Your AKB48 Experiences

I wasn't sure where to put this event report, but since after all this was an AKB Single event, and I saw members from both SKE and HKT it is probably best to put it here. Also, I have a multi-event report from Wasamin's album release week in her member thread...

http://stage48.net/forum/index.php?...asa-misaki-wasamin.1886/page-139#post-1256287

Anyway....

AKB48-Group Love Trip Handshake (Etc.) Event at Makuhari Messe (2016/11/27)

This event was a last-minute thing for me, and it was only after I had so much fun with the HKT girls that I decided to grab a few tickets in the last resale. I applied for 9 tickets, ultimately winning four of them. Luckily, most of the tickets I won were at the end of the event, with the exception of one. And that was the member I was most looking forward to see. So the plan was to get there around 3pm, do the one handshake, and then go find a place to veg-out for three hours before coming back at 6:45pm for my final three tickets. I also had tickets for the AKB National Event the day before, but decided to skip it since I did have a few things I needed to get done that weekend.

Akiyoshi Yuka (Slot 5) - Yuka-chan was one of the big reasons I got tickets for this event. For this slot there was a possibility of winning a 1-shot video. I had no idea how the system worked, and when looking at the questions I was thinking "Shit, I will never figure this out quickly, so I will just pick one at random. It didn't matter though since I lost the lottery, and would simply get a handshake. To be honest, I was slightly relieved.

Akiyoshi's line was taking forever, it was then I realized she had left the lane for quite a while. I wondered if she was bailing on the slot, but she eventually returned. I finally got to the front of her queue. I like that she yells my name every time I come into her booth. I essentially told her that the reason I was there was for her, and although I didn't win the one-shot I was glad to be talking with her. I was glad to see that her queue was pretty long (and I lost trying to apply for her Slot 6) since at HKT events her line is relatively empty. And of course I was wearing my Yuka-chan flower and ticket-holder.



After grabbing a Kebab wrap from one of the food trucks outside, and talking with @Sakuraism for a few minutes, I went and hid out at Caffe Veloce over by the train station.

Akiyoshi Yuka/Tanaka Yuka/Kurihara Sae Interview/Photo-op (Slot 7) So I didn't win my other applications for Yuka-chan, but at least I won this ticket. I actually like these little mini-events. They are kinda short, but they are fun. They remind me of Wasamin's mini-lives. Whi I was waiting for the queue to open up a random Japanese fan came over and started talking to me. It was a really good opportunity to practice my Japanese as he didn't really know English at all. In fact, ever since the guy has been LINE messaging me quite a bit, which has also been really good language practice for me...

I drew entry ticket #67, which was good enough to get me into the third row on the left. The event started and Yuka-chan immediately noticed me sitting on the left, which luckily was where she was positioned. The photo-op started, this time I decided to take a video.


if the video does not show watch the video here

(Yuka-chan glancing in my direction)

So the funny part was at one point Akiyoshi begins to focus on me, smiling and waving. All of a sudden Tanaka Yuka notices me and begins trying to fish me. She repeatedly looked my way, waving and mouthing "Hello!" at me. What's with all of these girls trying to steal Akiyoshi's fans? The previous week it was Lovetan, this time Yuutan. A little respect for Akiyoshi please! BTW, I barely paid attention to the questions, although I sorta remember one being about the outfits the choose to wear at events.

Murakawa Vivian (Slot 8) I was able to score one Bibian ticket, and I would be playing old maid for her autograph. Earlier I had seen people walking around with the Old Maid cards, some winners and some losers. To be honest I would have been just as happy with a losing card with the pictures of the managers on them. Yuasa's was especially funny. In this round they gave you the form to fill out first since you don't know whether or not you will win until you meet the member. In the meantime I was watching Tomiyoshi play old maid with her queue. She was obviously trying to make everyone win as she would show them the cards face up first, and then slowly shuffle them. Would Vivian make it that easy too?

No such luck, she shuffled them under the table and then brought them out face down. I had a 50/50 shot, and...



I won! Vivian finally learned my name, so I was happy about that.

