Chuo Dori

Let’s wrap this up with the one other event I attended during my most recent stay in Tokyo…

AKB48 “Give Me Five” handshake event at Tokyo Big Sight 4/8

This was the second day of the AKB handshake weekend. On Saturday I had decided to just do a few tickets so 1) not to tire myself out from handshaking and 2) give me the option of doing something else over the weekend. As fun as they are, I must admit that these handshake events are physically and mentally tiring. Not only are you on your feet for like 12 hours straight, but for me trying to come up with enough stuff to say in Japanese can be a mental drain. And to be honest I probably fail as much as I succeed. Not that it matters…

The way I see it, the girls are trying to make every fan as happy as possible. At least that is what I get from their blog and G+ comments. So while some time I might confuse them with what I say, they probably find it funny watching me struggle. Something like “I don’t know what he was trying to say, but I am glad he was happy to see me”

At the end of the day I get across what is most important to me…that I am their fan and I support them. Plus I get to shake their hand. And they definitely know I exist after the interaction. One of the advantages of being a bumbling foreign fan. Anyway, onto the action…

This was going to be a full day with 20 tickets! For a change of pace, I decided to add some new girls to my handshake menu on this day. Some went great, others…you’ll see.

Beginning with Slot 1 (Congratulating Maeda)

Sasaki Yukari: I got the idea to meet her after her stint as Eguchi Aimi at Seibu Dome. I simply introduced myself and told her that I thought she was great. She was very sweet, and seemed genuinely happy to meet me. Very nice girl.

Maeda Atsuko: Since she announced her pending graduation I was so happy to have this ticket! I wanted to congratulate her and tell her I will support her in the future. And that I did. She was dressed very summery and casual for some reason. She thanked me in English. I am just glad I got one more opportunity to say Hi!

Slot 2 (Seeing girls I had already seen)

Komori Mika: I had already used my wrestling material the previous day. So I just decided to wish her luck with the new Watarirouka single. And I reminded her that I believe WH7 is the best Watarirouka. It has taken a little time over the last couple years, but Mikapon has really warmed up to me. I am thankful for that.

Oya Masana/Ishida Anna: I pretty much already said to both of them everything I could think of last week in Osaka. So this time I pretty much welcomed them to Tokyo. BTW, Anna looked kind of tired. So it was merely a chance to get a little more face time with them.

There were two lunch slots between 2-3, where the trainees and lesser popular girls took over. For some reason Wasamin stayed through these slots. But next to her were a bunch of SKE kks and Team E members. Some of them rarely had visitors, so they were interacting with Wasamin’s long line. For some reason Team E’s Takagi Yumana took a real interest in me on both days. And you know what, I have always kinda liked her. So I guess next time I am over I will have to get tickets for her!

Slot 3 (2 more first-time handshake experiences)

Ichikawa Miori: I had finally scored a Miorin ticket after failing a couple of times previously. She is awesome! I told her I was an American, and asked her how was Washington DC? She started jumping up and down totally how you might imagine. I then joined her in a round of TON TON WashingTON! I have to see her again!

Yokoyama Yui: My third time seeing Yui. She was wearing what looked like some sort of snakeskin jacket? It looked pretty cool. I pretty much told her that and said I had a ticket to see her the next day at the theater. Once again Yui attempted to engage me in some sort of conversation. Unfortunately I never understand what she is trying to ask me.

Oota Aika: I had been warned that Lovetan can sometimes be moody, especially if she is unsure how much you like her. So my biggest tactical error was forgetting that she would be positioned right next to Wasamin, and probably saw me living in her line. I know she spotted me at least a couple of times. So when I got up to her she seemed like she was on “autopilot”. As I was introducing myself she just chopped in “Hello, Nice to Meet You”. I stammered away as she continued with the English pleasantries. I think I said something about loving Watarirouka Hashiritai until I got pushed out by staff. I have a feeling she was thinking “get outta here, Wasafan!” Oh well, maybe next time I will try Ayarin.

Slot 4 (Moar Wasalove)

Nito Moeno: Simply another “Long Time No See” and “You Look Cute” moment since I have seen a lot of Moeno lately. But it was a great strategy anyway as it set the table for all of me interactions with her at the Team K show on Monday.

Iwasa Misaki: I had four Wasatickets for this day. Three in the lunch slot earlier, and concluding with one in this slot. For the first two we just exchanged pleasantries and I told her how she always looks so cute. But for the third I told her that I hoped for a second solo single, and I would definitely come to support her if it happened. She sort of jumped up and said Yayy!

That set up the final ticket, which I saved for the end of her last slot. I just hate the idea of being out of Wasamin tix and her still being there. Plus, I usually get sort of choked up when I know it will be my last chance to talk to her on the trip. But I went in right after Pandadash who got into the Hillary-inspired “We are friends” interaction with her. He then pointed to me waiting on deck and said “We are friends”. So the three of us are laughing and I forgot all about sentimentality. As I walked in Wasamin said to me in English “We are besto friends?” I know in relationships that can be the kiss of death, but I was thrilled that she said that. I replied “Mochiron, I love you Wasamin” She said “I love you too” as staff pushed me out one last time. Anyway, great finish to what ended up being 13 handshake experiences with her over three events!

