9th Generation Fanclub Tour in Yamanashi 2011, November 5-6

Fall 2011 November 5-6: 9期　Bus Tour in Yamanashi

 

Above you can see my tour pass and the front of the pamphlet we were given at the start of the tour.  In fact we were given a whole pile of materials as you can see.  Among them, slips for voting for the best art project, a questionnaire sheet and a goods order form.

But I am getting ahead of myself.  Before boarding the bus, I took a picture of myself ready to have a fun weekend with the Kyukkies.

I look surprised for some odd reason, not sure exactly why. Well it was before 8 in the morning and I have very little skill with taking pictures of myself so I can use that as an excuse I guess.  By the time I arrived at the meeting area (about 15 minutes before the meet up time) there was already a large wota group ready and raring to go.  I enjoyed chatting with some of my friends from Hawaii and then we parted ways for the moment and got onto our designated buses.

For the duration of the tour, I was on Bus 2.  We had a very cute, very young bus guide who at first glance picked out Riho as her favorite.  As a demonstration of the kindness (not creepiness) of wotas, on Sunday it happened to be that bus guide's birthday, so on our way to events on the second day, the "captain" wota (seems to be known by most, I have never talked to him but have seen him around a lot) led us all in singing Happy Birthday.  It was really sweet and made me feel really connected to everyone around me.

Back to the bus.  Precisely at 8am we started on our way.  Highways were of course crowded because it was a weekend, so traffic was stop and go for a while, but eventually we got moving at a steady pace.  The first rest area we stopped at was too crowded to really get everything we needed done; along with toilet and buying lunch we were also told that 5-shots would be taken as soon as we got to Yamanashi so we needed to get ready for them there.  I opted to put contacts in at the rest stop then grab out makeup pouch from my luggage and do makeup on the bus.  It worked out well, mostly because I don't wear very much make up so "doing makeup" consists of nothing more than putting on concealer and eyeshadow.  For girls who do much more than that, well they wouldn't dare leave the house without make up on so it seemed like all the other girls on the tour were already dolled up when they got to the bus meet up at 7:30.  How they are able to get up and put make up on in the early morning is something I will never understand about most women here.  And I do mean most, I wish I saw more women without make up , since most of them probably look just as beautiful.  But I digress.

Since we had very little relax time at the first rest stop, we did end up stopping about 30 minutes later just after we had entered Yamanashi prefecture.

Saturday, November 5

Only 20 minutes later we were off the highway and headed to the location where the 5-shot was to be done, a nice Japanese style-inn.  Which coincidentally is also the lodging we stayed at.  I was nervous, but nowhere near as nervous as I was in Hawaii.  After the picture in Hawaii, and the 5-shot with Smileage, I was able to approach this picture calmly with a clear idea in my head of the pose I wanted to do.  Outside the room (and after a very cute and ditzy VTR shown on the bus) we were presented with a board showing each girl's suggested pose.  I am really  not sure what Fuku-chan was thinking with her Fuji-san pose, but I am sure some people did choose to use it.

 I decided to go with a pose of my own, which I described to the staff member as (one of the same young guys who was in Hawaii, we both recognized each other) "Holding your hands out as if you are accepting the fans' love"  3 out of 4 of the girls understood what I meant.  Riho looks like she is presenting a product.

They were so cute!  I mean I am a sucker for school uniforms, but I don't think anyone could pull it off better than these four.  Staff member who put up the suggestion for the tour to be like a middle-school field trip, I salute you ^^

After the 5-shot (we were given the picture on the bus ride back to Tokyo the next day) we were shipped off to do grape picking while the bus group from Nagoya took their turn at the 5-shot.  A good way to kill time without leaving us bored, but the girls weren't there at all so it was kinda pointless.  OK, the girls were there in spirit.  They were there in the sense that the artwork they made out of clay as their image of Yamanashi grapes was there.  I didn't get a picture of it myself, but there are pictures floating around.  Three of the pieces actually looked like real grapes, and one looked like a weird character styled grape, we think that one was Kanon.  The voting slips we were given were for voting for what we thought was the best piece.  Of course most people debated who made what and then tried to vote for their oshi, but I actually voted for the one I thought looked the best, though I am pretty sure the weird wtf-is-that character was my beloved Zukki's.  

Conveniently they finally uploaded the voting results, and here they are.

1位　D作品　譜久村 聖　　Mizuki　　　　　　
2位　A作品　鈴木 香音　Kanon
3位　B作品　鞘師 里保　Riho
4位　Ｃ作品　生田 衣梨奈 Erina

As we thought, the weird one was Zukki, it was cute, but I voted for what did turn out to be Mizuki's and the winner, D.  I liked the way she formed her grapes.  Riho's and Erina's kinda just looked like lumps, so I can see why it was between A and D.  

So yeah, the grape picking was really just to have us kill time, and yeah we had the clay artwork to look at, besides for eating slightly sour but yummy grapes (why the Japanese PEEL grapes I will never understand, I just eat them whole).  But yeah, it would have been nice to have been doing something slightly  more related to the girls we were there to see.  

After we finished picking our grapes, we were instructed to go into one of the other areas of the building to do one piece of calligraphy each.  You could do any single character that you liked, and although you might think people would only choose characters from the 9ki members' names, you would be wrong.

