As you may or may not know, I actually took a 2-week vacation to Japan last month. It may not seem like it because of the lack of updates at AMP!!!, but I have actually been back in the US since July 23.
Anyway, I finally got caught up with things and finally got my sleep schedule somewhat back to normal, so I thought I'd start posting here again and give everyone a nice little report on the Idoling!!!-related stuff my friends and I did while we were in Japan.
Now, don't expect too much detail because the whole thing flew by in a flash (plus, it's been a few weeks, and my memory isn't that great). Even if you had asked me what the setlist was right after I exited the concert hall, I wouldn't have been able to tell you.
The previous (and only) J-Pop concert I had attended prior to this trip was the AAA concert 3 years ago at Otakon in Baltimore. So, this was my first time going to idol group concerts in Japan, and let me tell you, it's a whole different beast compared to that AAA concert. I had actually been to Japan once about 5 years ago, but there were no concerts going on at the time, and all I got to see was a Gatas Brilhantes H.P. futsal tournament. Again, idol concerts are a completely different environment, so it was all brand new to me.
(No pictures for now, since I don't have my camera at the moment, but I'll post some when I get a chance.)
Silverbolt's Japan Trip 2010, Day 3 - July 13, 2010This wasn't really an Idoling!!! day, but it was the first day where we were able to head into Tokyo (we were staying with my friend's parents in Kanagawa), and I wanted to check out Shinagawa just so I'd have an idea of where we needed to go to see the Shinahachi lives. When my sister and I went to Japan back in 2005, we actually stayed in the Shinagawa Prince Hotel, so when we got off the train at the Shinagawa station, all of the memories came flooding back, and everything suddenly looked familiar. I knew exactly how to get to the hotel from the train station, which was really helpful since the Yoshimoto Prince Theater is inside the hotel. I hate to keep bringing up the past, but gosh it felt good to just remember that area. Anyway, we explored the inside of the Annex tower (which, for some reason, I could have sworn was the North tower last time we were there) and we saw a cardboard cutout featuring Kawamura, Okawa, 2 YGA members, and a comedian. So, of course my friends and I took a picture with it. We also took a picture with a cutout of 2 comedians that was on the same floor as the Yoshimoto Prince Theater. Once we were done in Shinagawa, we ended up going to like 3 more areas (Yokohama, Ginza, and Shibuya). BTW, I don't really recommend doing that unless you like doing a whole lot of walking.
Silverbolt's Japan Trip 2010, Day 6 - July 16, 2010 This was the big day. The first Shinahachi live on our schedule was this day at 6:30 PM. This would be the first time I would ever see Idoling!!! live and in-person. There was plenty of stuff to do in Shinagawa, and we only went to the Shinagawa Prince Hotel on day 3. So, me being the somewhat paranoid person that I am, I decided that it would be best if we just stayed in Shinagawa for the entire day. Well, that and the fact that another friend of ours who works in Japan as part of the JET program wanted to meet up with us. So, we ate lunch with him at an Italian restaurant in Shinagawa. After that, we had a few hours to kill, so we said goodbye to our friend and headed over to the Epson Aqua Stadium to check out the aquarium. That was nice and all, but once 5:00 rolled around, I decided that it was time to start thinking about heading over to the Yoshimoto Prince Theater since we'd still need to buy CDs and stuff to get handshake tickets.
So, we headed over the inside part of the little walkway between the Epson Aqua Stadium and the Yoshimoto Prince Theater, and I noticed that there was a line along the outisde part of that same walkway. But, I didn't even think twice about it because I mainly wanted to go back downstairs to the game center/bowling alley to get drinks from the vending machines before we go to the concert. (Did I mention how hot it was in Japan?
) We played some games and got some drinks at the game center, and once 5:30 hit, we headed back up to the Yoshimoto Prince Theater and strolled right into the shop area, which leads into the theater itself. I then thought to myself, "Wait a minute... Wasn't there a line?" So, we walked back outside and sure enough, there was still a line to get into the shop. You were supposed to line up and wait until they let you into the store, but for some reason, they let my friends and I just walk right in without incident.
So, we lined up, and when our turn to shop eventually came, we headed straight for the little bin that holds all of the CDs that are eligible for handshake tickets. I picked up the regular edition of Mujouken Koufuku (because that song's great), my friend picked up SUNRISE, and my other friend got Me ni wa Aoba Yama Hototogisu Hatsukoi. My sister had no interest in shaking the members' hands, so she didn't get anything.
