Your Sakurazaka46 / Keyakizaka46 Experiences (HS, fan meeting, concerts, etc)

I will post my reports on detail tomorrow but I will write this first before I forget even more details.

When lining up for Pe-chan's Round 6, I use the nickname "Aoko that lives in Indonesia (インドネシアに住んでいるアオコ)".

Then I was stopped by staff and I was asked if I have a Japanese residence card. I said no, I'm and Indonesian living in Indonesia. They said OK and took me back to the queue.

For several times I receive the notification of verification again, but no one said anything even after I asked "Hello? Can you hear me?" (the mic and camera was opened).

About ~ 5 minutes or so after the initial verification, I was contacted again.

S: Hello? Can you hear me?
Me (M): Yes, I can
S: I ask again, can you hear me?
M: Yes
S: The situation have changed. (This event) can only be attended by people who reside in Japan. For this time it is allowed
M: "The situation has changed"??? But there are other overseas fans other than me who already have tickets for this single
S: It'll be fine for this single
M: I see??

Then it just sort of ended and I got placed into the waiting queue. I immediately asked someone if they are could write a mail to FortuneMusic for clarification and they did, so I guess we can only wait for response now.

In Twitter I see that Thailand fans are getting into the same trouble in Round 6, with some of them even reporting that they are kicked (!!!) out of the lane.

 

Guess we won't know until fortune says something. Something bad might've happened but man, some people are being unnecessarily cruel on twt when we don't even know what happened yet.

 

Each time I got the notification of verification I just went through to the next stage without anyone speaking to me. As I said in my report I didn't seem to have any problems with my ID (a UK passport). For three of the chats I got what sounded like a recorded voice with a progress bar underneath. Before it got to the end the button beneath it turned green and pressing it took me straight to the next stage so I assumed it was some sort of connection test - did anyone else get that? For the other two chats I got nothing like that. At no time did I find myself interacting with any staff member unlike with the WithLIVE app for AKB48 and IZ*ONE when I've always briefly talked with someone but mainly to confirm that capturing video and stills isn't allowed.

I've got a bunch of tickets for Nogizaka events in February and March so I hope it won't be restricted outside of Japan.

 

Oh no

The week before the meguri I was waiting for some sort of email or notice from them to send our identity documents beforehand - did not know they would check on the day. Possibly staff-san was being considerate on the first day. We won't know for sure until we get a response from fortune music. Then again, they did say passport or resident visa and the previous reports from Hina meguri confirmed it.

Yup, that is what it is. I only experienced staff-san talking to me when I went to work (yes, stupid, I know when I have a scheduled meguri) and asked me to move to another location as they could see some people behind me. They could not put me in the queue before I did that, I complied and everything went as planned.

 

Fortunately I didn't have any problem with the passport. Just regular checks like @David61 explained already.
I had a small lag while talking with TakeYui but other than that and my japanese just giving up at some point everything went well lol

TakeYui is as cute as she looks 90% of the time. I loved how bright her smile is and I'm pretty sure I made a fool of myself more times than I counted, but she seemed to be happy to met someone from Italy and she learnt my dog name (who decided she wanted be part of the chat) and I managed to tell her I love her dancing.

Marino is another cutie with a.. very intense way to look at you? I don't know how to explain it, but she smiled a lot too and I managed to tell her I loved her PV and to wish her happy bday, which she thanked me for. I ended it with as many ganbatte as I could because I finished both my japanese and my braincells lol
I'm just glad she knows there's people cheering on her

My biggest regret is not having tried for Rei.
I didn't because I expected her to sold out pretty soon since her push was immediate and I wanted cheer on members who had less impact, like Marino and Akiho. I have no idea how I managed to not get even 1 ticket for Akiho.. but sometimes luck is just against you, I guess.
Still... I should have gone for Rei too

@rdamon42 you asked on twitter but then I forgot to answer you so...I had to wait around 10 minutes but I think the wait also depends on the hour you got to met them?

About the passport thing..... for once we had the chance to "met" the girls we support and follow and fight about every single day, and for many people going to Japan may be impossible, so this has been an amazing chance. For once mngmnt allowed us to be part of something we watch from outside more or less legally and asked us 2 things: to not record the meeting and to have a passport.
Somehow we managed to screw it up.
I'm not going to partecipate to Nogi M&G this time and I'm not even a fan of Nogi-fans... but I really hope we didn't cause any problem to their chance to meet Nogi members.
Next time, if it will ever come, follow the rules, please.

