Sorry for the delay, but here's the next Idoling!!!-related story from my trip in July...
Here are the pictures for day 6:
My friend and I with the cardboard comediansMy friends and I with the cardboard Idoling!!! and YGA I made my friend stand on the YGA side.
My Mujouken☆Koufuku CD and my friend's Me ni wa Aoba Yama Hototogisu CD which he later gave to me as a birthday present
Silverbolt's Japan Trip 2010, Day 7 - July 17, 2010All of the days filled with walking around Tokyo and staying out late had worn us down, so we decided to just sleep in on this day. I think I didn't wake up until around noon or so.
Today was also the opening day for Odaiba Gasshuukoku, but we were just way too tired to try to wake up early and make the long trip out to Odaiba. So, we basically stuck around the house all day. The Shinahachi live was scheduled to start at 7:30 PM, but I wasn't feeling as much pressure to get there early since I had an idea on how it works.
We got to the Shinagawa Prince Hotel around 6:00 PM, so we stopped by the game center/bowling alley again to pick up drinks and kill a little time. Around 6:30 or so, we headed back upstairs and lined up outside the theater. Satisfied with having experienced one Shinahachi live, my sister and her boyfriend decided to split off and have a date of sorts in Shinagawa. So, it was just me and my other friend (the black guy) attending this Shinahachi live. The process worked pretty much the same way... We lined up outside the theater and waited as they let small groups of people into the theater to buy goods. Since I already have all of Idoling!!!'s singles and albums, my friend just gave me money to get him a CD since he would be out with my sister, and so I could get a handshake ticket. I ended up choosing the Puyo Puyo Idoling!!! single for him since he's a big Amimi fan. As for my other friend, I recommended he get the single with Gizagiza Idoling!!! since he's a big Hii-chan fan. After buying CDs and getting our handshake tickets, we stuck around and waited for them to open the doors to the theater. Once inside the theater, staff members were handing out pink glowsticks with notes indicating that they were for Ai Okawa's birthday. I managed to save my glowstick by hiding it in my bag while the staff were collecting them into trash bags, so here's a
picture of it along with the note and my tickets.
For this one, we were in row H, seats 1, 2, 3, and 4. Yes, we already had 4 tickets before my sister and her boyfriend decided to split. We actually got my friend's parents to buy the tickets for us before we arrived in Japan. A little bit of a waste, but hey, he paid for half of the tickets so he's free to do whatever he wants with them. Anyway, our seats were just one row behind where we were for the first concert, but all the way on the left side of the row. It wasn't really bad at all, especially since we had 2 open seats, leaving lots of room to move around. I decided to take seat 3 and my friend took seat 2.
This Shinahachi live started with the same cool video that has the panels that flip to show the participating Idoling!!! members (Endo, Yazawa, Kawamura, Nagano, Asahi, Kikuchi, Okawa, Ito, Nomoto, and Goto), but it was followed by the Idoling!!! intro video, indicating that Idoling!!! would be going first this time. Once again, I'm terrible at remembering setlists, so I found it on someone's blog:
Me ni wa Aoba Yama Hototogisu
Kimi ga Suki
Don't be afraid
S.O.W. Sense of Wonder
Kishuhen Ecstasy
Bokura no Niwa
Shokugyou: Idol.
Momoiro Kataomoi
Kokuhaku
Very solid setlist, but the most memorable part for me was Don't be afraid. If you recall the participating members, Rurika isn't one of them. So, the one who got the big solo in the song was none other than.... Maipuru!!! It's one thing to hear it on TV, but to be there and hear her sing it live is incredible. All of the wota were doing that arm waving thing toward Maipuru as she was singing the solo line, but I just couldn't do it. All I could do was stand there and listen as she completely nailed that solo part.
For the Shinahachi Request, they picked a request for birthday girl Ai Okawa to sing Aya Matsuura's "Momoiro Kataomoi". So, everyone cracked their pink glowsticks and waved them in the air for Okawa to see. Right after the song, they had a small birthday celebration for Ai-chan, and then they moved on to Kokuhaku to close out the set. After that, Ai-chan stayed on stage after everyone else had left and gave messages to everyone, including producer Kadosawa and some of her family who were in the upper deck. Honestly, with the celebration of Okawa's birthday, Idoling!!! should have gone second, because it kind of felt like they were rushing a bit since YGA still had to go on next.
