Well, HELLO THERE.
It’s been a while, to say the least. Contrary to popular belief, I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth! I’m still alive and kicking! And the events of the past, oh, twelve months definitely merit a blog post, I believe.
Just to brief you all on why the hell I haven’t been updating—not to worry, my interest in idols is still as big (if not bigger) as ever. Disinterest wasn’t the reason behind an absolute dry spell in blog posts around Egao YES Idols. A busy schedule was to blame, instead.
During the first six months of 2009, I was studying abroad in Japan. Was there idol goodness involved there? Youuuuuu betcha. I got to see AKB48 at a couple venues while I was out there—a mini-live near the city I was studying in, and in Tokyo, for two concerts (regular stage shows) and a handshake event. Lots to talk about there—and don’t worry, I’ve got a blog post in the works at the moment!
The idol goodness of 2009 didn’t end when I got back from Japan, either.
While I was still abroad, I got the news that Morning Musume was going to be performing in CALIFORNIA. WHAT WAS THIS NONSENSE?!
I’m a part of an online-based singing group, Sekai no Melody, and have been for a looooong time, so some of the girls there and I were talking about going. It was actually a friend of mine there, Umi, who peer-pressured lovingly convinced me into booking myself a plane ticket to California. I can still remember laughing out loud at myself, sitting in my little dorm room on my tiny futon in Japan, booking a plane ticket to California for the summer to go see a Japanese group. Oh, the irony.
But honestly, I couldn’t pass up on the event. Morning Musume’s public American debut? Sure, they’ve done events in Hawaii, but, hey, not to discount Hawaiians at all, they were coming to the mainland this time—this was SRS BIZ! And it was open for more people to come and attend!
Anyway, again, I’m preparing a giant post about my idol experiences this year, the Morning Musume concert being one of them, so you’ll hear more about that later. Basically, after running around Los Angeles with the girls from Sekai no Melody and doing our own events at Anime Expo, fangirling Morning Musume the whole weekend, and bawling (I get emotional, okay?!) and dancing at the concert itself, it was all a great time.
The real icing on this delicious 2009 cake first came to my attention in the form of a text message as I was getting ready to board the plane back to New York after the Morning Musume concert, ironically. AKB48 was rumored to be making their own American debut in September… in NEW YORK.
WHAT?! WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT?!
YES, PLEASE.
After some pretty bad PR work (on whose behalf, I’m not sure—the New York Anime Festival or AKB48’s management), we American AKB48 fans finally got the official notice that AKB48 was, in fact, going to appear at the upcoming New York Anime Festival in September AND hold their own concert in Webster Hall.
I live in New York—not the city, but upstate, but anyway, was I passing this one up?
HELL NO!
I was joined again by Umi from Sekai no Melody, because we are both totally shameless AKB48 wota. We really are, and we wouldn’t miss this for the world.
NYAF was amazing. While we both missed out on the autographing session that AKB48 was holding, we managed to get into all the other events. Another one of my complaints about AKB48’s debut in New York—the venue they hosted the concert at! Tickets were really limited—you had to enter a lottery in order to get in! What is this nonsense?! It’s like—oh yeah, how AKB48 shows actually are in Japan. But anyway, it was a little problematic. I got lucky and actually won more than my fair share of tickets by unknowingly entering into two lottery draws. Whoops. But my extra tickets went to good use, don’t worry! Unfortunately, some fans had to miss out on the concert! Total bummer.
Anyway, yes, NYAF was absolutely fantastic. It was so fun seeing AKB48 in America, and I was really, really excited about seeing Akimoto Sayaka in person for the first time. While I was still in Japan, I managed to either see many of the girls live or meet them at a handshake session. Sayaka, one of my favorite girls in AKB48, unfortunately, was one of the girls who I really wanted to see/meet at one point, but never got to. She was absent from the Team K show I went to see, and, well, I’ll detail the insanity I went through when I went to a handshake session in Tokyo with the intention of being there for Sayaka’s timeslot, but ended up shifted to a different timeslot, in another post.
