Your AKB48 Experiences

That's only like $7.6 for handshake and $20 for picture. Isn't that really cheap for such a great opportunity?

 

Well, one handshake ticket gets you a 7-second handshake with 1 member. It goes by super-fast, so most of the time, people end up buying several tickets for one member so you can have a nice conversation with them. If there's a lot of members you like, that can add up quickly.
But yeah, AKB events are generally very reasonably priced, I think that contributes to their popularity. Handshakes, concerts, etc, are all pretty affordable. The only exception is their DVDs.

 

How many tickets does it take to have a nice conversation?

 

Hard to tell.
That mostly depends on the proficiency of your Japanese and the current saltiness of the member you want to have a conversation with.
Remember that a handshake is 7 seconds but mostly the stopwatch (yes there are stopwatches) starts ticking when you enter the booth and you are often pulled away a a few seconds before your 7 seconds are over. But this also depends on the mood of the bouncers, how long the queue is and if the member has some influence on her assigned staff.

 

Do they get salty after a while, handshaking with strangers for.. how long do they do this for? When you shake hands do you just grab the hand and don't actually shake it? So there's like only 2 seconds of grabbing the hand and the rest of the 7 seconds is just walking towards and away from her? Can you designate who you want to handshake with?
Do some people cry?

 

maybe you should read the whole thread to get an idea on how an handshake looks like?

And yeah people do cry when they are moved by something, like a fan congratulating a member for ranking after so long, for example.

 

Puni is right, what exactly "a nice conversation" mean is entirely subjective, and every handshake is different (that's part of the fun), but I'd say as a general guideline, 3-5 tickets is what it takes to have a nice conversation.

Do they get salty after a while, handshaking with strangers for.. how long do they do this for?
Handshake slots last for an hour and a half. Popular girls will have 5-6 slots per event, less popular girls will have fewer, sometimes as little as just one. Members might be slightly saltier towards the end of the day, but I think saltiness has so much more to do with the individual member's personality and how they're feeling that day than the time of day. I've had great handshakes during the last slot of the day.

When you shake hands do you just grab the hand and don't actually shake it?
I usually actually do shake their hands, but you can just grab it if you want to.

So there's like only 2 seconds of grabbing the hand and the rest of the 7 seconds is just walking towards and away from her?
It's not that bad. Officially, you get 10 seconds per handshake ticket, but they take away 3 seconds of that for transition time. Most of the time, (though I have experienced glaring exceptions) one ticket gets you a full 7 seconds of face time with the member. You're maybe 2 steps away from them when you're next in line, so walking towards them doesn't take long at all, and you only walk away after your 7 seconds is up.

Can you designate who you want to handshake with?
Yes. That's how it works. For large handshake meetings, you buy a ticket with the individual's name on it. It's not that they just throw you in with a random member.

But seriously, there's a whole other thread specifically dedicated to how handshake events work, and Gocchisama is right. While I don't expect you to read 300+ pages of experiences, if you went back say 5 pages and read the reports you would have a good idea of how they work. Please do that before asking more questions.

 

I went to Sendai for Zenkoku handshake before I fly back home. Had to extend my trip for it but I really wanted to congrats Takamina for her rank and so I paid for the extension. LOL This is however, about Rie and Myao. I went to Rie's lane for a friend who's Rie-oshi, but what Myao told me shocked the hell out of me that I went a few more times to their lane.

Spoiler

1)
Rie: You’re here
Me: Yes! OO misses you
Rie: wwww where is he?
Me: Singapore!
Myao: You’re Shimada oshi!!!
Me: EH?!!?!
Myao: You’re 有名 (TN: Famous)
Me: ??????????

As I was going out, I could see them talking about me, as well as when I was going thru the lane again to requeue. It’s lucky because their lane is empty-ish so there’s always no one in front or behind me directly when I go in.

2) Rie: Ah! I also know about this!
Me: Know about what??
Rie: You!!
Myao: You’re 有名!! What’s the word in English~
Rie: (Eng) Popular!!
Myao: That’s popular, not 有名.
Rie: 有名…what’s that in English
Me: ???????????? 夢？ (TN: it’s read as Yume)
Myao: No no!! 有名！(TN: Read as Yuumei)

They were discussing non-stop about the translation for famous even when I was going out.

3) Rie: You’re back!
Me: Yeah
Rie: (Eng) 有名 is famous!
Myao: (Eng) Yes!!! Famous!! You’re famous. Members know!!
Me: Eh?!!?!??!?!!?
Rie: It’s true~~~
Me: Why?!
Rie & Myao: wwwww

4) Me: How do you know?
Myao: We always see you on Insta and Twitter, and Shimada’s Twitter?
Me: Eh? But…
Rie: Always talk about you…
Me: Eh?!?!?!?
Myao: And at theater show too…
Me: This is shocking
Myao: It’s ok, you’re famous wwwww
Me: That’s bad
Myao: It’s good!!!

It’s weird because I do not tweet Riechan and Myao????????????

5) Myao: The fan from Singapore
Me: wwww yes~
Rie: I want to go to Singapore!
Me: Come to Singapore!
Myao: I want to go to Singapore too!
Me: I’ll be guide~!
Myao: Famous guide
Me: Ehhhhh

This is shocking because I’ve never say I’m from Singapore when I’m in the lane, other than to Rie that my friend is back in Singapore. ;A;

6) Rie: (Eng) Give me ticket!! Ticket to Singapore!
Me: I’ll tell OO to give you ticket.
Rie: wwwww (Eng) Ok! I’ll go.
Me: wwww OO will pay
Myao: Me too!! Give me ticket!!
Me: Ok~ I’ll give you ticket and you and Rie-chan can come to Singapore
Rie: Vacation! Vacation to Singapore!
Myao: And you are our guide
Me: But I don’t speak Japanese
Rie: It’s ok~

7) Me: This is last ticket~
Rie: Are you going back Singapore?
Me: Yes, next week.
Rie: You’re in Japan for so long
Me: How do you know!?!
Myao: Because you’re famous
Me: wwww I’m not!!!
Myao: You’re so famous. More famous than me
Me: wwww Lies!
Rie: It’s not
Me: Byebye~
Myao: Safe flight to Singapore
Rie: Take Care
Me: Thank you!!

