Your AKB48 Experiences

SDN48 - 12/24/2011 (Christmas Eve)

My one theater win this trip was for SDN48 - normal Enpou seat. I am seriously regretting not seeing them sooner, especially since it was so unique for things that happened during the course of the show.

Got there a bit early to make sure I checked in on time. One thing I noticed is that the SDN48 crowd seems to be much more tight-knit and definitely more women than I've seen at AKB48 shows. I would say the male/female mix was probably close to 4:1 or 5:1. Togasaki was there that night - he was running around quite a bit (I would find out why later). Saru Obasan was busy as usual - but wearing a santa hat

The show itself was nearly all first generation - with the exception of Nonti. Thanks to Minogashita - I didn't feel as much of a 'fish out of the water' as I did for my first AKB48 show (when I had no concept of what a stage even was). At least I knew all the songs this time

Two moments that really stood out for me in the regular stage performances:

- During 'Aisareru tame ni' - instead of using green lightsticks the girls all had red ones. Which meant that when the audience broke out their green lightsticks, it was a green and red mix for Christmas.

- 'Kodoku na Runner' is absolutely incredible live. In fact, I think SDN48 probably has one of the best encore sets of the current stages. I really hope the fan efforts to vote that song up for Request Hour 2012 is successful.

The MC's were enjoyable: Christmas wishes was the first topic - and then Nachu x Meetan did the second on. There was a great moment when they were checking out and teasing the couples - I think one of the comments from Meetan was along the lines of "What are you doing bringing her here tonight!". Haru-chan did the VTR segment (OMG her voice is so high) and then did a duo-MC with Yukarin.

Then it was time for the final bow when suddenly there was a "Chotto Matte!" and Nachu ran out on stage dressed in a reindeer costume. It was Christmas Eve and they had to do something special for the fans. While the rest of the group ran off-stage, Nachu proceeded to quiz the audience on Christmas topics (including where Santa Claus was originally from).

Then the most amazing thing I've personally seen at any AKB48 event happened.

Rachel came out in an evening gown and performed a solo version of 'Anata to Christmas Eve'. Absolutely amazing, jaw-dropping, she completely owned that stage.

Then the entire group came out dressed in Santa outfits and sang "Awatenbou no Santa Claus" - too cute.

But the night was not over yet. They announced that as a special Christmas present the high-touch was going to be a bit different. It was going to be a handshake event with 1 member of your choosing, and you would receive a handwritten Christmas card from a random member. While we waited for them to prep they ran the video of the new single - very cool. Then it was time to go out for the handshake event.

They split the team into two groups - I didn't know who to choose at first but decided it had to be Meetan. She was too adorable during the entire show, I know her pretty well from the AKB days, and loved whenever she was on x59fun/AKBingo!

They were letting us out a few people at a time - so I was thinking about what to say. Then the moment came and I greeted her - took her hand - and immediately forgot every bit of Japanese I thought I knew. You would think after meeting Ayu in person, I would not have a hard time saying a few words to Meetan. I literally got "you" and "I" confused.

I believe I managed to get across that I was a big fan, wished her a Merry Christmas, and that I knew she had another really big fan from San Francisco (Cristafari). She thanked me and handed me a card. Then, nearly a year to the day of my first theater show, I ended up on the streets of Akihabara not really comprehending what just happened.

The card I received was from Mana Ito (Manana) and is really nice!



Now I only hope that I can get back to Japan before the final SDN48 show - I need to see them a few more times!

 

Oh, snap! You're Manana's daisuki na hito, yo! That's pretty cool that they spice up the after-show events like that.

One day I'll go to the theatre. I always kidded about going throughout 2007... should've done it.

 

you have no idea how much i would have paid to see that.

oh

my

god


reading that made me smile too much. i hope they include that in the dvd or something

thank you so so so so so much for sharing the experience.

 

Wasamin Mini-Live and Handshake Event
February 12, 2010 14:00
Aeon Mall Dainichi Osaka

let's see if i can still do this...



locating the mall and buying tickets

getting to the right train station was easy, as i only needed to ride one train, but i somehow knew that locating the area where the event will be held and where to buy the cds was going to be a bit of a challenge.

arrived at the place at 12:45pm. i was talking with one of the akb fans here in osaka thru pigg the night before, and i asked him for advice on how early i should get there. he told me that since it was a solo event, i shouldn't really treat it as though it was an akb event, and that getting there 2 hours before the event time should still give me plenty of time and a good view.

i got lost in the mall for about 15 minutes as i desperately tried to find a map, and when i did find one it took me longer than i expected to locate the music store. i was kind of nervous that when i finally arrive at the music store to buy my cds, that they would tell me that all handshake event tickets are sold-out. once i got to the store, i ignored the displays and went straight to the staff member at the counter to ask if there are still tickets left. she told me how many i wanted to buy, to which i was soooo tempted to answer something like "ten please" XD. instead i just settled for 2 cds, one for each version, got my handshake event tickets, and proceeded to find the event hall (and even ended up in a parking area at one point during my search for the damn place as it wasn't marked in the floor lay-out of the building XD).


pre-event adventures



the event space was tiny. when i got there at around 1:15pm, the space in front of the mini-stage was sealed off with ropes/straws and no one was allowed to enter the event space yet. i counted around 20 people who were kind of lining-up just outside the barriers. i asked a staff member if this was the event place, and where i should line-up, and he pointed me to the group of people and told me to just wait. this was when stuff got a bit awkward. as i was peacefully waiting in a spot on the second row, another staff member decides to approach me and explain in a very LOUD voice (still don't know why he did):

(conversation was in jap)
staff: btw, you don't really need to wait
me: uhuh
staff: the event starts at 4pm, but as long as you have a handshake ticket, you can just comeback here and join the handshake event at 4pm
me: uhuh
staff: there's no need to wait at all. please feel free to go shopping since there's still a lot of time before the event.
me: okay. thanks. i'll just be waiting here.

