Your AKB48 Experiences

Yeah earlier I thought had quoted the OP metallion but ended up responding to @David61 . anyway regarding the password credentials I do have my passport number there and actually need to update the expiration. I send an email to support regarding the name change so we'll see what happens. It's honestly so frustrating navigating the site. Japanese websites are just so "foreign" to me. It's difficult just to get to my own profile page

Edit 2023.02.14
The response from support was the same form letter, saying I can't change my profile after creation. I can delete my GroupID and create a new one with the correct information. with the added instruction that if I have already applied for tickets, I can show up at the theater and explain to reception that I am a shifty gaijin that used a false name on my profile. at that point reception and management MAY allow me to enter if they can positively ID me. in this case, my passport number is the same as in the profile and the katakana name happens to be the phonetic version of my legal name.

I am hesitant to delete my group ID because it is already tied to video warehouse and chara ani, so I will probably have to quit both and create new accounts to link everything up. Luckily DMM stays a separate login. I'm trying to decide if I want to do all that because if I am going to fly to Japan, I would like everything to go as smooth as possible.

 

Posting to here:

I just finished meeting Okada Nana for the fourth and final time at around midnight today. I told her how I'm a cancer survivor and how she's an inspiration. I told her it's my dream to go to Japan and potentially meet her. I also playfully offered to help her with english translations for her song.

She loved that. She told me she wants to meet me too. She said she'll be waiting for me. I really love and appreciate this girl. She's an amazing soul and I'm happy I got the chance to say goodbye to her as an AKB48 member. Thank you, Okada Nana. I want to meet you in person soon.

 

Hi, I just won the lottery for the Team 8 concert on April 30th. My name is also in katakana on the website, I wanna change it to English to match my passport. How do I contact support?

 

I sent them an email but never got a reply. Other people, who did get a reply, were told that you can't change it.

 

Ok Thanks. I do have my picture on my profile so that should make things a lot easier.

 

Just finished my first send-off/waving event here at Tsutaya Shibuya. Now in line with my second ticket.

First, I just want to say I'm glad to see how diverse the fans are. Sure, many of the people in line are ojisans, but there are also a lot of women of all ages in line. Some of the ladies are quite stylish and fashionable. Also saw at least a couple of moms with their kid/baby.

As for the men, the age ranges from a high school kid to a balding grandpa. There were also some ikemen stylish guys.

As for the actual event. It all happened so fast. It was literally a walk-by while waving. I was only able to look clearly at Yuiyui and Yuki. Everyone's a blur.

I was able to say loudly at Yuki, "Hi! フィリピンから来ました！" (Hi! I'm from the Philippines!). Her face brigthened up. And that felt good（^_^）

ETA

Ok, I'm done with my second and last ticket. The line sure was long. It went all the way down to the first floor of the emergency staircase from the 6th floor, then went up again to the 8th floor for the event area.

I'm really happy that AKB is still popular after all. Maybe not as much as before, but it's definitely still popular.

 

AKB48 Kenkyuusei Tadaima Renaichuu Theater Stage 5/1
Cast members: Aichan, Erichan, Nonchan, Yukinee, Hotechan, Mayuu, Mizumin & Sorara

Finally I won my first-ever Akihabara Theater show so late this afternoon I headed for the 8F of Donki where I was able to easily pay for my ticket and be ready to return an hour later for the show. However while I was there I became aware of some activity in the lobby area where I found two staff members sitting behind a table along with Kokko (who wasn't in tonight's cast). As soon as I entered the lobby I was approached by another staff member who proceeded to give me some sort of hard sell in Japanese! However I was able to work out for myself what was happening - basically they were trying to get people to sign up for the 17ki NicoNico Channel and anyone who did that there today would get some talk time with Kokko which was nice but it's not a service I wanted to join.

Anyway, back to the show - when it was approaching start time, each set of ticket numbers was randomly called forward to enter the Theater in groups of ten. I was in the 10-19 group which was called forward about two-thirds of the way through which meant I was in the standing area but in the front of that towards the left-hand side. It wasn't the best view but by no means the worst.

The setlist was the same as in the Wiki except that instead of Oogoe Diamond as the last song the eight members performed 'Doushitemo Kimi ga Suki da' which got the biggest cheer of the night. Of the other songs my favourite performances were 'Junai no Crescendo' (Sorara looked great in the costume) and 'Seifuku ga Jama wo Suru' with Yukinee standing out in that for me.

