Hung about doing my blog first thing and then went to Akihabara just to get some air and some lunch. Naturally this involved me visiting the club sega arcade again! Seriously I haven't arcade gamed this much since I was 13 and on holiday at Bashley park with my family! (A dorset/New Forest caravan site when Point Blank was a new title!)
And speaking of ancient games, what did I happen to notice next to a pair of sega rally and daytona USA 2 arcade cabinets... A SUPER HANG ON arcade machine! Proper ride on bike with the screen level with the handlebars! I have not seen this since 1988 when I was at Naish holiday village, proper blast from the past! Naturally I had a go but was shite at it, this game I played to death on Sega Mega Drive, but for that you use a controller not a bike you have to lean on! I will play this more though as it is just too awesome not to.
Once I had emptied a few 100 yen coins into Outrun 2 Sp I hit a mos Burger to get a tonkatsu shrimp burger meal for my lunch, which was damn tasty. Healthy? Fuck no! But I am on holiday and therefore entitled to treat my body to the bad stuff as much as I want!
Went back to my apartment after this to do some laundry and shower, when I got a message from Dean saying he was meeting a Canadian wota friend in Akihabara later that afternoon and I was more than welcome to join them. Yup! Never turn down the opportunity to hang out with new people, especially fellow idol lovers!
So back to akiba and first port of call was to check out the H!P store again, I am still waiting on my Mizuki A4 special photo, it should actually be in now with any luck... Anyway, we scouted out the merch and laughed at the various silly stuff that is on sale along with the awesome. Before we settled down in the seated area to joke about a S/mileage concert that was playing.
For all their expense on the store, they really need to sort their playing equipment out! The resolution of the show was absolutely terrible and had this horrible golden exposure hue over the top of it, it reminded me of a show from the 1970's! Really really sloppy, but then, I imagine they don't want you watching concerts for free but blowing money on goods!
Once this was done Dean and his mate wanted to go and talk to someone at a place they worked together in Akiba, not being authorised to go up there I went to a local bar and got a pint of Kirin. What was cool is this place was on two sides of an open plaza, the left-hand bar that I grabbed a beer in was no smoking, whilst across the plaza was a smoking one, absolutely brilliant! For those who say the smoking ban should be lifted, perhaps this sort of structure would be a good compromise?
Anyway we spent the next 20 or so minutes supping beer and talking about all sorts of things, mostly about how Manchester music was influential. Not the sort of conversation I expected to have in a bar in akihabara with two fellow wota haha. Dean was saying how this is the thing about idol fandom he can't explain to anyone else, just that it somehow pulls so many threads together and there is so much crossover interest, knowledge and debate outside of the idol world which is bound together by a love for the girls. I agree, I remember when I first met Oroboras and we spent a 90 minute car journey debating american muscle cars haha!
Dean's mate then leapt on a train and we briefly visited Yodobashi in Akiba as Dean had been given some stunning Sony studio headphones but they had a cable that was about 4 metres long and he wanted a cable that was shorter. Being a former music promoter and radio DJ I am familiar with a few things about cabling and setting up so was a useful wingman for the venture. Inside we found tonnes of things like kettle to kettle leads, jack leads and colossal studio cables with a adaptors that are as thick as a thumb, not useful for plugging into a smartphone!
Eventually an assistant pointed us in the right direction and after running my keen eye over the connectors, found a 1 metre cable that was perfect fit and works fine. So Dean can now be a smug git with audiophiles who go on about Beats audio and other stuff by just going, 'well mine are used in studios, be jealous!' lol
We called it a night after this and I just chilled with a few beers. So on to the 20th, this was the day where I would get to see morning musume live and also attend a handshake event for them. For those who aren't familiar, this is literally where the group line up at a table as if doing a signing, but instead you shake hands and say stuff to them (if you're confident enough!) And as I had not met any of the line-up I was excited to see how they'd react to someone being British lol
So first things first, leapt on the yamanote to Shimbashi where I then changed to the Yurikamomoe line (lol Yurikamoe makes me think of Akkyan from The Possible around the time they did 'young days' !) This was a cool monorail that was quite high above the city and crossed the huge river channels of Tokyo to reach Odaiba. It naturally had some awesome views out of the window, check these out!
