Your AKB48 Experiences

I and mihipyon went to the same shows as m3l. we didn't go to the cafe event though..

I timed my flight to singapore so my plane would arrive just a little bit ahead of the incoming akb48 members so I would *coincidentally* meet them at arrival gate. Unfortunately, my flight got delayed almost an hour and the girls' flight arrived half an hour earlier than schedule, so I ended up arriving an hour later than the girls and just missed them when I finally passed through the immigration check. oh well...

I couldn't recollect the details of the show, unfortunately, because most of the time I was watching harugon only, instead of the actual songs.

Here's my recollection as far as I can recollect...


firstly, I'm very enthusiastic to know so many dancer type girls coming to the show... ume, natsumi, sayaka, tanamin, mariya, I thought it would be a balanced high powered dance performance show. But I was wrong, it is filled by high power dance performance... but it's far from balanced, in term of dancing performance, Ume creamed everybody else on stage.. she's by far the best dancer on stage. I have watched ume danced live several times before, and I already know that she's a very good dancer, but still she manages to awe me everytime.

The openning songs are Iiwake Maybe, Aitakatta, and several others (sorry, like I said I paid more atention to harugon than to the songs themselves [blush] )

I'll try to skip my harugon biased recollection as much as possible lest I bore you guys to death

Intro MC, many of the girls tried to talk some english, some of them was actually good at it. Haachan goofed up by asking "How old are you?" to the audience when she was actually trying to ask "How are you?" The girls and the audiences burst into laughter. Nakayan said "Wow, haachan tried so hard to speak in english.. nakayan no" *gives large X hand sign* and the audience laughed, rabutan said "Since I'm japanese, I will speak in japanese" LOL worthy , Nana the kenkyuusei got unexpectedly high response from the audience, but she's worthy of it. Her dance is actually good (not ume/natsumi good, but well above the par of many akb48 girls), and she was bashful and friendly, if I didn't have an oshi yet, she might very possibly be my oshi.

The first unit song was end roll, ume, natsumi, reinyan, and mariya. I know mariya is a very good dancer, but apparently she still way below ume's dancing prowess. Umechan's dance was so good, it felt like the song was actually made to match her dance beat instead of the other way around. Natsumi was somewhat distance second in term of dance. Don't get me wrong, Natsumi is good, very good, VERY good! but somehow it felt like she was actually tryng to hide her dance skill by holding off her energy when dancing for this song.

The second was haagavi, followed by kataomoi taikakusen. Haachan in kataomoi Taikakusen was like.. OMG!!! I have seen the original performance 3 times on theater, but I don't recall there's a move as hot as haachan's move in the original formation (oh where's the noosebleed emoticon when you need one), I mean HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT!!! mihipyon stood petrified beside me at the sight of haachan's hip movement

after that, it was Tonari no banana... one of my favorit song.. rabutan was an obvious girl for the song, but I was wondering who would be her partner. As the girls dropped their newspaper, it was harugon!!! OMG!! OMFG!!!! my mind went blank for a moment, or two, or maybe more. it was... it was... oh forget it, my brain is not powerful enough to compose words to describe my feelings on that moment. the performance of the song alone was worth every penny I spent for the trip to, including the flight ticket, the hotel,the meals, the show ticket and alll the gifts I bought for harugon.

and then himawari with nakayan, shichan, sayaka, and nana...

and then single songs again... river, beginner, hikoukigumo, and some other song... ume's dance owns the stage,but my eyes were busy following harugon.

and then encore.. and then more single songs:
flying get, kazefui, and.... HEAVY ROTATION!!!!

after that handshake events. I managed to say my appreciation to natsumi,umechan, and sayaka... and the I gave harugon the flower I prepared for her, and really I should appologize to tanamin. Tanamin was right after harugon, and I almost went pass her without shaking hands with her because my mind went blank after meeting harugon at the first show's handshake, when I arrived to sayaka, she said "Ha! You are from Indonesia?" I was surprised, I didn't know how she found out, and I said "Yes, I am. It's nice to meet you again" (in english as she also talked in english)

The second round, I left a letter for harugon, with a present too, not much I remembered other than I almost forgot to shake tanamin's hand again

Umechan was so awesome. She really is a dancing queen.

