Wow she knew who you were before even your first handshake... I don't know if I could handle the pure awesomeness of such a moment.
So... 3 HKT48 members (Anai Chihiro, Kodama Haruka, Moriyasu Madoka) came to Hong Kong on August 26 where I live for a fan meeting event. The event consist of 3 main parts (I believe): Interview, fan interaction, and handshake + autograph Of course getting the ticket is required for the handshake and autograph segment and it's quite an experience itself, but in case you want to get straight to the point and read about the handshake and autograph I'll make it a spoiler. Spoiler: Getting the tickets So this event was the first event specifically for the recently established AKB48 Hong Kong fan club (I'm not totally sure of the official name ) and so the tickets were only offered to members of the club. At first the staff planned to use a "first come, first serve" method where they will open a link in the club website at a specific time and we can go on and purchase a ticket. I guess they were underestimating the amount of fans or something but the moment the link is open, the server crashed hard due to too many members trying to get themselves a ticket. The staff spent a night repairing it and to prevent the server from crashing again, they changed the application method to the usual lottery, where we can apply for one ticket per HKT member. With this opportunity I applied for all three members in hope of winning at least one of them. Luck is on my side as I end up winning not one but TWO tickets (Chihiro and Madoka). Spoiler: PRE-EVENT/ARRIVAL PRE-EVENT/ARRIVAL So with tickets for Chihiro and Madoka, I arrived at the venue about an hour or so before the event started. Of course, due to the incident that happened a while ago, security tightened and handshake participants have to leave our bags at a storage and only carry valuables like phone, wallet and the ticket. By the time I got that done there were a decent amount of fans waiting. Some techno beat type of music was playing until we saw the manager and ask him to play HKT songs, which he happily did and for the remaining 45 minutes or so we listened to songs like "Suki!Suki!Skip!" and "Sakura Minna de Tabeta". Spoiler: EVENT BEGINS + "First impression" We waited for an extra 15 minutes or so before two MC who may have been HKT Staff or some MC/host from Japan came and introduce the event and then the overture came on. As usual, Hong Kong Fans try to do the mix and as usual it goes from strong and clear "TIGER! FIRE! CYBER!..." and slowly dye out after "Kasen-tobi-jokyo!". Right as the overture finish the members come to the stage and WOW the feeling of "photos don't do them justice" hits me again. All three look extremely gorgeous and the first few thought I had was "wow, Chiichan is so cute" and "damn Madoka is tall..." . Spoiler: Interview Interview segment Honestly this segment is is alittle longer than it has to be but it give me more time to look at these cute idols a bit longer so I'm not complaining. The two MC asked questions like what do you think of Hong Kong, what would you like to eat in Hong Kong and stuff like that. one moment that struck me was when I notice Haruppi was staring towards my direction (maybe to a camera or something) and I instinctively did a slightly awkward wave at her ( for some reason I did it sneakily almost as if I don't want people to see me wave for some reason.) But not sure if it's a coincidence or not she did a similar wave back to my direction (of course her wave was not awkward like mine ). Of course, at the end of this segment, The girls announce the date and venue for the Hong Kong stop of the HKT48 concert tour. Spoiler: Fan interaction Fan interaction Next on to the fan interaction which was basically a lucky draw for 5 lucky people to obtain signed prizes, including 3 signed uchiwa fan(one for each member) , A Blu-Ray set of either one of the HKT variety shows or the concerts as well as a hoodie signed by all three members. I, of course, won nothing. but after that, like in Taiwan, the three members performed "Aitakatta" as fans chant along (fairly properly this time) and for the encore call, they preformed Melon Juice. The atmosphere was incredible by then and to calm us down abit and get ready for the handshake event, the girls went backstage while the fans organise themselves for the last bit. handshake and autograph: At this moment I had to make a decision, Madoka or Chihiro first. In the end I just decided to pull out one of the two tickets and which ever one I pick I'll go. In the end I went with Madoka first. So I got in line, and wrote my name on the piece of paper provided so that the member could write our name and sign the poster. Seeing how my name is only 4 letters long, I decided to write my full name to hopefully buy myself at least an extra second. The line moved quite smoothly and I pass the metal detector staff and got a quick spray of alcohol sanitizer from another and before I know it I was second in line to Madoka. as the fan in front of me start talking to Madoka, I spend my time looking at Haruppi (who I couldn't get a ticket for) sitting beside Madoka. She looked a bit more tired than the others but she stayed professional and continued to smiling brightly. Then it was my turn to meet Madoka. Of course, I did the very common "hajimemashite" and stuff like that and she greeted back and said "thanks" in Cantonese with a big smile on her face (extremely cute) as she began to sign the poster. That Thanks and smile caught me off guard as she always seemed more of a cool beauty to me and I struggled to remember what I wanted to say.After writing my name, as she began to sign her signature, we began this almost meaningless but fun little conversation Madoka: "Was today fun?" Me: "It was super fun!" Madoka: " Super Fun? Thats good! *we started to shake hands* Happy?(in cantonese) Me: Happy! (in Canto) Madoka: *huge smile* Super Happy? (Happy in cantonese again) Me: Super Happy! (I basically repeated what she said.) Madoka: Ah! "Thanks" (In cantonese) Me: Thanks, I'm looking forward to the concert! Madoka: Yeah, see you then (or something like that) Thanks! Happy!(In canto again) I backed out and let the next guy step forward before those rough guards start shoving me (although I probably did hang around too long) and before I leave I turned around and we waved goodbye to each other once again (apologies for the guy after me that had to wait through all that) Lastly Capt. Chihiro, The line was moving faster than ever and I barely had enough time to write my name on the paper before I was up. The guy before me came and went rather quickly even though he asked her to write him a little message (which technically isn't allowed) so I thought the same would happen to me, which would be kinda sad if I don't make use of it since recently I've been pretty interested in her. So I did the "hajimemashite" greeting because that's probably the only way I can stay calm and composed and she greeted back with the a lovely smile. at this stage I'm calm enough to say a bit more including "Chiichan daisuki!" and even though she is signing she looked up and with a smile and said "hontou ni? Watashi mo daisuki desu~" (which means "really? I like you too~" in case you don't understand) and on the poster she also wrote "大スキ" which should mean "daisuki" if I'm not mistaken. By the time we shooke hands I was already in a dreamy state and don't really remembered what I said (probably something along the line of "I'll support you! keep it up " and she replied "hai, arigatou! mata ne!" and we waved goodbye and I left. As I was walking off, I notice fellow Stager Hoboholic was beginning his autograph and handshake with haruppi and so I waited for him off stage before talking to him. Overall, It was a great experience and after this I will do whatever it takes to get a ticket to their concert in Hong Kong just so I could meet them and the other members of HKT48! Oh and Sorry about this LOOOOONG post coming out of nowhere
Thanks for the feedback! It was funny to write your interaction with madoka! Were you a big fan of HKT or were you just a "casual" as it was an AKB related event in Hong Kong? Either way i'm glad the girls made you a good impression! And i can assure you an HKT concert is so much worth all the excitement and expectation! You may even get a special MC according to the venue. Maybe something related to Hong Kong, who knows!