Slot 4-A (A visit to the Grand Canyon)

Hirata Rina: I just had to visit the one “American” in the group. As I greeted her in English I thanked her for teaching Wasamin the “We are friends” line. She said “Thanks for coming!” I told her that the fans out West are all rooting for her. She said “Oh, I am from Arizona!” I replied “I know Kiddo, I am from California.” I heard her say “Whoah” as I got pushed out. To be honest it felt slightly creepy. Not because she wasn’t nice. She is! But iwasn’t like meeting an idol, it was like shaking hands with a cute, young American girl. LOL!

Tanabe Miku: I always look forward to seeing what Tanamin is wearing. And she did not disappoint. I am not sure what she was cosplaying, but she looked totally hawt. And that is basically what we talked about, how cute her outfits are.

Slot 5 (As the girls begin to get really tired!)

Sato Sumire: Another first time meeting. (If you don’t count “sort of” interacting with her in New York) She was sitting down, obviously tired. So I merely introduced myself to her and told her whe I was from. She brightened up and said “Hajimemashite” She is a nice girl.

Katayama Haruka: At this point I was so tired of trying to think of stuff to say. At the last minute I remembered she is part of the “Art Club”, but I had no idea how to say that I just remembered GakiKame doing that “Arto” thing on Momusu’s old TV show. So after I said Hi and good to see her again I blurted out “Arto!” She replied “Arto?” so I repeated it She repeated it back again in question. ROFL! So I just said “Gomen gomen” as I got pushed out. That was okay. I was all handshaked out at this point.

And that was it! I didn’t do any tickets for slot 6 because…I know better. And as usual I will give a list of girls I got a good look at due to proximity of girls I had tickets for or simply running into them behind the lines…

Kojima Haruna, Miyazaki Miho, Sato Amina, Kuramochi Asuka, Akimoto Sayaka, Masuda Yuka, Ishida Haruka, Oya Shizuka, Fujie Reina, Nonaka Misato, Iriyama Anna, Shimazaki Haruka + a few other trainees I couldn’t name.

So in summary I think it was a great trip! In 12 days I got to… (links attached)
-go to the SDN48 graduation concert
-see the Iwasa Misaki Mujineki event twice with 4 handshakes
-go to SKE48′s Kataomoi Finally Handshake event
-go to AKB48′s GM5 handshake event over two days
-attend Ohori Megumi DVD release event plus 2-shot
-win a Team K show at the theater
-run into Momoiro Clover standing on the street in Toyosu

And not the least of which, I got to hang out with Pandadash and Koba. Plus I finally met Tenkun (at the Wasamin event), Issa (at GM5 event), HoneyRoastedPeanuts (in Shizuoka), Jouttex (at Mujineki, GM5 and Meetan events) I also met some of my old friends from the early SDN days. And I can’t forget the group of Hong Kong fans who also came out for the handshake event. Everyone was great!

So yes, a fun time!

To finish this up I plan on posting a “gets” post.  Yes, I promise this time!

CK in Tokyo

I went to AKB48′s “Give Me Five” handshake event on Sunday, but since that will take me a while to write, and I need to begin packing for my flight home tomorrow I am going to skip it for the moment. Instead I will report today’s festivities…

I had won cancel machi for last Tuesday’s Team K show, but the storm that went through Tokyo that evening forced many businesses to close early. It also resulted in the Theater being closed for the evening. But I received an email that I could transfer the win to the show of my choosing. So I chose Monday’s show, which also happened to be Team K. But before I get into that…

As a tradition I always meet one of my friends for lunch in Toyosu whenever I am in town. We have a designated meeting spot outside Toyosu Station. So today I headed out to Toyosu in the early afternoon. I went to our normal meeting place, but there were four girls standing there. As I quickly surveyed the situation one of the four girls looked over and stared at me. To my surprise, I then realized that I knew who they were…

It was Momoiro Clover Z!!!

The entire group, except for Reni (the purple one) was standing there while their manager was hailing two taxis. Ayaka and Shiori were still wearing their school unis. I wasn’t sure if Momoka recognized me when she looked over (I have done handshakes and a two-shot with her in the past), so I just stood there pretending not to be paying attention to them.  I didn’t want to scare them away!  But when they left I tried to snap off a few paparazzi shots.

Never a dull moment in the land of Idols.

AKB48 Theater 2012/04/09 “RESET” featuring Team K and various Kenkyuusei

I had cancel machi #56, and this was the only sniff I had at a possible win while I was here. So it would either be this show or bust. Luckily most of the major members of Team K would be absent for this show. So that improved my chances. I didn’t really mind anyway since Yui and Moeno would be there. that was all that mattered to me.