Matsumura Kaori (Slot 8) - My final ticket was for Kaotan, and it has been a while since I had spoken to her. I was a little nervous since I wasn't sure what to talk about. In the meantime there was plenty of action going on around Kaotan's queue. First of all, Suda Akari's day was just ending a couple of queues over, and she was coming out to say goodbye to her fans. She was wearing the tightest little mini-skirt, and cute little beret and a tight black sweater. She looked so hawt! At one point she was waving to us in the Kaotan queue too. Then, Masanya had nobody in her queue for the longest time, so she was practically living in Kaotan's booth. It was like having a handshake with both of them. Unfortunately (or not) she got a few people in her queue just before it was my turn. As far as the Old Maid card was concerned, like I said before I liked the Yuasa card. I also already have a Kaotan autograph, so it really didn't matter to me if I won or lost...



I won anyway. Then Kaotan completely amazed me. First she asked me how school was going. Then she asked me where in Itabashi I lived. I couldn't believe she remembered so many details about me. When I told her what part of Itabashi I lived in she got very excited, and told me she was familiar with my neighborhood. After all, it isn't too far from Wakoshi, where she grew up. I told her I would be sure and get tickets for AKB 2-shots with her. Kaotan is an amazing idol because she knows how to relate to people. It is the biggest reason why she has become one of my favorite members to see.

And that was that. Short and sweet. I remember the old days when I would get 25-35 tickets for these events. These days I am just as happy with 5-10 tickets. In fact, earlier this year I went to two events where I had only 2-3 tickets. These days the lines go a lot slower with all of these little games and videos, so there is a much bigger risk of eating tickets when you buy too many. As for the little extras they are now offering with the handshakes, to be honest they are not really a big selling point for me. I am just as happy simply talking to the members.

 

A suggestion to everyone who does experience posts....

We have heard a couple of complaints, and frankly I concur, that the use of instagram (or wherever they are from) screenshots for your dialogue is making this thread harder to read. Therefore fewer people are actually checking out your posts.

We aren't going to make a rule about this yet. However, I am going to suggest that in the future everyone please post your experiences in the traditional way. It is fine to add pics to your post, but making the entire post a series of screenshots is not user friendly for a multitude of reasons. Even as I type this the mass of screenshots is causing issues for me. This goes for ALL experience threads on this forum.

Thank you.

 

So I know this isn't exactly an "AKB48" Experience report, but I felt it would be a shame to bury this in the SDN48 section where pretty much nobody would read it...

Hatakeyama Chisaki: "Chaki Live Vol. 6" at Club Chelsea Hotel, Shibuya (2016/12/15)



I know a lot of people on Stage48 these days weren't around when SDN48 existed, and even if you were most of you didn't pay too much attention to them, which was too bad, since at the time they were my favorite thing about the 48-groups. And I just adored Chaki. I always said that if Meetan weren't in the group Chaki would be my oshi member of SDN. I occasionally wrote her fan letters too, and she always thanked me at high touch or handshake events after she received them. So after SDN48 broke up I have kept up with her activities, and have occasionally gone to see her perform.

It has been almost 9 months since I have seen Chaki live. She is high on my priority list when it came to artists or idols I like to see. However, since I am living here in Tokyo now I had to rethink how I am going to participate when it comes to seeing idol events. I am no longer here on vacation, so quite often my responsibilities have priority over fun. Even with Wasamin, I don't go to every event. Although she is the one that I will do my best to see as often as possible. As for the others, since I moved back in the Summer...

FESTIVE: Have seen three times, the last time was about a month ago
Tokyo CLEARS: Seen twice, last time was in early September
Hashimoto Kanna: Haven't seen.
MWAM: Haven't seen
PARMS: Haven't gone, and Kamen Joshi is no longer a priority for me since Himeri left.
Chaki: Haven't seen, until this event

Anyway, I checked Chaki's schedule last month and decided I would make a point of seeing her in December since she had quite a few events scheduled. But she had slipped my mind until I saw her thanking people on twitter for coming to her show last week. I thought, "Oh shit I forgot about Chaki again!"

