Your AKB48 Experiences

Oh well, that is too bad. Although I have seen people posting experience stuff around the site. Just not here. That said, tonight was...well...check it out!

SDN48 Yuuwaku no Garter Performance 11/17

Finally I won a show this trip! My 28th show all time, and 11th SDN show. I was beginning to get worried. But fate somehow works in mysterious ways. Remember last weekend I lost out on a bunch of Meetan handshake tickets because she cancelled for the event...

I won via Ippan, which I like a lot more than Enpou because you have the chance to get a really good seat via the lottery. Enpou is always last seated row center. That said, I have ALWAYS had horrible lottery luck when it comes to the AKB48 theater. I have only once been as close as the 4th row, and that time I had one of the pillars blocking about 75% of the stage view. Twice I have been the last person in the theater. I went upstairs around an hour before the show because I wanted to see the birthday committee and their flower arrangement. I have been to every Chenchu birthday show for SDN, so I actually know a few of the committee members. Anyhow, Chen's flowers were beautiful, and I was glad to see a few friends there for the show.



I got ticket #46, and went to queue up. I passed the time by filling out a Yui birthday card and figuring out how the birthday glowsticks were going to work within the show. By the way, they are now playing SDN songs on the sound system before the show. I know that sounds appropriate. But in the early days of SDN they used to play soft jazz, which I always thought was a totally cool move, not to mention fitting for the theme. Some sexy Jazz, YEAHHH! Finally they started the seat lottery, #160-169 were called in first. Oh well, this will surely be another horrible seat for me...

2nd call, #40-49. OMFG!!!! I am going to have a great seat. I hustled in as quickly as I could (you aren't allowed to run in the theater) Most of the front row was taken, but 2nd row center was available. Just as I was about to sit down I noticed the two guys front and center were sitting on 3 seats. So I jumped up there and grabbed the seat in between. Front row freakin' center baby!!! I didn't care that I was sandwiched in between these two guys. This show was going to be awesome!!!

So rule #1: When big gaijin is sitting front row center, he is going to get plenty of attention from the girls. Now I know this might be a very silly time to complain, but being in this position actually made things complicated. Meetan is my oshimen, so obviously I am going to pay attention to her. But Chaki was there, as was Akiko and of course Chenchu. I have developed "relationships" with all of them. Who do I pay attention to? Who do I scream for? Will Chaki be unhappy if she is looking at me and I am paying attention to Tan? Or vice-versa? Not to mention it seemed as if Kazue and Kohara were fixated on me through the entire show. Same with Sayanee...and Mamitan. My head was on a freakin' swivel!

But I'll tell ya, with the girls practically performing on top of me, it made the show even more amazing. It was also great doing the hand gestures with a member doing them right back at me. A few highlights...

Meetan had her antics in overdrive tonight. First lusting after Mana Ito during the MC with Nachu. Then during the late MC having to be held back from attacking Chen when she layed on the floor. Chen actually kissed the stage, lied down, then Meetan went after her doing "The Pantsu Dance" You had to see it. It was so silly! Later during Vampire, Meetan winked at me and stuck her tongue out, then she licked Yukarin! By the way, I didn't see this but apparently Meetan's bra snapped during "Best By", and she had to run offstage before her top fell off. She talked about it on her blog right after the show. If only...

http://ameblo.jp/ohorimegumi/entry-11081508794.html

You can see a couple of photos of her wardrobe malfunction on the above link.

"I'm Sure" was done by Mamitan and Kohara. I had never seen that pair do that song before. Also, this was a U-18 show, although I didn't really see anyone under 18 in the audience. But that meant I got to see the PG-rated version of "Futsuu no Anata". I actually did the crossed-arm "X" along with the girls. I don't know if the fans normally do that, but it just felt like the thing to do. Chen did "Yuuwaku no Garter" with Yukarin and Kazue. I was hoping this would be my chance to get a garter. But it wasn't even close. Chen came down the middle and heaved her garter about 4 rows back!

High-Touch was great, although they were pushing us through very quick. I went through it with my friend Ginger, who I had met a couple of years ago. I got the best reactions from the girls I mentioned above...Kazue, Kohara, Akiko, Sayanee (finally!), Chaki, Yukarin (who might have remembered my antics at her DVD event last year) and finally Meetan, who like usual gave my hand a quick squeeze.