*staff member walks away*

me: :nasty:

i mean, i came to this place with one and only one intention: to join wasamin's event. hell i care about the mall itself XD.

and since the event hall was right beside an escalator, i had the pleasure of hearing the really irritating reminder to "step within yellow lines and hold on to the railings" about a million times. reminds me of the time when shops outside donki started to open at 9am, and would play a looping anime video on the wide screen tv outside their shops, which sometimes happen to be just a few feet away. i swear i was able to memorize a lot of trailers of evangelion during those days. ugh.

at around 2pm, they decided to open the event space (finally!!). i ended up in the 3rd row from the stage, and had quite an excellent view. but as people began to sit on the floor, i really don't know what happened but somehow i was pushed to the 4th row. weird. but in exchange, my view became a lot better since i ended up at the back of a short guy who was in front of an ever shorter guy (like around less than 5ft in height). a few of us decided to just remain standing for the whole 2 hours while waiting for the live to begin.

nothing really interesting happened for the next 2 hours. i could recall seeing the first girl joining the crowd at around 2:30pm. at around 2:45, 3 more girls followed, and among those 3, one really looked like wasamin except for the long hair in twin tails and an attitude that made me guess that she was probably 10. at around 3:15, i was surprised to see an akb theater fan amongst the crowd behind me, and it was even one of those maikai pora club members (guys who took 2 shots with their oshimen after EVERY SHOW). one of the staff members kept us informed of the time by going up on stage every 30 minutes and giving out information such as this being wasamin's event, and that she is a member of akb48 and warota7, and that this is her solo enka debut, and that people can buy more cds if they want to (even encouraged people to buy 10 cds each so that they can talk to wasamin 10 times XD).

as the time for the start of the live event drew nearer, and with the infinite times that the crowd has heard mujin eki and wasamin's version of hebirote playing on stage, they finally told us that the event will start promptly at 4pm. and the fact that wasamin came from another event and still was able to make it to this one on time was just awesome. gotta hand it to jap people when it comes to sticking with the schedule.


wasamin's mini concert

and as it hit 4pm, a staff member (somehow the "boss" among the staff members i guess since he was somehow calling the shots around) went on stage and introduced wasamin. he told us to give a big round of applause and welcome to the stage no other than iwasa misaki herself.

while wasamin was going up the stage, mujin eki already started playing in the background. she wasn't wasting time at all!! and there in front of us was wasamin, wearing her light blue kimono, with her hair semi-braided and pulled-up, red belt/rope thingy, white socks, pink big-ass ribbon, and that wooden slippers of theirs. seconds later she was already singing her heart out on stage.

while singing mujin eki, she kept on waving to the audience. somehow she chose to wave first at those people on the 2nd floor of the mall (the event space could be seen by people standing on the railings all the way to the 4th floor. this was a free event after all. its only the handshake tickets that you had to pay indirectly for ). then she was stretching her arms to wave at people on the 3rd floor or so. i loooked up and saw a LOT of people waving at her during that time. then she started waving at us who were right in front of her, and since we were too close (i was at the 4th row, but it looked like i was approx 2 meters away from her) she had to wave at us with her arms pulled back.

now the first thing i noticed when she was singing was that it was definitely live. it she was faking it, then she was doing an extremely awesome job. i guess they wouldn't risk her lip synching when audience were standing really close to her, and lights were shining on her full blast. her voice was just wonderful, and was everything i had expected from wasamin, but after the first stanza she began placing her right hand on her chest while singing. at this point i did detect that her voice was starting to break, and i don't blame her at all. the girl has been to event after event, and has been shaking hands with hundreds to thousands of fans ALONE (and talking to them ofcourse), and i somehow heard that she just finished shooting something that day.

somehow this was when i felt that my hunch on why mujin eki was not as powerful a song as i had expected was chosen for wasamin's debut. the song was definitely within wasamin's current singing level. not too high, not too low. she finished singing the song without much problems, and people kept clapping at her during pauses between stanzas, and she would promptly bow to the audience.

wasamin finished singing mujin eki, and had a short mc in between. if i remember correctly, it was her recommending her songs to us and telling the audience to try and sing her version of heavy rotation in the karaoke (to which a guy replied "i already did!". hehe. yeah right.) she then told us that for her next song, she would be performing her version of the old japanese song seto no hanayome.

she was singing the song perfectly and would wave at the audience more often than she did during her singing of mujin eki. and in the middle of the song, something crazy happened. suddenly her singing was completely out of tune against what the instrumental that was playing. she was really quick to notice it, and her face of complete shock was just priceless. i could have sworn at that point i wanted to shout "DON'T CRY WASAMIN!!" as i kept remembering her crying when she forgot the lyrics to the song she performed against yuka. but instead of the panic that anybody would have done at that point, she stopped, put down the microphone, and started waving at the audience and making cute faces. us in the front row started raaaawwwring as it was just beyond awesome to see her do that. the song ended a few seconds after.

during her mc after the song, she told us that she was in complete shock as to what happened. she told the audience "i didn't know it was a tv edit version! (masaka no terebi ba-shon desune)". like loool. the thought crossed my mind that it was planned to show that she was singing live... but remember her face in ULTRA-shock mode made me think otherwise. i didn't really like that song from her cd, but now every time i listen to it i can't help but laugh when i remember the incident. that was a really awesome recovery from wasamin, and am i glad i had an insanely good view of her when it happened.

for her next song, she performed heavy rotation enka version. i was expecting the song to be waaay better when done live, but somehow it came out just the same. although there were noticeable portions when wasamin would sing with way more power than what the song called for, i guess its just hard to do a good performance for a song that was made to be sang by girls doing pillow fights in their lingerie. hehe.

and when she finished singing heavy roation, her first comment was "thank goodness that one came out alright!". and then she talked about osaka, and how she loved kansai-ben, and she mentioned something about osaka that i don't have knowledge of yet (while the locals were really happy she did). for her last song, she told us she would be singing mujin eki once again. and after singing the song, her mini concert was over and she was told by a staff member to get ready for the handshake event.