So Wednesday was my birthday, and I was on social media quite a bit responding to people sending me best wishes. I noticed Chaki talking about her show the next day. So I sent her a tweet telling her I was thinking of coming. A few moments later Chaki responded asking me to "Please come to the show " So now it was set, and I couldn't back out now since Chaki knew I was coming. (And yes, Chaki knows that is my twitter, she has mentioned it before when I have seen her that she sees my responses to her)



This was my first time at the Chelsea Hotel, although I had walked by it quite a few times when going to Tokyu Hands, so I knew where it was. Like so many of the clubs in Shimokitazawa where Chaki usually plays, it was a small, dingy little club in a basement underneath another club and a Kebab shop. Small stage, little bar. To be honest, the place smelled kinda like a men's room. But whatever, I was one of the first people in, so I would have a good spot. I didn't go to the front of the stage though, a stayed a few feet back toward the right. I did go over to the goods table since I wanted to a) pick up copies of Chaki's new single, b) pick up some of her old indie singles that I don't have, thankfully they had them in stock this time. (They didn't at the last show I went to). I also knew that Chaki has a Ponta Card, which you can redeem to go to a Chaki drinking party! Awesome prize, eh? I also got a free Chaki poster for buying multiple copies of the new single.


My Chaki AND Wasamin "frequent buyer" cards

It got to be around 15 minutes before curtain and there still wer only like 25 people in the club, including Chaki's mom. I was waiting to see if any of Chaki's SDN48 friends would show up (at Chaki Live Vol. 3 Rachel, Akiko, Hiromin, and Megu were in the audience) Lo and behold, in walks Nachu. She quickly waved to us in the small crowd before jumping into the dressing room, where we all could immediately hear Chaki squealing! Nachu hung out at the back of the venue for most of the show...



Finally the show started, 10-15 minutes late. Chaki came out in a pretty white dress, and to my surprise she had a new back up band. The all-female "ChakiPro Project", who were also all dressed in white. The band was really good, especially the guitarist, Kei-chan. She had a real bluesy Santana-like sound, and did a couple of real impressive runs. The setlist for the most part was pretty much her album, "Chakiism", which I bought back in March. I love the CD, and highly recommend it.



There is also a lot of audience participation during her performance. In fact, at one point her birthday committee pushed my up to the front of the stage, when Chaki saw this she leaned down next to me, shoved the microphone in my face, and we did a duet of the end of the chorus part of the song "Party". So now I get to say I have sung with an idol! (Well, actually Wasamin and I sang together once, but that was during a handshake) After that I got a bunch of high-fives from people in the crowd. The show ended after about 90 minutes, and a quick one song encore.


Chaki's band: (from left) Guitar: Kei-chan, Bass Guitar: Shin-P, Keyboards: Eimi-chan, Drums: Yuu

I was going to bail, but I knew that Chaki usually comes out and talks with the audience after the show, so I grabbed another drink and hung around. Eventually she came out, and started signing people's CDs. While I was waiting in the queue I noticed that the occasional fan was talking a cheki photo with Chaki, so I took a closer look at the goods "menu" and saw that a Cheki was 1000 yen. Cool! So I got to the front, Chaki immediately thanked me for "helping" her with the song. I asked if I could get a "Chaki Cheki" too, and she said ofcourse. I mentioned it had been quite a while since she and I had taken a photo together. She was like "That's true!" It was funny though, when she was signing my CD she got all embarassed that she had to ask my name. I don't see her that often, so I don't expect her to remember it. LOL. While she was signing the CD she mentioned our little twitter interaction the previous day. We took the picture, and I told her I would see her again soon. In fact her fans were asking me when I would be coming to see Chaki again. I told them later this month. She has a live in Ikebukuro on Friday, so I will definitely go to that.



And with that I left....

EPILOGUE:

So a funny thing happened the next day. I was writing a little blurb on Facebook thanking my friends for sending me birthday greetings, and I was talking about my birthday celebration was spent seeing Chaki, and how much I enjoyed the show. I then remembered that Chaki mentioned she had a Facebook page....

That's odd, I don't remember ever seeing Chaki entries on my Facebook timeline.

So I checked her page, and I had sent a friend request to her a long time ago and she never responded. So I re-sent it. Within minutes she accepted the request, then she started "liking" a bunch of random entries on my timeline, including some of the birthday wishes from my friends. She also "shared" my post where I talked about her, but she commented that she couldn't read English, so she didn't know what I was saying. So I responded telling her that it says the show was great and I had a lot of fun. A few minutes later she "liked" that post too.

All in all it was an awesome time, and I look forward to seeing her again next week.

 

Iwasa Misaki Christmas Eve Dinner Show at The Wings, Ebina (2016/12/24)
(featuring Yamakawa Yutaka)

It has been a very special month for Wasamin and her fans. Three Christmas events, a new album, and of course promotion for her upcoming single. But before I get into Christmas dinner, let me quickly talk about...

