Iwasa Misaki (Wasamin) / 7th Generation

Iwasa Misaki 2nd Concert DVD Pre-release event at HMV Esola, Ikebukuro (2017/04/25)

Sorry for the break in reporting. Wasamin has spent the last week in Okinawa, and unfortunately I decided not to go. In fact, she was just in town for this event, then she took off to Osaka for the next two days. Then next week it is off to Fukui, and the Port of Obama for half of Golden Week, before she comes back for her special 'Love Live' acoustic concert.

Busy girl!

It was nice to be going to a Wasamin mini-live again. It seems like forever since I went to the last one. In fact, it was the beginning of April. This was a dual-promotion, where you can do a handshake if you purchase a copy of her 6th single, or get a 2-shot plus bromide if you pre-order her upcoming concert DVD release.

Actually, Wasa-management just announced a whole string of promotional events for the month of May, which means there will be PLENTY of opportunities to buy the concert release. Personally, at puts me into a bit of a quandary. Obviously I like supporting my oshimen, but pre-ordering concert DVDs at so many events is quite an expensive proposition. If I buy one at every event, I would end up with 10-12 copies, and they are 5000-6000 yen each. So I decided that I would be a bit more frugal with it. So at some of these events I will only be buying CDs, and of course there are a few events I will probably not attend. But anyway, I was excited to hear a nice Wasamin performance, and I had brought along my friend, who has wanted to see Wasamin live for a long time. Here is the setlist...

Setlist
1. Mujineki
2. Ihoujin
3. Nada Sousou
4. Saba Kaido

A couple of interesting notes. First off, they were having tons of trouble with the sound system. We got there around 45 minutes early to get a good spot, and they were trying to fix the audio the entire time. And the end of the day, they thought they had it fixed, only to have it fail around mid-way through the show. But Wasamin, ever the professional, had fun with it.



They released photos of the DVD/BluRay covers a few days ago, and they had the posters on display at the back of the stage. Wasamin hates the cover, and thinks she looks bad on it. Every time one of us said otherwise, she would argue with us.

Wasamin's repertoire is getting so big, she is forgetting which songs come from which releases. When she introduced Ihoujin, she said it was from the Hatsuzake single, before her manager, Ichikawa-san corrected her.

One thing Wasamin has been doing for a while now is 'playing' with the songs she performs. That is, she experiments with different inflections, and emphasis, just to make it interesting. Tonight it was evident on Nada Sousou, where she stylized the vocals on the chorus in a slightly different way.

I did two handshakes with Misaki-chan. First I introduced her to my friend, and also told her I had been watching her TV Tokyo show every morning. For the second one, we argued about her DVD cover. Although at the end she said my Japanese is getting even better. I suppose so, if I can have an argument with her in Japanese. BTW, we ended the show with a group shot...



It is funny, whenever there is a group shot, I am often in a strange position. Today I was on the far left. During the Hatsuzake promotional tour she was taking group shots with her selfie-stick, and kept having to redo it since she wasn't getting me into the shot. So when they had to retake it like 8 times I thought that I may be part of the issue again. But I got in there (Unfortunately, the guy behind me wasn't as lucky)

When Wasamin returns from Osaka, she will be working in the JOYSOUND booth at some convention at Makuhari Messe this Sunday. Then on Tuesday it is her monthly challenge campaign in Chiba. I may not go to the Makuhari thing, but I will definitely report from the Chiba event.

 

Iwasa Misaki Monthly Challenge Campaign at Shinseido Kurachi 5, Kashiwa (Chiba Pref.) 2017/05/02

Yes, it is time for Wasamin's monthly challenge campaign. This is the event she has been doing for like a year now, and this doubled as a Pre-order event for her upcoming concert DVD, which is releasing in two weeks.



I got to the venue around 40 minutes before the event started, and was immediately greeted by another Kaigai fan. He is from France, and has been a Wasafan for around five years. But I don't remember his name. Anyway, I decided that since I had brought along my Wasamin Happi-coat, I would spring for a Blu-Ray preorder, which included a Shamekai and bromide. Here is the setlist...

