Whoa! I still can't believe I've seen Morning Musume live! I've seen Tanaka Reina and Takahashi Ai on stage! o@(≧▽≦)@o
The 4th of October I went to Kagoshima Cultural Hall to see モーニング娘。コンサートツアー2008 秋 ～リゾナント LIVE ～ (Morning Musume Concert Tour 2008 Aki (Fall) ~Resonant LIVE~). I went with my otoosan, because okaasan was still in England at the hospital with Madoka at the time. He was extremely embarrassed by the entire thing "hazukashii!". I can't possibly fathom why the prospect of going to a concert held by a group of girls jumping about and singing (mostly) happy bubblegum J-pop would put him off... but that's just me. ;P *cough, cough*
Still, I had endless fun teasing him for it on the way. I kept telling him how this would make a great memory, and how I should take pictures just to help him remember this special occasion. Lots of laughter ensued.
When we got to the concert hall, the first thing I noticed were the cars. Oh, the cars! On the back of one there was a huge poster saying "TANAKA REINA". On another there was a small picture of Michishige Sayumi in the left corner of the windshield, with "Sayumi Hime" (Sayumi princess) written on the right. Inside, drapes across the seat, was a towel with Sayumi printed on it. Well, what can I say... otoosan and I found that pretty funny.
Kagoshima Culture Hall (picture from the Japanese Wikipedia)
Outside the hall, my eyes popped again. Outside there were guys apparently all around otoosan's age, some trading photos (with me thinking "OMG! They really do! It's not just something I've read on the internet...") and a big Morning Musume poster. Security guys took my camera away from me at the entrance, so regrettably I couldn't take any pictures inside. It was a shame - I'd love to show you all the fans! XD To quote otoosan: "Ojiisan bakkari da yo, ne..." ("There's only old men here, isn't there...") Well, I saw some girls too, but we were sadly outnumbered! XD (Let it just be said, not all of them were that old. Some looked like they were in their twenties.) It was quite funny seeing so many different people attending the concert, though. Although I was quite surprised that these were the guys I shared my taste in music with... XD
What else should I say... It was heaven for any H!P fan. Along the two opposing walls there were tables filled with official H!P goods! Oficcial Morning Musume goods! CD's and DVD's I can always buy at a CD shop, so I headed for the other table. A short while later, I had bought Tanaka Reina's T-shirt, pictures, a Momusu tour T-shirt and a Momusu tour towel. ☆ All the while listening to Morning Musume songs being played over the stereo.
Then we headed in to the main concert hall. It was full of people - mostly men. Many of these men wore clothes in the official colour of their favourite member - for example, one who liked Takahashi Ai would be wearing her yellow T-shirt. The more extreme guys would be wearing a long, yellow coat-like piece of clothing, yellow pants, the yellow Takahashi Ai T-shirt, a yellow headband, yellow wristband and yellow shoes. They'd was also armed with yellow glow sticks and jump up and down and scream whenever her picture was shown, or she was on stage, or spoke... yeah. We even saw one with the animal ears from Haromoni@ (Morning Musume's TV show). It was hard not to laugh at these guys - we hid behind our program and snickered. :P
The concert was a lot of fun - they played some of my favourtie songs - like "Mikan", "Ambitious！Yashinteki de Ii Jyan", "Onna ni Sachi Are" and "Resonant Blue". They also played some songs I hadn't heard a lot before, but found out I really like - and some I didn't know. (But otoosan did, being Japanese and older than me. :P) You can see the concert setlist here. It was great - although I admit I was not jumping up and down. All the crazy jumping people were in front of the stage - we had seats at the back among the non-jumpers. The exception was for one very enthusiastic Sayumi-fan, dressed in pink in the fashion described above. *snicker* Still, I think I'd prefer the back - it was pretty close to the stage, but at the same time it gave me a view of the entire stage so I could see everything.
I enjoyed it very much, although I didn't understand everything they said when they were speaking. I did, however, get it when they were talking about their next album: "Cover You". Still, it was great just being there, seeing them all on stage! They hardly ever travel out of Japan to do a concert (the exceptions being Taiwan and Hawaii so far), and it's rare for them to come to Kagoshima. And I've seen them live! Hah! Yes, Kusumi Koharu is just as annoying to me in real life. o@(><)@o Reina and Ai are great, and I think they are among the best singers too. ^^ Oh! And Linlin even sang in Chinese! It was great!
On my way out I bought Ai-chan's T-shirt too, and the photoset of her, being such a loyal fan and all. By our car I caught sight of a man wearing Reina's T-shirt. I decided this was a chance I couldn't pass up - I don't often meet Momusu fans in Norway. XD So I went up to him and spoke with him. "Tanaka Reina ga suki desu yo ne?" ("You like Tanaka Reina, don't you?") "Uh? E-ee..." ("Y-yeah...") "Watashi mo!" ("Me too!") "Ya~y! High five!" I gave him a great big smile, high-fived him and climbed into our car feeling very accomplished. Otoosan was chuckling. :D
For the record: he said he enjoyed the concert too, so there! Hehe! ...and apparently okaasan knows one of the dances to one of the songs. (First performed by the 1976–1981 J-pop duo Pink Lady.) I'll have to get her to teach me that! :D
PS: Guess who else is coming to Kagoshima to perform... Gackt!! I need tickets... (/O3O)/
Location: Kagoshima, Japan!
Mood: Content
Reading: Just finished "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer in four days - am in desperate need of the sequal! I want to kno~w! o(><)o
Eating: Soon, I should think.
Drinking: Water. From the tap. Again. Vikings don't drink from bottles, bwah! :P
The orientation camp was...fantastic!
