10 Years and Counting

Translation - "And that's why I'll go on living" explanation

2015-09-11T20:17:00.002+09:00

I've decided to translate Tsunku's newest book, "And that's why I'll go on living" (だから、生きる。）

I don't know if I can make a set schedule, but I hope to make my blog active again and I would like to share what I am sure is going to be an emotional roller coaster of a book.

Tagline: "I threw away my most precious possession, my voice, and I chose to keep on living."

Morning Musume 15th Anniversary Fall Tour ~Colorful Character~

2012-10-11T19:52:00.002+09:00

Nakano Sunplaza - October 7th Afternoon

After seeing the set list and partially listening to a concert rip from earlier in the tour I knew this concert was going to be amazing, and it didn't disappoint! Course, it probably helped that I was second row to the side so could see everything perfectly. We had row 2 seats for the Summer Concert as well but those were dead center so with row O ended up being row 5. Off to the side, row 2 is row 2 and afforded us an excellent view.

However, before the concert it was goods-getting time. And there were so many amazing things this time that it was hard to choose. Even leaving off a few things I might order online later I spent 24000 on goods and another 2000 on gatcha. I'm really impressed with the variety of goods H!P has been putting out lately. Not just pictures and useless giant badges but attractive hoodies and goods that can be used in daily life. Trust me, once you've been a fan long enough you stop buying goods just because they are there and have your member on them, because you simply don't have the space for anymore large goods. Cell phone straps,uchiwa, and tour books are my thing. Sometime I'll post pictures of my various goods.

After getting goods, it was back in another line for the handshake with Sakura. Now, there's a lot of negative stuff being said about her on the net, but seriously give the girl a break. Ugly? She's 13 and one of the pictures of her was done in horrendous lighting making her look 30. She doesn't look anything like that in the other pictures, though I will admit I think long hair suited her more. She's really sweet when you talk to her. And you did get to kinda talk as the handshake was slow paced, they didn't seem to be pushing people along unless they were trying to hog her all to themselves. So you could easily have a dialogue back and forth before moving on on your own time. And so that's what I did. I didn't say much though, just told her "There will be some tough situations but do your best!" and she thanked me and I moved on.

She has as nice firm, yet not overpowering, handshake. She makes eye contact with you. She also didn't have the gaijin shock that the 9th and 10th gen did when they first shook hands with me. She overall just gives off a very pleasant impression. I look forward to seeing her debut fully at the New Years concerts.

I was allowed in early because I had gotten into the Sakura fanclub handshake, so my boyfriend was in a separate line outside. He ended up walking right after I finished my handshake though, perfect timing. We headed down to our seats and waited for the show to start.

If you want to see the full set list you can find it here. As it states at the top of the chart 14 of the songs performed were performed for the first time, so the girls put a lot of work into this concert. It was an album-song heavy concert with a Platinum-era heavy medley.

First off, the concert promo outfits look much better in person than in photos. In photos I thought they looked like the girls were just wearing a formless lampshade. Turns out that is not the case. The back has a cape that lists 1-10th gen and has the generation of the girl wearing it circled. The outfits also move quite well with the dances.

The concert started off strong with One Two Three followed by The Matenro Show. I have heard these songs SO many times that I basically sing along with them in their entirety. I like One Two Three better than Matenro but both are good songs and look well when performed by the whole group. Kanon was on the right side of the stage alot so I got to watch her up close quite frequently. Though, not as frequently as I would have liked since she was often on the back raised stage x_x

What's Up? is a great audience-involving song. It's listed as the first performance being during this tour though from reports of the Hawaii FC tour it was actually performed there. This was the first time that anyone could see it though. Sound-wise it seemed out of place for Musume when I first saw the dance rehearsal footage, but as I've listened to it more it seems to go along with the fun-loving youth theme of the current Musume. And it really makes me love the Colorful Era even more.

Waratte You has been a hit for me since first hearing the radio rip, probably because it is a 9th/10th gen song so Kanon is in it. Now I am a reasonable enough fan / wota that I am not "OMG AMAZING VOICE, JUST LISTEN TO THIS SONG!!!" But, Kanon's solo lines in the song do sound quite powerful and allow her to really let lose on stage. She is still working on gaining control over her range so this song is a good one for her because she can just belt it all out. Everyone else performed well also. The outfits for it were well... kinda special.

And Sakura seems to be saying so as well. Though my boyfriend made the astute observation that Reina is basically wearing what she always wears ^_^

Watashi no Jidai is a great song live, much better than just listening to it on the CD. When they do the "100 colors for 100 people" part and spell out 1 0 0 with their hands the whole audience does it as well, making for a powerful experience.

Chikyuu ga Naiteru was very fun just as it is when you listen to it and Bravo was a completely new experience with the current line up. Yes, I know the 9th and 10th gen performed it before but the past few months have seen a lot of growth for both groups so it has a completely different feel than it had before. Everyone on stage had a lot of energy and well, how can you not love a song that basically has the chicken dance built into it.

Next up were the 9th and 10th gen songs. I actually am not a big fan of the 10th gen song just because it is too cutesy for me and seems out of place for Haruna and Daishi. Performed live it is a really fun song though and the candy striper/60s waitress style outfits were adorable. The 9th gen song was one of the highlights of the concert for me. I have loved the cool dance sound of the song ever since I first heard it and since it wasn't performed at the version of the summer concerts I went to this was my first time seeing it live. It did not disappoint. All four looked great and pulled off the cool look well. Well, besides Eripon. But that was her outfit designers fault. Her outfit was just... weird.

Seriously, how does Eripon's outfit fit with the style of the song at all? An argument could be made against Riho's too since it barely has any of the pattern the rest of the 9ki's outfit has but it at least fits the cool dance floor style of the song.

Reina's song Namida Hito Shizuku is simply gorgeous live. The melody, her voice, her outfit; everything fit perfectly with this touching ballad. And let me say, as I said on my Tumblr, I'm not really a fan of Reina NOR a fan of ballads. But this song is so beautiful and touching that it had me singing along and almost crying with the lyrics. If you're not a fan of it I recommend looking at translated lyrics and listening again, the story behind it is really well written.

Sayu's song is, well it's Sayu's song. La la la no Pi pi pi is exactly what you would expect from the title and Sayu's more mature dress seemed at first out of place. Until the two eggs, who were dressed as rabbits, came out in order to worship Sayu for the whole of the song. It was a very fun performance to watch and although I'm glad I got to see Eggs I had never seen perform before do it I do have to wonder how it looks when performed with Riho and Masaki as back up.

Kare to issho ni ... well I didn't really like it as it was performed in this concert. It's a fun song that I understand Sayu is the lead in but the whole song was so focused on Sayu and Reina that even watching the other girls for their silliness during the song wasn't all that fun. It was a better choice than singing Kono Chikyuu though as this song has more of a Sayu feel.

The rotating song sung at my concert was Shinnen dake ha tsurinuki toose which is probably my favorite B-side on the latest single. I love the pace of the song and it makes for a very poweful performance. Plus gorgeous blue outfits looked well on all the girls. Next was the medley, which featured a great mix of Platinum era songs and 12 Smart songs that really captured the image of the current lineup well. Sexy Boy and Kimagure were mixed in throughout the medley as a way to transition between songs and they worked great. Plus the crowd really gets into the dances for both songs and I was no exception, "ue ue"ing with the best of them. The song I was most waiting for in the medley was I'm Lucky Girl as this is probably my favorite song from Fantasy 11. I am still disappointed that they featured none of the new album songs in JunLinEri's graduation concert, never allowing them to perform the songs they performed in.

Resonant Blue is another favorite song of mine for the rhythm though probably not the best song for showing off the whole group since it's a song that from the get-go had only three singers. Still, always a good song for the crowd so in the future I'd love to see it adapted to at least allow the rest of the group to harmonize more. Renai Hunter, no complaints there as it's an excellent song. Then came the craziest song from the new album Dokkan Cappricio. It is such an amazing song that really features all the girls. A little awkward to look at Do and hear her asking you if she's sexy though. Of course I was more focused on Kanon who was gyrating with the best of them.

Now, yes Kanon has some fat on her. She does have a bit of a pooch on her. You will also notice if you see her live that she has boobs. Barring unnatural circumstances, body fat tends to come with having boobs. They just could've made her outfit a little bit looser so it didn't show that she had a pooch so much. Still the girl is beautiful and I honestly think a lot of Westerners forget that for a 14 year old with boobs comes a tummy too. Her thighs though, gorgeous, the dancing is really paying off and she does it really well now.

Poor Kanon though, after they came out in the white outfits pictures above her headband kept trying to fall out so every 30 seconds or so in a song you would see her try to subtly push the headband back into her hair but it was really fighting staying on top of her head. Luckily the last song before encore was the semi choral ballad Zero kara hajimaru seishun so she didn't have to flail around so much while trying not to worry about her headband going flying onto the stage.

For the encore Sakura once again came on stage for a few seconds for greetings before going back off. Before that though we got to see Wakuteka performed in all its glory. I LOVE that song. I often skip through songs on my iPod randomly until I find one I want to listen to at the moment but Wakuteka is one of the few songs that as of now I have not been able to skip through. Be Alive might be the uptempo ballad that they will choose for this era as their ending theme, just like Namidacchi was the ballad for the last group. It does seem a good theme though maybe something a little more danceable for the last song would be better in the future.

Overall thoughts: This concert had an excellent set list. Being the 15th anniversary concert, or one of them at least, they did mix in older songs, but not TOO old. Let's face it, no one wants to see Love Machine anymore, no matter HOW iconic of a song it is. They could have pulled off a couple of older songs but seemed to stick with 2007 on to be safe. They did do a couple of random Hello Project songs in the rotating song section but non during the setlist I saw. I would have liked to see the variations and hope that they are released on the DVD/blu-ray.

Daishi and Haruka did have wraps on their injuries. Haruka's was the most obvious because the wrap went a few inches above and below her knee. You could see that she was in pain a couple of times when she wasn't talking during the MCs but she is a professional and didn't let it inhibit her dancing one bit. Daishi's foot seems to be mostly healed though you could see the wrap sticking out at the end of the concert when she was wearing short boots. From her dancing, and Haruka's too, you would never be able to tell they were injured. I hope the two of them don't overdo it but am glad they are professionals who give their all no matter what.

Masaki... well the girl is adorable and does well when doing pre-planned things but apparently cannot handle doing anything spontaneous. Reina threw her a line a couple of times that was supposed to be improvised and she just bursts into giggles and goes into panic mode. So she has a bit of a ways to go before she is a real performer, but does great otherwise. Haruna's dancing is on par with most of the other girls now and she doesn't seem to have the Konkon syndrome. What I mean by that is that Konkon could not up til the point she graduated from Elder club and beyond dance unless she was fully concentrating on it. So she almost never made eye contact or waved at the audience all the times I saw her. You could tell she was completely focused inward to make sure she got the moves right. Haruna on the other hand may not have every move perfect but waves and smiles at the audience whenever she has the chance. I prefer that over zombie faced dancing, though Konkon is also adorable.

I can't wait to see the 11-person Musume in January!

Hello Project 2012 Summer 15th Anniversary ~Ktkr Fan no Matsuri~

2012-08-17T22:23:00.001+09:00

At Nakano Sunplaza 8/12/2012

To be honest, I went into this concert with lower expectations than normal because I wasn't too impressed with the set list. I mean take a look below:

01. Cho HAPPY SONG（All）
02. Maji desu ka ska! （All）
03. Suki yo junjou hankouki （スマイレージ）
04. Dot bikini （スマイレージ）
05.Song for the DATE（真野恵里菜）
06. Banzai！～Jinsei wa meccha wonderful～（真野恵里菜）
07. Aitai aitai aitai na （℃-ute）
08. Kimi chari （℃-ute）
09.cha cha SING（Berryz工房）
10.Loving you Two much（Berryz工房）
11.One・Two・Three（モーニング娘。）
12. Watashi ga ite kimi ga iru （モーニング娘。）
13. Watashi ga obasan ni nattemo （All）
14. Cabbage hakusho （Peaberry）
15. Koko kara hajimarun da！（吉川友）
16. Smile Blues （Kanyon, Meimei）
17. Watashi no jidai！（モーニング娘。Rokkies）
18.Medley: Koko ni iruze ~ Uchouten love ~ Genkimono de ikou ~ Special generation ~ Dance de Bacon! ~ Pyoko Pyoko Ultra ~ Sukichan ~ Sekai ichi Happy na onna no ko ~ Maji bomber ~ Bravo ~ Yo no naka barairo ~ Koko ni iruze
19. Chotto matte kudasai！（All）

.. it's not a very interesting set list. Now, that doesn't mean it's a bad selection of songs, just quite lame for a Hello Project concert. Almost all of these songs can be seen at each group's solo concert. And that's not really what people are looking for when they go to the Winter/Summer concerts. Especially when it's something like the 15th anniversary year, you expect a bit more.

And to make me even less excited the other pattern of the concert, wkwk, had more of the shuffles we have come to expect at the group concerts. But we had 2nd row seats (actually 5th as Nakano often has row 0 movable seats set up) and were really looking forward to seeing the girls up close.

Before the concert Kikka was in the lobby doing handshakes, so I didn't miss the opportunity I was given and quickly went over to buy a CD. With my ticket in hand I went over to her. She seemed to finally be remembering me (I had just seen her at the Idol Festival on August 5, which will hopefully have a write up eventually, and she seemed confused when I said "Long time no see" at that point while she was selling goods at her table) and was really excited I was there. She opened the conversation right away saying "Are you French?" and when I said no she went into PR mode and said "That's too bad because Kikka is going to France and Belgium soon, ah but I'm also going to America" with all the country names said in Japanese but with as much of an English accent as she could muster. The girl is incredibly fun to talk to so I recommend anyone who isn't a fan to give her a chance. She was holding onto my hand really tightly so even though her staff wanted to tell me to move on they were letting her talk all she wanted. She said she was happy when I told her I was looking forward to seeing her again that day and in the fall and told me to remember to support her. No joke she said what would translate as "Don't forget to support me!"

Don't worry I won't Kikka. Gotta reserve her next single for all the events in October.

Opening for the afternoon concert was Naboutofu@Nana, who you might have heard of. She is a dancer from Niconico who is being produced by Tsunku. She is very bendy and quite a good dancer. Though she mentioned on twitter feeling down the other day when she heard people were coming to her events just to see her two gyaru back up dancers. She's really fun to watch and one of the few performers Michael and I have seen live that actually sing live even while wearing a headset microphone. For HP and many idols a headset is almost a sure giveaway that they are lipsyncing, which while rare for HP does happen in dance numbers unfortunately.

The concert opened strongly. I am a huge fan of Cho Happy Song and it was really powerful performed by all members. Though I have to admit I was a little disappointed to not be at the concert where I would have seen and performed Momochi Taisou. I think the main thing I can say about the opening numbers is that I LOVE their outfits. They are the usual bright colorful matching oufits we are used to seeing at the Winter/Summer concerts but this time the theme seemed to be fairy tale-ish and they all had trumpet props that had a CD or something stuck in the end so the light bounced off them when it shined. It meant the girls had to do simpler versions of the dances.

On the other hand, Majidesuka ska! was kind of strange performed by all. It was a song meant to showcase the 9th gen members and they kept all their lines but then having so many girls on stage seemed to be too much for the song. I don't know exactly now to describe what I felt but it just seemed strange so hopefully people can get a feeling of what I felt when they see it on DVD.

After a very brief introduction by Makoto and Aika the concert went into the showcase of each group. All songs were performed well and nice to see but as I said generic. Doesn't mean I wasn't oshi jumping and screaming names like crazy though. We had a great view and no time was wasted. Smileage's new single really grew on me as I saw it live. I did like it before but it was even catchier live and the girls seemed to hit even the difficult notes. Dot bikini was also fun because of the dance and the fact that they used the last few seconds of dance in the Hankouki music video to run off stage and rip clothes off so they were in the proper outfits. A pretty creative transition for HP.

