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Iwasa Misaki (Wasamin) / 7th Generation

Discussion in 'AKB48 Graduated Members' started by haruna_hamasaki, Sep 2, 2009.

  1. Cristafari

    Cristafari Stage48 Admin Staff Member Stage48 Admin

    Joined:
    Sep 10, 2008
    Location:
    Saitama, Japan
    Oshimen:
    Iwasa Misaki
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    Cristafari
    Iwasa Misaki in "Tokyo Soba-ya Ninjou Monogatari" Live at Meiji-za, Tokyo (2019/03/10)
    (Starring Mizumori Kaori, Iwasa Misaki, Shiina Sachiko, Hayabusa)

    meiji11.jpg

    The Promotional Poster

    Wasamin is developing quite the acting resume. This is the third year in a row that she has performed in a Meiji Theater play. The first two were part of the Umezawa Tomio performing troupe where she acted alongside noted enka artists Tegawa Toshimi and Ken Naoko. This time she would be acting alongside her main senpai Mizumori Kaori, who Wasamin has developed quite the friendship with over the years due to both of them being part of the Nagara Pro enka stable. Not to mention Wasamin acts as Kaori's sidekick on her monthly travel show Mizumori Kaori no Sagase! ~Zenkoku Uta Jimon~

    meiji12.jpg


    The play runs from this past weekend through next weekend, and then will be performed for two weeks in May, in Nagoya and at Shin-Meiji-za in Osaka. So Wasamin is going to be quite busy acting in the coming months, and she has a couple of big Nagara Pro ensemble concerts coming in April. Anyway...

    meiji1.jpg
    Let you Wasaflag fly!!!

    I waited a bit before pre-ordering any tickets since they originally went on sale right around the time I was paying for a bunch of other Wasamin events, and I was feeling a bit overwhelmed at the time. It wasn't until around a month ago I finally pulled the trigger, deciding on the matinee performance on the 2nd day. The thing about Meiji-za is that the tickets are rather expensive, unless you want to sit in the top balcony, where they are like 1/3 the price. Luckily, I got a ticket close to the center, in the second row (There are only two rows up there, lol) Last month Wasamin asked me which show I was coming to, and I told her "The 10th," but I forgot to mention the matinee. So I was sure to tweet at her when I arrived, so hopefully she would know I was in the audience. Since I arrived around 10-minutes before curtain, I didn't have time to check out the shopping booths. I went directly to the top floor and found my seat. There was a cluster of Wasamin fans in the first row of the balcony, and another group on the far left side.

    meiji8.jpg
    My view

    The Show

    The entire program was around 3 1/2 hours, with a 40-minute intermission sandwiched in the middle. Part one was the aforementioned play, which was a screwball comedy set in 1964 in the months leading up to the Tokyo Olympics. Kaotan (Mizumori Kaori) has returned to her hometown to take over the Soba shop once run by her now-deceased parents. Working with her are her two bratty younger sisters, played by Wasamin and fellow Enka singer Shiina Sachiko. At first she is horrible at making Soba, but with the assistance of some local friends she improves. Meanwhile, they have to overcome various adversities, including someone trying to take away the shop.

    meiji10.jpg
    Cute!

    Wasamin, despite being 24, pulls off "high school girl" quite well. I'm not sure how old Sachiko's character (the middle sister) was supposed to be, but she is 36 in real life, so... Ultimately, the story was relatively easy to follow, despite me not getting some of the plot subtleties, and I am not a huge fan of Japanese comedy, so some of the physical comedy fell kinda flat for me. On the other hand, it was a joy to watch Wasamin perform, and I was glued to her every action on stage. Her reactions were great. Moreover, the cast has a lot of veteran actors in it, so the performances were all very good. I should also note that both Yamato and Hikaru from Hayabusa were in the show too, so there were four people I have met in the cast. The play itself was around 80-minutes, then came intermission...

    The Intermission

    meiji6.jpg


    There are two restaurants in Meiji-za, the most popular being a prepaid lunch you had to buy with your ticket, or by being a "member" of the theater. There is also a less formal cafe down on the second floor. I instead decided to visit the "goods" area. I say goods, but there is a lot more going on there. In addition to souvenirs, there are scores of senbei, mochi, sweets, and other fruits and veggies. The theme of the goods area is Historic Tokyo, as if you have been transported to 100 years ago. Most everyone is wearing a Yukata, and they are not shy about trying to bring you over to their booth to try the goodies they are selling. Nagara Pro also had a large booth selling goods for Wasamin, Kaotan, and Hayabusa.

    meiji4.jpg

    I only saw one new item in the Wasamin section, an oshi-towel, which I picked up. According to Wasamin's blog there were two other items on sale as well, 1-shot chekis and a pin set, but I didn't see them. I would've picked up the pin set had I seen it. However, this time I did pick up a few food items, and tasted a bunch of other stuff too. There was a senbei set with a picture of the cast on it, but it looked kinda plain. I like more adventurous stuff like...

    meiji3.jpg meiji2.jpg

    Ikaemon, which are basically the same as those fresh made crackers you can buy on Enoshima Island in Kanagawa. I also picked up Curry flavored fried beans, and spicy dried green beans. After picking up an overpriced soda (their vending machines are a tremendous rip-off, LOL) I headed back to my seat for part two of the program...

    The Concert

    Kaotan came out in a long, flowing dress, and sang two songs. That's one of the interesting things about Mizumori Kaori; despite being an enka singer, I don't think she ever performs in a kimono. She's always wearing a dress of some sort. It was the same the two times I saw her at a mini-live too. From there Wasamin, Sachiko, and Hayabusa all joined Kaotan on-stage. After talking for a little while, the supporting singers performed a medley. From there each of them sang their latest singles, Wasamin performing Koi no Owari Sangenjaya. Kaotan finished the show with four more songs, including a sing-a-long at the end, which all the singers joined her on-stage for.

    meiji7.jpg

    I did one last once-around in the goods area before finally heading back to the train station and home. However, after I left Wasamin announced that she would be appearing at her goods booth selling CDs. Shit! Had I known I would've stuck around. Not to mention I was at the booth after the show and they didn't mention a thing to me about it. She must've appeared right after I left, too. Oh well, unless I decide to see the show again next weekend, the next time I will see Wasamin is at her cheki event on the 23rd of this month, so I will have to tell her about my experience then.

    meiji9.jpg

    Overall the show was a lot of fun. I enjoyed it a bit more than the Umezawa Tomio performances, but that is mainly because a) Wasamin had a much bigger role in this play, and b) I didn't have to endure an additional hour of dancing. So yeah, maybe I will buy another ticket for this coming weekend. I'll think about it.
     
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  2. Cristafari

    Cristafari Stage48 Admin Staff Member Stage48 Admin

    Joined:
    Sep 10, 2008
    Location:
    Saitama, Japan
    Oshimen:
    Iwasa Misaki
    Twitter:
    Cristafari
    Iwasa Misaki 8th Single 'Chara-Ani' Cheki Event at Nippon Crown/Tokuma Head Office, Gotanda (2019/03/23)

    As is the tradition, the release of Koi no Owari Sangenjaya also included the opportunity to pre-order CDs via chara-ani. And muck like the 48-groups, the chara-ani application included tickets to a 2-shot event at the corporate office of Tokuma, the label Wasamin records for. Although it is billed as a "chara-ani" exclusive event, they have almost always made "on the day" tickets available for anyone who either wanted more tickets, or didn't get tickets via the preorder. This was especially good news for a friend of mine who had flown into town this past week and wanted to see Wasamin. I purchased three tickets via chara-ani (one for each of the three slots) and would buy more at the venue.