(conv in jap)
staff: get ready ok?
wasamin: ready for?
staff: ....
wasamin: *eyes grow big. nods. bows*

pure win


handshake event

the handshake event was kind of a mess. our tickets had numbers on them which would have been a better way to organize people just like in akb handshakes, but they instead just went with having people near the stage go first. the first 5 rows had no problem lining up, but at around the 6th row onwards it was pretty much a mess.

first time i went up to meet wasamin, i had really nothing to tell her. around 3 people before it was my turn to shake her hands, i thought of just telling her congratulations, long time no see, and that would be it. i timed the first few people who went up, and we had somewhere from 5 to 10 seconds each person. there was only 1 staff member assisting wasamin on stage, aside from the other one who was giving out the signboard and stickers.

as i met wasamin, and as i have already expected, out the window went all of my plans for what to say to her. i had 10 seconds tops to say something to a girl that i have never actually shaken hands with before but have seen a lot of times in the theater. what i really wanted to do was to congratulate her for reaching this far, and to tell her that i was there in her first few shows in the theater and it was unbelievable to just be standing in front of her on her solo debut. so with whatever was left with my jap skills, i said:

(all conversations in jap unless stated)
me: wasamin! long time no see (was partially lying though. hehe.)
wasamin: oh! long time no see!
me: i just wanted to give you a big congratulations on your solo debut!
wasamin: thank you!
me: (in english) congratulations! looking forward to hearing more songs from you
wasamin: oh! thank you! (though i really don't think she understood)

and on my way down the stage, i chose to get the sticker instead of the sign board.

it was time for me to loop the line, and this was when i was able to prove that the line for the handshake event was just pretty much effed up. even though i joined the end of the line in order to meet wasamin again, just a mere 10 minutes later i was already standing at the 4th row. this wasn't normal at all as i saw people in the 11th to 15th row not moving at all. i was not doing anything except following the guy in front of me who was, i believe, also just following the guy in front of him. but as we got to the 3rd row, things went a bit out of control and we got stuck there for about 15 minutes before our portion of the line started moving again. and 10 minutes later i was in front of wasamin again.

this time i had really nothing to tell her. like seriously nothing. i was about to settle for a simple "congratulations, goodluck i'll be supporting you" generic message, but somehow i remembered seeing the other theater fan pulling out an akb wristband, putting it on, and wasamin reacting somehow when she saw that. to hell with the rules, i pulled out my mvp pic, and planned to just show it to wasamin for a few seconds and then leave asap (as she was not in the pic btw XD XD).

(again, all convo in jap unless stated)
me: congratulations again.
wasamin: thanks!
me: someday i really hope to see you in the theater again
wasamin: ofcourse! please do! (visit the theater i guess)
me: *pulled out my mvp pic and showed it to wasamin* i'm actually a theater fan
wasamin: *grabs the pic with her other hand * wow! what's this! sugoi!

me: (mentally: aw fook)

and staff pushes me. i waved to wasamin and grabbed another sticker and left.

feeling of getting owned after plan backfires = AWESOME. after all, i only said that i was a theater fan, but hell i wasn't expecting her to put her face a few inches from the pic to see everything. gyaaaah!!

and still shocked from what happened, i went home right away after the event.

conclusion



for me, watching wasamin stand there on that mini-stage, singing her heart out to her own solo debut, with hundreds of fans from another part of japan cheering for her... that alone was an awesome sight worthy enough of all the standing and waiting that i did for the event. looking back at how people used to actually laugh and even slightly give their disappointments during her first days in the theater as she was so nervous that she fell 3 steps behind everyone in the dances on stage (especially during kataomoi taikakusen), sometimes i still couldn't believe this was the same girl.

for me, i feel wasamin has earned her right to be where she is right now. and i am extremely happy to support her even with just a few cds that i could spare right now.

 

I hate you guys! xDD

it's been looong since my last event.. T_T but don't worry! in a few month i can kick your asses (cause of envy) in person! hohoho

Youko how are you doing with NMB stage?

 

Youko!! nice write up.

I'm happy that you're back in japan and attending akb related events again, but I'm kind of sad, that I cannot fullfill my promise to treat you JKT48's first concert/show.

I'm looking forward to more reviews from you

 

Today I had my first true foray into the world of AKB since moving to Japan last year by attending my first stage performance. The 12:00 Team B performance to be exact. I'm too lazy (and too poor of a writer) to write out a full and interesting report, so I'll just list some highlights that come to mind.

I was a bit disappointed that this was the day that I finally won a ticket to a show since half the team was either in Nagoya or Jakarta. It especially hurt since I recently oshihenned to KitaRie and have been wanting to see her since then, but I quickly realized that my disappointment was unfounded. It actually gave me a chance to see some of the members I'm less familiar with shine and get to know some of the KKS girls while I was at it!