Yeah pretty impressive, the monorail isn't technically cheap but I'd say it's similiar to UK for local journeys and with views like that, plus the fact it is reliable and comfortable, it easily trumps my home country! Also was a bit strange as halfway through the journey the road and the rail track spiral through a 270 degree turn to cross the water, felt like I was being driven around the famous turn 8 at Istanbul speedway!
Eventually I disembark at the station near Fuji TV and struggled at first to find where I should be, it did not help that there was an event at Fuji TV and the event I was going for, luckily an attendant gave me an event map which I figured out and ventured on over.
Event itself was in what was literally a converted car park, with the stage being high and large, and all seats formed from rows of benches, very much a temporary facility! Still once inside I was strolling around for a bit indulging in shaved ice and beer and looking at the one piece display, when I notice Carlos sat in a shaded bench area near some straddled gates. After talking with him it became clear at 2:30pm they would start allowing people to pre-order the 54th Morning Musume single (it's not out until 28th) and get given a handshake ticket for post concert, thus I now have one on order that may make it to my address before I return to england or may not!
Awesome inflatable One Piece ship at Odaiba
Anyway around 1pm everyone darted from their seats and this impromptu horseshoe line was formed, at first Carlos stood with me but then saw wota he knew further forward so went to them. For ten minutes everything was fine, when suddenly they called that this was not the real queue and it would start along the fencing that formed the exit to the venue. Which was a good call as we would have clogged a lot of public space otherwise.
So the scramble to reform the line happens and I end up around 16th in the queue, Carlos was around 116th! Shows that sometimes it pays to be patient and await confirmation! Waited in line for around 90 mins and then we began to be herded forward, then had to fill in a form with my address... I didn't want to put my UK one as doubt it would be accepted, luckily, my phone has an offline storage for my e-mail, so while internet does not work out here (deliberately so as not to incurr roaming charges!) I could access my current address, lucky!
Afterwards I grabbed some fries and then went wandering when I noticed people crowding around the arena. Curious, I joined the throng, when suddenly Momusu walked on stage, about 90 mins ahead of schedule in street clothes. Bemused I stood and watched as they soundchecked! Now this is something I never expected I would get to see in the idol world. Having done gig promotion I have seen soundchecks before, but this was odd in that the area only had gates so you could still see.
The girls even got in on the act and were waving and shouting at us lot saying how they could see us watching haha. It was a surreal experience to see them in street gear, Mizuki wore a shirt that said 'left my heart in Hawaii' which made me chuckle. They did four songs to check which were Help me, Brainstorming, Ai no gundan and wagamama ai no joke. What was curious is that during the check they sometimes did not sing all the lines, mainly the high noted ones, which suggests to me they were more focussed on low end vocals and must have had some form of issue getting it right.
After this hung around for ten minutes or so when a guy with a megaphone started talking about access to the venue from the left, initially people just stood to the left but then I remembered seeing a sign earlier with the kanji for entrance pointing right not too far from where we queued. Walked around and as a result got straight through with no queuing.
Inside I took my position on the fifth row right by the aisle, which was a fantatsic spot as it was not only close, but angled across the whole stage, plus it would transpire that Mizuki spent 80% of the gig on this side so was close to my oshi for Morning Musume, woo hoo!
Sly shot of the stage taken when staff weren't about
During the wait for the gig to start they actually played MM pv's so that alleviated some of the dullness, also at this point Maoh and Madoka came over announcing they had arrived and wanted to meet after the handshake as sadly they had not got a ticket for the handshake. I was like sure, while I had an amazing spot, these two had some in block A tiered seats, which meant seated gig only, not cool!
Just before Momusu came on a 20 second countdown began which naturally got everyone chanting and massively excited. When the girls came on, they looked gorgeous wearing an outfit I had not expected! I anticipated either the Wagamama or Ai no gundan PV costumes, instead we got these.
*Pic sourced by Amped from jplop.com*
Mizuki made me howl, lace and sailor hat, aye aye captain! Haha. Setlist for the show was all modern tracks, which disappointed me slightly, as I think it would have been a good opportuinty to showcase a little more of their history, still it was enjoyable. Tracks were: - Help Me, Waruteka take a chance, Brainstorming, Kimi sae, Ai no gundan and Wagamama ai no joke.
