I was there at the shonichi show.. After hide-chan allowed the crowd to stand-up and chant, actually the atmosphere change and it feels like a concert from all concerts/event/theatre show that i attended before, this Meijiza actually my favourite one... I post my review on Sashi's stage48 forum~
Hi everyone, I shall not really dive into what really happened during the handshake, if not it will become a long boring page of words. What I do wanna say is that Meru does remember her fans and she reads comments in her G+ posts. Was really lucky to be able to get Meru's sign cards for that day, 6th Sept 2015. .
I don't wanna say this but for someone so cute and kind, it's hard to imagine that her handwriting is worst than mine.
Since most of my 2-shots were with HKT might as well post it here http://half48.net/2016/01/07/30th-may-2-shot-event-the-big-day/ 2-shot event back in May with Sasshi, Yukachan, Emiri, Tomiyoshi, Shige, Nako, Sakura, Boss, Mio, Miku, Ex-HKT Kanon, Chori and also Shimada, Sayanee & Tano.
^ To my knowledge, no one got hurt thankfully. The scream was because the shaking from the earthquake was so huge. Out of topic, but I wrote more about the aftermath of the earthquake here.
I'm finally getting a chance to do this writeup. In fact I went to two SKE events last month that I still haven't talked about. But this particular event was quite special... HKT48 "Saikou ka Yo" Individual Handshake Event at Pacifico Yokohama (2016/10/15) This was my first opportunity to attend an exclusive HKT handshake event. SKE has been my favorite 48-group for a while now, but HKT is quickly gaining on them. Especially after I went to four of the Sashiko du Soliel concerts. The other issue is that I have met so few of the HKT48 members. I met Sasshi and Rabutan back when they were AKB. I met Tani when she was in HKT, but she transferred. Then there was Iichan. I finally met Vivian and Tomiyoshi earlier this year, and it left me wanting to meet more of them. Anyway... I had eleven tickets, and would be meeting a half a dozen girls for the first time. A couple of other features of this event. 1) the group lanes, where you could do handshakes with more than one girl at once. This was similar to a National Handshake, but it gave you an opportunity to meet a new member if they were paired with someone you liked There was also a side stage, where various members would come out and do random performances. The new gen members were on that stage quite a bit. Anyway... Murakawa Vivian (3 tickets): After meeting Vivian in February I was eager to see her again. That bright smile is simply intoxicating. I'm not sure if she remembered me from before, but she didn't ask me if I understood Japanese, so maybe she did remember. Vivian always looks really trendy, and I loved the cute little hat she wears. I essentially said that I was excited to see her again and that I loved her outfit. Group Lane: Okamoto Naoko, Fuchigami Mai: I was really in this lane to see Maichan, but I do kind of like Naopon. In fact while I was in line for Vivian I could see that this lane was all sorts of crazy. That was mainly thanks to Naopon. She is shot out of a cannon. Okamoto brings the energy up in whatever lane she is in. So I pretty much came into this lane expecting to be attacked. Of course, it was a barrage of English. I barely had a chance to tell Naopon that I was excited about visiting her "Chaos Lane" later on. (That description is coming in a few paragraphs) Anyway, I didn't really get a chance to say anything to Maichan because Naoko was so dominant. But that was okay since I had a Fuchigami ticket for later on... I spent my downtime over at the birthday booths. I signed cards for Yuka-chan, Mai-chan, and Aoitan. Interestingly, I would be having first time meeting with all of them later that day, which I told each of the committee reps. Akiyoshi Yuka: Oh boy...this is one ticket I was really looking forward to. I have always wanted to meet Akiyoshi, but either chickened out, or out of not wanting to have too many tickets I eliminated her. This time I was committed to meeting her, and she did not disappoint. She had no queue, so as I came down the lane she had this look on her face like she was shocked someone like me would be coming to see her. It was all a big fishing tactic, and it was so adorable. I took her hand, and told her how I had wanted to meet her for a long time, and I was glad to finally see her. She immediately responded to me in English, and not just idol English, it was like she barely had an accent. I was so impressed. She asked my name and immediately repeated it back. I left that lane floating on air. She was such an awesome first handshake. I mentioned to my friends that if I could trade all my remaining tickets for Yukachan tickets I would. But there was more fun to come... Motomura Aoi: This was one of those last-minute tickets as I was trying to fill out my schedule. I remembered a couple years ago when a group of Aoitan fans tried to enroll me into supporting her. They were really nice guys, so I thought I would finally meet her. It was by far the longest queue I endured all day, and it was painfully slow. I sat in the lane watching the Sakura fans looping her line next door. I mean Sakura's line was long, but it moved. In fact I saw our fearless admin ItheBigC go through the line twice while I waited for Aoitan. But it did give me quite a bit of time to watch Sakura interact with her fans. I also watched Sasshi work on a huge queue in the Handicapped lane. When I finally got to the front of the queue (behind three guys