Your NMB48 Experiences

July 16 Makuhari Messe
Whatever the election single is called HS

Maybe my last handshake. I was pretty salty after but when I think about it I'm going through a lot right now and had unrealistic expectations. Maybe.

Slot 2: Cocona

Spoiler

@Sakuraism had 5 tickets and I wanted to help him out so I oshimashi's a Yamarina because I had too many.

When I walked in she gave an "Oh!" as if she remembered me. Kinda cool since I don't remember doing anything.

Me: let me see your angry face again.
Cocona: hmm
*tries hard but it looks goofy*
Me: haha that's terrible. Does your stomach hurt? (I wanted to say it looks like your stomach hurts but messed up)
Cocona: Oh actually it does
Me: Oh geez. Well, take care then, bye bye.

Cocona looked really cute but it's a little weird how she's so dolled up but she's like 12. I had fun though, it might be because I like talking to kids like that. It's...how my job was these past two years.

Slot 3: Jo

Spoiler

Jo: hey, long time no see
Me: Good morning how are you
Jo: I'm good
Me: I think my stomach hurts
Jo: oh no what happened
Me: I think it's from my own cooking
Jo: you cook by yourself? That's impressive
Me: it's really not that's why I got sick.
Jo: Haha
Me: Yeah I think I left the oil out...

Next

Me: Oh hey can you make sweets and stuff
Jo: yeah I can!
Me: What kind of stuff can you make?
Jo: (in English) CAKE
Me: Oh really? What kind of cake?
Jo: POUND CAKE
Me: uhh, OK, what else?
Jo: SHORTCAKE
Me: Anything besides cake?!
Jo: Cookies... Oh and scones!

Next

Me: You can make scones? Me too.
Jo: Oh yeah?
Me: Yeah. And you know when you mix the cream and the dough with your hand
Jo: yeah
Me: it looks like you murdered anpanman with your hand. With all the batter and stuff
Jo: Yeah! Haha

Next

Me: By the way today is my last day. I'm going back home to my country in 2 weeks.
Jo: What really? Where are you going?
Me: I'm going back to the US. Los Angeles.
Jo: Oh that's why you speak English.
Me: Yeah
Jo: Wait is this one your last for today?!
Me: Nah I got 7th and 8th slots too.
Jo: Whew, that's a relief
Me: see you then!

I was talking about cooking because I wanted to mention how I was baking stuff for my friends before I leave and I wanted ideas but eventually I dropped that line of discussion. It does turn out that in my life, 90 percent of my conversations are about food.

Slot 4: Yamada Suzu

Spoiler

(I've been saying Kikoku suru which means I'm returning to my country. I thought it carried a harder connotation that I've been here for a while, but it actually doesn't. This led to a really confusing conversation.)

Suzu: Hey long time no see
Me: Hello. By the way, in 2 weeks I'm going back to my home country.
Suzu: Hm? What does that mean? How long have you been here?
Me: Wait what? (I think she used kansai ben here)
Suzu: you live here?
Me: Oh, yeah, I've been here for 2 years.
Suzu: that means your leaving... Oh, I hope you come back!

Next

Me: Yeah I just wanted to say thank you even though it's been a really short time
Suzu: it's okay, please come again
Me: my favorite memory was when I went to the gyoza festival and coincidentally sat in front of you but I didn't want to butt in your private life so we moved
Suzu: Oh... What you were there?! Really?! I love you come back!

At this point I probably should've realized the whole "I'm going home" angle was ineffective. It makes sense, they hardly know me. Too bad for me.

Slot 5: Yamao Rina

Spoiler

Me: Hey nice meeting you for the first time.
Yamarina: HELLO
Me: Your voice gives me courage
Yamarina: THANK YOU
Me: Yeah I'm not good at Japanese or conversation but your voice makes me want to speak
Yamarina: You're not Japanese?
Me: Err, no, I'm from the US.
Yamarina: Thanks for coming. (in English) EXCELLENT!

Pretty solid, but I forgot that I look Japanese so that angle doesn't make sense at first.