 

As for me, I choose a character dear to my heart (and one of the few I can write that doesn't look like it is written by a 5-year old.  Can read kanji just fine, cannot write them to save my life)

A tribute to my Junjun.  I was so happy to see her on the Chinese contest show ^^.

After everyone was finished at the grape-picking farm, we were bussed back to our hotel and allowed to check in.  My room was six girls.  We all started chatting right away, and one of the girls had brought a portable DVD player so we sat down and watched the Single V of the latest Musume single, complete with lots of "Kawaii"s just as you would expect from a bunch of girls.  We had about two hours to kill before dinner, so after watching that we all just kind of relaxed and showed off the items we had brought on the tour.  One girl (who I need to chase down at the Yomiuri Land Event) had even made clothes for a miniature bear to match Reina's concert outfit from Fantasy DX. 

 

Or I think the bear was Reina.  Of the Kyukkies, Eripon is her favorite and I don't remember Eripon having a bow like that.  The bear was so adorable that it was an instant photo favorite.  Another one of my roommates was wearing Zukki's shiny green-trim outfit from the Fantasy DX which her mom had hand-sewn for her.  Makes me seriously want to learn to sew so I can make my own outfits whenever I feel like it.

Finally, at 4:50, we headed down to the dining hall, took our seats and dove into a delicious Japanese-styled feast.  There were so many different dishes, including yummy sashimi and flame-boiled rice with mushrooms, that at the end of the meal we were all full to bursting.  Unfortunately I forgot my camera when we went downstairs, because the meal really was that huge and gourmet, and even included a couple of slices of boar roast.  Yum, boar meat.

After a huge dinner, it was back upstairs to grab what we needed for the Mini-Live and Talk Event and then back on our buses.  Two of my roommates were on the same bus, so we all went together and settled in with our full stomachs to watch another random 9ki VTR for the hour-long bus ride to the venue.  The talk and Mini-Live were at a small concert hall in Yamanashi, and when I say small I mean it.  Even though I had pulled the 12th row (the entire hall maybe had 20) and was in the last row of the tour group, I still had a great view and with my pen-light in hand and my Fantasy DX t-shirt on I was ready to cheer.

The first half of the event was just the Kyukkies talking about a variety of subjects, including answering how an idol would respond in certain situations.  A comedian acted as the "Heaven's Voice" in order to make sure the girls didn't go too off topic.  It was amusing but a week later not that memorable because everyone was waiting for the live.

And the live did not disappoint.  It was short,　but full of high power songs that highlighted all of the girls strengths.  First was Go Girl, a trying song for even veteran members but all four were able to pull off the dance and song brilliantly.  A great high power number to start off the night.  Next was Mikan, another song that came out way before they joined but captures the spirit of their youth.

After the opening they moved into the solo corner (seems to be a trend that FC tours have solo corners) with Riho picking KoiING (because she didn't get to sing it during the summer), Fuku-chan picked Tokutouseki (a Gomaki song that while at first I couldn't place, by the chorus I was humming along to it.  A great song to highlight Fuku-chan's strong voice), Zukki (Yeah! Meccha Holiday. A perfect choice for Zukki.  Keeps with her fun-loving nature, as well as highlights her deeper-toned voice.  Plus she just exudes the young genki idol vibe) and finally Eripon with Koi no Boogie Train (a great song, though again a fast number which just like Hawaii Eripon had a little trouble keeping up with.  However, this time she didn't lose her breath at all and was able to perform the whole song and dance without missing a beat.  Still, Eripon... you don't need to push yourself, those are hard songs to sing solo).  

After the solos it was again back to high powered group numbers, starting with Ikimasshoi.  As one of my favorite Musume songs it was great to see performed, even if having only four members made it seem slightly lacking.  The girls are all high-energy though so were able to pull it off well.  Tired me out with how much I jumped and flailed with love during the verses.  And next came the song we had all been waiting for (when hearing they were going to perform a song by that legendary 4-person group, well what else do you think came to mind?) Melon Kinenbi's "This is Unmei"  Sure the girls are too young to understand the lyrics (just like Smileage) but still this is a song you cannot lose with.  It is high energy, the girls did the opening head turning completely in sync and the power and energy it unleashed upon the audience was unbelievable.  It.. it really made me miss Melon.  (Poor Sexy Saitou)  Still, I had been secretly hoping this was the song they were referring to and was not disappointed in the least.  If anything, the only strange part was not having the stage go red when they said "Is this hell?" like it does for any performance of this song in an actual fully-staged concert.  And once again I felt that This is Unmei is not a song you can listen to on CD after hearing it live several times.  It just isn't the same without the wota-calls.  And I was shouting just as loud as everyone else there.

Lastly they performed Maji Desu Ka, an expected choice to show off how much they have grown since it was first recorded several months ago.  They left the stage, and we all thought it was over, but then they showed the previews for the Sharehouse movie.  (Which no I didn't go see... it just really didn't seem that interesting, though after seeing a longer preview it does seem like something nice to sit at home on the couch and watch, just not something to pay to see in theaters.  Plus the 9kis only have a small part in it, and it has D-boys x_x)  And suddenly... the girls were back on stage doing a comedy skit with the title of... wait for it... Ramen Ranger!  And yes, three out of four of them were rangers, with Zukki playing the ramen customer who is angry and surprised at the ridiculous-ness she is subjected to.  Finally after a hilarious skit they did one more section where they had the girls do rock-paper-scissors with the audience, I lasted three times before having to sit down.  The last few people (as long as it was under 10) got bags that had the strange hippo drawings printed onto them (hippo drawings that were showcased during one of the many in-bus VTRs.