Nana the kenkyuusei is really worthy of being a 48 family member.

Harugon was so...ASDFWEFCDSxZVCfsdiofhI I went to see the shows because I missed her, but I ended up missing her even more

Reinyan threw a lot of smile, waves, even a blown kiss.

Sayaka was so pretty. More girly than the last time I saw her in K4 show.

 

Do you really make a handshake with the girls on this "handshaking" events? No hugging?
I noticed that nobody in the audience takes pictures during the show... even with their smartphones...is that forbidden?

 

Yes. I'm glad they don't. Hugging would be a bit much, don't you think?
Ohori Megumi did that one time though 'cause her solo single wouldn't sell.

It's forbidden at the theater. Chances are you'll get banned if you take pictures. There's coin lockers outside the theater where you put your bag and other stuff.

 

Do you want them to also give you a cup of coffee ?

It is strictly forbidden yes,

Edit : F***, I was too slow. xD

 

If Mayuyu gives me a cup of tea, life would have no meaning after that

Better luck next time...

BTW guys are are fast in responding [whew]

 

First time to share my AKB48 experience in this thread

I attended the handshake event in Hong Kong yesterday!
The members who came were Ami, Renacchi and Annin.

The handshake event should start at 6pm, but it was delayed for about 30min.
So when I arrived after work, the girls just came out to the stage.

As the handshake event was held in a shopping centre, people needed to queue outside.
I joined the queue for Renacchi and Annin, and I got the 780th ticket.
As this handshake event was free to join, it attracted many people.
My feeling was that, for girls, most of them were fans already. For boys, especially in a big group, usually not everyone of them knew AKB48 much.


The queue moved quite quickly and I waited for only about 30 minutes or so.

As I don't know Japanese, I asked people for help in translating some of the words that I wanted to say to the girls.
And thanks to stage48, thanks to HoneyRoastedPeanuts, I have prepared 2-3 sentences each in Japanese for the girls.

However, the queue moved very quickly in a sudden when it was about my turn.
When I walked from the staircase to the stage, it was not yet prepared for the handshaking.
I felt very nervous when I saw Annin and Renacchi !!!
And the people before me shook hand so quickly and they probably didn't say anything except Kawaii or so.
So I did even wonder whether I was allowed to stay long and talked with them.

At that time, I forgot the words I wanted to say to Annin, so I quickly checked my notes in the pocket.
But then when I shook hands with Annin, I was nervous again!!
I forgot to greet her (I have heard some people around saying that she was particularly when someone could say her nickname)
and I forgot the easiest sentence I had prepared!! (The one saying that I like Team 4 most チーム４が一番好き。)
Luckily, I was managed to say the second one, ちょっと遅れたけど、お誕生日おめでとう！ (not exactly, because I replaced the later part by Happy Birthday in English )
Anyway, she looked rather shocked but happy when she heard that!!
I am very sure that she understood what I said!
Actually she was a bit surprised already when I talked because many people before me didn't say anything more than a word.

Then I was still too nervous and forgot my next sentence (which is about Haruu's birthday).
So I moved on to shake hands with Renacchi! And again, I forgot to say goodbye to Annin!

Anyway .... so I started to tell her, 研究生の中、れなっちが ....
then I paused. I didn't do it intentionally!! I just forgot the words after as my brain went blank again!!!
Renacchi looked at me and laid forward a bit to listen to me!
Then I continued to say 押しメンです.
She looked so happy and thanked me!
She is so cute!!!!
I heard a fan girl said that Renacchi followed her to wave side by side when they shook hands.

So that's about my first handshake experience!
Full of nervousness, but very happy!
I like these 2 girls, but I love them much more now!!! Especially Renacchi!!

From my observation, there were more existing fans for Ami.
Most of the cheers I heard were for Ami.
For newer fans or people who are not fans, they are more attracted by Annin and Renacchi! [rock]


Then at about 8pm, the Talent Show Final started.
I stayed in a place where I can see the judges more clearly than the stage.