Slot 5 cont: Anchu

Spoiler

Me: Hello.
(it's like a switch flips and she just goes nuts)
Anchu: Hello! I love you!
Me: You know Dragon Quest?
Anchu: Oh yes Dragon Quest yay
Me: Did you order 11?
Anchu: oh no, no
Me: I'm going home in 2 weeks. But before I go home I'm going to buy dragon Quest!
Anchu: Nice! Safe! Bye bye I love you!

For 1 ticket I got what I wanted which was hilarious. Also when she does this she gets really loud and everybody in the other lanes just looks at us. It's kind of unnerving.

Slot 7: Jo

Spoiler

Me: Hello
Jo: Hi
Me: *just stares*
Jo: Uh, (in English) hello how are you
Me: I'm fine, how are you
Jo: Oh god I don't know what to do after that lol
*I feel the piercing stare of Kokochan in the next lane *
Me: Look now laugh... Everybody *gibberish*
Jo: What?
Me: God I'm the worst

Next
Me: What kind of western songs do you like?
Jo: western songs? Hmm, I don't really know any.
Me: Oh.
Jo: what would you recommend?
Me: Err, I listen to rap.
Jo: Can you rap? Yeeyuh Yeeyuh lol
Me: Maybe

Next

Me: I don't have my own rap but I can imitate someone
Jo: Oh?
Me: Should I?
Jo: Sure.
Me: His palms are sweaty. Knees weak arms are heavy there's vomit on his sweater already, moms spaghetti. He's nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready to drop bombs, but he keeps on forgetting what he wrote down the whole crowd Oh so loud...
... And I forgot the rest
Jo: whoa that's incredible. Who is the artist.
Me: Err, Eminem?
Jo: en and en?
Me: Eminem

Next

Me: you know rapping like that was... Really embarrassing.
Jo: Haha really.
Me: the security guard was jamming, chihhi was jamming, kokochan was jamming
Jo: Haha
Kokochan: hm?
Jo: its that dude that was rapping earlier.
Me: Err, uh, hello
Kokochan: Hello!
Me: So yeah this is really weird
Jo: How do you say embarrassing in English?
Me: Embarrassing

Maybe I was just extra neurotic today but I felt like so many people were watching when I decided to rap. That was really odd. I actually wanted to make her rap her intro per YNN but I ran out of time. I also don't know how to react to Kokochan coming in, I'm just like, is that allowed? Are they even good friends? I don't know.

Slot 8: Jo

Spoiler

Me: so like, I want to thank you for everything. I know I'm not good at Japanese or conversation and I bombed a couple times but it was still really fun.
Jo: *in English* fun.
Me: Hm?
Jo: *in English* Sorry, English, no.
Me: It's fine just speak Japanese I can understand
Jo: but with English it's like, sometimes I just hear vocab and it's like, maybe I understand it. Like, what does "No thank you" mean?
Me: Um, like, daijoubu desu, kekkou desu
Jo: Oh, I see
Me: but it's fine, I can speak Japanese
Jo: it must be tough learning Japanese, right
Me: I mean, it can't be helped? Actually I studied Japanese through NMB
Jo: Huh, really? How long have you been a fan?
Me: since the end. I mean, since the beginning.
Jo: what? Since the very first shonichi?
Me: Yeah
Me: Well, sayonara
Jo: Sayonara

Really I just wanted something like "Good luck" or "thanks for coming" or "don't go" or "it was fun for me too" but I get this really awkward ender about English and when I've been a fan. I was pretty upset for a few hours.

But when I reflect on it she never really knew me. I've never practiced using 10 tickets at once. I don't even know if it's typical for them to say goodbye.
Any other handshake and this would've been just as fun as the last ones if not more but I raised my expectations too high and overestimated my impact.

Of course there are a lot more feelings to deal with in my life at the moment and I just made it worse. But yeah. Shouldn't have made such a big deal about myself.

 

I realize reading it in text form edited down is different and the real thing is probably 100x more awkward but I thought it seemed like you had good conversations with the girls. Maybe not super memorable but I would have considered the day a win if it was me in your place (and without the going home and this is my last handshake part)

 

7/16-17, 2017 AKB 48th Single Negaigoto no Mochigusare Kobetsu HS Event @ Makuhari Messe


My broke ass LCC life.