I guess I'm more towards the casual side although I did notice Sakura around the time of the the fourth Sousenkyo and since then I have been paying more attention to them, slowly learning about hte members and my interest in HKT grew a lot. The timing of this event was perfect and perhaps soon I'll become a huge fan of HKT! I'm glad you guys found my write up interesting
So 3 members of HKT48(Matsuoka Natsumi, Kodama Haruka, Ota Aika) came to Hong Kong tonight (Oct 15) for another fan meeting and I'm here to share what I experienced in this event. Spoiler: before the handshake and autograph signing Getting the ticket was much easier this time around as it is done by lottery again. I entered the lottery for Natsu and Haruppi(since I failed to get haruppi last time she came) and I got both. It seemed like most of the people that applied got the ticket to every member they applied for. I arrive about 10 minutes before the intended starting time for the event and I meet up with Hoboholic a special viewing area for fans with event tickets. We chatted abit while the new single was playing in the background and like last time it started about 15-30 minutes late. The fans did the mix to the overture and once again it started strong and slowly fades... The members come out and cameras, arms, towels and all kinds of things were raised, nearly completely blocking my view. I had to move around and look in between the web of arms, and cameras to get a good view of the member but seeing them on stage in person is well worth the trouble. Soon enough the interview segment began. This time I was shorter but sadly not very interesting. The two MC asked the exact same questions as the last event and at one point I realized haruppi answered the exact same thing last time. While the interview was going on, fans were snapping away with their camera and all the flashes seem to caused abit of discomfort to Lovetan. Either way, all three of them smiled, waved and every once in a while throw out a few poses for fan. Like last time, they also did a lucky draw, but this time it's just 3 singles signed by each member. The main topic was how the AKB48 Hong Kong fan club members get to have advanced sales of tickets, but once again too many people went to the website at once and crashed the server once again.... But anyway, on to one of the highlight tonight, which was the mini live performance. This time they did 3 songs, Hikaeme I love you!, Koisuru Fortune Cookie and Melon Juice, all with haruppi as center. The atmosphere before the performance began was not exactly the best seeing how we are basically saw the exact same thing as about 2 months ago. Once the song start, the atmosphere has risen and exploded and it was awesome. My view was not the best but it was still great seeing haruppi on stage again and seeing another fun HKT performance. When the mini live ended, the members took a quick break back stage and the handshake and autograph session began. I went to haruppi's line first. I honestly couldn't think as the line movement was weird and after the baggage check I had to pay attention to the queue's movement as I think of what to say. In the end I failed to think of much to say. By the time I walked up and handed the slip of paper to the staff, she looked down and began to sign. I greeted her with the hajimemashite like I do every time out of nervousness and she instantly looked up with a smile (way too cute >< ) and greeted me back. As if it wasn't hard to remember or think of what to say, now I got her staring and smiling at me. either way I was able to congratulate her on being the center of the new single and she thanked me for coming and supporting her. By then the staff noticed she totally stopped signing to chat so they moved the paper to signal her to sign the poster and not keep the queue behind me waiting too long . Seeing how she is one of my HKT Oshi, I was told her "haruppi daisuki" when she finished signing and she looked up, smiled and said "Hontou ni? Me too (In English)" as we shook hands and we waved goodbye. Natsu was next and honestly I don't know much about her so I didn't know what to say and what to expect. When my turn came, like haruppi she started signing right away. I did the hajimemashite intro and told her she was really beautiful since I couldn't think of anything to say but she greeted back and talked abit with a sweet smile on her face and well... she was really pretty so I spend a lot of the precious time just staring at her signing my poster. By the time I snapped out of it, she was done signing *facepalm*. so I jsut said I look forward to the concert and waved goodbye. Overall it was fun, just kinda upset they redid the interview from the last event not too long ago and regret blanking out and staring at Natsu. Finally meeting, and shaking hands with haruppi as well as getting her autograph was definitely awesome and so next stop, Concert in January!(unless there are any other events in between that I can find time to attend)
I'm counting on you for the Hong Kong concert report! Were there a lot of people for this event? Someone told me it was the same who come like last time lol
There were quite a lot of people there! I think around 600 fans with handshake and autograph tickets and a good 200 fans that couldn't or didn't get a ticket. Seeing how this event was specifically for the Hong Kong fan club members to participate, it's mostly the same people.
@huijeff: Thanks for writing your report! In spite of the interview your experience with Haruppi sounded like fun.