    Slot 1

    The office is a bit of a challenge to find if you have never been there before, in a generic-looking office building between Gotanda and Osaki Stations. I arrived at 11:30, just after the beginning of slot one with my special Wasamin present in tow. Oh yeah, since White Day had just occurred I decided to pick up a gift for Wasamin, a bath salt set from Soaptopia.

    ck1.jpg

    Wasamin had made such a big deal about the set I got her for Christmas that I decided to give her another one. After being admitted into the building by the guard I found the CD sales table and confirmed my friend could come, then purchased cds/tickets for him and a couple more for myself. I decided, since I had skipped breakfast that I would stick with one visit in the first slot, then head to lunch since there is a lot of downtime between each section. The queue wasn't too long, so it was just a few minutes before my turn...

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    I presented Wasamin with the gift, and she immediately asked if it was soap. "Oh no!" I thought, since when she told me she liked the first gift I was certain it was the bath salts she liked the best. I told her it was bath salt. Also, at first I didn't understand what she was asking since she was using English, and I thought she was saying some Japanese word I wasn't familiar with. She was saying "soap," but in a really strange way. In any case, I hinted to her that I had a friend coming to see her. She asked if he was next, but I told her he was arriving in Slot 3. Oh, and here is a better shot of what she wore...

    ck6.jpg

    Slot 2

    After spending over an hour at the Excelsior Caffe near Gotanda Station, I headed back for my next two tickets. By the way, there are lots of really cool looking little restaurants between the station and the Tokuma office. I didn't notice it until after I ate, but one of them featured "Wonton Ramen." Damn, I should've tried it. Since I was a little bit early I was toward the front of the line. Wasamin had worn a pretty dress for the first slot, and for this slot she had changed into another dress, with a different hairstyle...

    ck2.jpg

    I asked her if it was a new dress, after nodding she asked if I liked it. I told her I really liked the collar, but I didn't know the word for collar. She responded "The ribbon?" Well yeah, that too, but then I said her collar was like a choker, which I think looks cute.

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    I looped back around for my second cheki, and this time I asked her if it was the soap or bath salts that she liked better from the Christmas gift. She thought about it for a second before saying the salts, which had me totally relieved since I would've bought her soap if I thought she liked them best. Although admittedly she y have been saying that to spare my feelings. I had two tickets for the last slot, and in the meantime I hung out at the local Tully's where I would meet my friend. He arrived right on time at 3 p.m., so we headed back to the event.

    Slot 3

    It was 3:10 when we got back, and they hadn't yet re-opened the offices, so many of the fans were milling around outside. Eventually we were let in and sent up to the 3rd floor. I was very happy to be presenting a friend to her, plus the fact that I gave her a gift. I was a very good Wasa-fan on this day. Nobody was really pre-queing, most of the fans merely wandering around the waiting area where they were playing "Koi no Owari Sangenjaya" on a loop. (In the handshake room they were playing all the different versions of the CD) Wasamin had her hair back down and was wearing a transparent blue dress with a white outfit underneath. She immediately asked me which dress I liked the best. I thought about it for a second, and told her the one she was presently wearing. That's kind of a loaded question, but I had already told her I liked the previous outfit, so it was cool.

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    I was finally going to talk with her a little about the play she was in. I told her it was my favorite of all the plays she had done. She asked why that was, and I explained that it was her biggest part, and it had a lot of talking. I also mentioned that I loved the scene where she was hiding under the blanket and Mizumori Kaori couldn't find her, and that she looked cute in her seifuku. I gave her the heads-up that my friend was next, which would be a nice surprise since she has met him multiple times before, but it had been quite a while...

    ck3.jpg

    We immediately queued up for our final tickets, this time my friend going first. During his turn he was telling her about singing karaoke, and that he was recently singing some of her songs. At one point he was mentioning that something was easy, but he didn't know the word, so I yelled "Kantan!" into the room, which got Sasou-san (Wasamin's assistant, who was taking the chekis) laughing for a moment. He was like "Ah, Naruhodou!" When my turn came, I was running out of things to say, so I decided to tell her about what happened to me and my friend in Ueno the day before. We were walking outside the station looking for a pub when we were approached by a TV Asahi camera crew. As expected, they were asking us questions about Japanese cuisine, although I don't think we were their ideal people since I think they were looking for people who say things like "I ate sushi for the first time!" or "Why do you use chopsticks instead of a knife and fork?" They also asked us which restaurants were our favorites. Wasamin asked me what my response was, so I told her that lately I had been eating Mouko Tanmen Nakamoto, which is a pretty famous ramen known for their spicy dishes. Moreover, I told her that last week I had finally tried their hottest dish on the menu.

    ck5.jpg

    After Wasamin, Ichikawa-san, and Sasou all gasped ("Ehhh?"), Wasamin asked what I thought (It was too spicy!) and confirmed "But you like spicy food, right?" Yes! While I told her the 9-kara ramen at Mouko Tanmen is much too hot for me, I can eat the 8-kara with no problem. Not to mention I go to Akakara Nabe (another known spicy restaurant chain) all the time. She asked my which spice level I get at Akakara. When I replied "5-ban" Wasamin excitedly said that's the same spice level she gets at Akakara. Hmm, just more evidence that we are soulmates, I guess.

    Wasamin doesn't have much local stuff on her schedule right now, I lot of stuff out of town. So I hope she has some new events added to her schedule soon. I get lonely when I don't see her for a while.
     
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  3. David61

    David61 Under Girls Stage48 Donor

    Joined:
    May 17, 2015
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    Reading, England
    Oshimen:
    Komiyama Haruka
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    This English-language article published yesterday by the Japan Times about 'lesser-known idol pop players' includes Wasamin (and Minyo Girls):
    https://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2019/04/04/music/look-japans-lesser-known-idol-pop-players/
     
  4. Cristafari

    Cristafari Stage48 Admin Staff Member Stage48 Admin

    Joined:
    Sep 10, 2008
    Location:
    Saitama, Japan
    Oshimen:
    Iwasa Misaki
    Twitter:
    Cristafari
    Well gosh, I wonder who could’ve possibly written that article. ;)
     
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  5. Cristafari

    Cristafari Stage48 Admin Staff Member Stage48 Admin

    Joined:
    Sep 10, 2008
    Location:
    Saitama, Japan
    Oshimen:
    Iwasa Misaki
    Twitter:
    Cristafari
    Iwasa Misaki Mini-Live and Handshake Event at Maruhiro Iruma, Saitama Prefecture (2019/04/07)

    wasa3.jpg


    Another day, another ride down the Seibu Ikebukuro Line. Yesterday I took this route out to Met Life Dome to the SKE48 handshake event. It is quite the trek, as I take two trains to get to Ikebukuro, then transfer on to the Seibu Line where it takes me three trains to reach the stadium. This time it only took two trains, despite Iruma being further out. However it doesn't require a transfer off of the main route. In any case, I took off nice and early, reaching Iruma almost an hour before the show. It would be a short walk to the mall...

    wasa6.jpg

    And what a sleepy little town it is. Sitting right next to the Japan Self Defense Force's Iruma Airbase. I was slightly deceived by the presence of a McDonald's inside the ticket gate (I don't recall ever seeing one inside the gates before) a Dotour, and a connecting Prince Pepe mall. But once I got past the station entrance, this town was as quiet as they come. Barely anyone on the streets, not too many cars. It was actually kind of eerie. Eventually I got to the mall, and again...eerily silent. I knew the event was happening on the roof of the mall, so I took the escalators all the way up. I looked for the hall where the event was supposedly taking place, but I couldn't find an open door, or for that matter any evidence of the event actually going on. Eventually I pulled on a seemingly locked door, which opened, and I could hear the faint sound of Koi no Owari Sangenjaya playing nearby. I had found it!

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    They had about 12 rows of seats set up, around 15 seats across. Most of the first 6 rows were taken. However, upon closer look their were various single seats available in every row. I kept moving forward until I found a seemingly empty seat on the far left side of the front row. I asked if it was taken...No? Score-a-rooni! But before that I made my CD purchases, five in total, which would afford me two 2-shots and one regular handshake. It would be 15 minutes before the first event started. Here's the setlist...