Know that this single I have a lot of tickets for so a lot of the longer handshakes have been some what shortened for various reason. I either purposefully cut out some meaningless chitchats or simply segments of certain talks that I forgot about it while I was writing them and then when I found out I was too lazy to go back and fix them. Some handshakes I had with certain members have been left out too since I didn't think it was all that interesting.

Day 1

Ota Yuuri

Spoiler

Yagura Fuuko

Spoiler

Murase Sae

Spoiler

Shiroma Miru

Spoiler

Yamamoto Sayaka




Since this handshake event was the first event since her 24th birthday, everyone gathered at the end of her last slot to sing her a happy birthday song. Usually it's pretty standard to put girls in front for any of these banner photos but I think today the expected amount of female fans attending far exceeded the committee expectations. There were so many girls that kept showing up it just ended up pushing us dude fans further and further back to the extent that some fans were starting to complain a little that none of us will probably even be in the photo. I can see where the complaint were coming from since it did start to get annoying that any girl that showed up even just 5 minutes before could just push us further back when we have been standing there for almost the whole slot.

It was the pretty typical "Happy Birthday to you~ Sayaka. Happy Birthday to you~ Sayaka. Happy birthday Dear Sayaka~ 2nd Album Omedetou! Happy Birthday to you~ Sayaka". She had a small speech, then somehow she got a little teary lol.

 

Day 2

Yagura Fuuko

Spoiler

Shiroma Miru

Spoiler

Yamamoto Sayaka

Spoiler

Yabushita Fu

Spoiler

 

July 23th (23rd), 2017 AKB48 Group Yukata Matsuri - Makuhari Messe -
23th is a reference to Emichi's birthday committee using 23th Birthday Anniversary

-Slot 5-

Kamieda Emika - "Thank you" postcard present

This was Emichi's very last handshake event before graduating, so I definitely needed to go see her. Her surprise lane had no game or challenge to win, you just automatically got the cards for coming.

Spoiler

After her slot finished, her committee and fans gathered for her sendoff and group photo. Of course, yours truly is photobombing this pic lol.



Prior to her slot I went and wrote a graduation message at her committee's table. I then got a little thank you card in the form of a horse racing ticket. Everyone also got this uchiwa.





I love the horse!


-Slot 7-

Ishizuka Akari - Pull tab lottery, sign your stuff if you win.

For this slot, Anchu was greeting everyone with "Hello" in English. Also because I didn't really have any Anchu goods for her to sign I decided to bring some Dragon Quest games which totally caught her off-guard.

Spoiler

 

@Sakuraism It seems you being canadian is always a nice start to chat

@Matto Emika was a link between us, international fans, and the group itself. It's great you had the chance to say her goodbye.

 

@icecream well when I mention I'm from Canada it's usually to give the girls heads up that I'm a foreigner so be kind with me using Japanese. I rarely actually want to talk about Canada but often members (especially first time meeting) end up spending a lot of time dwelling on the fact I'm not Japanese which is starting to get annoying the more I live here since it's not only at handshake events this happens lol..

 

JUSTIN!!!

I had to talk about Justin Bieber too. Thanks Andi

 

Dunno if I should post this here. Move it to the Milky thread if you don't want it here.

So after much, much deliberation, I ended up signing up for Milky's birthday party in Beijing. As you know, she's still being frozen by Yoshimoto as far as Japan is concerned, so the whole thing's been pretty hush-hush. I believe only 20 people from Japan will be coming to the event, and I wouldn't be surprised if I'll be the only one from America.

The event is not until tonight so more repo on that later. I got to Beijing yesterday. Man, I knew they blocked a lot of websites like Facebook and Gmail, but I had no idea even LINE is blocked here. Not only that, none of the vpn programs I used back in America works here! The Great Firewall is really something else.

Now onto things you guys actually care about. Milky apparently also got here yesterday, and she posted her activities around the city.



She met the ambassador from Japan, Yokoi Yukata. He told her to ganbatte in promoting China-Japan friendship. By the way, isn't the Japanese embassy technically Japanese territory? Does this count as a public activity in Japan, which Yoshimoto has banned her from doing?