But I didn't bring my camera ..... so I couldn't take any photos.
(For photos, please check the AKB48 Hong Kong Shop Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 511&type=1)

I saw Annin kept moving her hands and followed the dance
Ami also followed sometimes, and sometimes she would look at the fans around.
Renacchi was more focused on watching the dance.

I think they were rather surprised by the good performance of the teams!
(Somehow this is the final, so the overall quality is much better )

So that's my report of the event. Hopefully I can have a chance to report again soon!!!


EDIT:
Read the blogs of two other fans who also attend a handshake event for the first time and don't know Japanese too
It seems like the nervous feeling is rather normal

At least it was a good chance for me to practice
And allow me to better prepare if members like Miichan and Haruu come

 

^Thanks Sikanwan

I enjoyed reading your report. Funny that you noticed most girls were already fans. The boys were probably just interested in seeing cute girls. I can relate to that

Very cool you got to say most of what you wanted to both girls. It's great that both were so appreciative of your words especially Renacchi. Talking about Rena, now that they're sending her overseas to represent AKB48 in Hong Kong I'm sure they will have to promote her soon.

 

I'm glad for you, that was an amazing experience. It's great how you managed to say some sentences, and I'm sure next time you will be a bit less nervous (well, unless it's Miichan who comes...in that case...they'd better have a doctor near...)

 

^
^
^ Awesome experience man.
Well done [clap]
Thanks for feeding the dream!
Renacchi is my KKS oshi too...

Ohhh man. You are soooo in.

 

^ She was once my top KKS oshi. Now I can considering to put her back to top again!!

Apart from doctors, we need some police as well
There are quite a lot of Miichan fans in Hong Kong.

But Miichan came once already last year ....
(when I was not in Hong Kong ... anyway .... I was not a Miichan fan at the time too ...)
Not sure whether she will come again ...

Some girls are really big fans.
I saw one wearing a T-shirt for supporting Annin and brought a lovely-made message board!

 

SKE48 OkiDoki handshake 18.12.11

Reached the event location around 10am. 
One OkiDoki blue handshake ticket was exchanged for the mini live ticket which is also the handshake ticket for the first session. I had block B which was the handshake queue entry order for later on. We were too late for that female special seat for the mini live.The enclosed area in front of the stage was already filled up. So we stood really far behind. Adding the fact that there were many tall people around, I was watching more of a sea of heads. 

Before the mini live started, I went to this group of male fans who had their photo album out with the event photos. Approached them and tried asking if I can see their album. Didn't know how to ask in Japanese so I did hand gestures instead. Pointed to my eyes and then the album ending with an ok sign. They got what I meant and said "いいよいいよ".

----Mini Live----
M01 Bazooka Ho Hashaa
M02 Hohoemi no Positive Thinking
M03 OkiDoki

Followed by announcements of next single senbatsu members. Ono Haruka out, Manatsu and Airin and MatsuRina in,not sure if I miss out any members. Then followed by the senbatsu girls watching together with us [Kataomoi Finally] PV. After which they performed the new song. The costume looked like Ue Kara Mariko UG costume. 

New PV is so damn dangerous. Filled with Yuri scenes. Yukko and Yuria kissing on the lips. Jurina brushing her hand past Rena's smooth thigh. I don't know man. Just kill me on the spot, yuri-dar was reacting so wildly.

After that the girls left and a few OJS48 members came up on stage. What they were doing I had no idea. But later the SKE girls appeared again and they along with dear ojisan took picture with us....of course I was blocked by tall people around, didn't bother posing （＾Ｏ＾）

Another thing, Rena's voice is so sharp my ears were like being pierced. How I wish I can hear her Gekikara laughter live.

---Preparing for handshake---
People within that enclosed area with mini live ticket of block A was asked to leave the area first (not the event area). Followed by female fans and block B and last C. Finally it was our turn, those who can't squeeze into that performance area. 

The staffs started to arrange the barriers and it goes without saying the rightmost line had an extremely BIG space to herself. Our dear  Gekikara Rena. Followed by Matsui Jurina, Churi, Masanya+MatsuRina and so on I couldn't remember the order.

Kanon,Airin - Shawako,Shiitan - Anna,Mikitty - Masanya,MatsuRina - Churi - Juju - Rena

Once the barriers were set up, staffs raised up the board which was printed with the members name for respective lines. And I am Shawako Kami oshi indeed. I was standing in front of her line entrance, how accurate, god for real. 