Iwasa Misaki Speical Christmas Mini-Live at Aeontown Narita-Misato (2016/12/25)

So fresh off of our Christmas eve Wasa-hangover, we would be doing it all over again. Only this time we would be traveling over an hour in the opposite direction to Narita to celebrate Christmas day. This was a special Christmas mini-live, as they were featuring a special deal for multi-CD purchases. Per usual, if you bought a CD you would get handshake ticket. But if you bought both versions you could instead opt for a Shamekai ticket. You still got all the other bonuses (two bromides and two stamps in your Wasamin "frequent buyer" card) The other bonus was that Wasamin would be performing in two different Christmas cosplay outfits, and she looked adorable. In fact, once people saw the cosplay they preordered more CDs. Anyway, here is a sample. via my two shamekai...


I caught one of Santa's Reindeer. I think it is Cupid


Santa's Helpers

Of course our conversation centered around how cute she looked in her cosplay. BTW, that's why my "heart" pose looks so goofy, we were actually doing "Doki Doki", so my hands were extending when it was shot. I also managed to give Wasamin her Christmas present, as well as a Christmas present for her manager. I thought that would be kind of a cool move. We also talked about Yamakawa-san's MC ate Christmas show the previous evening, where he stated how amazed he is with Wasamin, and compared himself when he was 21 and working at a conbini. I told her I agreed with Yutaka-san, and she told me she was really touched by what he said.

As for the setlist, lately these days Wasamin has been singing mainly her singles, and songs from her new album. However today she tossed Koisuru Fortune Cookie - Enka ver. into the mix, which was refreshing since it had been a while since we heard her perform it. Anyway, I hope Wasamin's management took note as this promotion definitely seemed to inspire more CD purchases. It is really nothing off their back to offer Shamekai either, so hopefully they make this at least a semi-regular feature of this CD's promotion. Anyway, back to...



The Dinner

Let me begin by saying that I was really looking forward to this after the wonderful experience we all had at her Christmas Dinner show the previous weekend. Although this event was slightly less expensive than the one in Tachikawa, something told me that it would be just as nice, if not nicer since The Wings is set up mainly for occasions like these.



Ebina is about 45 minutes outside of Central Tokyo in Kanagawa Prefecture. I didn't want to wear the exact same outfit as last week, so I picked up a new shirt and tie at Aoki, right down the street from the Donki in Akihabara. I arrived a little early, got my seat assignment, and proceeded upstairs to wait for doors to open. In the meantime there was no queue at the Wasamin goods table, so I preordered a couple of singles and got two handshake tickets for after the event.



Doors finally opened, at that point there were only like half a dozen people (all Wasafans) waiting. It looked beautiful, icey-blue lighting, with the entire staff positioned around the room greeting us as we walked in. I arrived at my table, there was a box placed in the center of my place-setting. The first thing I wanted to see was the drink menu, and this place had a full bar. (Tachikawa was mainly beer, wine and sparkling wine) They also had special drinks for the performers. The "Misaki" was fresh fruit floating in Ginger Ale. People who tried it liked it, but I was more interested in the alcoholic selections. I loved that their house sparkling wine contained gold-flake in it.



Of the three starters, I loved the duck. The amber-jack with vegetables was very nice too. Not too sure about that crab/fishcake though. Not something I would order. Anyway, here are the rest of the dishes along with the menu.



Ebi Kitaaaaaa! There were two different Ebi dishes on the menu, including the soup. (At Tachikawa they did not serve any Ebi dish) They were probably my favorite dishes too. Unfortunately my steak was overcooked, but my friend Mayumi was full, so she gave me her perfectly cooked steak. She also tried to give me her Tiramisu, but I was was also full at that point, it was a 7-course meal! Anyway, I was full of food and booze, and ready for the show...



Wasamin's performance was pretty much exactly the same as in Tachikawa. She opened with Hatsuzake, then proceeded to walk the floor while singing Blue Light Yokohama and Tokyo no Bus Girl. However, she skipped singing Ishikari Banka and instead just ended with Mujineki. I figured her setlist would be longer since there were only two performers, but I was incorrect in that assumption.