Francesco and I took the train early to Kagoshima station, where we spent some time shopping. (I bought Tanaka Reina's (member of Morning Musume) photobook "Reina" and W's DVD "Miss Love Tantei".) We also went to take purikura. (Did you know boys are not allowed in alone? On a sign in front there's a sign with a lone blue male crossed over. Male w/pink female is OK, as is lone pink female. Haha!) Then we met up with Mr. Kamikawa and Jessa, the exchange student from Texas, USA, now living in the neighbouring prefecture Miyazaki. I can say we hit it off right from the start - she's the kind of person I find it easy to like. Outgoing and fun, while having a serious side. We discovered we were very much alike, but at the same time quite different - which I think is a great starting point for a friendship. Needless to say, we had a great three days together! I'll try to sum them up short here.
The first thing that happened was that Mr. Kamikawa drove us to an enormous building that I at first thought was our hotel. Kamikawa casualy explained that "No, you're staying someplace nicer. This is where we're eating lunch". My eyes popped! The view from the window was amazing - even though it was cloudy and raining, we could see out over all of Kagoshima City.
After eating we went to Kamikawa English School, where we read the "Rules of the road" paper out loud together. We started laughing when we all read a number differently. Mr. Kamikawa asked us to "please be serious about this, because I put a lot of effort into writing this, and I wrote this to help you". This made us feel bad, and we awkwardly explained that it was our mistake when reading the number, not the rules, that we found funny. He said he understood that, but it still felt kind of weird.
Next we were driven to the hotel we'd be staying at - the Sun Royal Hotel where we had lunch with Mr. Kamikawa's Rotary Club the first time. It. was. fancy! They had an onsen (hot spring) on the 13th floor, with an entrance on the 12th... and really nice rooms! The ones we stayed in were not really big, but clean and cozy. (I've always liked hotels rooms...) We unpacked and went for a quick shopping round at the mall close to the hotel. I bought a Hello Kitty skin for my pink Nintendo DS lite at a 100 yen shop. And of course we took the obligatory purikura:
Ichigo gaijin!
We also took a set that we gave to Mr. Kamikawa and his wife:
The text says "Mr. and Mrs. Kamikawa, thank you!"
The second day we (naturally) overslept, and scuffed down our breakfast in about 5 minutes before dashing to the waiting taxi that took us to Kamikawa English Shcool. We read the rules again for a representative from Ijuin Rotary, and he held a speech in Japanese (later translated by Kamikawa) about his hosting experience 20 years ago. It was very interesting, and to my surprise I understood most of what he said!
Later that day we had a radio interview too - a nice lady interviewed us a bit before we headed in to the studio to do the recording. It turned out to be a lot of fun, although I messed up on my age when asked, haha!
Radio lady: "How old are you?"
Helene: "I'm sevent... I've turned eighteen!" XD
It was all in Japanese, but she and her male co-worker (he's gone to Josei, haha!) were really conciderate and spoke clearly, explaining when it was needed. I understood almost everything that was being said, though, and felt pretty cool. v(^_^) It was a new experience for me, and it felt a bit celebrity-ish, actually. It was really fun! I recognized the artists and songs they played too! Utada Hikaru, "First Love", Ootsuka Ai, "Sakuranbo" and... I got to pick and introduce the last song: "I WISH" by Morning Musume!
I've always liked this song, and it was also sung on Nono and Aibon's graduation form Morning Musume. It's one of my Momusu all-time favourites. <3
The rest of the day was spent having dinner (tonkatsu, yum!) and shopping a bit again. I bought some "diamond" cross-shaped earrings that I've been searching for a while. They're reminiscent of those worn by Tanaka Reina and Nozomi Tsuji in some photos. ...yes, I know, H!P again... *cough* Once back in the hotel, Jessa and I went to the onsen again before going to sleep in my room.
Me outside an official Sanrio shop. (The guys responsible for Hello Kitty.) I actually managed not to buy the entire shop - I bought most of Kuromi, actually, which you can't find in Norway. And, OK... I admit it: a thing to make Hello Kitty-shaped rice! XD
Next we dragged Mr. Kamikawa to take purikura with us. We went in to the pinkest, most sparkling purikura machine we could find! (And I can totally see all the Rotary members going in there with their suits and ties, haha!) Decorating those was a lot of fun - I put a maid hairband on him, and the other two put him in a wig. We made Mr. Kamikawa decorate one too. Oh, the seriousness! XD It was wonderful!
After finishing the purikura, we met up with Jessa's councelor and had dinner (we chose Italian sphagetti, making a big point out of showing it to Francesco, haha!). Once we'd finished eating it was sadly time to say goodbye to Jessa. At first we bowed to each other. This was followed by a scilence during which we were both standing there, looking at each other before I blurted out "Oh, screw this!!" and we gave each other a big hug. The gaijinness provails!
Kamikawa brought Francesco and me back to Kagoshima station, where we (okay, I) bought some CD's: Utada Hikaru, Morning Musume (all singles complete) and Onitsuka Chihiro. This was followed by more purikura. At last we decided to take the train home, both of us exhausted. I, for one, did not feel like going back to school and bake cakes the next day. XD But I survived that too, of course!
Jessa and me being exhausted in the hotel's corridor.
Jessa and me looking terrible in a nice hotel - it was raining, and we couldn't resist the fun of running through the rain with closed umbrellas. *ahehm*
Location: Japan!
Mood: Tired
Listening to: the sound of the TV
Reading: "Twilight" (the first book in the "Twilight" series). Can't... put... it... down! Vampires~ <3!
Kagoshima Culture Hall (picture from the Japanese Wikipedia)