Of the members I'd rate Aichan as the best performer (and she had the noisiest fans!) but Sorara was also very good as well as Mayuu who always seemed to be very confident on stage. However Yukinee remains my favourite 17ki member and I'm sure our eyes met a few times lol. Aichan definitely did notice me, during the final MC I could see her looking at me so I waved back and she replied with a love sign.

Finally 6 of the members stood on the stage ready for the send-off while Aichan and Mizumin went to one side with some flyers. When it was time for me to walk past I made eye-contact with all of the members and got smiles in return but for Yukinee I made a 'hearto' sign. Hopefully she'll definitely remember me for the talks on Saturday in Yokohama!

And indeed I also have talk tickets for Aichan and Mizumin and I'm very sure they'll remember me as I took a flyer from them and I was able to see them very close-up and say 'Arigato'. As for the flyer, this is my copy, it's for 'AKB48 Ii na (17) Kenkyuujou!' as well as for merch:



And finally a few other photos from the Theater:



I realise that KKS shows are easier to win but there was nothing to suggest that tonight's show was second-rate or second-best. All 8 members performed very strongly and I felt tonight that they were as good as many of their seniors. Now I have the Fang Music Fes on Thursday in Yokohama to look forward to with more from the 17ki!

 

Gah, incredibly jealous. 17ki is the strongest. I’d honestly prefer their theatre show over a full-lineup live, lol. That’s pretty crazy how they had a bonus Kokko there as a signup incentive. As a Kokko fan who has been wanting to sign up to that Nico channel for a long time, that would have been the perfect opportunity. I’d recommend at least doing an online talk with Kokko if you like her at all.

I’m considering doing TIF this year since I still have airfare credit for a canceled 2020 GW trip, but Japan in summer is so brutal. Would be nice to be able to see all the Japan 48 groups in one place, though. The addition of some Sakamichi groups(at least the new gens) and maybe an additional 17ki/18ki performance would help.

Anyway, sorry for ranting but that sounds like an awesome time!

 

Fang Music Fes KT Zepp Yokohama 5/4 - 17ki Performance

Cast - all members except Hotechan (who I later discovered had tested positive today for Covid )

Setlist:

M1 Seventeen
M2 Lucky Seven
M3 Ponytail to Shushu

MC - self introduction

M4 Eien Pressure
M5 Flying Get
M6 Tsugi no Season
M7 Ano Natsu no Bohatei
M8 Oogoe Diamond
M9 Namida Surprise

17ki were one of 7 idol groups performing tonight at the festival, the line-up of which included NGT48 and HKT48 and one of the MCs was ex-SKE48 member Suda Akari. Fans could video the first song of each performance, this is mine of 'Seventeen':


if the video does not show watch the video here

All 9 members gave good performances and it was definitely my favourite of the evening. At the end Akarin presented the members with a cake for their 1st anniversary.

At the end of the festival all of the idol groups' members returned to the stage for a final MC but 17ki were now missing Mizumin and Erichan who'd had to quarantine because of contact with Hotechan, and Mayuu who was losing her voice. Hopefully everyone will be fine and Hotechan will recover quickly. It was something of a sad ending to another great evening I had with 17ki!

 

61st Single Offline Talk Event - Pacifico Yokohama 5/6 (part 1 - slots 1-4)

It was great to be back at Pacifico after 3 years of only online talk events. I had a very long and busy day meeting members and for most of the talks I started by introducing myself as an English fan visiting Japan so I won't keep repeating myself in this report and I'll try and keep it as concise as possible (I'll split it into two parts).

Sato Airi
Aichan was wearing an amazing angel costume complete with wings and halo. She was very lively and a good start to the day.

Tokunaga Remi
My first ex-Eito of the day. As I expected she was very pretty but she was a little quiet.

Kobayashi Ran
I’d been looking forward so much to meeting Ran in person after a very good online talk with her a couple of months ago but this week she announced graduation. I still said though that she was the best dancer in AKB48. I made a sad face when I mentioned her graduation which she did too but I wished her ‘ganbatte’ for the future.

I then had two tickets for Hotechan who sadly tested positive for Covid but I was able to split them and transfer them to two other 17ki members:

Hashimoto Eriko
I just had time to tell her she's very cute which indeed she was.

Ota Yuki
I was expecting a very similar brief meeting with Yukitan but she was very excited to meet a foreign fan and as I left her booth she continued to wave and smile at me for a few more seconds!

