Chuo Dori

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

Tags: SKE48