Setlist 13:00
1. Hatsuzake
2. Yume Shibai (originally by Umezawa Tomio, 1982)
3. Blue Light Yokohama
4. Saba Kaido

Per usual, it was a pretty big crowd at the venue, which is actually held in plain site of a popular shopping street near Kashiwa Station, so it gets a lot of passers-by. A few fans commented that Wasamin's challenge selection of Yume Shibai was only the second time she had chosen a song that was originally recorded by a male performer. However, it has been previously covered by Naoko Ken and Misora Hibari. Wasamin did her general promotion during the MC's, including her TV Shows, Upcoming Summer Concert, and her play in Osaka (which I still haven't purchased a ticket for) However, she again lamented that hardly anyone wears their Happi-coat to events. She counted seven total in the audience, including me. However one person was actually wearing a yellow Watarirouka Hashiritai Happi After the performance it was time for the meet and greet. DVD/Blu-Ray got you a Shamekai, Saba Kaido single purchase got a handshake. When it was my turn, she immediately acknowledged that I w wearing my Wasa-Happi. "Happi, Happi, I'm Happy!"


Wasamin tugging on my Happi-coat

After the photo I told her that I finally won a show after such a long time. She was like "Wow, I didn't know it had been so long since you won! Did you see Mariyanu's graduation?" I told her no, but that I did see Mariyannu the week before. That was my one ticket, I hung around until the lane ran out, which was like 45 minutes later. Fans kept asking me if I was going to the Wasamin events in Obama this week. However, I am going to skip it. In the meantime, one of the Wasamin "heavy hitters" had a bunch of extra prizes from the Saba Kaido promotion. Last night he sent me a PM asking me which of the prizes I got. I told him I had two pens, plus the tote bag, but I didn't get the Tumbler. So today he brought me this!


Saba Kaido Tumbler FTW!

And finally one more announcement. Wasamin's FOURTH CONCERT has been decided. It will be held September 23rd at Inzai Bunka Hall in Chiba Prefecture. Right now pre-order has started for the fan club. I don't know when regular sales will start. However, Regular Sales for her 3rd concert series in July begin next week. So for people who are coming to Japan in July, here is the chance to see a great show!

 

Wasamin video update...

Second, a report from Wasamin's Golden Week appearance in Obama...


if the video does not show watch the video here

A few of the Wasa-faithful get closeups in the report.

She finished up Golden Week with her 'Love Live' Acoustic concert in Tokyo, as well as a Mini-Live at Tower Records Shinjuku. I have been meaning to write up a report, but I have been quite busy this week. I should be able to post it this weekend.

Also, if any of you happen to be in Tokyo next week, she will be doing a bunch of Live events from the 16th to the 22nd to support the release of her second concert DVD. She will also be performing in Osaka.

 

Iwasa Misaki 'Love Live' Solo Acoustic Concert at Shinjuku Sumitomo Yasuda Life Hall (2017/05/07)

This is actually the second solo acoustic live concert Wasamin has performed. The first one was back in September, which I didn't attend since the ticket sales took place while I was in California, and it sold out before I got back to Japan. Like last time, it is part of the Nagara Pro concert series, six performances over five days at this venue. Wasamin's show would be the finale. And unless I misread, these were among the last shows being put on at this venue, as it is going out of business later this month.



Wasa-Min Fan Club members were given priority ticketing, which we applied for at the same time as her July concert preorder back in March. When general sales started, we had not gotten official word whether or not we had scored tickets, aside from Ichikawa-san, Wasamin's manager blogging that we shouldn't be worried about it. (BTW, we have the same issue today, as the general sale for her July concerts this morning, and none of us have gotten any word back on our pre-applications) Finally, around two weeks ago, I received a special delivery in the mail. My ticket to this show had arrived. It was 11th row, almost dead center. Not quite as good as I expected given I pre-ordered, and the hall only has 20 rows. However, it is a small venue, and it isn't like I haven't had countless up close and personal experiences with Wasamin in the past, right? So what if I didn't have the greatest seat this time. But before we get to her show...