Hirata Yuki
Next was my favourite 17ki member. She didn't remember me from the audience of last Monday's KKS Theater show but when I said my name she did remember me from the recent Limista online signing and she said she was happy to meet me.

Kohama Kokone
Kokko was wearing a seifuku costume and she really did look pretty close-up. I said she was lovely and cute and she gave me a very beautiful smile which I certainly won't forget!

Okada Rina
I also got a beautiful smile from Okarina when I complimented her on her blonde hair. Although she seems to be a quieter member I found her to be very lovely and lively.

Kuranoo Narumi
My talk with Naru was fairly routine about the Team 8 concerts but for me it was an achievement in that I managed for once to maintain a good longish conversation in Japanese. She's very pretty and it was great to see her close up.

Yamazaki Sora
This was the third time in 10 days that I'd seen Sorara close up and each time I've been amazed how pretty she is, her big smile is so beautiful.

Asai Nanami
I had a very good online talk with Naamin a couple of months ago and basically this was very similar with me complimenting her on being the Team B captain. She's certainly tall!

18ki
The 8 new members occupied 4 lanes which had been temporarily merged together. I'd been memorising their names but sadly I forgot Chanhina's which resulted in an awkward silence but the other meetings were much better. Saechan told me she could speak 'a little English' but she seemed to speak it well. The others who stood out for me were Kasumin who was very sweet, Yumemin who was very pretty and Kohi who I think could be my oshi among them.

Honda Hitomi
Hiichan remembered me from the Tower Records event on the release day. I congratulated her on being centre and she blew me a kiss.

Oda Erina
I said to Odaeri that the Team 8 concerts were 'sugoi' but she thought I was talking about her and she reacted by putting her hands on her head to make a love sign. I didn’t disappoint her by explaining what I meant!

In the next lane was Megu who I'd met at the Theater launch day event for the single. At past HS events booths had privacy screens which made it almost impossible to look at members in adjacent lanes. However there were no such screens at this event so you could spot other members - but other members could spot their fans in other lanes and I could feel Megu's eyes burning holes in me...

Next up should have been Zunchan but she was unwell (I only knew because she sent an apologetic tweet, there was nothing in the AKB48 Official Blog). There was therefore only one person for me to transfer her tickets to...

Taniguchi Megu
So I said hello again to her and told her a little more about myself. I said I hoped she could return to senbatsu which she definitely was hoping for, we both said 'ganbatte' together. We parted in a happy mood!

Part 2 of my report will follow tomorrow and will include a strange but very funny meeting with Orin...

 

61st Single Offline Talk Event - Pacifico Yokohama 5/6 (part 2 - slots 5-8)

After a quick late lunch I continued with the meetings:

Hidaritomo Ayaka
I'd barely introduced myself and told her I loved her big smile when I was unceremonioulsy pushed out quickly by the staff member even though there was no-one behind me. At meeting events I always seem to suffer one aggressive staff pusher who tries to assert himself and unfortunately that happened today when I met Hidaaya. Anyway she was very lovely and we spent a couple of seconds exchanging 'hearto' signs while I was just outside her booth.

Mizushima Miyuu
Mizumin was also wearing a seifuku but a different style to the one which Kokko had. She gave me a very nice reaction when realised she remembered me from the KKS Theater show audience a few days earlier! Of all the 17ki members she seemed to be the most enthusiastic about meeting fans and she showed an interest towards everyone ahead of me in her lane.

Yamauchi Mizuki
Zukkii looked very pretty in a white outfit. I’ve had online meetings with her of variable quality but this offline one went rather better and she was in a very happy mood.

Komiyama Haruka
As I've already mentioned in her thread my kami-oshi remembered me from online talks and she was very, very lovely, friendly and beautiful. She complimented me on my speaking Japanese and she said she hoped to see me again online. It's obviously more difficult for us overseas followers to establish a good fan relationship with our oshimen but I feel I have the best possible one with Komi.

Omori Maho
Mahopyon looked very pretty and very cute, and she was chatting happily with her fans in front of me. However for some reason my meeting didn't go so well, maybe she didn't understand my Japanese or it could be that I didn't recognise the plush animal she had with in her booth (it might be the one which appears in her Twitter header picture?). Anyway it was still great to meet her.

Gyoten Yurina
I was then due to meet ex-Eito member Ayane but following a late message on the official blog that she'd be absent (sadly she's tested positive for Covid) I quickly transferred her tickets to Yurina. I've long considered her to be beautiful but she looked absolutely stunning close up and it was great to meet her and to compliment her on her beauty.

