The Tokyo Idol Festival 2015 Thread

[tsutomo]

a tradition of this forum already, let me set up once again the thread for the biggest (but not funniest) idol festival in the country. 

they announced today that we will have once more the festival starred by more than one hundred idols groups in Odaiba (Tokyo) at August 1st and 2nd. official site http://fes.tokyoidol.jp/

the first few (headliners?) groups confirmed:

Idoling!!!
Up Up Girls Kakkokari
Afilia Saga
Dorothy Little Happy
Negicco
Passpo
Fudanjuku
Baby Raids Japan
LinQ

who's going this year? will we have a proper JPHIP meeting this time? will it be too idoling centric since its the group's final year? will we have an even worse organization than last year (almost impossible but...)? will we finally see some Stardust or Alice Project groups? someone different than HKT48? more groups and people than last year? finally Luvya and Asfi making an appearance? so many questions!

since Azunyan will be there, I'm in.

presence list:
tsutomo (one or both days. still undefined)

[wattstax]

You know my opinion. Would love to go there again. I wait for qwiksXnd's schedule and what @JAM sets up. A cooler venue is much more appreciated by me.

But as Passpo is there (what happened to Hachake Tai's plan?) it is a festival I will put on my agenda.

[Rezar]

I would love to go but I can't handle the heat so I would just be miserable

[qwiksXnd]

The enthusiasm is totally different than last year . TIF 2014 killed our innocence.

I was hoping @JAM EXPO would expand to two days, but I'm still a TIF addict. I wish it was possible to know the final lineups of both events right now, and even better, the complete summer schedules of every group. It's always a gamble when choosing the weeks to visit.

HKT48 and Dempagumi also performed at the press event, so I wouldn't be surprised if they attended again.

[vlinorman]

I would love to go but I can't handle the heat so I would just be miserable

Usually there are also lots of idols performing on Sapporo Snow Festival in February 

[tsutomo]

I wait for qwiksXnd's schedule and what @JAM sets up. A cooler venue is much more appreciated by me.

yep, if I were to give a tip to someone (who lives abroad and can only attend one of the festivals) I'd say to come here to attend @Jam Expo, not TIF. they may have less groups (not by an abysmal margin), but quality is there. much better organization and indoor stages only, with small distances between. and they don't have 'casual fans' or curious people since all stages are paid. only real wotas. 

I think we can use thread to talk about @Jam Expo too, if enough people here opt for that one.  only went to TIF thread cuz it still has more "glamour" and "appeal" than other festivals.

HKT48 and Dempagumi also performed at the press event, so I wouldn't be surprised if they attended again.

yep, because of that and the fact they were there last year, it's basically a given they'll be again this year. dunno why they weren't included in the first announcement already. it is so frustrating that they are for the third consecutive year inviting the Fukuoka AKB branch. still no sign of NMB or even better, a SKE reload. 

[wattstax]

I will probably book hotels in the time frame I want to go and cancel the reservation of the one I don't need. It's true, that TIF has more glamour, even for me, despite the heat, the casual visitors and terrible organising. But I don't want to spend my time only in Doll Factory or Enjoy Stadium to avoid heat like a certain person here did. That is why I wait for further details or just trip to both dates. lol
I would love to see more uncommon groups like JyuJyu, PassCode, 2&,... there instead of trainee groups or general new generic idol pop groups. There have been far to many of those, resulting in lack of musical diversity.

I am in for an @JAM Thread as well.
And why do idols only know the festival by the abbrevation TIF?

[tsutomo]

And why do idols only know the festival by the abbrevation TIF?

could you explain better what u mean? what happened? 

[wattstax]

Everytime I mention the full name, they just seem confused and then ask about if I meant TIF instead. Just wondering...

[tsutomo]

its probably because you pronounce the words correctly and most japanese don't understand real english just japenglish.  happens with me most of the time, have to try to adapt the spelling. 

[mixedmedia]

I blame katakana for their lack of understanding when someone pronounces stuff written in Romaji as it's supposed to be read. Tokyo Aidoru Fesutebaru does not equal Tokyo Idol Festival. I'm still rolling my eyes when they used "idle" instead of "idol" during the press conference.

I think I've seen some of the major groups (PASSPO, Dorothy Little Happy, Babyraids JAPAN, Up Up Girls, etc) enough that I might want to switch it up this year and go check out the newer groups. It would be nice if they used Zepp Diver City or some other place also. I hated how Hot Stage was pretty much open to ppl who were just going to the Fuji TV thing. There were too many stages open to the public to where you wondered what the point of paying for a ticket was. Doll Factory, Enjoy Stadium, Sky Stage (which is super annoying to get to) were the only stages that you had to have a ticket to see, no?