who all had 10+ tickets) I realized I really didn't have anything to say to her. BTW, Aoitan is tiny! I always thought she would be bigger based on the chubby cheeks, but her cheeks are the only big thing about her. She is really petite and cute. I basically told her that I enjoyed watching her on Odekake, I also complimented her smile. She did that universal "finger in the dimples" smile move as I was pushed out. She is a nice girl... Murashige Anna: This was another after-thought ticket. I needed tickets for the lunch slot, and since I had already lost for the Vivian/Maria group lane I decided to meet Anna. After all, I have always be a fan of strong variety types, and Murashige certainly fits that bill. As the slot started I watched as Imamura and Vivian walked to their lane. What an amazing dynamic that was! Vivian is petite, and she was towering over Maria. The two of them together was just too cute for words. I gestured over to that lane and said to my friend "Look at all those lucky people, about to have the time of their lives with those two" So I jumped into Anna's queue, which was pretty short. Again, I didn't have much to say to her, and was kinda hoping she would take the lead. Unfortunately that didn't happen, so it was basically a generic "nice to meet you" type of handshake. But that was my fault. Tomiyoshi Asuka: I have had two previous lukewarm meetings with Asuka-chan, but at this point I have stuck with her since I have liked her within the group for a long time. That and she is the spitting image of a friend of mine in America. Anyway, she had on this slick leather jacket which I said was kakkoi. She laughed and said, "Yeah, cool!" I congratulated her on being in the Bagutte Iijan senbatsu. And that was basically it. She is pretty much just a reactor when it comes to handshakes, which is fine. However I am becoming a bit less-enthused about meeting her in the future. For me she's like the HKT-version of Yokoyama Yui. I like them, but their handshakes are lacking a bit of electricity. Fuchigami Mai: I was interested in seeing how she would react to seeing me again after meeting me in the group lane hours earlier. She had a very excited initial reaction, so I told her that I had a lot of fun in her lane with Naopon, and they made a great team. Then right as I was being tapped to leave she said in English "I want to see you again, please come back, okay? Promise?" My heart absolutely melted. The way she said it was so sincere. I stuck out my pinky and quickly said "Yakusoku!" And I really meant it. I am definitely putting her on top of my HKT priority list. BTW, while I was waiting in Maichan's queue I noticed this cute girl in cosplay over in the next lane. I checked the sign to see who it was. Yamada Marina. Wow, I had never paid attention to her before! My friend said that she dresses in cosplay quite often. I said "So she is kinda like Tanamin?" Anyway, Marina has entered my "possible future handshake" list. "The Chaos Lane" <Okamoto, Murashige, Akiyoshi, Murakawa> (2 tickets) This lane promised to be the limit. It was filled with fun personalities, and then you had Akiyoshi who is my new BFF. Not surprisingly Naopon dominated the lane. Yukachan was trying to compete with Naopon, and the other two kinda stayed off to the side. It was another side of Vivian I had never noticed before. When around her senpai she gets sorta quiet and shy. Anyway, I went into the lane. Two girls took each hand, and the four of them began talking at me at the same time. I remarked that this was the greatest group lane ever and they all started laughing. By the way, the entire time Akiyoshi kept saying my name. I was so impressed. A few minutes later I went in with my last ticket for the night. I told all four of them that it was great to finally meet all of them and that I had a lot of fun. (for three of them this was the first day I had talked to them) I think it was Anna who said she also had fun. Akiyoshi said "Thank you Chris" I then asked her if she considered herself to be good in English, which she denied. We will see the next time I see her. Anyway my tickets were done. I would sit for almost three hours outside near Queen's Square playing Pokemon Go! while I waited for my friends to finish using their tickets... By the end of the evening I couldn't stop talking about Akiyoshi. I had such a great time with her. Same with Fuchigami. Both of them were really great experiences. I have always contended that meeting the members will often change who you want to root for, and in the case of HKT that is very true for me. I was so motivated to see Yukachan and Maichan again I went home and immediately applied for handshake tickets for the upcoming AKB48 single. It was already in the 7th round, but I was able to secure tickets for Akiyoshi, Fuchigami, and Vivian. I also applied for my favorite SKE members, as well as one Tanamin ticket. It is funny that I didn't even begin applying until the 7th round but I got every ticket that I wanted. A couple days later HKT announced resale for their upcoming handshake event at Makuhari, so I grabbed a few tickets for that, including one ticket for the infamous Imamura/Vivian group lane. I am really excited to see Akiyoshi and Fuchigami again. I want them to know they both cultivated a new fan. In the meantime I attended a Wasamin event this evening at the Ginza Enka Festival and had an extremely memorable moment. It isn't often that an idol goes the extra mile for a fan. But that's exactly what Wasamin and her manager did for me tonight. I'll talk about that in her thread.