Since we were pretty much the last ones in the line, we just paid for our CDs and stuck around for the theater doors to open.
While I'm on the topic of the store, it was quite amazing to see all of the Yoshimoto comedian goods. The comedians are treated like idols in that they have tons of goods and tons of pictures for sale. It was kind of odd seeing people fawn over pictures of these silly guys, but hey I guess that's just another aspect of Japanese culture.
Anyway, the "doors open" time of 6:00 comes up, people start crowding around the theater entryway, and they finally open the doors a little later than scheduled around 6:15. Once inside the theater, we find our seats, and much as I expected after seeing the seat numbers, we were about 7 rows back and off to the left side (row G, seats 3, 4, 5, 6). They were playing Avril Lavigne songs over the speakers, the Shinahachi Live signs were up on the stage, wotas were all over the place (including a few girls BTW)... It finally started settling in for me. I was minutes away from seeing Idoling!!! live.
One of the thoughts that constantly popped up in my mind while I was waiting was how small the theater looks in real life. I mean, I could tell that it was a small venue from the videos, but gosh it looks so small when you're inside. BTW, I think the 7/16 and 7/17 concerts were supposed to be recorded, but they changed it at the last minute to the Shinahachi Live on 7/25 in Osaka, so the format was a little different compared to what we see on Idoling!!!'s TV show.
Eventually, everyone settles down, the lights dim, and the neat little intro video starts playing on the screens. This video shows all of the YGA members and all of the Idoling!!! members, but right after it shows the Idoling!!! members, it flips to a screen split into 20 panels, and some of the panels flip showing the Idoling!!! members who will be participating in the concert (Endo, Yazawa, Yokoyama, Morita, Nagano, Miyake, Hashimoto, Ito, Nomoto, and Ojima for this concert, by the way). I don't know why that stuck in my mind, but I guess I thought it was cool enough to remember.
Anyway, right after that video, the YGA intro video played on the screens, indicating that YGA was up first. So they come out singing Virgin Beat (I think) and jeez those speakers were cranked up. I think they blew the hearing in my left ear for a little bit.
I wasn't looking forward to sitting through YGA's part, but it actually ended up not being too bad. I really enjoyed the opening part of Virgin Beat (love that thumping bass), the chorus part of Bye Bye Kinenbi (hengao ageru~
), and the chorus part of Fighting Girl (that "swimming" dance move is silly, but fun). They have decent songs, but they're just not interesting to look at. That Sana-P girl was even creepier in real life.
So, after enjoying YGA's set a little more than I thought I would, there was a little pause, and Idoling!!! came out to do a "halftime MC" of sorts with YGA. In this MC segment, each group randomly picks a member's name out of a box, and the 2 members who are chosen are assigned to be the main MCs for the segment. For this particular day, Idoling!!!'s chosen member was Kaede Hashimoto. Maipuru was the one who chose Kaede's name out of the box, and as they started moving to their spots on the stage, you could hear Maipuru quietly ask Kaede if she was OK with reading the Kanji.
I don't really remember too much about this MC segment, but it did lead to some amusing interaction between the 2 groups.
After the halftime MC, they cleared the stage and gave us some breathing time to get ready for Idoling!!!'s set. After a few minutes, the screens fired up and played the current Idoling!!! TV show opening, and then the lights turned on, revealing Idoling!!! ready and in position on the stage. I think they opened with Kokuhaku, but don't quote me on that. Also, don't ask me about the rest of the setlist because I don't remember the songs nor the order.
I remember hearing Ganbare Otome (Warai), Kishuhen Ecstasy, Don't be afraid, and Me ni wa Aoba Yama Hototogisu Hatsukoi, but I'm pretty sure there were more. Also, for the Shinahachi Request segment, they picked a request for Manami Nomoto to sing Takako Matsu's "Ashita, Haru ga Kitara". That part was particularly funny because the Idoling!!! members didn't know how to pronounce the imatsubu user name of the person who submitted the request, so Mori D popped up in front of the stage and told them how to say it.
Never mind... I found the setlist on someone's blog:
Kokuhaku
Me ni wa Aoba Yama Hototogisu Hatsukoi
Lemon Drop
Kishuhen Ecstasy
Don't be afraid
Ganbare Otome (Warai)
Ashita, Haru ga Kitara
Soushoku-kei Carnival
Shokugyou: Idol
I only participated in some of the wota stuff (the chorus part of Kishuhen Ecstasy was my favorite, probably because it's just like the girls' dance moves), but I kind of had my own little groove during most of the songs. I think my enjoyment of Idoling!!!'s music may be different from most because I just didn't enjoy the wota stuff as much as I thought I would. In that environment with the music blaring and the bass shaking the ground, I was having much more fun dancing to the beats on my own, much like I do at home. I dunno... Maybe it's the American in me.