    13:00 Setlist
    1. Hatsuzake
    2. Blue Light Yokohama
    3. Anata
    4. Koi no Owari Sangenjaya

    By the way, it was really hot in the hall. People were fanning themselves, toweling themselves off. In fact Wasamin kept complaining about it as well. BTW, Wasamin has done so many of these kinds of events over the years, she couldn't remember if she had ever performed at that mall before. (She hadn't) She also noticed that when she sang Blue Light Yokohama, everyone with a lightstick switched it to blue. So it is her only non-A-side with an official glowstick color. As for promotions, of course she was promoting her single, but she was also promoting the NagaraPro Suginami Ward concert this week, as well as her upcoming appearance on Utacon.

    wasa1.jpg

    I decided to only visit her once in the first live, and I chose the above pose because Wasamin kept making a gesture just like that during the show. She did it like 3-4 times, and she did it again in the second live. Of course I wanted to tell her about the article I wrote for the Japan Times. She asked if I talked about her in it. Of course I did! She wanted to see it, so I told her when I come back for my next 2-shot I would bring a copy. I also spoke briefly with Ichikawa-san, since Wasamin mentioned that she had tickets for the Nagara Group concert for sale. I asked how much they were, and told her I would think about it, and let her know after the second live.

    I had around 90 minutes to kill, so after sitting in a MosBurger for a while nibbling on french fries, I decided to take a walk around the neighborhood to look for a coffee shop, or just someplace to laze around. But all the malls were really strange, and there were no coffee places to be found at all. Then, it unexpectedly started raining. Well at least I was glad I didn't hang any laundry this morning. I made my way back to Maruhiro to wait for the next event. I found an aisle seat in the third row, and spent my time talking to Shim-san while we waited for the event to start. Oh, Shim-san admitted to me that he reads my blog for English practice. Cool!

    15:30 Setlist
    1. Moshimo Watashi ga Sora ni Sundeitara
    2. Ginza Kan Kan Musume
    3. Ohisashiburi ne
    4. Koi no Owari Sangenjaya

    In addition to the promotions, and the fact that it was hot as hell in the venue, Wasamin brought up the film "Tonde Saitama," which is a recent manga-based film which pokes fun at people who live in the surrounding prefectures of Tokyo, like Saitama, and Chiba. The movie happens to star Gackt, and Paruru, among others. Wasamin was pointing out that like Saitama, her home prefecture of Chiba is treated much the same way. Once the live was over I bee-lined it to the handshake queue with my Japan Times copy in hand. I showed the paper to the staff beforehand so they wouldn't worry it was something improper.

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    Wasamin began reading the article, and as I expected started calling out all the other groups I mentioned. Minyo Girls? KissBee??? (Wasamin has this "thing" about me liking KissBee) Festive??? Ahhh, Misaki Iwasa!!! She thanked me for showing it to her, at which point I told her she could keep it. I then decided to pick up the ticket for the Nagara Pro concert, and got the seat right next to Shim-san. For my second ticket I told Wasamin that I am going to be graduating from university very soon, and that next week is my final week of classes, and the following week is exams. She wished me luck on my exams, and kept poking me in the belly during the entire handshake, LOL.

    And with that I took off. I ran into one of the other fans as I was walking out (I always forget his name) But I learned that he is a seiyuu, and is currently doing the voice of Cap'n Turbot for the Japanese dub of Paws Patrol, a Canadian cartoon. He also voiced the Vince Neil character on the Netflix film "The Dirt." Anyway, I thought that was kinda neat.

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    Sakura in full bloom along the side of the tracks!

    I headed back to the station, but I missed the Semi-express train by a minute, and would've had to wait around 15 minutes for the next train. That was unless I decided to catch the limited express, which cost a bit extra, but only has one stop between Irumashi and Ikebukuro. I decided to splurge, and was treated to a luxurious ride back to Central Tokyo. Well, sorta luxurious, the exception being the screaming child in the row across from me. Annoying!
     
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  6. Cristafari

    Cristafari Stage48 Admin Staff Member Stage48 Admin

    Joined:
    Sep 10, 2008
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    Saitama, Japan
    Oshimen:
    Iwasa Misaki
    Twitter:
    Cristafari
    Nagara Group Enka Matsuri at Suginami Kokaido (2019/04/11)

    It's been a hectic week for me, school/work-wise. As a result, I am a bit behind on Wasamin reports...

    wasa14.jpg

    This concert is part of Nagara Group's annual "ward" series where they perform a concert in a different ward in Tokyo every year. Last year I attended the annual concert in Itabashi Ward, which is where I live. You can read about that in the post I made a few pages back. This year I wasn't sure if I wanted to go at all, foregoing the preorder. I mean I wanted to go, but I knew I was going to be really busy this week, and there was the question whether I could even make it on time. However, when Wasamin announced that she was selling last-minute tickets at her mini-live last weekend, I felt I needed to be a good Wasa-soldier and buy one. Not to mention, I would get brownie points by declaring to Misaki-chan "Hey, look what I got!!!"

    It turned out I would be able to make it to the show on-time, but I would be getting there shortly before curtain, and would probably miss out on whatever festivities might be going on in the lobby before the show. I arrived at the hall, and immediately searched for the booth selling Wasamin goods, hoping she might be there. She wasn't, oh well. I went upstairs to my seat meeting my friend Shim-san, who I knew had the seat next to me. He confirmed that Wasamin did indeed work her booth in the lobby, and that I had just missed her. Anyway, we were on the top level of the venue, in the third-to-last row on the right. It wasn't the greatest view, and was in total contrast to the first row seat I scored for the Itabashi show last year.

    wasa12.jpg
    My view from the rafters

    The curtain opened to all the members of the Nagara Group Enka stable standing along stage. Hikawa Kiyoshi, Mizumori Kaori, Yamakawa Yutaka, Tegawa Toshimi, Hayabusa, Tatsumi Yuto, Shiina Sachiko, Fujino Toshie, and of course Wasamin. The show was emceed by Nishiyori Higashi, who also performs at all the Nagara Group member release events, and who I have met multiple times at Wasamin events. He's a fun guy. After an opening group song, each member did an introduction emcee and interview, which took the better part of a half hour. Then came individual performances...

    The theme of the show was to nobody's surprise, "The End of the Heisei Era," and when it was Wasamin's turn she chose to perform her first single, Mujineki. In fact pretty much every performer chose one of their older songs to perform, Hyabusa sang "Kuumo no Dance," which is their only single of I own a copy of. Yuuto-kun sang his debut single, Kaotan singing her single from last year. Of course Hikawa performed his famous "Kiyoshi no Zendoku Bushi." But I was most impressed with Shiina Sachiko's performance. BTW, she was also in the cast of the play Wasamin was in at Meiji-za last month, playing Misaki's older sister. Anyway, Sachiko is an incredible singer. To be honest, I was wondering if Wasamin could sing with that much power, intensity, and masculine energy. I would love to see her try.

