[07/02-07/05] Morning Musume @ Anime Expo (Schedule/Who's Down P.1)

[jafeijai]

I like how, halfway through the first part of the interview, they started to warm up to the interviewer and just seemed to enjoy the interview more.. (Haven't watched the 2nd half yet...)

Edit: After watching the 2nd half, I find that the interview became more...choppy? impersonal? once the guy (I have no idea how else to refer to the person) started to take control of the interview. I can understand that yes, there are certain things that they want asked or time constraints forcing them to rush the interview..However, the overall feeling from the girls somewhat changed from the end of the 1st half to the middle of the 2nd half (i.e. talking about what their image of LA vs. the rapid-fire questioning). Maybe it's just me o.O

[Tuffty]

I'm going to try my best to attend [maybe even meet you cool people of JPH!P] and get a rematch w/ Reina!

First off, welcome to JPH!P mate! Hope to see you around more often

From the sounds of it, you made the most of your opportunity. How many people leaving there can say they played jyanken with Reina Tanaka!? And it sounds like it got the MM panel engaged as well so major kudos to you

[tenkei]

lol welcome janken dude, one of the highlights of the panel

[sayahchan]

I figure by now it's my turn... this will help me remember most of what happened to...

Day zero- Shannon A.K.A Canongirl, and my self headed to LAX to pick up Jabronisaur, lol had just a touch of a hard time finding him, but his JPH!P shirt was a dead giveaway. we then took off to find the closest bookoff cause I needed cash., After that we took jab to Torrence's mitsuwa market with us for some yummy foods. THANK YOU JAB FOR FEEDING US YOU SWEET MAN. After that we headed to the Convention center, when we got there we didn't see anyone from JPH!P. so we got in line, god what a wait....
Once we got our tickets and went outside low and behold DA CREWS!!! lol Dai dang near popped my head off hugging me so hard.....
and we chilled with them for a bout 5 minutes. long anough to get this picture.

Then Myself, Shannon, and Jab got in the line for the concert tickets. Shannon and I got section D row 13.. not bad. Jab was section e row 11. we tried to get with him but they only had one left... we should a done it in hindsight. We then headed off to In and Out to meet up with the crew again. (they got us lost. it was just one street down.. its all good tho.)
After that me and shan, had to get home.

Day One- Got to the con around 1pm, got lost finding the panel room, since I forgot to check the schedule like a dork. I called ten to find out where, but he and kanki were in the merch room...We finally found panel room just in time. tho we got stuck behind a bunch of tall doods. After Panel we headed up for the autographs with everyone else... (mainly to wait because i didnt have anything to sign.) Some older woman cut right in front of us and started to argue with shannon... I honestly think she had no clue what she was waiting for, cause once her kid showed up she moved, and she muttered to shannon " I don't want to sit next to you heffers anyways..." sit where lady?? okie what ever. no biggie.. We decided to go down to the merch room after Kuno, JFC, and I think it was ping? maybe it was boy... lol, I bought some stuff from jpophouses booth, if the lady woulda said I had to spend 15 buck on H&A merch to get a ticket, I would have... But it's ok... The rest of that day was a bit of a blur.

Day 2. Concert day.......
Got to the convention center in 30 minutes from a town 45 minutes away... yay us... Sat out in the shade with tris, flyp,jab,JFC, and some others.
we listened to MM rehearse.  then into the concert. our seats were ok... I saw as much as I could being I am only 5'2" and the whole area was flat, and there were like a bunch of people over 5'8" in front of me... we had two very RUDE wota in front of us. the one was so horribly wota like he smacked Shannon in the face with his glow sticks many times. and his buddy was jumping so much he slammed the chairs into my stomach :| it was not comfortable. But just being there was awesome, even with that little annoyance. Then after we met the rest of the Hippers in the big old lobby area and we left to go to Ihop before the Hello party.
We only stayed at hello party about 2 hours. I spent some time cracking jokes with JFC. and then we ran away so shannon could get to a US bank. ( they are in supermarkets )