 

Yeah, I think Marino and Hikari both came across a lot differently on the meguri calls than they do on variety, but in a good way. Bought tickets for both primarily because I saw they weren’t selling well, and I came away from both calls really wanting to support them moving forward. I have more tickets for both coming up in future sessions.

 

Same with Rikopi. She wasn't one of my top oshis but she was easily one of the best experiences I've had meeting any kind of celebrity ever. Very bubbly, energetic, and super kind. I really hope she gets more love from both fans and management.

 

I hope so too. Apparently for this single they gave the okay, but I'm still worried about my remaining dates on January 10 and 23 to be honest.

 

So it has happened. People with foreign passports are getting turned away from the meguri.

My slots with Risa tomorrow are in jeopardy. I'll still try, but it doesn't look good at this point.

All we had to do was follow instructions and use passports. Now it has jeopardized this for all international fans.

 

I've been reading reports on Twitter that they've gone as far as asking questions of local landmarks, calling the person, and asking them to go outside to take a photo in attempts to confirm that these people are in Japan.

It's a shame that they'd go and change the rules on everyone, especially fans that live outside Japan. Makes me wonder what they'd do once in-person events can start to happen again.

 

The living-in-Japan rule is there so, legally, they're in their right, and if they turned away foreing people before taking their money this would have been even acceptable.

Like this... like this it feels just like a scam.
And it is not okay.

There's the small chance some people may get a refound by fortune music, but I think it will be very hard.
There's the fact this obviously left a bad taste in fans mounth and empty wallets, since we aren't all rich and for many getting tickets may meant renouncing to other stuff.. it also means members are not meeting a part of fandom they seemed so happy about, and japanese fans who didn't get tickets to have lost their chances because of those of us who didn't get to enjoy the remaining m&g.

...all in all it's quite a mess no fans and members deserved and which, once again, show how unreliable this mngmnt is.

the lack of privacy some of the staff questions and demands shown (at least reading reports) is also very questionable.

I hope someway snf realize their mistake and find a way to make it right for everyone; but I seriously doubt it.
In which case I hope the whole fanbase will stand up and do something because a mistake is acceptable, a scam isn't.

I doubt someone would really be up to organize a stike in the 1st week of 2nd single, but something needs to be done regardless.

 

Wait, haven't people. . . paid for this? I mean, if management wanna lose goodwill with the group's fans this is one way to go about it.

 

While I absolutely know what you mean and am upset about it as well, we did need to use fake Japanese addresses and change phone regions to Japan in order to create accounts and utilize the app. I’d very much like a partial refund (which is also complicated by the fact that what we bought were CDs - which have shipped) or something to that effect, but I just don’t think it’s very realistic.

What I am hoping is that Fortune at least makes it easy for everyone who has purchased Nogizaka meguri tickets to easily cancel the orders without penalty now that it’s clear we can’t participate.

 

Man I'm tired of jumping through hoops to support this group.

 

It took some time to get my thoughts straight and here I am ready to report on my experience at W-Keyaki fes. I was able to win the ticket for Hinata's first day (which I described in their general), but sadly had no luck with Sakura. However due to the fortunate turn of events, eventually I was able to win unused tickets for both Sakura's days. Since the first day was not broadcast I will try to focus on it a bit more.

Having seen both Ohisamas and Buddies, I can tell that there are definitely more females among Buddies. Percentage wise, it's around 10% for Hinata and about 15-20% for Sakurazaka. For Hinata's live I had to rely on the good old paper ticket, but for Sakura I had to use the e-ticket app. The entering process was really smooth, it usually takes about 3 minutes to get in, but with the e-ticket there was no ID check, so it ended up being even more convenient. Being the only white dude around was and still is a bit of a novelty, but probably because I was sporting a W-Keya t-shirt a Habu oshi towel no one gave me any strange looks. I spoke with some dudes from Hong Kong before the Hinata live, but haven't really seen anyone who was not from Asia. Anyway, during the first day I was very lucky with the seat. The location was almost perfect: close to the main stage and not too far to the side. HOWEVER, the water cannon was right in front of me so there were some worries, to tell you the truth. Compared to my first time, I came prepared and placed my belongings inside a trash bag (yeah, not very fancy but very effective). Everything was proceeding rather smoothly, but then I suddenly found myself wanting to use a restroom. Since the day was sunny and rather hot I drank a bit too much water and there was no choice but to dive in a rather scary looking queue. I also did a very stupid thing and left all my things under the seat, but since it was Japan nothing strange had happened.