Now I mostly follow AKB through their TV appearances, so out of the members that were there I was the most familiar with Myao and Komorin and was expecting to focus most of my attention on them during the show. That plan fell by the wayside as soon as I saw Shihorin step out on stage though. Man, does that girl know how to command (at least one member of) an audience! She, more than anyone else on the stage, had the special ability that I first noticed from Yuko at AX 2010 to make it look and feel like she was singing right at you and right for you. So, with my point of focus decided, I had a great time at my first stage performance. When my eyes would wander away from her, AKA any time she was behind one of those accursed pillars, my gaze would usually shift over to Kana who was just looking sexy and like a total pro. I've heard that a lot of fans don't like her, does anyone know why?

Since I'm such a TV based fan, I mostly only know the singles and wasn't too familiar with most of the songs in the show. That's all going to change now though. All of the songs were great, but the standouts to me were the unit songs. Candy was especially awesome and I really liked Yokaze no Shiwaza as well. Iwata Karen's version was nice, but I'd really like to see Yukirin do it someday too. The true highlight of the show though was the live performance of Give Me Five! Nacchi was of course awesome on the guitar, but we also had Shihorin on bass, Mariya on keyboard, and ChikaRina killing it on the drums. I'm always a fan of a good backbeat, so that was cool to see.

And with that, my kouen cherry was popped. During the high touch line on the way out I got a couple "oh!s" and a lot of English thank you's because, hey, white guy, and I exited the Don Quixote a happy man! Hopefully that will be the first of many visits to the AKB Theater, three hour train ride there be damned!

Next Sunday I take the relationship to the next level with my first handshake event. After today, I know at least one of my tickets is going to whatever lane Shihorin is in as long as she is there. I'll try and write something up after that too!

 

Any tips when applying to shows? Did you just apply to all shows every day, and finally won one? Best I ever got was "cancel wait, number #170". They got up to number 150 that time, so I wasn't let it. (SDN shows don't count, imo)

 

My tip from my experience in November is just apply for every show in every category you can(i.e enpou, Mobile FC[if you can] and ippan.) and try not to be too disappointed if you don't get a ticket. I applied for every show for 2 weeks that I was in Tokyo and managed to win a ticket for a Sunday lunch KKS show. It was amazing.

 

AKB48 Request Hour - 1/19/2012 (Day 1)

Seems I had hardly returned from my last trip to Tokyo, before I was heading back for Request Hour (13 days to be exact). Luckily I had budgeted and planned on vacation on the off-chance I could get tickets. My first ticket attempt was through the Mobile FC, wasn't able to win any of the shows. Since they didn't use the stricter entry policy from last year, scalpers/resellers had a field day. Thankfully, I had an ace up my sleeve - Super Enpou.

I sent entries for all 5 days (Request Hour and Unit Matsuri) and won a ticket for the first day.

I won't bother with details of getting to the venue - I've been there before for a regular show and knew where to check-in. The one thing I hadn't planned well was the timing - I actually checked in with about 5 minutes to spare. For reference, only 4 Super Enpou seats were given out for each show. That's about half of what they did for the Election. Interestingly they forgot to give me a wristband - had to run after me to ensure I had it (though it really wasn't necessary in the long run).

I'm pretty sure the staff is getting to know me now too

Seats were front row - all the way on the left side. I met two really awesome fans from Singapore, we talked quite a bit before the show started. Probably me more than anything - I get really chatty when I can talk to anyone else about AKB. I took a while getting geared up too, Team K lightstick, glow in the dark wristbands (needed help getting those on - my wrists are too big), a-nation AKB towel. Figured may as well go all out wota for this one. I think I was amusing the security guy who was stationed in my section.

Then the show started and up popped the first song...

Guruguru Curtain?!?! I don't know this one... What! Nogizaka46?

Everyone was surprised, and I was really wondering how the audience would react. But within a few moments nearly everyone was cheering them on. It was a fun performance, though the dance and the outfits are a bit odd for that song. They had a brief MC - during which most of them burst into tears because of the warm reception they were given.

How am I supposed to not root for them now - this is not my definition of a rivalry.

Takamina, Sasshi, and Miichan came out for the intro MC. There was a great bit where they went into 'idol mode' - which is really weird to see them do. Then it was time for the real countdown and what a better start than 'Theater no Megami'.

Should talk briefly about the seats/view. Front row is really nice, you can pretty much see all the performances clearly. The one drawback with the left side is that you can't see the left rear of the stage (the steps specifically), and it's harder for the girls to see you. If they come to the side of the stage to interact with the audience, they are usually focusing on the balconies. The one interesting thing is that I had a clear view of backstage right. You could see members peeking out at the performances from time to time - this really paid off during the encore.

Definitely not disappointed with the mix for the first day. You can see the complete list here. Was vert excited to see Pajama Drive (would have died if it was the Team E version), then classics like Dear My Teacher. The last song in the first set was AKB Sanjou!, the entire place really erupted with that. That was the point where my lightstick broke in half - guess I was getting into it a bit too much.

The next MC was the old Team A. I'm going to admit - my memories of the MCs and even performances is a bit fuzzy. Even now when I look at the set list, I can barely remember what happened. I have much clearer memories of my theater visits and even Day 2 and Day 3 that I watched in the movie theater. It's not that they weren't memorable, I think it's more a matter of sensory overload from the entire event. If I wasn't watching the performances on the stage, I was enjoying the crowd, or keeping an eye on the antics taking place on the steps and backstage right.

The second song in the next set was Wasshoi E! - at which point I went nuts again. Though nowhere near as crazy as the two SKE48 fans just to the right of me. While I'm a bigger fan of Team KII, Team E is cuteness overload - and you could tell they were thrilled to have made the top 100 with their version of the song. E! E! E! Wasshoi!