^^ what an awesome report! the "chaos lane" was amazing haha i would've been so nervous having the four of them holding my hands and calling my name! i got some handshake tickets for akb's next single on february, but now i really want to get tickets for asuka and naopon, hopefully theres an hkt handshake event while i'm there.
That's really cool to see a member here get fished like that lol. Now I see why Maichan has ranked the past two years. She knows exactly what she is doing; very sweet words too!
HKT48 "Saikou ka Yo" Individual Handshake Event at Makuhari Messe (2016/11/23) So, this was kind of a last-minute thing. When I first applied for the HKT handshakes for this single I figured I would go to one event (last month) and that was it. I didn't expect to have such amazing experiences with members like Yuka-chan and Mai-chan. By the time that event was over I could not wait to meet those members again. So when the group shop opened up for one last resale I jumped at the chance, and I got all the tickets I applied for. My only dilemma was that I was looking for one more ticket to fill slot 4, and I couldn't decide between Okamoto Naoko or Yamada Marina. Ultimately I was satisfied with my decision... I didn't need to get to Makuhari until 11:00 for Slot 3, which was good because Messe had so many events going on. Not only was HKT there, but so was NMB, Nogizaka46, Jam Project, Chiba Lotte Marines fanfest, as well as a job fair. Suffice it to say there were tons of people at the convention center that day. But I made it on time, got my tickets stamped, signed a birthday card for Vivian, and I was good to go.... Akiyoshi Yuka (Slot 3) - I could not wait for my reunion with Yuka-chan. She is so adorable, and I can tell how much she likes me. I saw her peering over a fans head as I came down the lane. She happily exclaimed "Kurisuuu!" So I asked her about this English test she took last month. Apparently she got a 99%. She said it was true, but she still isn't confident speaking English. I told her it was okay, congratulations, and that I would be coming back a little later. So as I was coming out of the exit, I spotted a couple of Wasafans who were at the event. (Actually, I spotted quite a few Wasafans there throughout the day. We were all playing hooky from Wasamin's wrestling event. XD) They were standng with a couple of people from Akiyoshi's Setensai committee. They were there to give me Akiyoshi birthday goods. So I got the birthday booklet, as well as a flower to wear to show my allegiance. I am being fully indoctrinated into the Akiyoshi fandom! Some sample pages from the book... Murakawa Vivian (Slot 3) - Vivian immediately perked up when she saw me enter the booth. And she always greets me with a big English "Hello". I asked her when she would be appearing on the event stage that day. (HKT handshake events feature a stage where random members show up and do random thngs) She told me it was an hour after something, but I didn't quite catch when that was. Anyway, I told her I would come over and see her when she was on stage. In the meantime I caught Fuchigami, Kojina, Shimono, and Yamamoto Mao doing a blind taste test onstage. First they got mango, second was fried locusts. LOL. After that I went to lunch... Okamoto Naoko (Slot 4) - She was so outgoing and fun last month that I felt compelled to get an individual ticket for her. And that is exactly what I told her. She is a lot of fun and that I wanted to meet her again. The nice thing about ALL of these handshakes was that every single one of them remembered our encounters from last month. Akiyoshi Yuka (slot 4) - So I forget what I came in to talk to Yuka-chan about. It was the same excited "Kurisuuuu!" greeting again. But just as I was about to say something Lovetan stepped into the lane and started fishing me right out of Yuka-chan's lane... Lovetan: "Kurisu??? I want you, I need you!" Lovetan's cockblocking of my Yuka-chan experience completely threw me off. I started to respond to Lovetan, but then switched my focus back to Yuka-chan, and at the same time was getting pushed out by the guard. I barely got out that I would see her again at the AKB event this coming weekend. Unfortunately for Lovetan she was really barking up the wrong tree. First of all, she is very good friends with Wasamin which makes her taboo for me. Second of all, she has surely forgotten the super-salty way she treated me the last time I met her 4-5 years ago. So at the end of the day. Sorry