 

I actually attended my very first handshake event ever yesterday, in Osaka. I live in Japan, but in the countryside, and for some reason despite my fandom, attending a handshake event never crossed my mind until now. I decided to go with my Green Flash and Bokutachi wa Tatakawanai tickets and see what it was like. I'm not going to say anything those who haven't attended don't know, but I do have a couple questions near the end.

Pre-Handshake

There was lots of lining up, as to be expected. A long wait to get into the venue and see the concert, then after that, a long wait to get into the handshake event area, then waiting for your number to come up. Normally, I would disdain waiting around for such long periods of time, but it was totally worth it. The 22-song long concert alone was amazing, especially since I was lucky to be seated in the front center row section! I didn't expect to have such a good view, so I thanked my lucky stars. If the event had just been that live and no handshakes, it would still have easily been worth the trip.

Aft er that, it was more waiting and time for the handshake portion.

First Handshake: Maachun, Wasamin, and Harukyan

I went here basically for Wasamin, who I love mostly because she's by far the best singer in the group, in my opinion. I was also introduced to enka because of her. I like Maachun too, though confess I don't know Harukyan too well.

Maachun (sees me, eyes wide open): Wow! Thank you! (all in English)
Me: Thank you! (I wanted to say I love her impersonations, but they were already pushing me along and my prepared statements were out the window)
Wasamin: Oh, I love you! (in English)
Me: Thank you! You're the reason I listen to enka! (in Japanese)
Wasamin: Oh! I'm happy! (in Japanese)
Harukyan: (just stares at me awkwardly in silence while shaking my hand)
Me: Thank you!
Her: Oh no, thank you.

The handshake with Harukyan was unexpectedly really awkward. Maybe I screwed up by making my special comment to Wasamin, making her feel left out? I'm not sure. In any case, Maachun and Wasamin were super over the top and energetic, it was awesome.

Second Handshake: Yukirin

Yukirin was the first girl in AKB I ever chose as an oshi, so seeing her was very important for me. I was kind of hesitant after the scandal, simply cause I'm sure she's down and there's probably hecklers shaking her hand and insulting her to her face at times. Regardless, I decided to go through with it.

Yukirin: Arigatou!
Me: Arigatou! I'm very happy to finally meet you! (in Japanese)
Yukirin: Oh, you can speak Japanese (makes mouth moving motion with her hands)
Me: Yes. (being pushed along now) Thank you so much!
Yukirin: Thank you!

While Maachun and Wasamin were really over the top in their happiness, Yukirin seemed a lot more toned down. I caught a glimpse of Mayuyu next door and she seemed pretty similar.

Final Impressions

Overall, it was really great and easily worth the trip. I can't believe I didn't decide to attend sooner. I'm already basically set on attending the large handshake event in Osaka for their next single. That said, while I loved it and had a really good time, the handshakes themselves just felt like a giant blur at the time. They all went by so quickly, and the combination of them actually being in front of me, them looking even more beautiful in person, and all that resulted in me getting really flustered on top of it all. It was like my mind couldn't process it and before I knew it, I was standing there a minute later thinking "oh wow, I actually met them."

So did anyone else experience anything similar, and does it ever really go away? I had a lot of fun and want to do it again, but also feel a bit like an idiot, getting all flustered and starstruck like that. In any case, I was really happy throughout the whole day. Turns out money (in this case, purchasing singles) can buy happiness.

 

June 28, 2015 National Handshake @ Intex Osaka.

Some of you might wonder, "Hey, didn't this guy said that he doesn't really like National HS events? Why is he there again?"
Well..my stance towards National HS still remains the same, if anything even more sure lol. I usually don't go to Kansai for events as it's about 6 hours bus ride from where I live which also can be costly. Only events I go for in Kansai are NMB concerts and theater shows really. What drove me to go there this time was the 27th I won a NMB theater show also I had 26 free HS tickets that could be used for this National HS. Anyway, let's get this report going.



This was my first time coming to Intex Osaka and it wasn't for NMB, as a NMB hako oshi I was ashamed loll. The venue opens at 11:00, although the mini starts and HS starts after 13:00. I got to Intex at 11:00 and it was the longest fricken line I've seen for awhile at these Handshakes. I mean part of me understood "why", because this was for bokutachi's and we all know HOW many floating HS tickets are out there for this single lol...I'm sure AKS were also somewhat unprepared because the queue did not start moving till 11:20 or so. After a long while I finally got inside at around 12:30. Now we start another queue for ticket exchange, that took another 20min basically I was right in time for the mini live. They only let u exchange 5 tickets first go around, they give you a low numbered one and 4 regular ones.

Now, let's talk about the Mini Live. These mini live are really becoming larger and larger every time I go. Decent stage/lighting setups with 22 songs setlist. Honestly, these lives are getting so decent it's actually worth coming just for the freebie live loll.
They were promoting so much about AKB HS this event it was like...so obvious. First off when you go in to watch the live, staff hands out these paper uchiwa with PRs on them explaining the 2 different types of HS they do, and the upcoming 41st HS & Autograph Session. During the the live, they actually had a MC segment where Yuihan explains about their Handshakes, and PR about how they're also selling LE Bokutachiwa because they have "tickets you can use today!". I thought it was hilarious lolll because I've never been to an event yet where they actually sell the actual CDs WITH tickets you can use ON the day loll.