    Like last year, where Sasaki Isao was a surprise guest performer, there were two guest stars in this show. The first was Guchi Yuzo, a singer/comedian who opened with a cover of Frankie Valli's "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You." He is known for his comedic performances, and his long interview/MC after the song was filled with jokes and gags which had much of the audience cracking up. On the other hand, I am not big on Japanese comedy as it's a bit too slapstick for my taste. After this a second guest star appeared, Linda Yamamoto, who you might remember as an artist who Wasamin covered at her most recent solo-concert (and at her birthday party) She was also one of the original Kamen Rider Girls. She performed her big hit "Neraiuchi" before doing her own long interview with Higashi-kun.

    wasa10.jpg
    Wasamin with Guchi Yuzo

    BTW, you could tell these MC's were getting really long, because at this point there seemed to be a mass-exodus to the toilet. Between these interviews, and the ensuing promotional emcees by the featured artists afterwards, I must have had to get up to let people pass at least eight times. In fact, I did the math a little later and estimated of the 2 1/2 hour show, close to half of it was emcee and interviews. On the other hand, during Misaki-chan's last emcee she was talking about her upcoming appearances on NHK's Utacon, Nodo Jiman, and her new co-hosting gig on Uta Navi. It prompted the two Kiyoshi fans next to me to exclaim "Wasamin sugoi!"

    wasa11.jpg
    Group shot, with the guest stars


    The final portion of the show featured each singer performing their newest single (Wasamin of course sang "Sangenjaya") and one final group song before the end of the show. the interesting part of the segment is that while each singer performs, they play the music video on the screen above. Before the curtain closed the members wave to each section of the crowd. At one point Wasamin began pointing in my general direction and waving. Could it be that she was waving to me specifically? Or did she merely see the yellow Happi?

    That question, and many others will be answered on the next post.
     
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  7. Cristafari

    Cristafari Stage48 Admin Staff Member Stage48 Admin

    Joined:
    Sep 10, 2008
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    Saitama, Japan
    Oshimen:
    Iwasa Misaki
    Twitter:
    Cristafari
    Iwasa Misaki 8th Single Mini-Live at Your Elm Shopping Park Narita, Chiba Prefecture (2019/04/13)

    wasa15.jpg


    With Wasamin being awfully busy from the end of this month and throughout May, I want to take every opportunity I have to go see her. This past weekend she had two appearances scheduled, one out by Narita Airport and the other in Nagano. Both of them are a bit of a trek, but of the two Narita is a lot more doable as it's merely an hour outside of Central Tokyo on the Keisei Main Line, as opposed to Nagano, which would require a ride on the Shinkansen.

    In the meantime, the Kenkyuusei and Draftees were performing all weekend at the AKB48 Theater. I decided to apply for all four shows, just for the heck of it. After all, I relish any opportunity I can get to play with Ran-chan. (Kobayashi Ran) As luck would have it, I received a cancel machi (waiting list) email for the matinee show on Saturday, which conflicted with Wasamin's Narita event. However, it was a really bad cancel machi number, and I knew I had a very low chance of getting in. Ultimately I decided it was silly to bail on Wasamin for this minuscule chance of seeing a theater show, so on Saturday morning I cancelled my reservation. This was going to be a "Wasamin Day!" Oh, and I checked the cancel machi results for the show, and I wouldn't have gotten in, as expected.

    wasa16.jpg

    I misjudged the time I needed to leave in order to get to Wasamin's event on time, and ended up rushing to get dressed and out the door. As long as I made the 11:30 a.m. train, I could make it to the mall just as the event was starting, assuming the trains were on time. I exited the station right at 1 p.m., and at first couldn't figure out where the mall was, but eventually spotted it. I bee-lined for the front door, and luckily the event was really close to the entrance. In fact, Wasamin was on the first verse of her first song as I got there. Here is the early event setlist...

    1 p.m. Setlist
    1. Saba Kaido
    2. Osaka Rhapsody
    3. Wakare no Youkan
    4. Koi no Owari Sangenjaya

    They had lots of seats set out for the event, and quite a few of them were empty toward the back. However, I decided to stay in the standing area. It wasn't the most crowded mall, but unlike the mall Wasamin performed at in Saitama last weekend, it wasn't dead either. Wasamin always makes note of it being her hometown whenever she performs in Chiba prefecture, and this weekend was busy promoting her upcoming television appearances, including her scheduled appearance on NHK Utacon Tuesday night, where she will be performing with Yamamoto Sayaka, Mizumori Kaori, May J, and ANGERME from Hello!Project, among others. Once the event was done I immediately went over to the CD table, and picked up four CDs, which would be good for a 2-shot in each event. Since I hadn't eaten all day, I decided to queue up quickly so I could go to lunch right after. I was probably around 10th in line or so.

    wasa17.jpg

    After we took the photo, Wasamin excitedly asked "Did you see me waving at you?" I knew exactly what she was talking about (I mentioned it on my previous post) At the end of the Nagara Group Concert in Tokyo on Thursday, I noticed Wasamin gesturing toward me and waving. However, I was up in the top balcony, and was unsure if she knew it was actually me, or if she just assumed it was one of her fans since I was wearing her Happi Coat. However, this answered my question. She knew it was me all along. Anyway, I responded that I thought she knew it was me, and I did notice. I went on to tell her about the Hikawa Kiyoshi fans next to me at that show who were impressed with all the things Wasamin is currently up to, exclaiming "Wasamin sugoi!" during her MC. She got really excited when I told her about that too; "HONTOU!!

    From there I immediately took off for the Mall food court, and settled on Omurice for lunch since I was really hungry, and figured it would be filling. After that I picked up a few groceries from the market, and then relaxed while I waited for the 2nd show. I initially grabbed a 2nd row seat, but got tired of just sitting there, coming back a little while later and grabbing a third row seat.

    3:30 p.m. Setlist
    1. Mujineki
    2. Gakusei Jidai
    3. Ohisashiburi ne
    4. Koi no Owari Sangenjaya

    Wasamin did pretty much the same promotions she did in the first show; her television appearances, and of course her CDs and DVDs, which always seem like a bit of a tough sell with all the obaasans and ojiisans that come to her events, although once in a while a few of them will pickup a CD, or a DVD, which is nice. When the performance ended I immediately dashed toward the queue since I wanted to do my 2-shot as quickly as possible, and make the next train back to Tokyo. It was only a few minutes before my turn came...

    wasa18.jpg

    Since she had been promoting her NHK appearance on Tuesday, I figured I would let her know that last week I had managed to obtain a ticket for the show, so instead of watching it on TV I would be seeing it live. I'm not sure Wasamin is aware that getting tickets to those shows is relatively easy, as many of the NHK subscribers rarely see the shows, and put their tickets up for resale or auction. In fact the reseller I went to originally had ten tickets available, but there was only one left when I finally got there. In any case, I was done, and the next train was leaving in four minutes. If I ran maybe I would make it. But I instead decided to take my time and catch the next train twenty minutes later...

    Around twenty minutes into the trip back to Tokyo, our train suddenly came to a stop outside of Sakura Station. Eventually we slowly rolled into the station, where we were told there would be an extended delay due to "Emergency Construction" and that they were looking into alternative ways to get us into Tokyo. Uh oh, this was bad, and the other issue was that we were out in the middle of nowhere, and there were no other trains or buses we could catch. Our only option was to wait it out. Finally, around 45 minutes later, we were told that the train would resume service, although by this time two other trains had come into the station from Narita Airport, and they combined us all into one train. Luckily I had a seat.

    wasa13.jpg
    This message popped up on a Keihin-Tohoku Train as I was getting closer to home

    It was about three minutes down the line that we learned was the emergency really was. It turned out the train in front of us, the one that I just missed catching, had hit and killed someone, and the delay was to clear the tracks. Sadly, our train was forced to travel slowly past the investigation, where we got a close-up view of the covered body. It's times like these where you suddenly feel bad for being frustrated with the delay. I ultimately ended up getting home an hour later than expected.

    On a lighter note, next up for me is the aforementioned NHK Utacon performance, where I will get to see not only Wasamin, but Sayanee and Mizumori Kaori. It should be a lot of fun!
     
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  8. sscrla

    sscrla Stage48 Moderator Staff Member Stage48 Moderator

    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2015
    Oshimen:
    Takayanagi Akane
    Last edited: Apr 16, 2019
    • Like Like x 4
  9. hermionepj1

    hermionepj1 Member

    Joined:
    Jan 20, 2016
    Oshimen:
    Yamashita Emiri
    wow, that train delay was messed up.
     