The next member I was due to meet, Yuzu, was also absent (however she's recovering well from a longer-term illness) and I decided to split her 3 tickets across two other members:

Chiba Erii
I’d spotted her looking at me while I was in Maho’s lane adjacent to hers so I decided to meet her and use 2 tickets. I said I subscribed to her YouTube channel and I thanked her for including English subs on her videos. She was yet another member who looked very pretty close up.

Muto Orin
I used the remaining single ticket just to say 'hi' to her and I thought it would be a simple short meeting but it was quickly obvious that she was very interested in me! As I left her booth she shouted after me in English "What’s your name?" I replied with "David - Debido-san". However she still wanted to talk but this was delaying her next fan who was already in her booth and the staff member sternly said "Time’s up!". I'm now kicking myself that I didn't get more tickets for her!

Okabe Rin
For me, Rinrin is the second most beautiful member in the group after Komi and indeed she looked absolutely gorgeous wearing white. I told her that she had been my favourite member in Team 8, that I’d enjoyed the concerts and I wished her well for the future. She has a lovely gentle personality and a very beautiful smile.

Sakaguchi Nagisa
Sadly it was time for my final meeting. In online talks I've found that Nagi is very charismatic and and she's also very expressive with her hands making love signs with her fingers which she did again today. She’s a very sweet and lively person and she made a great end to the day.

And indeed it made a great end to my vacation. I was very lucky with the event’s scheduling, it was announced after I’d booked flights and hotels, and it just worked out that it was in easy reach of the hotel I’d booked near Haneda Airport. Ideally I’d liked to have spread the talks over the second day, doing it all in one day was a bit crammed but it all worked out well. Even though the members were behind screens I felt I’d definitely met them in person and it’s so much different and better than online talks. I can't wait to return to Japan and maybe next time fans won't have to wear face masks - for me it's not so bad without handshaking but I do love to be able to exchange smiles with my oshis!

 

Glad that you enjoyed your short session with Orin. I have been going to Orin's lane since 2017 and I should admit that she's a very smart kid who would initiate conversations with the fans. There were times when I completely forgot what I wanted to say or had no plan to say anything, then she would throw me a lot of questions about myself. In her SHOWROOM, she once said that she is also interested in learning about the background of her fans, such as what are your hobbies or what kind of jobs are you doing. This could be some ideas of topics for hanashikai with her.

When I met Orin last weekend, the moment I walked to her she already called my name. She was very excited as usual. I asked her about gradschool and she told me that she is excited to learn so many new things in gradschool. Then, I figured out I could also share my experience in getting a master degree. She listened very attentively and responded with some comments. When I told her good luck with gradschool, she told me that she would learn a lot from me (re: I'm currently in Japan for doctoral degree). When the time was up, she kept talking to me even though I already walked away but was still looking at her. She told me that she wanted to learn English.

I always recommend everyone to meet Orin because she is a fun member and you will never run out of topics. She is also keen to learn about your countries and maybe some easy words from your country.

 

61st Single "Doushitemo Kimi ga Suki da" online hanashikai - 27th and 28th of May 2023

Yamauchi Mizuki
I won a 1-shot so I asked her to do a finger heart and the Team K pose! I then told her I will be coming to Japan in October and that I want to see the theatre, watch AKB live and meet Zukky. She was super cute and replied "I want to see you too!" and then asked me about my plans for Japan, what cities I'm going to, etc. I said I'm nervous since my Japanese is quite poor but she said "no it's really good!"


Yamazaki Sora
I told Sorara about our annual Stage48 ranking and that she placed 22nd out of all active 48G & Sakamichi members, and also 1st among KKS. She was very happy and thanked me for telling her!

Kobayashi Ran (27th)
Of course, first things first, I congratulated her on her graduation. I told her I'm sad about it but that I'll continue supporting her, and that I'd see her the day after as well as both online hanashikai in July. She thanked me and seemed very happy about it! This slot was quite a bit after my Zukky slot, so I'd posted my 1-shot photo on Discord already and found out that the Team K pose emoji is called "love you gesture," which made me realise that the Team K pose is nearly the same as "ILY" in American Sign Language (except in ASL the palm faces away from the speaker), so I ended up telling her about this coincidence. She was super shocked, but then quickly got excited, showing the gesture and saying "I love you, I love you~"

The photos below aren't mind, they're from twitter, but just wanted to show off her cute outfit!