They let those who are physically inconvenient, family with kids and elderly proceed first. An amazing sight actually, to see parents bringing their kids to chase idols. Whether the parents or the kids are the fans I don't know. Most of the families were running to the members line, really cute to witness. Goes without saying that they were smiling happily.
 
------

The girls are all standing inside this little telephone booth alike. So it was difficult to peek at other members around the vision,unlike other handshake event where you can have a better view of the members at other lines than the one you're queuing for.

Shawako was paired with Shitan. Went to their line first. I was wearing KII SG stage shirt. Took of my jacket so that the shirt won't be blocked,really cold day around 9C I suppose but for my SKE girls,it was all worth it.


-----1st Handshake----

First thing I did was to ask Shawako
"KIIシャツ覚えていますか？"
"シンガポール!" was exclaimed nearly immediately. Then without me saying anything, she noticed that legendary keychain we mutually have.
"これ覚えています" She pointed to the keychain and gave me such a bright smile. I wore it as my necklace.

Seemed like she was observing me （＾Ｏ＾☆♪ of course as usual of my precious girl,she thanked everyone who came to handshake with her by bowing vigorously,yes no kidding. I lost count of how many times she bowed during my handshake with her. She make me feel so proud of her. She also did her derping action which I found in that Kami 8 magazine. So adorbs I wanna bring her home.


Shi-tan

I didn't know much about her so when they announced Shawa was paired with her I quickly cleared my SKE videos backlog, mainly Sekai Seifuku Joshi. Luckily she had screen time there. But for beginning, I just told her
"シンガポールから来ました"
"ええ！本当ですか？"
She was more excited than me （＾∇＾）Then she pointed to my KII shirt. I was at a loss of what to say to her. Shi-tan was still holding on to my hand when I wanted to leave since the staff doing the 3sec countdown was going to signal me. But she held on and managed to say that she would like to go Singapore to perform again.


-----Goods Queue-----

With that I ended the first session handshake. Seemed like everone only had one chance for first session. I tried to enter again but people in front of me was being rejected when they flash out their remaining blue colour  cd handshake ticket. So then I headed over to the goods queue. LONG but when we move, it was by quite a big distance. Overall the moving speed is acceptable. Took around 1.5h before it was my turn.

*Turned out that ticket exchange was at the exit of the hall. They announced it when I went out to queue for goods. So that leaves me with 9 handshake tickets for remaining 3.5h.

As for the first 5 photo packs, I didn't have much luck. No Shawako at all. Completed Ninishi set. Not many senbatsu girls too. 


-----2nd Handshake-----

Shawako 2nd
"アニメ選抜おめでとう！"
"あ！ありがとうございました！" trademark bow bow bow （＾∇＾）
I got a mental block suddenly and staff was pushing me away but Shawa was still holding my hands then I remembered my words
"てれびアニメお楽しみに！"

Shi-tan 
"シンガポール！"
"ええ！覚えていますか？"
"はい！"
"すごい!ありがとうございました！じゃまたね！"
And we waved each other good bye for the moment


-----3rd Handshake-----

Airin
"シンガポールから。。。" 
"あ！来た！"
"来ました"
Airin interrupted me by exclaiming and pointing to my KII shirt. Describing her eyes as bright is an understatement, it looked more like her eyes were glowing like 2 spotlights （＾◇＾）
Next I told her 
"次のシングル選抜おめでとう！"
"ありがとうございます~"
She was so genki! (^_−)−☆ 

Kanon
"シンガポールから来ました"
"あ！そうでそよ"
"かのんは世界一番のADです!頑張るのん！"
Non is so damn petit,goodness,at my height of 158cm, I never looked larger than a giant before. Non's handshake surprised me actually. I thought being 14 years old, she may not be that great at interacting with fans. But when I observed her while queuing at another line, Non was great with her handshake with fans. I don't exactly know how to describe this...go for an SKE handshake if you want to know what I meant. Don't underestimate this 14 years old girl.