Next was Mano and I must say she looks gorgeous with her ballroom gown and short hair. Listening and reading the lyrics for "Song for the Date" you start to realize they take on a new meaning now that we know she will be graduation Hello Project early next year. One of the lyrics goes something like "We know it has to send sometime but we'll always have memories of our special time" and now that lyric makes you really say Ohhh when you read it and remember Mano said something about her latest single having several messages for her fans. The other song I wasn't too familiar with though I think I saw a performance of it on one of her concert recordings.

Next was C-ute, and they seemed to have changed the outfits for their new single performance since the beginning of the tour. Maybe they saw some of the reactions to the outfits online, the new single outfits are rather boring and even more so when used for a live performance. The outfits they performed in at Nakano were very shiny and showed lots of stomach and leg, making both the boyfriend and I very happy with our up close view. Consequently though these outfits worked superbly for an upbeat dance number like Aitai Aitai Aitai Na, they didn't really fit Kimichari. Still it's a lovely ballad and was performed wonderfully.

Both of Berryz songs were something I was looking forward to and they didn't disappoint. Sure the dance for Cha Cha Sing is ridiculously simple but that just makes it easy for the audience to follow along and is one of the few dances I can learn just by watching. Loving you Too Much, it's the rap that caught my attention from the beginning. Captain rapping sounds beautiful and with her kneeling down in front of us while she did it it was simply gorgeous.

Finally it was Morning Musume's turn to shine. And shine they did. H!P seems to be taking a transition cue from AKB48, one of the few things they do flawlessly, and danced the end of Berryz' dance with them as they came onto stage and got into position for One-Two-Three. Although I have seen it performed several times now (mainly because we went to the release event twice) it hasn't gotten old. The girls' moves were flawless and Kanon has noticeably lost weight. Not in a strange way, but her face was slimmer than before and although she has always looked gorgeous I think she is starting to look more toned as she dances more frequently. The second song they performed is an older one but one that really suits the current line up of Musume. Upbeat and fun it really brings out the best in all the girls.

Watashi ga obaasan ni nattemo - an idol classic. And I know people wondered why it was included, well because it was the 25th anniversary of Moritaka Chisato's debut and she is also under Up Front International. It's a cute song that while not completely fitting with the image of idols nowadays is a song everyone can relate to with lyrics like "When I'm an older woman, you'll be an older man with a bit of a gut."

Peaberry's song while beautiful isn't very memorable to me as a ballad so I was waiting for Kikka to make her appearance. As usual she didn't disappoint with her powerful voice and piercing gaze throughout the whole song. A beautiful and lively perfomance.

Next we had our two pair songs. First up was Smile Blues. I don't think I'd ever given this song a proper listen as I was trying my hardest not to crack up while I listened to the lyrics and watched Kanyon and Meimei try to act sexy together while singing in a stylized Osaka Dialect. I think I need to go back and listen to this song more. Next was the Rokkies. Sayumi was actually mostly on pitch and it is a fun song that caught my attention more live than it did on CD. Still, I would much rather have seen the 9ki group do Aisaretainoni.

Lastly came the medley that was being talked about, 20 minutes of non-stop performance. Well, they said that but actually some of the members had breaks where they ran offstage to at least get half a minute before running back on. You almost wonder whether the running on and off stage is more tiring than just having all the girls dance the whole time. A great medley with more Berikyuu songs than anything else. Probably my only complaint about this year's Winter/Summer concerts is that there has been more emphasis on Berikyuu than anything else. I like them as well but with Morning Musume being the flagship group I would like to see more of their songs featured.

Probably the best part of this medley was Suki-chan with the as-planned member calls near the end. Ah, special generation is also a never-miss. Especially when you have 29 girls on stage performing it at once. And thinking that most of them didn't get taught the choreography 100 percent and were told to focus on it at home.

One thing I noticed this concert, Iikubo. A lot of people's complaints about her is that she is just a pretty face who can't sing or dance. Now, she was really rusty at dancing when she first joined but she has improved a lot and held her own throughout the whole medley. As for the singing part, I have never understood that complaint as she sounds just fine. I guess some people's standards are that if you aren't at Ai-chan level you can't sing.

Chotto matte kudasai, was just a really odd way to end the concert. I'm not really a fan of the song and to have it end a concert was really out of place. It's not really a group song and this concert proved that. Sure it was performed well and was fun but still not a good choice.

Another fun moment from the concert included Makoto and Aika. The Hello Project poems. They were all good and made the audience laugh but the best had to be a guy who mentioned throwing out his hips always copying the Smileage Dot Bikini dance. So of course the audience started chanting for Aika to do the dance, which she did. Then we all started chanting for Makoto to do it. He resisted at first but eventually gave in though he really half-assed it. Still was pretty funny.

And that's all for now. Once again I have written an essay. I will try to get around to a write up of the Tokyo Idol Festival and Musume Release Event with TIF taking priority.

Play: Stacys ~The Second Killing of Young Girls a Musical~

2012-06-11T13:53:00.000+09:00

Boy, is that title hard to translate. On Thursday I went to see the widely talked about Musume as zombies play. Now, unlike many who were probably completely confused by the concept, I was actually familiar with the story. I had never watched the movie myself but I remembered hearing about a schoolgirl zombie b-horror movie several years ago and as soon as I read the title and the premise of the musical in my fanclub letter I knew that was what they were performing. The only question in my mind was how: how on earth do you perform a play about zombies being chopped to bits on stage? And with IDOLS!?

The Promotional Poster

Above you see the poster for this time's play. Of course, as soon as this poster made it to the internet there were outcries of "Reina and Riho dominated again!" forgetting that Kuduu is also in this picture. Yes, they are the main characters in the story, in fact each is a main character in a separate but interlocking sub-story. Reina and Riho are good actresses, they work well as leads. Kuduu does excellent as well.

Don't let them being leads fool you, the other girls get the same if not more stage time, the stories simply do not focus on them. But this story doesn't really focus on any of the girls. The main character is actually the young man who from the beginning of the play where he encounters a weird request by Reina's character that throws his whole life for a loop. Throughout the play we see him in the background though it is told from his point of view, first about the strange girl he met. Then about a strange laboratory full of its own secrets. And finally about a young detective girl and an encounter she has that will change the whole definition of what a Stacy is.

From here on I am going to discuss the story as I remember it. I do hope the DVD is subbed by someone when it is released as it is excellent.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Storyline 1 - "My meeting with a mysterious stranger" (that's what I'm calling it)

So it starts out with a young man sitting gazing at nothing on a bench. Along comes Reina's character to bug him. Quickly she throws a weird request at him "Please accept the right to kill me for a second time" Apparently this is something that many girls are doing these days. That's right, because girls of the ages 14-16 (different from the novel which was 15-17) all become infected with a strange disease where they die and come back soon after as a Stacy, a being that only wishes to eat and convert the general public, or what we would generally call a zombie.

Reina is in the stage of this disease which is called "Near Happiness", wherein the girl frolics around always happy and laughing at anything. This is the stage that happens shortly before she is about to die and become a Stacy, and it is at this point that many girls search out someone to kill them later on. Reina's character unfortunately does not have any family to do the job for her as we learn her best friend became a Stacy and killed Reina's parents. Reina was the one who had to chop her friends to bits with tools she found around the house.

Over the course of the day in the park, and after we see the Re-killing Forces (what the JSDF has become now that the job of military around the world is primarily to kill Stacys) wheeling off a cart of bodies, Reina and the young man have become close and he has accepted the job of killing her when she comes back to life. It isn't until the very end of the play where we see the actual scene of him killing Reina in a very long and drawn out death-match. Before that though we get the Coffee and Milk Dance, a strange dream that the young man often has where girls dance around balancing coffee in one hand and milk in the other. Hey, no one ever said this kid was sane. (And yes, from what I have started reading of the novel, this is in the novel.)

Masaki demonstrates the ever-famous Coffee and Milk Dance

Storyline 2 - The Stacy Who Talks and the Imprisoned Girls

Our second storyline takes place in an all girls school where the entire school population became Stacys simultaneously and the Re-killing Forces are now using it as a way to study the patterns of the Stacys. We meet a very unique Force member who pretends to sing and dance with the Stacys before killing them off as if it is a game. Except one of the Stacys seems to respond to him as he is about to kill her. This is the one played by Riho. She seems to be saying "Help me" which catches the man off guard because Stacys can't talk. And the fact that Riho resembles his sister who had to kill when she turned.

As the rest of the force members come in ready to clean up the bodies they go to kill this last remaining one before being stopped by crazy man. They won't believe him when he says she talked because that simply can't be, Stacys don't talk. Stacys don't have emotions or react to anything, they simply search for meat. Before they can override crazy man and kill Riho anyways they learn that in another part of the school a truly insane man (driven so by the job he has had to do all these years) has released the locks on all the rooms containing Stacys and the school is in complete chaos. This storyline is never fully wrapped up, we simply see the Stacys and the Force members fighting and presume that most of the force members are killed. At the end though all members do hear Riho's Stacy speak and are thrown into disbelief. This news spreads as a rumor around the country.

Storyline 3 - Drew, the Stacy Hunter

At the opening of this third story we see a hilarious song and dance that is an advertisement for chainsaws that are "sure to get the re-killing done right", and a young girl named Drew.

The last story focuses on Drew, a character played by Kuduu. She is 13 years old and 11 months, so just before the period where she may become a Stacy. And she has some special powers that allow her to attack and kill Stacys without having an actual sharp weapon in her hand.

After the opening commercial scene we see her entering what is presented as an abandoned building and approaching a young man who is leading a Stacy (Ayumi) on a leash. We learn that it is his girlfriend and he is not going to let her be killed. He swears that she can control her urges and is still the same girl, though we see her straining at the end of her chain to try and kill the young man while his back is turned.

Drew sees this as well and explains to the man that she is simply doing her job, her job to kill Stacys with these mysterious powers she has. When asked about her name she explains that her name is actually 公江（Kimie) but because of how the character looks she is always called Hamue and decided to rename herself after Drew Barrymore.

She is finally persuaded by the young man to help him hide his Stacy just as the Re-killing Forces arrive and misunderstand the situation. They are being told to not take any chances and so end up killing Drew before she has become a Stacy (though we know at this point she is in the Near Happiness stage) .

The scene changes and we hear reports of how Stacys are now evolving and becoming stronger, especially those who show mysterious powers are coming back to life with those powers ten-fold. So an order is given to kill girls before they become Stacys, as soon as they display the Near Happiness signs of laughter and frolicking.

And so the Force Members arrive at what is a hospice for girls about to become Stacys run by a kind but very stupid doctor. He constantly gets punched and kicked by the Stacys around him, with the girls using the excuse that they are Near Happiness and cannot help themselves.

And here is where all three stories collide. The boy and Ayumi Stacy arrive at the hospice, with the doctor being amused at what he sees as keeping a Stacy as a pet. Then Drew arrives, though we know she has been killed, and yet is still able to talk to the soon-to-become Stacys about not giving up hope. Ayumi speaks in front of everyone, including the forces that have arrived and they realize the rumors are true. And the Near Happiness girls along with Drew agree to cover for the boy and Ayumi Stacy who seem to be able to form a bond and should go off and create a new life that is half-Stacy half-human. Reina's Stacy has also been wandering even though she should have been dead and we are left at the end of the story seeing a new world of Stacys being reborn.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At least that is all I remember. Of course there are many more details that I don't know where to put in or just how accurate I can relate them to the story but the main thing I want to say is that this musical (yes it is indeed a full musical, with lots of very difficult to sing lyrics about killing and god being a fun-loving madman) is amazing! It isn't an idol musical. It is a well-produced and well-rehearsed production.

In many cases the girls are running around so quickly on stage that one mistake could make a few of them end up on a pile on the floor. All of the girls did an excellent job and portrayed the emotionless Stacys quite well.

Riho, I must say, has gotten a lot of control over her voice recently. A solo song her character had involved a lot of range and she was able to pull it off flawlessly. I could say I want Kanon to be the main character, but just because she is my oshi that doesn't mean it is always what I want. She did excellent in her role and danced fiercely (often on my side of the stage)

I can't wait for the DVD of this to come out. I want to see it again so badly that if I didn't have work tomorrow night I would pay for the Ustream to see it again. Anyone who can watch the Ustream should, it is well worth the price of paying for it.

I leave you with a shot from the press performance.

Morning Musume 2012 Spring Tour Ultra Smart

2012-05-21T10:40:00.003+09:00

This is a place keeper until I get time to fully write out my experience from May 6th at Nakano Sunplaza.

Actually, think I am gonna go ahead and give up on this one.

The concert I attended is the same one released on the USB and I definitely recommend watching it. There were a couple of songs I wasn't expecting, Goodbye Natsuo and Aki Urara, both of which were performed wonderfully.

Also, Aika really was doing her best from the Nakano concerts on to dance as much as possible, and she did really well. She was still only in the songs she had been in up til now but she performed most of the dances, though modified, off on one side of the stage. I did tear up a bit when she came out and was dancing, realizing that she is such a great performer but has made the hard decision to leave.

I look forward to seeing how the 10 members do at the summer concerts.

I will see the zombie novel-based play on Thursday and there will definitely be a write up of that, until then, here is a smiling picture of Zukki to make your day.

Smileage Mega Bank Vol.5 ~2nd Year Entry Special~

2012-05-21T10:39:00.002+09:00

On May 12th I attended Smileage Mega Bank Volume 5 which was an early celebration of their 2 year anniversary (not counting their indies year and despite the fact that Smileage now is not the same Smileage as it was this same time last year).

Because I have work on Saturday I knwe I was going to be arriving to the venue with no time to spare, so as soon as my last class was finished I rushed out to jump on trains and hope there were no delays. Well, even with no delays in my just under an hour of traveling, I entered into the venue as the opening VTR was rolling. Phew, I had made it. With absolutely no glowsticks and exhausted from a long day at work I found my seat and collapsed in it to await the start of the event.

The only ever Smileage Fanclub Event I have attended was Megabank Volume 2 which took place about a month after their major debut, so I wasn't sure what to expect going into this one. I just knew that in both the first and second they had done challenges which involved the audience and were a lot of fun, and that the fourth one was when they held Yuuka's graduation.

This one, turned out to be completely different. Usually a FC event is a bunch of activities and talk with a mini concert at the end. This time, the activities and songs were intermixed. The theme was a school setting. During Homeroom we learn that Take-chan's father is being transferred overseas so this will be her last day in the school. Ayacho is the standoff classmate who doesn't really care about the others but even she gets up and gives Take-chan a present when the others do. However, none of the presents are actually useful items, used scrunchies, something lying around the girl's room, etc.

Homeroom finishes and if I remember they moved on to Social Studies next, asking them various questions related to different areas in Japan. Was quite amusing to hear some of the answers. I am no good at the geography of Japan myself though so I could sympathize. They also did a "cooking" class where they used pots and pans to make music (think Stomp!) to the rhythm of the food they wanted to make. It was really well rehearsed and fun to clap along to. The third (though maybe not in that order) class... well I actually forgot which class they were mimicking, but I remember what happened hehe.

Need to do these reports closer to the event date but the last two weeks have been crazy.

The third class involved them doing "3-sided box game". Now, for those of you unfamiliar, this involves having the open side of the box facing the audience and the other three sides closed so that the participants have to put their arms in through holes in the sides or top and try to guess what the object is by feeling it. This might seem simple and non-threatening, but I'm sure it's not when you are the one doing it. And on top of that, the audience is supposed to act like the thing in the box is something gross/frightening no matter what it is.

In this case, the object was cauliflower, cut in half, with one piece hanging and one laying on the bottom of the box. After each girl had her turn of touching the object, including Kanana (who barely touched the object without freaking out and running across the stage then back to her seat) they took their guesses. The closest guess was broccoli but that was not considered good enough. The bravest of the six is Take-chan, she broke off a piece of the object to try and feel it better. Kanyon was also feeling the object quite a bit, so her and Take were the ones who guessed broccoli. I think they should have taken that as correct because I don't think broccoli and cauliflower feel all that different myself. Ah well.

At the end of their three classes the final school bell rings and then Take-chan gets an email from her father. Turns out she doesn't have to move after all! So all the girls take back their gifts (except for Kanana who offers to let Take keep it, but Take doesn't want it) and return to their seats.