Kobayashi Ran (28th)
I started off by telling her how cute she looks again and then said her graduation dress was super cute too. I asked her what her favourite song was during her graduation stage and she said the "Wagamama na Nagareboshi" unit because it's really cute. I said I like it too and my favourite that time was "Yaban na Kyuuai," which got her really excited. Time was running out quickly so I said good bye and Ran ended it with "see you soon"

Will add some photos of how she looked once I find some online!

EDIT: From Suzuki Kurumi's twitter:

 

(The idols all spoke Japanese so I'll relay the messages here in English)

Doushitemo Kimi ga Suki da - Online Talk 05/26/23

Hirata Yuki
Super sweet and curious about foreigners. I botched so many lines because I had just found out my account on twt was accidentally suspended because of a stupid bug lmao

Chiba Erii
Really unique and she remembers me which is awesome. Showed her the autograph I have of her and she said she's really appreciative and said I love you before it cut out lol

Omori Maho
Girl is ALWAYS loud that's why I like going to her so much lmao I told her if she ever watched my favorite anime, Lucky Star, and she was like noooo! I recommended it to her so hopefully she watches it!

Sato Minami
Really mature vibes. She came across a total pro and talked like a friend instead of a celebrity. I told her I loved watching her on SayoMouri and she was really appreciative. Also said sorry for my broken Japanese but she was like 'its no problem! You're fine!' She's definitely someone I'd like to meet again.

Honda Hitomi
A baby egg. Immediately said hello in English and asked what time it was when I said good evening. I told her congratulations on the center and that the song is really good too and she said thank you! Pretty sure she said goodbye in English too and waved like ...she is so damn precious.

Kashiwagi Yuki
She remembers me which made me super happy. I told her I hope she's doing well and if she had a recommended hanami spot for my trip to Japan next year. She said Ueno and Meguro River are great spots!

Overall, I had a lot of fun but I definitely botched some lines with the first three girls. Next AKB slots are on 7/7 for me with Orin, Sorara, and Mion, so I'm really looking forward to meeting them!

 

Today was my first time doing an online talk. I’ve been once to a physical handshake event but that was well before covid. I only had two tickets so it was a quick but enjoyable session. I decided to give it a go since Shimizu Maria was graduating and I wanted to meet her before she did. My Japanese is ok, but it sometimes takes me a while to comprehend what people are saying, so I decided on what I was going to say beforehand.

With Maria, I introduced myself first as a fan from England, which she said was sugoi. I told her I enjoyed watching Batchikoi and her drama Kaeranai Ojisan. She replied that she was very happy about that. I was caught off guard by the time so was cut off without saying bye.

For the second ticket I considered going to see Berin, but she was already sold out by that point, and Takahashi Ayane’s, and Yoshikawa Nanase’s slots were a bit too early for me. So, I decided to use the other ticket on Omori Maho. I have a signed limista from Maho-pyon so I showed her that, and she managed to get my name, which she struggled with in the signing livestream. I told her I became a fan of hers after watching Sayonara Mouri-san. I was going to talk about the Sports Test program she was part of, as she did well but was covered in bandages and tape, but I ran out of time again. This time I managed to say bye before I was cut off.

After doing this I’m definitely going to try and do more online talks. I think one ticket is too rushed so next time I’ll try at least two for each member I want to see. I’m saving my money because I want to go to an irl handshake this year at some point (to try and meet Berin before she graduates), but I might try some of the online talks beforehand.

Thanks to everyone for their help in navigating the system. The strangest aspect for me is having to sit waiting in silence before the talk, then suddenly being thrust into it. Even though I only had a short time with both it was still worth it.

 

Here's a report of my online talks today:

Komiyama Haruka
Yet another very good talk with my kami-oshi. I told her that I enjoyed meeting her at the offline event in Yokohama and she was very happy when I showed her I bought a copy of 'Gravure Press' with her and Ayanan on the cover, likewise she was very pleased when I told her I'd joined her Fan Club. I said I hoped I could attend a fan meeting one day.

Kohama Kokone
My only bonus win of the day was a signing from Kokko so I had longer to talk with her. I said that I enjoyed meeting her in Yokohama but she didn't remember me lol, however she was pleased to know that I enjoyed her performance with 17ki at the Fang Music Fest. At the end I said she was very 'kawaii' and I got a very sweet smile from her but otherwise she was rather quiet as I expected.