Lovetan, not happening! Murakawa Vivian/Imamura Maria (Lunch Slot) - So this was one of those group lanes, and I was really here to see Vivian. However, I was interested in meeting Maria just to see what kind of personality she had. That's the funny thing about HKT, Sasshi really has a way with corrupting the lolis in this group. Akiyoshi seems to be the exception. But for the rest of them, Nako, Miku, Maria, they all seem to be very mature for their age. I said hello to Vivian, and the shifted my focus to Maria since I had never met her before. I told her I was at the concert where she recited her ABC's last Spring. At the end of the day she didn't light any fireworks for me, handshake wise. After this I left the venue for a while just to get a break, then I lined up in the 5th Anniversary Goods line just to get the one item I wanted. An Akiyoshi ticket holder. It took about 40 minutes, but I still had plenty of time to get my two Slot 5 tickets done. Fuchigami Mai (Slot 5, part 1) - Mai-chan completely melted my heart last month when she told me (in English) that she hoped that she would meet me again. Suffice it to say was excited about this moment. And she did not dissapoint at all. Now here is the funny thing with Fuchigami, I am taking formal Japanese classes, so I use these handshakes as an opportunity to practice Japanese. However, Mai-chan insists on speaking English the entire time. Even when I try to speak Japanese she just switches us back to English. So the first thing she said was that she remembered last month. I told her that after that handshake I wanted to see her again so I bought more tickets, and that I would be coming back in a few minutes... In the meantime I went back over to the stage to watch a bunch of the new Kenkyuusei play the "Hands in the Mystery Box" game. Fuchigami Mai (Slot 5, part 2) - BTW, I spent most of my time in Fuchigami's queue trying to avoid Tomiyoshi's gaze from the lane next door, since I have kind of abandoned going to see her. Once again, Mai seemed thrilled that I was coming back through her line. Once again with the "all-English" handshake. So I asked her why was she so good at speaking English. She leaned over and quietly told me why, but she made me promise not to tell anyone what she told me. So Mai-chan and I have a little secret together. She then asked me if I was from America. After this things got slightly weird... Fuchigami: You are from America? TRUMP!!! (Big smile and two thumbs up) Me: Ehhhhh? (giving her the "WTF" look) Fuchigami: You are Clinton? Unfortunately I didn't have time to discuss American politics with Maichan as I was being pushed out by the guard. At the end of the day I can tell Fuchigami badly wants me to oshi her. She is pushing ALL of my oshi buttons in a major way. Unfortunately, Akiyoshi is also doing a great job in that respect, and I already have the attention of Akiyoshi's committee. Ultimately Wasamin is my one true Oshimen, but as far as HKT is concerned, these two have become my "Two-Top". I had one ticket left. In the interim I headed back to the stage one more time to see Team TII (minus Hana) doing a skit on stage. They were all trying to do "ecchi" phrases, with Vivian failing just about every time. At one point Murashige came out and blew them all away. At the end Vivian had to do a Batsu Game for being the worst player. "Chaos Lane" (Slot 6) (Akiyoshi, Murakawa, Okamoto, Murashige) - I didn't want to repeat what I said to them last month. I walked in and Vvivian immediately saw my Akiyoshi ticket holder, and pointed it out to Yuka-chan. I told Vivian th I enjoyed her stage show, but that Murashige had the best responses. (Murashige did not seem to be too impressed with my compliment) I told both Vivian and Yuka that I would be visiting with both of them this weekend at the AKB event. And t was it. It was 4:45 and I wanted to be home by dinner time, so I caught the express back to Tokyo and was back in my apartment shortly after 6pm. The bad news is that I lost all of my applications for Mai-chan this weekend. So I will not see her again until January. But I have two tickets for Akiyoshi this Sunday (slots 5 and 7), along with one ticket each for Vivian and Kaotan (both slot 8) I am actually extremely busy this weekend, even choosing to skip the AKB National event, but for Akiyoshi I will make time for Sunday.
Ah it's always so nice to read these experiences even if the members aren't my oshi, it makes me so envious... some day, some day...