-----4th Handshake-----

Mieko
"姉さん！！シンガポールから来ました!!!" as usual I showed off the KII shirt again
"ああああああ！！憶えて！" 
Our dear SKE mama was SO happy,SO excited just like how her catchphrase is （＾Ｏ＾）
"世界制服女子。。。姉さんのメモリすごいですね！"
"ありがとうございました！"
"じゃ姉さん、またね"
I forgot that I actually wanted to call her oka-san at the end 
。・°°・(＞_＜)・°°・。I need to go for a next handshake with Neesan


----5th Handshake----

3rd shawako
"AKB 紅白行きますか？" 
"ええ。。。" staff pulling me away,then she asked
"あなたも行きますか？"
"はい！行きます！じゃ白組応援しています！"
Woops seemed like I just dug out early info there （＾Ｏ＾） 
When I heard the "も" which means (going) too, I was really excited.
Anyway there's no way they are gonna forbid my creepy girl from going right? 

Shi-tan
"世界制服女子見ました！ ローシャのなまえ難しいなー"
"はい~難しいです" frown and pout ☆*:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:*☆ She looked so cute when she did that expression!
Staff was pushing me away so I quickly said
"頑張ってね" 


-----6th Handshake-----

Churi
"ちゅり、KIIのシャツです" she can't seem to remember it. But I can't bear to blame her. Beloved KII birdie looked REALLY tired. Poor girl she had around 25mins of break when I queued at her line. Not sure if that was her first or second or next number of breaks.
"懐かしいのシンガポール公演ですねー"
"あ、憶えています" the first "AH!" reaction of the day that wasn't an exclamation. 
When I was about to leave since she looked so tired,Churi pointed to my Shawako board keychain necklace and said
"それも憶えています"
WOW I was extremely happy when she made the effort to notice that. Even though it wasn't dedicated to her. All I could do was to thank her for noticing it and leave like a happy KII oshi （＾Ｏ＾☆♪
The staff was so nice to me apparently. He wasn't pushing me and I think I had an extra 1sec with Churi.


-----7th Handshake-----

Kinchan 

SHE IS SO DAMN BEAUTIFUL IN PERSON! No air of ten-nen. This girl looked so alert unlike on camera, who seems so my pace type.
"シンガポールから来ました！"
"そうか？"
And the staff was pushing me already. Damn, that was barely 2secs. The pushing messed up my mind and my words got jumbled up.
"ブログを見ました！ゆりあとのデート。。。。"
"楽しみたいなー"
"うん"
My last phrase was said when I was already standing in front of Manatsu Σ（・□・；）


Manatsu

She kept glancing at me when I was waiting at the front of the queue. It was kinda scary somehow. Like she was pissed off with me.
"このシャツ憶えていますか?" 
I don't think she does...she didn't answer me. So I continued 
"懐かしいのシンガポール公演ですね"
Manatsu trademark acknowledgement in silence by nodding her head slightly.
"次のシングル選抜おめでとう！"
Her face brightened up immediately and smiled widely
"ありがとう！"
Nice ending with her,alright then ♪(´ε｀ )


-----8th Handshake-----

Mikitty

"シンガポールから来ました！ *points to KII shirt* 憶えていますか？"
"あ！はい！覚えています！" Mikitty was so excited!!!
Then she pointed to my Shawako keychain necklace.
"これも覚えています、しゃわこ"
"本当ですか？ありがとう！"
I was too happy to say more things to her,thank you Mikitty! for remembering either me or my Shawako board!


KanaKana!!!!

Holy! This girl is a must go if you want a fun handshake.
So I went to her and forget to say that boring phrase, I came from Singapore. 
"かなかな一緒にモキュモキュやってみましょう"
Then this girl countdown herself, seemed like my Japanese is understandable
"せ、の!"
"モキュモキュ!"
Oh dear lord,if that wasn't amazing enough,she asked me
"どこから来ましたか？?"
"シンガポールです！"
"あ！すごい！"
"じゃまたね"
The whole handshake with KanaKana was filled with excitement and smiles. I left her handshake line smiling like an idiot and everyone who was queuing elsewhere was looking at my silly face. KanaKana being so responsive is darn amazing! 
YOU MUST GO TO HER LINE IF YOU EVER GO FOR SKE HANDSHAKE!!!!TRUST ME!