Soon after Yamakawa Yutaka took the stage. After the first song he did the most incredible MC, talking for a long time about how amazed he is with Wasamin. It was a really nice and heartfelt tribute, and you could tell Wasamin was touched since she came back onstage. Wasamin sang the next song with Yutaka-san providing guitar accompaniment. The funny thing was when he started walking around the room while singing. Wasamin fans are well trained not to overstep the rules when Wasamin performs, however Yutaka-san's fans were completely different. They would get up from their seats and take impromptu 2-shots with him. A couple of fans even brought out autograph boards for him to sign while he was singing! But the best was when he sang a song called "Keiko", and found three women in the audience named Keiko to sing it to. During the song these two Obasans sitting behind them kept grabbing his ass. After the song he thanked them too. So cool! Finally Wasamin returned to the stage in her cute red dinner dress to sing a duet of Silent Night. They ended with a prize giveaway of signboards and their house Sparkling wine, but unfortunately I didn't win. I was close though. I was ticket #331, #321 AND #341 both won. And that was the show.


This was her outfit from the matinee

The handshake event started immediately after the show. I was talking to Wasamin about the shrimp dishes, and how the Chinese-style Shrimp was my favorite. It is her favorite food after all. But all of the sudden she asks "But what about my dress, what do you think of my dress?", looking kind of dejected that I was focusing on the shrimp and not her. I told her she looked beautiful, and that she was "up here" (making a gesture with my hand) and Chinese-style Ebi is down here (using my other hand) "So you like it?" to which I responded that she is "delicious", a little running gag I have with her implying I want to "eat" her, which of course has a bit of a different meaning in Japanese. Anyway, it always gets a laugh from her. I also mentioned I had Christmas presents for she and Ishikawa-san, but I would bring them to Narita the next day.

"The Rat Pack"​

Finally on our way out they were selling bottles of their Gold Sparkling Wine. It wasn't too expensive, they had a deal if you bought two, and it is almost New Years, so I picked up a couple of bottles.



Needless to say it was a wonderful Wasa-weekend. Wasamin isn't doing any public performance or promotion between now and the New Year, but she will get into full gear promoting her single beginning January 2nd, all the way through the 15th. So two weeks straight of Wasamin, although I cannot go to all of them. Actually, my wallet will be relieved to hear that.



P.S. and just in time for Christmas, my Wasamin Happi Coat arrived, so I am ready for the big concert next month.

 

AKB48-Group High Tension Handshake Event at Makuhari Messe (2017/01/07)

So in my ongoing conundrum of not wanting to support AKB48, while at the same time wanting to support the members I am still a fan of, I decided to attend one of the handshake events for AKB48's newest single. I decided to go to the "New Year" event since I couldn't do Christmas (Wasamin Christmas dinner), and Valentine's weekend was the most popular date. Anyway, I managed to nab a bunch of tickets for my favorite members, plus I decided to try the "open tickets" for the first time. I wasn't sure how I would end up using them, I figured I would just play it by ear.

The Bonus Prizes
For the last few singles AKB has been offering bonus prizes that you can win during handshakes. For the most popular members these are autographed photocards, but for everyone else the prizes include 2-shot selfies, 1-shot videos (the girl records a video message on your phone), Audio recording (same as the 1S Video, but audio only) or an autographed card (in this case it would be a traditional Japanese New Year's card from the Post Office, complete with the raffle code) To avoid suspense, of the 10 eligible tickets I had, I only won once. Not that I really care that much, the handshake is more important to me. But having a win percentage be this low almost seems like "bait and switch". Of the people I spoke to, most of them had similarly low win rates (under 20%, some even under 10%) If they are going to make this an integral part of the process, they should give fans a little bit better a chance than that. But whatever...

I had 14 tickets, most of which were bunched into Slots 5-7. I also had one ticket each for Slots 2-4 (I lost on all the Slot 3 I applied for) So I had to get to Makuhari by 11am. Quickly got my tickets stamped, although for the first time someone at the Chara-ani desk pointed out that my name on the tickets is in katakana, while my name on my ID is in romaji. This has never been an issue before, and I also pointed out that the system will not allow me to enter my full first name since it has 11 letters. Ultimately I think she was merely pointing out that it would be better if they were the same.