In between each class period they sang a different song, which I thought was a good way to mix the songs into the activities. Songs included Chotto Matte Kudasai, Suki-chan (with extended cheering time for all six girls), Dot Bikini and two or 3 others that I am blanking out on.

At the end of the event they talked about how they felt (the one I went to was the last of all six time-slots). One thing Ayacho said stood out to a lot of people and kind of hinted that she might not be completely happy with Smileage as it is. She talked about how relieved she was there were no sudden VTRs to spoil the moment and how the Smileage she was standing there with was nothing like what she imagined it would be from one year before. Nothing she said was really negative, but you could tell that there have been a lot of things going through her head this past year.

The six members do seem to work well now though they still have a long way to go. Kanyon seems to get along with the 2nd gen just fine, but she was the one who took the announcement the best from the beginning. Ayacho is just getting there but I think she has finally really grasped what it means to be a leader and is doing her best to push Smileage higher.

With the announcement of the first Smileage Bus Tour, it seems like this is a step in the right direction. ^^

I leave you with a cute picture of Kanyon I found online. It's her card from the mobile card battle game.

Tsunku's movie - Atsuhime Number 1!

2012-04-08T19:45:00.002+09:00

So haven't posted on here in a long time huh? Well, that's because I haven't gone to ANY HP related events, too busy and no concerts in my area right now. So sorry I have been absent from blogging for a while.

But that all changed today when I went to see the movie Tsunku was executive producer of, Atsuhime Number 1! Starring in the movie were Yossi, Rika, Yuko, Tokki, Tsunku himself, Dandy (the "gets" guy), among others.

Looking at this poster you probably think, I have no clue what this movie could be about. So, here's the trailer.
Still no clue, well here's the basic plot:

The famous Atsu-princess is very reluctant to go off to Edo to be married to the Shogun so she tries continually to run away from Tae (her caretaker played by Yuko) and Mitsu (her guard ninja played by Tokki) and ends up on the edge of a field looking up at a meteor. She wishes to be somewhere far away and her wish is granted as she ends up in the middle of Hakone in modern day Japan. Picked up by an otaku artist and his girlfriend (who works as a hostess) the three are taken to their apartment in downtown Tokyo and proceed to be surprised by everything around them. Mitsu even throws a shuriken into the telephone as it rings.

Taken to the hostess' workplace out of curiosity at women working on their own Atsu is convinced to try out hostessing for one night. Right away she crosses path with the current No.1 at the club Ami (played by Yossi) and the two are instant rivals, especially after Atsu and a customer have a near violent fight.

Their competition starts from that encounter and we see Atsu grow more and more accustomed to life in the modern age, so accustomed that when the customer she previously fought confesses his love to her she really wants to stay. But along with learning a secret about Ami and why she needs to be No.1 so badly, she also overhears a conversation between the otaku and Tae about how drastically history may change if she doesn't go back. And so she makes the difficult decision to go back, prompting a tearful goodbye scene when the man who loves her runs to where she is waiting for the meteor to pass by again so that Tae and her can go home. (Mitsu has fallen in love with the janitor at the hostess club and decided to stay in the modern age.)

~~~~~

Overall I would say it is a comedy but it has some very touching moments to. There is a great scene where Atsu finds out Ami's secret and has a heart-to-heart with her that really changes how she views the girl she has had such a fierce rivalry with.

Then, comedy-wise, there are many scenes with Tsunku (playing himself) in and out of the club where due to Mitsu's rashness he is put to sleep with drugs several times while trying to creep on the hostesses he is enamored with.

I definitely recommend this movie to anyone in Japan or anyone who can see the DVD when it is released. Though I would suggest waiting for it to be subbed because the Japanese the three Edo-period ladies use is old-styled Japanese. Great movie though ^^

Kikkawa You's first Solo Concert : Kikka Fes 2012/02/19

2012-02-20T11:57:00.000+09:00

Putting aside the fact I am still behind on reports from December, let me give you a brief rehash of last night's Kikka Fes Part 3.

I wasn't sure if I would get the chance to apply for this one, but when I was in Tower Records the last week of January and they happened to have some of the first press of her album so I went ahead and bought it. Submitted the code online and then waited. I wasn't too concerned whether I got in or not, but was super excited when I checked the results and saw that I got in, and number 77 to boot.

So yesterday after coffee with friends I headed to the familiar host-club district of Kabukicho where the live was to be held. It was freezing outside but I knew the live was standing so I brought jackets that could either be stuffed in my bag or wrapped around my waist and headed inside when it was my time. I didn't end up exchanging my drink ticket because I wanted a good spot.

And I got one. I was able to find something just to the left of center in what basically became second row with a perfect view.

The entire live was great. Kikkawa gives a very powerful performance that if anyone hasn't checked out yet they definitely should. I am sure someone saved the Ustream of the performance so if you find it give it a look later.

As promised she performed every song off of her album, kicking off the live with her latest single "Konna atashi de yokattara" and for a surprise encore performed the same song one more time. She had 3 different outfits, her three single outfits. She actually had a bit of a happening two or three songs in when the bottom of her boot broke off. She went backstage to change it, and what she changed into happened to be her own warm winter boots. Silly Kikka, those heeled boots weren't meant for dancing. Course all three of her outfits have pretty high heels so it is quite amazing that she can dance the whole time in them.

To show the power of Universal, Kikka had two professional back up dancers for some of her songs, both very beautiful and talented women, though obviously the audience's eyes were on Kikka. When the dancers were introduced though, some members in the audience started shouting their names as they left the stage, to which an irked Kikka replied "Hey, don't tell me you found another favorite!" Naw, you are too talented and funny to look away from.

Not much to comment on the set list, besides the fact that all of the songs from the album worked great live. Even while singing ballads, Kikka's strong voice doesn't waver. I loved "Aitakunattara" live and I am not usually a ballad fan.

At the end of what turned out to be a full concert (interrupted by two vtrs of Kikka's path until now) there was a handshake as you were leaving. I told Kikka I had fun, and after saying thankyou normally in Japanese she appeared to recognize me and gave a weird grunt before saying "Ho! See you" and waving very cheerfully at me as I was pushed away.

Don't worry Kikka, you will definitely see me again soon, I promise it.

Hello Project Winter 2012 - HaroPro Tengoku ~Funky-chan~ Part 2

2012-01-09T22:26:00.000+09:00

And I'm back. Wow, I actually managed to come back and finish this the next day. (Report on Smileage handshake and last release event with Yuuka to still come... eventually)

So continuing where I left off...

Koisuru Angel Heart (By Mano, Ayacho, Kanyon, Fuku-chan, Take-chan, Rinapu, ~~Kuduu~~ ）
This was another song that I started spazzing as soon as the opening came on. I mean, what is not to love about a song that has wota-gei built into it? I did feel a pang of nostalgia remembering the few times I saw Viyuuden perform this song, but it was good nostalgia. I only wish Yui-chan hadn't complete left the entertainment industry to become a dental hygienist. I mean... really, with that body THAT was the career you chose? Anyways, this was the perfect member set up for the song. Although originally sung by 3 members, this song has often been used as a group ending song to concerts and works well with large groups. I was sad to learn after that Kuduu was supposed to part of this, so I look forward to seeing her on the DVD. Take-chan was probably the one who caught my eye the most during the song. I know, as a Kanyon fan I should have had all eyes for Cinderalla, but something about Take-chan's dancing really caught me. She is very energetic and gives off a lot of power when performing. It felt like they didn't really need Mano and Fuku-chan as this would have been fine as just a Smileage member song.

Yaruki! It's easy (By Sayumi, Maimi, Chinami, Yurina, Haruna)
Another song that I never would have expected to hear. While a very well known song, it is an older song that is not often brought back so it was a welcome surprise. I love the lyrics to the song, the idea of where there is a will there is a way. It's a very positive way to start off what is hopefully a less eventful event for Japan than last year. I know many seem to have low opinions of Haruna, but she is becoming a fitting Musume member. Her dances still aren't perfect, but as someone with absolutely no experience coming into the business at 17, she is doing quite well. She seems a bit lost as to what character she should take on, sometimes giving off a childish air and other times acting like your normal 17 year old, but that will settle with time. Sayumi also did quite well with this song because it is the right style for her voice and I am assuming it is a song that she likes since she has said on radio shows that she puts more effort into her singing when it is a song she likes. (Not really something you should admit in public Sayu...)

Ai no Sono ~Touch My Heart~ (By Reina, Miyabi, Rihoriho, Daishi)
Ah, the "Touch my heart and touch me please" song. I have missed you. I might be wrong, but the last time I recall seeing this song live was at the Elder Club graduation in 2009. (Wow, it was that long ago that they "graduated") I absolutely LOVE this song because it is always a karaoke favorite. It's upbeat, has a simple dance for the "Hey, everytime I'm so proud of you" part that the audience can follow along with and for the rest of the song gives the members on stage a chance to show off their dancing skills. And this was the perfect member combination to do that. All four are excellent dancers and Daishi will definitely be giving Rihoriho a run for her money. I was a bit shocked by Miyabi's short hair back at Yomiuri, but it has grown on me and she now looks fierce dancing with it.

Kikkawa You performing Konna Watashi de Yokattara
After getting to briefly chat with her at Tsutaya I was really looking forward to her performance. And a guest is a step up from being an opening act. It's getting more and more obvious that eventually she will just be added to the Hello!Project umbrella, even if her agency stays as Universal. Universal obviously has no plans to prevent her from being involved with things of her former agency (assuming she would be under UFA as an Egg) and that makes me happy. I am happy she became a soloist and with Universal's direction, because after seeing her perform live a few times it's quite obvious that her voice is much stronger than your average idol voice. She definitely holds her own on stage and her smile lights up the room. There was one rude wota somewhere behind me that when Kikka announced her song title (which means "If I am OK as I am for you" (It's a hard title to translate so if anyone has any other ideas let me know)) shouted "It's not OK!" GRR I wanted to turn around and slap the boy. Most wota are awesome people who just have a big obsession, but yeah there are a few bad eggs. Kikka, I wish you the best of luck and will continue to follow you.

Please Mini-skirt Post Woman - Uchouten Love (By Smileage)
After seeing them live without Yuuka, 6-member Smileage is going to do just fine. I was hoping to see the new single, but that was apparently only being performed at the Rock-chan concerts. The formation for Mini-skirt does look a little strange with 6 instead of 7 as it was formed with a center, but to make up for this they seemed to have them dance in a line instead of an arrow (if that makes sense) All six girls work well together and even Kanana has learned to stop grinning during every point in the song and make different expressions for different lyrics. Now, why haven't they announced a Smileage spring tour!!! Even a mini one would be nice...

Doki Doki Baby - Glory Days (By Mano Erina)
I have always been in the middle when it comes to Mano, but I don't actually dislike her. Her voice certainly is of a quality that you either like or dislike, but personality-wise she is an absolute sweetheart and I loved the handshake I did with her a couple of years ago (for her 4th single I think). I don't know if I would ever go to her solo concerts, but I don't ignore her and half-sleep during her performances at the group concerts like I have seen some people do. I didn't really like My Days for You but I loved Genkimono de Ikou and these two new songs reminded me of that style. Both are very upbeat and fun to sing along and chant to. The dance for Glory Days is quite intense yet both Mano and her 4 eggs (no clue who the new ones are since a few changed due to promotions etc) pulled it off flawlessly. I look forward to checking out her anime debut.

Kimi ha Jitensha Watashi ha Densha de Kitaku (By C-ute)
I hadn't heard the concert rip preview of this song before going to the concert so was very surprised that it was a ballad. C-ute went through a lot of changes after the two members left, and they have challenged a lot of new styles, really building up a new image for themselves. Until this point they were marketing themselves as the dance idol unit of the company so to come out with a ballad... well ballads don't really involve a lot of dancing. However, it is a very simple yet beautiful song. All five girls have strong voices that are each featured (with not TOO much line hogging by Airi and Maimi) throughout the song. The red outfits are also very cute. A nice relaxing performance.

Be Genki "Naseba Naru!" (By Berryz Koubou)
First off, the superman costumes are brilliant. I love how they used the group color of blue with bright red capes. The only odd thing is well... Yurina. She is over a head taller than most of the other girls in the group, and yet her costume is very obviously cut to the same length. The skirt is the same, the boots are the same. So... it ends up that she is showing a lot more of her legs than the other girls just because her legs are that much longer but wearing the same length and size of clothing. It's quite amusing actually, they definitely should have lengthened her skirt and boots just a little so they wouldn't contrast so much with the rest of the girls' outfits.

Anyways back to the song. It's a great upbeat song that reminds me of the old Berryz(before they had their Inazuma collaboration). I love it and can't wait for the CD to come out.

Ike Ike Monkey Dance - Tokkaiko Junjou - Shock - Heroine ni Narou Ka - Ai no Dangan - Sayonara Geshiki Koi - JUMP - Cho Wonderful (By Berikyuu)
I was a bit apprehensive coming into the concert because a friend just leaving the morning stage said it seemed to be all about Berikyuu and I of course pictured them being over featured with Musume and Smileage being pushed to the back (in fact it was just Mano who was given less stage time). Yes, they were featured, but in the most awesome medley of all time! I mean these are the songs that really keep me interested in Cute and Berryz. Tokkaiko Junjou is probably one of my favorite C-ute songs and Sayonara one of the best Berryz album songs. Even the two newer Berryz songs are two of my favorites from the Inazuma to post-Inazuma era. And wow as it a high-powered medley. There was no time to rest, it was just jumping and cheering the whole time. I was completely exhausted by the end of it. They had a great routine on stage, with the group whose song it was rotating slightly to the front but all members performing the dance to each. Berikyuu really do work well together. To the point where they almost might as well form them into one permanent group.

Pyoko Pyoko Ultra - Go Girl! Koi no Victory (By Musume)
I was wondering how they would pull off performing in baby chick costumes when they came out in completely different outfits from the PV. White capri pants with yellow jackets and hats, though Risa was wearing red feathers in her hair instead of a hat (I suppose to denote her as the rooster?) Apparently they did perform in the chick costumes for the Rock-chan version, but something simple and fun was chosen for Funky-chan. Although overly simplified, the girls looked cute and were able to dance easily. This song was where it was most obvious that Kuduu was missing, because one of the dance moves is meant to have Kuduu on the right side of a formation using her arm as a bridge that one of the girls is trying to go under. So it ended up being just one girl with her arm outstretched and the other girl trying to break through a one-sided bridge. It looked strange but they had no time to modify it with Kuduu having performed in the morning concert but unable to perform in the rest of the days' events.

I fall in love with this song more each time I hear it. I love the "Pyoko pyoko pyoko Jump" parts as everyone in the audience tries to jump as high as they can. Also Reina and Sayu play up their lines so well, especially the "Look at me!" "And don't laugh". I love it and think it was a good way to introduce the new Musume with its overwhelming two generations of younger members. I do hope for something a bit more mature for Gaki-san's last in May, but would not be disappointed with something upbeat and cheerful along the same lines as this one. Again though, seriously why couldn't Aika sit on the side to at least perform the Musume songs?

OK Yeah! (By All)

A Musume album song as a near-closing group song, can it work? Oh, hell yes it can! This is the perfect upbeat dance number to end a concert with. In fact, it probably would have been great as the final number. I laughed the first time I heard it because of the weird frog dance man sound effects, but after hearing it more and seeing at budoukan I was hooked. Musume was featured as main, but everyone performed 100 percent. It was amazing to see such a fast-paced song performed by all 29 girls on stage. Good going girls. Can't wait to see this when it's out on DVD.

Kono Chikyuu no Heiwa wo Honki de Negattarun da yo!
aka the song with the unnecessarily long title. This, this wasn't the best song to end with. It was performed well and is a good song to end in most cases, but not when it is following OK Yeah! which would have been the perfect ending. Still, the song did not disappoint. The dance works well with large groups so there was no awkwardness of members transitioning from upstage to downstage etc. They seem to have toned down the head bobbing move as they diva point, which was one of my favorite moves. A little strange to see this song without Ai but not disappointing. All of the girls are learning to hold their own in Musume and I am looking forward to the spring tour.
~~~~~~

Overall, this was an amazing concert. The set list had so many nostalgic songs for me, and all were good ones. I would have loved to see Rock-chan too but the winter/summer concerts are simply too pricey to see more than once. I enjoyed the one I went to even though I was sad to see Aika's jip of an appearance and Kuduu being sick. My one complaint was the MC's outfits. They were both (Makoto and Yossy) in gold WTF shiny outfits. Yossy's looked OK, pants with a long shirt/dress over them. A bit too flash but somehow OK. But Makoto... oh poor poor Makoto. Gold shiny tuxedo is just not an attractive look for the guy. And it's funny when he is introduced as Sharan Q's drummer - because the opportunity for him to drum comes up almost never. (Tsunku, your band does need you occasionally)

My next event is the Aika FC Event this Thursday, January 12.