------9th Handshake-----

Shiorin
"シンガポールからね" displayed my shirt to her and her reaction was to give that （；゜０゜） face. Cute max!
Then she went on saying a sentence which I can't really catch but something about "イベント？"
I guess she's asking if I am coming Japan just for the handshake event. I didn't understand so safest was to say "hai! " and staff was pushing me so  I abruptly ended with a "じゃ頑張ってね"
A little disappointed that I didn't get to say much to Shiorin,wanted to tell her I love GomaYukko pairing （；＿；）


Anna!!!!!!!!
"シンガポールから来ました！" divert attention to KII shirt. 
"あ！！"
"そろそろシンガポールに行きます！いいですか？"
She understood my aim for saying that and quickly did her catchphrase for me
"いいですいいですいいですよ！" complete with hand movements. 
THANK YOU ANNA! 
Luckily I planned what to say to her and made use of her catchphrase. Try this too if you have the chance （＾Ｏ＾☆♪
Then later I realized I used the wrong word, should be "ときどき" meaning "sometime" Instead of "そろそろ" meaning "soon". As long as Anna got what I was trying to do, everything is fine.


-----10th Handshake-----

Last handshake : back to Double S line,Shawako and Shitan

Shawako

She always gives me this anticipating look whenever I approached her. It's like her telling me with her expression "I had been waiting for you" why you so sweet my dear girl ♪( ´▽｀)
"孤独なバッレリナいい曲ね"
"これは最後の握手です。また会う日まで"
Before letting go, I heard Shawako said very clearly
"AKB 紅白またね！"
I swear I could die. Yes that was my 4th handshake with her, the only one with KII shirt around. Declared to her that I am Shawako Oshi in Singapore. Came all the way to Japan to meet her.
But the fact that she told me that means that she was really listening to my words despite having a 5.5h of handshake event. I really appreciate her effort, my precious kami oshi indeed. 


Shi-tan

That unexpected last sentence from Shawako made my mind all flustered. Went to my very last handshake with Shitan with jumbled mind. I stuttered so much and my words got all messed up.
"き。き。き。今日の握手会。。。。。。。"
I stopped there and looked into Shiitan's eyes helplessly...she looked at me with eyes full of hopes,waiting patiently for me to figure out my words. And finally I remembered
"お疲れ様でした" 
"はい！ありがとう！"
With that I ended my SKE OkiDoki handshake. Thank you so much Shiitan. You know that I went to that line for Shawako but you still give me really nice handshake. 


----- Popularity check------

Queue length based on my observation
Rena
Jurina
Churi
Akarin and a member who I don't know of
Masanya and MatsuRina
Shawako and Shi-tan
Airin and Kanon
Anna Shiorin
Manatsu and Kinchan
Mikitty and KanaKana

The shortest queue line was NishiNishi,Mieko,Aya lines. I felt so bad for not going to meet my dear Team E girl Aya....but KII girls are my priority. Next time Aya if I have the chance,sorry Aya.

I was actually really surprised that Shawako line was among the longest line even when she was paired with a less popular member. I mean if you compare a line that has 2 senbatsu members with another that has 1 senbatsu member, you naturally assume the one with 2 senbatsu members will have more people going for. Of course I am happy that more people are supporting her. I can still see how she lacks confidence on camera. It's ok she will build up her confidence with so many people supporting her.

----- After event-----

Too much feelings at that moment when my 10th handshake was over. How I wished that I had more tickets and the handshake event was longer, provided that the girls' health aren't at risk. 

With some time left before the clock strikes 7pm, I went around asking staff in my broken Japanese who should I pass the members' present to. 
It was a hellish experience. My first overseas trip in a country with foreign language and my first handshake event. No idea how things are supposed to work but somehow everything got figured out after much perseverance. 

A staff directed me to the information counter inside the Port Messe Hall. There, the staff gave me 2 pieces of note to write my contact information on. Name,country,phone number,which member is present for. And hence, my 2 Christmas presents for Shawako and Akarin were submitted to the staff. I doubt it will take 3 months to reach my 2 beloved girls right? 