I haven't been here for so long I'm not sure what the rules regarding pictures are. If I'm doing anything wrong, please take care of it mods.

But dammmmn, does she looks good! I was pretty exhausted getting around in Beijing after just one day, but seeing these made it all worth it. Can't wait for the event tonight.

 

Long time no see! Looking forward to reading your report.

 

Wowowowow

There's too much to write and unfortunately I won't be able to get to all of it until I get back in the states next week, but let me just write up the best part while it's still fresh in my mind.

There was a two-shot, and a handshake!! And even though they hired a bunch of security, there's no one to push you!!!

Me:初めまして
みるきー:初めまして
*handshake* she's so tiny...
Now onto the 2shot, my mind kind of went blank and I couldn't think of other small talk.
Me:TTポ-ズでいいですか？
み:いいよ
Me:本当？じゃあ-
(I wasn't sure if it was appropriate. I'm sure plenty of people on the internet wouldn't like it)
*pose*
み:こんな感じ？
Me:そう
Then we took the pics. I'm pretty sure I had some god-awful unnatural expression, but nonetheless, it was amazing.
Then we shook hands again. As I walked out, I suddenly remembered and turned around to say Happy Birthday. I was happy to find she was still looking in my direction and waving with both hands. She said thank you with that big smile of hers.

So yeah. No one to push you and hurry you along! Most of the fans there didn't speak Japanese, so they all went super quickly, basically just saying hi and do some simple pose like a heart mark or even just double peace signs. I'm sure some people would take issue with my pose choice, but I'm glad I did it. I had a feeling she was basically on auto-pilot for 90% of the fans repeating the same thing over and over, so something drastically different was nice, especially since it padded our interaction time!!

That's all for now. I have a lot more to add next week, including pictures and maybe videos (you will find them elsewhere online soon I'm sure).

 

NMB48 Arena Tour 2017 in Yokohama

First of all, there may be some spoilers for those going to the other arena tour concerts this year, I think there will be a lot of overlap and repeated gimmicks at the other shows, so if you don't want to be spoiled, don't read. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!




This is the second NMB concert I've been to (the first being day 1 of Milky's graduation concert). But this felt like what NMB is usually like: an Osakan twist on typical idol/48G shows, filled with plenty of funny moments.

The one unique part about this show was it's Kinoshita Momoka's last concert, so it was actually partially her graduation concert. I'm bad at remembering details, so don't expect a full setlist recap or what all the MCs were about, instead I'll just list off my personal highlights.

Top 5 Moments

1. Doing the NMB overture 3 times

Right off the bat, we get trolled. The NMB overture played like usual and the opening songs were Punkish and Majijo Blues. After these songs, Miru intervened and insisted that NMB is an idol group and so they should restart the show with cute songs. She then polled the audience and asked if it was ok to start over. The crowd agreed and so they replayed the Overture (albeit a different video). I'm like "OMG seriously?! Hahaha this is so dumb! I love it!"

They performed a cutesy song and then Momoka interrupted and said this wasn't her style and they should start over and let her choose the song since this was her last concert. She then asked if it was ok to start over, and the crowd agreed. Then the overture played a third time and they did a double whammy of Nagi Ichi and Kitagawa Kenji.

I loved this gag, but they kinda wore out its welcome when they restarted it the second time. Comedy is a balancing act, and Japanese comedy thrives on running the same joke into the ground. NMB was smart to only do it twice.

2 Momoki featuring Sayaka guitar



This was a great surprise. After a series of songs with different teams, Sayaka steps onto the stage with her guitar and I got excited because she was going to do some awesome Sayaka solo stuff. But suddenly "Warukii" starts playing with Sayaka doing doing a rock cover of it and Momoka comes out to perform her version, "Momokii." It was a nice surprise because this wasn't her style and she had a lot of fun doing it. I really liked Sayaka doing the guitar solo too.

3 Recording and photo time

As you may know, NMB has a growing number of YouTuber channels. Most prominently is Akarin's girl’s make-up and styling tutorials. And most recently, Anchu started her gaming videos (on Monday she started playing Dragon Quest II).