Okay now the HS itself. As usual, all you think about is how to burn your tickets the quickest way lol. Alot of members I went to see I didn't even really know what to say to them under such short amount of time so I just threw the typical gaijin response of "where I'm from".

Okada Nana/Kawamoto Saya Lane

I don't have to explain why I'm in this lane right? lol.

Naachan: Ah! Andyyy!! Hisabisa! (slang for long time no see) (Her voice/facial also had the "whats up?" tone it)
Me: Sorry, I've been busy.
Naachan: Oh~you've been busy ?
Me: Yeahh~ (What else was I going to say? I've been busy attending NMB events? lol )
*being pushed away*
Naachan: See you later!
Sayaya: Hello!
Me: Hi, I'm from Canada.
Sayaya: Ah! Thanks for coming!
Me: Byebye

Conclusion: During the HS I thought it was weird Naachan would say "long time no see" to me because she never says that to me. Then I traced back the last time I saw her at a handshake event was since April (excluding 2shots) so it's been over 2 months the last time I came with the intention to chit chat loll.
It was my first Sayaya, she looked energetic but a little too pre-programmed idol response. Although it can be forgiven since it's a National HS where people come for 3 secs each loll.



Nagao Mariya/Takajo Aki/Kitahara Rie Lane

I came to this lane pretty much for Mariyagi.

Mariyagi: Uwaaaaahhhh! * gives me a huge smile* Yahhooo!!! (It's kinda like.."Yo!" I guess? lol)
Me: Mariyagi Kenjuuuuuuu *does a hand gun pose* (Maybe 2 days ago she showed her new catchphrase at the theater performance, I saw @drazaar tweet about it so I decided to mention it)
Mariyagi: Bang! Bang! Bang! *also does a hand gun pose*
*being pushed* (you know you took too much time when the next 2 girls were already empty LOL)
Me: Hello lol, Nice to meet you *HS with both Akicha and Kitarie simultaneously*
Akicha: Hello!
Kitarie: Hello! ByeBye !

Mariyagi: Ah! Hello!
Me: Do you actually really remember me? lol
Mariyagi: Canada~
Akicha: Oh reallyyy? You're from Canada?
Me: Yeah lol.
Kitarie: Thanks for coming again!

Conclusion: Mariyagi is awesome and appreciates me showing up from time to time! She also has very nice taiou, nothing too over the top or too salty. In short a very down to earth type person. Kitarie cool chick, Akicha is just Akicha lol.



Mogi Shinobu/ Maeda Ami/Kato Rena Lane

At this point I was just lining up for any lane that's the shortest to use up my tickets.
The actual conversation is so bland I'm not even going to type it. It's just Hey, Oh, thanks for coming.

Conclusion: I think it was my first time seeing Mogi, she seemed okay? Ami, average. Renacchi was super unmotivated loll. I can say it's a salty experience, but I have met her before and she was much better then.



Iwatate Saho/Omori Miyu/Muto Tomu Lane

First time Miyupon and Tomu so I was pretty excited.

Me: I'm from Canada!
Saho: Oh really??? (Miyupon was already watching our interaction)
Me: Miyupon you're super CUTE!! (In English)
Miyupon: Ah! *giving me the AWW THANKS look*
Tomu: Really really really thank you for coming! *wouldn't let go of my hand as staff pushes me*

In Conclusion: As usual Saho never seems to make much impression for me. Miyupon was just being cute. Tomu seems like she'd give very good taiou if proper time given!



Yukirin Lane

First time seeing Yukirin. I always told myself I'd see her one day, altho kobetsu HS proves to be difficult because by seeing Yukirin I would lose tickets to see my oshis. This was her first HS since the whole Tegoshi Scandal and I figured this MAY be the best time for me to drop in and say hello loll.

Me: Hey! I'm from Canada. Nice to meet you for the first time!
Yukirin: *moves her head closer to me with a confused look* Canada? That, Canada? Really??
Me: Yeah. By the way, don't worry about it! *fist knock my chest* (refering to the scandal, I'm sure she knows lol)
Yukirin: *tried to copy me but realized it probably doesn't look too good when a girl does it so instantly changed it to a thumbs up with bright smile*

Conclusion: Short but I think It satisfied my urge to see her once. I can see her giving real kami taiou if time is given. Well, I mean she's known for her good taiou anyway.




Alright so this is when the HS queue cut off time. What's left is Matomedashi, which is something I want to spend a little time this report to explain because some people on my twitter didn't know what it was.

Matomedashi has been held at the end of these National HS events for awhile now. Basically it's your last chance to use up all your remaining tickets in 1 go on a specific member. At this point I still had about 20 and I was really desperate and hoping I can use them all up on Naachan. They will have each members in their own lane, and it would be displayed on the screen. This is when you line up for the member you want to matomedashi quickly. Soon after they announce the lanes, they will then soon close the queue for all members displayed. Recently with the National HS events being so pushed back, the accumulated tickets are built up quite a bit which means they will need to set a max limit to matomedashi to each members. Usually these limits are still within reasons but this venue it was SUPERRR bad because there was simply too many people.



As you can see, there were so many members with just 2-3 tickets max, it's laughable to even call that matomedashi lol. After the girls are done their matomedashi lane, they leave and another girl will take her lane and that's when you can line up again quickly. Technically you can matomedashi multiple members depending on your timing, although it may not be the members you'd want to matomedashi lol.