  10. Cristafari

    Cristafari Stage48 Admin Staff Member Stage48 Admin

    Joined:
    Sep 10, 2008
    Location:
    Saitama, Japan
    Oshimen:
    Iwasa Misaki
    Twitter:
    Cristafari
    Iwasa Misaki (and Yamamoto Sayaka) on NHK Utacon (2019/04/16)


    Whenever Wasamin announces she will be appearing at NHK Hall on one of NHK's various music shows, I always do my best to score a ticket, or at the very least find someone who is looking for someone to go with. So when Wasamin mentioned she would be on this episode of Utacon, I immediately scoured the usual sites for a ticket, only finding tickets for the previous week's show, which featured Nogizaka 46. Checking again a few days later I found a bunch of tickets had been made available ranging in price from 1400-3000 yen. However, by the time I could get some time to go buy one almost all of them were gone, save one. 3000 yen later, I had my ticket.

    I nice thing is that the ticket is good for up to two people. A couple days before the show I started putting out feelers for who might want to go with me, sending messages to the Wasamin and Sayanee fans, since I figured any Sayanee fan would love to check out her her solo performance on a National television program. I got quite a few responses from people saying they wanted to go, but were busy on Tuesday. I eventually found someone who wanted to go, but for some reason he failed to notice which day the show took place. When he emailed me on Monday afternoon that he was in Yoyogi waiting to meet me. I was like "Dude, you know its tomorrow, right?"

    So I was pretty much resigned to the fact I would be seeing this show solo. But as I was on my way to Shibuya I got a random message from a Sayanee fan; "Is the ticket still available? I would love to see Sayanee!" I said as long as he could make it to NHK Hall in the next 45 minutes, he could have the ticket. So cool. In the meantime, I received another message around 30-minutes before doors opened from one of my Wasafan buddies asking if the ticket was still available. Great, everyone waits until the last minute. Unfortunately they were a little too late.

    uta7.jpg
    The view from my seat

    I met my new friend at the entrance, and we immediately queued up for the show. The seating assignments at the NHK television shows is done by random chance, so no matter where you are in the queue you have an equal chance of getting a great seat, or a not so good seat. In fact, the best seat I ever had for one of these shows I got being one of the last people to enter the venue, and the worst seat being when I arrived three hours early. So you never know. This was my 5th time seeing an NHK Show at NHK Hall (I saw SDN48's Graduation Concert, and Nagara Group Enka Matsuri here as well) and in the previous four shows I have won floor level twice and 3rd floor twice. What kind of seat would we get this time? I had my friend choose which ticket lane we should go in, and he picked the far right lane. We ended up with a 2nd floor seat. However, it was in the 4th row on the right side. If you have ever seen the way the balconies are set up at this venue, the left and right side of the 2nd floor jets out over the floor seats very close to the stage. So having a 4th row seat on the side balcony is actually pretty close to the stage. So ultimately not a bad seat at all. Although when we met up with the various Wasafans also in attendance it seemed most of them got 1st floor seats, two of them (Kimura-san and Caster) getting front row!

    The Show

    Utacon is known for having quite the variety of performers on any given show. Rock, idols, Enka, comedians, it pretty much runs the gambit. This show's cast included:

    uta2.jpg
    Top l-r: Wasamin, Mizumori, Kogo, Chiaki, B.B. Queens, Sakamoto, Yamauchi
    Bottom l-r: Tetsu, Tomo, Hanawa


    • Wasamin
    • Yamamoto Sayaka (Sayanee)
    • Mizumori Kaori (Wasa-senpai)
    • ANGERME (from Hello!Project)
    • May J (pop singer)
    • B.B. Queens (an old pop group)
    • Chiaki (a pop artist, and no, not former SDN48 member Hatakeyama Chisaki)
    • Sakamoto Fuyumi (an Enka performer)
    • Tetsu and Tomo (a comedy/singing act)
    • Akikawa Masafumi (a tenor)
    • Yamauchi Keisuke (another enka performer)
    • Hanawa (comedian/rock performer)
    • Kitajima Brothers (Enka duo)

    and your hosts, Tanihara Shosuke and Kogo Tomoko.

    uta3.jpg

    So quite the lineup, and quite the eclectic lineup. After about a ten-minute warm-up where the producer talks to the audience, asks who is celebrating a birthday, and gives us specific directions for certain performances, the hosts come out, say a few words, and then set up to open the show. Lo and behold, who would be performing the opener? It was Sayanee, and her cool new hairdo singing 365 Nichi no Kamihikouki. Needless to say, the friend I brought was extremely excited. At the end of the song, the rest of thcast took the stage for quick introductions. And to nobody's surprise, the theme of the show was "The Heisei Era." Anyway, here are some of the highlights, at least the highlights to me...

    uta1.jpg
    Dream Trio

    Mizumori/Wasamin/Sayanee Trio: Wasamin had to be in heaven with this lineup. She thinks of Kaotan as her big sister, and we all know she has a crush on Sayanee. Of course Wasamin was admittedly a bit nervous, and was focused more on her singing than who she was singing with. Either way, it was a dream lineup, especially for Wasamin!

    Tetsu and Tomo: I guess it's time for me to again mention that I am not much of a fan of Japanese comedy, it is way too "slapstick-styled" for my taste. Every Japanese comedian to me is either like Abbott and Costello, or Carrot Top. But I digress. Tetsu was repeatedly making this weird hand-gesture I guess is he famous for throughout the show. I was thinking "Dude, enough, you are annoying!" That said, the comedy song, which features their catchphrase "Nande darou, nande darou" was cute. I am pretty sure I have seen them do it before on another variety show.

    Hanawa: I point this guy out because his was the song we had to be taught a specific reaction for the show. Interestingly, the performer before him, Akikawa Masafumi, performed with the stage filled with effects from a fog-making machine, so Hanawa performed on the floor in front of the first row with the audience as a backdrop, and during the chorus the entire audience pumped their fists in unison, which is what we practiced before the show. The funniest thing though was watching the massive team of staff mopping up all the water on the stage from the effects of the fog during this performance.

    ANGERME: During the show they only did a brief cover of a Matsuura Aya song, but after the show ended they came back on and performed their new single; Koi wa Acha Acha is really good. In fact I think I will pick up a copy this weekend.

    Sakamoto Fuyumi: I was going to call her the "older" Enka singer, then I looked her up on Wikipedia to find out she's only eight months older than me. Sheesh! Anyway, most enka singers look older when they pull their hair back like that. Her singing is top notch though, and she had interpretive back dancers behind her, which made the performance all the more interesting.

    Sayanee: She was definitely the highlight of the show, getting three performances. In addition to the show open, and the trip with Kaotan and Wasamin, she came back toward the end to perform her new single, Great song, and a great night overall for her.

    uta5.jpg
    I think Wasamin is digging the new "do"

    Wasamin: Let's see, she got to sing with Sayanee, she closed the show with Koi no Owari Sangenjaya, and even was the focus of one emcee, which became all sorts of awkward when she got a bit tongue-tied and Mizumori began interjecting into the interview. It was funny though. Wasamin did a great job!

    Anyway, those were the performance highlights for me. Of course it is always interesting watching how they produce a live television show, and how different it looks than from what you see on TV. There is as much, if not more action going on off-camera than there is on-camera. Also, when they do the interview portion of the show, it seems like they are talking in a fully bright room. However, the interview area is actually the only lit portion of the room, everything else is in total darkness.

    uta4.jpg
    Sayanee being interviewed

    After the television show ends, there is around 20 more minutes of "Show" for the live audience where certain performers who didn't get to make a solo appearance have a chance to perform. This is where ANGERME sang their new song, as well as Yamauchi Keisuke, who seemed to have a big following in the room. When he took the stage a mass of red glowsticks lit up throughout the audience.