At this point, they told the audience that we could pull out our phones and record and/or take pictures for a limited time. They performed "Oh My God" and partway through the song, Japan's biggest YouTuber, Hikakin showed up and danced with the members.



I think this might be the first time NMB allowed fans to record a portion of a concert and I'm in favor of it. Team 8 has been doing this for years and even the main AKB group did it at last year's Election Rank-In Thanksgiving concert. Unfortunately, I was so far away in the stands and even when completely zoomed in, I couldn't do the video justice. But I appreciate the gesture.


if the video does not show watch the video here

4 Member carts in the stands

As the show was drawing to an end, I noticed the staff roping up the aisles to prevent us from leaving. At this point I had a hunch that some members would be dancing near us soon--another nod to Team 8. As expected, two members were being carted across the stands but to my surprise they were Sayaka and Miru! This was a nice gesture considering how far away these seats were. After the encore, the second string members (Akarin, Nagisa, Fuuko and Yuuri) were brought up and carted across the stands.

5. Momoka celebration

Since this was Momoka’s last big concert, she took the center for a lot songs. The girls’ seating area in the arena was filled with her fans and they cheered like crazy whenever she came on. During one of the last songs, a collage of message cards were shown on the big screen, which caused the usually cool and collected Momoka to break down into tears.


So those were the good highlights, here are a couple bad points.




I was up in the nosebleed section of the stands, at possibly the farthest angle from the main stage. The screens were so small and far away that looking at them made it marginally better to watch. I got my hopes up when Sayaka and Miru were carted across the stands as I was at the top row of second highest section of stands, which meant I was at the closest possible position. In reality, my seat was where the cart wheels met the ground and so the members couldn’t actually see me below them as much as I screamed and hollered.


Other than having bad seats, I really enjoyed the concert and had a fun time. They played the songs I like plus a couple unexpected favorites (Boku Dake no Secret Time). And I appreciated the gimmicks they included in the performances. It may just be me, but I really like the atmosphere at NMB events. It’s very laidback and chill, despite having their superstar Sayaka. I will admit that it felt like Sayaka kinda stayed in the background for a lot of the show, and so if you were only there for Sayaka, you may be disappointed. To be fair though, she has her solo tour* coming up so it’s not a big deal. Anyway, I’m looking forward to the first day Osaka Jo Hall concert next month.



*I found out after the concert that I won Sayaka’s solo live for Tokyo on November 19th, so I have that to look forward to.

 

9/10, 2017 AKB 48th Single Negaigoto no Mochigusare Kobetsu HS Event @ Intex Osaka




Shiroma Miru

Spoiler

Yamamoto Sayaka

Spoiler

POILER]

Yagura Fuuko

Spoiler

 

Matt's done most of the writeup for Yokohama (and I'm sure Andi will for Nagoya) but my only addition to this is to say that the girls-only section was so insanely large that all the wota were stunned when they introduced them in the initial MC. I thought it was gonna be one tiny-ass block towards the side but the girls legit had 4 full blocks to themselves (in Nagoya it was Arena A1, parts of A2 and then 2-3 blocks in the stands). This doesn't even count the girls who got in through normal seating. All in all, I would be confident to say 20-25% of the entire place was made up of girls.

Momoka showing up in full Sumeragi Kineto gear in the middle of the girls' area felt like I was watching a Johnny's concert complete with the female fans going crazy and trying to touch her.

 

You should write Nagoya. I ain't writing that shiet

 

10/01 , 2017 NMB48 Asia Tour @ Taipei, Taiwan.




I’ve been wanting to write this one for a while now but I’ve been so busy with all the events happening.


Preparations:

Originally I planned to attend both the Hong Kong Live along with the Taiwan one since both of them are only a day apart. After checking with flight prices that quickly changed. Apparently there was a holiday in Hong Kong around that time so even a LCC (low cost carrier) flight would’ve costed me close to 40,000 yen just to fly from Hong Kong to Taiwan. This is an insane amount considering it’s only an hour and half flight maybe. They also announced that there’d be 2 shows in Taiwan so that kind of just made it easier for me to ditch Hong Kong all together.