Here's a pic of Zukky to leave you with after this essay.

Cheerleader outfit from the B.L.T. Magazine shoot set.

Hello Project Winter 2012 - HaroPro Tengoku ~Funky-chan~ Part 1

2012-01-08T21:49:00.001+09:00

Happy New Year! A little late, but still worth saying, right? So on January 3rd the boyfriend and I headed out to Nakano for the second concert of a day filled with 3 concerts. Strangely enough the pattern was Funky-Funky-Rock. I really hoped for Rock, but Funky did not disappoint.

After arriving at Nakano, we first headed up to Tsutaya so I could pick up Kikka's CD for the handshake that was to take place there later in the day. After a quick lunch, we headed over to the venue and since the line was short I headed up to get goods. From about a year ago I have held back on buying goods, preferring to save the money to do other events both related and non-related to Hello Project. Plus, I am running out of places to put things x_x So yeah, the only things I bought were the giant B-1 poster (probably to go in the spot that is currently taken up by the Rival Survival poster of the same size), Zukki's daily photo (so cute, and so mature looking recently), and 4 gatcha tries. Well, all 4 were the lowest rung, so I got solo pictures. After trading I ended up with pictures of Momochi, Zukki, Meimei, and Kanyon. Not bad. I wanted either Meimei or Kuduu but Kuduu was impossible with what I had (Rinapuu) and Meimei is just too adorable to resist.

With goods bought, it was time to head back to Tsutaya for the handshake with Kikka. Kikka is such a kind and amazing person. She really makes eye contact with you and her speaking seems so natural, her laugh is also very cute. She seemed to recognize me and I told her I was looking forward to her performance that day. I will definitely continue to follow her in the future.

Soon we were headed inside, where I realized they were selling special Xmas chocolate boxes for FC members, so was sucked into buying one of those, in which I got a Reina pic. It's actually quite a cute pic though so I am thinking of keeping it. Then it was into the hall and down to the front section where our seats were. I was surprised that after front row at Budoukan I ended up with even 9th row at Nakano (which is actually about 12th due to a "Row 0" that can be moved into various formations) and the view we had was great. Though, I think I Have mentioned it before, but Nakano Sunplaza just is a great venue. No matter where you are on 1st or 2nd floor you can easily enjoy yourself. At other venues, if you are more than 10 rows back, seeing becomes difficult for those of us that are short.

Well, with my モ　shirt on from a couple of years ago, wristbands galore, and both a green and purple glowstick (which was complete fail as it died 2 songs in) I was ready and raring to go. So off to the bathroom I went and was given some shocking news over the loudspeaker on the way back: Kuduu would not be performing in the rest of that days concerts due to illness after the first concert. Later on in the day we were informed she had influenza... and apparently passed it to Maasa who was announced to be not participating in today's (1/8) concerts on the official website. I really hope this week between concerts cuts off the chain so no one else comes down with the flu.

Now, for highlights of the concert, intermixed with the set list of the day. (The set lists are usually taken from Japanese blogs as I do not have a good memory for songs and the order they are sung in. Today's set list is brought to you by http://luncht.exblog.jp/14358683/ and transliterated by me)

Opening Dance by the 12 (11) New Members
With Kuduu missing it is important to note that some of the dances for songs she was a part of did seem a little strange, as there was very obviously a missing link. However, the opening dance was formed in a way that even with one member missing the strength of the dance was not lessened at all. The dance itself actually wasn't all that complicated of one (you can see them practicing it on the Mobekimasu youtube channel here) but it was a good way to show off the new members without putting too much pressure on the performance. I pictured them opening the concert as it being a song, but this was actually a good way to introduce them without making it seem like the concert was all about them. Not that that would be a bad thing, all 12 have been great additions so far.

Busu ni Naranai Tetsugaku
Of course they had to do this song first since they have really been pushing the idea of MBCMS this year. Since 11 of the members had been dancing previously, those members had to rush offstage (as everyone else was rushing on) in order to quickly zip up their stage outfits. I wasn't paying too much attention to the opening of the song as I was frantically searching for Aika, ya know having it been announced that she would be in the concert though in a light manner. Well, I am sure I am not the only one who imagined that "light manner" as being just coming out for a couple of MCs. I mean, really? She was performing sitting down for two months before finally being told she couldn't perform at all, pretty sure she could sit on the side and sing just fine by now. Was a little bit disappointing but ah well. Will see how she does at the FC event I am going to later this week.

With 29 members and several Eggs (or Research Students as they are called now) the stage was packed. And yet, all the members performed very well. Hmm, funny how dancing AND singing at the same isn't an impossible thing to do (like a certain other massive group seems to think it is) And this type of strong performance, regardless of whether the singing is Broadway level or not, is why I love Hello Project.

Medley: Inspiration ~ Ryuusei Boy ~ Massara Blue Jeans ~ Renai Revolution 21
A great selection of songs, even RR21. I agree with many others that the song is overdone, it works with group concerts. It's a fun song that gets everyone in the audience dancing. Inspiration is a song that I never thought I would hear at a current group concert so it was a very refreshing surprise. A classic song that really brings out the youth in all of the current members. Ryuusei is one of the better Inazuma-tied Berryz songs in my opinion, and really who could hate Massara (another one of those songs the audience knows the whole dance to)

The most interesting thing with this medley was how they rotated each group to the front as it was their song, even though all groups sang each one of the songs, they put the main onto the group it came from. So I was surprised that S/mileage and Mano didn't have a song in the medley. Maybe they have more of a role in Rock-chan?

Moshimo... (By Maasa, Maimai, Kanyon, Kanana, and Meimei)

This was the coupling to Busu, right? As a semi-ballad, it is not the type of song I listen to very often. However, every time I hear it I do find myself humming along. The member choice was, well it wasn't what I would expect for a song of this genre (Meimei and Kanana being the ones I would take out) but it actually worked quite well. If I remember correctly, Meimei wasn't given too many lines, which worked fine because her voice isn't up to ballad standards, and Kanana's voice stood out to me a lot more than I remember it doing so before. The five made it work and it was a good song to just hum along to and take a little bit of a break after the medley.

Uwaki na Honey Pie (By Captain, Momochi, Risako, Nakky, Okai, Eripon, Masaki)
I practically said Kyaa! as soon as the opening for this song came on. I love this song! And I mean love to the point that no matter how many times my iPod decides it wants to play it I just cannot skip it. What a surprise to hear such an old song pop up here, though it certainly fits the Funky image. The girls all did a great job with the dance and energy necessary for the song.

Seishun no Custard (By Gaki-san, Airi)
At first, I was practically kicking myself as I ran it over and over in my head, wondering just what this song could be. I knew it was Gatas, that was for certain. But was it... oh it was! It was the Yossy song! How could I forget even for a moment that Yossy had been involved in such an awesome pair song. (Though I must admit I secretly hoped that it was also the "Oh Je-e-sus" song just for laughs. Gaki and Airi are both very powerful singers, and as a pair they matched perfectly. Girls, you did Yossy proud.

--- As a side here, I would like to note my thoughts about Gaki's graduation. I was not shocked nor saddened. I was a little surprised, mainly because I thought it would be in the fall. But, she has been in the group over 10 years, and in the natural order of things it didn't seem like she would be around long now that the graduation rotation has gone back into pace again. I think many new fans are shocked (new being the ones who joined after 8th gen came in and before Koharu graduated) because they didn't see this rotation. Yet before the lapse after Miki's scandal, this was pretty normal. Once a year is a bit close, yes, but not unheard of. And the group is supposed to change. No, it is not the Musume I came to know 10+ years ago, but that is not something that angers or saddens me. Each formation of Musume is its own group and yet carries the legacy of the past with it. I am sure the group will do just fine without Gaki and look forward to seeing who is announced as leader during the spring concert.

Yokohama Shinkiro (By Chisato)
Wow can Chisato sing. It's only really in the past year that I have started noticing Chisato more. And thanks to a friend who is completely in love with her, I see all the appeal she has. She has a very powerful voice and has worked hard to bring her dancing up to the level of the other C-ute members. I love this song, it's a Gocchin classic. And it requires the edge that Chisato's voice has, not some sweet cutesy voice that many might prefer in an idol. A very enjoyable performance with quite an intense dance.

Sotto Kuchizukete Gyutto Dakishimete (By Yurina)
I　actually just looked this song up on Youtube because I couldn't remember which of the 4 soloists had sung it. I had thought it was a Gocchin song, so was surprised to find out it was Mikitty. I guess the main solo song I associate with her is Romantic Ukare Mode due to the fun wota dance it entails. The song suited Yurina's voice perfectly, and she held out each note with slight pauses where they needed to be for emphasis. I think it every time I see her but DAMN is that girl tall.

To be continued in part 2... (cuz I'm sleepy)

Akihabara: Backstage Pass - The place where you raise the idols

2011-12-23T23:45:00.000+09:00

Akihabara Backstage Pass

Produced by Tsunku ♂ and Chiyomaru (producer of Afilia Magic School)

As some may know December 23rd, which is also the current Emperor's birthday, was the opening day of Tsunku and Chiyomaru's joint project in Akihabara: a cafe where you raise the idols by choosing an 押し　and giving her your points. It is similar in style to the Afilia Magic School (well it is run by the same guy) so you have different levels of point cards and can put your points towards the different girls. As you spend more money, you get different cards. All the cards have different levels of "Producer" on them. The starting level is Assistant Producer. In the picture below you can see all the levels (thanks for posting that yesterday Chiyomaru) the first level is the red one.

Now, before getting our cards we had to GET into the cafe. By we, I mean me and my boyfriend who I convinced to come with me (he loves maid cafes so something of a similar nature as a Hello Project wasn't too hard to convince). The Grand Opening was at 3pm, with a 1hour limit for opening day (and maybe opening weekend,not sure) but there were a lot of people watching Chiyomaru's live stream on Thursday so it was really hard to guess just how many people would be coming. So we left the house around 11 to get there at noon, checked out the 6th floor. No people, wandered back downstairs to look around some shops, went back up around 1 and there were 2 people waiting, one of which had seen us going up and down so let us ahead of him, making us 2nd in line. And then we sat down, with 2 hours to go til opening, on the stairs as we asked and were given permission to do. I had my tablet with me so used that and drinking bottled iced tea to kill time.

And as time passed, it was easy to see that coming early was the right thin to do. The cafe is on the 6th floor of a popular building called Akiba Culture's Zone. By the time the cafe opened, the line snacked down the stairs to the first floor. And since it was 1 hour limit on opening day, with Tsunku and Chiyomaru obviously there... yeah you would be waiting an hour if you didn't get in first loop.

10 to three came and we were asked to stand up and a couple of people from the press came and verified that everyone was OK with being on camera (you probably picked the wrong day to come if you weren't OK since there were obviously going to be news outlets as well as filming crew for Tsuntube and Nico Nico Streaming). Then, one by one we were led inside. Since we were second I was actually quite nervous and when it was our turn smiled at the camera and was led to the door, greeted by a very cute idol named Azuna (or Azunyan as she likes to be called) and then led down (not kidding here) a corridor of all the girls lined up through the center of the restaurant to the second to front table in front of the giant stage. They left the first table open for filming and interviews until the cafe was completely full up.

Wow, the stage was right there, and Tsunku was standing to the wing. Right away he saw me and nodded. Pretty sure he recognized me from the couple of other times I have been in the front of events he has been at. Even if it was just the foreigners well, it was very obvious all the staff were amused at the two foreigners who were practically first in line. There were cast members everywhere (we were constantly told by the announcers and Tsunku/Chiyomaru to not call them maids) film crew everywhere and a giant stage with Tsunku standing to the wing. It was amazing and I was grinning the whole time.

We signed up for our producer cards and ordered drinks and talked with Azunya until she went off (for a long while actually x_x) and then looked towards the stage and Tsuntube staff as they were interviewing different cast members. Then Tsunku and Chiyomaru came out for a bit, did more chatting with different girls before introducing 3 idol groups who had come to support the opening of the cafe. Two of the groups were minor idols: OSU and Doll Elements (the trainees of Lovely Doll) and the third was a very underused group (hehem Tsunku) The Possible. Each said hello and then all together they performed (with Possible in front) the Tsuntube created song (Aiyaya Papaiya Aiyaisa ~) that has now become stuck in my head.

We ordered food, but it must have gotten forgotten about in the busy rushing around, no big deal. As it hadn't come by the time the hour was up they just took it off the order list and it was amazing how quickly one hour went by. Along with Azunyan several cast members stopped over at our table to chat with us, all of them being curious how we came to know about the cafe. One girl even called us the "cool foreign couple" and that made us laugh. All the girls were rotating around to try and build reputation, since they need to earn points from us in order to advance and be given more opportunities to go out into the media etc.

There are about 100 girls who made it through the auditions (unfortunately not me but they were nice enough to email polite rejections to everyone which is pretty awesome actually) and I am pretty sure all were there rotating in and out yesterday, or at least most. Here are two who I know talked to me. Others did talk to me, but I either can't remember their name, or the name on their name tag and introduced to me is not the one on the profile site so I can't figure out who. And it is hard to figure out by looks as there are tons of them.

Azuna - 19 years old

Harushan - 15 years old

Azunyan was so nervous, she kept forgetting parts of everything she had to explain to us in the beginning and it was adorable. I just told her to slow down and relax.

Well the greatest part of the day was actually when we were leaving. Our hour was up and we were led by Azunyan to the counter to pay. Tsunku and another male staff member were standing only a couple of feet behind us chatting, waiting for the first group to all leave probably. So we finished paying and I glanced again at Tsunku, who met my eyes and then walked over to us and first asked in Japanese if we could speak it. I said yes. So he stood there right next to me and asked how I found out about this cafe. I told him I had seen it on his blog, and then Azunyan blurted out how I had told her I knew about it 3 months ago right when it was announced and he seemed amazed. I said that I was a big Hello Project fan so was always going to events. He did the obvious thing of thanking me for that and then I told him I was definitely going to be coming back to the cafe more. He told me he hoped we had a good time, then smiled and said "Thank you for coming" in perfect English before walking off.

I was in shock that we had such a normal back and forth conversation. I mean I knew he had spotted me and obviously nodded at me a few times while on stage but apparently he was really curious as to how I got there on opening day. I was so happy leaving the cafe and promised Azunyan that we would come back soon. Wow... I really should have asked to shake Tsunku's hand but I am just in complete awe that we had a totally normal exchange and I definitely think he'll remember me ^_~

Can't wait to go back again. Price wise it isn't too expensive so hope to get there at least once or twice a month.

9th Generation Fanclub Tour in Yamanashi 2011, November 5-6

2011-11-13T22:17:00.001+09:00

Fall 2011 November 5-6: 9期　Bus Tour in Yamanashi

Above you can see my tour pass and the front of the pamphlet we were given at the start of the tour. In fact we were given a whole pile of materials as you can see. Among them, slips for voting for the best art project, a questionnaire sheet and a goods order form.

But I am getting ahead of myself. Before boarding the bus, I took a picture of myself ready to have a fun weekend with the Kyukkies.

I look surprised for some odd reason, not sure exactly why. Well it was before 8 in the morning and I have very little skill with taking pictures of myself so I can use that as an excuse I guess. By the time I arrived at the meeting area (about 15 minutes before the meet up time) there was already a large wota group ready and raring to go. I enjoyed chatting with some of my friends from Hawaii and then we parted ways for the moment and got onto our designated buses.