But this time, Sayaka was definitely going to be there, so I was pumped! In addition to the awesomeness of Sayaka, I was going to see Wasamin (Iwasa Misaki) again, too! After I saw her performing when I was in Japan, Wasamin has absolutely STEAMROLLED her way up my list of favorites, and really is tied with Sayaka for my favorite girl in AKB48 at the moment. Wasamin’s unique in that she’s been at every full event (aside from a mini-live performance in Osaka) that I’ve seen AKB48 at. She performed in both the Team K and Team B concerts I went to see in Tokyo, and now she was going to be in New York! I felt so lucky because she’s only a Research Student (soon to be promoted to Team A)—but still—wow! Way to go, Wasamin! And yay for me, being able to see her again!
NYAF was also interesting in that… I got interviewed. A lot. A looooooooooooooot. Umi and I cosplayed Team K seifukus on one day of the convention, and I was decked out in Sweet Lolita frills on another day, so, um, I suppose we did draw attention to ourselves, and shouldn’t be surprised about being pulled aside for interviews (plus, it was totally worth it when a gaggle of AKB48 girls ambushed us at the convention and were checking out our costumes! Again, more on all of this later!)
But I still remember laughing when I popped open Youtube the day after the concert to find… me, singing Oogoe Diamond on Fuji Terebi. One of my friends over in Japan promptly sent me a message on Facebook asking, “I THINK I SAW YOU ON FUJI TV THIS MORNING—WAS THAT YOU?! GET BACK TO ME RIGHT AWAY!” Unfortunately, the Youtube police took down the link to the broadcast, so I can’t share that one.
I can be spotted in other news coverage/DVDs of the event, but the biggest interview for me was one that I did with NHK.
During the convention, right after I ended up ambushed by the AKB48 girls in the hallway, in fact, I was approached by a few people asking if I was a fan of the group, if I bought merchandise, and if I lived in the area and would be willing to do an interview. Check, check, and, uh, pretty much check! The crew explained that they were from NHK, and they were teaming up with AKB48’s management to do a documentary about AKB48’s fans in America, and that they wanted to interview me at home. Now, my hometown isn’t right next to New York City by any means, but the crew expressed willingness to travel to do the interview. So, after NYAF and the Webster Hall concert wrapped up, I went back home and got ready for an NHK interview!
I don’t know how long it’ll be up on Youtube, but just this past weekend, the documentary, “Exporting the Idol Format,” aired in Japan, and made its way onto the internets.
Here’s all four parts of the documentary –>
1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el2etOPBA1E
2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ85jVAghGw
3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxNTmkzZ110
4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnbI2rr_Txc
Now, some essential notes!
- 01. My interview is near the beginning of part two, if you’re interested.
- 02. My voice sounds like a dying crow because, keep in mind, this was filmed the morning after the Webster Hall concert. What was I doing the night before? Screaming my LUNGS OUT for Sayaka and Wasamin. And honestly, folks, I don’t think I’ve ever screeched so loud in my entire LIFE than when I did when Sayaka ripped off her coat in the performance of Blue rose. It was epic. And I had a fantastic, near-front and center view of the whole thing. I then proceeded to travel all night and get approximately… an hour of sleep. So my health, and especially my voice, was suffering during that whole interview. The night before, I could barely speak, so at least my voice improved a bit the next morning, but it still ached. And that’s why I sound so damn weird.
- 03. No, that is not my whole AKB48 collection. I have other awesome goodies that they filmed but they just didn’t show in the documentary!
- 04. They asked me a lot of questions—specifically about the unique appeal of AKB48, why I was a fan, what I thought of other fans, and if I thought AKB48 could have any success in America and if they should have a “NY48” branch of AKB48 (for the love of god YES. Sayaka and Wasamin in New York on a fairly regular basis? YES, YES, YES.)
- 05. Yes, that’s my actual house. Yes, I enjoy decking out my room with AKB48 posters, and would put more up if I had them! (I should look into that!)
So, needless to say, while I haven’t been updating recently, it has been a pretty interesting and eventful, well, year for me. And I’ve got a bunch of posts in the works to cover all my idol experiences—from Japan to California to New York. I definitely can’t cram all of that into one post—there’s way too much to talk about! So I’ll have a good bunch of posts coming up soon!
I promise not to fall off the face of the blog world for another year!