So it's funny how things work out. Here I was all bummed out that I didn't get to do handshakes with Meetan last weekend, and today I probably got more Meetan facetime than I would have gotten with all of the handshake tickets combined! Go figure.

Without a doubt, and to no surprise for obvious reasons, that was the best SDN48 show I ever saw!

 

This was going to be one serious day. In order for me to pull this off I was going to need to wake up extra early, travel three hours to Shin-Osaka (plus another 45 minutes of local train travel), and do it all over again once this marathon event was over. That is almost 8 hours of travel time. But I was up for the adventure. Good thing the Shinkansen is a super-comfortable ride. Here we go!

SKE48 Okie Dokie Handshake Event @ Intex Osaka 11/20

I almost blew it wn I partied a little too hard the previous evening after meeting Erika Yazawa from Idoling!!! (you can check that report out on my blog in my signature if you like) But a minor headache rousted me awake at about 4am. Great! Plenty of time to medicate, wash up, and get to the train. Catching a 6:20am Shinkansen, I made it to Intex Osaka just 15 minutes after the event started. Perfect! I had plenty of time to make it to my first-slot handshakes.

I had two tickets for Slot 1. I would go to the shortest line first, then jam over to the second one. It looked as if Akarin's line was the shortest of the two, so I went for it. As I stood in line I noticed she was right next to Rena. So I got a good closeup look at her while I waited for Akari. Rena looked beautiful, so I was quite surprised when she went out sick for the event less than an hour later. I got up to the front of the queue. Oh shit! This isn't Akarin's line at all. It was Kuumin....

Yagami Kumi: I had about 30 seconds to figure out what I was going to say to her. As panic set in I fnally came up with my "brilliant" plan. I stammered that she was funny on Bimyo this week. But it worked out as she responded "Hontoni? Arigato!" I don't think Kuumin remembered me from before. But I got a good reaction from her, so all was good!

Suda Akari: This was my first time ever talking to Akarin (aside from the "high wave" after I saw Team S last June. I basically told her that I really wanted to meet her, she had an adorable smile and she was cute in the Senbatsu Undergirls PV. It was a good first-time meeting so I will definitely try to see her again!

After this I had an more than an hour before slot 2. It is nice the way SKE does handshakes. The breaks between slots are much longer, giving the girls more time to rest. Although it kind of drags out the day for fans. The queue for goods was huge. But given the amount of time I had, I went for it.

They had shirts, a hoodie, phone straps and charms, clear files. But the big item of the day were the event trading photos. There was a limit of 5 packs per person, so people were looping the line before they sold out. The queue took more than an hour (unnecessarily I might add) I decided I didn't care for the shirt, so I bought a Masanya phone charm (which I immediately affixed to my backpack) and my limit of photos. Of my favorite members, I got one Masanya and two Shawako, although the two Sawako were exactly the same. Anyway, time for slot #2, which contained one of my three Masanya tickets for the event. But I will talk about that later...

Takayanagi Akane: I tried to win more Churi tickets, but only ended up with one. Oh well. Her queue was obviously long, but it moved quickly. I don't have as much history with the SKE girls as I do with AKB, so sometimes I have trouble coming up with things to talk about. But for this event I brought my English-Japanese dictionary which helped trememdously when I struggled for something to say. I could prepare my little speech while I was in queue. I decided to tell her how much I enjoyed her bonus scene on the new single DVD. She thanked me, of course. So is sooo cute.

Hiramatsu Kanako: BTW, Kanako's line was huge! Just like when I met her at Yomiuriland, she immediately exclaimed "Yayyyy" as I came in and gave me a double high-touch/handshake. I told her how cute she was in the Pareo no Emerald PV, she responded with her "Mokyuu Mokyuu" catchphrase, and asked me to do it with her. I did, and she was happy. Gave me another high-five and I was on my way. Adorable session!

After slot 2 was the lunch break. I decided to try some Takoyaki, since the only other time I had it was in Tokyo...and I hated it. But I wanted to give Osaka a chance to change my mind. But that's for another thread. On to Slot #3. I had four tickets for this slot, so I would need to keep moving.