For the duration of the tour, I was on Bus 2. We had a very cute, very young bus guide who at first glance picked out Riho as her favorite. As a demonstration of the kindness (not creepiness) of wotas, on Sunday it happened to be that bus guide's birthday, so on our way to events on the second day, the "captain" wota (seems to be known by most, I have never talked to him but have seen him around a lot) led us all in singing Happy Birthday. It was really sweet and made me feel really connected to everyone around me.

Back to the bus. Precisely at 8am we started on our way. Highways were of course crowded because it was a weekend, so traffic was stop and go for a while, but eventually we got moving at a steady pace. The first rest area we stopped at was too crowded to really get everything we needed done; along with toilet and buying lunch we were also told that 5-shots would be taken as soon as we got to Yamanashi so we needed to get ready for them there. I opted to put contacts in at the rest stop then grab out makeup pouch from my luggage and do makeup on the bus. It worked out well, mostly because I don't wear very much make up so "doing makeup" consists of nothing more than putting on concealer and eyeshadow. For girls who do much more than that, well they wouldn't dare leave the house without make up on so it seemed like all the other girls on the tour were already dolled up when they got to the bus meet up at 7:30. How they are able to get up and put make up on in the early morning is something I will never understand about most women here. And I do mean most, I wish I saw more women without make up , since most of them probably look just as beautiful. But I digress.

Since we had very little relax time at the first rest stop, we did end up stopping about 30 minutes later just after we had entered Yamanashi prefecture.

Saturday, November 5

Only 20 minutes later we were off the highway and headed to the location where the 5-shot was to be done, a nice Japanese style-inn. Which coincidentally is also the lodging we stayed at. I was nervous, but nowhere near as nervous as I was in Hawaii. After the picture in Hawaii, and the 5-shot with Smileage, I was able to approach this picture calmly with a clear idea in my head of the pose I wanted to do. Outside the room (and after a very cute and ditzy VTR shown on the bus) we were presented with a board showing each girl's suggested pose. I am really not sure what Fuku-chan was thinking with her Fuji-san pose, but I am sure some people did choose to use it.

I decided to go with a pose of my own, which I described to the staff member as (one of the same young guys who was in Hawaii, we both recognized each other) "Holding your hands out as if you are accepting the fans' love" 3 out of 4 of the girls understood what I meant. Riho looks like she is presenting a product.

They were so cute! I mean I am a sucker for school uniforms, but I don't think anyone could pull it off better than these four. Staff member who put up the suggestion for the tour to be like a middle-school field trip, I salute you ^^

After the 5-shot (we were given the picture on the bus ride back to Tokyo the next day) we were shipped off to do grape picking while the bus group from Nagoya took their turn at the 5-shot. A good way to kill time without leaving us bored, but the girls weren't there at all so it was kinda pointless. OK, the girls were there in spirit. They were there in the sense that the artwork they made out of clay as their image of Yamanashi grapes was there. I didn't get a picture of it myself, but there are pictures floating around. Three of the pieces actually looked like real grapes, and one looked like a weird character styled grape, we think that one was Kanon. The voting slips we were given were for voting for what we thought was the best piece. Of course most people debated who made what and then tried to vote for their oshi, but I actually voted for the one I thought looked the best, though I am pretty sure the weird wtf-is-that character was my beloved Zukki's.

Conveniently they finally uploaded the voting results, and here they are.

1位　D作品　譜久村聖　　Mizuki　　　　　　
2位　A作品　鈴木香音　Kanon
3位　B作品　鞘師里保　Riho
4位　Ｃ作品　生田衣梨奈 Erina

As we thought, the weird one was Zukki, it was cute, but I voted for what did turn out to be Mizuki's and the winner, D. I liked the way she formed her grapes. Riho's and Erina's kinda just looked like lumps, so I can see why it was between A and D.

So yeah, the grape picking was really just to have us kill time, and yeah we had the clay artwork to look at, besides for eating slightly sour but yummy grapes (why the Japanese PEEL grapes I will never understand, I just eat them whole). But yeah, it would have been nice to have been doing something slightly more related to the girls we were there to see.

After we finished picking our grapes, we were instructed to go into one of the other areas of the building to do one piece of calligraphy each. You could do any single character that you liked, and although you might think people would only choose characters from the 9ki members' names, you would be wrong.

As for me, I choose a character dear to my heart (and one of the few I can write that doesn't look like it is written by a 5-year old. Can read kanji just fine, cannot write them to save my life)

A tribute to my Junjun. I was so happy to see her on the Chinese contest show ^^.

After everyone was finished at the grape-picking farm, we were bussed back to our hotel and allowed to check in. My room was six girls. We all started chatting right away, and one of the girls had brought a portable DVD player so we sat down and watched the Single V of the latest Musume single, complete with lots of "Kawaii"s just as you would expect from a bunch of girls. We had about two hours to kill before dinner, so after watching that we all just kind of relaxed and showed off the items we had brought on the tour. One girl (who I need to chase down at the Yomiuri Land Event) had even made clothes for a miniature bear to match Reina's concert outfit from Fantasy DX.

Or I think the bear was Reina. Of the Kyukkies, Eripon is her favorite and I don't remember Eripon having a bow like that. The bear was so adorable that it was an instant photo favorite. Another one of my roommates was wearing Zukki's shiny green-trim outfit from the Fantasy DX which her mom had hand-sewn for her. Makes me seriously want to learn to sew so I can make my own outfits whenever I feel like it.

Finally, at 4:50, we headed down to the dining hall, took our seats and dove into a delicious Japanese-styled feast. There were so many different dishes, including yummy sashimi and flame-boiled rice with mushrooms, that at the end of the meal we were all full to bursting. Unfortunately I forgot my camera when we went downstairs, because the meal really was that huge and gourmet, and even included a couple of slices of boar roast. Yum, boar meat.

After a huge dinner, it was back upstairs to grab what we needed for the Mini-Live and Talk Event and then back on our buses. Two of my roommates were on the same bus, so we all went together and settled in with our full stomachs to watch another random 9ki VTR for the hour-long bus ride to the venue. The talk and Mini-Live were at a small concert hall in Yamanashi, and when I say small I mean it. Even though I had pulled the 12th row (the entire hall maybe had 20) and was in the last row of the tour group, I still had a great view and with my pen-light in hand and my Fantasy DX t-shirt on I was ready to cheer.

The first half of the event was just the Kyukkies talking about a variety of subjects, including answering how an idol would respond in certain situations. A comedian acted as the "Heaven's Voice" in order to make sure the girls didn't go too off topic. It was amusing but a week later not that memorable because everyone was waiting for the live.

And the live did not disappoint. It was short,　but full of high power songs that highlighted all of the girls strengths. First was Go Girl, a trying song for even veteran members but all four were able to pull off the dance and song brilliantly. A great high power number to start off the night. Next was Mikan, another song that came out way before they joined but captures the spirit of their youth.

After the opening they moved into the solo corner (seems to be a trend that FC tours have solo corners) with Riho picking KoiING (because she didn't get to sing it during the summer), Fuku-chan picked Tokutouseki (a Gomaki song that while at first I couldn't place, by the chorus I was humming along to it. A great song to highlight Fuku-chan's strong voice), Zukki (Yeah! Meccha Holiday. A perfect choice for Zukki. Keeps with her fun-loving nature, as well as highlights her deeper-toned voice. Plus she just exudes the young genki idol vibe) and finally Eripon with Koi no Boogie Train (a great song, though again a fast number which just like Hawaii Eripon had a little trouble keeping up with. However, this time she didn't lose her breath at all and was able to perform the whole song and dance without missing a beat. Still, Eripon... you don't need to push yourself, those are hard songs to sing solo).

After the solos it was again back to high powered group numbers, starting with Ikimasshoi. As one of my favorite Musume songs it was great to see performed, even if having only four members made it seem slightly lacking. The girls are all high-energy though so were able to pull it off well. Tired me out with how much I jumped and flailed with love during the verses. And next came the song we had all been waiting for (when hearing they were going to perform a song by that legendary 4-person group, well what else do you think came to mind?) Melon Kinenbi's "This is Unmei" Sure the girls are too young to understand the lyrics (just like Smileage) but still this is a song you cannot lose with. It is high energy, the girls did the opening head turning completely in sync and the power and energy it unleashed upon the audience was unbelievable. It.. it really made me miss Melon. (Poor Sexy Saitou) Still, I had been secretly hoping this was the song they were referring to and was not disappointed in the least. If anything, the only strange part was not having the stage go red when they said "Is this hell?" like it does for any performance of this song in an actual fully-staged concert. And once again I felt that This is Unmei is not a song you can listen to on CD after hearing it live several times. It just isn't the same without the wota-calls. And I was shouting just as loud as everyone else there.

Lastly they performed Maji Desu Ka, an expected choice to show off how much they have grown since it was first recorded several months ago. They left the stage, and we all thought it was over, but then they showed the previews for the Sharehouse movie. (Which no I didn't go see... it just really didn't seem that interesting, though after seeing a longer preview it does seem like something nice to sit at home on the couch and watch, just not something to pay to see in theaters. Plus the 9kis only have a small part in it, and it has D-boys x_x) And suddenly... the girls were back on stage doing a comedy skit with the title of... wait for it... Ramen Ranger! And yes, three out of four of them were rangers, with Zukki playing the ramen customer who is angry and surprised at the ridiculous-ness she is subjected to. Finally after a hilarious skit they did one more section where they had the girls do rock-paper-scissors with the audience, I lasted three times before having to sit down. The last few people (as long as it was under 10) got bags that had the strange hippo drawings printed onto them (hippo drawings that were showcased during one of the many in-bus VTRs.

The Ramenja- segment reminded me that they also did two short comedy routines before the live began, split into pairs. Both were very funny, with the one highlighting Fuku-chan's sheltered home life and acting as if she is a princess with several servants and it had everyone rolling with laughter. Course her partner was Zukki, who of course is brilliant at tsukkomi. Ikuta and Riho did a doctor's appointment setting where Eripon was the ditzy and overreacting doctor. Very amusing, all four girls have gotten quite good at acting. Another corner of the night was a gesture game corner, some of the questions were really hard and you felt bad for the girls getting them but ah well was amusing for the audience ^^ Tokyo Sky Tree included Eripon jumping higher and higher to show that it was taller than Tokyo Tower.

At the end of the night we were given out the cap and badges below. And... I feel so bad. I thought the lady who handed me the cap looked familiar... it was Inaba Atsuko!!! But... but then I saw on her twitter that she was on the 9ki tour and totally didn't realize it was her and wondered if she was ever going to appear and do anything and she didn't and... and I had my chance to say hi and I didn't. Granted her appearing was the worst timing ever, coming off of the high of being sent off with a wave and a smile by the 9ki members in pajamas made it very hard to really focus on what was going on as I was handed the cap. Gomen ne.... and I really liked T&C Bomber too. Maybe Atsuko just isn't recognizable without her afro ^^

Sunday, November 6

With breakfast starting at 6:45 and the bus leaving at 7:50, it was an early morning. Felt even earlier for me because I had some weird stomach problem that made me have cold chills and keep waking up the night before. Really sucked because the night before I had gone to the public bath in the hotel with two of my roommates and had such a good time chatting with them in the outdoor bath. I rarely get to use public baths because I have a tattoo on my stomach, and as you might know, apparently everyone who has a tattoo is a Yakuza. My roommates told me to try coming in anyways and when I looked after we got it, it seemed like the rules for the bath at this hotel didn't mention anything about tattoos, so I felt very lucky and relaxed. And then my stomach bothered me. I was probably over tired from a long, eventful day. Ah well, a new day had begun.

Breakfast was delicious, I really love Japanese-style dishes but they are too much work to make at home. The only thing I didn't touch was the natto packet, I can eat it but I really don't like it enough to want to eat it.

After returning to our rooms and getting all of our belongings ready, we were back on the bus and headed off to what was called the Morning Event. Well, it wasn't really an event. It was more like we were lined up in the order we would be taking the group pictures in, put into a very tiny room, and then the girls were on a platform at the front of the room. Except it was so crowded that anyone off to the side couldn't see at all, even after asking the staff to make people in the front sit down, and all it really was was morning greetings from the girls. The school style greetings were nice, but it really wasn't a good event unless you were in the front and center I think.

Afterwards we were led in our lines to another room in the hotel we had been brought to and they proceeded to take the group pictures. This time, 10 of us were sitting in front of the Kyukkies standing behind us. And they were dressed in sports tracksuits, wearing different colors for their grade. A cute idea, but kind of plain and unfitting for an idol to be wandering around in all day.

Photos finished, we headed out to the bus once again, this time for just a short trip to another location where we would be making the traditional miso soup that had been advertised in our pamphlets. There were two groups, the noodles and the soup. I was in the noodles group so I headed to the gymnasium and took a seat at my designated place. This was to be my first time making pasta from scratch

I am wearing the apron and head cloth that were sold as goods the day before. They actually ended up selling out of them quite quickly I heard. Apparently the staff didn't take into account the fact that they announced on the website that the apron was a must have item during the tour and that that would mean that almost everyone would want to buy one. As for the rest of my outfit, don't be fooled by the purple, I am a Zukki fan. I just happened to have a purple sweater and dress, and my luggage is purple. So everyone was teasing me about how my mind was telling me I am an Eripon fan, but no I swear Zukki is my oshi.

After a short wait, in came Zukki and Riho to make noodles with us. Or rather, altogether we watched the workers from the hotel show us how to make the noodles (or rather everyone tried to look up towards the Year 1 pair instead of watch what was going on) and then Riho and Zukki stayed up on their platform at the front (I was the second row of mats back) and we all set to work on the noodles. The one girl in our group didn't really help much, but the other four of us worked hard on the noodles, looking up at the girls when we traded off duties. We figured that we had been told that the quickest ones to finish would be able to go over to where the soup was being made and see the girls more there. So we put our hearts into finishing our noodles, and after stepping on them and endlessly rolling them out like was required, we were finished. Usually during FC tours, the girls will come and walk around the room at events like this. They will make comments and perhaps even directly help you out, yet this time they never left their platform. It was really disappointing, but was a theme throughout the whole tour, that the staff apparently did not think the four Kyukkies were ready to interact with the fans on their own. *Sigh* The cutest point during Riho/Zukki making noodles was when Zukki held Riho on her back and danced around on the dough, damn is that girl strong.

Noodles finished, we headed over to the cafeteria (or rather a tent set up as a cafeteria outside) and took our places at the designated table (half the group had been noodles, half soup) my table being 3 tables back from where the girls were cooking but at least in the center. Unfortunately the front two tables kept standing up and getting in the way so it was at times hard to see Eripon and Fuku-chan continue to cut up vegetables. I wonder if this was their second time, as all the fans had already finished making the soup, so it seems like if they were still working through cutting their first time, then they were really slow. We learned something, do not let Eripon cook. She is really not good at it. After tasting and cooking for a while longer, all of our noodles had finally cooked through and the miso soup had been served up. As if we were in a school, together we all said "Itadakimasu" and dove in.

Very good lunch, yet the girls left us too soon and we finished off on our own. Afterward, there was a rush to the bathroom. Before going, I stopped to snap a picture of the board the girls had drawn to announce that days event.

And once again a 30 minute or so bus ride, and one stop at an ice cave for 20 minutes to kill time, we were parked at a shopping center outside of the small hall the last event was to be held out. The inside of the hall was set up just like a school auditorium, with various posters of rules and class schedules for the "School" we were at posted around the room. Our pieces of calligraphy, as well as the girls' were also hung up.

The set up, the idea, everything about the posters was nice. I was sleepy, so I took my seat quickly (third row, right) and struggled throughout the event not to fall asleep. Why, you may ask. Because I had almost no sleep the night before as mentioned. But I was determined not to fall asleep. It was really hard though, as to be honest, the event was quite disappointing. Past Fan Meetings I have been to have always involved a lot more interaction (games and questions in Hawaii with Musume, a cooperative relay game with Smileage) and this one had well none. Oh sure they started off with really cute and hilarious excuses as to why they were late to "school" and that had everyone laughing. Then they had us do formal greetings, because Fuku-chan was the Class President. Then the sports leader (eripon) led us in simple morning exercises that were amusing because Eripon didn't seem to be quite sure of what she was doing beforehand so there was a bit of confusing when she tried to get us to do this weird pose representing the 9ki mascot (see the pamphlet below) but she didn't really have a clear image in her mind of what she wanted to do. That was funny. Zukki had already fulfilled her role as Lunch Girl and Riho had already been cameraman when we were eating the soup.