I can't tell you too much about the quality of the vocals, but I can't remember hearing any parts that made me cringe, so that's good. Hearing Rurika nail her part in Don't be afraid was amazing, and Maipuru was great, as usual. One thing I do clearly remember is how loud the backup vocals are during live shows. Almost all of the chorus parts sounded like they were singing at a higher pitch than normal, but I realized that it was the backup vocals coming from the speakers.
Of course, there were MC segments in between groups of songs, and in one of the MC segments, they actually noticed the foreigners in the crowd. My sister and I are of Filipino descent, but I was mistaken for Japanese numerous times throughout the trip. My sister looks more Chinese, so most could tell that she was a foreigner. But, our 2 friends are a white guy and a black guy, so they're clearly foreigners.
It was Serina Nagano who pointed out that there were even foreigners in the crowd, and Maipuru said "Shinahachi Live International"
Of course, I felt a little left out because everyone in the crowd turned to look at the foreigners, but I knew that I blended in, so I probably wasn't included in that group. I probably should have pushed myself into the scene, but I didn't think about it at the time. I did keep that in mind after the concert though...
After the Shinahachi Live ended, everyone started leaving or lining up for the handshakes. My sister headed for the exit to wait outside, and my friends and I looked for the handshake line. Our section was close to the front of the line, but we didn't know that, so we ended up in the middle because the fans lined up so quickly.
I "strategically" placed myself in between my 2 friends to try to show that I was one of the foreigners too, but I'm not quite sure how well that worked. The participating members for this handshake event were Endo, Yazawa, Yokoyama, Morita, Nagano, Miyake, and Ojima, but I don't remember what order they were in... except Miyake was first and Endo was last. I had stuff to say planned out, but how much of it did I get to say? None at all. Those handshakes go way too fast because if you take more than like 5 seconds, the staff starts pushing you pretty hard. It's literally not enough to do more than just hear the member say thank you and say one phrase in return. If the Idoling!!! member understood you, then you'll enjoy a response from the member as the staff pushes you to the next member.
So, to make the biggest impression in the smallest amount of time, I decided to use English. So, I'd shake their hands with my right hand, give a thumbs up with my left hand, and say "Good job!" I figured, that's something in English that they can understand, and if I said it with my natural American accent, then it'd be pretty clear that I'm a foreigner. So, I'm going down the line, and I hear some of the girls speaking English to my friend in front of me. Most notably, Yazawa pretty much yelled "THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" to him when he came up.
But, they all spoke to me in Japanese (because I blend in, of course). So, coming out with the "Good job!" kind of shocked most of them, and some of them switched to English and said thank you, while others (I clearly remember Miyake doing this) said thanks in Japanese again.
I remember going up to Yazawa and she said thanks in Japanese, and then I said my "Good job!" and her eyes lit up and she yelled the same "THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" my friend got.
Of course, she didn't literally yell, but she just said it in quite a loud voice. But, I felt kind of bad about my handshake with Ojima because I think I did my whole "Good job!" thing and got finished with her, but my friend was still with Yazawa who was next in line, but I had already let Ojima's hand go, so there was a second or two where I basically stopped paying attention to her. Sorry, Oji!
Rurika was quite a bit taller than I thought she would be. I'm around 180 cm, and Rurika was roughly around the same height as me. I don't remember how much height her shoes added, but even so, she's still quite tall. Maipuru is soooooo cute in real life. When I got to her, I decided to change my phrase to "Good singer!" because I love her singing, but that took a little long for me to say, so I got the shove from the staff and watched her reaction as I was pushed forward. She seemed happy, but I don't really know if she understood what I said. And of course, as I'm walking through the Yoshimoto Prince Theater store to head toward the exit, I hear one more loud "THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" from Yazawa who had just started shaking hands with my other friend.
Thus ended my first Idoling!!! concert and handshake experience. I know this is gonna sound weird, but I just have to let everyone here know... The girls' hands felt so soft and smooth.
Anyway, scratch what I said about not being able to go into much detail because I remembered a lot more than I thought I would, and this post ended up being much, much longer than I expected. So, I'm gonna let everyone here digest this for a little and write up a separate post for the next day when I get a chance.
Topic: The Idoling!!! Discussion Thread (Read 757110 times)