Wasamin's concert was scheduled for 5:30pm. However, there was also a matinee scheduled at the same venue for another Nagara Pro artist. And since both Wasamin and her manager have been attempting to promote this group, I decided to score a ticket. It was only 2000 yen anyway. Not to mention, I really do like Minyo Girls.

Minyo Girls 'Challenge Stage Vol. 2' Concert at Shinjuku Sumitomo Yasuda Life Hall (2017/05/07)

Spoiler: I will spoiler the Minyo Portion of the post since this is the Wasamin thread

I arrived around 45 minutes before doors, and there was already a considerable line, which is important to note since there weren't assigned seats for the early show. This venue is in a weird spot. If you have ever been out the JR Shinjuku Station West Exit, it exits underground into sort of a subterranean mall. The easy to miss venue was behind a shoe store to the left, near the Keio Station. Even the ground level entrance was hard to find, with just a small sing over a small non-descript door. Anyway, I scanned the line for any other Wasafans, who are known to go to Minyo Girls shows, but I only found two. Eventually we were let in, and I skipped the goods line for the time being to try and find a seat. The center section was filling up all the way into the upper half of the venue. But upon closer look, the side sections were practically empty! I hustled closer and closer to the stage. Could it be? Yes, the front row left side was available, save for the aisle seat. I grabbed the seat one off the aisle. I couldn't believe I scored such an incredible spot given how far back I was. By the way, if you have never seen Minyo Girls before, here is a PV...


if the video does not show watch the video here

While I waited for the show to start, I wondered about the pre-show music they were playing on the P.A. It was some familiar sounding J-pop group, I just couldn't figure out who. I tried to use Shazam, but my wi-fi wasn't working this far below ground. Also, I noticed a bunch of fans (all in the front row) had on Minyo Girls Happi Coats. They were really sharp looking too, however I was surprised to see so many wotaku being into them. Eventually the show started...



I won't bore you with too many details since this is supposed to be about the Wasamin concert, but Minyo Girls put on a really fun show. I also didn't realize that they do have a few standard J-pop songs in their repertoire. (Those songs I tried to Shazam, it was them!) My front row left side seat was perfect, since my favorite member Yuua was right in front of me most of the show. However, it was the other girl I like, Miyabi, who kept making eye contact with me. At first she seemed confused by my presence, despite the fact that this is the FOURTH time I have seen them. But eventually she started interacting with me a little bit. Yuua, on the other hand, barely acknowledged me, or anyone else. She mainly focuses on performing. Eventually, like many NagaraPro artists, they did a photo-op portion of the show, which lasted for two songs. I took lots of pics.




As we left the hall the members were at each door saying goodbye to the audience, and handing flyers with the setlist (with which CD each song is from), and pictures of the members. Neither Yuua nor Miyabi were at the exit I chose. However, Yutori, who was the original center of the group was there. As she handed me a flyer she exclaimed. "You are a Wasamin fan, right?" Nice to see somebody in Minyo Girls remembers me. After all, I have taken a photo with Yutori on two previous occasions. I immediately went to the goods table. I wanted to che out this Happi Coat. It was exactly the same as Wasamin's, except different color, and a Minyo Girls design. Also, it was like 40% cheaper than Wasamin's! So I bought one, along with Yua and Miyabi button sets, as well as their first CD (which I do have, but it is in the U.S.) They gave me a cheki ticket. I went to use my ticket, but they told me it was for a full group shot only. So I went back to the goods table to pick up the other CD, which gets you an individual cheki. I thought I already had this CD too. However, upon closer inspection I realized this was a different CD entirely. It was just that the covers look so much alike. I put my Happi coat on, and prepared for my photos...



As I was putting the coat on, I caught someone staring at me. It was Ichikawa-san, Wasamin's manager. She was laughing at me. So I said "Don't tell Wasamin!" The issue was who would I pick. Originally I thought I would pick Yuua, but then Miyabi was playing with me throughout the show. Then there was Yutori, who remembered me from before. I eventually went with Miyabi.



Also, my group shot. Flanked by Yuua and Miyabi, nice. BTW, I attempted to talk to Miyabi about the show. However, given these girls are so young they aren't that good at talking to their fans. That's okay, they will get there. I was done. I would go look for lunch somewhere nearby while I waited for the evening show. I had two hours to kill...