Day 3 - Was hectic. We got in, went upstairs, and I had to talk to an AX staffer to get into the hallway where the autograph room was.. They were stopping people because the Con goers for I guess his name is nighttow? they were just pushing through I think.. I dunno the girl stopped the line.. I was able to give the letters I had from a JPM member, and Give them My gifts for the girls. then we went down the steps with Jab, and waited for the others... While we were waiting the girls I guess got to stretch their legs and walked by the doors, they saw us and waved, Koha, stopped in the door for a second and I yelled KOHA... and then started crying... Mittsi was very happy and waving a lot, and after they passed the first time, she came back stood in the door way for a bit and waved more. I cried even harder!! It was so sweet!!! the girls then went back into the room and I got waves from Linlin, JunJun, risa, eri, and I think Sayu... It totally made up for me not being able to get any autographs. which I was pretty sad about.. I wasnt mad at anyone but myself to be honest. cause I should have been there earlier.  after that we went back up to that hallway, and waited for BF... we walked 5 FUCKING BLOCKS with him in the heat to carls jr. * I shoulda stayed in the convention center, cause I was very bitchy from having to walk that far.. I am sorry BF I am not mad at you, and I wasn't at the time, I was pissed at my self for being fat and out of shape... After that I had to go home because my dog was destroying my home.

Day 4- I didnt make day four, but shannon did, and took some great pics.

Hey I love all you guys, your all great, and I feel like I was being an ass, and all shy, and I almost feel like I made myself forgettable.

I am sorry I am such an ass....

anywho, here are the rest of my pics.

[TheBlackCatsLuck]

Thanks for sharing all your experiences at anime expo! It's the next best thing from actually being able to go. Sounds like it was a lot of fun. Hopefully that the girls had as much fun as you guys did and will want to come back. -crosses fingers-  Also, the fact that someone got to play janken with Reina is wicked cool. So jealous. Was there anything else exciting that happened at the Q&A?

[rokun]

So I finally have an internet connection I'm comfortable coming to jphip with and posting. There are no words I can say to express how thankful I am to all of you for the time you helped me have, and only hoped I was able to help some of you enjoy it just a bit more as well. I have quite a few pictures to post that I'll get to eventually (none of the girls though I'm afraid...), but I wanted to say something finally.

First, I'm sorry to all of those who didn't have the best experience there. Various things happened to everyone I think, whether it was UFW, AX Staff, Japanfiles, LA, or that annoying translator, but I hope the good things outweighed the bad...

For me, they so very much did...

First of all, and this is part of what's thanks to you guys, the panel was great. Met a few of you for the first time here, and saw a cat guy lose in Janken to Reina. Wait, that was you, Ken? I guess you're the most recent one to know firsthand... never challenge Reina to Janken... you will lose. Still, that was awesome. Anyway, as a result of the panel I received an autograph ticket, but since I was part of the big group slithering around the exhibition hall like a snake with its head cut off, I was unfortunately one of those who got cut off in that afternoon's session... The good thing is, after waiting in line for over 3 hours Saturday morning and being lucky #129, I did get in then:


That really made everything complete...
Well, that and the awesome night the hip crew had in Little Tokyo Saturday. Livin' it up like the Japanese in the izakaya, and then karaoke afterward! Though you guys made me a little self-conscious with all the rokun chatting. I hope it didn't feel like I was monopolizing the karaoke... (along with ComFen... haha) I guess since we've done ridiculous karaoke before, it just felt natural for us, eh? Most of you guys probably don't know me very well, but I did have a good talk with JFC about it upon returning to our room. Karaoke is just like my thing... I love to sing... And something I'm realizing lately, I love to entertain... I hope you guys really did enjoy it there as much as it sounded like you did.

Anyway, it's getting late and feels like I've been trying to make this post forever, so I'll just leave this as installment #1 of my AX journal.

Oh, and I wanna see all those videos you all took dai, dinny, etc!!!

[Mugen]

Alrighty, heres my review from LA AX 09!

Day Zero. Woke up late. Rushed to the airport, customs grilled me. Made the flight last minute. Reached LAX, thought I saw Daisukirika as we kept on looking back and forth at each other. She left, called Tenkei after got my suitcase. Went to meet up with Daigong , saw Big Freaky on the way. Met up with Kanki. Saw Slack and Ping after. All of us went to meet Morning Musume. Meet up with Rev2HD, Tback and Fenrir, After an hour of waiting and we almost wanted to leave to but they finally showed up. Met with some the Taiwanese Fan Club members, Terrie and Sevvie as well. Awesome peeps. Slack gave us a ride to LACC to grab our badges. SPlit up with Dai and the others as they have the press junket thingy. Props for Slack standing in the sun for almost 3 hours. Poor guy got sun burned lol. More shit happened but its irrelevant anyway. Sev, Jab and Ben shows up after.