Okada Nana Limit.4 Matome

Naachan: Hello Andy!
Me: Heyy Naachan. I wen't to the Majisuka Stage play.
Naachan: Oh you did! *points to herself* Okita! Okita!
Me: Yes...I know lol... (Come on, of course I would know...)
Naachan: What did you think about the play??
Me: It was really good. You were amazing, especially the gap. That gap (the character she was vs who she is) was amazing.
Naachan: Right?? I had blonde hair and all that!
Me: lol, what do you think about blonde hairs?
Naachan: Hmmm.. I dyed it! *pointing to her current brown hair* Come again ok!


Nagao Mariya Limit.2 Matome

Mariyagi and Sayaya popped up the same time and I was hesitating because I wanted to check out Sayaya more and I know I have a buncha tickets for Mariyagi in August. I decided to stay in Mariyagi's lane because Sayaya had 3 times the longer queue so I thought maybe Mariyagi would have a higher limit. NOPE. SAME.


Me: I came again. Woah, kakkoiii. Stussy! (the members changed into their personal clothes and mariyagi were wearing a black NY Cap and a Stussy Tee)
Mariyagi: Oh! Thank you! *pulls her cap to show off her coolness to me*
Me: It's super Boyish look.
Mariyagi: Yes! That's right! It's supposed to be!
Me: Alright see you!
Mariyagi: Thanks for coming again!


Nakanishi Chiyori Limit 2 Matome

At this point I know they will all be just 2 because they probably trying to finish the event asap. First time Chiyori..? Maybe, I'm not sure.

Me: Hello, I'm from Canada. Nice to meet you!
Chiyori: Wait, Canada? Are you serious? *giving me the non believer look for the longest time and trying to trigger me to speak English*
Me: Yes, I'm serious lol.
Chiyori: You don't look like one at all lol.


Taniguchi Megu Limit 2 Matome

I've heard good things about her HS and wanted to check it out for myself. Plus I think she's quite cute/pretty.

Megu: Thanks for coming!
Me: Nice to meet you. I'm from Canada.
Megu: Ah! Really now.
Me: You know where that is? lol
Megu: Yep! It's_________. (This is when I didn't quite catch her, she said America and I thought she was going to say something about north of or close to America but instead she was telling me about some person living in America which confused the heck out of me)


This all ended at about 8:45pm. Today was so bad they were offering people to exchange their numbered tickets back to the original ticket form. This is maybe the first time I've ever heard of them doing that, since they usually just give you a stamp and allow you to use it as replacement tickets for future events.

They gave you 3 options; you could either exchange the numbered tickets back to Green Flash tickets (which can be used on Aug 22 in Nagoya), back to Bokutachiwa tickets (future dates not announced yet) OR be used for upcoming 41st single National HS ticket which is ONLY usable for the Osaka one. It was pretty confusing and everyone was confused I had to listen to multiple conversations between staffs and fans to get the whole gist of it. Now the queue for exchanging the tickets weren't LONG, but it took FOREVER. There were too many people with fricken hundreds and thousands. Since they had so many they were also paranoid of miscounts so they double count EVERYTHING the staff counted. I didn't get to exchange my 10 tickets back till like 9:30pm lol. It was way too much work for 10 free tickets if you ask me lol.



Final Words: As usual, I think National HS is too much like a chain of factory belt with HS on auto pilot mode. The nature of the event also encourages you burn all your tickets on the less popular girls. For me who I know who I want to see and ONLY see, this is extremely boring. The way I can only enjoy it is treat it as a catch'em all event. Check out the girls I normally would never see in Kobetsu HS. That being said, I "might" go to the August Nagoya one JUST to see Naachan and use up the remaining. We will see!
Hope you guys learned something new again reading!

 

Long and late post warning.

Back from Japan (and a few other places in Asia but that's irrelevant for here) after a healthy dose of idols and idol events. I'll keep it concise as some other members have recapped their experiences already.

AKB48 Koko ga Rhodes! 2-shots @ Tokyo Big Sight - 30 May 2015

Spoiler: due to length

Members: Kitagawa Ryoha (slot 1), Matsui Rena (1), Tanaka Miku (1), Futamura Haruka (2), Suda Akari (2), Kumazaki Haruka (3), Kizaki Yuria (3), Kitano Ruka (3), Takayanagi Akane (4), Hidaka Yuzuki (4), Yabuki Nako (5), Umemoto Madoka (5), Oya Masana (5), Tani Marika (6), Furuhata Nao (6), Shibata Aya (7), Watanabe Miyuki (7), Kawamoto Saya (8), Nishino Miki (8)

No, I'm not going to post my photos on Stage48 - sorry! - but if you follow me on other forms of social media you know where to find them.

Having only been to Makuhari Messe previously, I prefer Tokyo Big Sight more for the space and facilities. The only issue is transportation - Rinkai Line is infrequent and the Yurikamome is slo-o-w.

Pro-tip: if you need to get your tickets verified, get to these events early in the morning, particularly 2-shots (if they ever hold one again), even if your slot doesn't start until later in the day. Now that everyone knows about getting to the info desk to get your tickets verified and stamped before you queue up, everyone goes there first thing. I was lucky I arrived there before they opened up the venue so I got mine verified quickly but as I was lining up for slot 1, noticed the info desk line balloon up in size with foreigners - almost as long a wait time as (or even worse than) a Jurina or Sayanee queue. And from some reports online, some foreigners were quickly turned away at the lane ID checks to be sent packing to the info desk if they didn't have their tickets verified. Sounds anal, I know, but it pays to be safe than sorry and miss a few members.