I got up there about 5 minutes before the beginning of cancel machi. I could tell immediately that they had a lot of space because they were calling the numbers rather rapidly. 10, 20, 30, 40, still calling rapidly. When they got to 50 and still hadn’t slowed down I knew I was in good shape with 56. At the end they had gone past 100. So keep that in mind kiddies the next time you have a high cancel machi number. You never know…

So this would be my 29th theater show, and 7th time seeing Team K. It also meant I have now seen all the of the current AKB stages. It took a year and a half, but I have now seen A6, K6, and B5 live. And I was going to be in the seat lottery. Now historically I always had terrible seat lottery luck. I had never been closer than 4th row on the side. But that all changed last trip when I got front row center for SDN. I wondered how my luck would be today with ticket #211?

First call, 80-89
Second call, 70-79
Third call, 210-219…Score-a-rooni!

I didn’t get front row center. But I DID get front row on the left. Awesome! You guys know the RESET setlist, so I won’t bother with a track-by-track. Just some of the highlights from my perspective…
One again, first row always gets you some good one-on-one reactions. Yokoyama Yui and Sazaki Yukari, who I both had handshakes with yesterday both smiled at me right off the bat. But I was really looking for Moeno.

Unfortunately for me Moeno spent most of the show on the other side of the stage. But she came over on the third song and kneeled down right in front of me. When she looked up, she saw me, laughed and waved! LOL, too cute! In fact, just about every time she came over to my side she looked for me.  Moeno is a total flirt!

But I also got attention from a couple other girls too, especially Nakatsuka Tomomi. She kept pointing right at me in one song. Uchida Mayumi waved to me and smiled too. As did Nattori Wakana a couple of times. BTW, has Uchi always had her bellybutton pierced? Or is that new???

Oh, and I ended up being in the perfect seat if I was a Minegishi Minami fan. She was right in front of me quite a lot, and she demands your attention when she is there! I wanted to pay attention to Moeno and Yui, but I was afraid to not look at Miichan!

Also, sitting at the side in front puts you right next to the speakers. It is REALLY loud over there! You can also hear when the girls’ mics are live. Yes, I heard a few clunker notes along the way. But I had forgotten how much I enjoy K6. It is a very fun stage! And for the encore we got GM5, and Moeno playing a mean bass guitar! She really did a great job!

High Touch went very fast, but I got looks of familiarity from Moeno and Yui, and a few English “Thank You’s” I forget from whom.

It was a great last evening of the trip. Now it is time to pack for the flight back to Cali tomorrow. I will do my Sunday handshake event report ASAP.

CK in Tokyo

I left Saturday’s GM5 handshake event early. In fact I didn’t have any late handshake tickets at all because I was hoping another event might pop up worth seeing. It didn’t even have to be AKB-related.  But one never knows what make shake out on a Saturday night.  It turned out to be a great move since the event that “popped up” just happened to be…

Ohori Megumi DVD Release Event at Tower Records Shibuya 4/7

So it turns out graduations aren’t necessarily goodbye after all, eh? When this was originally announced, there were supposedly going to be a limited number of tickets, and they had to be reserved in person at Tower. Since I was still a couple of weeks away from arriving in Tokyo, I had to pool my resources, and ask a few favors in order to score a ticket. And I did! However, it turned out to be unnecessary after all as I found out they were letting people in who bought the DVD the day of the event. Oh well…

So my new friend and I got over to Tower around 2 1/2 hours early, bought our DVDs (2 copies each) and received our entry vouchers. For those of us who preordered, we queued up on the stairwell by number (I was #143) As we were let in we were greeted by one of the managers who gave us our autographed covers. One for each copy bought.  BTW, I was surprised that the manager was the same guy who ran Sato Yukari’s DVD release at Ishimaru a couple of years ago. He seems to be a nice guy. Anyway, there were no seats left when I got in, but I got a pretty good standing position on the left, behind three petite girls. So I had a clear sightline.

BTW, while we were waiting they were playing a medley of Meetan’s singing spots on the Summer Zoo show she appears on. The songs that she totally butchers. Half of the audience is just cracking up the entire time. They need to release THAT as a CD! Then a video starts..It is Meetan giving us the rules of the event in a way only Meetan could…totally pervy!

So far the show is totally awesome, and Meetan hasn’t even appeared yet!

Finally our girl comes out in a sexy beige one piece with pink flower trim that totally showed off her curves. And what does she open with? ZOMFGWTF!!! Amai Kokansetsu!!!! I was in utter disbelief that I was getting to see her perform her solo debut single. It was awesome! After that came the interview, where Meetan talked about her future. The grad concert of SDN48. Meanwhile, she of course kept flirting with the audience with her “fake embarassment”. Just too funny. Then came time for games…

can you spot me in the pic?