Since @Sakuraism indirectly challenged me, saying that the NMB48 Experiences thread has more views than any other group...we shall see what happens in 2017, and see how long I can keep up the motivation to write full reports instead of just tweeting like always HKT48 New Year/Fukubukuro Event (2017/01/01) This was the first year I was in Japan for New Year's so I wanted to try applying for the 48 Group's fukubukuro, or "lucky bags," which is really a grab bag of various goods. The real draw of these, besides all the goods contained in the bags, is that you get the chance to draw for a reward, which ranges from amazing (100発100中権利 or 100発98中権利, which basically guarantees you entry into a theater show of your choice) to utterly useless (here, have a paper fan). I've done the online sales of these for the last few years but never won anything, but buying them directly guarantees you win something, so I thought why not. The catch is, you actually have to apply for the chance to even buy these things, so I applied for AKB48's in Tokyo and HKT48's in both Tokyo and Fukuoka. Considering I'm much closer to Tokyo, I was hoping to win there but alas...Fukuoka was the only one I could win, so I ended up flying to Fukuoka just so I could have the chance to give money to HKT48. My coworkers had a really good laugh at that After not being able to sleep at the airport the night before (Tip: Terminal 3 in Narita really sucks for sleeping, always go for Terminal 2 instead), I got to Fukuoka a bit past 8 am. Having nothing else to do, I headed to the venue early despite my slot not being slated to start until 11:30 am. That turns out to have been a very good decision because at 9 am Mikurin sent out a mobame saying she had just arrived back in Fukuoka and would be participating in HKT48's "New Year Event" from 10:30 am to 11 am. Up til now, there was no indication that any of the members would show up at the fukubukuro sales, so I was kind of startled. After thinking it through for a few minutes, I couldn't think of any other event that HKT48 members would potentially participate in, which meant Mikurin was heading here! The problem then was, she would be showing up in Slot 1 and not Slot 2. Luckily, after everyone from Slot 1 went in, the manager asked whether anyone from Slot 2 would like to go in early. Thinking that Sakura was too popular and/or busy to show up, I decided to take the risk and go for it to at least see my 2-oshi instead. Because I was going in late, my angle sucked being stuck behind a pillar, meaning there was no way Mikurin could see me, but at least I could see the right side of the stage if I leaned. I was expecting just NakoMiku and maybe a couple other members at that point, but after forcing all of us to put our phones away and then starting a little late, NakoMiku, half of Team TII/4th Gen and more showed up! Off the top of my head, it was Tomiyoshi, Nako, Mikurin, Madoka, Maria, Bibian, Aanya, Shino, Harutan, Hanachan, Piichan, Tsuntsun, Nappi, Mokachan, Nenechan and Amachan(?). Basically, it was a whole lot of members, which made the sting of shelling out $400 for flights to and back from Fukuoka just to pay HKT48 money feel a little bit better. During the actual opening ceremony, the girls broke the top of the sake jar (a Japanese tradition, apparently?), revealed the first kanji they wrote for the new year, and pounded mochi. I don't remember what each girl wrote since they wouldn't allow us to use our phones to take notes. Mikurin's was "Rank Up," which is self-explanatory. Most interesting MC: Tomiyoshi: I was watching you two [NakoMiku] on Kouhaku last night, you two were great! Even if Yoshimi-san blocked you at times Mikurin: I was trying to edge my way into the field of view of the camera lol Tomiyoshi: As expected, so pro When the girls were pounding mochi, they invited a little boy up on stage to pound it simply because he was the only kid there. (I wasn't jealous at all. Not at all....T_T) They asked him who his oshi was and it turned out to be Meru, who wasn't there during Slot 1 unfortunately. Aanya kept trying to get him to oshihen to her by repeating calling his name, although I don't know how effective that was. After the girls left, it was time for the moment of truth, buying the bags and the subsequent lottery. I paid my 30000 yen, got my bags and headed to the lines for lottery. Each bag is one draw, so I had picked the most expensive option, one of each bag, for a total of 3 draws. Staff: *opens ticket* 9th prize Me (in my head): Damn it, I knew I was going to get that stupid towel (it's a tenugui, the worst prize) -__- Staff: *opens 2nd ticket* 9th prize Me (in my head): *sigh* Well, there goes my 30000 yen for no reason. What a waste of money to come here to Fukuoka Staff: *opens final ticket* 2-A prize !!!!! I had actually won something nice for once! 2-A is a 2-shot...which, in light of how many 2-shots we're getting from both singles and albums, not that exciting, coupled with the fact that Sakura is never in the HKT48 theater, and I would have to fly to Fukuoka again on short notice whenever she is there. Honestly, 3rd prize (the 100発98中権利) would've been much better, all but guaranteeing a seat to Sakura's seitansai, but...hey, it's not a stupid tenugui or paper fan! I certainly can't complain when my friend only won two tenugui and a one paper fan, just like many others After that, it was time to buy more goods and then trade photos since every bag came with photos. That was the best time to do so since everyone had photos then. I first traded with my friend @Panda102_39, whose sets luckily complimented mine quite nicely, and then we both ventured into the crowd. It's been a long time since I entered the trading scene, but it was nice seeing I could completely blend in again. I was able to complete every single set I wanted (Sakura, Mikurin, Haruppi, Meru, Nako and Aki) as well as many others I don't care for but might as well complete, so honestly, it was quite fulfilling, even if it took me like 4+ hours. I'll probably upload photos of the sets here later when I get back to my apartment. So all in all, I had a pretty good time for my first time buying fukubukuro directly. Not being able to be with my family for the holidays sucked, but I was able to see Mikurin even if she couldn't see me, I won a decent prize in the lottery and I completed all the photo sets I wanted. At least it was a lot more fun that freezing in my apartment on the mountain in the middle of nowhere, even if it cost a lot of money. If I have the chance next year, I'd probably go again if I win the chance to buy the fukubukuro again.