    Once the show ended everyone makes a mad dash toward the exit. I was attempting to take off my Wasamin Happi coat and accidentally smashed a woman in the side of the head with my elbow. I don't know why people are desperate to get out quickly, they were pushing me from every direction. Undaunted, I removed my coat and put it away before leaving the venue and heading back to the train station.

    uta6.jpg
    Wasamin and "big sister" Kaotan

    Checking Wasamin's schedule, she is performing in Okinawa this weekend, at an Onsen next week, and then the following weekend she has mini-live events in Saitama and Yokohama. The Yokohama event conflicts with an AKB48 handshake event I have tickets for, and the Saitama event is the same day as Sasshi's grad concert, as well as a Minyo Girls one-man live I have tickets for. However, providing I don't go to Sasshi's concert, I can still make it to Wasamin's second performance that day. Wasamin is spending much of May outside Tokyo doing her play with Mizumori Kaori, so I may not be able to see her for a little while.
     
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  11. sscrla

    sscrla Stage48 Moderator Staff Member Stage48 Moderator

    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2015
    Oshimen:
    Takayanagi Akane
    • May J (pop singer)
    I object.

    May J. is so much more than that. May J. is the host of J-Melo on NHK World, "The only show that brings Japanese music to the world."

    Without May J. and J-Melo I would never of heard of Silent Siren, Morning Musume, Scandal, Momoiro Clover Z, and so many others. I record J-Melo every week, looking for the latest news, including mentions of the 48s and slopes, as well as learning about Japanese pop music from the past.

    [rant over]
     
  12. David61

    David61 Under Girls Stage48 Donor

    Joined:
    May 17, 2015
    Location:
    Reading, England
    Oshimen:
    Komiyama Haruka
    Twitter:
    DavidB13
    I also like May J, I saw her perform live at Hyper Japan in London 4 years ago and she really does have a wonderful singing voice.

    Meanwhile i'll be back in Japan soon and I'm looking to fill the day on Sunday week before Sasshi's gradcon. Wasamin's first performance or Minyo Girls one-man live are currently both under consideration... ;)
     
  13. Cristafari

    Cristafari Stage48 Admin Staff Member Stage48 Admin

    Joined:
    Sep 10, 2008
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    Saitama, Japan
    Oshimen:
    Iwasa Misaki
    Twitter:
    Cristafari
    Iwasa Misaki Mini-Live at Ito-Yokado Nishikicho, Saitama Prefecture. (2019/04/28)

    So while most everyone I know was heading south to Yokohama for the big Sasshi graduation concert, I headed in the other direction for the late-afternoon Wasamin live event in Saitama. But that wasn't the original plan...

    When the weekend events at Yokohama Stadium were announced, I had pretty much decided from the get go that I was only interested in the Sunday concert. The Saturday festival seemed like a lot of confusion to me. Moreover, most of the members I like weren't even going to be there. Then Minyo Girls announced that their April one-man live would be a graduation for Kakotan, one of the original members. I thought "What the heck, I could still make it to Yokohama afterwards." But then Wasamin announced her events this weekend. I knew that I couldn't go to her scheduled Monday event at all without eating a whole bunch of tickets I have lined up for the AKB handshake event. So I ultimately decided to blow off applying for Sasshi's show, and just go to see Wasamin after the Mingaru live. Saves me 9000 yen, and the headache of watching another stadium concert, which if you weren't aware, I am not a fan of for a myriad of reasons.

    wasa51.jpg

    I took my time heading to Saitama since the second show wasn't starting for over two hours. I have been to this mall a few times before. It isn't far from where I live, but the walk from the station is a bit of a pain. Nevertheless, I made it in time, and sat down for a late soba lunch before heading to the event area. They hadn't yet reopened the sales table yet, so I grabbed an available seat in the second row, briefly chatting with a couple of the Wasafans who were asking me if I was at Yokohama Stadium the day before. Eventually I went to buy my CDs (I planned on three) but noticed that they had them mis-priced. So I told the staff that they have an issue,which they fixed. But I got my CDs and tickets, I was good to go. Here are both of the day's setlists, despite me only being at the second event...

    13:00 Setlist
    1. Saba Kaido
    2. Niji wo Watatte
    3. Anata
    4. Koi no Owari Sangenjaya
    (Damn, I missed out on two songs I love hearing her perform)

    15:30 Setlist
    1, Mujineki
    2. Tegami
    3. Ohisashiburi ne
    4. Koi no Owari Sangenjaya

    First of all, this mall is notorious for having really bad sound. The area where they do the lives has a very high, cathedral-like ceiling, and the sound bounces all over the place. Furthermore, Wasamin's mic was FAR too loud, and the music too low. And if that wasn't enough, they were having feedback issues. Ichikawa-san (Wasa-manager) was running back and forth trying to get the guy running the board to fix it. And then, after the first song Wasamin turned to the guy and was like "Uhhh, I think there's a problem with the sound." Eventually they got the mic turned down, and the feedback went away, but the music was still too low.

    Wasamin said at one point that she was happy to see a lot of her regular fans. She is aware that a significant percentage of her fan base has followed her from her AKB days, and there is always a risk of us not showing up when there is a major AKB concert of handshake event. I was also surprised, as there were quite a few people there that I thought for sure would be at Sasshi's graduation. There were a few AKB/Wasafans missing, but not as many as I expected.

    As I mentioned, I had three tickets, good for one two-shot, and a regular handshake. I was fairly close to the front of the line for my first meeting, where I immediately told Wasamin I had finally graduated from University. We got all into that conversation, when the staff taking the photo was like. "Time to pose..."

    wasa50.jpg

    Admittedly I do not put much thought into the poses. I think of the two-shots as more of a visual record of the event. Anyway, she asked me why I wasn't at the first event, and I admitted that I was at the Minyo Girls live. Now that could spark a little jealousy, but they are Wasamin's kouhai group, and she was aware that Kakotan was graduating, which she said she was sad about. I also mentioned that I wanted to show the Mingaru staff the article I wrote, so she was okay with it. She went on to ask me what I was going to do now, to which I explained that I need to find a job to stay in the country. She was surprised that I already had job interviews. In any case, my time had been up for a while, so I finally broke away. I had another ticket anyway...

    At this point the line was really long, so I dismissed myself to get a drink, and came back a little while later when the line got a bit shorter. This time I wanted to finally talk to her about her appearance on Utacon. So I told her that I loved her trio with Sayanee and Mizumori Kaori. Oh, and she always gets a big kick out of me calling her Mizumori-san. But I'm sorry. I know her nickname is Kaotan, but there is another Kaotan in my life, so I just can't bring myself to call her that. Anyway, I told her where I had sat for the show in hopes that she might say she spotted me, but instead she simply asked me if I was calling for her during the show. Of course I was!

    I was done with my tickets, but was in no hurry. So I decided to wait it out until her 'goodbye' at the end. It was only like a half hour or so. But that wasn't the end of the fun...

    As I was walking through the mall, I noticed Wasamin coming around a corner right toward me. Now there is sort of an unwritten rule that were aren't supposed to engage with Wasamin when she is not 'performing,' so me and a few other fans started walking faster, and then turned away from the exit since we figured that was where she and Ichikawa-san were heading. Suddenly I hear giggling behind me, and Wasamin begins calling out "Kurisuuuu!!" I turned, smiled, waved, and just kept going, LOL. She was laughing the entire time. She knows that we do our best to give her space, but I have a feeling even she might think that we take it too seriously sometimes. At the same time, I have seen her in situations like this where she didn't want to be engaged. So it is always best to let Wasamin 'make the move,' so to speak.

    So with Wasamin heading out to Osaka and Nagoya over the next three weeks or so to perform her play, I'm not going to get the chance to s here until probably the end of May at the earliest. Hopefully I will have my new visa status all ironed out by then.
     