It was a quiz/janken. the winner of each round getting to go behind a curtain for a little private time with Meetan. When they got back there you could see the goings-on in silhouette, with pink backlighting.  Sexy Meetan getting pervy with the lucky winner. There were three rounds. I actually came pretty close to winning the first contest. I got knocked out the round before the final. On the last round it was between a guy and a girl, and I think everyone wanted the girl to win including the guy she was up against. But fairness won out, the guy beat her, and we got no girl on girl action.

We also got a few previews of the DVD, including one where the crew played a practical joke on her. Meetan is a great reacion queen. Anyway, this DVD seems to be filled with tons of sexy beach stuff. And judging by the back of the jacket, a bit of cosplay as well. Nice!

After all of that it was time for the handshake portion of the event. Now remember I said both me and my friend bought TWO copies of the DVD. That was because one DVD got you a handshake, two got you a two-shot! It all went went very fast because there were so many people to get through. So they lined you up for your photo as she was handshaking the previous person. then she leaned in for your 2-shot. Then you came around for handshake and talk for about 5-7 seconds. But it was an awesome experience nonetheless.  Ohori said something to me while posing for our photo, but I didn’t understand it.  Then she thanked me for coming while i congratulated her on her graduation, told her the SDN48 concert was great, and finished with a big “Meetan I love you!”…

It was a perfect day. Started off with nothing but Wasalove all morning, then Sexy Meetan for a nightcap. The first of three straight days of total idol bliss!!! I am so glad I got another chance to interect with Meetan post-graduation since I wasn’t sure I would ever have the chance again. But I guess it was fate!

And I have more to post later…

CK in Tokyo

So after a quiet week, I am back in action beginning with this “little” event…

GM5 Handshake Event at Tokyo Big Sight 4/7

This will be a “mini-experience” post as I originally did not plan to do much at this event. I actually purchased most of my handshake tickets for the 4/8 event. But I figured I would grab a few Wasamin tickets as a “fail safe”, as you never know when an idol might come down with something and miss an event. And as long as I was doing that, might as well get one Mikapon ticket

I scheduled all of my tickets for the morning in hope that if any other idol events come up, I coul be available. Nothing wrong with a little bit of variety. And I am so glad I did, because what might have been the best event of the trip happened last night. But that will have to wait…

BTW, Big Sight is so much easier than having to go all the way to Makuhari Messe. I think pretty much every fan feels this way, unless they live in Chiba. Not to mention Big Sight has many more amenities close to the event space. It also seems like there were even more people there than when I went to the Kazefui event 4 months ago. Just a sea of people everywhere you looked. Miichan’s line was insane, the longest I saw by far!

The experiences:

Mikapon (one ticket): Now that I know what sashiburi means I am noticing how often it is said to me I wanted to talk to her about wrestling, but I wasn’t sure if the normal word for “wrestle” was used to describe it. But I said it anyway, and Komorin sort of said “Ohhh!” and got into her classic fighting pose. Oops, did I challenge her to a fight and not even know it? Anyway, I said “Kakkoi!” and that was it. I have moe tickets for her today…

Wasamin (five tickets): I needed to come up with a lot of material for 5 tickets. And she looked adorable in her green and white dress…

1. I asked her if she was tired after the Fukuoka concert. She said she was, but was still happy to be there.

2. I said ” you sang Faint?” She paused for a second, like she forgot already. But then said “Hai, fainto” I responded, “the English parts?” and started humming. I got what I wanted as she then sang the first couple of English lines for me.

3. I asked her about Hillary, and the English phrase she was taught. “We are friends”. She said “Ahh, Hllary! and started laughing” She then pointed to herself and me and asked “Tomodachi desu ka?” which I immeditely affirmed. This is also where I got the one “I Love You” of the day.

4. The funniest one of the day. I went in right after one of her female superfans (who I have become friends with. We are both WasaMeetan fans) I pointed to my friend and said “Tomodachi desu.” Wasamin pointed to the guard and said “Tomodachi desu ka?” with a puzzled look, to which all three of us were laughing. Wasamin then punched me on the shoulder. LOL. A punch of affection, too cute.

5. I basically told her she looked beautiful and I would see her tomorrow.

BTW, aside from slot one, Wasamin’s line was pretty big most of the day. I think she is on the verge of becoming a “Six Slot Member”. Good for her!

More to come…

CK in Tokyo

Taking a quick break from my current trip.  I noticed a new ranker tool as shown up on the internet for listing your favorite AKB48 members.  Actually, I have seen quite a few new group rankers.  So I am assuming this one is also from Ray Mescallado’s new site Idolminded? (I assumed wrong, see the comments) BTW, please check out Ray’s new site.  I don’t want to necessarily call it the rebirth of International Wota, but it was certainly “born from the ashes”  Anyway, good luck to Ray on the new site.  As a former Admin for IW, Ray’s sites always hold a special spot in my heart, and I am always open to helping out if the need arises.