Day One. MM Q and A Panel. We were split into two groups as one group tries to get the guaranteed autograph tickets. And the other reserved seats for the Q and A panel for the first come first serve ticket to the first autograph session. Finally met Limitbreaker LOL who tries to stay low key. Kuno Thunder showed up out of no where. Also met with JFC, A_P, Aarita!, Masato, Sayah, Canongirl and many more who i cant remember. Our inside source from Aarita that there will be a guest reception the next day where we can mingle with the AX guests of honor. We weren't sure if MM was gonna show up but we took the chance anyway.

Guest Reception Tixs!



I think we went to the autograph session right after the Q and A panel. And we were managed to get stuff signed. FYI I was never a big MM fan and LA was just a reason for me to meet JPHIPSTARS. But when I finally seen Morning Musume up close. Good god, I was star struck. I was like OMG OMG HOLY SHIT THEY SO TINY! OMG MM!! So yea I was pretty nervous during the first autograph session. I was lining up inside where MM were and Aika saw me and gave me wave, and I waved back at her. The seating line ups for this was Ai, Risa, Eri, Sayu, Reina, Koharu, Aika, Jun Jun, Lin Lin. When I first met Ai, she gave me a huge fucken smile. I was like OMG, I WANT TO DO U RIGHT NOW! But I just gave her a smile back and whipped out the Shouganai Yume Oibito CD for her. After she signed in, I pulled out a Canadian Moose plush and gave it to her. She was like "OH WHOA THANK YOU!" and reached her hand out to shake my hand. I gave her a hand shake and a smile and moved on to Risa. Risa's cheeks were not as puffy as they looked in those pictures they have. She was hella cute though. I gave her CD and she was like OH HI! and I whipped out a mini hockey stick and gave it to her. And she was like, "Ehh sugoi! Nani??" I was like "Hokke" and shes like "ahhh souka souka arigatou!" She was pretty hyper and after she signed it I moved on to Eri. For Eri, I gave her a puck instead of a hockey stick from the Vancouver Canucks. She was like "Ehhh Vancouva! Ikimashita!!" and points to herself. I was like "Ahh sou desu ne!" By now, Risa and Ai heard our conversation and Risa was like "Canada-jin??" I was like, "Sou, Vancouver shushiin desu!" And either all three of them was like "Ahh sugoi" I was like WHOA! small talk FTW! I then moved on to Sayu who gave me a wave up close and was like "HI!" and I whipped out another mini hockey stick and was like, "For you!" and she's like "YAY YAY!" and reached out to shake my hand. After she signed I moved on to Reina, She's like "HARRO!" and I whipped out the last of my mini stick and was like "Presento for you" and shes like "Ahh arigatou!" She reached out to shake my hand also, I was like oh shit! IM A PIMP! By now I ran out of gifts for everyone, I also knew Kusumi and AIka was eyeing the hockey sticks as well. But I was like AWW FUCK I shouldve bought more. I felt so bad after the autograph. Also, Reina took the longest out of everyone to sign and while she was signing the CD, I saw Aika looking at me, and started waving at me. I waved back and gave her a wink and she started giggling. I was like WTF! DID I JUST WINKED AT AIKA??! (I always made fun of Aika and calling her Jaws prior to this. The Irony! LOL) I moved on to Koharu, Aika and Jun Jun without much shit going on. As they gave the generic greetings and what not. I said Xie Xie to Lin Lin for some reason since she was the last one, and she said some long shit in chinese back to me. I didn't even understand her LOL. And got out the room happy as fuck!

I ran to the washroom right after because I have been holding onto a long ass piss. Sev and Ping were waiting for me and when I got out, Sev was like, "Dude! You just shook hands with Morning Musume and you touched your penis with that hand!" I was like, "OH FUCK! INDIRECT HANDJOB! WOO!"

CD I got signed on the first autograph session





More to come later. LOL. Let's call this end of Part 1.