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  14. Cristafari

    Cristafari Stage48 Admin Staff Member Stage48 Admin

    Joined:
    Sep 10, 2008
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    Saitama, Japan
    Oshimen:
    Iwasa Misaki
    Twitter:
    Cristafari
    Let's see how long these stay up, a live performance from March. I'm not sure what show this was, but it had something to do with DAM Channel...

    Koi no Owari Sangenjaya

    if the video does not show watch the video here

    Kukou

    if the video does not show watch the video here

    That's the outfit she wore for her birthday party. I think she looks exceptionally pretty in it.

    Also...

    Tenshi no Yuuwaku (Mayuzumi Jun)

    if the video does not show watch the video here

    One more: An interview with Wasamin at the event she did in Kamiedo last year. I was there, and remember seeing that guy around the event.


    if the video does not show watch the video here
     
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  15. Cristafari

    Cristafari Stage48 Admin Staff Member Stage48 Admin

    Joined:
    Sep 10, 2008
    Location:
    Saitama, Japan
    Oshimen:
    Iwasa Misaki
    Twitter:
    Cristafari
    Iwasa Misaki Fan Event at MFJ Hall, Ebisu (2019/05/25)

    If you were wondering why I have been so quiet on this thread as of late, it was because Wasamin has spent the better part of May in Osaka and Nagoya performing the same play I reported on back in March. This week he returned to Tokyo, and this event was the first chance in quite a while for many of her Tokyo-based fans to speak with her.

    Actually, this was sort of a "shared" event, which is something that Nagara Pro has been doing with their artists lately. When Wasamin did her annual solo concert at Tokyo Kinema Club earlier this year, Hayabusa also performed a concert at the same venue earlier in the day. In fact, at various times Wasamin has also shared events/venues with Minyo Girls, and BillyKen, not to mention the various stuff she does with Mizumori Kaori. On this day there were four events; Minyo Girls were first, then Wasamin, then BillyKen, and finally Hayabusa. Each event required a separate admission, so since I have a ticket to see Minyo Girls on Sunday, I decided that I would skip their event...

    In fact, I considered skipping Wasamin's event as well. I really wanted to see her, but I had a fairly busy weekend planned, and to be honest I was quite tired from being out late on Friday night. Moreover, I really wasn't in the mood to navigate the online ticket ordering system either. But when Wasamin's staff blogged that we could purchase a ticket directly at the venue, I decided to brave the heat, and my fatigue, and go to the show.

    wasa3.jpg

    MFJ Hall (Japan-Budo Kaikan) is a small venue directly behind the Yebisu Beer Museum at Ebisu Garden Place. The event description was similar to many of Wasamin's fan club events, although this event was technically open to anyone. There would be a short interview, games, singing, and then a 2-hot photo session. Fans could also purchase additional 2-shot cheki or shamekai tickets if they wished. When I arrived the fans were camped outside under the trees, waiting for the doors to open. Thankfully, Wasamin's staff invited the fans to wait in the air-conditioned foyer so we could get out of the heat. There were two of us there purchasing the on-the-day tickets, and we were instructed that people who pre-bought had a numbered seat, and the seats in the back row were reserved for us. That's fine. It's small venue anyway. When doors opened the queue for goods (and additional 2-shot tickets) was immediately jammed, so I instead went directly to my seat and took a look at the questionnaire I was handed. I decided that I would try to fill it out for a change, although I didn't understand all the questions, I knew what the majority of them were asking. Eventually the queue for goods died down, so I decided to check out what they had at the goods booth. It turned out they had two new items...

    wasa5.jpg

    A three-photo set of pics from Wasamin's recent trip to Okinawa, and a 3-piece badge set. I decided to pick up both of them, but would wait on possibly picking up more 2-shot tickets. A few minutes later, after a slight glitch with the microphones, the event started.

    wasa1.jpg

    Oh my, Wasamin looked absolutely ravishing in what she described as her "tenshi" outfit. Ichikawa-san (Wasa-manager) conducted the interview, which was mainly about her experience of being on the road for three weeks. It was her first time being away from home for such a long stretch (although I do recall her mentioning on her Twitter coming home for a day or two between the Osaka and Nagoya dates) She said that spending all that time with her Nagara-pro mates was a lot of fun, and made it easy to endure. She also talked about her upcoming concert DVD release. The DVD is coming out this week, although she isn't doing any promotional events for it until mid-June. In fact, the only scheduled Kanto event right now is in Chiba, but there will be a DVD poster giveaway at the event. So I will be sure to attend.

    The game portion of the event was another Wasamin quiz. However, instead of being a trivia game, the object was to match Wasamin's answers to various questions. For example, "Name a country that begins with "i". (Wasamin answered Indonesia, most of the fans answered Italy) "Name a performer whose name begins with "mi". (Wasamin answered Mickey Mouse, most of the fans answered Mizumori Kaori or Minyo Girls) "Name a prefecture that begins with "sa" (Wasamin answered Saga, most of the fans guessed Saitama) "Name a food (fruit or vegetable) that begins with "ki" (Wasamin answered Kyuri, most of the fans guessed Kiwi) Anyhow, only three people got 4 of 6 correct, so they all won an additional 2-shot.

    Wasamin finished the show portion of the event with two songs, Genki wo Dashite (Takeuchi Mariya) which she first performed at her solo concert in January, and Koi no Owari Sangenjaya. We would be lining up for 2-shots by our seating order, which meant Kimura-san and I would be going last. After that they instructed anyone with additional tickets to form a queue in the foyer. The initial 2-shot also included around 20-30 seconds of talk, and there were around 65 people at the event, so it was over 45 minutes before my turn. I told Ichikawa-san, who was taking the photos. that I wanted a photo that showed off Wasamin's entire outfit. We posed for the pic, and just as she took it...

    wasa4.jpg

    There was an earthquake!!! (I checked, it was 5.1 and based in Chiba) Ichikawa-san kinda stumbled forward. Wasamin started exclaiming "did you feel that???" Now to be honest, I wasn't sure if I did feel it. But I assured her that being from California, I am quite used to earthquakes. I went on to gush about how gorgeous she looked and everything she was wearing, from her dress, to her shoes, to her hair, and her jewelry, were beautiful. She responded "I am tenshi," and I countered that she looked like a princess. I went on to tell her about my recent article in the Japan Times about rail commuting in Japan, which she said she wanted to see. And then told her about some of my recent job interviews. Wasamin was commenting on how busy I was, and told me to keep working hard. I definitely extended my time a bit, but eventually I thanked her and let Kimura-san take his turn.

    wasa2.jpg
    selfie from Wasamin's blog

    After confirming there wouldn't be any sort of costume change, I decided that since I wouldn't purchase any additional 2-shots. After all, I was really tired. So I walked back over to Ebisu Garden Place, bought a cold drink (Green Shower Mineral Water, which is really good, and somewhat hard to find) and grabbed the train back home, picking up dinner to go along the way.

    Tomorrow I have a really busy day planned, attending Minyo Girls' one-man live in Shinjuku, and then heading to Makuhari for the AKB48 Zenkoku event. I will be missing the mini-live, but will be there in time to visit the handshake lanes. As for Wasamin, right now I plan on going to her DVD release event in mid-June. I also won the grand prize "Sangenjaya Party" from her single release, which is at the end of June. Aside from her boat party in late-July, I hope she plans a few more events in the coming months. She has become so busy lately that she hasn't been doing quite as many promotional events as before, but I guess in a way that's a good thing.
     
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  16. Cristafari

    Cristafari Stage48 Admin Staff Member Stage48 Admin

    Joined:
    Sep 10, 2008
    Location:
    Saitama, Japan
    Oshimen:
    Iwasa Misaki
    Twitter:
    Cristafari
    Wasamin's 2019 solo concert DVD/Blu-ray releases tomorrow. I don'think I have posted the cover yet, so here goes...

    wasa6.jpg

    I am really looking forward to seeing this concert DVD. Unfortunately Wasamin isn't having any Kanto promotional events for it until June 16th. So do I wait, or do I go get it tomorrow?