Report from a French fan who got a ticket for the January 13th Pajama Drive stage (in French): http://akbgirls48.com/mon-experience-au-theatre-hkt48/
Experiences at the 1/11 HKT48 Pacifico Yokohama HS event: I lost the previous version of this text when I fell asleep and closed the browser, but I will do my best to give you an impression of my time at Pacifico. Like my first draft, though, I will go through the day and then talk about my impressions of each member. My time at Pacifico was broken into 2 parts: -Handshake with members -Collecting fan messages at the Hokazono Hazuki birthday booth Part 1: What my day looked like I arrived at Pacifico Yokohama at around 10:30am, and met the Hokazono birthday committee outside the main handshake hall. My first HS slot would not start until 11:30 (Anai Chihiro + Umemoto Izumi), so I hung out at the tables and talked with other wotas. I went into the hall at around 11:15 to get my tickets stamped -- I had used a redirect parcel service that used a different address from my home address. It went fairly smoothly, although I felt a little bad for the girl who had to stamp all 30 of my tickets. I had one ticket for Anai and 3 for Umemoto. Because the line for Anai was longer, and I had volunteering duties, I went to her first, and Umemoto second. I then had around 2 hours of break where I had no HS scheduled. I went to the convenience store and bought a tortilla for lunch. I met with all of the regulars of Hokazono's bday committee, most of whom live in Eastern Japan (Kanto region). Since I had only lived and attended performances locally in Fukuoka before, I had never seen them in person. One man in his 40s wore a yellow jacket with a red T-shirt and red sneakers, because red and yellow are Hazuki-chan's favorite colors. There's one teenage wota who is a Misaki-chan and Hazuki-chan duo-oshi, so we had him hold up both Misaki and Hazuki's boards to advertise. At around 2:30pm, all of the bday committee (around 7 people) pocketed our HS tickets and went into the hall together to shake Hazuki's hands in a line. I was in the middle-back. A couple of the wotas in front of me said they'll point at me for Hazuki chan during their HS but I don't think any of them did it for me, haha. But the HS went well. My impressions of Hazuki-chan will come in the second portion of my report. In this slot, I also managed to see the lovely Yamashita Emily-chan and Okada Kanna-chan. When Hazuki's HS slot (shortest slot of the day) was finished, I felt like the main load of my work for the day was done, too. I met with 2 wota friends from Twitter, and gave them some pins that I made. One of those friends is short on cash, and only had one ticket for his oshi (Sakaguchi Riko), so I went with him to see Rikopi. The other friend likes Komada Hiroka and Tanaka Yuka, but I had no tickets for them. My last tickets were for Kurihara Sae. At the end of the day, I also got to greet two other Twitter wota buddies, but they had both finished their HS and were about to go home. I ate dinner with Hokazono's bday committee, and went to karaoke with them afterwards. Because each person needed to get home from Yokohama, the dinner was scheduled for 5:30pm. Even when karaoke was finished, it was around 8:30pm, which was around the time that the HS ended. But I had promised the crew that I'd attend the dinner, so even though I had 2 tickets for 6:00pm for Motomura Aoi, I had to forgo them, which was unfortunate. Part 2: Meeting each girl & impressions of other girls I saw while waiting in line Anai Chihiro: (1 ticket) Chiichan was sporting braided pigtails and a striped white shirt. She looked gorgeous but not out of my expectations. I wanted to tell her I liked her hairstyle but I wasn't sure about the exact word for her pigtails in Japanese. I just walked up, smiled and said Hi, that she's really pretty and that I'll see her in Hakata. She looked at me with curious eyes the whole time and said thank you without breaking into a smile. I was given about 8 seconds by the guard, but really, I think I started to move away by myself starting at 6 seconds. I dislike people pushing me physically (this will be a recurring theme of the day). Umemoto Izumi: (3 tickets) The last time I remembered seeing her, she was on stage at the HKT theater dancing "Theater Pirates." Chiizu had bobbed hair on 1/11, which looked great on her. She was also wearing lots of silvery accessories around her neck, which drew my eye. She was patient and mature when I talked to her. I followed my strategy: I mentioned that I'm a Hazuki-oshi and that I know they have a good relationship. I asked her if she and Hazuki did anything recently. She thought for a brief second and said. we go out to eat from time to time!" I asked what they like to order on those food dates, and she said Omelette rice. Any other foods? Many kinds! She was kind and professional about it, even though I wasn't asking questions about her specifically. Her hands were really soft though! And I came away understanding that although Ume and Hazuki may have the best 2nd-3rd gen relationship in HKT, they spend less time together than I imagined. Her demeanor does tell me that she is the responsible sempai in their relationship. Hokazono Hazuki: (9 tickets) Maybe it was a bad idea to go to Hazuki's lane stuck in the middle of a bunch of fans who have already been to her HS multiple times. Most of the birthday committee wotas wore Hazuki's red 2015 seitansai T-shirt (sold out after one day in Fukuoka and online), while I wore a dark blue Tommy Hilfiger sweater with red stripes. As a way to identify myself, I pinned a badge that I made that contained my Google+ icon in the hope that it can help Hazuki associate the virtual Google+ commenter account with me. I gave one ticket in the first trip to Hazuki's lane, and walked up to a politely smiling Hazuki. She was wearing a dark blue derby hat with a giant red ribbon pinned to the side, blue cardigan with red stars on the sleeves, white shirt and a striped British flag tie. I had time to say "Hi, this is my first handshake with you. My name is Michael." (Hazuki: Ah!! Michael-san!) "I'll be coming back again, see you!" And like a pro, I walked away with Hazuki still holding onto my hand, and before the guard put his dirty hands on my shoulders. I used 3 tickets in my second trip to Hazuki. I didn't have any questions planned in my head, which was probably a mistake, but I walked up and she immediately said, "Michael-san!" I said it's really great to see her, that the last time I saw her was almost a year ago at the theater. I said I will be in Fukuoka in a week, she said "Great!" And we shared a little awkward laugh that there's no theater shows scheduled for next week. I said all I can do from Canada is to send her letters regularly and asked if she sees them. She was smiling as I said everything and answered slightly mischievously, "Of course I read them" while patting my hand. That was very reassuring, and I only had time to say "Oh, good! I wasn't sure" before my time was up. I think what Hazuki said also was an encouragement that I should continue to write to her, which I will. (I have been sending fan letters to her at a pace of around one per month) Third trip: 2 tickets. I asked Hazuki what she thinks is a fun activity to do in Fukuoka. She said "ramen!" I said yes, but what about outside of the city? She said "hmmm, there's so much to do!" Time was up (this was probably the shortest stopwatch time I was