Hotei Moka
By contrast Hotechan was very lively! I told her that I enjoyed her performances at the AKB Theater and the Fang Music Fes. She was very sweet and good fun to talk to which made up for not being able to meet her in Yokohama as she was quarantining for Covid.

Taniguchi Megu
As I've said elsewhere I'm recently having better talks with my ni-oshi and this one was good too. I said it was nice to meet her in Japan and she said that she remembered me from the CD handover event at the Theater. I got a very happy reaction from her when I said I hoped she could be in the senbatsu for the 62nd single - might that be a hint of some good news to come?

Hirata Yuki
I also told Yukinee that I enjoyed meeting her in Yokohama and seeing her perform with the 17ki at the Theater and at the Fang Music Fest. I don't think she remembered me but no matter, she was rather livelier than in previous offline and online talks and she seems to be overcoming any shyness she had.

Arai Sae
I bought 5 tickets for Saechan in the hope of having a good English conversation with her and indeed it went very well! This is how it went aas I can remember:

Me: Hello, konbanwa, I'm David from England. I visited Japan in April and May and I met you and the other 18th Gen members at Pacifico Yokohama.
Sae: Yes I remember you!
Me: Your English speaking is very good.
Sae: I'm not sure about that...
Me: It really is good. I hope you can visit England one day.
Sae: I've been to London!
Me: Really? Did you visit with your family?
Sae: Yes, we saw the musical 'Les Miserables'.
Me: Wow that's very good! Maybe one day you can come here with AKB48 for a concert.
Sae: I hope so too!
(end timer countdown now appeared)
Me: Thank You for the talk! Arigato gozaimasu!
Sae: Thank You too!

We then exchanged 'hearto' signs and that was the end. Quite apart from her good English she was a very lovely and happy person to meet.

Sako Yumemi
I just had 2 tickets for Yumemin. She was relatively quiet but still very nice to talk to. I just said that I'd met her at the offline talk, I'm not sure she remembered me but I wished her 'Ganbatte' for the future.

Narita Kohina
I also just had 2 tickets for Kohi but she was rather livelier and she wanted to show me she could speak some English by saying basic stuff like "Pleased to meet you" and "Have a nice day". Definitely a fun person to meet!

I enjoyed today's online talks rather more than others I've had in the past year and perhaps it could be because it was mainly KKS members? Anyhow I hope that online talks will be available for the next single and maybe I might try talking to other 18ki members to discover more about them.

 

7/25 第5回 AKB48グループ歌唱力No.1決定戦 ファイナリストLIVE

And here we are again, this time in Tachikawa which is waaay out of my usual grounds but it was very refreshing change from the usual. However, I had messed up my planning, as it turned out that the planned end for the concert was after I needed to leave to make it to last shinkansen, I could not make it all the way.

Also being a concert and me having a seat on the 20th row, and far from edge of the row, I had zero interaction chances. Oh well, at least I could enjoy the concert! Of course the dude seated in front of me was just tall enough to cover whetever member was in the middle of the stage, but that was less of an issue once things got moving.

In all honesty, not many of the members taking part are on my list with one exception, but maybe today makes a difference.

Note: I will skip some details because I’m not in the habit of spoilers.

For me, even if she did not win the singing contest the greatest showwoman was Akiyoshi Yuka. Everyone there was great at singing, but she gave (in my mind) the most energetic and excited performance. Also very pleasant new face was Okamura Rio, and while I did not check yet, I hope she is on the roster for the STU concerts coming soon. Other highlights: Lee Siyeon had chosen a nice song and her delivery was excellent - for a moment I thought the original singer was there - and a certain member brought a self-written song. Also, Taguchi Manaka was, IMHO, way cuter live than in TV.

The flow of the concert was very predictable - first individual songs, then unit songs, then 48G medley where people were encouraged to do MIX etc, but because of the way sound were set up, I could only hear faintly if people were doing any. After the 48G medley there was the usual EEEEEEE~ moment which was my cue to make my way to the exit and towards Tokyo station and I was able to make it into last shinkansen to Nagoya.

Tomorrow more shenanigans - ramen time coming up in Hakata!