Attending the HKT48 本気のアイドルを見せてやる in Saitama Super Arena . The setlist for the noon concert is not many differents from the previous hall tour . But we'll got some VTR for lovetan and some setlist she sing with some member , and closed with Lovetan's solo in anata ga ite kuretakara and all the members singing ima kimi wo omou before the encore . And the idol medley session is very interesting part for me , also they perform 1 one of my momoclo favorite songs Badly it was my bad after the concert , i just tought the evening concert gate will open at 16:30 JST and the show beginning at arround 18:00 But in fact , the gate is open on 15:00 and the show will begining on 16:30 . And then when i come to the entrance at arround 16:25 , the gate was empty , and almost all the attendance already inside the hall , and in front of the gate they was preparing id check for the attendance . Bcos i tought as my past experience never faced this kind of problem , i didnt lend the ticket's owner id when i buy the evening concert ticket , since the seller said he was arround 50years old man , and i'm just arround early 20 so i think its not neccesary to bring his id , since when they paid attention at the checking time it will be very weird if they on the id that was writed 50years old . And at last i never have any experience when i need to pass the id checking . Based on the hkt48's oficial twitter , the setlist is seems slight difference from the noon concert , and there was sasshi's singing on mizugi . Feels so bad i miss this evening concertt
HKT48 Bagutte Ijan Individual Handshake Event at Makuhari Messe (2017/05/06) What a wild weekend I just had to bring a close to Golden Week. Over the last three days I have seen tons of idols, went to concerts, events, went to Golden Week events. I am tired out. And my vacation ends tomorrow, ugghh. Back to school/work. Anyway, this was the second HKT individual event in Tokyo to support this single. The first one was in February, and I actually went for two slots. However, I only had tickets for Akiyoshi. I talked about it in this combo report in the AKB experiences section. http://stage48.net/forum/index.php?threads/your-akb48-experiences.113/page-316#post-1285323 The great thing about HKT's handshake event ticketing process is that they do so many resale rounds. I believe they went up to like 29 rounds for this single. It is nice because you can get tickets at almost the last minute. There is hardly a situation where you can't go because you missed the initial lottery or first resale (Hello AKB!) SKE does something similar, which makes me happy that HKT and SKE are my two favorite 48-group Teams. I actually started with around seven tickets after the initial sale. But after so many resale rounds that eventually grew to 19 tickets. I had at least one ticket to pretty much every HKT member I had any interest in meeting (with the exception of Yamada Marina, who I still say I am going to meet one day) However, two-thirds of my tickets were for Akiyoshi and Fuchigami. In fact, the eight tickets I had for Yuka-chan were the most I have ever had for any member not named Wasamin. It was a long day. I started in Slot 2, and went through Slot 6. I will go member by member... Morning Slots Akiyoshi Yuka (Lane 12) {8 tickets} - The first five tickets I used were all for Akiyoshi. I used the other three Yukachan tickets after Naopon in Slot 4. But before I could even enter the lane for the first time, I was greeted by one of her committee members. This girl is REALLY cute too, and she is friends with a couple of the Wasamin fans. Every time I see her she brings me Yuka-gifts to encourage me to continue supporting her. On this day, among other things, she made a Yuka-chan badge for me with my name on it. So I wore it throughout the day. I tandem-ed with her the first time through the lane, and they talked about me. Akiyoshi had made an orange peel starfish, which was sitting next to her. Anyway, I told Yukachan that I loved her portrayal of Tora-san at the HKT concert, and that she was really cute in the VTR. We also talked about Golden Week. When I mentioned the Gyu Fes I went to she was like "Oh, isn't that in Odaiba???" At one point Yuka-chan started rubbing my hands, stating that she thinks my hands are quite soft. Is that a compliment? Finally, on my last ticket in the fourth slot she gave me a big "I Love You" as I told her that I would see her next at the 'Shoot Sign' events. Aside from Wasamin, I haven't been this excited about meeting an idol for quite a long time. She's great! Kodama Haruka (Lane 1) - I had one ticket for Haruppi in Slot 3. I have long said that I wouldn't mind meeting her, and I was finally taking my shot. It was touch and go for a while though with her extended hiatus from the group. Her line wasn't very long, which fans tell me has been an issue since she returned. I wasn't sure what to say to her though. I was greeted with the slightly surprised "it's a foreigner" look I am well used to. I essentially said that I was an American, I was happy to finally meet her, and I liked her outfit. She smiled and graciously thanked me. So now I can say that I have met Haruppi. BTW, Haruppi's lane was right next to Sasshi. I was interested to see how Sasshi was doing since she had just gone through oral surgery less than a