[Kimuuu]

I started reading the reports, then skimming after my brain was starting to explode from all the awesomeness.

First off, WOLFIIIIIEE, yo, I srsly would've considered skipping out on the concert too, just to wait for Yossy's autograph signing.   So glad you got to get a handshake from her!!!! AWWW YEAAAH!    I'm happy for you!

@Mugen lmao Indirect MM handjob.  Why didn't I think of that in Seattle?  j/k  

@everyone else THANK YOU for sharing your experiences, good and bad.  I hope to meet you guys at the next major event!

[arun.yothin]

I can't remember doing a whole lot at the con, I remember way more shit that went down after each day.

I missed my first flight from Cleveland and didn't get in LA until about 2:30 or something and didn't get to the LACC until later because of some misunderstood directions from the airport guy. I got to the con when everyone was in line for the panel, but the staff wouldn't even let me in the area to at least see JPHiP people to let 'em know I was there. I called tenkei and met with him. He walked right past me and I didn't even know.

GoH breakfast thing was cool even though I didn't get to sit with MM. I got to a table right in front of the MM table, but didn't turn around fast enough to get a seat. I so badly wanted to keep turning around to look at the girls, but I didn't want to be rude to Kari. Still got to talk to Daisuke Ishiwatari and Toshimichi Mori and some other artists and ask about some of the things they do when they create.

Concert was fun. boykun pretty much summed it up for me. Some of the stuff like the camera work was wack, but I don't care since I got to see them sing "The Peace", even if it was just a bit. I felt kinda bad 'cause aisasami sat down right next to me and said "Hi." Then boykun came back and I moved so we could sit together. I didn't even know it was aisasami until we saw her at the Hello! Party. Sorry.

During Yossi's signing, I caught a nice glimpse of her through an opening in the corner of the curtains as I walk behind the booth. No such luck with MM's signing. Dudes were standing guard trying block everyone from the curtains. Even when I asked where people were exiting so I could meet with my friends inside, they were still trying to get me away from the curtain.

I missed the first half of the Tsunku panel 'cause I was asleep. I think I woke up when it started.

Me, jab, and Flyp saw him at the airport though. He was like 10 feet away from us. He took a picture with some people, but got away before we could even move. Reina walked past us and waved. I haven't been a MM fan for years and was never really a fan of Reina, but when she waved I cheesed and waved back. She walked far away then came back, getting really close to Flyp.

I think that's it for my MM con experiences. I didn't do nearly as much MM stuff as other people, but it was a great time.

[zakdl]

lmao mugen you is a playa
mannn reading all these stories makes me wish i woulda saved to come to AX  

[Mugen]

LOL thanks. Just wait till I write about the guest reception incident and the last autograph one haha 

[strawb3rrykream]

Ok, my turn. I apologize if it's kind of a bad summary.
Day 2: Got a call from Dai the night before telling me about the reception, which was in my hotel. So I got down there and met the crew for the first time~~ We all chilled a little, got the tix and got in line. When I saw Momusu for the first time, I was like "THEY ARE SO SMALL!!!!" And that comes from a girl who is 5 ft tall. So yeah, they were so damn tiny! The whole rotating table shit was killer. (I saw a bunch of you JPHiP guys chatting it up with my dad and my friend's dad. ) My friend and I had to stick together so I ended up missing out on chatting with them b/c there weren't enough seats. But when they were leaving, I totally waved at Reina and she smiled and waved back!!!! One of the best moments of my life right there. Took a group (most of the crew, I think) pic after and got hooked up with my shirt!!!!
Anyway, fast forward to the concert. Got together with the crew again, chatting and getting them cool-ass glowsticks! I don't know how many ppl asked about them. Sev was being a pimp and hustling them in line. My friend and I didn't sit with most of the crew but we were behind arun and boykun.
Concert was wow. My friend and I are kinda chibi so we had to watch the screen instead of really getting to see them live. But it was so amazing anyway. My throat was hurting after screaming so much and my right arm was a little sore from the glowstick-ing but it was fuckin worth it.