Looking forward to @JAM Expo also but that "Pineapple Stage" was pretty pointless! It was almost a broom closet!

[wattstax]

Yea, it seems to be a pronounciation thing. I still haven't figured out how to make myself understood when talking about a "One-Man". Two attempts, both fail!
But I was wondering: Isn't romaji pretty hard for Japanese to read? I mean it uses a completely different spelling and letter system. Is it equal to me, who struggles with reading hiragana/katakana which is far far far from being fluent or fast?

About the stages: Only the 3 you mentioned were the ones you needed tickets for. Others only had the wristband-holder areas. Agreed on Hot Stage: Much to small area for paying customers and annoying on-lookers. I didn't even tried the Sky Stage for its stupid organisation. But the downside: Even if you go there without a ticket, you have no real place to cool down from being in the sun. Only suitable option would be DiverCity, but being a sweaty wota surrounded by casual customers - not pleasant. I would love an indoor Market/Greeting Square. No problem staying there for hours, lol

[mixedmedia]

To be fair, languages that are written in romaji like English have so many ways to pronounce the combination of letters that katakana sometimes makes sense since it's generally always pronounced the same (even if it's a bastardized version of a non-Japanese word).

Since they had an area where they were spraying people with water, why not have one where the idols get sprayed with water too?

Definitely hated how Hot Stage was in the middle of the other Fuji TV event, especially with the random EXILE thing right at the entrance attracting all the gyaru types and their equally tan bleached hair having bfs/husbands.

[Jul3]

Yea, it seems to be a pronounciation thing. I still haven't figured out how to make myself understood when talking about a "One-Man". Two attempts, both fail!

But apparently you struggle to make yourself understood when trying to pronounce my name.... so... 


From everything you guys have said about last years event (in that thread as well) it really doesn't make the whole festival sound like a good one... it probably doesn't help that it's at the worst time of year to visit Japan...

[tsutomo]

pineapple stage was that one in a small studio where you had to go out of the yokohama arena to enter, right? yep, that was pretty much the only problem with @Jam Expo. like, i`d have no problem if they used that venue for small groups, but putting big names to play there was like non-sense and a pain in the ass to even get access with a humongous lane.

it sucks that TIF is done by fuji tv so they`ll never take the festival and organize in other area of the city, because the logical thing would be to realize it on Makuhari like the other big music festivals in the city. if someone wanted, they could use even the stadium, like in Summersonic, to put the really big groups like Momokuro, AKB, H!P groups... at this point I just hope that with Idoling`s disband, fuji tv stops working in the organization and they find other supporters. even if it continues being done in Odaiba for whatever reason, will be a start at least.

[mixedmedia]

Yeah, Pineapple was the one where you had to leave the arena and walk through what looked like a small cafe to get to a room the size of a tiny live house and the organizers went and put groups like Dempagumi, Up Up Girls, TOKYO GIRLS' STYLE, Hime Kyun Fruit Can, etc. in there! They probably thought it would be the best location for their webcast with the English-speaking MC, disregarding the fan torture as they entered and left. In contrast, the Strawberry Stage (main arena) was too big!

With the whole Tokyo Idol Project they're launching, I hope they make some changes. Odaiba is far and expensive to get to because it's on an island and there's not much else there except shopping malls. And as mentioned many times before, there's less incentive to pay since other people can just walk by and watch for free anyway (every stage except for Sky, Doll Factory and Enjoy Stage). But, it is kind of amusing to see the reaction of random ppl since there's an international student dorm by Smile Garden.

[wattstax]

Hey, Shirai understood my "One Man". Finally.

[tsutomo]

I had a friend that lived in those dorms. too bad she went back to west otherwise we could plan some after parties there through the night. maybe even bringing some idols to it and 

 

[wattstax]

Wow, this thread is dead. But honestly, why isn't there an official website already???

Anyway, couldn't wait any longer and booked my trip! Summer heat, here I come 

[qwiksXnd]

http://idolfes.com/2015/

^ And glad you decided! I'll take full responsibility if it's a bust. So, tsutomo, wattstax, and me... anyone else?

Update #2:
Doll☆Elements!!... and some other groups. Oh, La PomPon! (aka wattstax's favorite group from last year )

The complete list from today's update:
Doll☆Elements
idol renaissance
Ange☆Reve
especia
X21
Otome Shinto
Otome no Junjo
Oyayubi Princess
Galette
The Possible
Sanmyu~
Doll☆Elements
JK21
Yufu Terashima
Dianna☆Sweet
drop
Party Rockets
BudLab
Flap Girls School
predia
Doll☆Elements
La PomPon
Lovely★DOLL
yurumerumo
Lyrical School
WHY@DOLL
Doll☆Elements