can also eat pasta anywhere on Earth.
Yeah, that doesn't work. I can also eat sushi anywhere, as well. There's some at my gas station, even. I guess going to the place where sushi was invented and where they have
literally the best sushi chefs on the planet like... oh... say... Japan... Would be a waste of time if I liked sushi because... I can just get it at my gas station.
What you're doing is like someone saying to you, "Hey, let's go to Chicago and get an authentic deep dish pizza!" Which... I disapprove of deep dish pizza, but to each their own... And you going to Chicago and walking into a supermarket and buying a fucking frozen deep dish pizza. I mean... I guess very technically you meet the criteria, but not really.
What Mitsuki wants is friends who share her interest. The question is "to what extent will she find more community in the States?"
[Looks to massive indie band rock scene in L.A. that grew up listening to that same music and were influenced by it, or some that are even tribute bands and do a damn good job playing the same songs]
YES, WHERE?! IF ONLY THERE WAS SOME PLACE... SOME PLACE WHERE THAT MUSIC COULD BE ENJOYED WITH SIMILARLY MINDED PEOPLE... IF ONLY...
The bands Mitsuki is into are from her Uncle's generation. They're all classic rock at this point.
Sweet Merciful Fuck.
NO, 1990s AND EARLY 2000s ROCK IS NOT CLASSIC ROCK. FUCKING STOP, PLEASE.
I don't even think the most oblivious Zoomer would be that brazen to suggest that, either. They might... infuriatingly... call it "old," but they wouldn't call it classic rock. CCR is classic rock. Sure, even some bands that are some-fucking-how still around like the Rolling Stones are classic rock, but that doesn't mean a band from the 1990s is classic rock... Because they aren't. And we can just stop that conversation right there. I do not need any more reminders that I am aging.
If you're an American high school student, more of your peers are listening to Doja Cat than to Foo Fighters. If you're a Japanese high school student they're listening to Idols or whatever. You still have to find that niche fandom whether in Japan or in California. In Japan she has her Uncle's record shop which brings all the 90's band fans around.
She's going to be graduating soon, so I don't know why you're so hung up on what high schoolers like because she wouldn't really be hanging around with them. She'd likely have a job, of course, but she'd also likely be hanging around live houses - something she already does in Japan - and just doing so in America with indie bands that play exactly the same kind of music she's into because... they actually do exist, and in meaningful numbers, in L.A. Which... you don't realize or know about for some reason. (And her Uncle's record shop is not just for 1990s American rock. It's what he's into, but they clearly sell all kinds of music by virtue of being able to make any kind of profit.)
...Then again you also seem to think the Foo Fighters are classic rock... So...