The Ramenja- segment reminded me that they also did two short comedy routines before the live began, split into pairs.  Both were very funny, with the one highlighting Fuku-chan's sheltered home life and acting as if she is a princess with several servants and it had everyone rolling with laughter.  Course her partner was Zukki, who of course is brilliant at tsukkomi.  Ikuta and Riho did a doctor's appointment setting where Eripon was the ditzy and overreacting doctor.  Very amusing, all four girls have gotten quite good at acting.  Another corner of the night was a gesture game corner, some of the questions were really hard and you felt bad for the girls getting them but ah well was amusing for the audience ^^  Tokyo Sky Tree included Eripon jumping higher and higher to show that it was taller than Tokyo Tower.

At the end of the night we were given out the cap and badges below.  And... I feel so bad.  I thought the lady who handed me the cap looked familiar... it was Inaba Atsuko!!! But... but then I saw on her twitter that she was on the 9ki tour and totally didn't realize it was her and wondered if she was ever going to appear and do anything and she didn't and... and I had my chance to say hi and I didn't.  Granted her appearing was the worst timing ever, coming off of the high of being sent off with a wave and a smile by the 9ki members in pajamas made it very hard to really focus on what was going on as I was handed the cap.  Gomen ne.... and I really liked T&C  Bomber too.  Maybe Atsuko just isn't recognizable without her afro ^^

Sunday, November 6

With breakfast starting at 6:45 and the bus leaving at 7:50, it was an early morning.  Felt even earlier for me because I had some weird stomach problem that made me have cold chills and keep waking up the night before.  Really sucked because the night before I had gone to the public bath in the hotel with two of my roommates and had such a good time chatting with them in the outdoor bath.  I rarely get to use public baths because I have a tattoo on my stomach, and as you might know, apparently everyone who has a tattoo is a Yakuza.  My roommates told me to try coming in anyways and when I looked after we got it, it seemed like the rules for the bath at this hotel didn't mention anything about tattoos, so I felt very lucky and relaxed.  And then my stomach bothered me.  I was probably over tired from a long, eventful day.  Ah well, a new day had begun.

 

 Breakfast was delicious, I really love Japanese-style dishes but they are too much work to make at home.  The only thing I didn't touch was the natto packet, I can eat it but I really don't like it enough to want to eat it.

After returning to our rooms and getting all of our belongings ready, we were back on the bus and headed off to what was called the Morning Event.  Well, it wasn't really an event.  It was more like we were lined up in the order we would be taking the group pictures in, put into a very tiny room, and then the girls were on a platform at the front of the room.  Except it was so crowded that anyone off to the side couldn't see at all, even after asking the staff to make people in the front sit down, and all it really was was morning greetings from the girls.  The school style greetings were nice, but it really wasn't a good event unless you were in the front and center I think.

Afterwards we were led in our lines to another room in the hotel we had been brought to and they proceeded to take the group pictures.  This time, 10 of us were sitting in front of the Kyukkies standing behind us.  And they were dressed in sports tracksuits, wearing different colors for their grade.  A cute idea, but kind of plain and unfitting for an idol to be wandering around in all day.

Photos finished, we headed out to the bus once again, this time for just a short trip to another location where we would be making the traditional miso soup that had been advertised in our pamphlets.  There were two groups, the noodles and the soup.  I was in the noodles group so I headed to the gymnasium and took a seat at my designated place.  This was to be my first time making pasta from scratch

I am wearing the apron and head cloth that were sold as goods the day before.  They actually ended up selling out of them quite quickly I heard.  Apparently the staff didn't take into account the fact that they announced on the website that the apron was a must have item during the tour and that that would mean that almost everyone would want to buy one.  As for the rest of my outfit, don't be fooled by the purple, I am a Zukki fan.  I just happened to have a purple sweater and dress, and my luggage is purple.  So everyone was teasing me about how my mind was telling me I am an Eripon fan, but no I swear Zukki is my oshi.

After a short wait, in came Zukki and Riho to make noodles with us.  Or rather, altogether we watched the workers from the hotel show us how to make the noodles (or rather everyone tried to look up towards the Year 1 pair instead of watch what was going on) and then Riho and Zukki stayed up on their platform at the front (I was the second row of mats back) and we all set to work on the noodles.  The one girl in our group didn't really help much, but the other four of us worked hard on the noodles, looking up at the girls when we traded off duties.  We figured that we had been told that the quickest ones to finish would be able to go over to where the soup was being made and see the girls more there.  So we put our hearts into finishing our noodles, and after stepping on them and endlessly rolling them out like was required, we were finished.  Usually during FC tours, the girls will come and walk around the room at events like this.  They will make comments and perhaps even directly help you out, yet this time they never left their platform.  It was really disappointing, but was a theme throughout the whole tour, that the staff apparently did not think the four Kyukkies were ready to interact with the fans on their own.  *Sigh*  The cutest point during Riho/Zukki  making noodles was when Zukki held Riho on her back and danced around on the dough, damn is that girl strong.