Obtaining the Tickets:

Apart from actually flying over to Taiwan to watch the concert this would’ve probably been the biggest obstacle for someone outside of Taiwan to attend. Unlike the one in Thailand and Hong Kong where it was possible to purchase the tickets online, the one in Taiwan was only limited to actual in person purchase. Everyone had to use the ticketing machines at their local 7-11. This was basically a first come first purchase system, unfortunately so was the ticketing. This just meant the faster you are in purchasing the tickets the better ticketing number you would have gotten. People would either needed to sneak out of work or take a day off to arrive at the ticketing machine and be ready to spam. Luckily I knew plenty of Taiwanese fans that were willing to help me out so I was able to get plenty of tickets for myself and also other foreign fans that were interested in coming. Truth be told, securing a ticket to see the concert was never a concern for me since before they even started selling the tickets I was already able to get them thanks to some connections lol. I just cared about getting GOOD tickets lol.


Arrival:



I took the earliest flight out from Osaka and arrived in Taiwan around 10am.
My guess was that the members would finish their Live in Hong Kong on Friday and fly to Taiwan early Saturday and rehearse in the evening. I wanted to welcome them at the airport since it’s definitely one of those things I’ve never experienced doing yet. When I arrived I received word that the members have left Hong Kong and that their flight was expected to arrive in 40mins. What a great timing! I thought to myself lol. I slowly walk my suitcase to the other Terminal and there were already a bunch of Taiwanese fans waiting. Luckily I was able to find a few that I actually knew so I could chat with people while waiting for the girls to come out. Their flight got delayed and for whatever reason they were taking their time inside the custom. A 40min wait eventually turned into something like 2-3 hours. This was the most nerve wrecking 2-3 hours. It wasn’t like a “carefree” waiting, any moment the members could walk out. The members were so slow a friend of mine from Hong Kong who took a later flight actually met them inside. He quickly messaged me just to help me confirm that we weren’t waiting for nothing lol.

The girls came out and it was honestly the most chaotic 3min I’ve been involved with in this fandom lol.

VTR DOUZO! The video was recorded with a GoPro so everything seems a little further since GoPro captures a wider view and of course it can’t zoom in or out.


if the video does not show watch the video here


Just to add some context to the video. Honestly in all the chaos it was super hard to tell who is who. Almost all the members and their staffs were wearing masks and the members were all walking so far apart I didn’t even noticed I walked past Sayaka, all I knew was that I didn’t catch up to Miru since I knew she and Yuuri were the first to come out of the gate and on to the bus. It wasn’t till near the end I actually noticed Sayaka because there’s a huge mob surrounding her lol. That’s why I just naturally said “Oh, Sayaka is here after all loll” which she heard then she noticed me as well and we were able to exchange a quick goodbye just before she got on the bus. Also props to Saepii, she was the only member that I didn’t need to be vocal that noticed me. She gave me a quick, “Ah!” of course I responded politely and then left to find my oshis lol. Right at the end when a bunch of members and staffs were stuck at the automatic door I honestly did not notice Fuuchan. Luckily I did and was able to get a last quick response from her.



Conclusion: It was such an interesting experience but at the same time very exhausting. I think it’s one of those things I wouldn’t mind doing it again if I was already going to be “around”. Not something I’d go through all the trouble to participate in lol.


The Show:



The venue is basically a standard Live House venue as you would find in Japan. Since it’s located on the 8th floor of a shopping plaza everyone were expected to queue outside of the plaza in accordance to the ticket number on your ticket. You then go up the plaza escalator and once you enter the venue itself it’s pretty much free for all standing. To my surprise there were a quite a bit of Japanese fans who came. I guess because Taiwan is probably the closest location to Japan as well as it being on a Sunday. Since I got a lot of foreigners to come it was also logical for me to help them out. So I ran around speaking Mandarin, English and even Japanese to help people get in queue and stuff. I’m going to avoid talking much about the setlist itself since it’s a very standard setlist, not much to discuss or especially point out.