Day 3: Saw Dai at the JPop House booth. Then found ten, Ping and some others dudes later. They showed me the scrapbook and it was damn beautiful!!! Great job, guys. I mentioned that I didn't have an autograph ticket and they ran me over to Aarita, who hooked a little sister up!!!! (Thank you so much, you guys!!!!) So I was able to get my autographs after all! As soon as I got in the autograph area, I was like "FUCK!!!" b/c the girls were out of order, which made it difficult to flip through my Platinum 9 Disc CD jacket. The girls were so friendly, saying "HI!!!" and "Thank you!". Unlike the pushy-ass staff...but I know they were just doing their job. Oh man, I got kinda flustered and couldn't find Ai-chan's page. So I was all freaking out right in front of her and I look up and she's smiling at me...kinda laughing. I must have blushed like crazy. Once I got to Sayu (third to last, I think), this random-ass staff lady decides I'm too slow and grabs the CD jacket from me, flips to the right page, and hands it to her. Sayu looked as shocked as I did. Then, I'm at the second to the last girl (forgot who) and there's no one in front of me so JunJun's not doing anything. She looks up at me and grins and says "HI!" Once I got through it all, I was like Took a pic with limit for Nee-chan and then said goodbye to everyone.


Posters at the JapanFiles booth

Some of the girls before the reception

My friend and I with our reception tickets. (Kuno ninja'ed his way in )

Group pic!!!

Random pic of my friend and I, with JPHiP crew in the background

Thanks for the great time, guys! JPHiP 4 LYFE!!!!

[DHG]

Figured I share my story.

I went to Day 0. I lasted about 4 hours in line it was hell since I forgot my handhelds and it was hot as hell. I managed to make good time in the main event line and get great seats for me and my friends. While there I saw Jab but didn't say hi since I never introduced myself until the next day. On the first day I hitched a ride from SacredCultivator as a favor for getting his badge and ticket so that did me good since I didn't know my way around LA. Once there we waited in line for the Opening Ceremony met alot of cosplayers and those Jap Wota that were apparently giving freebies around didn't get one which sucks but oh well. We get in I manage to get good pics of the girls and manage to get vid of them leaving the con to get ready for the Q&A. We both tried getting into the exhibit hall line only to give up and proceed back in though once security cut us both off to that side of the building we played ninja and snuck in with the line already moving lol. Once in I manage to get pretty much one of everything at the booths though fell short in getting a ticket for MM autographs I did get the last Hangry one so that was good enough for me.

The Q&A was fun though didn't get a ticket which sucks majorly but we tried at least we were there. We tired the standby line but no luck there. I met Daigong and I believe Kuno as well in the line. After that SC and I roamed around we saw Yossy at the booth and we got a good view of her leaving I wish I knew earlier apparently according to Sacred she was right behind me I really hate myself for not noticing early. That was it for day 1. Day 2 was the same at the beginning wake up early and hitch another ride with SC and this time his sis was joining us. Once there just chilled in the food court until the concert was near starting. Once it was time to line up I ran into several JPH!P users I'm pretty sure no one remembers me lol but it's ok it was nice meeting you guys and thanks for the glowsticks. Like everyone said the concert was epic it was simply phenomenal. Once it ended I bolted out the room to get my Hangry autograph. I was like the first one there. I met several people and chatted with them saw Daigong with Jade Starr nice dood lol. I got my cd signed by Yossie. Wish I had my newly acquired trading cards that I got on the last day that would've been sweet to get those signed. I managed to get a firm hand shake from Yossie and a smile so I nearly fainted lol. After all that roamed around the area outside the con and then went to that Hello! Party though tbh not that great so we left early like almost everyone there that wasn't playing games or doing the wota dance.

Day 3 wasn't much we waited in the last standby line in hopes of getting our last chance at Musume autographs.  No luck but we tried. We left the con for food then returned once the Power Rangers had their Q&A now that was fun. We left and headed toward the tent where Musume was having the last signing. I saw the guys there Jab was I believe last in line and the others had that big box of gifts way to go guys. We saw them in the tent wish we could've gone in but of course no ticket no entry. The crowd sang happy birthday that was nice and interesting we got a glimpse of them leaving but yeah that was pretty much it. The rest of the con was just shopping and taking pics of cosplayers and acting like idiots. It was a fun experience may not have gotten any autographs from Musume but I got Yossie's and she's my fave so that's good enough for me. It was nice meeting all you guys from this forum wish I was in your inner circle but there's always next time if something like this ever happens again.