Fuchigami Mai (Slot 2) - So I had plenty of time to use my Slot 2 ticket, and Maichan's queue wasn't long. There were signs at the entrance saying that Mai was having throat issues (which I knew about beforehand), and may not be able to talk, which would be interesting since this was a 1Shot-Video Slot. But when I got to the front she seemed to be speaking just fine. I was planning on performing my famous "Noda Magic" on her, something I did for Wasamin quite a few years ago, but Maichan assured me that she actually felt fine, but that her throat was just hoarse. i said I was happy to hear that because I was worried, especially with two long days of handshakes ahead, plus the Coming of Age ceremony in Kanda on Monday.

So there was still close to 10 minutes until Slot 2 closed, so I decided to do a once-around to see if there was anyone I would like to use an open ticket for. I wanted it to be someone I had never met. 3/4 of the way around I found a near-empty queue of someone I had never met, but considered meeting more than once. Given the circumstances, I felt I should take advantage...

Nishino Miki (Slot 2) - Ever since Miki almost fell into my lap at a theater show back in 2013, I have felt somewhat of a connection with her. Despite that, I have never met her aside from the quick High Touch that day. Since she is a pending graduate it was pretty much now or never. As I mentioned, there was nobody in her queue besides the person she was talking to, who seemed to have quite a few tickets. Eventually it became my turn. Miki immediately bombarded me with excited random English. I wanted to remind her of that theater show, but I didn't know quite how to describe it in Japanese. So I basically said that while this was the first time I had met her, I was in the front row for one her theater shows. That she understood, and she thanked me for coming to see her. And that was the first time, and probably the last time I will ever meet Miki.

I had almost two hours until Slot 4, where I had one ticket. I had also planned on using one of my Open Tickets on one of the special stages in this slot. So I would quickly get the first ticket done, which would give me plenty of time to get over to the staging area...

Murakawa Vivian (Slot 4) - The nice thing about Vivian is that she is always super-genki, although on the other hand I never really have anything substantial to talk with her about. I queued up early, so I was one of the first few in line. She came bouncing in a few minutes after the beginning of the slot wearing a cute pink sweater and black skirt. I told her that she looked very cute in pink, but then I asked her what happened to her hat? She told me she left it in the back. Anyway, we wished each other a happy new year, and I was off to use the next ticket.

Akiyoshi Yuka/Ota Aika/Sakaguchi Riko/Tomiyoshi Asuka Special Stage (D11) - Lovetan was off today, so it was only the trio. That was fine, since I was mainly there to see Yukachan (and to a lesser degree Asuka) Since I was using an open ticket, I had to wait for the people with tickets to go be seated first, then those of us with open tickets went in last. The funny part was that we still drew entrance lottery tickets (we just didn't use them) And whaddya know, I drew a very low number. So I would have been in the first two rows if I used a regular ticket. Oh well. Fans were allowed to film and photograph the entire event, which was cool. I had limited room on my phone, so I decided to only film little snippets.


if the video does not show watch the video here
if the video does not show watch the video here



The girls were drawing pictures based on audience recommendation, and then we played janken to win what they drew. I lost in the second round for the first set of photos, but in the second round, I WON!!! And there were a couple hundred people there, so that was really cool. Rikopi was making a big deal out of me after I got through the second round. At the end they asked whose drawing I wanted, but I didn't even need to answer. Yukachan stepped forward and said "He wants mine!", she then turned to me while I was shaking my head affirmatively. After the show Yukachan said she wanted to put some messages on it for me, and asked me to wait for a few minutes.



Winning this prize really made up for my bad win percentage for the New Years Cards. Anyway, by the time that ended Slot 4 was pretty much over, so no chance to use my last Open Ticket. I had considered using it on Mio. Perhaps there would be someone new in Slot 5 who I would like to see...

Tani Marika (Slot 5) - I hadn't spoken to Tani for a while, plus her birthday was on Thursday. So at the very least I could wish her a Happy Birthday. BTW, I hadn't gotten the chance to sign a birthday card for her yet. Luckily her committee was there, and they gave me her Special Birthday booklet...



Per usual, Tani made her grand entrance by jumping into the next lane and attacking Arai Yuki, which made for a fun handshake for the dude in her lane. Tani was in all white, with a cool looking hat, and her hair was gorgeous. Tani greeted me with a big "Happy New Year", but I waved her off. "The more important day, Happy Birthday!!!" As I said it she put her hand to her ear like "Yeah, lets hear it!" I told her that I loved her outfit, and that she looked like "Hip-hop Tani" as I was being pushed out. Tani said something I didn't catch, but it got the queue laughing.