Which went right into Team 4 and the KKS (though it was hard to see Hirari and Miyupon). Then the second to last song was what I had been hoping for - Seifuku Resistance. Yui!!!!!! It was a struggle to keep cheering for her and not have my lightstick completely break and go flying either onstage or back into the crowd. (lol - that would have been a DVD moment)

I was happy to see 16-nin performed, though I wish they had done like the previous year and had at least some Team K members appear onstage. From what I could tell it was all via the video monitor - definitely the graduates of course. Ice no kuchizuke was another fun performance, and Hikkoshimashita gave me chance to cheer on Yui again.

Unfortunately the number of remaining songs kept getting lower and lower. I was hoping for SKE48 or NMB48 - but not a sign of them at all.

Blue Rose was another highlight - and being front row really paid off since I barely saw it at all when Team N performed it at Zepp Tokyo. The follow-up MC was the Google Senbatsu - and Sakippe was a riot. Then Team K again, followed by the highlight of the night. 'Nagisa no Cherry'.

If you had asked me before the show if I wanted to see it performed, I would have been like 'meh'. There are many songs I like more (and many solos I would rather see first). It's old, I've seen it performed on DVD many times, etc.

Seeing it live, front-row, is a completely different experience. One of the coolest AKB48 moments I've experienced (and I don't know what it is about Acchan and live performances - I had the same reaction to 'Ude wo kun de' when I saw A6).

After the next MC it was 'Overtake' and that left only 1 song... Which is when I saw SKE48 coming on-stage as the countdown was playing.

Koi wo kataru shijin ni narenakute!

If I had to ask for one Team S stage song - this would have been it. Not only is it one of my favorite 48 stage songs, it's one that I really want to see performed live. This was the point where I understood why they had security guards all over the barriers. The two SKE48 fans to the right of me were literally jumping on and off the barrier, to the point that the guard had to brace the barrier to keep it from falling over.

Wondered what we would get for the encore - and was happy to see Diva perform their new single. But then of the announced solos, I got to see Wasamin (again - what I would have picked if I had a choice). Not only was the performance and her outfit amazing, the best part was watching Team A sneaking peeks through the curtains backstage right. It's a shame that things like that never make it to DVD, because it really shows how strong some of these friendships and teams are. While some of my memories are still fuzzy, I don't think I'll ever forget the members, and especially Takamina, cheering her on from the sidelines.

Then the event wrapped with Flying Get and it was over.

Once again, it was the chance and experience of a lifetime. These trips aren't cheap, but in the end it's priceless. Especially this time, where I not only got to see the Set List, but YUI at the Budokan as well (went the night before). Not to mention the new friendships I made with other Super Enpou's. I had a great night out with the guys from Singapore, then spent some time the next two days with a Stage 48 member from Montreal. What an awesome experience it is to be able to talk in person with someone else who gets J-Pop and AKB [party]

My only regret is that I couldn't go every day. But there's always next year!

 

Yeah, I think that persistence and luck are the only things you have on your side when it comes to getting a ticket. I can't try for every show since I live about three hours away, so I've just been applying to weekend shows for the most part. The place I live (Gunma Prefecture) is technically a part of the Kanto area, so I can't apply for enpou, but I've been putting in fan club and ippan requests for the past two months or so and finally got in with a fan club application.

 

cris, sorry i forgot to reply to this.

but yes, i should still be here on april 1

if things go smoothly, i will be in osaka for a few years

(not too happy with nmb though. the 1 show per week-end trend is killing me.)

 

AKB48xJKT48 Concert 2011-02-25, Balai Kartini Jakarta

Before The event

I and several other harugon fans (we call ourselves "sekutugon" = "gon alliance") decided to prepare some things to welcome harugon to Indonesia. We prepared a 3m x 1m banner

>> Our banner in action at the airport : http://lockerz.com/s/186672513


2 standing flowers and 1 bouquette.


Just before the show, I received a message that our flower was posted by harugon on G+
https://plus.google.com/photos/10224996 ... 7702865762

But I didn't check the post lest I get heart attack before the show

Before the show:

The gate was scheduled to be openned at 16.30. I, and my wife, arrived on the venue at aroun 16.00, and the queue line was already soooooo loooong. I got the C (Festival) class ticket which is the front most seat blocks

>>> venue seat layout
http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos- ... 9847_n.jpg

When we finally entered the concert room, we got far right seat, on the Festival 5 block, but then 2 people came to me and offered to switch seat with them, so I ended up on the 2nd row dead center seat, on Festival 2 Block.

The concert started a little bit late, and the fans were already yelling and chanting even before the show started. When the show finally started with Flying Get, followed by Ebikachu and Iiwake Maybe, the fans hit full throttle of chanting and oshi-calls. 3000 peoples chant is LOUD !!!!

After the openning songs, AKB48 Jiko Shoukai. Most of the AKB48 girls did their intro using Indonesian language, mixed with some english and japanese. When it was harugon's turn to do her intro, we spread the banner that we brought to the airport watching her reaction and the other girls' reaction is priceless!!
All the fans in the front row right in front of me helped spread the banner, even though they're not harugon fans.
>> our banner in action at the venue: http://newshopper.sulekha.com/indonesia ... 167704.htm


The downside of hitting the full throttle early, many of the fans have already worn out their energy when it's the JKT48 turn to perform. JKT48 performed Indonesian version of Kimi no koto which sounds strange. But the JKT48 girls themselves performed much better than we anticipated

After the JKT48 Jiko Shoukai which seemed rushed (perhaps because the show was started a little bit late), Takamina, Abe, and Reinyan entered the stage... BIRD!!!! and the audience exploded!! Seing BIRD performed live, by Takamina is just PRICELESS!!!

and then Haagavi with Aamin, suuchan, and ranran... Aamin was goergeus, suuchan was mercilessly cute, and ranran also misteriously magnetic...

and then Sae, moeno, and kawaei take over the stage with an awesome song. I don't know the song, so just refer to the post above Sae is ...... HANDSOME!!!!!! kawaei is KAWAII!! and moeno as ususal HOT and BADASS!!!