Having safely returned, soon after the live began, as expected, with Taiyou. It was the first time that I could actually see the members and the formation clearly. Compared to livestreams, it's a completely different experience. Instead of having to deal with lots of close-ups and fast cuts, you are able to see the choreo in its entirety which is extremely cool. I really wish they would include more of the wide angle shots, but the producers are probably afraid of revealing inconsistencies or bad synchro, so they hardly ever do this. But believe me, when you see the group dancing as a whole with your own eyes, the imagery is so overwhelming that all the small mistakes that might occur are completely invisible.

During the first couple of songs members spread across the venue and started doing what they are best at: spraying people with water. Unfortunately, my position was only attacked by the water guns, so no direct fire from members for me. However I managed to catch a good view of some members. The first one that I would like to point out is Sugai. The girl was genuinely having so much that you couldn't possibly imagine that it was her second to last live at Fuji-Q. You can't help but grin like an idiot when you look at her up close (it goes for all members, but I'm pointing out the ones that grabbed my attention the most). Chaputen is indeed very good at interacting with the fans. I also vividly remember seeing Akipo, Uemura, Koike and Renaa, who from time to time appeared in front of me. Sadly, Habu-chan seemed to be dancing elsewhere and the only time she was relatively close (when they rode on the platform) she was busy playing with the members and didn't really look in my direction. Tch.

I don't remember exactly when, but during the first half of the live Karin-chan danced alone on the right part of the stage, which was at the closest distance that day. It might have been a dance track or a part of some song. Anyway, Karin-chan was very energetic on that day (on both days in fact) and I could observe her movements in detail, which were very on point. I shall confess that she's not really among my favorite members, but I was indeed very impressed with the way she was able to express the song just by herself. Very very cool.
I was also happy to see Backs' songs I'm in and Sonia being performed. Unfortunately, the members stood on the far away stage, so I had to rely solely on the monitors. Both songs sounded better than the recordings, so it felt like a nice addition. Jamaica beer was also very good. I already praised Karin-chan above, but Pon was even better. Of course everyone knows she's good at dancing, but if you put her right next to two other solid dancers you can see the difference. It's always the small details, everything she does is a little bit smoother and precise. Almost no unnecessary movements. It's nothing short of mesmerizing really, not really observable on TV, but very impressive in real life.

The one that liked the most was probably Seifuku no ningyo. I wasn't expecting them to appear in school uniforms, but this indeed made the performance more memorable. Because the song isn't very fast I was able to have a good look at the participating members. I had some worries about Renaa not keeping up with the rest, but she did a good job overall. Of course, the one that kept drawing my attention was Ten-chan who is basically my sub-oshi at that point, seeing her in a classic sailor uniform was a nice treat. I also would like to point out Takemoto's dance. It doesn't really fit my personal image of her, but the girl is really good at dancing in a sexy way. She fits this song really well. Also Yui-chan's face expressions are so on point, if you haven't noticed please pay attention to it next time. You'll be surprized how well she immerses herself in the song.

The next song I wanted to comment on is of course NO WAR in the future. A-and to be completely honest with you, it disappointed me bit. For once, the hype factor wasn't there. I mean, after Hinata did suprise Kataru nara we all were expecting something like this. But there was no buildup, the song just kind of started. No dramatic pause or anything. At least that's how I remember it. In Hinata's case Kumi said beforehand that had something special prepared and everybody's was properly hyped. This it was more like 'Oh, NO WAR? Eh, cool, I guess' sort of reaction from the audience. I mean the girls did an alright job, but having seen the original, Sakura's version was a bit underwhelming. This time it felt like a normal song, while Hinata chans always go all out with this one. Suprisingly, Sugai went a bit political afterwards. She said something along the lines of 'We're happy to be able to perform this song. I hope we managed to transmit the song's message well, since it's especially relevant today, in this era that we live in now'. Can't agree more.

I also want to discuss Time machine. Chaputen gave a little speech about how this song is important for the remaining 1ki. The interesting part was that Aoi-chan was not on this song originally, but since they all gathered together one last time, it was decided that Harada would performed it together with everybody. It was a very touching and wholesome moment. I had my doubts about the song before, as it didn't sound that well from what I could hear in a low quality rip on the net. But, the live version was pretty good and the happy atmosphere felt fitting for the occasion. 1ki merrily rode the platform together and... Habu-chan didn't look in my direction at all yet again. Sigh.