From Tani's twitter

Fuchigami Mai (Slot 5) - I had applied for other Maichan tickets in earlier rounds, but this and Slot 2 ended up being the only 2 I won. Listening to her speak, she still sounded good. So I told her that I was glad that she wasn't feeling ill. But then it got all scratchy as she demonstrated to me how her voice has sounded for the past few days. She then said, in very broken English, that she wants her English to be better (which is odd, since on previous occasions her English has sounded really good) So I told her I would be happy to be her English Sensei. "Hontoni??? Please come back" However unfortunately this was my last Fuchigami ticket for the day.

I contemplated using my final Open Ticket in this slot, but it had gotten very hot in the venue, and I was beginning to sweat. I decided to go upstairs and get something to drink before Slot 6. Plus I had a lot of tickets to burn through during the next two rounds. Eventually I came back downstairs, and I was trying to strategize who to see and when. None of the members had a long queue, so I decided to start with Mikitty...

Yakata Miki (Slot 6) - It had been a while since I had talked to Mikitty, at least three months. The good news was that I won the New Years Card, so that would break the ice, so to speak. I wasn't sure how I should write my me on the winning card. I chose Katakana, however Miki was more interested in my last name, which was printed on the ticket (and stapled to the form) Actually my last name can be hard to pronounce, but she did it perfectly the first time. Anyway, she ended up writing my entire name on the card, which is why I covered up part of it in the pic.



A few minutes later I re-queued for Mikitty, the first thing she said was "You didn't win?" It was odd, since it did seem like most people were winning in her queue. I told her it was okay since talking is the most fun. This time I commented on her cute outfit, particularly her earrings. They looked like big Mahjong tiles, but was afraid to call them that since it might be insulting. Nevertheless, Mikitty was like "Do you know Mahjong? They are like big Mahjong tiles!"


From Mikitty's twitter

Akiyoshi Yuka (Slot 6) - Finally I would get to see Yuka-chan, and I was greeted with a great big "Chrisssss!!!!! Omedetou!!!" I was like Yes, "I am the Janken Champion!!" Anyway, I told her that the stage was a lot of fun, and I was glad that I went. I had another ticket for Akiyoshi in the next slot, so I told her I would see her again.



Tanabe Miku (Slot 6) - So at one point between running back and forth from Miki to Yuka's lane, I noticed the sign for Tanamin's lane was taken down. So I went over to the directory and sure enough, there was a sign that said that she had called in sick (She also called in sick for Sunday's event). Damn! It had been a while since I had talked to Miku, and I wanted to finally congratulate her for the Janken win. I went back to the chara-ani booth, since I was under the impression that I had to get the ticket stamped in order to use it as an "open ticket". I had a little trouble communicating with the person at the booth, and originally they didn't even realize that Tanamin was out, but then they finally explained to me that i could just use the ticket and it didn't need a special stamp. I was slightly suspicious of this explanation, and I was running out of time in the slot, so I decided to go back to a lane I had a bit of rapport with and ask them...
Yakata Miki (Slot 6-open ticket) - So I asked the guy running the check-in if I could use the ticket. He was like "Did she call in sick? Sure, you can use it here then" It almost seemed like I could have brought any ticket over and he would let me use it. When Mikitty tried to confirm that I had lost again for her New Year's card I had explained what happened, and I decided to come and see her one more time today. She was happy to hear that.

Slot 7 was supposed to be my final slot, but one of my tickets got transferred to Slot 8. So I would be staying at Makuhari a bit longer than expected. There was also the issue of this final Open Ticket I was carrying around. I had looked at the schedule, and there were a few members I was considering using it for...

Akiyoshi Yuka (Slot 7) - This was probably the one time that I was really hoping to win the prize, which was the 1S-recording. But alas, I failed again. So I told Akiyoshi that I had been catching up on old episodes of Odekake, and that my favorite was when she went shopping at the lingerie store. She got all embarrassed, but thanked me for watching. As I was leaving she said, in English, "I want to see you more often" Damn Yuka-chan, pushing hard for me to oshi her. She absolutely knows how to push my buttons. And again, she claims she is not confident in English, but what I find incredible is when she does speak it, she does it with hardly any accent. Needless to say, I am falling in love with Yuka-chan. So this was my final ticket of the day with her, but it wouldn't be my last encounter.