And the Natasha... oh how I missed B4... Sasshi, Haachan, and ooya rocked the stage, as expected.

And then himawari with harugon, amina, yuuka, and natsun.. other than yuuka's voice owned the stage, I can't really comment about this song because my eyes were on harugon non-stop

And then back to group songs:

kaze wa, river, beginner, ponytail... you've guessed it, the audience went wild..

After the encore, AKB48 and JKT48 co-performed Aitakatta and Heavy Rotation (with sasshi center)

The stage was too small for both groups to be on the same stage at the same time, so the choreo for the songs were modified a little bit. And I noticed some members bumped into each other in the heavy rotation

The show was a little bit too short.
JKT48 performed much better than I anticipated, the AKB48 performed very well despite the 25 degree celcius temperature difference (or more).

The show was good, very good. But it made me long to see another soon I guess I'll have to go to singapore again this march

sorry not so much detail, my brain still not functioning properly

oh.. and here's a news site in spanish(?) covering the event with some pictures and videos

http://www.yumeki.org/japan-pop-culture ... -y-videos/

 

Well, I just got back from today's handshake event. Let's see what I can remember.

I got to Seibu Dome at around 10:45 and was surprised at just how cold it still was. I'm from Arizona, where winter only lasts until February at the latest, and even then it's warmer than this. Oh well, at least I remembered to bring my jacket after forgetting to wear it to my friend's birthday party the night before. I'm much better off than the completely bare-legged girls up on stage were. I was assigned a seat that was pretty close to the stage and after some chit-chat from the housoubu, it was time for the mini-live!

They started things off with Give Me Five, of course, and most people were in their PV-assigned positions, except we got bonus Matsui Sakiko on keyboard! It was cool to see it performed live again and the addition of an actual brass section being there really added to the song.

After the song was over, it was time for some muchaburi action courtesy of our friends over at Nemousu TV. They brought out three boxes, one with a location, one with an action, and one with a member's name and whoever was drawn had to confess their love to someone while acting out the scenario and then they would be scored by 10 guys in the front row with cards that had 1-10 on them. Yuko was doing the hosting duties and drew at the pyramids, while going over a script, and Oshima Yuko! Apparently she drew her own name yesterday too, so the members were pretty amused that she did it again. Anyways, she acted out the scenario in typical Yuko, better-at-it-than-she-has-any-right-to-be fashion, and was awarded 90 points for her troubles. During her confession, Takamina decided to step out and act like the Sphinx and was ridiculed for trying to take attention away from Yuko, so for the next set, Yuko said that they wouldn't even draw a name and Takamina would just have to do it. She refused, but was Dachou Clubbed into doing it.

I'm not completely sure what her place was (I heard budoukai de, but that doesn't seem to make sense with what she was doing), but her action was while doing the moonwalk. Anyways, she starts dancing around the stage and when she starts the moonwalk, her shoe pops off and she decides to take things in a whole different direction. She starts acting out Cinderella while playing the roles of Cinderella herself, Prince Charming, and for some reason the father and mother of Prince Charming. It's all quite hilarious and is even better when one of the judges awards her one point for her efforts, giving her a total of 84.

I missed the place again for the third scenario (Chiisai Kamakura? How can Kamakura be small?), but the action was while riding a bike, and the member was Tomochin. She does some cute bike riding and building motions and ends up with 92 points.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the member with the lowest score had to do a batsu game, and after Takamina figures out that it's her (she thought Yuko got 80 points instead of 90), she's presented with her scenario. Since we were in Seibu Dome, she had to come up with an original magical pitch, name it, and act it out. She makes Miichan be the catcher and Sasshi the batter and once they're all in position she starts flailing her body around all crazily, but when she "throws" it, she forgets to come up with a name. So back to starting position, and this time she ramps up the crazy movements even more and when she moves across the stage toward Miichan and Sasshi, she ends up just falling on the floor laughing. Finally on the third try she comes up with "doyagao ball", makes a face, and the whole thing falls flat, just like every good Takamina bit.

Well, this is turning out to be a lot longer than I expected and it's almost time for Yonpara, so I'm going to skip ahead to the handshakes. I'll post a supplemental report tomorrow with the rest of the setlist and other random happenings.

I only had a scant two handshake tickets, and I knew where my first one was going as soon as I saw the KitaRie, Sasshi, Yui lane. My oshimen AND two other members of Not Yet? Don't mind if I do! I made my way up to the tent getting more and more nervous the closer I got. I was trying to come up with things to say to each of the girls, but by the time I made it up to them it was all completely gone. So first up is Sasshi and for some reason, the only thing I can come up with is "Hajimemashite". Sure it technically works as it's the first time I'm meeting her, but I really wanted to complement her on how great and funny she is or something to that effect. Before I can get anything else out though, I'm being pushed on to KitaRie. Now it's do or die time! My first interaction with my newly crowned oshimen, so I grab her hand and of course "Hello!" is what I choose to say. She smiles and returns the hello and I'm already being pushed on to Yui. I can't let things end like that though, and manage to spit out "Watashi no oshimen desu!" At this point I'm already shaking hands with Yui but my focus is still on KitaRie (and hers on me now, much to the surprise of the guy behind me). Her eyes light up and she says "Hontou? Thank you very much!" and my heart melts. I'm already getting shoved out of the tent and suddenly realize that I'm still shaking hands with Yui and say, "Yuihan mo daisuki da yo!" before getting herded out.