Highlight/ Noon Show-





For the Noon Show I was about the first 150ish people let in. It wasn’t bad at all considering the place was supposed to hold 1,000 people standing. I was maybe 5th row from the stage and to have a position like this in Japan is already a big deal. One of the highlight was the girls performing Kurokami with these Sensu fans that they’ve signed and couple songs later they threw it out to the fans. I honestly cannot remember which song they did that because honestly that whole segment it’s just them walking around taunting fans with their Sensu loll. I was perfectly distanced to catch those. I actually touched one of them but since the wotas around me were fighting for them so hard I didn’t even really bother. What’s the point receiving a signed item when it’s already like half destroyed? Lol.


if the video does not show watch the video here

The other highlight was definitely the MC. While the members were doing their catchphrase they all ended up speaking something in Mandarin. Miorin did this thing where she was saying all these fruits in Mandarin and expecting the fans to say “Bu Shi” after each one which meant No in Mandarin. Then at some point she turned it to some Dajare (pun) like pointing to herself going “Busu?” (Ugly Girl in JP) loll.
Another memorable one was when Nagisa was trying to say her’s everyone went “Ha!?“ and all the girls were laughing like crazy. Unlike in Chinese and English where going “Huh?” is not that of a big deal, but in Japanese saying “Ha!?” is almost like going “wtf?” loll. My PERSONAL highlight for this show would be when they were talking about eating Shou Ron Pou in Taiwan, Miru was constantly fishing the whole crowd by air feeding random fans here and there. At some point she was looking towards my area I kindly put out my hand to receive her feeding. Instead of giving me anything, she looked at me and continued putting them into her own mouths and eventually giving me “nope! not giving to u” look loll.


Highlight/ Evening Show-


The number I had for this was crazy good. I was the first 30 people to be let in. I was technically 2nd row but my friend and I would switch positions from time to time so for certain songs I would be first row lol.

The Drama-

When I got in there I instantly see my friend fighting with these Japanese fans. It didn’t take long for me to catch up on what was happening. Basically the first guy who came in was a Sayaka fan, when he came in he instantly ran to the center of the stage and extended his arms basically taking up multiple space for his friends. When the other Taiwanese fans arrived they obviously weren’t okay with it so there were some pushing going on and people got heated. One of his friends came in and started yelling in Japanese. This guy was such a douchebag because when the staffs came he was basically caught red handed holding a 100 something numbered ticket. When confronted he gave bunch of stupid arguments like, well I got in, so isn’t it the staffs incompetence etc etc. Basically what really pissed everyone off was the way he was talking. He spoke as if he did nothing wrong and all the wrong was on the organizers for not making rules clear like, “Oh, you guys never said you couldn’t take up spots for your friends” “You guys didn’t check the tickets properly and let me in yourself”. Luckily some of the staffs were super fluent in Japanese and was just going to calm everyone down and just let it be but this guy just kept digging his own grave. Every time we spoke to the staffs in Mandarin he thinks we’re shitting on him so he would start yelling stupid stuff in Japanese like “Don’t look down on us Japanese” blah blah. Some of the Taiwanese fans got so pissed that physical fights were going to break out and staffs had to hold people back. I knew the best way to get him kicked out was to get enough people that WANTS him out to voice their concerns so I started telling every Taiwanese fans that was around me what was going on and what he is saying. Eventually there was a consensus from the fans that clearly wanted the organizers to just kick him out and have him queue from the back of the line. Eventually he was kicked out and the organizers came by to apologize which we made it clear it was the action of one stupid guy, has nothing to do with the organizers. Later I realized something, what are the chances that half of the people that was right in front of the stage were all Japanese fans? What seems even more suspicious was that they were all friends. At the time I didn’t think too much and I had small chit chats with the girls. I’ve seen them plenty of times at events and they told me they have seen me plenty too. The only difference is that they thought I was a Miru oshi >_> . (They’re all Sayaka Oshis). Later that day from the other Sayaka fangirls I got tickets for, I’ve learned that these yakkais are pretty well known in the Japanese community for their bad reputations. Hey, and apparently besides the guy who came in first all his friends (yes, the girls too) cheated their way in.