The Ranker

(Note: it seems the above link isn’t working at the moment as of 2012/04/08.  I will update if that changes)

Idolminded

Anyway, here is my updated AKB48 ranker.  Let’s see how much has changed since I did Johpan’s ranker a couple of years ago.  That one is still archived on the top of this blog…

CK in Tokyo

So it isn’t like these trips I take never run into the occasional hitch.  The good news was that I had managed to win a Team K show for Tuesday night.  For those of you who pay attention to the goings on around AKB, you know how hard it is to win shows these days.  But a huge storm decided to hit hit Tokyo today, causing much of the city to shut down early.  That includes the AKB48 Theater.  So my win just turned into nothing.  According to the email I received there will be some sort of “compensation”, but I have no idea what that will look like.  (Update: looks like the compensation is an “automatic win” next week.  I hope it works, I leave next week.  So I basically have one opportunity)

And I was so excited to cheer for Moeno and Yui too!  Anyway…

Since I am basically riding out the storm in my hotel, I will post about a few things happening while I am here.  Beginning with this…

The answer to a question I posed on this blog was answered recently by the announcement of this event, and the announcement that Hatakeyama Chisaki, along with SDN48′s Mitsui Hiromi are forming a singing duo called ChaMin.  Unfortunately I wasn’t lucky enough to win a ticket to Chaki’s event tomorrow night.  But I still might head over there to buy goods.  She has a few cute little items for sale.  And one never knows, maybe I can weasel my way in.  I doubt it, but you never know, right?

What’s that?  Takamina announcing the stations for the Yamanote Line?  If you haven’t heard, one of the trains on the Yamanote inner loop (at least it was inner loop when I rode it) is completely adorned with AKB48 decor as a promotion for one of the local conbinis.  Forgive the crappy camerawork as it was basically the first time I was using it and I didn’t realize I was holding the camera sideways.  I will try to get better footage later this week.

Finally, a nice little report on that great SDN concert from last weekend.  I cannot wait for it to come out on DVD!

I am playing the rest of the week by ear, leading up to the big upcoming weekend.  I have a lot of handshake tickets, and one other little event in store.  One thing is for sure, I will defimitely be making an ass out of myself in front of many idols…

and what’s wrong with that?  As long as they remember me.

CK in Tokyo

Funny how things work out.  I have really started to like SKE48 a lot more in the last year.  I have always liked them, but ever since they released Banzai Venus I have really taken notice.  This is the second consecutive trip that they have held an exusive handshake event while I was in Japan.  It’s just funny that both times the event was going on all the way down in Osaka…

SKE48 Kataomoi Finally Handshake Event at Intex Osaka 4/1

I will keep this one relatively brief, for it is a strikingly similar experience to my Oki Doki handshake event last fall. In fact, it should only be a few pages back in this thread. (Late November) Once again, I woke up at 5am to catch the first train out of Tokyo to Shin-Osaka. After that, plus 40 minutes of local train travel in Osaka, I arrived at Intex about midway through the first slot. I had two tickets for Slot 1, I would go to the shortest line first, then queue up for the other ticket after that. Luckily, both of my first slot girls had short lines. Lucky for me I guess, not really lucky for them…

I had 14 tickets for seven members. Pretty much my Top 7 in SKE. I keep saying that I want to meet more girls in the group…Maybe next time I will try for some of the other girls. But I didn’t want to overdo it since I bought so many handshake tickets for AKB next week. So here are the highlights…

Anna Ishida: I am so close to naming her my SKE oshi. It pains me so much to see her line almost empty for the entire event. She is so adorable, I just love her! I don’t remember what I said on the first ticket, but on the second I told her that I was stupid because I didn’t realize that she was wearing the outfit from Hanikami Lollipop. She responded. “I am stupid?”. I said NO!!! I am stupid, you are cute!!! She got a kick out of that. I also told her I had tickets for her in Tokyo next week.

Kanako: Sitting down beause of her injured foot. She seemed a bit down. I asked her how her foot was doing. She said it was getting better.

Akari: Spoke English to me the entire time. LOLWAT? She is adorable. They were basic English sentences, but she said them fluidly and without having to think about it. I was impressed! I need to get more than one ticket for her next time.

Churi: I told her that her Bird performance at Saitama looked great. She made her little flying motion, flittering her arms. So cute! Later I asked about her bird, Papitan. She said Papitan was genki, and Papitan was cute!

Masanya: Told her how cool the Kataomoi outfits are, and that I loved the performance with the bells on the bonus DVD.

Shawako: “Nice to Meet You”??? What, she didn’t remember me??? She remembered me last time I was in town. What’s up with that? I had an entire routine planned where I was going to imitate her during the handshake, but she threw me off. She was a fun experience anyway. She started jumping up and down when I told her that KII 3rd Stage was great. The funny thing was, the one member that I didn’t think would remember me totally did, and made a big deal about it…

Kuumin: I was almost ready to give up on Kuumin. I wasn’t sure if I was connecting with her or not. This was basically a last chance handshake. But to my surprise, she got really excited. Totally remembered me from before. We talked about the sexy PV from the song, and I showed her my Yabakune pin that I got from Nihongogo’s Jet. She was really surprised I had one. I think she asked where I got it from.