After the opening talk though, I was really struggling to keep my eyes open. So when they did the question box, I eagerly listened for my question to be asked, but it wasn't. And then after that, to be honest I wonder if I did actually sleep for part of the event, because while I remember them talking a bit more, it seemed like it was suddenly over. I feel really bad x_x I didn't want to sleep, and I wouldn't have if I hadn't been sick and unable to sleep the night before. But I also feel like just having to sit for the hour did me in. If it had been more interactive, or active like the warmups, then it wouldn't have allowed me to sleep. I am sad that I missed seeing all I could of my Zukki and hope that they didn't notice me nodding off x_x I would feel really bad if they did. Apparently I wasn't the only one, as I overheard other guys talking after, saying they had nodded off a bit, but they were tired from staying up drinking all night, I wasn't! My body just hated me x_x.

Ah well, nothing I could do. After the meeting was the much awaited handshake. They started from the back, so i was almost last and was getting more and more nervous by the second. I knew what I wanted to say to Zukki and that's what counts. This is how our conversation went,and since she was first in line I was able to say all I wanted to.

Z: Thank you very much.
A: It was a lot of fun!
Z: Thank you so much for coming again! (could it be, she remembers me from Hawaii)
A: NO problem, the soup was good wasn't it?
Z: Yeah, it was so delicious.
A: Hope to see you again soon.
Z: I'll be waiting

and then I was asked to move on. To Riho, I mentioned how amusing I had found their skit the night before and wished her good luck. To Eripon I mentioned how much she had matured and congratulated her on doing so well on OhaStar, wishing her luck. To Fuku-chan (who still has the grip of death though it has loosened a little) I told her to keep doing her best and that she was always so down to earth. She seemed really happy to see me again and I once again commented that her singing was great and I hoped she would continue to do her best with the 10th gen.

And then it was over. It was a relatively slow handshake, not to the level of Hawaii (where you ran out of things to say) but to the point where you could really make contact with the girls, and Zukki's smile is such an amazing thing that it made me forget at once how sleepy I had been only moments before and I left the hall on a high.

Back on the bus, we were all waiting with the windows open, knowing that there would be a sendoff. However, after driving a minute we were told to close the windows because yes there would be a sendoff like there always was but it was a bit further on and the bus was wasting heat. A ten minute drive later, we pulled into the parking lot of Fuji Q Highland (I want to ride the new coaster so bad!) and proceeded to do a slow drive past the girls, able to open the window and wave down at them (they were right next to the bus) then to drive past once again with the girls standing on the other side of the bus. And then we were off, headed on back roads (the highways were backed up) on the road back to Tokyo.

Two days went by so fast. And while there were a lot of disappointments, the girls themselves did not disappoint in the least. They have really grown up, all four of them, in the past few months. It is hard to picture those four standing on the stage nervously at Nakano in January as being the same girls. They have both matured and filled out into four girls with differing personalities who are able to hold their own in conversation. I am sure they will continue to grow and change as sempai to the 10th gen members. And even if she may be a little chubby I want my Zukki to continue to eat her fill and enjoy what she loves. (It certainly was amusing to see her gobble down more soup when they were told they had to move on to the next area to get ready for the last event.)

I leave you with photos of all the pictures of the hand written tour pamphlet we were given at the start of the tour.

So long Yama

Though actually the above was taken on my way into Yamanashi prefecture. x_x

Morning Musume Fall 2011 Ai Believe 9/29 at Budoukan

2011-10-10T19:08:00.000+09:00

On September 29, 2011, at Nippon Budoukan, a new era of Musume history began...
But first I must apologize for how ridiculously late this post is. Had no time at all (or energy when I did have time) outside of work to work on this. Luckily tomorrow is a National Holiday (Sports Day) so I have a bit of breathing time.

The picture you see above was the first indication that Musume performing at Budoukan was a big deal. They haven't performed there in a few years, and since it was my first time to be there EVER I was happy and moved to see such a large banner outside.

I was also surprised at just what Budoukan looked like. I mean I knew it was a traditional Judo arena often used for concerts now. And I also knew as I got off the train that it was the next stop after the station which you can get off at to walk to the Imperial Gardens. But I still was not expecting this...

or this...

I was stunned by the absolute beauty of it. As someone who dislikes doing touristy things I have never been to the Imperial Gardens, but now I am thinking I might need to head over there sometime just to relax in such a peaceful atmosphere.

Today however, Budoukan was far from peaceful. As soon as I crossed through the gates, I saw this...

... a scarily long goods line. Ah, well that was to be expected what with it being Ai's last two concerts and at Budoukan. Still, goods had opened up over 2 hours prior to me getting there, you would expect them to die down sometime.
Since I actually didn't have goods as my main motive for going early, I continued on around to the front of the venue where I found my friend, Ken. Ken was one of the friends I made on the Hawaii tour so we had planned to meet up for lunch. He's a huge Ai-chan fan and has been ever since her debut, so he swears that he will move away from Musume though still follow Ai. But we all know how difficult it is to graduate from Musume once you have formed a connection. I thought I could with JJ leaving but it just didn't happen. We both laughed at the length of the line, looked at the Ladies' Only line and I said I would wait til later (bad idea btw) and headed off to a cafe by the station for lunch.
Over lunch we talked a lot about the future of Musume, who we thought would get in, what Konkon and Makoto might do at the concert today, as well as just talking in general about what we had been doing since the tour. I really find it amazing that I made such great friends in Hawaii, and look forward to seeing a couple more of the guys again when we all go on the 9th gen tour. (Not Ken, the 9th gen haven't pulled him in yet.)
After lunch, I figured, OK now I need to go wait in line for goods. The Ladies' Only line should be quickest right? Yeah... not. Unfortunately I didn't realize just how slow it was moving (only 4 workers for a ton of girls at a very large venue) until I had already been in line for 30 minutes and you figure at that point you might as well just wait it out. And wait I did, for 3 hours...

The funny part is that I wasn't really waiting for myself, as lately I have become the type of wota who would rather go to more events instead of spend money on goods that I have too many of anyways, I had promised a friend to get goods. Ah well, got out of the line eventually, was able to grab a copy of the Alo! Hello 5 photobook because one of the things my friend wanted was sold out and then headed back over with my friends. We all just laughed because it was very obvious by that point that waiting in what looked to be the longer General line would have been a LOT shorter. Ah well, now it was just off to the bathroom for me to throw on concert T-shirt and put in contacts.
And then we all headed inside. After looking up my seat online, I figured from the layouts I had found that I was probably second row (since I was 10 and most rows went to 8 on the patterns I found online), but I was wrong. I was FRONT ROW!!! At　Budoukan!!! And not only that, I was Off-center Right. I actually did a little dance when I saw where I was before wandering back to chat with my friends more, with them jokingly asking to trade and me firmly replying no. We all laughed at my luck, I had been getting pretty bad tickets for the past few events but now my time had come. \A couple of minutes before start, I said goodbye and headed up to my spot. One note here is that front row at Budoukan is actually more like 5-6th row at any concert hall distance-wise, except that you have no one in front of you so I could see everything and everyone on stage very clearly.

The Concert
As anyone who has looked at the setlist (easily google findable) can see this was very much an Ai-centered concert tour. She talked a lot on radio shows she went on about how much input she had; everything from set list decisions to costume decisions. And from the first show's recording that I listened to, I was impressed.
They started off with Mr. Moonlight. Minus Yossi this song hasn't been done too often, but I figured they would still go with two male characters; perhaps Ai and Risa. Instead, they chose to have it set up as a ballroom dance with only Ai as the sought after male lead.

Hot, that is really all you can say. I mean sure the all-white dresses are just a bit too frilly (at least when you are front row, they are SUPER frilly) but they look great in motion and all of the girls played up their roles of being in love with Prince Ai to the max.
After the opening VTR they came out and performed in the Kare to Issho Ni outfits. One thing noticed is that they don't seem to perform in the Kono Chikyu outfits very often. Maybe they are afraid of shiny bangles flying everywhere. I dunno. The two Double A songs go together really well so they are a great pair to see. After that, arriving on stage to the sound of Kono Chikyuu (Tsunku version) in the backround, Tsunku announced the four winners. I am sure everyone has seen them, but here is a picture of all four. I love all of them and am sure they will do great. If I had to pick a favorite I would pick Haruka just because she is so adorable and I love her husky voice.

It was hilarious watching Zukki during the announcement. Her and the rest of the kyukkies were flipping out and jumping around like idiots when everyone was announced. Zukki went especially crazy and started jumping around when Haruka was announced. It was adorable. Clearly the girls really had been watching Hello Pro Time and cheering on their favorites. I have no problem with the girls' ages myself because it really does seem like an 11-12 year old now is so much different then ten years ago when I was that age. My 10 year　old students are probably more mature than most 15-16 year olds when I was in high school. But the ages did make for funny responses from the four older members on stage. I mean 2 of the girls were born the year Love Machine came out. Wow, just really shows Musume's history.
   In the concert they performed several of the new album songs, varying day to day. The ones I saw were "My Way Joshikou Hanamichi", a great upbeat and powerful song that really gets the crowd going. I love the rhythm and the girls seem to have a great time performing it. "Kono ai wo kasanete" a great ballad for two of the strongest singers, though Gaki's voice is actually quite unique and not perfect like people presume, it does match her singing style and fits this moving ballad. "Give me Love" I like this song because it is somewhere in the middle between being a slow song and an upbeat pop song. A good filler for concerts though it really needs to be matched to the songs around it to sound best. "Jounetsu no Kiss wo hitotsu" a great R&B number in my mind. AixGakixReina may be overused in this concert but they are definitely good at what they do. Oh wait, checking now it seems this is not a new song but was on Platinum 9 Disco, did sound familiar. Oh well, love the name and sounded great.
   "OK Yeah!" another great album song that provides a high tension and fun feeling. And I love the parapara frogger sounding background music. "Suki da na kimi ga" I never would have thought to pair Sayumi and Mizuki but they actually work really well together." I don't think "Silver no udedoke" was performed, well actually I do as I remember hearing it but it doesn't seem to be on the set list for the time I went so maybe I am just imagining it x_x Not sure. I know I at least heard a radio rip and enjoyed it.
   The other songs performed, such as Songs and Take Off is Now ~ Breakin Out and Bravo, were again numbers that I am sure Ai picked to allow the current Musume a chance to show off how powerful they are. All the dances looked well, though of course there were times when you noticed one girl being a little off from the others. But overall there was no time to not enjoy the concert (especially being front row) and it was over almost as soon as it began.
   Two highlights: the reunion of the 5th gen and the last MC. Everyone was looking forward to seeing Konkon and Makoto and we weren't disappointed. Between Ai teasing Konkon for talking "too much like an announcer" and Makoto stumbling over her Japanese just like she always has, it felt as if the four had never been separated. And though they originally sat down for Suki na Sempai, in the end they stood up and hummed along with Ai and Gaki during the last chorus.
   As for the last MC, the reason I picked it because it was very obvious they were getting dangerously close to 9pm. Why is that such a big deal you ask? Because anyone under 18 MUST be finished working by 9pm, which in an idol's case means they must at least be off stage. They got away with it last year at JunLinEri grad with Aika (it was almost 10 when they finished) because she was 17 (though Tsunku and staff probably did get a talking to) but with an 11 year old as the youngest member on stage (the 10th gen joined Musume on stage for the last MC and they performed Tomo together) they couldn't let it hit 9. So instead of the normal paced thanking the audience, commenting on the day, etc. It was super high speed, must get everything out as quickly as possible last message. And it was very obvious they were being told to do so in their earpieces because a couple of the new members slowed down a bit but then sped up halfway through. They ended up finishing Tomo and leaving the stage at about 8:57, so yep they cut it really close.
   I like how Tsunku does things now, not letting the current members know who or how many winners there are until they come on stage. That sort of surprise makes for really good reactions, always good for the audience.

In closing, Ai may be gone, but Musume will live on. Every day they grow and change and I will keep following them until the end.

Although there may be a post beforehand, my next definite report will be on the 9th Gen Bus Tour coming up the first weekend of November. So, now I leave you with a picture of all of Musume backstage after the show, including the new members.

Smileage Concert Tour 2011 Fall ~Gyakushuu no Cho Miniskirt~ Shibuya 9/18

2011-09-18T21:48:00.000+09:00

So today was the day that I would get to see just what the new Smileage was turning out to be. With tickets in hand, boyfriend and I set out in the morning at 9am in order to get a chance to meet the new members. When we arrived at about 9:45 there was quite a line waiting to handshakes with the new members.

Well, no rush so we got our tickets out, ready to be stamped upon entry (as well as the back of our hands) to show that you had already participated in the handshake. The handshake was surprisingly slow, too slow almost. We came into it expecting it to be the usual release event style of light-speed line movement but when we actually got up to them, it was so slow that you ran out of things to say. All four of the girls are adorable and very polite. To Rinapu and Kanana I just said to do their bests today, added a bit more about how I was looking forward to it to Akari and then the kicker came when I made Meimi squeal. How, you may ask? I told her I had gone to the Shugo Chara musical. She seemed really pleased at that, and I must say as much as Kanon keeps telling people to not Oshihen (change favorites) it is hard not to with how adorable and sweet Meimi is. But don't worry Kanon you are my number one in Smileage. The new members made a great first impression and left me feeling happy and giddy as we headed to a coffee shop for breakfast.

The Concert

The set list can easily be found online so I won't post that here, but will post my overall thoughts.

First off, this is probably the best Hello!Project concert I have been to in a long time, and that's saying a lot since my Number 1 group is Morning Musume. After the fail that was the last Buono concert due to completely inept sound guys, well it was refreshing to go to a hall concert. And to top it off CC Lemon has to be one of the most well-ventilated halls I have been to, you barely sweated even dancing throughout the whole concert. Although the music was a bit too loud for the first and last songs, the rest of the time the balance was perfect and besides Dawa's mic cutting out for one phrase, none of the girls missed any lines.

Things that made this concert great:

The setlist: a great mix of all the Smileage singles and most (if not all) album songs. Since they did most songs, you can't say it was the songs they picked that made it great, rather it was the order. Started with Tachiagirl - Otona ni Naru, a great mix of the new and the older to kick the fans into full drive. Then after introductions they went into sets of two songs each featuring the 3 main members and 1 sub member. Then a perfect set of songs by the sub-members only: Ama no Jaku and Yume Miru 15 to represent Smileage's beginnings. Then another set of main + sub member. Finished off with two songs with all members, then the encore of the coupling to Tachiagirl (love it, perfect for all the fall festivals, and so pervy to think of a Smileage Rice Bowl Meal) and finally Suki-chan. Just... you couldn't ask for a more perfect arrangement.

As I mentioned previously, the arrangement of members. The 3 +1 format worked well at showing off each sub-member without overshadowing the main members. Also, as one sub member left from one side of the stage, the next member came on from the opposite side. If I can say one thing about AKB that I like, it was that they always have smooth song transitions and I am glad to see it used in a HaroPro concert.

The surprise announcement made in a letter written by Tsunku and read by Goro (that guy who has narrated at several of Smileage's events) that the sub-members would indeed be put through the same trial as the main members of having to gather smiles. Except, there is one major catch. People do not merely submit the smiles. No no. The sub-members have to take pictures of people, with the random person's cell phone, and then get said random-person to upload that picture to his/her blog or twitter and post that they have done to using the Smileage twitter tag. So these girls have to summon all their courage and approach strangers on the street with what will probably sound like the sketchiest scheme ever. And this will be a major factor in Tsunku's decision of who if any become full members (TBA at October 16 release event). Boyfriend and I plan to lurk around Shibuya to see if they area actually taking advantage of the holiday tomorrow (the 19th) in the most obvious area.

What can I say, it was just a great concert and makes me confident in all of the sub-members. Each girl has great personality, and while Meimi is the obvious fit for Smileage's image, the other three also have something important to offer. All 7 girls seemed to interact well, and yes I know of course they will they are performing, you could see genuine chemistry forming through their interactions. I am hoping I can make it into the release event and see history in the making.