The Actual Show-



It was amazing. Everything besides the MC were basically the same as the Noon show but it was just..Incomparable. Man, how close you are to the stage really changes everythingggg. I saw a new side of me I didn’t know I would see at a concert. I can finally somewhat understand why yakkais do what they do. There would be times during the MC I would make small comments but forget that I was so close to the members that they could actually hear it lol. For example, there was this part of the concert where Uuka and Miorin would come teach everyone to dance Durian Shounen. Miorin was being the strict teacher constantly telling us to do better and at some point I was like “Kibishiiineeee” (So stricttt) and she heard and was like “Kibishiidayo!” loll. There was also this time when Sayaka said she might challenge herself again this time to eat Durian and everyone were cheering her on but then later she added, Durian Flavored Ice Cream. My friend and I were like, “THAT’S NOT THE SAME” and she was like “That’s not the same?? Loll”. There were so many similar times like this that you definitely need to watch out what you say or do when you’re that close to the stage lol.


if the video does not show watch the video here

if the video does not show watch the video here
Most of the Videos I took are not zoomed in, just so I can make a good clear comparison of my seating differences.


The Encore-

In Hong Kong I believe they did 3 Encores and everyone in Taiwan also knew. So when they planned to leave after just 1 or 2, the fans did not budge lol. The translator actually did an announcement that “The show is official over” many times and staffs had the doors opened and asking people to leave. Regardless the fans remained and continued yelling for encore and finally the members came out for a last farewell call.


if the video does not show watch the video here

After they went back in, the translator said “The show is really really really over this time” loll.


After the Show:

Instead like most of the fans they all waited at the venue for the members to leave on their bus, I took the NMBros and some Japanese fans to Taiwan’s Night Market since it was their last night in Taiwan. My friend and I had a hunch that MAYBE some members might leave late late that night. However I was already quite satisfied and I didn’t want to take a 40-50min car ride to the airport base on a hunch. My friend didn’t want to go alone so he kept trying to convince me to go with him so eventually we came to a deal that I would sell him my time if he pays for the taxi there and back. I thought I would also kill 2 birds with 1 stone since the Japanese with us also needed to catch their flight around midnight as well. May as well send them off. Next thing you know all of us are going since a lot of us were heading to the airport lol. Right as we arrived to the airport some members started doing Instant live broadcast from their hotel room and we were pretty bummed lol. Regardless I told my friend that I will wait till the last flight out to Japan and then we will leave, since that’s when our friends’ flight were anyway. Not long after 2 Taiwanese fans I know showed up at the airport. They told us that there’s a high chance Sayaka and Miorin would be leaving tonight. Obviously I wanted to know how they’re coming to this conclusion and it was to be honest quite a surprise to me. These 2 girls actually followed their bus after the concert and arrived where they stopped to eat. They said everyone went to eat except Sayaka and Miorin. I know celeb car following isn’t a HUGE deal in some fandoms especially K-pop but I was surprised they would go this far. Saying I was comfortable with it would be a stretch lol. I’d love information like this, but I’m just not willing to be that person who does the stalking lol. Anyway we stuck around, the Japanese fans decided to head into immigration first since they didn’t want to go through in a rush. Right as they left, as expected Sayaka, Miorin, their Chinese translator and Sayaka’s Manager showed up to check in. There were only 7 of us there including me. We gave them a formal Otsukare bow, Sayaka looked tired as hell so I didn’t want to bother her. That was fine though, I was honestly satisfied already. I was able to see her arrive at the airport, see her up close at the concert and see her off, anymore I feel like I would just give a negative impression of me. What other fans do I don’t really care to be honest, but at the end of the day that is how your idol will view you and I just did not want to be viewed that way. Was going to Taiwan worth it? Hell yeah! Every yen.

 

That airport thing is all kinds of messed up lol I would have died if any member recognized me.

 

10/15 2017 AKB48 49th Single #Sukinanda Individual HS @ Makuhari Messe

Ota Yuuri

Spoiler

Yamamoto Sayaka

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Shiroma Miru

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Yagura Fuuko

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Nagichan looked so tired, and it was only the first slot lol.

 

They just finished the Asia Tour and was in rehearsals for the 7th Anniv so I guess that would be why they looked tired. (some of them, at least)

 

10/22 , 2017 NMB48 3rd Album Namba Ai Individual Handshake @ ATC Hall

Yamamoto Sayaka

Spoiler

Shiroma Miru

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