Unfortunately I wanted to be both nice to Michael and allow us to sleep in at least a little bit on my day off so we didn't arrive to the area until 10am, and CDs had gone on sale at 9. Now, arriving after they started selling I expected a line, but I was not expecting an EPIC LINE. Wrapped around several times near the stage then headed out along a pathway towards the roads. Well, we were there and unless they sold out of the CDs with handshake tickets there was no way I was giving up on a definite handshake with my girls. The line took about an hour, I bought us each a CD with a ticket for the first handshake period of the day and we grabbed a coffee before finding a spot outside the special viewing area that still gave us a good view of the stage.
About 30 minutes later, Musume came on in their single outfits and performed the short version of Only You. As a note: groups always perform the short version of one chorus as an opening to release events, then to close the event perform the full version. The crows was pumped and the few random spectators walking around the balconies of the mall seemed completely clueless as to what was going on. Aika is still performing while sitting on a chair, most likely til the end of this month, but she still gave it her all. I actually felt bad as they couldn't seem to decide on one position for her so between songs she would have to get up and hop on one foot across the stage while one of the Cookies carried her chair.
After simple introductions they headed into a four song setlist:
- Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game
- Onna ga Medatte Naize tte Naze Ikenai
- Nanchatte Renai
- Renai Revolution 21
After that it was just waiting for our number group (above 1000) to be called for the handshake. We finally moved into the center area then waited as the line gradually flowed up to the stage, handed in our slips and were hoarded along to the line of girls. As usual all of them recognized me (the few foreigners that regularly go / my wota friends who obsessively go are very noticable) with Sayumi seeming extra surprised to see me again. It was medium paced, giving just enough time to make eye contact and say thank you to each of the girls. Zukki's smile was amazing as always, I think she noticed that I bought the cheerleading type armband they are selling at the official shop (and I got the last one of hers, which was the last one of all of the girls). Eripon seemed shocked by the face she made, but I think that is just our adorable KY Eripon. Reina was extra excited as was Aika down at the end sitting on her chair. I managed to get out a note about looking forward to Hawaii to Ai-chan and got a big grin from that. Lots of Thank you's mixed with normal Japanese, a big smile from Mizuki and firm handshake from Riho.
Risa looks really good with her medium-length hair, and Ai's lighter brown looks great in person. Her blonde looked great in person too though so I am sad she changed it so quickly. All of the girls were exhausted by the time we got on stage, covered in sweat and even had to take a break halfway through the handshake to towel off and get a drink. Although it was cloudy (no rain thankfully as this was an outdoors event with a pavillion) the humidity and UV were really high. I wonder how well they fared during the second showing later that day.
Although I have done several handshakes with Musume, this was Michael's first. So the girls were super excited and all said Thank You very loudly. Aika even said a full sentence in English "Hi! How are you?!" but he was pushed off stage before he could answer. I swear that girl is more of a spaz than Koharu ever was. Every time she sees me she doesn't just shake hands, she grabs and violently jerks my hand. It's cute though and has definitely put her up there with Zukki on my 押し list.
Because the CDs they were selling were first press, I have entered two more serial numbers into the lottery for the event, though I kind of hope I don't get in as although I can make the last one of the day it is back in Odaiba and would be cutting it really close with when I got out of work. Ah well, anything from my girls.
Some info about Hawaii, I applied and got the tour loan which is really the only way I could go without forfeiting having any summer fun besides fangirling for four days. I am going on the shortest plan so I don't have to miss more than 3 days of work, which gives me little time to site-see but oh well. Fuel is ridiculously expensive now but luckily that wrapped into the loan too. We got a secondary packet the other day that was mostly just catalogue of souvenirs you could buy to bring back but had one useful thing; the bag you must put your liquids in to enter America. Oh and a special note saying that if you aren't a Japanese citizen you need to fax a copy of your re-entry permit into Japan. I am thinking that the maybe 2 of us going on the tour are what sparked the extra note, though trust me I am well aware that if I went without a re-entry permit I would void my visa. Now just to wait for the tickets so I can know my actual itinerary. ^^