BTW, don't skip the Minyo report, I have posted some cool pics in there, including my group shot and cheki...

Now for the Wasamin show...



I got back to the venue around 30 minutes before doors. Half the Wasafans were milling around on the street level, the other half underground. I met up with Side-san, who was collecting money for the fan club flowers. We normally don't buy a stand like you see at most concert, instead opting for a bouquet that is sent to Wasamin's dressing room. She posted a pic for us...



Eventually we were all called in to queue up. It didn't really matter for seating. The queue was mainly to get to the goods line first. Asdie from CDs and the DVD preorder, most of the goods were leftovers from the January concert (lightstick, uchiwa, towel) as well as these phone card/cheki things that were 1000 yen each. It was quite expensive for a cheki, and I didn't know what to do with the phone card, so I only picked one of the three different varieties.



After taking photos of the flower stands, I put on my Wasa-Happi and headed in to my seat. My seat was next to another fan club member, Aso-san (sounds like Asshole-san, as he once explained to me, LOL) I surveyed the audience to see where most of the regulars were seated. It seemed like the fan club were all seated up to row 13 (I was row 11) After that were mainly people I didn't recognize, and nobody wearing fan club gear. I did see quite a few people near the front who I hadn't seen before. Wasamin's fan club has a lot of people who don't show up to events regularly, so it is always interesting to see who is in attendance. A lot of them also have the yellow Wasa-Happi coat too. After an opening act that consisted of this creepy juggler, clown, illusionist, plus a 19-year old make enka singer, the show finally began. Wasamin singing acapella from behind the curtain. Here is the setlist, with the original artists listed. Songs Wasamin played guitar on in italics...

1. SAKURA (Ikimono Gakari)
2. Kaze ni Naru (Tsuji Ayano)
3. Cherry (Spitz)
4. Marounuchi Sadistic (Shiina Ringo)
5. Sakurairo Mau Koro (Nakashima Mika)
6. Koi ni Ochite (Kobayashi Akiko)
7. Anata ni Aitakute ~Missing You~ (Matsuda Seiko)
8. Ano Subarashii Ai wo Mou Ichido (Kitayama Osamu & Kato Kazuhiko)
9. Momen no Handkerchief (Ota Hiromi)
10. Ito (Nakajima Miyuki)
11. Hitomi (Ohara Sakurako)
12. Himawari no Yakusoku (Hata Motohiro)

En1. Mirai e... (Kiroro)



Whenever I have seen Wasamin go a guitar performance, she has always been sitting down. However, when the curtain opened she was playing while standing up. Just Wasamin, a microphone, and a sheet music stand. Her backing band consisted of a pianist/keyboardist, violinist, and a second guitarist. Wasamin looked adorable, with her pink 'Minyo Girls-esque' skirt, white sweater and jeweled white pumps. Although it was funny watching her play since you could tell she wasn't used to performing this way. She barely moved, rooted in the spot in front of the mic. BTW, her guitar playing has definitely improved from the last time I heard her play in January. She makes fewer and fewer mistakes every time, although sometimes she will mess up/forget lyrics. However, I don't know if that is a concentration thing, or perhaps it is because she is singing so many new songs. Probably a combination of both.



So again Wasamin did an entire MC about our Happi Coats. Last week in Chiba she was complaining that hardly anyone wears their coats to her mini-live events. But here she noted everyone was wearing them. She is like "You are supposed to wear them at everything, not just the big events!" What makes it even more funny is that the very next day she had an event at Tower Shinjuku, and only ONE fan wore their coat. She was like "Jeez, only one of you brought your Happi!?!?!?" LOLZ Later she noted that there would be no enka in this performance at all.