After Idoling!!!'s set was done, they did the same kind of "halftime" game as the last concert, which I cannot remember the details of.
Then, YGA came out to do their set. I spent most of that time just sitting down and getting rested because I was sweating a bit after going a little crazy during Idoling!!!'s set. Again, their music's pretty good... They're just not an interesting group of people. The funny thing was, everyone in our row on the left side was just sitting down. I'm pretty sure the guy next to me fell asleep during YGA's live.
Towards the end of their set, though, a couple of Idoling!!! fans in our row started doing goofing off and did lots of weird headbanging. So, I looked at them, looked at my friend, grinned, and we got up and started headbanging too. Those two fans noticed us soon enough, and then we all started goofing off during YGA's set.
After YGA's set, they moved on to the closing part where they take a picture with a fan from the crowd. I don't think I mentioned this last time, but at the end of every Shinahachi live, they choose a random row and seat number for one lucky fan to come up on stage and take a picture with Idoling!!! and YGA. So, for this one, they picked row........ H....... seat........ 2!!!! Yup, my friend was chosen to go up on stage and take a picture with Idoling!!! and YGA. When they announced the winner, everyone in the crowd immediately turned around and knew that the black guy had won. But, for whatever reason, my friend forgot that they did the picture thing last time and had no idea why everyone was looking at him.
There was a lot of commotion, so I had to kind of yell to him that he was chosen to go up on stage and take a picture with the two groups. He was still kind of in shock as a staff member came down and asked to see his ticket, so he just handed it to the staff guy and got escorted on stage. Of course, he doesn't speak or understand any Japanese, so it was quite a scene when he was standing up there with a microphone in his hands. Eventually, they asked him who his favorite member was, and he had no idea what was said, so I yelled from my seat, "HII-CHAN!!!" My friend looked at me from the stage, and I yelled to him, "They're asking who your favorite member is, so say Hii-chan." They looked at me and started asking if I meant YGA's Rii-chan, but I shook my head no and said "Miyake Hitomi-san". Of course, I completely forgot that she wasn't even there, so they just moved on and took the picture with Maipuru squatting next to him. (Lucky!) They asked him for some kind of pose to do, so he did a little "east coast" sign since we're all from the east coast of the USA.
That turned out to be a great picture... Yazawa was really into it and made a great "cool" face to go with the pose. Unfortunately, I don't exactly have that picture handy, so I can't upload it. Maybe if I can convince him to let me borrow it for a little.
After that, they closed the show, and everyone started lining up for the handshake events. My friend and I managed to get a bit closer to the front of the line this time, but still had to move back behind our section a bit because the wota are just too fast. While in line, the two headbanging Idoling!!! fans spotted us and started chatting with us for a bit. They were both high school students, but I can't remember their names. (sorry)
The members participating in the handshake event were supposed to be 3, 7, 12, and 16, but Kikuchi dropped out at the last minute, so it was just Endo, Yazawa, and Kawamura. Again, these handshake events move at a lightning-fast pace, so I don't remember too much about them, but I do remember doing my "Good job!" thing again... Except for Maipuru, who was first... IIRC, I said something in broken Japanese about her singing being good, and I think she got the picture, so that's good.
Yazawa and Kawamura gave me the usual "Arigatou gozaimasu!" when I came through, but they both switched to "Thank you!" after I said "Good job!" I love surprising them when I speak English.
I clearly remember hearing Yazawa's loud voice again saying "OH! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!" when my friend got to her. It seemed like they all remembered him from the picture they took on stage. (How could they not? He was like the only black guy there.
)
So, we made our way down the ramp to the exit of the Yoshimoto Prince Theater, and my sister and her boyfriend were waiting just outside the exit. Of course, we had to explain everything that happened to them, and as we were doing so, Idoling!!! fans kept congratulating my friend and asking to see the picture. It was quite an eventful night, and I'm sure it was one that my friend will never forget.
Whew... This one was just as long as the first one... Again, I'll let everyone digest this and then come back sometime later with the stories from the Gasshuukoku lives.