Now, the 2-shots proper. As I quickly realised after slot 1, you will not be able to squeeze in much of a conversation, before and after the photo taking. So the only thing I did manage to talk about was me intro-ing myself (as an Aussie) and a stock "good luck for the election" (or something else relevant if they weren't participating or not interested in the election). Of course, some members were better than others - specifics below:

• Just to make the point extra clear to the members, I wore an Australia/koala t-shirt. Yes, some members did point it out and figured out the connection. Most were happy that an Aussie did come and see them, particularly the less popular (SKE48) members. Oh, and Sayaya.
• I heard that she can be rather tsundere but Uha seemed in decent spirits, even for an early morning slot 1 first up.
• Being a train geek, Rena put up a "Limited Express" (特急) sign on her table. And yes, her entire lane and 2-shot experience was indeed as fast as these services suggest.
• The eventual photo doesn't quite tell the story but staring into Harutamu's face - for a fairly long time - felt like heaven.
• Only Masana spoke to me in half-decent English. Least that's better than all the other members - A+ for effort.
• Dasu wore a yukata and, given that she announced it the day before the 2-shots, so did some of her fans in her lane. I suppose she also knew I was coming that day, hence her "おかえり！" . Unfortunately, as happy as I was, couldn't say too much. Wasn't worried too much though, as I had quite a number of HS slots with her over the next few weeks.
• Both @ithebigc and I noticed that Nako wasn't feeling that well so she was a little bit out of it in the arvo. Her partner in crime, Mikurin, on the other hand... what a contrast.
• Churi (bird), Yuria (peace), Kumachan (bear) and the rest of the SKE48 members were fairly basic 2-shot affairs so not much to comment on unfortunately.
• Umechan looked a tad positively surprised that I knew she was a Ferrari oshi.
• Tani is... Tani. Never legit hi-5'd any member like a bro 'till now. Nor the following conversation:
  
  me: 谷！オーストラリアから来ました。
  た: あ！！！ HI FIVE!!! ハート！ハート！
  (pic taken)
  た: タニラブ？
  me: (mangled mess that came out as 「はい」)
  た: あああ！嬉しい！ありがとう！またね
  
  
• Ayachan tried fishing me with her stock phrase that she uses on every foreigner (allegedly):
  
  me: <same as above>
  あ: あ！すごい！嬉しい！
  (pic taken)
  me: 総選挙頑張って！
  あ: ありがとう！「アイ・ラブ・ユー」<tight grip>
  
  And yes, we both did the classic "あやちゃんのために" pose.
  
  
• Milky had to pause for a bit. To redo her hair and makeup and check her phone.
• Granted it was the final slot in the evening, but Mikichan was probably the coldest experience of all - not even a brief word and she already asked me what pose I wanted.

Few other random observations:

• Completely underestimated how much spare time I would have, as 2-shots went by very quickly. Then again, I had three tickets I couldn't use (due to SKE48 grads) so that contributed to it.
• Saw most of the Aidol Team there. Even managed to get a decent selfie with that man himself. And, incidentally, so did a few other Japanese wota who recognised him.
• Even with her infamous special barriers, I heard from various reports on the ground that Paruru was, for all intents and purposes, a cardboard model. Probably stretching my literary licence there a bit, but you could replace her with an actual cardboard cut-out and the experience wouldn't be too dissimilar.
• Was quite close to her lane and Yukirin came out for a bit to thank her fans and wished her luck for the election.
• Although the real reason why I was close to Yukirin's lane was it was right next to Kojimako's (it was around her birthday so birthday committee and all). No, I didn't get a 2-shot with her, although a 100+-shot is a decent enough consolation prize. (If you didn't quite get the hint, spot me. I'm in there).
• Yes, an earthquake did happen. Luckily I had finished all my 2-shots by then and was waiting for everyone else to finish whilst charging my phone when the earth shook. Thankfully no injuries, or cancellations for that matter, but all the trains stopped running and didn't get back up until at least 11:30pm. Which made for some interesting "how to get out of here" and "what's for dinner" conversations.

Overall, a very fun, and incredibly tiring, experience for 12-13 hours straight.

SKE48 Coquettish Juutaichu HS @ Tokyo Big Sight - 31 May 2015
Cross-post to here.

AKB48 41st single Senbatsu Sousenkyo event @ Fukuoka Dome - 6 June 2015

Spoiler: due to length

Thanks to @ithebigc for winning 2 tickets! Granted, I applied for two as well but I failed all my applications .

By now, you should know what this year's rankings are and who got 1st, so I'll skip all that.

Arrived at Fukuoka the day before, but not after watching mister Miyawaki Sakura smash out 150+ voting tickets on the train and in the Shinkansen waiting room at JR Hakata . And certainly not after running around trying to find any remaining BwT CDs to vote with, less than 20 minutes before the deadline. In a last ditch effort, we managed to find a Tower Records and bought a few. Unfortunately, this is super polite Japanese service (i.e. courteous, procedural to the dot... but we don't have time to waste!) so only mr. Sakura managed to vote with one of his CDs and none of mine as by then the clock ticked past 3.

All hotels were sold out around the Fukuoka area for obvious reasons, but I was lucky as I booked very early so I stayed right next to JR Hakata. Went and bought binoculars (because we were seated quite far back), sales clerk asked me, "You're here for AKB yeah?".

Morning of the election came, and I was there early to buy goods and photos. 5,250 yen (1,050 yen x 5 = 1 pack of photos x 5) become a very common sight at the cash register. Queued, bought a few bits and pieces, waited for the Miyawaki fanboy to arrive and we entered.