Some great songs in the setlist. Wasamin covering Shiina Ringo and Ohara Sakurako were highlights, and I have seen and loved her performance of Momen no Handkerchief before, but not while playing guitar. In a later MC she was discussing the fan club, and what events might be in the works. It seems another Bus Tour might be in the planning stages. Also, there was a prize portion of the show. Wasamin was drawing seat numbers out of a box to win signed guitar picks and chekis. Unfortunately I wasn't one of the lucky winners, but the odds were pretty low. She came out for one encore song, which she dedicated to her mom for the upcoming Mother's day. And that was the show, except for one major Wasamin faux pas. SHE FORGOT TO INTRODUCE THE BAND! We gave the band a second round of applause as they exited the stage. BTW, Wasamin and her manager apologized for this on social media later on.



The show was over, but there would be a post show handshake/2-shot event taking place. I hadn't decided whether or not I would buy a DVD or CDs, but after seeing her in that cute costume, I decided to spring the the more expensive DVD to get a shamekai. The line was gigantic, going outside the venue and down to the basement level, then looping back up the stairs. I eventually decided to brave the line, since it wasn't getting any shorter.



I basically told her that I loved the show and her outfit. She asked me how much I loved the show. "Was it perfect?" I said of course it was! They were trying to move the line more quickly, so I quickly said goodbye and that I would see her the next day in Shinjuku. Usually we all stay until the very end. However, theater staff began kicking out everyone who didn't have a ticket left. So I bailed. The line was still long anyway, and it had been almost an hour.

Wasamin's second concert DVD comes out next week. I believe it is the same day as the SSK Guidebook and Itano Tomomi's new single. So next week she will be doing 5 events, four of which are around Tokyo. I'm not sure if I will go to all of them or not, but I will certainly be attending the release day event at HMV Shibuya. Also...

I received a postcard in the mail, and I have won a ticket the Iwasa Misaki Karaoke Party later this month. I'm not sure if this means I didn't win the 'Saba Party' (I sent in applications for both) which was much harder to win. However, I'm just glad I won one of the two major prizes from the 6th single.

 

@hermionepj1

Yeah, the street performer. He was actually quite talented. However, I was weirded out when he 'swallowed' this long tubular inflated balloon. It just reminded me too much of something X-rated, and coupled with his "flamboyant" style, I just sat there going "WTF?"

It should also be noted that he was doing little tricks for us while we waited in the queue for our handshakes/2-shots

 

FYI, Wasamin's second concert DVD/BluRay released on Wednesday. I picked up a DVD copy at her release event in Shibuya on Wednesday night (along with the SSK guidebook and Aoba Hinari from FESTIVE's photobook) My preorder copies all came in the mail today.



I skimmed through the concert this morning, and I can tell you that all of the Kaigai fans are well-represented on the DVD, in fact I probably got the least screentime out of all of us. My friend Phillip was focused on taking photos of Wasamin for a good 15-25 seconds straight. And @hermionepj1 gets focused on from two different angles. First, getting a real good closeup, then at the other angle you can see him admiring his photography work, LOL.

Be sure and pick up a copy. Truthfully, I thought her first concert was better (mainly due to the live band) but the "roaming through the audience" portion of the show is as awesome as I remember it. Plus, you get the full concert VTRs, which like the first one, are great.

I will give a more proper report of this week's events this weekend.

 

If I had only known. I have a ticket to go to SF two weeks earlier, and I won't be going back that soon after. I don't speak Japanese, but I bet I could say enough to lie and tell her I am a friend of クリス。

 

I did it. I changed my travel plans and just bought a 2-day pass.

 

Wow, has it really been over three weeks since I last did a Wasamin post on this thread?

It’s not that I haven’t been seeing her over the last month. In fact, she released her second concert DVD, so there were those festivities. It was just that I had planned on reporting about the DVD release in one big post, However, I got kinda busy, then got backed up on event reports for my blog, and of course the site went down twice, so there ya go. But this is better late than never. I will start by doing a brief report about the special ‘invitation only’ event I attended two weekends ago…

Wasamin Karaoke Party! at Big Echo, Ikebukuro (2017/05/28)



This was one of the two big prizes you could win if you mailed in the contest entries contained in the Saba Kaido singles. The Grand Prize was a “Saba Party”, which was held the week prior. It turned out to be a Saba tasting party at a very nice Saba restaurant in Tokyo. Only a few people got to win that prize, and unfortunately I was not one of them. But I did win the other big prize, and that was a Karaoke party…

There were two Karaoke sessions planned, and 30 people won for each session. It was held in the basement party area of one of the big Karaoke chains in Tokyo. What a Wasamin Karaoke party would consist of, I wasn’t sure. But she has held these after every single release, and the other Wasafans told me it was fun. Since I wasn’t sure, I asked Wasamin about it at her event in Urawa a few days before. Specifically, I asked her if I would be doing any singing at the event. Her cryptic response did not shed any light on it…

“Do you want to sing? Do you? If you want to sing, it will be good!”