After I get my second handshake ticket and get back to my seat, I've got a couple of hours before my next hand shake and I spend most of the time trying to decide whether to go to the DiVA lane when Ayaka finally gets there or the housoubu lane once they're done radioing it up. After much debate, my recent interest in Shihorin just can't top my top my two and a half year love of Sayaka so it's off to the DiVA lane I go. When I get in the tent I encounter Ayaka first and say, "Egao ga suteki desu!", which gets no vocal response but I do get to see the smile and that wrinkly nose that I love so much. I then move on to Masuda, and the only thing I can think of is, "Arigatou gozaimasu" because I'm already focused in on Sayaka. As soon as I grab her (surprisingly large, at least compared to everyone else's) hand, I smile and say, "Sayaka... daisuki..." Really? ten years of learning a language (and a degree in said language) and this is the best I can come up with?? Come on, guy! Sayaka smiles back and says, "Arigatou!" and I'm off to Sae who gets a "Sae-chan mo!" and responds with another "Arigatou!" and then I'm out of the tent and already trying to figure out when the next time I'll be able to do this is. All in all, a nice learning experience and a good day. I'm planning on taking a trip to the Osaka/Kyoto/Nara area at the end of the month/beginning of next month, so if anyone wants to meet up for the SKE event in Osaka on the first, I'm definitely up for it!

 

CK, Carl, ecwx, Ten, Youko:
Thanks for keeping this thread alive!
I always enjoy reading your write-ups. [clap]

Glad to see you're back in Japan, Youko. I hope things work out for you in Osaka [party]

 

I'll throw some stuff in here because as far as I can see no one as even mentioned going to see NMB in here yet.

Because I was in Osaka for 1 year, I could only apply for the Ippans, which didn't bother me, just meant I had to circumnavigate the ticket website and not screw anything up. So after 4-5 times applying, I landed tickets for their first stage "Dareka no Tame Ni".. I'm not sure if the AKB website it the same, but the NMB site asks you to list your favourite member when you're applying for tickets (guess they want to keep a popularity count.)

So I toddled off to Namba (was a Saturday) spent all day milling around shinsaibashi and ebisubashi before heading over at 3pm to pick up my wristband. The theatre for those who don't know is underground, and if it wasn't for the couple flags outside, you'd totally not notice it at all. Lots of fans were already outside trading cards and the like.. i hung around for a bit, not speaking to anyone... mostly just trying to give my 3ds time to pick up any stray Mii's.. I figure i had a good chance of collecting some there. So then I had another 3 hours to wait.. so off I went for another plod around the shops, before going to the Mcdonalds at Bic camera (a pre gig ritual for me) and then back to the theatre to queue up.

For NMB, because the theatre is underground, you queue up in ticket order in the building next door (above the radio station) and you spiral your way up the back staircase. Adjusting where you stand as people enter etc.. one of the staff noticed I still had my backpack on.. apparently that's not good. (why they didn't mention it when I picked up my tickets I don't know) so I got the..."do you understand Japanese" line.. which I do.. but I still only said.. "yes a little" in order that he didn't go crazy at me. so i got frogmarched downstairs in the theatre to the coin lockers and then had to go back to my spot in the line.

As the gig starts, you get marched out of the building and downstairs into the theatre, where you just file into your seats, the seats themselves are not numbered and apart from a few reserved seats, you're free to sit wherever you want. For my first show, I got 3rd row just off centre. (without a seat in front me.. leg room #bliss) probably about a metre from the stage.

For some reason I decided not to listen to the show before I went in (new fan) and so I had no idea what the stage was going to be like... and well I loved it My previous review.. save me rewriting it all.

Spoiler

Tonight I had the pleasure of witnessing NMB48 at their theatre. And well... it's been over an hour I'm home after the train journey and I'm still smiling. Pound for Pound best Gig I've been to. My favourite gig of all time is Metallica at Wembley Stadium, but if you want to go on cost to enjoyment ratio, NMB48 wins. 980 yen, for 2 hours of live show with 300ish other people (so quite intimate surroundings) and getting to briefly meet the girls after. Thoroughly enjoyed myself, probably the only Gaijin in the crowd, and I got 3rd row with no seat infront of me so had good view of the stage.

I went in with Ayaka Mori (Aanyan) as my oshi.. and she still is, but wow did she have to work for it. Doesn't help she's not a front runner so they keep shoving her into the back corners of the stage. poor girl. That Smile needs to be in the front row.

Sayaka Yamamoto..(Sayaka) Flawless.. absolutely flawless you'd think the girl was a seasoned professional, not a 3 month into her career idol.
Nana Yamada (Nana).. I didn't like her at first on tv, but after seeing her perform .. wow.. the girl has stage presence and so much confidence she could throw half of it away and still have more than enough. Very Impressed.
and 3rd honourable mention goes to Rina Kondo (Riichan) whenever the girl was near me my eyes were glued to her. Excellent performance.

Can't recommend going and seeing them enough, I really can't. Took me 5-6 times applying before I got a ticket on the website. Otherwise it's pretty painless. Will go again, definitely when they change stage.. and maybe before then If I have the time.