Noodles finished, we headed over to the cafeteria (or rather a tent set up as a cafeteria outside) and took our places at the designated table (half the group had been noodles, half soup) my table being 3 tables back from where the girls were cooking but at least in the center.  Unfortunately the front two tables kept standing up and getting in the way so it was at times hard to see Eripon and Fuku-chan continue to cut up vegetables.  I wonder if this was their second time, as all the fans had already finished making the soup, so it seems like if they were still working through cutting their first time, then they were really slow.  We learned something, do not let Eripon cook.  She is really not good at it.  After tasting and cooking for a while longer, all of our noodles had finally cooked through and the miso soup had been served up.  As if we were in a school, together we all said "Itadakimasu" and dove in.

 

Very good lunch, yet the girls left us too soon and we finished off on our own.   Afterward, there was a rush to the bathroom.  Before going, I stopped to snap a picture of the board the girls had drawn to announce that days event.

And once again a 30 minute or so bus ride, and one stop at an ice cave for 20 minutes to kill time, we were parked at a shopping center outside of the small hall the last event was to be held out.  The inside of the hall was set up just like a school auditorium, with various posters of rules and class schedules for the "School" we were at posted around the room.  Our pieces of calligraphy, as well as the girls' were also hung up.

The set up, the idea, everything about the posters was nice.  I was sleepy, so I took my seat quickly (third row, right) and struggled throughout the event not to fall asleep.  Why, you may ask.  Because I had almost no sleep the night before as mentioned.  But I was determined not to fall asleep.  It was really hard though, as to be honest, the event was quite disappointing.  Past Fan Meetings I have been to have always involved a lot more interaction (games and questions in Hawaii with Musume, a cooperative relay game with Smileage) and this one had well none.  Oh sure they started off with really cute and hilarious excuses as to why they were late to "school" and that had everyone laughing.  Then they had us do formal greetings, because Fuku-chan was the Class President.  Then the sports leader (eripon) led us in simple morning exercises that were amusing because Eripon didn't seem to be quite sure of what she was doing beforehand so there was a bit of confusing when she tried to get us to do this weird pose representing the 9ki mascot (see the pamphlet below) but she didn't really have a clear image in her mind of what she wanted to do.  That was funny.  Zukki had already fulfilled her role as Lunch Girl and Riho had already been cameraman when we were eating the soup.

After the opening talk though, I was really struggling to keep my eyes open.  So when they did the question box, I eagerly listened for my question to be asked, but it wasn't.  And then after that, to be honest I wonder if I did actually sleep for part of the event, because while I remember them talking a bit more, it seemed like it was suddenly over.  I feel really bad x_x  I didn't want to sleep, and I wouldn't have if I hadn't been sick and unable to sleep the night before.  But I also feel like just having to sit for the hour did me in.  If it had been more interactive, or active like the warmups, then it wouldn't have allowed me to sleep.  I am sad that I missed seeing all I could of my Zukki and hope that they didn't notice me nodding off x_x I would feel really bad if they did.  Apparently I wasn't the only one, as I overheard other guys talking after, saying they had nodded off a bit, but they were tired from staying up drinking all night, I wasn't!  My body just hated me x_x.

Ah well, nothing I could do.  After the meeting was the much awaited handshake.  They started from the back, so i was almost last and was getting more and more nervous by the second.  I knew what I wanted to say to Zukki and that's what counts.  This is how our conversation went,and since she was first in line I was able to say all I wanted to.

Z: Thank you very much.
A: It was a lot of fun!
Z: Thank you so much for coming again!  (could it be, she remembers me from Hawaii)
A: NO problem, the soup was good wasn't it?
Z: Yeah, it was so delicious.
A: Hope to see you again soon.
Z: I'll be waiting

and then I was asked to move on.  To Riho, I mentioned how amusing I had found their skit the night before and wished her good luck.  To Eripon I mentioned how much she had matured and congratulated her on doing so well on OhaStar, wishing her luck.  To Fuku-chan (who still has the grip of death though it has loosened a little) I told her to keep doing her best and that she was always so down to earth.  She seemed really happy to see me again and I once again commented that her singing was great and I hoped she would continue to do her best with the 10th gen.

And then it was over.  It was a relatively slow handshake, not to the level of Hawaii (where you ran out of things to say) but to the point where you could really make contact with the girls, and Zukki's smile is such an amazing thing that it made me forget at once how sleepy I had been only moments before and I left the hall on a high.

Back on the bus, we were all waiting with the windows open, knowing that there would be a sendoff.  However, after driving a minute we were told to close the windows because yes there would be a sendoff like there always was but it was a bit further on and the bus was wasting heat.  A ten minute drive later, we pulled into the parking lot of Fuji Q Highland (I want to ride the new coaster so bad!) and proceeded to do a slow drive past the girls, able to open the window and wave down at them (they were right next to the bus) then to drive past once again with the girls standing on the other side of the bus.  And then we were off, headed on back roads (the highways were backed up) on the road back to Tokyo.

Two days went by so fast.  And while there were a lot of disappointments, the girls themselves did not disappoint in the least.  They have really grown up, all four of them, in the past few months.  It is hard to picture those four standing on the stage nervously at Nakano in January as being the same girls.  They have both matured and filled out into four girls with differing personalities who are able to hold their own in conversation.  I am sure they will continue to grow and change as sempai to the 10th gen members.  And even if she may be a little chubby I want my Zukki to continue to eat her fill and enjoy what she loves.  (It certainly was amusing to see her gobble down more soup when they were told they had to move on to the next area to get ready for the last event.)