day earlier. Sasshi's lane had a special sign at the front telling people that she may not be talkative because of the procedure. She was sitting down, and wearing a mask, but was definitely attentive to her fans. Ultimately, she didn't complete her slots, bailing in the afternoon. But I think everyone was surprised that she made it at all, given the circumstances. So her fans still gave her a nice send off. Okamoto Naoko (Lane 18) - I was lucky enough to pick up this ticket the day before she announce graduation. After that the fans snatched up all the tickets she had left. Naopon was her usual manic self. She was very excited when I walked in the booth and congratulated her on her decision to graduate. I was going to ask what is next for her, but instead told her I was at SSA and that I really liked her monologue part of 'Love and Peace'. So happy that I had one last encounter with her before she left. Those were all of my 'morning tickets' Up next was the lunch slot, and I had two tickets, including the first of my four Maichan tickets. I guess this is the point where I should mention the 'Special Stages'. At HKT events they have a side stage set up where random members show up and do random skits, games, etc. It is quite often the 4th gen girls. but sometimes the regular members show up, and it usually causes the fans to make a mad dash for the staging area. I would occasionally go over to check who was there, and one time I found Maichan doing a batsu game with Kojina, Imade, and one other member. Usually by the time I got there the fan section was packed, and I could only stand in the far back. However, I got very lucky with one stage toward the end of the day... Afternoon Slots Tomiyoshi Asuka (Lane 16) - At one point I considered not visiting with Tomiyoshi anymore, I just don't click with her that well. On the other hand, I think she quite good at concert MCs, and she is a very trendy dresser. So at least I can talk about that with her. Last time I saw her she had on a really nice black leather jacket. This time, she had on a cute pink leather jacket, so I decided to compliment her outfit. That seemed to go a long way, and she was very sweet and cheery. So perhaps I won't give up on her just yet. Group Lane #2: Sakaguchi Riko, Miyazaki Sono, Sakai Moeka (Lane 24) - I kept trying to get Rikopi tickets after she fished me so well at the AKB Shamekai event, but I kept losing the lottery. I finally settled on this ticket, Rikopi hanging out with a couple of the young 4th gens. Rikopi greeted me with a "What's Ahhhhhpppppp?" when I got in the booth. I told her that I had not yet found a favorite member in 4th gen, and asked if the two next to her were worthy candidates. She was like "Yes! Yes!!! She said "Yes, please support these two, pointing to Moeka and Sono-chan. Tanaka Yuka (Lane 15) - Late last year Yuutan attempted to fish me at a Special Stage for the 45th single(?) Afterwards I complained that she was cockblocking my Akiyoshi-time. But then some fans around here said "Yuutan fished you??? Have you seen her in a bikini???" Okay, I admit she fills out a swimsuit very well. However, that has never been a big prerequisite for me to support a member. On the other hand, she did make a concerted effort to get my attention. With that in mind, I decided to visit her. She acted surprised to see me, so I reminded her of the event I first met her at, and that he made me want to meet her again. I'm not sure if she remembered that event or not (probably not), but she did sorta light up when I said it. Ultimately, I had quite a few looks into her booth throughout the day, and she s definitely fun to go visit. Fuchigami Mai (Lane 17, part one) {four tickets} - I am going to divide my Maichan report up since it plays into my end of day narrative. Earlier I had seen her do the batsu game segment (The subject was the SoftBank Hawks) on the special stage. I was excited to see her in the cute pink jersey and short shorts. However, she changed clothes before the slot. So I asked her why she changed clothes. She was like "Oh, you were watching the batsu game? LOL" I told her that I bought my own HKT baseball jersey too. For the next two tickets she was telling me about the Team KIV party she went to during golden week. She said the food was great (although when she described what they ate, it sounded like she was describing KFC, LOL). I told her I went to the Gyu Festival and the Beer Festival in Odaiba, to which she replied "Gyu, yummy yummy!" I wanted to ask her if she ever drinks, but it doesn't play into her persona, so I chickened out. Anyway, I would have one more Maichan ticket for the final slot. I used the break to go to the goods lane and pick up an Akiyoshi keyholder, and sign a birthday card for Rikopi. Slot 6 Murakawa Vivian (Lane 22) - I had three tickets for the final slot, then I would be done for the day. I queued up early for Vivian to get a headstart. In the meantime this was Naopon's final event in Tokyo, so they did the big production and speech outside the lane. From Vivian's queue I had an excellent vantage point, and even got a little face/wave time as she walked back toward the booths. I was behind the cameraman, to the right I was four away, when I caught Akiyoshi walking behind the lanes. I thought "What is she doing here?", assuming