One small regret was that, I didn't tell Shawako that I had present for her because I wasn't sure if I would be able to submit the present. Didn't want to troll her ♪(´ε｀ ) 
And of course, it's a regret that I didn't manage to go for Akarin line. The line was too long for me to wait. I was left with like 7 tickets and Shawako line was taking alot of waiting time too. Should I be happy or frustrated? （；゜０゜）

Well anyway, it's good that I see many people loving Shawako. Saw 2 guys who were carrying that famous Panda bag that she carried during Shukan SP Ep. Saw 2 Rena oshi who was wearing that yankee style coat printed and sewed patches of Rena's name at Shawako line. There many ikemen Rena oshi that I saw or that was just my stereotype.


-----Cross-cultural trade-----

After handing the presents, I walked around the hall and browsed others' photos being displayed. Then I spotted Shawako complete sets. I bought 7 packs and there was NOT A SINGLE SHAWA SHAWA,what kind of Oshi luck is this. 

Anyway, with my broken Japanese, the trade was completed. The guy took my 3 Masanya Theater ver HebiRote,Beginner,Furage. Then they felt bad for that 1-for-1 trade and they offered me another Shawako Zepp Tour Concert Live photo. Of course I accepted the trade willingly. Give me Shawako and everything can be discussed amicably. 


-----Reflection-----

Seems like if you tell the girls you are from overseas, they won't speak too much. Instead they will be listening to your words. Guess they knew that I can't understand much Japanese. When it's local fans, the girls actually strikes a conversation with them. Very different when I am having my handshake with the members. But it's a good thing in my opinion. You won't have to figure out with all your might what did they told you. Even if the members said just the usual "はい！" and "ありがとう！" with excited expression, it's enough really. Furthermore, for today's handshake, I didn't see any gaijin around at all. So if my friend and I are the only foreign fans around that would be amazing really.

With that, my first overseas SKE handshake ended. To sum everything up, I LOVE SKE especially Team KII,sasuga my oshi team. Thank you for remembering me the Singapore Shawako oshi with that big ass PSP board. Thank you for noticing the necklace. Thank you for the great handshake even when you were all tired. Thank you for being in SKE. 
Last but not least, thank you for making me happy. 

I LOVE SKE,
48Tapegirl

 

So, first thing you gotta know is that I don't talk about AKB all that much with people unless I know they're fans, have their oshis and the like. I don't try to convert anyone, because well... they're not gonna need my converting if they're not fans at this point.

I generally like talking to people and I go out quite a lot - not necessarily the kind of traits people associate with "wotas". In normal settings I pretend to know just as much about AKB like everyone over here. Not like I'd deny my fandom; I wouldn't lie about liking AKB or having been at the theater if asked what I'd done the day.

Anyways... I was out with this girl today. We're at this bar and the owner has quite a few things lined up on his counter. One of it is some SKE48 cookies with a picture of the girls on the package, of course prominently featuring Jurina and Rena.

So I go "Oh, what's this?  An AKB present. Who'd you get that from?"
Bartender: "Nah, that's SKE. Some costumer gave it to me after he went to one of their concerts."
Me: "What does SKE stand for?"
Bartender: "Sakae. They perform in Nagoya"
Me: "Really. That's pretty close."

Here the girl comes in.

Girl (points at the package): "I know this one."

She's pointing at Jurina.

Me: "Why?"
Girl: "Isn't she in AKB?"
Me: "Hmm..." (at this point I'm like "You got it all right. DAMN, I could lecture you for hours about this")

Another customer: "Yeah, she's in AKB too."
Girl: "Ahhh"
Me: "Hee～"

 

Me: "HELL NO! SHE'S NO AKB! SHE'S SKE!"
and I would have left after that, still mad...

 

Oh, you should have asked him about the other members, just to finish it off...
You: "Interesting...you wouldn't happen to know more members, do you?～"
Another customer: "Yeah, Rena, a girl called NMB, this guy...Aki-P! and Minami Takahashi, former leader of morning musume...oh, and they have a mascot called Don Quixote, too..." (I hope I'm exaggerating...)