The Shamekai I took with Wasamin in Urawa, moments before we would have that cryptic convo

Obviously Wasamin’s response still left me in the dark, but no matter. I had actually been to a Karaoke party with friends just a couple of weeks prior, so I was kinda brushed up on my Karaoke skills. Personally, I am a mediocre singer. Not horrible, but nobody is ever going to sign me to a singing contract. On the other hand, I am not uptight about it. I am perfectly willing to sing badly in front of people. So no real worries.

I was running slightly late, but I don’t live far from Ikebukuro. I got to Big Echo just a few minutes before doors opened, and the Wasafans were queued down the sidewalk. I was second to last in line, so I assumed I wouldn’t have too good a spot. We were lead in via an elevator, five at a time. When I got downstairs I scanned the room, four long tables that sat eight each. The two tables in the middle were pretty much filled, the table in the back was empty, but the table in front had a few open spots, including the first seat, so I took it. This was like having front row center, cool! Saso-san, and Yamaue-san, two of Wasamin’s assistants, informed us that we would have unlimited Orange Juice and Oolong Tea during the event, which would be around 60-90 minutes. They also provided us with tambourines and maracas to use during the performances.

Wasamin came out in a cute little summer dress, and congratulated us for winning the event. Meanwhile Saso-san queued up the first song, Watashi no Kare wa Hidarikiki, which is a song she has performed quite a bit lately since she debuted it at her second concert. She also sang Blue Light Yokohama, and another song I did not recognize. After that it was time for audience participation. We were going to be able to sing duets with Wasamin. Well, some of us were…

Wasamin asked if anyone wanted to sing a duet with her. Surprisingly, or perhaps not surprisingly, around 90% of the room raised their hand. They had only allotted around three songs for people to sing duets, so we would have to decide by Janken. The winners would also receive a set of signed clear files from all of her singles. I was in a bit of a quandary, since the only rule was that whatever song we chose, Wasamin had to know it, and agree to sing it. I am fine with singing Karaoke in English, but Japanese is another story, and Wasamin had already sang the song I know most of the lyrics to. But hell, this was the chance of a lifetime, I would try to win, and worry about what to sing if the situation arose. Unfortunately, I was not one of the lucky winners. Oh well. But the people who did win all sang pretty well. So kudos to them!

Next was time for requests, which was again decided by Janken since most of the room wanted to request something. I couldn’t think of anything in particular that I wanted to hear, so I did not participate. The first guy who won was an 85-year old fan who requested Saba Kaido. Ehhhhh? Wasamin was like “you know I am going to sing that at the end” But he didn’t care. He insisted that was his request. Okay then. The next guy requested Kanpeki Guu no ne, from Watarirouka Hashiritai, which also inspired a round of “eeehhhh” from the audience. I mean the guy could have at least requested a WH7 song, right? The next guy requested AKB48 Team K’s “Saka Agari”, now the fans and Wasamin are like “WTF???” She was like, “Are you guys the 48-fan group?” Oh, and although Wasamin has performed this song before, she completely forgot the lyrics, so it ended up being a bunch of mumbling and the chorus. After the second verse, she was like “Okay, enough of that!” and stopped the song, LOL. Mercifully, the last person chose an enka song for her.

Wasamin would perform one more song, Saba Kaido (again), before she thanked everyone for coming. It was also announced that we would get to take a cheki with her, and get a small present, which turned out to be rice crackers with Wasamin’s name and Saba Kaido written on them.