As a small bonus, other girls I got a good look at because they were in close proximity to the girls I had handshakes with: Rena, Kinoshita Yukiko, Kuwabara Mizuki, Kato Rumi and Matsumoto Rina who looked absolutely adorable! I really need to make her part of my SKE rotation!

And since Jurina was out sick, as a consolation any fan who had Jurina tickets was allowed to 1) sign a life-sized cutout of her for her birthday, and 2) take a 2-shot with their choice of said cutouts. Too funny!

As for the event overall, it is a lot more low-key than the AKB events. Not as many people. Lines are never really too long. Then again, this was Osaka. It is probably quite different in Tokyo or Nagoya. Even more surprising, the goods line was practically empty all day! Overall it seemed like a smaller turnout than last November. I wonder why?

I ended up buying two keychains, one for Masanya and one for Churi. I also got five packs for trading pics. What a horrible lot! Out of 25 pics, I got no Masanya, no Anna, no Akari, no Mieko. Just one Churi, one Kuumin, and one Kanako. I didn’t even get any Rena or Jurina!

But I had fun. I just hope next time I can go to an SKE event a bit closer to Tokyo. The day trip to Osaka takes a lot out of you. Even if I did enjoy a wonderful Bento and a nice nap on the ride back!

CK in Tokyo

Okay, so that SDN concert was major. But it isn’t the only bit of fun I have planned for this trip. Not by a longshot, my friends. In fact, the SDN concert wasn’t even the only thing I did on Saturday. There was another event, and I was even more excited about this one than the SDN concert…

Iwasa Misaki – Solo Mini-live and handshake event at Sunshine City, Ikebukuro

This was going to be awesome! And I knew there would be no problem getting into the event since well, pretty much anyone in the mall could watch if they wanted to. But they were holding a special raffle early Saturday morning for the people who wanted “premium seating”. So I hoofed it over to Sunshine and met Tenkun. He had friends who were already there. We got there around 20 minutes before the drawing, and were around 50th in line. This was really good news since they had 200 premium seats for each of her three events.

So the way it worked, you went up to the table and bought a CD. Every time you got to the front you got handshake tickets, and got to draw a seat ticket for your choice of shows. Since there were probably around 100-150 people there, you could simply loop the line and keep drawing seats until you got a decent one. Of course you had to buy a CD too. I ended up with four, which means I have a new product for my shop!

Around 30 minutes before the show we queued up by lottery number, and went down to our seats. A lot of people had gethered around the free areas, so Wasamin was going to have a good crowd to cheer her on. In addition to the CDs, they were also selling Uchiwas and postcards. I have always wanted a Wasamin uchiwa, and now I have one

One of the bigwigs from Tokuma Records did the opening MC. Talked about Wasamin, and did a bit of banter with the crowd. They also explained how the handshake process would work. After a few minutes, out came my little hero. It was Wasamin!!!

She was dressed in her pink kimono, with a beautiful flower set in her hair. She immediately went io the short version of Mujineki. I was in heaven!!! I have been so worried that I would never get the chance to see her perform this live. And now I have. It was so great! But that wasn’t the only song she sang. Actually she sang four in total, with a short MC between each song. I know during one particular MC she mentioned that she sometimes shopped in that mall. Which would make sense since we already know from Sasshi’s 600 sec. segment that she and Komorin like going there. BTW, I was perfectly positioned dead center in the 2nd row. And there was nobody in front of me because of a break in the first row seats. So I was completely in Wasamin’s sightline, and her eyes were fixed on me much of the time.

As for the other songs, she did Heavy Rotation second. The third song changed for each show The early performance had Seto no Hanayome. The 2nd show was Kikyou. I didn’t see the third performance because of SDN, but I am guessing she did Tsubasa wo Kudasai. The last song was the full version of Mujineki. She sang brilliantly, and looked absolutely gorgeous. Even Tenkun remarked how great she sounded! Then came the handshakes. I had four tickets. You used one as you exited the seating, but could requeue for more after all the seated people went once. My plan was to use three in the first show, and one in the 2nd just in case I had to jam out of there to make it to SDN.

First handshake: Wasamin got that excited look on her face I have grown accustomed to. “Oshiburi!!!”, she says. It is funny because it feels like I was just in Japan for the Kazefui event. But I guess Wasamin missed me? So it seems long for her. She then whispered something to her manager. I hope it was something along the lines of “This is the man I am going to marry!” Anyway, I told her how much I loved Mujineki, and I was so happy to be back in Japan for the event. She responded with “I Love You”, which I of course reciprocated. And you guys think I am joking when I say that Wasamin and I are in love…

For the second round I told her that I learned what Oshiburi meant (I actually didn’t know when she originally said it to me) I asked her to teach me more Japanese she paused….”Arigatou???” Her manager laughed! I also congratulated her for winning the AKBingo! Diva contest. For the third round I showed her a picture of my AKB car. She loved it, and actually showed the picture to her manager.

