This fandom is so precious to me

I received an E-mail from a Japanese BABYMETAL fan last week, and - long story short - he sent me a Savior Mask, with no strings attached.

Now my point obviously isn't that I'm some "special person" in the community to deserve this! Rather, I tend to be a person that likes to pride himself on being "logical", and very rarely find myself being led by my emotions (except when I watch BM concerts, in which case, I do whatever the girls demand).

And yet, for some reason, I found myself feeling a sense of inexplicable emotional joy upon receiving this gift. In addition to the mask itself, he also included a written letter (in impeccable English), enclosed in a Japanese-style vertical envelope signed with beautifully written kanji.

I haven't really made online friends. I must admit that over the years, I've grown rather cynical of the internet, and social media in particular, preferring to focus on real-life relationships and interactions. And yet, this pandemic in which we were all forced online (well, more than usual) has sort of turned out to be a blessing in disguise, in a sense. I've never felt compelled to really invest myself into anything online before, and I'm still not entirely sure how it happened for BABYMETAL. And yet, here I am, a little more than a year since first discovering the band, and I'm constantly blown away by how special this global community is.

It is a cliche, but in the midst of the fandom's infighting on Twitter and all that, I think it really is good to remind ourselves of why we're here in the first place - having a good time, enjoying something that inspires us to be someone better. Like, someone looking at this from the outside might ask: "Why? Why would someone from Japan that you've never met send you something like this for free?" and "Why would someone spend hours helping you revise a translation, teaching you their language?"

And yet, somehow, it feels paradoxically "normal". There is this bond between The One - if you're willing to open your heart to it - that compels us to do things we might not have done otherwise. I don't know why I (and others) go to so much effort to translate interviews for no real monetary reward, or drawing fanart for the enjoyment of total strangers on the internet. It's just something that feels right, and that's the power of BABYMETAL to me. It's not about borders, it's not about how long you've been here, it's not about how much merch you buy, it's not about how much you can contribute.

Metal really isn't particularly popular in Taiwan, so there really aren't any people in real life that follow BABYMETAL like I do, at least in my circle of friends (though my Mom will happily sing along to the "chocolate chocolate" song whenever I play it). I just wanted to share this story because I realized that for the first time, and before I realized it, I've joined an online family. And it's not because I got a gift; it's more that this was the event that made me stop and realize how absurd it would have seemed just a few years ago.

For those visiting my blog for translations, I'm happy to have you! Here's to many more years of fun together!