And I leave you with a picture of my goods, didn't buy much as I am saving for the 9th gen FC tour in 2 months time.

An Update

2011-09-02T11:02:00.000+09:00

Before I say anything I have to point out something Sayu posted on her blog yesterday:

Yep, there I am. Sure it's only my back, but I am the short one in the Kanon shirt. A couple of my wota friends noticed too, because we were all on the Hawaii tour together, and excitedly commented on my mixi last night. It might only be a small thing, but it's amusing to me ^^

In other news, last Sunday the boyfriend and I attended Rock N' Buono 4 at Yokohama Blitz.
The performances themselves were great, though Partenza and Frankinsense were completely lipsynced. Partenza just does not work as a live song, though it is a good album opener. The talk was also really good, they were all really amusing. The song choices that weren't from the mini-album were great.

But the concert overall was complete crap!!! Why do I say this? Because the sound quality was so horrible. Rewatching the youtube stream, it sounds so great. At the venue, the speakers were turned up so loud they hurt your ears and you could barely hear the girl singing over the blasting music. Seriously, whoever has been the sound mixer for the last few concerts (not just live house but halls too) needs to learn how to use mixers. The loudness of the music was even messing up the girls, as you can see clearly in My Boy where they were having a really hard time keeping pace.

There were several fans who walked out before the encore, and I understand their feeling. We had high numbers so chose to stand in the back, so yeah I knew I wouldn't be able to see perfectly (though it wasn't horrible) but I could barely hear many of the songs which did piss me off. I feel like this is a recent development in the HP world and hope they get their act together soon because I love going to concerts.

Coming up in 2 weeks (after my B-day in one week, yay!) is the Smileage live. It will be strange seeing 8 girls but our seats are pretty decent so we are really looking forward to it ^^

An Eventful Week

2011-08-14T22:11:00.000+09:00

First off, let me give a big congratulations to the 5 new (sub) members of Smileage: Nakanishi Kana (14), Kosuga Fuyuka (13), Takeuchi Akari (13), Katsuta Rina (13) and Tamura Meimi(12). Good job girls! Well, you can't celebrate yet. You still have a long way to go to become full members.

Yep, they aren't out of the water yet. These five have to survive the Smileage Fall tour before Tsunku judges which are worthy of becoming full-fledged members of Smileage / which get to return to the obscurity of egg-dom. I am really looking forward to seeing a 9 member Smileage on stage in September!!!

Now for my second piece of news. On Friday, August 12th Smileage held a Polaroid Picture Event to commemorate their last single as 4 members (only if you bought the 7000 box set about a month ago) so I headed out towards the Ginza area in the morning for my turn. I only signed up for one set, but looking around me I could see wota with 4-5 tickets. Now, don't get me wrong, I love the girls... but I knew I would be basically broke after Hawaii (the box set was COD last week) so there was no way I could order more than one. Well that and I thought I had work on the Friday, forgetting it was during my one-week summer holiday. The usual line up, check your name, get reminded of the rules of no touching (aww I was hoping for a quick handshake at least) and then the girls entered. We all waved enthusiastically (there were quite a few girls, many obviously in high school, in the morning session I went to) and then they started the picture taking process.

Before your turn you could choose a pose, so I kept it simple and said "Heart" so all five of us made a heart with our hands. I said a brief greeting before sitting down in the chair, a 3 in front 2 in back pattern. Saki and Kanon in the back, Yuuka and Dawa in the front. Before leaving, I waved to the girls as I picked up my bag then I was out giggling like a madwoman and shaking my polaroid. Now the picture is really tiny (it's a polaroid) so I can't really scan it and up it here but it came out well and although brief I was very glad to have the encounter I had with the girls.

The third piece of news happened last Sunday, August 7th... Hello Project Summer 2011 ~Nippon wa wow wow live~

I don't plan to go into too much detail, as it was basically your average group concert held twice a year. It was very enjoyable though, all the groups were top-form. I really like all groups new singles so it was great to see them in concert. The outfits C-ute wears are very girly and emphasize their member colors, and the song lives up to its name of being Happy. Berryz takes on the sexy role, performing in the sexy nightgowns they appear in the PV in brilliantly. Mano performs her single released in June well, and Musume (minus 2) does a great job on their new single with the long-ass title. I love the shiny gold outfits, especially on Ai-chan. They match the current light brown-color Ai has going for her hair.

The only thing I can say I noticed about the concert was that it was a complete Mano-fest. Including the fact that she was one of the "solo" singers of the day, Mano probably performed 5 songs basically by herself. I am not sure of the exact number, but I know she did two songs outside of the solo section, the "solo" song and then one or two of the group songs were her songs, performed mostly by her. It just seems... well a bit much. I don't mind Mano but it seems a bit like they are trying too hard to push her, considering she is the only solo act.

Kikkawa did perform as an opening singer (who knows what is up with her promotion since she is Universal but still doing lots with H!P) and did great. I really love her voice and hope she does well. It is hard to believe that she is getting her start at such an older age, but I think if she keeps working hard she will do great.

I am back to work as of tomorrow, so my next H!P escapade will be the Buono! concert on the 28th.

Morning Musume Fan Club Tour in Hawaii 2011 ~2 Memorable Days~

2011-07-31T20:43:00.052+09:00

To Hawaii, Let's go!

Due to needing to minimize my time taken off from work, I chose the shortest course: B. So this meant that I left Tokyo at night on the 21st, then left Honolulu on Sunday the 24th to arrive back in Tokyo on the afternoon of the 25th. The time difference between Japan and Hawaii is crazy, 19 hours!!! So essentially you can just think of yourself as being five hours ahead of Japan, a day behind. This meant that everyone on the tour relived a day since most flights left in the evening from Tokyo. (Tokyo being a relative term as anyone who has visited Japan knows that Narita airport is nowhere near the city.)

But, I digress. So first thing I do when it starts to approach meetup time at the airport is spot three very obvious wota, one of whom is a foreigner I have seen at several events but never said hi to. So we start talking, and they mention something about Reina losing her passport. This gets confirmed when I go to check in at the group flights desk. They inform us that Reina has indeed lost her passport, and although they will be issuing a new one by the next afternoon, they cannot guarantee she can get the US security clearance (ESTA) that is required in such a short time. So they can't guarantee that Reina will be participating in the tour, blah blah blah. They do offer a full refund even on the day, but Reina or no Reina I was going to Hawaii dammit!!! So, I check in, hand over my bag and receive these:

my pamphlet and badge! Seeing just these got me pumped, the first time I would have a FC tour ID. To top it off, my ID included a name that when written in its original roman letters is unable to be read by most Japanese staff so therefor had the staff knowing my first name very quickly and those that didn't just politely waving me over for things and saying "Sorry, I couldn't read your name." It was quite amusing.

Normal airport boarding procedures ensue and at 10pm, we are off into the sky heading out across the pacific. Dinner was served early on the flight because turbulence was expected due to the typhoon we'd be flying over, but it didn't actually turn out to be that bad. We arrived in Honolulu about 20 minutes early, I had the advantage of being able to hit up the short citizens line,and then we were all gathered together and assigned to our buses. Below you can see a map of Hawaii; we waited in front of it for our names to be called.

After a buffet lunch at a Japanese style restaurant (seriously Hawaii is more Japan than America) we were taken to our respective hotels and left on our own for the rest of the day. I chose to wander around shopping, then passed out early from my very long double day.

Friday, July 22nd - Tour Day 1

No clue how to turn the orientation of the picture once it is embedded, there is me looking weird before the first event.

On the morning of the first day I finished all nine of my letters. Yes, I wrote something to each member, most being very very short because I just didn't have the time to think more out.

So now for a write up of Day 1's events. Early Friday morning (7:50 am meetup time, ugh) we were hustled onto our buses and over to the Honolulu Convention Center for the opening event. Got seated and finally the members came out... no Reina. But, they smiled and announced that Reina's plane had just touched down so she would be joining us from the afternoon events. Big cheers went up but then we got the strangest news of all time, the news about just what the morning's event would be.

Wait for it... Factory Tours!!! And a big EHHHHH from the crowd later, Risa chided us for not being more open to new experiences. Most of the audience's reaction was "What new experience? You brought us all the way to Hawaii and instead of beach volleyball or hiking like in the past we are going to visit factories?"

Well, the 9th gen each gave a description of the factories we would be visiting and then headed out the back while the fans were ushered out into buses. And off we went.

Stop Number One ~ Aloha Tofu

A family run, small tofu factory about 20 minutes outside the heart of Waikiki. Since the factory was so small, each bus was split into two groups, and we were the second (6 buses, split into three touring groups) at the factory so we had to wait. While waiting we were encouraged to shop at the goods table (Tofu, not Musume) so I got a bilingual cookbook and a t-shirt for the boyfriend. And then we wered led inside. Our guides for Stop 1 were Aika, Kanon and Risa. I managed to stand in the front row, and there was lots of exchange of small comments back and forth. I got a "Wow" look from all three, and an adorable smile from Kanon, since though I had said at all the handshakes leading up to this tour that I was going... I don't think they believed me. The 2 feet away from them, can just joke back and forth about normal things atmosphere of this tour was amazing. We were encouraged on the bus to at least listen to the Factory Guides while they were speaking, and we did, but our eyes and attention was focused completely on the girls. We were given samples of two kinds of tofu, both of which were amazing. One was fried tofu with kimchi and the other was dessert tofu that had kiwi and pineapple cooked into it. Both were great, and on our way out Risa handed us each a cup of soy milk, giving a special "Thank you!" loudly to me.

Who would have thought that sampling tofu could be so exciting ^^ Well, after we went outside, I asked permission to run across to the gas station to get a drink, as I had not thought to bring a bottled drink with me. And then we were back on the bus headed towards our second stop.

Stop Number Two ~ Menehana Mac Chocolate

Yep, the picture is of a sign with a fat leprechaunish man. Apparently short fat men are a sign of luck and happiness in Hawaiin myth. Here we would be making chocolate with the girls (this stop Riho and Sayumi, with both wearing signs on their hats that said they were in the Sayashi Riho Club... oh Sayumi) While most wota went over to the windows to watch the girls, and other wota, making chocolate, I spent my time at the tasting corner of the shop and got some chocolates to take home. Then I went back to the other side of the room just in time to be first in line to enter the factory room after the first group came out.
Again I managed to grab the front spot for the explanation part, both Sayu and Riho looked adorable in their choclatier outfits. Can't wait to see it on the DVD. More close banter as we were shown the chocolate making process, then we were led over to our tables to make our own chocolate. I was unfortunately facing away from where the girls were but turned around as I was mixing to look at them of course <3 After a very brief chocolate making period (mine looked horrible but tasted great), we were ushered back out onto the buses and onto the last stop!

Stop Number Three ~ Lion Coffee

   Mmm I love the smell of coffee. While we were waiting for out turn to go through the tour we were served free coffee and given time to browse the shop. As a coffee lover I took advantage of this opportunity and got some Swill Almond Chocolate coffee to take home. Then it was our turn to head into the factory. Once again I maneuvered myself to the front for the tour and although while listening the explanation at each station I had to kneel down it was well worth it to see the girls up close and laugh with them. The girls at this station were　Ai, Erina and Mizuki. Erina was her usual KY self but seemed to be having a lot of fun, Mizuki was down to earth and showed her maturity and Ai was her usual tongue-biting self. There was one point in the tour when Ai was asked to do the translation of the guide (only this factory had an English guide, translated by a staff member) and though we are all pretty sure she memorized it, she still did a good job with making it look like she was directly interpreting.
   The tour of the coffee factory was the longest, and the nicest smelling, and so when we were finally ushered out (waving) away from the girls, all of us were more than ready to eat. And so we were bussed over to the Alomohana (sp?) Shopping center, the largest mall in Hawaii, and left there for.... THREE HOURS!!! until they were to come pick us up for the afternoon events. OK, kind of a long time but it is a huge mall and for me an American felt kind of nostalgic and fun to wander. Too bad that the first day I hadn't really made any close wota friends to wander with so just ate in the foodcourt alone (Sbarro's stromboli, yum) and then went shopping. This is where a lot of my money went, had to get some clothes and used Wii games!

The afternoon meetup time came, and then instead of a bus we were told we would be walking to the convention center. And walk we did for 15 minutes. Seriously, buses people, we paid for them. But it was well worth it, as when we arrived at the convention center and were lined up in lines of 10 for the group shots we heard excited cheers coming from upstairs. That could only mean one thing, Tanaka Reina had arrived!

When our bus got its turn to go upstairs, we saw that our predictions were true. Reina walked over to each group of ten and personally apologized for the inconvenience (according to one wota's blog the staff said she had indeed found her passport so the emergency issuing hadn't been needed after all... phew) and then we were walked over and told to kneel in front of the girls. I was on the end with Zukki (teehee) and was the one holding the bus placard so I definitely stood out. Also stood out for the fact that whenever a new staff member who didn't know my first name saw my name card for the first time they just said "Sorry, but... um you are next."

Group shots were over in an instant then we were led into the room for the fan meeting.

Fan Meeting
     The fan meetings at any FC event are meant to be a forum for you to really interact with the members. This is done through quizzes, games, and even making the fans do strange things like 3-legged-races for the girls amusement. This time was no different. First they did a corner with questions and requests from the audience, which included things like "Do a sexy pose" and "Decide on the date when I will file my marriage registration" and "Show us your image of Hawaii using just your body." There was also an incident where Sayumi was asked to do her pantomine escalator out where the audience could see how it was done and as she was going back up she stepped on her dress and almost flashed the audience, had the rest of the girls not crowded in as Sayumi covered herself and ran to crouch behind the podium screeching. Many fans wondered if it wasn't a call for attention, as she had carefully looked and pulled her dress back only moments before.
     Continuing on they had a team quiz section where the members were put in charge of sections of the audience and had to pick people from the audience that they thought fit certain categories to bring up on stage. This included; people whose ages add up to 100, people who can perfectly dance Maji, people who can do hula hoop, and people who could run a 3-legged race the fastest. I unfortunately wasn't picked for anything I tried to get picked for (can't hula hoop or dance so didn't even try to get their attention) but my team ended up having the most points so Sayumi and Eripon went around putting leis on our heads. Sayu put mine on, and I wore it the next day to the concert and photoshoot.
   Another section of the meeting included the members wandering around the room to play the popping head out of a barrel game or do a talk section with each of the fans. At first the girls weren't very good at making what is a quite one-sided game fun but after the first time the groups seem to get the hand of it. Zukki, Aika and Ai were the greatest though. Ai pushed Aika as she quickly handed out the plastic swords to shove in the barrel one at a time, Zukki collected them. Zukki did bug impressions along with the fan who made the ball pop out of the top of the barrel as a punishment game. It was just a great combination and so fun even to watch. Overall the fan meeting was a lot of fun.

Saturday, July 23rd - Tour Day 2
     Every year, Day 2 consists of the same events; the photo with the members and the concert.
So I dolled myself up cute for the picture and headed out at our assigned meeting time with the rest of the wotas from my hotel (many of whom I had befriended the afternoon before). I (and others) assumed there would be a bus to the photo location, so I wore very uncomfortable heel sandals that matched my dress. I am not girly at all but decided that I might as well step out of my element while in Hawaii. Bad idea. We walked for about 10 minutes to get to this very fancy hotel, where we were lined up to wait our bus' turn for pictures. The closer we got to our time, the more nervous I got. I kept trying out different poses in the reflection of the glass beside us, to the other wotas' amusement, but nothing seemed right. Finally we were ushered into a seated waiting room, where the girls directly handed us flyers and explained the procedure. Then, they headed out one way, and us another into the line for the actual photo.
     The photo was over in an instant, many fans saying it was too quick as usually there is a little more time to atleast say hello and thank the girls for their efforts. When asked by the staff what pose I wanted, I instinctively said "cat" though I had thought of many others. As you can see below, not all of the members seem to have understood the idea of cat.
     After the photos, we were walked half-way back to our hotel then left on our own. The guys at my hotel and I decided to have lunch together there, then hop in the hotel pool for a short swim before heading back upstairs to get prepped for the days main event: the concert!