Started off with a nice hour-long concert - setlist below (since finding it amongst 186 pages of SSK discussion is a PITA):

Spoiler: length

1. Bokutachi wa Tatakawanai
2. UZA
3. First Rabbit
4. After Rain
5. Oogoe Diamond
6. Heavy Rotation
7. MC1
8. 12-byou
9. Rock dayo, Jinsei wa...
10. Durian Shonen
11. Coquettish Juutaichuu
12. Kafka to Dendenmu Chu!
13. Danshi wa Kenkyuu Taishou
14. MC2
15. Kegareteiru Shinjitsu
    
16. Seijun Philosophy
17. Seifuku ga Jama wo suru
18. How Come?
19. Deai no hi, wakare no hi
20. Bare bare bushi
21. Flying Get
22. Kokoro no Placard
23. Ponytail no Shushu
24. Everyday, Kachuusha
25. Iiwake Maybe
26. MC4
27. Kibouteki Refrain

Even though we were quite far back, our binoculars proved decent enough to be able to make out faces so half my time was spent searching for Dasu and the other half fanboying away with penlights. Oh, and she did tell us on Google+ to bring orange penlights (for when SKE48 would perform) so I did.

After the short concert, there was an intermission before the election proper, which mainly consisted of CMs on the screens and super long and packed toilet queues.

Then the election. Which I won't go into too much detail but here were some highlights from the seats:

• First, an apology. Those who followed me on Twitter might have noticed me tweeting about Tsuuchan (ex-SKE48 Iwanaga Tsugumi) being present on the night seated with the rest of the SKE48. Turns out I was 110% wrong. How I managed to get her and Arai Yuki mixed up (after watching the video back at home) I don't know. I blame the binoculars.
• It was a tough and emotionally challenging night for me as you can imagine. Tweeting and watching on TV is one thing; being there live is a completely different beast. Even from far back, seeing Dasu break down in front of your face metres down below, and her subsequent speech, was probably the most difficult thing I've ever had to watch. Live. (Not to mention with all the large screens surrounding you).
• The stage turning a nice shade of pink when Sakura ranked.
• Dasu and Yuria didn't immediately return to their seats after UG speeches and backstage photo-shoots ended. Yuria was holding her up when the speeches ended. In fact, it wasn't until around Kitarie or Yuihan's rank that they returned. #broforlife
• We were seated closer to the HKT48 and SKE48 stands, so I managed to see all the girls' facial expressions when they were waiting for their results to be announced (or otherwise).
  • Jurina was calmly waiting for her result, for example.
  • Or the look at Ayachan's clearly bored face when a host of Team 8 members came out.
  • Hidaka Yuzuki in tears when Kamata Natsuki ranked. Same with Dasu when Gorisa ranked. And Sasshi when Tani ranked.
  • Kaotan not looking too happy when Dasu got ranked.
• People leaving in droves when Mayuyu ranked.

Event over, we bought more photos until they closed shop, took a cab and went back home until it was nearly midnight when all the trains stopped.

Overall, well, it's the sousenkyo with all the emotion and drama that comes with it every year. But it's a completely different experience when there's no wall of text, commercials every 30 seconds or so, or waiting for streams to buffer. Glad to be there live for Sasshi's 2nd year of queen-dom.

AKB48 41st single Senbatsu Sousenkyo Koyasai Concert @ Fukuoka Dome - 7 June 2015

Spoiler: due to length

Day two of more dome madness.

Again, early start for me. Bus was filled with wota, male and female. Down the photos queue I went, only to be stopped by some guy wanting to trade photos with me, someone who has never ever thought of trading photos before (and not merely collecting). Welcome, I said to myself, to the world where tens of thousands of yen gets drained from your wallet.

The entire Yahoo! Auctions (nee Fukuoka) Dome was in the AKB48 mood. Even the local McDonalds down at Hawks Town Mall was looping AKB48 singles in the background.

Set-list a bit long (see below), but I can definitely feel Sasshi's influence in the set-list creation:

Spoiler: length

1. Soredemo Suki dayo (SSK senbatsu)
2. Sakura, minna de tabeta (SSK senbatsu)
3. Kimi to Niji to Taiyou to (SSK senbatsu)
4. Heavy Rotation (all SSK ranked members)
5. MC1
6. Matenrou no Kyori (*new* Team A)
   
7. Area K (Team K)
8. Megami wa Doko de Hohoemu (Team B)
   
9. Downtown Hotel 100 Goushitsu (Team 4)
10. Birth (Team 8 senbatsu)
11. HKT48
12. Tsuyoki mono yo (SKE48)
13. Punkish (NMB48)
14. Bokutachi wa Tatakawanai (senbatsu)
15. Tenohira ga Kataru koto (all)
16. Maeshika Mukanee (all)
17. After rain (all)
18. MC
19. Kafka to Dendenmu Chu!
20. Danshi wa Kenkyuu Taishou
21. Summer side
22. Bare bare bushi
23. MC
24. Juujun na Slave
25. Green Flash
26. MC
27. Everyday, Kachuusha (AKB48)
28. Oki Doki (SKE48)
29. Don't look back (NMB48)
30. 12-byou (HKT48)
31. Melon Juice (HKT48)
32. Oogoe Diamond (all)
33. Iiwake Maybe (all)
34. KFC (all)
35. MC
36. Arigatou (all)

<encore>

1. Anata ga Ite Kureta kara (Sashihara solo)
2. Shojotachi yo (all)
3. Kibouteki Refrain (all)
4. MC
5. Koko ga Rhodes da, Koko de Tobe! (all)

Specific highlights:

• This time, we were seated closer, although a bit further right of the stage. But everyone's faces were definitely clear.
• Same as with yesterday, given the line of work I'm in, found it a little bit disconcerting to see Deutsche Bank, Accenture and IBM banners up around the dome, contrasting with idol fun below.
• Best wait for the inevitable DVD/BD release, but they did an around-the-world theme for the first team/sister group segment. Including a bit of Engrish and some very interesting production set pieces. It was all very fluidly done, nothing quite fell out of place.
• Subtle political anti-war message in Bokutachi wa Tatakawanai, including an unexpectedly fairly moving segue into Tenohira ga Kataru koto and Maeshika Mukanee. Overall, whoever designed this production definitely thought about this set-list a lot. The above points, the Sasshi set pieces, and so forth. Probably one of the better 48G concerts I've watched, both live and on disc.
• After yesterday night's emotional rollercoaster, Dasu was smiling again. I was happy. Funny though, as they were back-dancing for Bare Bare Bushi, Ikumin provided a nice salty contrast.
• @ithebigc bought out his Sakura towel when she came out on the carts. Too bad she was looking the other way with her back towards us.
• Whilst we were both sweating our assess off, binoculars at the helm and waving our penlights like no tomorrow, the guy sitting next to us clearly could not be bothered. All he did was stand up, presumably look for his oshimen and sit back down, even during the performances proper. Luckily he left before the encore which meant more room for me afterwards.