After the show ended, got the hi-touch event, can't remember who i got hitting me.. but either way, as a total noobie to this, I wasn't expecting the hi-touch event, so i was more than happy. The event finished, and I wandered off down to the shop for a browse, didn't buy anything. As they had yet to even release a song, the shop was pretty barren of buyable stuff. So I merely had a look, and then went to catch the train, very happy with my decision to actually go and see them. I'd been debating whether or not I should, I still wasn't sure if AKB was a guilty pleasure, or If I was actually a fan. This show, and Majisuka turned me from casual observer to fan without doubt.
Oh and the reason I support team N over all the others. My (adopted) home team

The next 2 times I went to see them was for their "Seishun Girls shows" didn't get as good a ticket number, but mostly the same process.. didn't take a bag with me these times, wasn't going to get caught out like that again.
Even though at the time Mori Ayaka was my Oshi, Rii-chan left the biggest impression on me (and why she's my oshi now, that Mori decided to graduate ) being 190cm, white with red hair.. I stand out, and I was met with 16 sets of raised eyebrows moving down the hi-touch line (of which i got the shoulder massage by Ripopo) Rii-chan said something to me, other than the usual "arigatou" line.. but I got shuffled so quickly down the line, I couldn't catch it, but my eyes were still glued to her as I got moved down the line, my Japanese lip reading however is not excellent just yet. Ame no doubtsuen.. the only time I have ever in my life suffered cuteness overload.. my mind was literally blanked for like 3 days..

Review of seishun girls written at the time.

Spoiler

Just back

Ok.. first off Sayaka and Miruki were not present. Yuki Yamaguchi (Yu-pi!) filled in for Sayaka (Admirably too.. girl is definitely going to be in Team M) can't remember who filled in for Miruki though, I'm not really up on Kenkyuusei's name. Only really remember Yu-pi because during one of the MC's the girls took it in turns to imitate her lol.

Show was good.
Blue Rose was excellent as expected, even though I feel it suited the older members of Team K more, still a good performance.
Ame No Doubutsuen that was something. Weapons Grade level cuteness, I can't accurately describe the cuteness of them during this song, has to be seen and felt to be realised. So unfair, the male psyche is not built to withstand that kind of thing at all.

MC's ..
Shiokichi's impression of a penguin was equal parts terrible, cute and funny.
If ever Nana ever decides to stop being an idol, she needs to find a job that just allows her to talk all the time, she could talk the legs off a donkey as the saying goes.

Aanyan my oshi.. forgot how old she was during the self introductions, and generally is quite nervous during the mc's , however I love her bashfulness. (something fell off her mic mid song and it was so subtle how she disposed of said broken piece i cracked up)
Nana ... If it wasn't for Sayaka, this would be her show, girl can perform.
Kanakichi... you'd have to surgically remove that smile from her face I think, so happy all the time.
Riichan and Keichi stood out for me, but everyone was excellent, even without the 2 front girls everyone was perfect.
If I had one complaint, the music was too loud in some songs and peaked out. Especially during the guitar intro to Korogaru ishi Ni Nare.

High touch, I got Ripopo hitting my back. Best thing about is because I look like i do (white, 6ft 3.. Ginger Hair) I get the same look from most Japanese people. but it's infinitely cooler when it's all 16 members of NMB. Riichan said something to me as I said thankyou, but due to the noise and the speed you get shoved through, I missed what she said

oh and they DIDN'T perform Seishun no lap Time Only really disappointing thing about it.
Didn't buy anything from the shop, had a look but I think I'll just hold on a month for the DVD.

The last time, was pretty similar except it was on the eve of the launch of "Zetsumetsu.." so most of Team N were out promoting, so instead it was a half KKS half N show.. Allowed the other members a chance to shine, and Nana to hold centre stage (She is a true stage performing MVP.. ask anyone who's witnessed it first hand)
Review

Spoiler

Just back from my 3rd NMB performance (1 x Dareka no Tame ni, 2 x seishun girls)

Tonight was kind of half Team N half Team Kenkyuusei. Infact during Cinderalla wa Damasarenai only Nana was a Team N member, the rest were KKS. Not that you could tell, the KKS performed really well, team M looks to have a good future if they straight promote all the first gen KKS into it.

Despite releasing Zetsumetsu Kurokami Shojo tomorrow. They didn't perform it (prob due to the amount of missing members) but they did perform Seishun No laptime.. which was probably the best received song of the evening (after.. Korogaru Ishi Ni Nare) They did show the 3 PV's (Zetsu, white and red teams) after the performance while we waited on the high touch.

Kanakichi has the cutest Smile in the world.. No exceptions. Got to do a lot of MC work tonight too due to the lack of front members.

Nana holding the line as the only front member there. 3 performances I've seen and I'm still impressed with her, honestly flawless. SO much stage presence.

Yu-pi! I feel so bad for her, she's got the stage presence, she's "genki" enough, but I feel promoting her as Aanyan's replacement was a bad move. She should have been held back to front team M. She's good on the Mic, has great presence (even if she did lose her tie before the first chorus of Seishun girls.. no idea where it went) but because she's Aanyan's replacement, she's stuck in Ame no Doubutsuen and gets no lines at all. Wasted. Previously she was Sayaka's Cover as a KKS, so the girl can handle front line duty. Shame she might not get to show it too much.

Momoko Kinoshita.. So cute. Forgot where to stand during Seishun no laptime, forgot what she was going to say during her MC, still kept a smile on her face despite her obvious embarrassment. Gambare Momoko!

Renapyon.. has the highest pitched voice I think I've ever come across.. even higher than Nana's when she's excited.

All in all a good show, wish they'd played Zetsumetsu, but oh well.

If you guys get the chance, definitely go see NMB.. everyone goes to see AKB, be a little different
Sorry the post is a bit long, spoilered a lot of it to save your eyes.