Since I was in front at the first table, I ended up being the second person to take a cheki. The idea was that we would pose with microphones like we were singing a duet. Wasamin handed me the microphone, and I immediately started singing the chorus to Saba Kaido. Wasamin was like “Wait, do that again” At that moment she flipped on our mics and we sang Saba Kaido, well, just a couple of lines of it. So now I can (sorta) say I did a duet with her too. Anyway, we took the cheki, I thanked Wasamin, and I was in the elevator.



It was a fun event. It went by kind of quickly, but it was neat to be in that casual setting with Wasamin, just foolin’ around and singing Karaoke. I would definitely do it again, and hopefully I would get a chance to sing a proper duet with her.

I will do a DVD Release event post ASAP!

 

Iwasa Misaki 2nd Concert DVD/BluRay Release Events, and a few other things (May/June 2017)

In May, Wasamin fans were treated to the release of her 2nd concert DVD/BluRay, which would come out on the 17th. Prior to that there were various ‘pre-order’ events, since Wasamin is always making public appearances. She’s the busiest girl in show business! LOL. But before I get into that, a little show and tell. A few weeks ago I got a mysterious package in the mail from Tokuma Records. Now I am keenly aware that when I see Tokuma on the return address, it probably has something to do with Wasamin. Anyway, I opened it to find this…



That is our group pic from the Wasamin BBQ party a couple of months ago. Neat, huh? Now I know what you are thinking, quite the ‘sausage fest’ Yeah, it was odd. As I mentioned on my blog post about the party, they had two seatings for the BBQ party, and for some reason they put ALL of the female winners in the early seating. On the other hand, we were told that the girls didn’t eat very much, which is why there was such an abundance of food for our afternoon event.

Anyway, back to the Concert DVD events. As I mentioned, Wasamin did a few pre-order events for the DVD, and they weren’t limited to in-store events. You could also pre-order it at her ‘Love Live’ Acoustic Concert. The big benefit was that you would get a 2-shot and a photo for buying the DVD. On the other hand, it isn’t cheap. The DVD is 5000 yen, while the BluRay is 6000 yen. Luckily, you could also get a handshake from buying copies of Saba Kaido, so I wasn’t always buying the concert. All told, I ended up with 6 copies of the concert (4 DVD, 2 BluRay) Three of those I bought during pre-orders, and three I purchased during release week. Speaking of release week…

Wasamin would be doing six appearances during release week. Five in Tokyo, and one in Osaka. I ultimately ended up attending four of the six events, although I was late to two of them. One of them I missed the performance entirely, and only made it for the meet and greet. That was the evening that I also went to the Tomochin single release event, which I posted about in the 'AKB Experiences' Thread



For the actual release day event, Wasamin performed at HMV Shibuya, which is slowly becoming a popular place for pop artists to appear. Just a couple of days ago I posted on my blog about seeing Chaki and YUSA here. I have also seen FES☆TIVE perform at HMV Shibuya. It should also be noted that this is where Wasamin had release events for her fist album, and for her 4th single, Hatsuzake. Only those were done outside in the square in front of the building. This also happened to be the release day of AKB48’s Sousenkyo guidebook, so many of the Wasafans picked up a copy of that. And I also picked up a copy of Aoba Hinari’s photobook, since this was one of the few shops that was carrying it.



The cool thing was that Wasamin was promoting the DVD release by singing songs from her concert. So we were hearing some of these performances for only the second time. And of course since it was release day, I picked up a copy of the DVD. I wanted to watch it that night anyway, and I hadn’t received my pre-orders yet.



Thursday was an off day for Wasamin, but she appeared at Tower Kinshicho on Friday night. However, this was the event I essentially missed because of the Tomochin event. I tried to make it to hear some of the performance, but I had never been to this store before, and got temporarily lost trying to find it. By the time I found the mall and the store, I could hear the last few notes of Saba Kaido and the Wasafans cheering in the distance. Oh well. At least I was in time to visit with Wasamin. But since I was totally sweaty from running around, I chose to skip the Shamekai.