[arun.yothin]

strawb3rrykream: That was me and boykun. I couldn't think of who you were on the forums when I met you and heard your name. I heard you mention your teacher and it hit me. Your dad and his friend were cool, me and some other people sat with them during one of the GoH rounds.

[boykun]

lol Mugen

Alrighty.


Day 3: Tsunku panel was in the morning. About half of us attended. People were asking great questions, and Tsunku was answering them all in depth. One guy asked him tips to become a producer so he can be surrounded by cute girls. Tsunku answered by saying that he needs to keep his cool when being around so many cute girls, prompting some laughter and cheering. He also mentioned plans for a new member of Morning Musume not this year, but maybe sometime next year. There were a lot of questions about Rhythm Heaven, which he plugged many times. Really good panel overall. Had a few good laughs and insightful stuff from Tsunku.
After the panel I hurried over to the line for the morning autograph session. Jab, jaysonnj, and a few others were already there since early in the morning. I had no idea Jab was gonna leave so early, otherwise I probably would have gone with him. Stood in line with daigong and Flyp. Our tickets were in the 200s, pretty slim chance. So they let through about 160 people and closed the door. Fuuuucck. By then my chances of getting an autograph or getting in close contact with the girls was over. Though Ping thought he had an extra ticket for the guaranteed signing, it turned out to be Sev's. Damnit lol.
So I waited around for all the JPH!PSTAZZZ to get all their shit signed in the afternoon signing. UFA management was pissed off/being douchebags at everyone. Apparently only 200 tickets were handed out, but towards the end of the signing they counted 215. Anyway after the session, a lot of people were hanging out at outside the signing area. We all spontaneously started singing happy birthday to Sayu(and Koharu kind of). She peeked out the curtains and waved to everyone.
After that it was time for the paarrtay at the izakaya. To be honest I was really tired and really disappointed I didn't get to meet Morning Musume, and almost went home right after the con, but fuck man I didn't come for those kids I came for JPH!P. The izakaya was off the chain. We were being a nuisance to everyone else in there. The place started playing Morning Musume songs because a lot of us were wearing the shirts. It was good times. People were ordering massive amounts of food and alcohol. Also some toasts here and there.
I went downstairs to check out the arcade and soon enough arun, tenkei and I had Guilty Gear matches going on. A couple more people came and I paid 50 cents to see drunken DDR from T-back but he failed on the first song, lol.
We hit up the karaoke box soon after and the party was just bangin'. Sang some good old Morning Musume and Hello! Project shit, Michael Jackson, and other stuff. Halfway through some fools came in all obnoxious and tried to crash our party, but were quickly outsed by the pinoy powerhouse's quick wit and bossman daigong's heavy right fist. Couple more songs rolled by and we ended a great night with a chorus of people trying to sing the opera part of Bohemian Rhapsody.
End of day 3


Day 4: Last day of the AX, nothing really big going on. People planned to head to the airport to try and see Morning Musume off, so I said my goodbyes and parted with them. Tenkei and I stayed behind for some food then headed to AX afterwards. We get to AX and tenkei finally finds that fucking bag that's been missing since day 1. The bag's been at the lost and found office or whatever the whole time, but only a few of the staff knew about it. I got text from dai "Lulz we saW em at airport" and I was like, god damnit. Whatever, we headed to the merch hall to find some free swag, but there was nothing. I was hoping for one of those Hangry & Angry stuffed dolls to be marked down 80%. No chance there. Chatted with Jeff of JapanFiles for a bit, then we hit up the BlazBlue booth for some quick games. Went home after that.


I had lots of fun. Thanks to all you fuckers who showed up, it was great times. Didn't get to meet Morning Musume and that was kind of disappointing, but meeting everyone from JPH!P and other forums easily outweighs all the bad stuff. Let's do this again.