Ishida Anna: I had two tickets for Anna. I had noticed that like last week in Chiba, her line was almost empty during the morning sessions. This makes me sad. She is so cute! She greeted me with an excited double wave like she is beckoning me to come closer. I always tell her how adorable I think she is, so I needed to switch to a different tactic. So for her I also went with the compliment on her part in the Okie Dokie DVD bonus. In the second session I apologized for my bad Japanese, which she insisted was okay. I then told her how nice I think she is, and that I am always excited to do handshakes with her. I have definitely made a connection with Anna.

Hata Sawako: I never really paid attention to Shawako until Yomiuriland last Summer. And that was totally by accident. The only reason I met her was because she was paired with Masanya. But it was a memorable session, and it made me want to see her again. She exceeded my expectations...again. When she shakes your hand, so actually holds your entire arm with both hands. I told her that meeting her last Summer made me want to come back to her. When I said that she immediately remembered and got really excited! Like last time, as the staff tried to push me out, she tried to pull me back! Hahaha. Shawako is awesome! She also tried to talk to me in English, but fumbled it a bit. So cute. Shawako is now firmly positioned as one of my Top SKE members!

Furukawa Airi: Like with Shawako, I reminded her that we met last Summer, and I also reminded her that we share a birthday (well, we almost do! She is the closest to my birthday that I know of).

Slot four was my "Masanya Time", but I also had another first time meeting...

Kato Rumi: I forst started paying attention to Rumi when s did the promotional event for "Paranormal Activity" I thought she was so cute at that event, and I prepared to tell her that. But when I got to the front of her queue (her line was really short) she had on a beautiful whit furry coat and cute silver shoes. So I switched tactics and told her how cute she looked. I then told her I was happy to meet her and really love S3. Another cool first-time meeting.

Oya Masana: At the AKB event last week I had told her I was coming to see her in Osaka. So I got a cool, excited greeting when I got to her for my first of three tickets. I told her I liked Osaka because it wasn't cold (I had momentarily forgotten how to say "warm" It took her a few moment to figure out what I was trying to say, but she eventually got it. Funny thing was it got really cold later in the day.(LOL) Later on I told her how much I loved her twin-tails in the Okie Dokie PV. Surprisingly, on my last ticket Masanya decided to try a little English with me. This was great! The greeted me with "Third timu!) I apologized for my bad Japanese and reminded her that she was my SKE oshi. I also told her that I am rooting for her. In summary, all of the work I have done on Masanya has paid off. She definitely gets that I am a big fan, and is always a great handshaking experience.

I had one ticket for Slot 5, and then I would have to run back to Shin-Osaka to catch one of the last trains back to Tokyo. In fact, I considered leaving early. But I had met a friend, and wanted to hang out a little bit. I also picked up one more pack of photos. Glad to see that unlike AKB, SKE brings plenty of photos so everyoje gets a chance to get some, instead of selling out before the event even starts! My friend and I had the same member for Slot 5 (her Oshi), so we immediately queued up since I was in a mild time crunch.

Sato Mieko: The line wasn't very long. And to be honest I was getting tired. So I basically said the same thing that I had said to Shawako. That she was so nice at Yomiuriland th I wanted to meet her again. She excitedly thanked me, and that was it. My handshaking was done!

I made it back to the Shinkansen and fell asleep on my ride back. Finally some rest! It was an awesome event, so glad I went to Osaka. Even if I barely got a chance to experience the city. That will have to be for another time. I don't know if I will have anything else to report, but I am still here for a few more days. We'll see

 

Those are for the National handshake event. If the event next week is the one where you pick slots, then those tickets won't work for it. You can only win tickets via the lottery, and you have to bring your invoice with you. That said, when is the NMB National Handshake event? You now have plenty of tickets for that!

 

From the NMB news thread. It looks like the Osaka and Nagoya events already happened.


http://www.nmb48.com/news/

They are doing Yomiuriland this weekend, if you can make it all the way to Tokyo

 

Yeah, being a 180cm white guy who looks like I play for the Dallas Cowboys, that gets some special looks. Not to mention I always try to wear something conversational. Though for me, I think most of the girls I go to are quite surprised that they see me as often as they do when they know I live so far away. It also helps that I am for the most part a fan of non-senbatsu members...they don't have as many fans to remember

 

Hahahah. By the way you entered my mind when my Shinkansen stopped at Shizuoka last night