given. The rest were pretty generous) Fourth trip: 2 tickets. I asked Hazuki about her red ribbon and whether she added more. she said excitedly, "yeah, I'm always hunting for cute bows and ribbons to add to my growing collection" I replied that if I knew beforehand I would have worn a red bowtie so we could have matched. (We already did match by coincidence) Hazuki laughed loudly and I was on my way. Final trip: 1 ticket. I said to Hazuki as I walked up to her, "This is my last trip" Hazuki said "oh no!" and looked sad. I said "It's okay, we'll see each other again" and started to walk away. I felt her tugging on my hands a little and maybe a squeeze, but I wasn't sure. I waved at her and she waved back as I exited the lanes. The bday committee members were waiting to go in with their last tickets, and they thought I had more tickets. I told them nope, I spent them all. Turned out they wanted me to be the "kagi-shime" or the last person to go shake Hazuki's hands. I was happy that they thought about passing the chance to me but really, my HS was never about solidifying myself as a dedicated member of the bday committee organization (who will all go before me in a row), but as an individual fan who sends his best wishes and support. I think I made that distinction by going on multiple trips to Hazuki separate from the bday committee. At the end of the day, this distinction matters to nobody but myself. Before going to the HS, I wanted to wish Hazuki Happy Birthday (her bday is on 1/17), but I forgot due to lining up with the committee wotas and saying other things on the spot. I also considered asking her about the Hong Kong concert and my plans for going to HK (which I had to cancel due to a business meeting in Shanghai), but it might have made her sad because the concert was on Hazuki's bday and she didn't attend. I considered wishing her Happy New Year, but it was already 1/11 and she heard plenty of that crap on 1/5 and 1/6 already. I thought about asking her whether she thought my letters were boring or long, but I know her answer, which will be along the lines of "No, please keep sending them, they are lovely" Finally, I kind of regret not saying something like I like you so much! (some fans do that) in order to trigger a mirrored reaction from Hazuki: "Daisuki!" I couldn't bring myself to do something so gimmicky. So yeah, HS with Hazuki went well. She now knows my face and hopefully has more appreciation for me as a fan. Maybe not haha. I could have said things faster to get more out of my time, but I did better than average. Yamashita Emily: (2 tickets) I looked at Emily while waiting in Hazuki's lane. She wore a simple grey sweater with no special patterns or prints. She was cute as a bunny or a sheep or whatever, and was so plain. I told her I like her smile and that she has grown to become very beautiful. She smiled gently and said thank you. That was all. No wonder first-time goers call her plain hahaha (I still love her) Sakamoto Erena: (saw from Hazuki's lane) Erena had the most endearing reactions and was high-energy for every fan who approached her. She seems to work the hardest at this HS business, and I really respect that. Hazuki used to be like that, or so I've heard from my buddies, but while she has stopped being so high-energy, her radiant smile and attentiveness (so majime) make her HS not a bit less warm compared to Eretan's. Tsutsui Riko: (saw from Hazuki's lane) Tsuttsun was cute! Adorable! I think she had the biggest jump in learning how to smile and present herself compared to the rest of the third gen. Her lane has gained more fans in the recent HS, some wotas told me. Tsuttsun is like a chipmunk, or a kitten. Hazuki is full of happy surprises like a bag of Halloween candy though. Yamauchi Yuuna: (saw from Hazuki's lane) Yuuna's lane is next to the Hazuki's, which is why I didn't get tickets for her. She wore her hair differently that day, with her forehead exposed. The first time looking at her, I thought for a second I was seeing Hoshino Minami from Nogizaka46. I told my wota friend that and he agreed. So cute, so pretty, it was ridiculous. Her reactions to the fans were not as extreme as Eretan's, but she was expressive with her body, sometimes turning sideways or leaning closer. She was probably the prettiest girl there that day, although she can't make me as happy as Hazuki can. Okada Kanna: (2 tickets) Kanna's line was very long. When I lined up, the single line had become 3 lines that formed a back-and-forth zigzag. Kanna also was absent on one of the autograph dates, so there were some fans coming in from the side to receive her signature. She was very patient with those fans, which, unfortunately for us in line, meant we had to wait longer. Finally, it was my turn. I said, "Hi Kanna, I haven't seen you since your injury last year!" She says "Oh, that, I'm all fine now!" I said I'm from Canada, and her eyes lit up. I was going to follow that up with a "I'll continue to support you from overseas," but before I said that, Kanna blurted, "That thing that Canada is known for... Maple Syrup!" I smiled and said, "yes, that's correct." She shouted "I want to eat maple syrup!" I laughed while backing out of her lane. Again, I was given generous time, but I chose to move away before the guard pushed me. Kanna's reactions were better than I expected! Sakaguchi Riko: (7 tickets) First trip: 1 ticket. Rikopi was wearing lots of accessories like Chiizu. Her hair was down had an auburn glow to it. I walked up to Rikopi and said in English, "Hi Rikochan!" She immediately replied, "Hello! Nice to meet you!" I said again in English, "I'm from Canada" She said in English, "Wow! Can you speak Japanese?" I smiled and said "Next time I will" and walked away. Second trip: 2 tickets. I said, "Sorry about last time. I know you are good at English so I just used English." She said "Oh I can speak, but Japanese is more preferred (smile) My sister has been to Canada before." I dug deep in my memories whether she has mentioned her sister going abroad in her past Google+ Q&As, but I couldn't remember so I said, "Oh that's a nice coincidence!" Time was up. Third trip: 4 tickets. I lined up with my Japanese friend from Hyogo. I asked which city Rikopi's sister went to in Canada, and she said maybe Vancouver. I said I'm from Vancouver. She said Vancouver has nice things like maple syrup and salmon? Smoked salmon! "That's right," I said to her. "Please come to Vancouver when you have the chance!" I then pointed to my pin and said I'll continue to support you on Google+, but she didn't seem to recognize my badge, which was a shame. (Maybe this means the girls aren't too keen in reading Google+ comments as I thought. Oh well) She was very attentive all the way, and her reaction was just as warm and endearing as I imagined. The best thing about Rikopi is that she is unafraid to react to anything you throw in her way. Strongly recommend her to anyone who is visiting HKT HS for the first time. Wakatabe Haruka: I glanced at Wakachan while waiting for Rikopi. Her hair is pretty darn long (I wonder how long she would bother to maintain it before she cuts 5cm-10cm off) She would flick her head down and up when a new fan approached, in the style of Matsuoka Natsumi, which is why I mistook her for Natsu when I looked her way. Natsu wasn't at HS that day due to a cold, I heard. Wakachan's face had a dejected smile, maybe caused by fatigue, but it looked kind of shio from afar. You still have a long