I leave you with photos of all the pictures of the hand written tour pamphlet we were given at the start of the tour.

Morning Musume Fan Club Tour in Hawaii 2011 ~2 Memorable Days~

To Hawaii, Let's go!

Due to needing to minimize my time taken off from work, I chose the shortest course: B.  So this meant that I left Tokyo at night on the 21st, then left Honolulu on Sunday the 24th to arrive back in Tokyo on the afternoon of the 25th.  The time difference between Japan and Hawaii is crazy, 19 hours!!!  So essentially you can just think of yourself as being five hours ahead of Japan, a day behind.  This meant that everyone on the tour relived a day since most flights left in the evening from Tokyo.  (Tokyo being a relative term as anyone who has visited Japan knows that Narita airport is nowhere near the city.)

But, I digress.  So first thing I do when it starts to approach meetup time at the airport is spot three very obvious wota, one of whom is a foreigner I have seen at several events but never said hi to. So we start talking, and they mention something about Reina losing her passport.  This gets confirmed when I go to check in at the group flights desk.  They inform us that Reina has indeed lost her passport, and although they will be issuing a new one by the next afternoon, they cannot guarantee she can get the US security clearance (ESTA) that is required in such a short time.  So they can't guarantee that Reina will be participating in the tour, blah blah blah.  They do offer a full refund even on the day, but Reina or no Reina I was going to Hawaii dammit!!!  So, I check in, hand over my bag and receive these:

 

my pamphlet and badge!  Seeing just these got me pumped, the first time I would have a FC tour ID.  To top it off, my ID included a name that when written in its original roman letters is unable to be read by most Japanese staff so therefor had the staff knowing my first name very quickly and those that didn't just politely waving me over for things and saying "Sorry, I couldn't read your name."  It was quite amusing.  

       Normal airport boarding procedures ensue and at 10pm, we are off into the sky heading out across the pacific.  Dinner was served early on the flight because turbulence was expected due to the typhoon we'd be flying over, but it didn't actually turn out to be that bad.  We arrived in Honolulu about 20 minutes early, I had the advantage of being able to hit up the short citizens line,and then we were all gathered together and assigned to our buses.  Below you can see a map of Hawaii; we waited in front of it for our names to be called.

After a buffet lunch at a Japanese style restaurant (seriously Hawaii is more Japan than America) we were taken to our respective hotels and left on our own for the rest of the day.  I chose to wander around shopping, then passed out early from my very long double day.



Friday, July 22nd - Tour Day 1

 No clue how to turn the orientation of the picture once it is embedded, there is me looking weird  before the first event.

 On the morning of the first day I finished all nine of my letters.  Yes, I wrote something to each member, most being very very short because I just didn't have the time to think more out.

     So now for a write up of Day 1's events.  Early Friday morning (7:50 am meetup time, ugh)  we were hustled onto our buses and over to the Honolulu Convention Center for the opening event.  Got seated and finally the members came out... no Reina.  But, they smiled and announced that Reina's plane had just touched down so she would be joining us from the afternoon events.  Big cheers went up but then we got the strangest news of all time, the news about just what the morning's event would be.  

Wait for it... Factory Tours!!!  And a big EHHHHH from the crowd later, Risa chided us for not being more open to new experiences.  Most of the audience's reaction was "What new experience?  You brought us all the way to Hawaii and instead of beach volleyball or hiking like in the past we are going to visit factories?"

Well, the 9th gen each gave a description of the factories we would be visiting and then headed out the back while the fans were ushered out into buses.  And off we went.

Stop Number One ~  Aloha Tofu

A family run, small tofu factory about 20 minutes outside the heart of Waikiki.   Since the factory was so small, each bus was split into two groups, and we were the second (6 buses, split into three touring groups) at the factory so we had to wait.  While waiting we were encouraged to shop at the goods table (Tofu, not Musume) so I got a bilingual cookbook and a t-shirt for the boyfriend.  And then we wered led inside.  Our guides for Stop 1 were Aika, Kanon and Risa.  I managed to stand in the front row, and there was lots of exchange of small comments back and forth.  I got a "Wow" look from all three, and an adorable smile from Kanon, since though I had said at all the handshakes leading up to this tour that I was going... I don't think they believed me.  The 2 feet away from them, can just joke back and forth about normal things atmosphere of this tour was amazing.  We were encouraged on the bus to at least listen to the Factory Guides while they were speaking, and we did, but our eyes and attention was focused completely on the girls.  We were given samples of two kinds of tofu, both of which were amazing.  One was fried tofu with kimchi and the other was dessert tofu that had kiwi and pineapple cooked into it.  Both were great, and on our way out Risa handed us each a cup of soy milk, giving a special "Thank you!" loudly to me.

Who would have thought that sampling tofu could be so exciting ^^  Well, after we went outside, I asked permission to run across to the gas station to get a drink, as I had not thought to bring a bottled drink with me.  And then we were back on the bus headed towards our second stop.