 

Y'allz hardcore! She appears in enough AKB promotion that we can consider her an honorary member

 

Oh, that guy knew enough about AKB. I know him from before. It's not like his statement of Jurina being part of AKB too is wrong per se. At least when explaining it to someone who doesn't know much about the girls that would probably be the safest way to put it.

 

Glad to know that my fears were unfounded...yes, you're right, that's the safest way, when I'm explaining what AKB48 is I often say they are 48 (and sometimes that they are more than 100) to 'make it easier' for the other person...

 

I started to like them only last year when I first went Japan and at everywhere was AKB at Akiba and Shibuya when I went and I started to take notice when their videos were being played on big screens. Eventually I start to watch their shows and stuffs on net. And so Sayaka became my oshi.

Went to the 1st cafe event and 2nd theatre show for AKB 5th stage in Singapore.
During the Q&A session, can't remember who was answering question, but I used my Ipad to write 'Sayaka, I will be going to work later so am not attending the 2nd session' and Sayaka saw and smiled and I was like 'me, me, me!' because my ipad wasn't beside me, it was placed nearer to Sayaka and she looked at me and acknowledged.
while I was chatting with my friend, the mc called out my name and I got a shocked. and so my question was picked, I stood up being damn embarrassed because of my question. T_T
I heard from my friend that Sayaka said out my name after the mc called me. (XDDDD omg~ i died when she told me..)

My question was about the twin tower pair, asking when will Sayaka brings Sae along to Singapore~
When she was answering, I saw Umecchan and Reinyan's responses, they were nodding away. I felt guilty for making them bored. T^T gomen~~ I didn't expected my question will be picked. :/

Later on, we had the usual janken battle to win the autographed cd, magically, I WON IT! ^_^
and so again, my name was asked and Sayaka wrote my name on it! T_T (Type A and Sayaka signed on Acchan's body. lols) No one told me what to do, so I initiated handshake with the 3 girls.

During handshake, Reinyan was like 'Jxxxxxx!(my name)' then I told her in Japanese that I will not be attending the 2nd session due to work, she replied in english 'tomorrow?? tomorrow??' and I said yes so she said,'okok! see you!' (I swear she is damn cute!! T^T)
Umecchan looks cute and pretty irl but we were pretty calm with each other.
When shaking hands with Sayaka, I told her again that I will not be attending later so I said 'mata ashita' she replied the same thing too~ ^_^

2nd theatre ending when girls thank everyone, I was holding on to my diy led board for Sayaka, during the show, she was mostly on the right when I'm on the left so I really thought that she did not saw it, but I was wrong, she came to the left and lip-talk? to me 'Thank you'. yea. I died again.
During handshake, I asked if Reinyan remembers me, she remembered me and called out my name again~ and said I'm the one who won the cd, and ask me to listen to it. (I wanted to say it's in my ipad on repeat mode but I didn't.)
Due to the big difference of before and after makeup, Umecchan did not recognise me even after I said my name. LOLS
Sayaka greeted me immediately and I was so happy that she remembered me and then when I didn't know what to say to her, that girl said 'oh~ I read your tweets to me!' and I was like 'oh..you read it' and when I was about to leave, I was like 'O_O! EH?! You saw my tweets?!' and she said yea~!

I can't remembered what happened after that, I just know that I was overwhelmed and running around telling everyone I know what she said. LOLS
Next day when they left from the airport, I went to send them and passed Sayaka my gift and letter, she remembered me and my friend too. :3 I also went to Japan last month to attend theatre but I didn't got any tickets so I ended up buying lotsa stuffs back and celebrated my christmas there.

 

Wow that was sweet. Lovely experience.

And here is me. A group of AKB wandering around Darwin for a few days a few years ago, Sayaka, Akicha, Sashi etc....and I didn't even know. Actually I only just heard of them at that time, but I don't recall their presence being mentioned in the local paper. It is only a small city of about 70k. Its probably likely we crossed paths since the video shown is pretty much where I often walk around. And I remember and small Asian group filming on the footpath across from where I worked a few years ago. And they guy when he was talking on Youtube video clip on the street was only about 100 meters up from where I work.

I would have been the only person in the place who would have known them so I wouldn't have had much competition. lol drat, knew to little too soon.