way to go to break that stereotype, Wakaharu! Komada Hiroka: I saw Piichan while waiting for Kurihara. She was the first to come back to her lane after the girls' lunch break ended. She wore a beige shawl around her shoulders while she walked back to her seat but once she sat down and the first fan came up, she found the shawl to be a bother and immediately took it off. Her reactions were warm, possibly on the same level as Rikopi, and her ability to adjust her reaction based on the type of fan she handshakes was nearly as good as Rikopi. Her body oozed a younger vibe than Rikopi though, more feminine to the average male, in my opinion. Of course, the number of people waiting was a testament. Kurihara Sae: (3 tickets, only used 2) To be honest, after meeting Hazuki and Emily, I had almost no intention to see another third gen. I said to myself in my mind: WHY did you even buy tickets for Saechan at 5pm? My bday committee group was waiting for me to finish and head to dinner together, so I lined up right when the slot began. Sae's lane had plenty of middle-aged fans, and not that many young, teenage-looking fans. She wore a dark blue sweater and no accessories. When I walked up, she greeted me with smiles. I told her I'm a Hazuki-oshi and said, you two are good friends, right? She nodded and looked at me with a smirky smile and said, "Hazu-sae are great friends!" I asked what they did recently, she said they went to _________ and this is when my Japanese failed me for the first time all day, or perhaps its a place like Round One (amusement park), a proper name that I couldn't catch. I decided to be honest to Saechan, tilted my head with a look of confusion, and said, "Sorry, I don't know what you just said. " Time was almost up, so I threw in "I'm from Canada" and got ready to turn around and walk away. Sae immediately said, "Oh! I've been to Canada!" Like Rikopi talking about her sister, I implored my memories of whether she has said that before, but I acted as if it was new information, and said, "Wow! Which cities did you visit?" Now it's Sae's turn to look troubled. She said, "Ahh... I can't remember, but around!" Time was up for me, so I had to wave goodbye and said, "Ouen shimasu!" The next fan was already walking up, but Sae continued to look and smile at me as if she wanted to talk more. Handshaking with her was very sweet and much better than I had anticipated. And that's all from my day! If I were to do handshakes again, I would probably select all of the earlier slots, because standing all day and smelling other wotas in that hall was mostly a chore. But then again, I just plainly dislike HS because of the inefficiency and the low amount of time given. I will see you at the theaters.
Less than 48 Hours- concert proper report, part 1 Inside the stadium Macpherson Stadium looks slick and state-of-the-art, but it’s really not much bigger than a high school gym. Not exactly what comes to mind when you think of a venue that hosts international concerts. My seats were slightly blocked by the lights. Bummer. But at least they were near enough to actually see the girls’ facial features and reactions. I was thinking about bringing and wearing my orange Meru melon juice shirt but I ultimately decided not to, as I wanted to look more fashionable. I wore a light blue striped long sleeve collared shirt, teal cardigan, green scarf, chinos, and air maxes I just bought an hour earlier from nearby Sneaker Street. Macpherson Stadium is probably the perfect place in the world to watch a show if you’re the type to buy sneakers an hour before the concert. I didn’t buy the light sticks and scarf. I was worried that the penlight might not be allowed at the airport, and I didn’t feel like spending 150hkd for something which I might use only once in my life. As for the scarf, I live in the tropics. I saw Nishiyama Kyoko-san and her pink hair walking around and checking if everything was ok. The green arena seats blended well with the teal-and-yellow scarves. The stadium was still filling up at around 6. The distribution was probably around 80% male, 20% female, with perhaps 75% under the age of 30. There were announcements in Cantonese. Me being unable to understand either Cantonese and Japanese, a slight worry of mine was to not have a clue as to what the fuck was going on during MCs, or any important announcements made in general. While waiting, everyone was just fiddling around with their smartphones. No complaining about the delay, at least none that I understood. And then it went dark. overture Oh, so this is how it is. The streams I’ve watched, the performances and concerts I’ve downloaded, and now I got to experience it myself. The closest thing I experienced to this was seeing Girls’ Generation and other K-pop groups perform a couple of years back, but not seated as near as this. At first I thought, “I’ll just be more of a passive observer and mentally take down notes so I can remember the intricacies of what happened in this concert,” but I got carried away by the chants too. Chanting is fun. It really makes you feel like you’re involved. I hear the words, “here in world-famous Hakata…” I let out a slight chuckle. That was funny. World-famous. Yeah, surrrrrre. “Are… you… ready? Are… you… ready?” Shit, this is it. HKT48, Kimi no koto ga sukiyaken, Aitakatta, Sakura minna de tabeta The smoke clears and the girls come out .. I’ve seen them in shows, on the HKT stage, on other concerts, in magazines where they may or may not wear revealing outfits- now I got too see them for real. Like, wow, they actually exist. At this point my mind was still processing the reality of what was happening. From our side came out Anai Chihiro, Miyawaki Sakura, Motomura Aoi, Yamamoto Mao, Tanaka Miku and Moriyasu Madoka. Chihiro was positioned nearest us. Since I was seated at the sides it felt at first that the girls were performing in front of someone else and I was just there observing. Chihiro then faced us. That was really nice of her! She was all smiles and looked genuinely happy to perform. She also always brings emotion on her face, you don’t see her taking a moment off from the script. She wasn’t as young-looking as she does in pictures, though. Next girl I noticed was Madoka. Wow, did she have plenty of blush on her face. She does look mature for her age. Contrary to her image as somewhat of an ice queen, she looked happy to perform in front of us. There was one moment when she was facing another member, I think Aoi, and flashed a smile, as if to say, “we kinda messed up that one.” I thought that was really nice and genuine.. Aoi was as adorable as advertised, a lovable mix of cuteness, pyromania and tears. She makes you want to go up on stage and squeeze her cheeks. Then I saw Sakura. You know how, in first day of class, you look around and see which girl draws the most attention? That’s Sakura. Sometimes, in life, all you need is to have “it”. And Sakura has “it”. The girls switched around, and I finally saw my oshimen, Matsuoka Natsumi. First thing I noticed- she also has lots of blush on her face. Also, her features- her eyelids, eyes and nose- she looks like a girl with a mix of Spanish/Jewish blood. Everyone’s so energetic. Really passionate, really pumped up to be here- even the ones who have reputations for being bad/disinterested performers. Idol performances are really more about passion and energy than precision and exactness. I don’t remember exactly when, but I do remember Sashihara Rino waving at