Stop Number Two ~ Menehana Mac Chocolate

     Yep, the picture is of a sign with a fat leprechaunish man.  Apparently short fat men are a sign of luck and happiness in Hawaiin myth.  Here we would be making chocolate with the girls (this stop Riho and Sayumi, with both wearing signs on their hats that said they were in the Sayashi Riho Club... oh Sayumi) While most wota went over to the windows to watch the girls, and other wota, making chocolate, I spent my time at the tasting corner of the shop and got some chocolates to take home.  Then I went back to the other side of the room just in time to be first in line to enter the factory room after the first group came out.
    Again I managed to grab the front spot for the explanation part, both Sayu and Riho looked adorable in their choclatier outfits.  Can't wait to see it on the DVD.  More close banter as we were shown the chocolate making process, then we were led over to our tables to make our own chocolate.  I was unfortunately facing away from where the girls were but turned around as I was mixing to look at them of course <3  After a very brief chocolate making period (mine looked horrible but tasted great), we were ushered back out onto the buses and onto the last stop!

Stop Number Three ~ Lion Coffee

     Mmm I love the smell of coffee.  While we were waiting for out turn to go through the tour we were served free coffee and given time to browse the shop.  As a coffee lover I took advantage of this opportunity and got some Swill Almond Chocolate coffee to take home.  Then it was our turn to head into the factory.  Once again I maneuvered myself to the front for the tour and although while listening the explanation at each station I had to kneel down it was well worth it to see the girls up close and laugh with them.  The girls at this station were　Ai, Erina and Mizuki.  Erina was her usual KY self but seemed to be having a lot of fun, Mizuki was down to earth and showed her maturity and Ai was her usual tongue-biting self.  There was one point in the tour when Ai was asked to do the translation of the guide (only this factory had an English guide, translated by a staff member) and though we are all pretty sure she memorized it, she still did a good job with making it look like she was directly interpreting.
   The tour of the coffee factory was the longest, and the nicest smelling, and so when we were finally ushered out (waving) away from the girls, all of us were more than ready to eat.  And so we were bussed over to the Alomohana (sp?) Shopping center, the largest mall in Hawaii, and left there for.... THREE HOURS!!! until they were to come pick us up for the afternoon events.  OK, kind of a long time but it is a huge mall and for me an American felt kind of nostalgic and fun to wander.  Too bad that the first day I hadn't really made any close wota friends to wander with so just ate in the foodcourt alone (Sbarro's stromboli, yum) and then went shopping.  This is where a lot of my money went, had to get some clothes and used Wii games!

The afternoon meetup time came, and then instead of a bus we were told we would be walking to the convention center.  And walk we did for 15 minutes.  Seriously, buses people, we paid for them.  But it was well worth it, as when we arrived at the convention center and were lined up in lines of 10 for the group shots we heard excited cheers coming from upstairs.  That could only mean one thing, Tanaka Reina had arrived!

When our bus got its turn to go upstairs, we saw that our predictions were true.  Reina walked over to each group of ten and personally apologized for the inconvenience (according to one wota's blog the staff said she had indeed found her passport so the emergency issuing hadn't been needed after all... phew) and then we were walked over and told to kneel in front of the girls.  I was on the end with Zukki (teehee) and was the one holding the bus placard so I definitely stood out. Also stood out for the fact that whenever a new staff member who didn't know my first name saw my name card for the first time they just said "Sorry, but... um you are next."

Group shots were over in an instant then we were led into the room for the fan meeting.

Fan Meeting
     The fan meetings at any FC event are meant to be a forum for you to really interact with the members.  This is done through quizzes, games, and even making the fans do strange things like 3-legged-races for the girls amusement.  This time was no different.  First they did a corner with questions and requests from the audience, which included things like "Do a sexy pose" and "Decide on the date when I will file my marriage registration" and "Show us your image of Hawaii using just your body."  There was also an incident where Sayumi was asked to do her pantomine escalator out where the audience could see how it was done and as she was going back up she stepped on her dress and almost flashed the audience, had the rest of the girls not crowded in as Sayumi covered herself and ran to crouch behind the podium screeching.  Many fans wondered if it wasn't a call for attention, as she had carefully looked and pulled her dress back only moments before. 
     Continuing on they had a team quiz section where the members were put in charge of sections of the audience and had to pick people from the audience that they thought fit certain categories to bring up on stage.  This included; people whose ages add up to 100, people who can perfectly dance Maji, people who can do hula hoop, and people who could run a 3-legged race the fastest.  I unfortunately wasn't picked for anything I tried to get picked for (can't hula hoop or dance so didn't even try to get their attention) but my team ended up having the most points so Sayumi and Eripon went around putting leis on our heads.  Sayu put mine on, and I wore it the next day to the concert and photoshoot.
   Another section of the meeting included the members wandering around the room to play the popping head out of a barrel game or do a talk section with each of the fans.  At first the girls weren't very good at making what is a quite one-sided game fun but after the first time the groups seem to get the hand of it.  Zukki, Aika and Ai were the greatest though.  Ai pushed Aika as she quickly handed out the plastic swords to shove in the barrel one at a time, Zukki collected them.  Zukki did bug impressions along with the fan who made the ball pop out of the top of the barrel as a punishment game.  It was just a great combination and so fun even to watch.  Overall the fan meeting was a lot of fun.