The real surprise of the day was the double encore Masatsukeisu. They got us good, I have to admit. Everybody was ready to pack their things after Sakurazaka no uta, but the usual after live announcement were nowhere to be heard. Then members appear on stage in all white and it all became clear. I already liked the song well enough, but the live version was very very good. Probably the most well received song of the day as the audience seemed to be really excited at last. And it ended with a bang, a quite literal flash and very loud bang. People around me seemed to get scared for a second, as the sound was quite sudden and then the scene instantly went black, no bows, no anything. Very cool way of ending the concert if you ask me.

Unfortunately, there was a serious drawback to my central seating position. The sector I was in was among the last to be let out of the venue, so I had to run basically all the way to the train station or else there was a big chance that I could have missed the connecting train. Luckily, I managed to board the second to last train later down the line and came back home safely.

Now on to the second day. I'm sure most of you have seen the livestream, so I'll try to make it short. Compared to the first day, the second one was considerably more lively and cheerful. Not to say that the first one was lacking, but the members definitely got told to open up more for the second day. As a result there were more fan interactions and shouts etc. Second important thing that made me enjoy the live more is that I got myself some nice x8 binoculars. On that day my seat was once again pretty far away, but the binoculars made elevated the experience on a whole new level. If not for them, I would have had a pretty miserable time with all the rain pouring down. Luckily, I was able to see everything arguably even clearer than the day before so it was a huge plus. Definitely recommend everybody getting some good optics. It's a very good investment as for mere 4500 yen I was able to see some pretty stunning 'shots', especially later when all the lighting went live.
This time I was indeed far away from the main stage, but one of auxiliary ones was pretty close by. Thanks to the binoculars I was able to enjoy looking at Koike, Fuu-chan and Takemoto for a prolonged amount of time. Imagine a member focused camera, but a member inside fits your entire field of view. Believe me it's every bit as glorious as it sounds. If not for my oshi, I would fall for every girl mentioned above at that moment. There is something really powerful about seeing just one or two members isolated like this. Truly unforgettable. (I already said something like this about Karin-chan and Pon above, but this time it was even more mesmerizing because of the way the binoculars work).

As for Nagaredama and BAN, I sometimes tend to rant about how these two songs are too hectic and hard to follow. And this is indeed true for most of the recorded performances: smoke, sakura leaves, water - they use everything to make watching it as confusing as possible. Not a big fan. BUT. In real life, it works! Surprisingly well in fact. Instead of being a nuisance, these special effects, do if fact add to the experience. But cameras and low bitrate livestreams don't really do them justice. So yeah, it looks great, but only if you are at the actual venue.

Last but not the least, Aoi's and Ozeki's graduation ceremony. I liked how this time around there were almost no tears (somebody next to me still weeped a bit). While performed songs were all expected it still felt great to hear the oldies live, in my case for the first time. And here comes the part where I can brag to the whole world. When Mii and Ozeki started singing Ongakushitsu ni, the luck was on my side. Not only was I on the second row from the passage where the platform was going to roll, that day's main star Ozeki was going in my direction. So when she came close, instead of waving penlights or oshi towels like everybody around me, I went for a different approach. I made a big heart with my fingers, waved it in front of me and hoped for the best. And I kid you not, Ozeki noticed! She nodded enthusiastically two times, because she was busy singing and holding the mic at the time, but she clearly acknowledged my gesture. It really felt amazing to be able to directly express my gratitude for all the good memories she gave us as a part of the group. Thank you Oze-chan! And last but not the least, Abunakashii keikaku. This song needs no introduction. Just proper fun, simple as. I'm glad they performed it properly this time and not half-jokingly like during the Risa's grad con.

And that's about it really. If I were to add anything else, I'd say that while the second the was livelier, the first one had better weather and some good songs too, so frankly it's a shame they only broadcasted the day 2. If only, Time machine and Masatsukeisu alone well deserved the livestream. Anyway, I'm really happy that I was able to attend these lives. For the last two and a half years I always wanted to stand there one day and my wish finally came true. In retrospect, I can't stress enough how great it was to be able to witness not only current Sakura and Hinata, but also glimpses of Keyakizaka as well. Not to mention Aoi's, Ozeki's and Yukka's last performance at Fuji-Q. Thank you for the three amazing days.

 

Hello everyone, I'm planning a trip to Japan for next year, I don't know the exact date but the main idea is that the trip coincides with attending a saku or hina concert or in that case nogi, the exact date will be better planned Knowing the calendar of concerts and tours of the other year, from what I have read in this post there are some problems for foreigners to be able to attend concerts, could you explain to me exactly the restrictions and how and where to get tickets and what recommendations can you give me. I am from Latin America, Costa Rica. Thanks.