Hidaka Yuzuki (Slot 7) - I forgot to mention this in when I talked about Mikitty, but both she and Yuzuki were in Lane 2, while Tani was in Lane 1, with a totally clear view of the Lane 2 queue. So this would be the FOURTH time Tani would see me in another lane within about 90 minutes. And yes, she was giving me the stink-eye. Also, Yuzuki's queue was by far the longest queue I endured for the entire day, especially before the check-in. It took quite a while to make it to her booth. I was also hoping (in vain) to win the New Year's card since I really hadn't planned what to talk to her about. So when I finally got my turn it was pretty much "Happy New Year" "Feeling genki?" and other standard fare. I still think she is great though.

I still had over 10 minutes to decide if I wanted to use my last open ticket in this slot, and I did since I didn't know how long the queue would be for my final ticket. I had considered a few different members. Should I make it up to Tani for being in Lane 2 all day? But then I would be using 3 of my four open tickets on members I already knew, which sort of defeats the purpose. I also considered using it on Yuka-chan (and I probably should have) but again. I strongly considered using it on Lemon-chan, who I have met many times before, but the last time was over 3 years ago. Then there was Yamada Marina, who I have considered getting tickets for before. In fact I almost went to her lane, except she was right next to Akiyoshi. I finally, on a whim, decided to go "off the board" and visit someone who had made an impression on me, I had heard is a great handshake experience, and I had never met before. And wow, what a kami-experience!

Sakaguchi Riko (Slot 7) - I never really considered visiting Rikopi before, despite the fact that I love her personality. She isn't really my type. Part of the reason I chose Rikopi over Marina was that she was two lanes over to the left of Akiyoshi, while Marina was one lane over to the right. However, the lane in-between had no queue, and Yuka-chan had a clear view into Rikopi's queue. Now I felt really bad for not using this ticket on her. But Yuka-chan was great. She was waving to me, talking to me, totally a great sport. Once again, Yuka-chan was awesome. But not to be outdone....

"Kurisu!!!!" was the first thing Rikopi says to me. How the hell did she know my name????? I had never met her before!!! Talk about Kami-experience? This has to be a first! It turned out that Rikopi was all interested in my "relationship" with Yuka-chan, so when she was adding messages to that signboard I had won earlier Akiyoshi told her my name. And she remembered. How cool is that? Anyway, I thanked her for the special stage and told her it was a lot if fun. She then started calling me the "Janken King" I was like "Yes, that's me!!!"

Matsumura Kaori (Slot 7, Slot 8) - It turned out that Kaotan was attending a wedding for a friend on Saturday. As a result they cancelled her Slot 7. However, if you had a Slot 7 ticket you could either a) use it as an open ticket, or b) use it in Slot 8. Since Kaotan is one of my favorite members to meet, I decided to tough it out and wait for the last slot. However, I didn't want to spend a long time in the queue, so I got over the early so I could be one of the first to see her. I was worried she might not even make this slot, but she make it about 10 minutes after the slot started.

So when I came up to her for some reason she stayed in the corner of her booth away from the guard. She greeted me with a "Happy New Year", and I told her that I watched her performance on Kouhaku. She was like "Really? You stayed home to watch Kouhaku?" Yes, really! I was rooting for her. She thanked me, and asked if she would see me tomorrow (Sunday) and I said "No". She was like why not? So I told her I was going somewhere else. But that wasn't good enough for Detective Kaotan. "Where are you going tomorrow?" "I am going to a Wasamin event" She says "Wasamin? I like Wasamin too" Meanwhile I hear a chorus of "Wasamin" and giggling coming from the queue. I always try to hide from the members who else I am a fan of, especially Kaotan. But now she knows I am a Wasafan.

So it was a long day, my feet hurt, and I was at the venue much later than expected. So I decided to have dinner in Chiba before I headed back home. My next 48-group event isn't until March, so I guess I will be on a bit of an AKBreak.

 

@Matto
I happened to be nearby when you were looping Riona's line. I forget which slot it was, but her fans were cheering you on at the time.

Anyway, to both you and @Sakuraism . Ya know, I mentioned the issue of feedback, but the real problem is the scrolling issue that takes place with the excessive screenshots on the page, especially when they are in "png" format. For example, I have been on the page for about five minutes now and it is still scrolling upward loading the screenshots.

So hopefully using the spoiler tags will alleviate that issue. If we can minimize the use of png images, that would be great too.

Thanks for understanding.