Overall, a very high-quality concert, one to admire and at the same time enjoy to the fullest. Timings were just right - no insanely long no-MC marathons, quirky (but not voluminous) MCs and an appropriate mix of high-intensity single medleys with more downbeat couplings. Better still, what a great way to celebrate Sasshi's victory.

Concert having ended, lingered around with that Sakura oshi whilst he traded photos. Unfortunately I lost track of time and realised I needed to get to the airport back to Tokyo for my onward connection elsewhere the next day. Luckily, I was checked in (how early? At the point of completing my flight booking - unheard of in Australia) so all I had to do was pick up my luggage from JR Hakata and head straight for the airport. Which was a fairly rushed, albeit straightforward, affair given how close Fukuoka Airport was to JR Hakata. But I managed to get to the airport and have a quick bite to eat before I boarded the plane. Idol adventures done, I can relax and head to my next destination.

Spoiler: bonus

Or so I thought until I passed security and proceeded towards the boarding gate.

And then noticed right in front of me as I was walking were very familiar people. One was named Shiroma Miru in a dark green jacket. Another girl right next to her, whose name happened to be Yabushita Shu. Oh, and Fujie Reina was there too. All chatting about. At first I thought, "ok maybe it's just those three. Funny encounter, but I can deal with that."

Kept walking a bit more towards the gate, given I didn't have much time left before boarding. Oh look, Shibata Aya with a cap and texting away on her phone. Sato Sumire, Yakata Miki and Kato Rumi too, also catching up with some of the aforementioned NMB48 members. Matsumura Kaori and a bunch of other members I couldn't make out on the moving walkway laughing and chatting about.

And then I felt a bit thirsty, given I was walking and running to the airport so I went and bought a bottle of water from the nearby shop. Lo and behold, Miyamae Ami was around two metres away from where I was at the drinks section. Went to pay, saw Suda Akari (with a cap, clearly without makeup anymore) chatting happily with someone on her flip phone.

"Something's not quite right here", I thought. "Surely they must be going home on another flight, why the hell would they be heading to Tokyo?". So I boarded the flight.

And then moments later they all boarded my flight. I could list a whole heap of names here of members I saw but in short, most of SKE48 (election) ranked members (except Jurina and Rena, and with Koishi Kumiko - you name 'em all, they were all there) and some of NMB48 ones were on my flight. Being the respectful wota I was, I quickly hid all evidence that I was a wota in case I get shunned further . Lucky I wasn't wearing anything obvious that would catch me immediately as one though. The guy sitting next to me on the flight also noticed them, clearly a wota judging from his own 2-shots that he was browsing through and looping Nogizaka46 and AKB48 MVs during the flight.

From the Anmi and Dasu slurping down to finish off their ice cream cones, to the many masked and (baseball) capped members without makeup (some obviously passing by my aisle), the member (possibly Nao or Kumazaki Haruka) whose cap was bent so down low that you couldn't tell who she was, the perfectly normal Tani, Azumarion literally centimeters away from where I was sitting as someone was loading their luggage behind me overhead, someone saying hi to Non and her saying hi back, and the Harutamu "death glare" (or so I called it) - I must say, it was both very awkward yet very surreal and a very rare encounter of idols off work and avoiding unnecessary public scrutiny. Didn't even have the balls to get up to go to the lavatory behind me in case I get death stared again

And no, they were all seated in the rear section whilst I was in the first half. And absolutely no pictures, unless you want AKS to kick my ass out of the entire fandom (yes, their managers - just two or three - were there as you'd fully expect).

Plane landed, went to collect baggage. (Boy, Miorin has some strange fashion tastes. Some of the SKE48 members clearly were typing away on their blog posts during their flight; a few minutes I landed I got a whole bunch of SKE48 Ameblo and Official Blog notifications and SKE48 member tweets - and even before the seatbelt sign turned off *looks at Churi*. And Mirurun was playing with some stranger's little kid). Everyone was on their smart/flip phones texting away. As you'd expect, they also had luggage to collect. Being polite and all, they all stepped aside whilst us common folk collected our baggage. Well, almost all, until I saw Mikitty and Rumi going for their luggage as soon as it came out And I collected mine and, passing by Gorisa who was nearby, left the airport towards my hotel.

In hindsight, they probably had Mizugi Surprise (and other) photoshoots in Tokyo so I'm not completely surprised that they were on my flight. Reports from the internet also suggested some of the AKB48 members were on a similarly timed flight from a different carrier too. Regardless, that was probably the strangest and craziest flight I've ever been on in my entire life, and a most unexpected way to cap off 1.5 weeks of idol-dom for now*.

*Although there was that incident where I happened to bump into a whole bunch of very famous JAV stars at a train station, but that's another story...

SKE48 Coquettish Juutaichu HS @ Intex Osaka - 14 June 2015
Cross-post to here.