our vicinity around this time. Sasshi won’t wow you with energy or skill, but she knows how to interact with fans. She’s good at making eye contact. She’s also good at taking a second to do a wink, wave or peace sign while performing without breaking rhythm. Kanpeki gu~no ne A brief background: Watanabe Mayu is my AKB oshimen, and this song is probably in the top 20 of my favourite AKB songs. So, seeing Mio and her group of rascals perform it in Taiwan, needless to say, did not impress me. I think they did a decent job overall here, though. Tomonaga Mio isn’t that bad a performer in real action. Her failings just gets magnified when we watch it in a format where we can pause and rewind and break down all her inadequacies. How much of her inadequancy is laziness, how much of it is inherent lack of agility and dexterity? We never can really tell. She moves slower compared to the three younger girls but it’s not as jarring to be considered an eyesore. A different way to describe it would be- if the dance move requires 8 arm rotations, Mio will only do 6; if the dance move requires the arms to be extended fully at a 45 degree angle, Mio will only extend them at 80% at a 30 degree angle. Yes, Mio brings out the analytical, observant person in me. Yabuki Nako and Miku are as different in their performance styles as in their personalities. Nako is more energetic, bubblier. She’s lost much of that clueless, deer-in-the-headlights look she had earlier in her career. She has so much spunk now. Miku is more precise, professional. She looks very composed for her age. Aramaki Misaki is the cutest. She also is now taller than Mio- the blouse she was wearing was unable to anticipate her growth spurt. However, she still needs work in interacting with fans and expressing the proper facial emotion for the song. Kimi wa boku da Kurihara Sae is beautiful in person. She has a very calm, charming face. Also, she’s deceptively thick- thick arms, torso, thighs. From what I observed, the crowd energy got weaker at around this song. Maybe it’s just not an energetic song. It’s not a song you can chant along either. Temodemo no namida So they dropped the Sasshi solo and changed it with this team B classic, and they got the 2 old Team B members to perform it. Ota Aika is a craftsmanlike performer. Very savvy veteran. You get the feeling that this song means a lot to her. She’s good at expressing with her eyes so you can tell when she’s passionate about performing- and it looks like she likes doing songs where she just stands and sings more over ones which make her run around the arena. While Lovetan is all poise, Sasshi will take liberties and goof around to make the song more enjoyable to watch. Not that she was straight up clowning around, but she was certainly livelier- the boke to Lovetan’s tsukkomi. Shuumatsu not yet They replaced Fuchigami Mai with… Madoka, of all people, which is nice to see because Madoka is usuallly typecast into performing serious/cool/fierce/sexy songs. Seeing her perform a lively, bubbly song was refreshing. Meru is a doll. She just looks adorable in person. Also really pale. Like a Japanese snow princess. And she’s also full of energy, always bouncing around, always beaming with that bright smile of hers. She always tries to make eye contact, always waving. Mao has… improved. She’s not as bad as before where she looks lost and fails to give proper emotion to the song. Kojina Yui was okay, I guess. She was pretty, and didn’t stand out in a bad way from a performance standpoint. Dear J This was the song I anticipated the most- I liked all three members, and the concept was equal parts edgy and ridiculous. Kodama Haruka was first up. Haruppi trying to look sexy can be funny because her lovely brown eyes are doing a good job of being sultry but for some reason her mouth looks awkward while singing. Not that the Itano Tomomi original was a vocal masterpiece, but the three girls sure sounded squeaky. Haruppi’s voice still betrays her lisp, Aoi’s was as childlike as you’d expect from her face, and Natsu’s wasn’t really that far from her speaking voice, which sounds partly nasal, partly tongue rolling and partly words being eaten. Overall, though, I loved it. There are few things in life better than seeing cute Japanese dancing awkwardly and trying to look fierce. (part 2 to be posted soon)
Less than 48 Hours- concert proper report, part 2 (cont’d from earlier) River Sasshi led the chants. I don’t remember much about the performance. It wasn’t that bad, I guess. What I do remember clearly is that after the performance, the girls had to scamper back from the center aisle to the main stage to perform Dokugumo. While other girls were hurrying and panicking to get to their respective positions, Chihiro already started doing the finger-snapping dance after River ended, maintained her poise and kept performing until she reached her spot. What a captain. What a consummate professional. Pure class. Dokugumo I like the new wave, 80’s beat of this song and the concept even if, yes, it might be a bit too sultry for some of the members to perform. Some of the younger members (Miku, Mirun, Meru) were positioned near me in this song, so I got to observe them. Mirun had this vacant look on her face, while Miku looked rigid. Which was aceeptable because they’re young and I didn’t really expect them to turn it up. Meru, on the other hand, was really working it. She was great at her facial expressions and dancing. MC 1 (this came after sakutabe but I forgot to put it) Typical first MC of a concert. They all lined up in front of the stage and introduced themselves. Sasshi was facilitating, aided for the most part by Natsu and Chihiro. Of course, I barely understood anything, but it looked like Sasshi did a good job of initiating the conversation and making it flow. MC 2 Sasshi, Nako, Miku and Mao did the MC. Mao was holding the box of questions (I was unable to submit mine because the questionnaire was in Chinese). Sasshi was asked, I think, who her favorite members were. Basically, the gag was that Sasshi answered every other girl (I remember Mirun and Miku) but Nako. Nako’s confidence on stage and in MCs has improved immensely. She’s now comfortable enough to clown around and act bratty for laughs. Sasshi refrained from kissing Nako or making boob jokes about her this time. Medleys (mae shika mukanee, ebikachu, 1234 yoroshiku, okidoki, kitaken, omaigaa, hebirote) What I remember the most is that my back started to hurt at this point. Lots of running and jumping and clowning around and being cute, as usual. Probably the other poignant thing I remember- Meru’s energy was just amazing. The girl loves to perform, and you can see it clearly. MC3 Natsu, and a couple other girls- Haruppi and Sakura, I think- were involved. They had three giveaways for fans. The first two (EE1 and RR1) winners were seated at the arenas. The last winner was seated just a few columns to my right. The dude was a Natsu oshi and held an oshi fan. Natsu, sweet girl that she is, acknowledged it. Natsu facilitated the MC. She did a really good job at it, which made me wonder why she can’t translate her talking skills in MCs to something useful in variety. Maybe she prefers a setting where she’s the one in control of the discussion, I don’t know. Koi no onawa Another high energy song. Nothing really stood out for me, other than the special costumes. I should just probably take the opportunity to say that I wasn’t a fan of Mio’s bun hair. Hatsukoi