Saturday, July 23rd - Tour Day 2
     Every year, Day 2 consists of the same events; the photo with the members and the concert.
So I dolled myself up cute for the picture and headed out at our assigned meeting time with the rest of the wotas from my hotel (many of whom I had befriended the afternoon before).  I (and others) assumed there would be a bus to the photo location, so I wore very uncomfortable heel sandals that matched my dress.  I am not girly at all but decided that I might as well step out of my element while in Hawaii.  Bad idea.  We walked for about 10 minutes to get to this very fancy hotel, where we were lined up to wait our bus' turn for pictures. The closer we got to our time, the more nervous I got.  I kept trying out different poses in the reflection of the glass beside us, to the other wotas' amusement, but nothing seemed right.  Finally we were ushered into a  seated waiting room, where the girls directly handed us flyers and explained the procedure.  Then, they headed out one way, and us another into the line for the actual photo.
     The photo was over in an instant, many fans saying it was too quick as usually there is a little more time to atleast say hello and thank the girls for their efforts.  When asked by the staff what pose I wanted, I instinctively said "cat" though I had thought of many others.  As you can see below, not all of the members seem to have understood the idea of cat.
     After the photos, we were walked half-way back to our hotel then left on our own.  The guys at my hotel and I decided to have lunch together there, then hop in the hotel pool for a short swim before heading back upstairs to get prepped for the days main event: the concert!

 Taken from another wota's blog, below is the set list to the concert and comments.
1 夏LOVEロマンス Natsu Love Romance
I was completely unfamiliar with this song before the concert, though the melody and feel of it were a great fit for Hawaii.  Apparently it was an original song on Pucchi Best 4. 
 
2 真夏の光線 Manatsu no Kousen
A really old song that I definitely wasn't expecting the current line up to sing, though since the MV was filmed in Hawaii (ages ago) I guess it fits.  A perfect song for Hawaii and one of my favorites from the archives. 
 
3 すき焼き Sukiyaki 鈴木
When asked why she chose this song, Kanon responded easily that she was drawn to it because it has to do with food.  Laughter from the audience only made her smile more.  She sang this in a very nasally voice, and did her best to put in the accent that the original was sung in.  Since joining her voice has gotten much stronger and the fun she had while singing it made up for the few times she went off key.  A great fun choice for Zukki.

4 グルグルJUMP  Guru Guru Jump 生田
Bad choice Ikuta, very bad choice.  The song itself is great, and her reasons for choosing it (the crowd loves it, it's upbeat, etc.) were good ones but for off-pitch Ikuta it was a bit above her level.  The speed and energy required for this song are difficult for even the best to pull off though she gave her best.

5 シャニムニパラダイス Shanimuni Paradise 新垣
A great choice for the next leader.  It's a crowd favorite to sing and dance along to, as well as a fitting song for Hawaii.  I love upbeat songs and this one is no different.  Feels a little strange to hear it sung by only one person, but was done well.

6 晴れ雨のちスキ Hare ame nochi suki 譜久村
Mizuki has an amazing voice.  The girl may have the least personality of all the 9th Gen but her voice is top level.  I really hope she is pushed more in the future as her vocals will definitely be necessary after she leaves.  Part of why she chose this song was because she loved when Eri sang it and practiced for hours herself to be able to do it justice.  Great job Fuku-chan.

7 弱虫 Yowamushi 道重
Well Sayumi, when you put your mind on it you can stay on key for a whole song.  I was actually quite impressed as when she started singing this song I inwardly cringed even though she was on the original recording of it.  I am not a big fan of ballads but this is one that I always enjoy hearing, it is very moving and a good change of pace.


8 常夏娘 Tokonatsu Musume 光井
Aika  performed the concert seated as well, but she put out so much energy that I was moved by how much effort she was making to make sure everyone enjoyed the tour.  I was also impressed that she was the only member to choose a non Musume song, and a Coconuts Musume one at that.  I love this song and since it was originally sung by girls from Hawaii, it fits.  I immediately thought of how I had been talking to Lehua recently and smiled.  Good choice Aika, and she even filled the middle part with talking in her motherly tone of how we needed to be careful in the sun and all that.


9 シャボン玉  Shabondama 鞘師
Poor Riho and her old-lady back pain.  She leaned on a chair for her solo and stood still the rest of the concert, but she did her best.  And her choice of song was great, if only to hear the Riho chants.  She has quite a powerful voice so even without dancing she was able to do a great job on this song, I recommend giving it a listen if you can find the concert recording.

10 チュッ夏パーティー Chu Natsu Party 田中
I LOVE this song... but I don't know if it suits Reina all that well.  She said that it was the first thing she thought of when she thought of summer, but I just don't know if it fits her personality the best.  She did her best to be cutesy during it though, which for Reina means prancing around and doing lots of skirt flips to the song.  Sorry to tell you though, you might be a little too old to be doing this song Reina but the skirt flips as an apology for coming late are appreciated.

11 壊れない愛が欲しいの Kowarenai Ai ga Hoshii no 高橋
Great choice of song Ai!  Though you skipped out on the rap... probably for the best because you would have stumbled over it.  Still, the random solo dance she through in to replace the rap section was pretty good, looked like it might have been improvised.  I love this song, and Ai's voice fits the melody well. 

12 なんにも言わずにI LOVE YOU  Nanni mo iwazu ni I love you
A bit strange of a choice after the solos, but a note here is that there was a big talk and prize give away section after the solos so this actually turned out to be a good lead in for the last section.  Though I do wonder if the planners weren't just trying to make Ai cry more.  She cries so easily that I wouldn't be surprised.  I do like this song and the line distribution was pretty fair.

13 青春コレクション Seishun Collection
I was not a fan when this song first came out, but after hearing it performed several times it grew on me.  It's a really generic idol song but works well with a bunch of members of different vocal levels.  The dance is also quite simple and fun to do along with the members, and the Hawaii atmosphere felt great.