 

07月29日　パシフィコ横浜 AKB48 61stシングル「どうしても君が好きだ」Ohanashikai

It was some long years with that cursed plague but finally I was able to get back to having my fix of cute girls to talk to. Now, I have done exactly zero online talks due to Reasons(tm) but the biggest being that I didn’t feel like online would have the magic of actually being a <1m apart and chatting with almost-angels which is something that my Real Life lacks completely. However, because of the mentioned Real Life I had actually trouble choosing which members to meet, but I did find a few:

Slot 2 Hotei Moka: I sure started with a bang. Right off the bat her cuteness turned me into a pink blob of happiness. She is so tiny and adorable and lovely that it is hard to describe without resorting to superlative superlatives. She’s not the brightest though, as I noticed later. I started with telling her I’m from Finland (this is relevant for later) and told him that since I don’t know the new members I’m starting from the cutest one. I also discussed the upcoming 17th gen concert and she told me to go buy a ticket which influenced my decision to do so, for lack of a better word, HEAVILY.

Slot 2 Nakanishi Chiyori: I had wanted to meet Chori for a while now, as I’ve noted her all the way from her HKT days and she’s always balanced her lulzy ways nicely. Also she has been very attractive IMHO for a while now, and I definitely wanted to meet her while having the chance. And it was as expected, she was very easy to talk with helped me with keeping the conversation rolling. She did feed me some obvious bullshit of wanting to visit Finland and asked me to guide but I didn’t care as she made me happy. She also liked to hear I go to HKT theater. We also discussed her graduation stage date but unfortunately my summer vacation is over by then.

Slot 3 Yamazaki Sora: Not really knowing her either, I went with similar lines and she too is extremely cute and fun to talk to, but I do admit being so overpowered by Moka that Sorara didn’t get the chance to shine. However, she too will be on my list if/when my calendar and AKB hanashikais match.

Slot 4 Otake Hitomi: I’ve liked Chake for a while now, and having seen her at theater few years ago I was happy to finally get to meet her. Also being senior member, she was the first one to catch my clue of my oshimen having graduated and I am on the market for a new one. She was very nice to talk to and I might consider spending my money on more tickets for her. However, this day is starting to look like Moka takes the cake.

What else went down: It is rather obvious that the sales for 17th gen concert is in the shits, as they were selling tickets on site, having 2-3 members constantly there trying to draw sales (which slowly happened) and they only cared if you had a ticket center account number and means of payment. The lady at the counter told me I can write the required address from ticket center with Kanji or English or an address in Finland, and I interpreted that they don’t care. The kicker in buying a ticket at the site was that one got a looong talk with the members present, so the previously expensive ticket price just became a lot better value. When I got there the members were Hotei Moka, Hirata Yuki and Ota Yuki. Once I got to speak with them, and started with telling Moka ”I bought it”, she introduces me to the others as ”This guy is from Malaysia”. Now I have maximum respect for Malaysians, but I am not one of them so i corrected her that I’m Finnish, and Hirata Yuki reminded her that ”Malaysians are Asians you know.” We kept on going for a while until it was time to go and then the fans who had gathered around gave a weak applause (they did to those who bought tickets) and I went on my merry ways.

Slot 5 Ma Chia-Ling: I actually had 5 tickets for her but oshimashi’d two to meet Chiba Erii. I have wanted to meet Macharin for a few years now but never gotten around to it, and it was fun as apparently she doesn’t meet a lot of Finns, so it was quite entertaining. That being said she did get overshadowed by what went down before and after. Would buy again and I recommend everyone else to do at least once and see for yourself.

Slot 6 Chiba Erii: I oshimashi’d to her just to see for myself what she was all about. For the lulz I went in with ”English OK?” and the answer was a quick ”NO” which was OK since I could get my point across in Japanese. No low points but she’s not for me. Might be for you, so see for yourself.

Slot 6 Yamauchi Mizuki: I had heard before that her handshakes weren’t the best but for the record: I DISAGREE COMPLETELY. She was, for lack of a better word, wonderful. She was easy to talk to and once it was time for me to go, she moved sideways in the booth so we could maintain eye contact as long as possible. Of today’s members, she was tied for the best effort in making my knees wobble with Moka. I will for sure drop my hard earned money on her in the future. If my shortlist for oshi-potential wasn’t so skewed for SKE, Zukki could easily have a spot.

Slot 6 Komiyama Haruka: Komi was the only one I didn’t remember to mention being Finnish, as I started with telling that we’ve met in a zenaku in 2017 and she’s grown more beautiful ever since. Talking with her was easy and she was also quick to catch on to the cue of me searching for a new oshi. She made the conversation easy even with my limited ability, and was very much fun to interact with. Also when it was time to go, she told me that my (blue) eyes were, switching to English, ”Beautiful”, which was an excellent way to end the day. (Note: she is the second member to tell me that, first being Queen of the World Furuhata Nao.)