    Interestingly, I checked the tracklist for the DVD on various buy sites, and the Zard song she performed seems to be missing. If it got cut out, I wonder why?

    EDIT: Wasamin announced the "Special Edition" release of Koi no Owari Sangenjaya will come out on August 6th.


    Type-A

    Tracklist
    1. Koi no Owari Sangenjaya
    2. Yarazu no Ame (Kawanaka Miyuki 1983)
    3. Tonde Istanbul (Shouno Mayo 1978)
    4. Koi no Owari Sangenjaya (karaoke ver.)
    5. Koi no Owari Sangenjaya (tone-down karaoke ver.)

    Type-B

    Tracklist
    1. Koi no Owari Sangenjaya
    2. Yarazu no Ame
    3. Fuyu no Riviera (Mori Shinichi 1982)
    4. Koi no Owari Sangenjaya (karaoke ver.)
    5. Koi no Owari Sangenjaya (tone-down karaoke ver.)

    The two Track #3 are songs she performed at her solo concert...

    Original versions...

    Warazu no Ame

    if the video does not show watch the video here

    Tonde Istanbul

    if the video does not show watch the video here

    Fuyu no Riviera

    if the video does not show watch the video here
     
    Last edited: May 29, 2019
  17. irontech

    irontech Next Girls

    Joined:
    Sep 26, 2011
    Wasamin will be collaborating with Big Echo, which is a Karaoke franchise business, to set up a special Wasamin KTV room for her fans, in conjunction with her new single, Koi no Owari Sangenjaya.

    She'll be a staff for one day, on the 15th of June, where she'll be serving her fans.

    Source link : http://www.tkma.co.jp/enka_news_detail/iwasa.html?nid=12283


    if the video does not show watch the video here

    upload_2019-6-2_15-6-3.png

    upload_2019-6-2_15-6-58.png
     
    Last edited: Jun 6, 2019
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  18. sscrla

    sscrla Stage48 Moderator Staff Member Stage48 Moderator

    Joined:
    Dec 27, 2015
    Oshimen:
    Takayanagi Akane
    Wasamin and Lovetan (among so many others) went to see Mako at her haluhiroine exhibition.

    Screen Shot 2019-06-05 at 6.10.45 AM.png
     
  19. Cristafari

    Cristafari Stage48 Admin Staff Member Stage48 Admin

    Joined:
    Sep 10, 2008
    Location:
    Saitama, Japan
    Oshimen:
    Iwasa Misaki
    Twitter:
    Cristafari
    I got my confirmation email today. I am going to this event...

    Although I feel kinda sheepish about it, since I also won the Grand Prize from the postcard application of the Koi no Owari Sangenjaya single, which is also a party on June 29th at this same Big Echo. I have a feeling they are going to be similar events.

    Wasamin's June live appearance schedule...

    June 8th: Aeon Kyobashi, Osaka. Mini-Live/Concert DVD Release Event, 13:00/15:30
    June 9th: Minoh Spa and Onsen, Osaka. Mini-Concert, 13:00/16:00
    June 15th: BIG ECHO Sangenjaya, "Salesperson for a day" 14:00
    June 16th: Aeon Town Yukarigaoka, Chiba. Mini-Live Concert DVD Release Event, 13:00/15:30
    June 20th: Nasushiobarashi Kroisu Bunka Hall, Tochigi. NHK Nihon Uta Public Recording 18:40
    June 23rd: Apita Okazaki-Kita, Aichi. Mini-Live Concert DVD Release Event, 13:00/15:30
    June 30th: Aeon Mall Gion, Hiroshima. Mini-Live Concert DVD Release Event, 13:00/15:30
     
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  20. Cristafari

    Cristafari Stage48 Admin Staff Member Stage48 Admin

    Joined:
    Sep 10, 2008
    Location:
    Saitama, Japan
    Oshimen:
    Iwasa Misaki
    Twitter:
    Cristafari
    With some free time, and in honor of the release of Wasamin's 5th concert DVD, I decided to list some of my favorite cover performances Wasamin has ever sung at her concerts. This isn't a ranking, it is more of an ordered list by year. So here ya go, my Top 10 Wasamin concert covers. BTW, I also note which DVD concert you can see them performed...

    1. Anko Tsubaki wa Koi no Hana (1st Concert 2016 Asakusa) I think Wasamin answered a lot of her early critics with this mature performance. I remember thinking "Wow, she is more advanced as a singer than I thought" when I saw this for the first time. I have mentioned to her a couple times that I would love to see her record this on a single. However, she has only performed it 1-2 times since.

    2. Koisuru Natsu no Hi (1st Concert 2016 Asakusa) I had trouble deciding between this song and another, but this performance is memorable for one important reason. If you watch the DVD she inexplicably begins crying on the first bridge of the song. I asked her about it a few days later (already suspecting the reason) and she confirmed it was at that moment that she first spotted her parents in the audience.

    3. Watashi no Kare wa Hidarikiki (2nd Concert 2017 Asakusa) Now I could simply say that I love this song since I am left handed, and she is basically singing that she loves a left-handed guy. But there is another reason this song is a standout among all her covers, if you read the next entry...

    4. Niji wo Watatte (2nd Concert 2017 Asakusa) Both this song and "Hidarikiki" have become notorious among the Wasamin fans as the "chant" songs. That is to say there is a spot in the verse of each song where the fans scream her name. Since the concerts, she has chosen to perform both of these songs quite often at her mini-live events, since I think she really gets how they both rev her fans up.

    5. Gakuen Tengoku (2nd Concert 2017 Asakusa) Wasamin has performed a lot of J-pop classics at her concerts; UFO, Koi no Dial 6700, Pepper Keibu, Sailor Fuku wo Nugasanaide among them, but this performance was a total show-stopper. Her energy was over the top, and it raised the audience tension to peak level.

    6. Misaki Meguri (3rd Concert 2017 Otemachi) To begin with, the song is absolutely beautiful. Second, Wasamin does a great job with songs originally recorded by male artists. But yeah, the sentimental theme of this song is enough to bring a tear to anyone's eye. Unfortunately only part of the song is featured on the concert DVD, but it is also used as background on the "making of" video at the end.

    7. Ginza Kan Kan Musume (3rd Concert 2017 Otemachi) One of the songs she debuted at her monthly Challenge Stages in Chiba. It's another cheerful fan-favorite that she performs quite often these days at her mini-live events, and she always looks like she's having so much fun singing it too. Not to mention I can no longer pass through Ginza Station without thinking of Wasamin, as this song is also the train jingle at the station.

    8. Goodbye My Love (4th Concert 2018 Ebisu) If you want to hear Wasamin sing the verse of a song in English, here's your chance. (it doesn't happen too often) It is a pretty ballad, but what I love the most about the song is that she always makes a big deal out of it with me after she sings it, as if it is "our" song. And she will always ask me how her English sounded. Adorable!

    9. Fuyu no Riviera (5th Concert 2019 Kinema Club) Aside from this being another song originally recorded by a male performer, there is a not-so-subtle difference between the original and Wasamin's version. I think perhaps it is sung in a different key? I'm not sure, but I really like her version, and apparently her managers do too since it will be a c/w track on the re-release of her 8th single.

    10. Genki wo Dashite (5th Concert 2019 Kinema Club) I originally had Rouge no Dengon placed here. But after watching the concert again, I find this acoustic pop song a lot more impactful, and a lot more memorable. It is truly a beautiful Wasamin performance.

    EDIT: I found this on YouTube, from a recent TV appearance. Wasamin performing Goodbye My Love...


    if the video does not show watch the video here
     
    Last edited: Jun 17, 2019
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