she had already left for the Sunday HKT event in Fukuoka. She was going to do a special stage. Shit! I need to get this ticket done and run over there for a good spot! A short time later I got to Vivian, she was wearing a cute, pink baseball cap with the word "TRAMP" prominently worded on the front with a cartoon dog, and in tiny letters "candies" at the bottom. So I commented that I liked her cap. She pointed to the wording and said "Tramp! That's me!" My eyes practically shot out of my head as I wondered if she knew what that implied. I was like "Honto???" and she replied yes (pointing to herself) "Tramp!" Gotta love Vivian! After that I ran over to the special stage before it started. I got a great spot, since many fans didn't know who the next "guests" were. In fact, I was next to a little section where a woman was signing the dialogue for fans with hearing impairment. The event started. Not only was Akiyoshi there, so was Rikopi, Ueno, Komada, Iwahana(?) and NAOPON!! Didn't he just say goodbye like 5 minutes ago? Tons of fans came running over to watch, so I was glad I got in early, and I got plenty of facetime and waves from Yukachan through the entire show. They were basically drawing talking points out of a hat, and needless to say, Naopon and Rikopi dominated the conversation. This ended up being a long segment, and I wondered if I would be able to get the rest of my tickets done. But I was willing to trade one ticket to watch an Akiyoshi special stage. The show finally ended, and Yukachan gave me one last enthusiastic wave goodbye. There were 19 minutes left before the lanes closed. I had to decide which lane would give me the best chance of being done in 15 minutes so I could use both tickets. Fuchigami's lane had been sort of a mess all day, so I decided to try my luck with the other lane. After all, I had already seen Fuchigami three times today, I hadn't seen this member yet... Tomonaga Mio (Lane 7) - This would be my second trip 'north of the tracks', which is what I like to call HKT's Lanes 1-10, which is where all the top senbatsu member lanes are. Mio's lane was definitely shorter than Maichan, so I had a good chance of being able to use both tickets. Mio was sandwiched between Nako and Sakura. I was surprised by Nako's energy, she definitely has fun with her fans. Sakura looked like she just woke up from a nap. I know she is generally a low-key handshake anyway. Actually, I almost didn't recognize her. She had very little, if any makeup on. Anyway... I finally made it to Mio, and I told her that I met hr at the National event. She was like "We did?" "Yeah we did", and that she was so genki that I wanted to come and see her again. She thanked me for that, and I was was on my way. I still had time, I would make my last ticket after all... Fuchigami Mai (Lane 17, part 2) - I made it with two minutes to spare, and the line was still very big. Unfortunately HKT doesn't offer that oshi-mashi thing where you can use your tickets in a different lane, so it was either use my last Maichan ticket right now, or eat it. Ultimately it took around 45 minutes, well into the girls' dinner break to finish this lane. In fact, three lanes went into the dinner break. This one, Mikurin, and Sakamoto Erena (I didn't know she was that popular!) It seemed like every other person in line had 5-10 tickets, which made the line move painfully slow. Eventually I made my way to the front, and Maichan had changed back into her Pink Hawks jersey, So I told her that I though her outfit was really cute. Not that what she changed into wasn't nice too, but there is something quite endearing about Maichan when she dresses casually like that. I told her I was going to see Wasamin and Minyo Girls live tomorrow. She gave me a big thumbs up for the Wasamin show, but she said she hadn't heard of Minyo Girls. Anyway, I waved goodbye and was on my way. I bailed upstairs and met BigC and Pandadash. We chatted for a while before they went back down for their final slot tickets. In the meantime I headed to Akiba for some Yamachan wings with @memorybreak. It was a good event, but I had one more fun-filled day in store on Sunday to end Golden Week. As far as all the members I visited today. Everyone was nice. But did they make me want to get more tickets for them in the future? Not really. For now I will probably stick with my main three of Akiyoshi, Fuchigami, and Vivian, and an occasional Rikopi and/or Tomiyoshi ticket. But maybe I will try Nako next time, she seems like fun.
thank you for the write up. But i'm surprised Haruppi lane wasn't long. Since she was in hiatus, wasn't it supposed to galvanise fan to see her back from recovery? Or maybe the ticket system doesn't allow it?
Don't know. The initial sale for this single was before she went on hiatus. The person I spoke to speculated that some of her fans were put off by her absence. But I don't know if that's true or not. I have spoken to a couple of Haruppi fans, and they were worried, and happy that she returned.
thanks for the awesome write up as always. I think Carey was saying she was rather cold when he went to see her? I hope she's able to get back into the swing of things being out for so long. as far as 4th gens, I've read the lines for Toyonaga Aki were quite long. Were you able to catch a glimpse of her line as well?