 

@Sakuraism you got the catch-phrase in there what a champion . It would take me multiple normal hs tickets to pull it off LOL. Also you saw naachan at 2shots in may unless you're not counting that. I think I would have liked all those lanes~ Well done Canada-san

 

@drazaar lol well only part of the catchphrase. Yeah I know I saw Naachan for 2shot, but I didn't count that since 2shot you're just there to take a photo. I think the members more or so see it that way as well.

 

Man @chewybacca that is my dream experience to be in a plane with a bunch of SKE members like that. And you actually got to live through that, i seriously would kill for that kind of stress.

 

I'm sorry @chewybacca I'm new to the whole "what to do when you see a 48G member irl outside of events," but what do you mean by shunned and/or kicked out of the fandom? I vaguely know of the rule of bothering members coming to & from theatres which gets you banned from theatre shows or something. But. Ok. Can you strike up a conversation with them outside of events if you're sitting next to them on the plane or something? What's the deal with "being shunned" for having/wearing recognizable wota material?

I'M SO CONFUSED.

My instinct, reading that last experience report, is that *assuming* I'm a Dasu-oshi-- I would've talked to her at some point when she's not on her phone, when it's not inconvenient, and when it's least awkward aka like how strangers usually talk to other strangers when flying commercial. From your report, I assume I'd be shunned from the fandom for my line-stepping or something? I'm so lost on *this* one facet of wota life...

 

Long story short, it's dependent on context. Believe me, I was highly tempted to strike up even a mere "hello" to Dasu, particularly when I had an aisle seat and she was walking along my aisle towards her seat a few rows back.

To be safe though, I'd rather not risk getting (at worst) banned from the 48 fandom by AKS if I make inappropriate contact with the members outside of officially sanctioned events. There have been cases in the past where members met with certain fans in private, and the repercussions were quite severe for the members involved.

Whilst in reality I highly doubt that would happen if you merely casually acknowledged them in public without creating much of a fuss, Japanese culture is heavily rooted in respect and politeness. I don't know about Dasu specifically but some members might not actually like it in general if fans don't respect their privacy outside of work. There's a reason why some don't go outside in public without a face mask and/or baseball caps. I personally go with the motto "what's work is work; what's outside of work is outside of work". This is what I think is the generally accepted point; obviously not everyone chooses to follow it, however, and it's open to interpretation.

In this specific context though, given that there were a large number of members present, plus a few managers or two, the risk of creating a public disturbance was a bit too much for my liking. In reality, knowing her I don't think she would have cared too much, but I'd rather not find out if the opposite was true, considering I had handshake events with her the following week.

(This is all my opinion though, other users may have different thoughts. But at the time I really had no idea on how to react, if at all; what are the chances of bumping into your idols in public? I suspect quite low and you would certainly not go in with the expectation of doing so anyway).

 

Like I always tell people, it really depends how you uphold yourself. Problem with fans are that we tend to get wayyyy too excited in the presence of our idols hence it's usually looked down upon when it comes to interacting with them outside of work. Think of them just as any random stranger and ask yourself how would you interact with them? Where would you draw the line to prevent intruding their privacy? Would you be asking for handshakes or an autograph? When you start thinking about questions like this you realize you can actually really easily accidentally make them feel uncomfortable.
I'm sure if I didn't know them and decided to just have a random chit chat it'd probably turn out okay. It's not because I'm not a "fan" so I can't be blacklisted, but rather It's a lot easier for me to treat them as they should be.

Plus Japanese don't really interact with strangers in public all that much in the first place unless you're trying to pick someone up.

 

I've met members on the streets before and tbh I've always been apprehensive in approaching them. I'm not Japanese, and I had experience in K-Pop and meeting stars on the road, which is totally different from AKB definitely, so I'm cautious about the whole personal space and interaction with strangers.

The first was when I literally bumped into Minarun in a subway stop because I really wasn't looking at where I was going. Said an apology head-down, and then later was shocked to see her (without mask) and she laughed it off. I've seen Tomu a few times at subway (we happened to stay at the same-ish location) and she stared at me a lot, like she recognise me, but doesn't know/sure. I've never really went to say hi or anything cus I haven't really interacted with her at official events then.

Saw Tanochan and Hirari (on different occasions) while shopping, and had a short conversation with Tanochan since she was the one who spotted me first. For Hirari, it was a whooping 13-minutes conversation but I was really mindful about how she was reacting (if I was overstepping boundaries and stuffs). I did ask her if management will be okay with it and asked a little about her and if she had time, but she reassured its okay. Like I was thinking if it's just courtesy that she said she didn't mind it, but she was starting topics on her own so I guess she was fine. LOL And there was the meeting of Nyannyan at the airport since we are both flying to Fukuoka after PON that day. It's always 苦手 for me when it comes to Nyannyan, even though I've seen her so many times for HS and PON. I didn't dare to approach her at all, but she saw me and it was awkward. She was at the standing sushi bar which I was going towards to grab a bite before I fly, but just as I was near it, I saw her eating. :/ She acknowledged my presence a few times and it was kinda funny, awkward, but nice of her.

But yeah, my bottom line for interacting with members on streets is basically if they are the members know me. Like members that I've met a lot at HS, I'd say hi and depending, to talk a little more. But if it's just random members, I'd probably just leave them alone like I did for Minarun and Tomu.

 

Keep in mind Hillary is an American too - and we have totally different social standards when it comes to strangers here. I'd imagine that's part of the reason she is more open to talking with fans.

As far as what I would do - I'm not sure I could not be/act shocked - however id probably just nod my head at them or something. Sorta depends on the instance Id imagine.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

^ I believe that's so too, but at the same time, if it's someone whom she hadn't meet before, I don't think she would be nice enough to stand around to talk for 10-over minutes. She did talk to me about some of mgmt restrictions and stuffs but it's basically things we already know. And it's funny because she had time to kill, and she was actually heading to check out something that I told her about when I saw her 'A')/