Taken from another wota's blog, below is the set list to the concert and comments.
1 夏LOVEロマンス Natsu Love Romance
I was completely unfamiliar with this song before the concert, though the melody and feel of it were a great fit for Hawaii. Apparently it was an original song on Pucchi Best 4.

2 真夏の光線 Manatsu no Kousen
A really old song that I definitely wasn't expecting the current line up to sing, though since the MV was filmed in Hawaii (ages ago) I guess it fits. A perfect song for Hawaii and one of my favorites from the archives.

3 すき焼き Sukiyaki 鈴木
When asked why she chose this song, Kanon responded easily that she was drawn to it because it has to do with food. Laughter from the audience only made her smile more. She sang this in a very nasally voice, and did her best to put in the accent that the original was sung in. Since joining her voice has gotten much stronger and the fun she had while singing it made up for the few times she went off key. A great fun choice for Zukki.

4 グルグルJUMP Guru Guru Jump 生田
Bad choice Ikuta, very bad choice. The song itself is great, and her reasons for choosing it (the crowd loves it, it's upbeat, etc.) were good ones but for off-pitch Ikuta it was a bit above her level. The speed and energy required for this song are difficult for even the best to pull off though she gave her best.

5 シャニムニパラダイス Shanimuni Paradise 新垣
A great choice for the next leader. It's a crowd favorite to sing and dance along to, as well as a fitting song for Hawaii. I love upbeat songs and this one is no different. Feels a little strange to hear it sung by only one person, but was done well.

6 晴れ雨のちスキ Hare ame nochi suki 譜久村
Mizuki has an amazing voice. The girl may have the least personality of all the 9th Gen but her voice is top level. I really hope she is pushed more in the future as her vocals will definitely be necessary after she leaves. Part of why she chose this song was because she loved when Eri sang it and practiced for hours herself to be able to do it justice. Great job Fuku-chan.

7 弱虫 Yowamushi 道重
Well Sayumi, when you put your mind on it you can stay on key for a whole song. I was actually quite impressed as when she started singing this song I inwardly cringed even though she was on the original recording of it. I am not a big fan of ballads but this is one that I always enjoy hearing, it is very moving and a good change of pace.

8 常夏娘 Tokonatsu Musume 光井
Aika performed the concert seated as well, but she put out so much energy that I was moved by how much effort she was making to make sure everyone enjoyed the tour. I was also impressed that she was the only member to choose a non Musume song, and a Coconuts Musume one at that. I love this song and since it was originally sung by girls from Hawaii, it fits. I immediately thought of how I had been talking to Lehua recently and smiled. Good choice Aika, and she even filled the middle part with talking in her motherly tone of how we needed to be careful in the sun and all that.

9 シャボン玉 Shabondama 鞘師
Poor Riho and her old-lady back pain. She leaned on a chair for her solo and stood still the rest of the concert, but she did her best. And her choice of song was great, if only to hear the Riho chants. She has quite a powerful voice so even without dancing she was able to do a great job on this song, I recommend giving it a listen if you can find the concert recording.

10 チュッ夏パーティー Chu Natsu Party 田中
I LOVE this song... but I don't know if it suits Reina all that well. She said that it was the first thing she thought of when she thought of summer, but I just don't know if it fits her personality the best. She did her best to be cutesy during it though, which for Reina means prancing around and doing lots of skirt flips to the song. Sorry to tell you though, you might be a little too old to be doing this song Reina but the skirt flips as an apology for coming late are appreciated.

11 壊れない愛が欲しいの Kowarenai Ai ga Hoshii no 高橋
Great choice of song Ai! Though you skipped out on the rap... probably for the best because you would have stumbled over it. Still, the random solo dance she through in to replace the rap section was pretty good, looked like it might have been improvised. I love this song, and Ai's voice fits the melody well.

12 なんにも言わずにI LOVE YOU Nanni mo iwazu ni I love you
A bit strange of a choice after the solos, but a note here is that there was a big talk and prize give away section after the solos so this actually turned out to be a good lead in for the last section. Though I do wonder if the planners weren't just trying to make Ai cry more. She cries so easily that I wouldn't be surprised. I do like this song and the line distribution was pretty fair.

13 青春コレクション Seishun Collection
I was not a fan when this song first came out, but after hearing it performed several times it grew on me. It's a really generic idol song but works well with a bunch of members of different vocal levels. The dance is also quite simple and fun to do along with the members, and the Hawaii atmosphere felt great.

14 まじですかスカ Majisuka ska
I would say that this song was pretty much expected, since this was 9th gen's first Hawaii tour. I love this song and although it sucked that two of the members couldn't dance fully to it, I think the audience doing most of the dance perfectly made up for that. I love the cheers and this song is A+. Surprising that they didn't also do Only You, but also a nice change as I have heard too much of that song lately.

15 でっかい宇宙に愛がある Dekkai Uchuu ni Ai ga Aru
My favorite song to dance along to. The dance is so simple that even I can follow along with it. I like that. Good ending song choice. Brought the audience together in one final sing-along.

After the girls exited the stage, we only had to wait about five minutes before the girls were walked over and lined up ready for handshakes. I had heard that the handshakes in Hawaii were super slow paced so I was incredibly nervous. I mean, I have no problem talking to them at handshakes, but usually it is nothing more than a blurted out comment about how much fun I had. As the line started moving from the back where I was, I saw just how slow the movement was. But I knew I had to make the most of it.

When I finally got up to the table, Aika was first and I told her how moved I was at how much effort she was putting into this tour even though she must still be in pain. She's such a sweetie. I don't remember everything I said but I do remember commenting to Sayu how great her singing sounded that day, to Eripon how cute her dancing has gotten, to Fuku-chan how great her singing is and just chatting about general things with Ai and Risa. Fuku-chan seemed almost desperate for fans as instead of handshake she was giving a death grip to everyone's wrists, which surprised me at first. All the girls were really kind and it was nice to be able to exchange a few words back and forth about general things, including telling Reina that I was glad she could make it. The handshake was in fact so slow that you actually ran out of things and had to quickly throw something into the mix so you didn't have awkward silence while holding onto a member's hand. It was so amazing. I wish all handshakes were this slow but then realize that at a general release event that would mean the handshake would take days.

Before boarding the bus we were given the photo holder below and a set of 9 VERY old pictures of the members, taken very obviously right after the 9th gen had joined based on their facial expressions and hairstyles. In fact Riho's outfit looks like the one she wore in some of the Morning Labo 2 shots. So yeah, UFA is lazy. But I was on such a high from the handshake that I didn't care. The wota and I agreed to meet up to go out to dinner but we had to wait for another friend who was further back in the handshake line so probably on another bus. I called down to the hotel room then went and hung out with them until we were all gathered together, then we went to a very delicious buffet to celebrate the finishing of the tour.

After the concert the day before we were given a memories book with 9 pre-taken (and by pre I mean obviously about 6 months ago) photos.

The next morning we received our 10-shot photo back. Riho looked quite frightening in most of hers, and not happy at all.

And the group photo we had taken on the first day. (Once again, no clue how to change the orientation)

Overall impressions of the tour

The tour itself was great. I have no complaints about how closely I was able to interact with the girls and love all the new friends I made. I loved going to Hawaii and would spend the money again in a heartbeat. The Hawaii tour used to have over 1000 people go, now it was limited to 200. I think this is a good number. It allows for a lot closer interaction and allows the fans to form a bond over the weekend. While it might have been great in the past that so many people would spend a month's salary to go to Hawaii for only 2 days of events, I don't know if it would have been worth it. Now, I definitely feel like I got my money's worth. It was over in a moment, but the moment I had was spectacular. I definitely plan to go again... well as long as they don't do it next year too. I don't think I can afford it two years in a row x_x.

Complaints, yeah I have several. I was very detailed in the survey they had us fill out and hand in on the last day before we left. The choice of factory tours for one, the way it seemed like the buses were separated by hotel class from highest to lowest and the lowest always did things last (not usually a bad thing though). The fact that there was no time to pause and say a real thank you after the 10shot. Just things in general that could have made it more worth the money. I figure that unless people give specifics of what they had problems with they won't know what to change for the next time. And it was very obvious that UFA was trying to save money this time. I mean I know they lost lots of money by canceling the cute Hawaii tour after the earthquake (why they canceled the Hawaii tour I have no clue as that was a big loss to them I am sure) and all the ticket refunds they had to issue... but the quality of the tour still matters. Factory tours etc were made great because of the girls, and they were a lot of fun. So I would like to say a big thank you to Morning Musume for giving us fans such a memorable experience.

Hmm now what will my next big adventure I wonder...

Only You Special Release Event in Odaiba 6/19

2011-06-19T22:15:00.000+09:00

Today the boyfriend I headed out to Odaiba (a place most famous for the giant Gundam that was positioned there all of two summers ago but is actually most well known here as the number one date spot). As announced earlier this week, Morning Musume was holding a release mini live and handshake for their 46th single "Only You". This type of release event is different from those that you must apply for using the tickets found in first press CDs (and the events must be applied for with a Japanese cell phone, excluding all Smart Phones except the iPhone at the moment). This was an event where if you came and bought the CD you could do a handshake after the mini live. And if you got there really early and got one of the lowest numbers you had a special ticket that allowed you into the premium viewing area.

Unfortunately I wanted to be both nice to Michael and allow us to sleep in at least a little bit on my day off so we didn't arrive to the area until 10am, and CDs had gone on sale at 9. Now, arriving after they started selling I expected a line, but I was not expecting an EPIC LINE. Wrapped around several times near the stage then headed out along a pathway towards the roads. Well, we were there and unless they sold out of the CDs　with handshake tickets there was no way I was giving up on a definite handshake with my girls. The line took about an hour, I bought us each a CD with a ticket for the first handshake period of the day and we grabbed a coffee before finding a spot outside the special viewing area that still gave us a good view of the stage.

About 30 minutes later, Musume came on in their single outfits and performed the short version of Only You. As a note: groups always perform the short version of one chorus as an opening to release events, then to close the event perform the full version. The crows was pumped and the few random spectators walking around the balconies of the mall seemed completely clueless as to what was going on. Aika is still performing while sitting on a chair, most likely til the end of this month, but she still gave it her all. I actually felt bad as they couldn't seem to decide on one position for her so between songs she would have to get up and hop on one foot across the stage while one of the Cookies carried her chair.

After simple introductions they headed into a four song setlist:

Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game
Onna ga Medatte Naize tte Naze Ikenai
Nanchatte Renai
Renai Revolution 21

Renai was the one song where when you saw people walking by on the upper floors you could tell most responded to the song since it is a classic. It was an interesting but very well chosen set list. All of them performed well from what I could see and they finished off after a bit of talking about the new single with the full version.

After that it was just waiting for our number group (above 1000) to be called for the handshake. We finally moved into the center area then waited as the line gradually flowed up to the stage, handed in our slips and were hoarded along to the line of girls. As usual all of them recognized me (the few foreigners that regularly go / my wota friends who obsessively go are very noticable) with Sayumi seeming extra surprised to see me again. It was medium paced, giving just enough time to make eye contact and say thank you to each of the girls. Zukki's smile was amazing as always, I think she noticed that I bought the cheerleading type armband they are selling at the official shop (and I got the last one of hers, which was the last one of all of the girls). Eripon seemed shocked by the face she made, but I think that is just our adorable KY Eripon. Reina was extra excited as was Aika down at the end sitting on her chair. I managed to get out a note about looking forward to Hawaii to Ai-chan and got a big grin from that. Lots of Thank you's mixed with normal Japanese, a big smile from Mizuki and firm handshake from Riho.

Risa looks really good with her medium-length hair, and Ai's lighter brown looks great in person. Her blonde looked great in person too though so I am sad she changed it so quickly. All of the girls were exhausted by the time we got on stage, covered in sweat and even had to take a break halfway through the handshake to towel off and get a drink. Although it was cloudy (no rain thankfully as this was an outdoors event with a pavillion) the humidity and UV were really high. I wonder how well they fared during the second showing later that day.

Although I have done several handshakes with Musume, this was Michael's first. So the girls were super excited and all said Thank You very loudly. Aika even said a full sentence in English "Hi! How are you?!" but he was pushed off stage before he could answer. I swear that girl is more of a spaz than Koharu ever was. Every time she sees me she doesn't just shake hands, she grabs and violently jerks my hand. It's cute though and has definitely put her up there with Zukki on my 押し list.

Because the CDs they were selling were first press, I have entered two more serial numbers into the lottery for the event, though I kind of hope I don't get in as although I can make the last one of the day it is back in Odaiba and would be cutting it really close with when I got out of work. Ah well, anything from my girls.

Some info about Hawaii, I applied and got the tour loan which is really the only way I could go without forfeiting having any summer fun besides fangirling for four days. I am going on the shortest plan so I don't have to miss more than 3 days of work, which gives me little time to site-see but oh well. Fuel is ridiculously expensive now but luckily that wrapped into the loan too. We got a secondary packet the other day that was mostly just catalogue of souvenirs you could buy to bring back but had one useful thing; the bag you must put your liquids in to enter America. Oh and a special note saying that if you aren't a Japanese citizen you need to fax a copy of your re-entry permit into Japan. I am thinking that the maybe 2 of us going on the tour are what sparked the extra note, though trust me I am well aware that if I went without a re-entry permit I would void my visa. Now just to wait for the tickets so I can know my actual itinerary. ^^

My first post, S/mile Factory

2011-06-12T22:02:00.000+09:00

For my first post, I would like to talk about an event I attended today, S/mileage Limited Live 2011 "Smile Factory". The original date was March 20th but due to the earthquake this event was one of the ones postponed far into the future. So it was hard to imagine that the day to use our 3/20 tickets would ever come, but it did. And it felt incredibly strange looking at the ticket and reminding myself that no we did not miss the concert, it just never happened.

Boyfriend and I arrived about an hour before the show so we stopped at Subway for a light lunch. Since it was called a Limited Live and all blogs by the members mentioned practicing about 10 songs, we weren't expecting it to go more than an hour. Apparently the management had other ideas. Wandered among the wota, got a purple glowstick and headed inside when our numbers were called. And lo and be hold two of my old wota group from Nagoya were in the same area as us (it was standing and we decided to hang back because neither of us was feeling gung-ho about being in the center of the charge pit today) so I got to chat with them a bit. Turns out one of them is going on the Hawaii tour too (will make a post about that later, but yes I am going on the Musume Hawaii Tour because I was able to get the loan)

The live itself was great, they stared out with Shortcut in flower frilly outfits and even from the back of the performance hall we had a pretty good view, especially when they stepped out onto the extended part of the stage. I don't remember all of the songs, and haven't been able to locate a setlist online at the moment but here are some of the highlights:

Melon Kinenbi's "This is Unmei" always a song to get the audience pumped up but boy is that one a draining one. Not to mention that it was in a line-up of four or five other high energy songs, including "Yume Miru 15" and "Suki-chan"
Miki Fujimoto's "Romantic Ukare Mode" which I half-wotagei'd to. The four of them performed it really well.
Both Tanpopo songs that they have had on their singles and albums, for some reason Tanpopo just matches them so well.
I am not entirely sure but I believed they performed the W song "I&U&I" or something of that nature. Was definitely an unexpected choice.
Uchouten Love. This is a great song and the perfect choice for the last single to only feature four members. It's upbeat, it has para para, and it is easy to follow along with. It is in fact so much fun that I accidentally hit my glasses and sent them flying in front of my friend's feet, but luckily they weren't stepped on and my boyfriend was able to grab them since I am blind as a bat without them. Definitely give this one a listen when concert rips are up.

Other corners of the live/promotion for the TV show included an extension of the rap battle they worked on on last month's show, with the audience writing down which team they thought did better at the end, and a VTR while the members were changing of them drawing random numbers (well I guess not random if it is pre-recorded) from a bag that you could win signed goods. We were one number off on one of our tickets x_x

It was overall a great live, though there were loud "Eee" noises from the crowd every time one of the members announced that this would be their last solo live with only four members, last single, etc. But that didn't deter anyone from having a great time. Great way to spend a Sunday afternoon though I am now completely exhausted and glad I go in later on Monday's.

So I will leave you with a picture of my S/mileage 押し　Fukuda Kanon.