Butterfly, Wink wa Sankai, Oogoe Diamond, Suki! Suki! Skip!,恋愛ing All I can recall from Hatsukoi Butterfly was Lovetan facing our direction and giving us the full Ota Aika Experience- a mix of tsundere, mock disinterest, smugness and cockiness. I don’t remember much from wink wa sankai other than that moment Mio was facing our vicinity. Sae actually has thicker arms than her, so there’s that, in case people wanted to know. It was rather weird to find Oogoe Diamond in the middle of four trademark HKT songs, but so what, I like the song. One thing that caught my eye- Aoi is a master at roving around, finding random cameras and posing until she gets shown on the big screen. Suki suki skip had one of (in my opinion) the coolest dance moves in the AKS repertoire, along with the Kachuusha bendover, so it was cool to see it in person. The last song was the one they also sang in Taiwan, I think. There was a moment, I think it was at this song, when everyone was on the aisle and substage, and Sakura and Mikurin were left at the main stage, and they just horsed around for maybe 10 seconds. ENCORE My back was really painful and I was happy to be able to sit for a while. I guess everyone probably enjoyed this break too. After a few minutes we started chanting again, louder and louder, and the girls were back on stage. Hikaeme, I Love You First thought- @#$%^!, Sasshi’s midriff. Just wow. Natsu, Sakura and Jiina also had midriff-baring shirts. Longcats galore. The way they performed it, it looked like a three-centre song with haruppi, Sasshi and Sakura- it wasn’t evident that Haruppi was the centre. Rock da yo, jinsei wa I loved this song, which was ironic because I didn’t know its title until I Googled it while I was writing this. Everyone was just running around, flailing their arms, bouncing like crazy. Again, while the other members were running around, Sakura was left with another member on the main stage- this time Nako- and just goofed around. Also, it was during this song that I confirmed- Natsu has the best backside in HKT. After the song, for some reason (unexpected delay? The sheer kindness of Sasshi’s heart? Who knows) the members posed in different parts of the stage and posed in front of us. It kinda sucked that the area where they were nearest my position had lights and some stage apparatus blocking the view so the shot was kinda bad even if the members were near. I made a facepalm move, though- I continued taking pics after they were posing. My bad. Maybe they announced something in Cantonese and I missed it or I just wasn’t paying attention that everyone stopped taking photos- either way, some security personal motioned at me to stop taking pics. Don’t worry, AKS, I deleted all those pics because I’m a good boy. Koisuru Fortune Cookie The embarrassment of what happened earlier still lingered, and I felt kinda down. I guess it could have been worse, though- I could have been ushered out of the stadium, or had my phone confiscated. Anyway- Onigiri! Onigiri! Melon Juice Yes, I sort of regretted not having bought the Melon Juice towel. Yes, sort of regretted not wearing my Meru Melon Juice shirt. Oh well. This song is so hype. The headbanging, the towel-flinging, the reckless jumping- this song, in my opinion, was HKT in a nutshell. Youth, energy, fun. And after the song was over, they went to the center aisle, bowed their heads, and exited to the far left corner of the stadium. Best Performers Tashima Meru- to use a sports analogy, it is always a pleasant thing for fans to see when the prized rookie or superstar shows “hustle”. Now, Meru is far removed from the early “Jurina 2.0” days, and she isn’t even center anymore, but to see someone who was handed the spotlight from day 1 actually give 100% and show no sense of entitlement- it’s amazing. She was smiling when she had to, serious when she had to, sultry when she had to.Jumped the highest, danced the hardest, ran around the most. And, yes, at the end of the show she was the sweatiest. Anai Chihiro- If Meru was the embodiment of energy, Chihiro was poise personified. She was arguably the most polished, refined, dignified performer. Despite her ponkotsu reputation she was alert and never loafed around. Final Impressions It was totally worth it. Not much to be said other than that.
I hope Meru's impression on you as reached a lot of others fan too. Last Sousenkyo was quite disappointing, a big leap would make Meru happy i think
She seemed really popular in HK. She got really loud cheers, and when I was on the line I saw many fans wearing her shirt/pins.
@feindouno that concert was fun yeah? I was on the stall seat on the opposite side so it interesting to read about things seen on a different angle. The stadium is quite small seeing it is meant to be a standard basketball stadium. I'll just share some things I notice during the concert since there is a full report already. This is my first concert, I was really excited for it my seat was midway on the right side of the runway so I wasn't very far from the member when they are on the runway. The Overture was fun. It's nice to see HK fans actually doing the full mix loudly all the way for once. Good job to them for practicing. Not sure if it's my seat or something but the sound system was LOUD. even though it was loud we just chanted as loud as we can and everyone sen to have fun. I'll cover what I remember from the MCs The first MC was fun. It was the normal intro and stuff. Sasshi and several others used cantonese to talk to the fans such as Sasshi asking "Are you having fun?". Natsu with her little cheat sheet/ canto notes on her hand got some laughter from the fans. lots going on it was a cute and interesting interaction. The Second MC was the Q and A/"Customer corner" session like they did in Taiwan. Everyone seemed pretty comfy with doing the MC. The questionnaires allows fans to write their pen-name and for one of the chosen questionnaire, the pen name was "Goto san (from football hour and HKT48 no Odekake" that got a good chuckle from the crowd as well. The big question asked toward Sasshi (mentioned by feindouno) was "Who do you like the most between Nako, Miku and Misaki" in which Sasshi answered Misaki is her favorite, Miku is her seoncd favorite and If i didn't remember wrongly, she mentioned herself or someone other than Nako as her third favorite. That got Nako going "eeeh" and Sasshi claim she is her fourth favourite. Another question involved who the members want to take on a date if they can. I don't quite remember everyone's answer but i do remember that as they are about to walk off, Sasshi didn't answer the question and the fans were all going "Sasshi, how about you?" and in which she replied "me? it will have to be Oshima Yuko chan" and that got a pop from the crowd. The Third MC was the lucky draw corner lead mainly by Natsu, and Sakura. The winners will get their gift after the concert. The lucky draw gifts include a photo album signed by all 16 members of the concert with 16 photos of the taken in Hong Kong/ during the concert, a hoodie/parka, a glowstick etc. The HKT48/ Hong Kong48 song was a cool to see them sing lot of canto places, food and stuff like that. During these songs, I was hella happy as my oshimen, Sakura was positioned right in front of me and to top it off, nakomiku was on her two sides and they were CUTE. I couldn't ask for a better way to start the concert than to see them that close. A bit further right was Madoka and I guess she remembered me from