14 まじですかスカ Majisuka ska
I would say that this song was pretty much expected, since this was 9th gen's first Hawaii tour.  I love this song and although it sucked that two of the members couldn't dance fully to it, I think the audience doing most of the dance perfectly made up for that.  I love the cheers and this song is A+.  Surprising that they didn't also do Only You, but also a nice change as I have heard too much of that song lately.

15 でっかい宇宙に愛がある Dekkai Uchuu ni Ai ga Aru
My favorite song to dance along to.  The dance is so simple that even I can follow along with it.  I like that.  Good ending song choice.  Brought the audience together in one final sing-along.

After the girls exited the stage, we only had to wait about five minutes before the girls were walked over and lined up ready for handshakes.  I had heard that the handshakes in Hawaii were super slow paced so I was incredibly nervous.  I mean, I have no problem talking to them at handshakes, but usually it is nothing more than a blurted out comment about how much fun I had.  As the line started moving from the back where I was, I saw just how slow the movement was.  But I knew I had to make the most of it.

When I finally got up to the table, Aika was first and I told her how moved I was at how much effort she was putting into this tour even though she must still be in pain.  She's such a sweetie.  I don't remember everything I said but I do remember commenting to Sayu how great her singing sounded that day, to Eripon how cute her dancing has gotten, to Fuku-chan how great her singing is and just chatting about general things with Ai and Risa.  Fuku-chan seemed almost desperate for fans as instead of handshake she was giving a death grip to everyone's wrists, which surprised me at first.  All the girls were really kind and it was nice to be able to exchange a few words back and forth about general things, including telling Reina that I was glad she could make it.  The handshake was in fact so slow that you actually ran out of things and had to quickly throw something into the mix so you didn't have awkward silence while holding onto a member's hand.  It was so amazing.  I wish all handshakes were this slow but then realize that at a general release event that would mean the handshake would take days.


 Before boarding the bus we were given the photo holder below and a set of 9 VERY old pictures of the members, taken very obviously right after the 9th gen had joined based on their facial expressions and hairstyles.  In fact Riho's outfit looks like the one she wore in some of the Morning Labo 2 shots.  So yeah, UFA is lazy.  But I was on such a high from the handshake that I didn't care.  The wota and I agreed to meet up to go out to dinner but we had to wait for another friend who was further back in the handshake line so probably on another bus. I called down to the hotel room then went and hung out with them until we were all gathered together, then we went to a very delicious buffet to celebrate the finishing of the tour.

 After the concert the day before we were given a memories book with 9 pre-taken (and by pre I mean obviously about 6 months ago) photos.

 The next morning we received our 10-shot photo back.  Riho looked quite frightening in most of hers, and not happy at all.

And the group photo we had taken on the first day.  (Once again, no clue how to change the orientation)

Overall impressions of the tour

The tour itself was great.  I have no complaints about how closely I was able to interact with the girls and love all the new friends I made.  I loved going to Hawaii and would spend the money again in a heartbeat.  The Hawaii tour used to have over 1000 people go, now it was limited to 200.  I think this is a good number.  It allows for a lot closer interaction and allows the fans to form a bond over the weekend.  While it might have been great in the past that so many people would spend a month's salary to go to Hawaii for only 2 days of events, I don't know if it would have been worth it.  Now, I definitely feel like I got my money's worth.  It was over in a moment, but the moment I had was spectacular.  I definitely plan to go again... well as long as they don't do it next year too.  I don't think I can afford it two years in a row x_x.

Complaints, yeah I have several.  I was very detailed in the survey they had us fill out and hand in on the last day before we left.  The choice of factory tours for one, the way it seemed like the buses were separated by hotel class from highest to lowest and the lowest always did things last (not usually a bad thing though).  The fact that there was no time to pause and say a real thank you after the 10shot.  Just things in general that could have made it more worth the money.  I figure that unless people give specifics of what they had problems with they won't know what to change for the next time.  And it was very obvious that UFA was trying to save money this time.  I mean I know they lost lots of money by canceling the cute Hawaii tour after the earthquake (why they canceled the Hawaii tour I have no clue as that was a big loss to them I am sure) and all the ticket refunds they had to issue... but the quality of the tour still matters.  Factory tours etc were made great because of the girls, and they were a lot of fun.  So I would like to say a big thank you to Morning Musume for giving us fans such a memorable experience.

Hmm now what will my next big adventure I wonder...
 

Only You Special Release Event in Odaiba 6/19

Today the boyfriend I headed out to Odaiba (a place most famous for the giant Gundam that was positioned there all of two summers ago but is actually most well known here as the number one date spot).  As announced earlier this week, Morning Musume was holding a release mini live and handshake for their 46th single "Only You".  This type of release event is different from those that you must apply for using the tickets found in first press CDs (and the events must be applied for with a Japanese cell phone, excluding all Smart Phones except the iPhone at the moment).  This was an event where if you came and bought the CD you could do a handshake after the mini live.  And if you got there really early and got one of the lowest numbers you had a special ticket that allowed you into the premium viewing area. 

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

Renai was the one song where when you saw people walking by on the upper floors you could tell most responded to the song since it is a classic.  It was an interesting but very well chosen set list.  All of them performed well from what I could see and they finished off after a bit of talking about the new single with the full version.

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. ^^