 

@ric_cr
I can share my experience about getting Saku/Hina tickets, no idea about Nogi, but it should be pretty simillar. Knowledge of Japanese should come useful, but you can mostly get by using Google translate.

First and foremost, getting tickets is the hardest part. It can be a pretty frustrating experience, at least it was for me. Since the only real way to get your hands on a ticket is through a lottery there is always a chance that you simply don't win anything. I failed 10 consecutive times (tried 4 times for Risa's grad, and 6 times for W-Keyaki), before I won my first Hinata ticket. The lotteries are divided into two categories: one for fan club members and one for everybody. Fan club always comes first and then after the results are announced the normal lottery begins. In order to maximise the chance of winning it's only natural that you'd want to enter both. Another difficult thing to keep in mind would be timing. If you are able to travel to Japan on a short notice it's a plus. This year for example, W-Keyaki (originally scheduled for July 21-24) was announced on May 25, the fan club lottery started on June 11 and the Lawson ticket lottery was held from 18 to 22 of June. This means you get to know if you failed or won 1.5 months in advance at earliest and 1 month at the latest. So you need to be able to plan your trip accordingly. If we are talking about tours, the situation is bit different. Since the tour consists of multiple dates it can be a bit easier to plan. For example for this year's tour both Saku and Hina held lotteries in August, but the tours end in November, so there is more time to prepare if you opt for a later date. A rule of thumb is to always keep an eye on the official sites and SNS not to miss anything important.

Saku101 has a guide on how to apply for the fanclub membership. As for the tickets. The services used are Lawson Ticket (lottery, the reception of paper tickets) and Chikepura (e-tickets). Fan club tickets are always e-tickets, as for the ordinary tickets you can choose between paper or electronic. Paper ones can be collected at Lawson or Ministop convenience stores about a week before the concert. Electronic ones are stored in the Chikepura application (Only available in Japanese Play store/App store). Chikepura is also used for re-distribution of unwanted tickets. If a person becomes unable to attend they can return their tickets and additional lotteries are held every day until the concert. Thanks to this service I was able to get my hands on Saku tickets in August. The additional lottery function doesn't work if you signed-up using an address outside Japan though. I was a bit stupid and had to delete my account and sign-up again. Once you win the ticket the payment is made automatically if you used a credit card, otherwise you can go to a conbini and pay in cash. I don't know if foreign credit cards work though, somebody else should confirm this. The first time I payed in cash, but afterwards I used my Japanese credit card.

For the e-ticket to work you also need to upload the photo of your face which after verification will be added to your e-ticket inside the app. The good part is that when using an electronic ticket the staff most likely won't ask you for an ID. When I used a paper ticket, I had to show my foreign resident's registration card.

Other than this I don't think there are any special conditions or requirements. It will definitely be quite complicated to work out everything from outside Japan, but it can be done, I believe.

 

OMG Thank you very much for taking the time to explain, I already have a general idea, next year if everything goes well, I will be writing my experience here.

 

I went to the Shin Sekai exhibition a couple days ago.

It was a little expensive but it was cool. There was lots of materials from the planning and development of MVs and CD jackets. The entrance also had every single uniform from the Keyaki era to the present on display. The end had some hanging banners with the members remarks on what they want Sakurazaka to be like in the future.

Fuyuka wrote that it first hit her that Sakura has international fans when the Buddies did that big display in Times Square. Now she wants to perform all around the world to go see them.

Although I didn’t speak to anyone, it was very interesting being around other Buddies for the first time.

The very end had a section where members who have visited sign their name and do their own version of the exhibition logo on the wall. Unfortunately my oshi (Koike)’s signature wasn’t there, but Hikaru’s was really cute so that eased the disappointment.

I bought some goods from the on site shop, but I’m unfamiliar with Japanese terms related to purchasing stuff so there was a bit of a communication break down at the checkout and the cashiers had to pull out their phones and use a translation app

Then I ate at the Saka Cafe that is present at the exit. There are a variety of sweets and a curry dish available. I was with my dad and sister so we tried pancakes, crepes, and some Japanese sweets. They were all great! I also had a Nagaredama Float (milkshake type thing) and it tasted good.

At the cafe, if you purchase one of the floats you get a coaster with a design by either Rena or Mizuho. But I forgot to grab mine when I got up!

I think the exhibition runs until October so if you are in the Tokyo area I definitely recommend it.

 

Dang, I'm gonna miss this exhibit by a month. It totally sounds like something I'd enjoy considering how much I liked going to the Nogi46|AW exhibit. Thank you for your report!