Along other stuff I had the chance to meet foreign fans, some familiar from past and some I haven’t before which was very nice. Also I saw people showing up in the queues with foreign passports so there was plenty of foreigners around.

All in all a great day, my only complaint was that I didn’t buy more tickets or tickets for tomorrow’s event.

Tomorrow: Boatless boat girls!

 

Well well, was a few days since the last AKB event but back on track!

8/6 AKB48 17研究所！ Presents 17期研究生 単独LIVE〜嬉しすぎて歯が抜けそうです！〜

So as mentioned above I was fished into buying a ticket for this event by Hotechan. I wasn’t actually planning on it since 1) I had a 3-day ticket for TIF (and in the end skipped all days) and 2) I didn’t want to deal with the hassle of AKB Ticket Center smartphone ticket app activation. If I had, I’d then bought the tickets for more AKB team concerts and also bought the more expensive guaranteed front area tickets. However, as I was buying from the ohanashikai site, there was just one class of ticket available.

I got to the site just at the time when the exchange started (note I got from HS event for the actual concert ticket) and while there was a big crowd of people, it wasn’t sold out as there was same-day tickets available. I got my ticket and waited around with a bunch of other foreign fans, got into the venue, exchanged my mandatory drink token for some refreshing Aquarius, skipped goods sales for toilet as it was about 5 minutes before go time, and then it was on!

I’ll not spoil the contents of the concert in case someone hasn’t seen it yet and wants to maintain surprise, but I was very pleased with the concert content. It was a massive amount of fun from the 17th gen! Everyone looked cute (Hotechan of course most of all), Kokko was slightly weird, otherwise things were normal.

The view I got wasn’t complete shit but it was what to be expected. I could see most of the stage, and girls from about waist up unless they did dance moves where they went low, or some cunt moved their head in front of me. Also, I had my now trusted binoculars with me, and I admit every now and then I stopped waving lightsticks so I could focus on eyeballing Hotechan or Sorara.

Some notes of the concert: They actually had a budget? Unlike others I’ve been to recently they had lazers etc and even soap bubbles and hovering styrofoam hearts (one of which is now a memento for me), some of which had messages. I do recommend watching this concert and even though I’d happily have spent the extra cash to get the better seats, I don’t mind spending for these either.

Then came omiokuri (hell yeah) where they did manage to lump all people to a single line going past the members, and I might have screwed over a couple of the people behind me by taking over Sorara’s attention for such a long time that a couple of people after me were past her when our eye contact moved elsewhere. Then I was at Hotechan and got even bigger happiness boost. After which it was out to door, got given a handwritten message card and also free Cup Ramen (Which I gave away).

Then it was off to shinkansen and try to figure out how to manage one 48-less day for this trip. Next up: More tebasaki!

 

So, it was supposedly a 48-less day for me today but I wasn’t ready to accept it so:

AKB48 大衣装展～オサレカンパニーの世界～

This was more convenient than I thought as I was anyway near Tokyo station and walk to the site took only a few minutes. They had a pop-up store in the ground floor so most of the stuff was already sold out, so I headed to the 11th floor to see the actual exhibition. I had seen the tickets being sold earlier on eplus but didn’t as I wasn’t sure of my schedule and there was supposedly day tickets available. Heading upstairs, I noticed quite soon where the exhbition was. The downside was that the info screen showed a 90-minute wait, so I got my Airwait ticket for queueing for the actual queue and decided to go buy some tea from a certain brand downstairs whose teas I am fond of. That 90-minute wait wasn’t accurate as after about 30 minutes I got e-mail that I should get back to the queue which I did.

The actual exhibition was slightly underwhelming but actually more crowded than I expected as basically people could walk in a queue around the exhibit and take photos once in front of an uniform… and there was a lot of them. For most uniforms they had Center’s version but not all. For a couple entire senbatsu’s was there. There wasn’t that much ”special” features which you might see at exhibitions, but they had one projector playing music viceos and some background music. One special feature was a separate room for graduation dresses which was nice, one could examine from all directions.

One thing where this exhibition was different from anything 48 ever was the ratio of young women vs. old guys. Completely different than usual. Also, I did enjoy being able to look at details up close, what I didn’t really like was dumbasses crowding certain locations so much that they were actually in contact with the uniforms. All in all it wasn’t a stage but worthwhile way to spend time!