[Ping]

Soo like.. I'm pretty new here, and I just discovered this place thanks to the fellas selling shirts/glowsticks during the seating of the concert. Anyways! It's nice reading other peoples' experiences, I feel really bad for people that weren't able to get autographs. I also had difficulty trying to find the first autograph session like most people, but was able to find the place eventually and get an autograph. When I was getting my picture signed, I was completely star-struck.. so I wasn't able to say anything except "hello" and "thanks" [I'm also really shy, so yeah..] Also, I was only able to attend Thursday and Friday, but luckily was able to make a lot of great memories from it:

The concert was amazing also. Honestly.. I felt bad because I haven't been listening/watching much Morning Musume stuff lately [thanks to Korean idols], so I wasn't caught up with the songs performed in the concert. I did try my best to cheer with the crowd; I swear I was going to lose my voice the following day. Man-oh-man.. the next time MM comes to the states, I'm going to try my best to attend [maybe even meet you cool people of JPH!P] and get a rematch w/ Reina!

Awesome dude! Welcome! Post more! We were trying to get more cool new people like you to join the forum! And from what it sounds like, you have a similar situation as me, love Reina, got tired of MM for awhile, really got into more other acts like Korean stuff, but after this trip, I really wanna make an effort to get back into H!P lol Your Janken match was the most memorable question in the Q&A

That really made everything complete...
Well, that and the awesome night the hip crew had in Little Tokyo Saturday. Livin' it up like the Japanese in the izakaya, and then karaoke afterward! Though you guys made me a little self-conscious with all the rokun chatting. I hope it didn't feel like I was monopolizing the karaoke... (along with ComFen... haha) I guess since we've done ridiculous karaoke before, it just felt natural for us, eh? Most of you guys probably don't know me very well, but I did have a good talk with JFC about it upon returning to our room. Karaoke is just like my thing... I love to sing... And something I'm realizing lately, I love to entertain... I hope you guys really did enjoy it there as much as it sounded like you did.

NP dude, you were awesome singing those HP songs, keep it up!

Day 3: Saw Dai at the JPop House booth. Then found ten, Ping (I think...) and some others dudes later. They showed me the scrapbook and it was damn beautiful!!! Great job, guys. I mentioned that I didn't have an autograph ticket and they ran me over to Aarita, who hooked a little sister up!!!! (Thank you so much, you guys!!!!) So I was able to get my autographs after all!

Yea, it was me and ten, and you're very welcome, I'm glad you got to get an autograph, unfortunately some people weren't so lucky 

And I know I'm gonna sound anal or something here, but can we stop calling the "dragon lady" a translator? Cause she is not a translator, she is the handler and just so happens to be Japanese. She does have that crazy tattoo all over her back though, all yakuza style and shit, lol

I'll post my report later, but it's not gonna be much different then tenkei's lol

[KyouKEN]

Thanks for the welcome guys~ I wanted to approach a lot of you people in the jpH!P shirts, but as I said in my last post.. I'm supaa shyy when it comes to strangers..

LOL, hearing about this "dragon lady" from all over the place is funny. I bet she ruined the mood for so many people. Also hearing things about her slapping a fans hand away when he/she went for a handshake, which is like.. wowz. Btw, was this "dragon lady" at the Q&A or first autograph session? Just wondering if I saw her, because I don't remember an inked up chick during the first autograph session.

[Mugen]

the translator did not slap the person;s hand, it was one of the handler.

[TheBlackCatsLuck]

Wait... Morning Musume needs a handler? O.o

[japanfiles]

Thanks to all the fans for their incredible support of Morning Musume at Anime Expo!

E-mails have gone out to the winners of our contest drawings at the JapanFiles booth.
M.G - Honolulu, HI
E.T. - Essex, England
C.C. - La Puente, CA
K.T. - Okayama, Japan
J.L. - San Gabriel, CA
J.N. - San Marino, CA
L.K.W. - Thornhill, Canada
H.S. - West Hills, CA
J.C. - Stafford, VA
C.P.F. - Estada de Mexico, Mexico
G.A. - Alberta, Canada
J.R. - Guatemala
(If any of these seem like they might be YOU -- please PM us if you didn't get an e-mail... some of the entry forms were hard to read, so there may be an error or two.)


And thank to all of you who hung around on Sunday before the official drawings (dancing in front of the video screen) and afterwards for our extra poster giveways.

The gathering at the Hello!Party was also very positive and fun, and a special thanks to Paul from Hello!Blog who has been helping us navigate the complex world of UFA artists and fans. Our staff got to meet members of JPH!P, H!O, and JPM, and we appreciate all your kind words and constructive suggestions about how we can all work together for more opportunities for H!P artists (past and present) in the USA.