the handshake event a while ago since she did look my way and smile a few times. The AKB48g medley was pretty awesome, Mio was really cute and when she was positioned in front of my row, I remember waving at her and she waved back with a huge smile. NakoMiku was near my spot again and their cuteness just puts a smile on my face. It's cute how Nako sometimes isn't too sure if she was at the right spot so she would look at where Miku is and position herself. during Oogoe Diamond, Aoi was right in front of me, and her smile is just cute. the way she move around was cute and cameramen instantly goes tootation, Misaki couldn't get her mic onto the stand no matter what she did and somehow she just emit cuteness as she preform while trying to get the mic on. In the end she just preformed without the stand. Due to that I find myself constantly looking bak at her during the hebirote. The third song chain (Hatsukoi Butterfly - Chinese song), was awesome as well. I get to see Madoka to the side and she is eye-catching to me as always. During Oogoe Diamond, Aoi was right in front of me, and her smile is just cute. the way she move around was cute and cameramen instantly goes to her. I also got another wave and smile from her and it was cute. I remember noticing how beautiful Sae was at some point here too. It was all fun and joy. The surprise photo time came and apparently the story behind it was that the staff needed a bit of time to handle something and told Sasshi through her earphones to hold to stage for a while. As a result she decided to go with the photo time. I have to say if the story is true, she is awesome for having the guts to just do something like that on the spot and to ba able to read what the fan wanted to most; to capture this moment and keep as memory. Here's a shot i like quite a lot. It kinda sucks that mako and misaki were so far apart from the group. But this was a shot with quite a lot of the members looking my way. and Sasshi, Meru and Lovetan messing around was awesome
April 20, 2015 Sashihara's Zachou Kouen @ Meijiza Alright, this is my first time posting in the HKT thread. If anyone reads the other grp's experience thread seeing me writing this should not be a huge surprise for you. If anything I'm more surprised no one posted about it considering I'm almost 100% sure some of u here went to the show. I won't be getting into a long write up as I'm sure most of you have read Tokyo Girl's in-depth report on it already. My focus here is to write what I thought about the show from a non HKT fan point of view. So first off, I went because It happened to be within the time I was in Tokyo for other events. Also I have never been to a HKT exclusive event. The idea of a meijiza collab was also a big sucker for me as I'm quite interested in jidaigeki. I applied without much thought in mind, and winning was somewhat a surprise for me. The price was kind of steep but regardless I paid. Up to all the way till on the actual date of the show I won, I didn't really have any huge hype for it. I arrived about 20mins before the opening the theater. Obviously a decent long line, which normally isn't an issue but that day was exceptionally bad with super strong wind and rain. My umbrella actually got destroyed during those 20mins so I was somewhat soaked by the time I got in. I thought to myself, wow what a great way to start my first experience to a HKT only event. Right after getting in I immediately lined up on the 2nd floor for some photo taking of the Sashihara shrine thingy with member's autographs on the walls. That didn't take more than 5-8mins. I went up to the 3rd floor and lined up for the stamping. Basically everyone who came to the show received a handkerchief with the names of the members who will be participating and you can stamp these red stamps and staffs will iron it for you so it dries off. After doing that I went to buy HKT48 Onigiri Bentou so I can eat it during the break in between the 2 parts of the show. I went to find my seat, which was these special slightly platformed seats beside the Hanamichi (runway). I thought to myself, man these seats suck but whatever, just bad luck. Anyway, as the show goes on I noticed the seating wasn't TOOO bad, as there are quite a few scenes in the later half of the play where they use that runway a lot to get on and off the stage. The plot of the play was simple, easy to understand, predictable but cute. There were some really funny scenes intentional and none intentional. For example when Mio attempts to play an emotional scene instead it just kinda triggers the lil chuckles from the fans lol. The incorporation of the songs/performance into the plot was also pretty well done, giving a different experience than the ones we usually get from the regular performances because of the different context they were in. What I thought was weird was their placement arrangement to uplift sasshi's white horse. I kept asking myself, "why didn't they uplift sasshi and sakura infront of the main stage rather at the hanamichi(runway)". The way they did it, the moment the girls went up, they went into the blind spot for many seats in the theater, mine included. All I could see was bunch of gold sparkles being sprinkled down, it was a let down really. Other than that the overall of play itself was solid imo! The play ended after an hour, with a 25min break until the 2nd part of the show. Now the performance! What I liked: I thought the effort they put in to collaborating the performance was amazing. It was wayyy out of my expectation. It is easily on par to something they could do for a concert IMO. The first half of the setlist, almost every song had a different background set + outfits matching the whole jidaigeki theme. Excellent back dancing from the meijiza actors in the background using all sorts of different props to create a new feeling/experience to every song. All the fans that were there behaved themselves...WHICH brings me to my next section. What I didn't like: I understand that it was a play so everyone toned down their energy level. HOWEVER, even for the performance part the crowd was so..calm? It was really awkward to me. Half way through the performance, they invited all the audiences to stand up to get heated up. Ok, now everyone is standing I can start to sense a little more enthusiasm from the fans. I'm not sure if it's how HKT fans are, or there was just a lot of casuals that particular day. I just thought it was such a waste for everyone to be heated up so late when the performance was so top notch. Hell, I was prolli the only few people there in the audience that day without a light stick but I made sure i made it up with the mixes. Oh, and the chants were pretty hit or miss, especially the chouzetsu kawaii ones. They were all over the place I didn't know who they were trying to call exactly lol. Conclusion: Overall I thought the experience was awesome regardless. It lived up to it's hype that all the people are giving it. It was worth every penny, or should I say yen that I paid for this. If I'd enjoyed this much with members that I dont even specifically oshi, they must've been doing something right. Again, the above was purely MY opinion and speculation.
Of course fans were conscious that Mejiza is a special place, very ancient that they need to give respect by not going outburst like as usual. What i can confirm is that HKT fans have a lot of energy and this stage is particulary. In normal concert, we do much more noise than that