The gig was still massivley exciting and fun, with kimi sae and ai no gundan being the standout moments. Also some good comedy happened during the MC's, in second MC Sayumi signalled for Oda Sakura to lead on something, but was looking at the wrong side of the stage, cue Oda going 'Kochi!' to Sayu to get her attention XD
Also in the encore MC where they announced themselves and thanked the crowd, Mizuki went first and called all of the crowd amazing for the volume at which 'encore' was chanted. After this Macchan began speaking when all of a sudden a bee or some sort of insect started swarming around Mizuki, cue her stomping and swatting furiously which got everyone laughing and Macchan looking around wondering what was going on!
Finally, after the MC, Riho signals for the song to begin and the girls all form the pose for the song... And are greeted by total silence! For around ten seconds we are looking around and even the members start getting this sort of 'err... What's going on?' Look. I then shouted '音楽どこですか' (english 'Where's the music?) A few wota laughed and then chanted 音楽 before finally the track 'One Two Three' started to end the gig.
Afterwards joined the line for the handshake and up onto the stage we went, this was a rapid event! Seriously, not even two seconds before you were moved on! Anyway mostly I just said to members I was British and thanks for the gig, Suzuki kanon developed a smile wider than the Mersey tunnel when I said that! For Mizuki I went a little further saying that I had come all the way from britain and I really liked her. Think it shocked her a bit but she was very grateful, which is always cool. For sayu I just spoke english and said 'cheers for leading the concert' she understood none of it but who cares? lol
Once outside Maoh and Madoka were waiting and we began to make our way out of the event, before leaving we took a walk around Odaiba as I hadn't had chance that morning and got to take a shot of the gigantic Gundam statue and also it turned out another idol group were having a small event at the side of the gundam. No idea who they were but there was literally twelve people watching them, they were still energetic enough but the music really was not our thing so we scarped pretty sharp.
Once done with this, we decided to head for the station but on the way, in a really bewildering moment, I saw this.
Really don't know what to make of this, I have somehow transported to New York lol. Not something I expected to see here in Japan that's for sure! After seeing this Maoh was explaining that on the rivers here in Odaiba, they often have boats where people drink and party. I explained to Madoka and Maoh that they sometimes happen in the UK but more common are the drinking buses. Maoh then suggested Oroboras should drive one for all of us in the future XD
Once back at Shimbashi, Maoh and Madoka announced they were gonna hit a flash burger joint in Kawasaki and would I join them. Big burgers? Damn straight I'll join you! So onwards we went into kawasaki train station/shopping mall, and after navigating a bizarre series of escalators where you have to walk a quarter of the upper level for the next set to emerge, we were there.
This was a proper old fashioned 1950's US diner and it was awesome! Ordered a chicken burger and it came with one of the biggest chicken fillets I have seen! I also had one of their oreo milkshakes for the full on diner experience, damn tasty too!
We spent hours afterwards talking about H!P, previous trips to Japan, Madoka's residence in Oxford and how many idol events Oroboras will try and attend in october! Maoh also had his laptop with him and tonnes of photos from his previous trips, incuding the Eurowota meet up in London during 2010. This was wonderfully nostalgic seeing Maimai being shown off on british buses and outside royal albert hall made me chuckle as I hadn't seen them in so long. Only downer was seeing her who shall not be named during the karaoke photos!
One thing that transpired during the evening, was that this place was where the video for 'lady mermaid' by the Satoyama unit Dialady was shot! So that's another part of the idol history I can tick off, naturally at evening's end we had to get one of the staff to photograph us all together.
From left Myself, Madoka and Maoh
By now it had got past 10pm so jumped on the half train back to Nippori then literally came home, updated twitter with some inane babble (including how yes I had forgotten names of people, I am terrible at remembering them from meetings, I need to get over that somehow!) and hit the sack. So today, well I think Mizuki A4 will have arrived in H!P store so gonna go there and maybe try and conquer super hang on again! Until next time *sets sail*
It sounds like you had a wonderful time!
ReplyDeleteI would be happy to drive a drinking bus for you all, though only the first half... I'd want to drink for the second half!
Haha! Yeah definitely, could imagine you getting all 'no food on the bus!' if you were driving all night lol Yeah had tonnes of fun and hope it is firing you up for your trip ^__^
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