For the last ticket I simply told her that she looked beautiful, and her kimono was lovely. Also, for each event you got a choice of an autographed signboard, or a postcard. Naturally most everyone took the autograph. So I will add that to my collection.

And this was all on the same day as the SDN concert. Not to mention the fact that I had another huge day planned for Sunday. So now you know why I was so exhausted after SDN. But at the end of the day, it was two majorly awesome events. Wasamin, as expected, did an amazing job. I am so happy they are pushing her single so much. It gave me plenty of opportunity to see her live. And I did, os I am a happy camper.

By the end of the night all I wanted to do was get some sleep and have some wonderful Wasadreams.

CK in Tokyo

Warning, this is going to be long. Oh, and another warning. I might be slightly mixing up the order of events. It was a long show, and a lot of emotional stuff happened…

SDN48 Final Concert at NHK Hall 3/31/2012

So yeah, I am in Japan again. You surprised? I said that I would be aiming for this concert since the day they announced SDN’s graduation. But I almost didn’t make it to the main event I came here for…

After months of worrying about being able to score tickets for SDN’s graduation, they finally announced the ticket lottery. I had a lot of friends applying, so I was reasonably confident about getting a ticket. However, they did announce a “random id check”, which all but ruled out obtaining one from a reseller. Anyway, we didn’t have any luck with the ticket lottery, so I had resigned myself to the fact that I was probably going to miss the show. It wasn’t until the wee hours of Saturday morning that my friend found someone with extra tickets. They weren’t the greatest seats, and they were quite pricey, but we went for it anyway.

I spent the entire morning and afternoon with Tenkun and friends at the Wasamin mini-live, then headed over to Harajuku to meet my friend and the girl wth the tickets. BTW, it was raining, windy as hell, and freakin’ freezing in Tokyo. The doors were supposed to open at 5pm, so we queued up around 15 minutes before. Doors opened almost 25 minutes late. By then I was totally numb. So I skipped the goods line and went to my seat in order to thaw out. Basically missed out on trading pics. The t-shirt had already sold out. But enough of my yappin…let’s boogie!

I am guessing many of you have alrady seen the setlist…and the stage setup since tgsk posted it during the show.  If not, then here ya go.  I didn’t get the jungle theme, along with the door to “Club SDN”. The vines actually blocked the monitor from my view. Show started with the standard SDN overture into Sado e Wataru, which was a curious opener. But they did a very cool rain effect over the stage. That was neat. So the opening set ended, and I figured “Okay, they will do most of their songs, then a tearful goodbye, and that will be it” But then, something strange happened…and I swear I am choking back tears as I write this…

Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring – J.S. Bach?

It was at this moment that I felt this concert was going to be special. It was like, wow, this is REALLY going to be graduation! The pipe organ played for a long time. I was waiting for something to happen Then suddenly two men appeared on stage guarding the door to Club SDN. And these guys were not Japanese. Three members, I don’t remember who was there other than CinDy tried to enter the club, but were blocked by the guards. Then Sayanee came out and asked the guards, in English, how they could get through the door. He responded that you had to knock three times. So the girls all knocked and went in. Next Konan showed up and asked the same question, but this time the guards yelled at her in the Kansai dialect!

The stage setup then changed to inside the club, with a bar, lounge, pool table and dancer poles. Then we got the standard show open with Saturday Night Party, Never, and Black Boy. Both gen’s teams were onstage for this. Then after the first verse of Black Boy, just as the crowd started the 2nd mix, the music changed. They began to intro the members in small groups, each doing a mini-performance while a VTR played above. There was hip-hop, ballet, bubble gum pop, you name it! To me the ballet one was the best. I don’t remember what everyone did, except that Meetan was in a group that did pole dancing ala Dump Show, and Chaki was in the hip-hop group. It was the greatest version of Black Boy ever! Too funny! Onto the next skit, and the first guest star of the night…

Cut to the bar, and some of the girls were hanging out, drinking with the bartender who was curiously “tounguing” a highball glass…Yama-chan! If you don’t know who I mean, he is the ref from the Janken. Masamin sort of led the skit, but Miray and Serina were also there. At one point Yama-chan started making fun of Serina’s voice. That led into the next set of songs…

Now the way they did the units, both team’s units were onstage simultanously. In the case of I’m Sure they were on each side of the stage. As for Yuuwaku no Garter (which was later in the show) the girls shared the same chairs, but on the final verse half of them performed on the stripper poles. At one point Mamitan did an insane split on the pole!!! Full crotch shot for everyone!

There was also a skit before all in, with the girls playing pool. At one point Nonti decided to try a “trick shot”, but failed miserably…TWICE! Didn’t even hit the ball. Then she just threw the cue ball across the table.