Wasamin would be making two appearances on Saturday. The first would be in the morning out in Machida, which is in Western Tokyo. I woke up feeling a bit fatigued, so I decided to skip making the long trip. Instead I would just go to the evening event in Asakusa. However, I ended up falling asleep in the afternoon, and waking up very late. I cleaned myself up as quickly as I could, and headed out to Asakusa. I was going to be a bit late. The other issue was that Asakusa was celebrating Sanja Matsuri, so that could make getting to the venue from the subway even more complicated. I made it to Yoro-do, where Wasamin has appeared many times. All of the employees know me there, so they helped me make a quick purchase, and get upstairs to watch the rest of the show. Wasamin was just starting her third song when I got to my spot in the back. But I was happy I made it.



Since I was in the back, I was actually the first person to do a Shamekai with Wasamin. I apologized for being late, and told her that I wasn’t feeling well that day, but I really wanted to see her. She asked me what was wrong, and I essentially told her that I had a very bad headache all day. I also told her I wanted to check out Sanja Matsuri, which was taking place outside. Anyway, she told me to feel better. And I immediately did since when I pulled my bonus photo, I got this!



An autographed picture. These are not easy to win! So it is nice to be lucky once in a while. Wasamin’s manager congratulated me, and I was on my way. In the meantime I took some photos and a video of the festivities outside. I recorded a short video too of part of the procession making its way past Yoro-do, where Wasamin’s event was going on.


if the video does not show watch the video here





It was a lot of fun, and there was tons of great food. Unfortunately I also felt slightly queasy, so I didn’t eat anything. I just looked around, and then went home.

On Sunday Wasamin did her promotional appearance in Osaka, and then came back for one last appearance in Urawa, Saitama. This is becoming a regular stop for Wasamin’s live appearances, which is nice because it isn’t very far from where I live. In fact, she performed there again this past week. But on this particular day I had a class Monday evening, so I would need to rush if I was going to make it from Shinjuku to Urawa in under an hour. In fact, I had around 20 minutes to get from my classroom in Sanchome, on to the Shonan-Shinjuku Line at Shinjuku Station. It was doable if I hustled. Which I did, and I made it, by about 3 minutes. Unfortunately, this train is packed like a sardine can during rush hour, not to mention I was sweaty from the brisk walk, but I would bear with it for the 34 minute ride.

I made it to Urawa around 12 minutes before the event, which would give me time to quickly dry myself off. I bought one last copy of the BluRay, and watched the event from the back. Once again, Wasamin was wearing an extremely cute Summer dress. I waited for a little while before queueing up for my shamekai.

This was the interaction that I asked Wasamin about the Karaoke party, which I mentioned on the previous post. I asked her if I would have to sing at the event, and her cryptic answer was something to the effect of “If you would like to, it would be good.” LOL.



This was also the first time I had spoken to her since the announcement that she was performing in San Francisco. Wasamin knows that I am from California, so she asked me if I would be flying back to the States for the event. The truth is I really want to, I really do. I would be so proud to see her perform in California with a bunch of my friends there. However, do to my schedule, it is going to be next to impossible to make the trip. However, there is a silver lining to this, since the reason I cannot attend has to to with the fact that I was able to extend my stay in Japan through the end of 2019. Considering that, it is a good trade-off. So Wasamin may be disappointed that I can't go, but she is happy that she's got me in Japan for AT LEAST another 2 1/2 years.

And that was the end of Wasamin’s DVD promotion. As I mentioned above, she made another appearance at Tower Urawa this past Monday, which I attended. However, it was considered a Saba Kaido event, so there were so Shamekai offered. But it was good to see her perform one more time before she embarks on her two week trip to Osaka to appear in a play. I still don’t have a ticket to that yet since I procrastinated, and now I am scrambling to find a ticket since they ended the online ticket sales. I’m not sure if I can get a ticket at the box office, or by some other means. But hopefully I will be able to go.

Oh, and for those who haven’t purchased Wasamin’s concert DVD yet, be sure and check it out! It is every bit as good as I remembered. The portion of the show where she roams the audience is awesome, and it has a couple of very nice VTRs. One is about her journey learning to play the guitar, and the other is a look back at her year since graduating from AKB. Definitely worth the purchase!