FYI, they did the PG-rated version of Futsuu no Anata, and it was about this point in the show that it became apparent the entire catalog was going to be performed.

Queue our next special guest, Mino Monta, who got an amazing reception from the crowd. He had some nice things to say about SDN, then he sat on the couch with the girls from the single. Meetan was totally perving out on Monta-san. They poured him a stiff drink as well. In fact, there seemed to be a lot of alcohol onstage throughout the show. I would like to think it was all real! But before they could perform the song, Rachel came out for her solo while Monta and the girls watched.  Oh, and when they sang Monta-san’s single, the fans’ call for him was louder than the girls!

In the next segment we got Kazue and Cha-min’s new songs. I was so excited to hear Chaki’s new song! I love Kazue, but I thought her song was just okay. Some great moments from the next segment…

Meetan chasing Yamachan around the stage with her whip during Jaujama Lady, the champagne pouring going on behind Onedari Champagne. And of course seeing everyone doing Tamanegi!! Next was the Nachu MC, where she did her impressions. We got to hear a little Daruma, Natsuko/Akiko, Chaki, a few others I can’t remember. The Natsuko/Akiko one was classic, with Natsuko sounding like an airhead and Akiko sounding dopey! And of course her big finale, Takamina.

I think it was at this pont when the speeches started between songs. Various members, featuring the former AKB girls talking about what the graduation meant to them. But then things would lighten up and they would go into the next song. They did both of their AKB covers, whh pretty much sealed that all of their songs would be performed. Oh, and I absolutely loved “1 Gallon no Ase“. Very cute song! When they performed Aisureru Tame ni, each gen’s members shared their respective lines. And since they had so many members on stage, the spelled out SDN simultanously instead of the letters one at a time. With that, the regular set had finished.

It had been predetermined, and communicated by a note on a white glowstick that the graduation committee would lead the encore, and it would be done as SDN…FORTY-EIGHT! It was deafening! At points it was so loud that you couldn’t hear the words anymore.

The first encore finished up all the songs remaining, with tearful goodbye’s from select members. The cameras would often cut to the girls that were crying the hardest. My poor little Chaki! At one point I thought she was going to fall over she looked so distressed! Also, one of Nonti’s MCs was a rundown of chart positions for all of the singles and the album, and a big thank you to the fans for supporting them. But when Kodoku finished and the girls left the stage it was obvious the show wasn’t over since they hadn’t done their official graduation song yet! Cut to the longest and loudest ever “Encoree” I have ever experienced. And then…

Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring. The Bach music returns?  OMG, it is really graduation time!

I forget the order that everything happened. But at one point Nonti was beside herself crying. Pretty much everyone was crying onstage. I think it was this point that the girls went silent and all you could here was pretty much the entire audience sobbing. It was freaking amazing! I wondered what tgsk thought when this happened. Perhaps he was crying too?  Oh, I forget. He was busy Google Plussing. Anyway, the girls came out all dressed in white. First they performed their new single. Then came the “final call” Nonti asked that all of the girls say their name one last time onstage, and the crowd call it back. It was so hard, I was so choked up that I was even having trouble speaking. But I muscled it up when my favorite members’ turns came.

Finally, they performed Owaranai Encore, and we all lit our last white glowstick. Although the effect from where I was sitting was slightly dimmed because the stage was fully lit at the time. Then, for the fans, a second dose of Kodoku na Runner. After a tearful double-bow with a huge SDN chant in the middle, they left the stage. Meetan being the last one to go. They did a closeup on her face…she was crying her eyes out.

As you left NHK there was a beautiful collage with messages from all the members. It was really hard to get close to it, but I did get a side shot to give you an idea…

Final thoughts…

At first I was thinking that management really “phoned in” the planning for this concert. It seemed kinda hokey in the beginning. But as the show progressed I started to see how perfect it really was. Pretty much all of the MCs and skits were unscripted. Tons of goofy things were happening as the show worked up to it’s emotional finale. At the end I think everyone in the audience had to be satisfied. It was a fitting goodbye. Perfect in it’s imperfection. The girls being completely authentic. It was everything SDN is all about, as far as I am concerned. And when you make an entire audience cry, you are doing something right.

And I think about the select few that called SDN a “failure”, and that their concept was “off the mark”, “too sexy”, and whatever else. I don’t think those people truly saw what SDN48 was really about. Sure, they had a sexy side. But in truth that was just a small piece of SDN. they were about fun, they were about authenticity. And more than any other spoke in the AKB wheel, they were about a true comeraderie with their fanbase. Perhaps it was because they are more mature, but the bond they had with their fans was very strong. The manifestation of that was this unbelievable concert that I will remember forever.

And suffice it to say, I will never again be able to listen to that Bach piece without thinking of SDN.

I did a couple of other neat things this weekend, I will post about them later.

CK in Tokyo