The boy who did not run away and the concert

So today was the day when I would be getting taste of what J-pop concert is about. As usual for my travel days I woke up 7 am, did morning things, packed stuff and headed out. I got to station fast and was even able to board train that left sooner than the one I had prepared. Train followed same route as on trip to Hiroshima so didn't pictures this time so instead just read and slept. Oh and slept some more!

When I got to shin-osaka it was time to change to new train but again varied my pre-planned route and rather than wait for train in the line I was supposed to I noticed another line that took me to Osaka sooner. Before this though I ate some sort of hot drink and ate some meat buns. Not as good as the ones sold near my home though. Drink was very good though. When I arrived to the line there was mother with little kid of maybe 3 or 4 years old. I nodded friendly nod to the boy who actually had courage to say with his quiet voice ”bai bai” when they left. That was nice and I smiled and said ”bai bai” back. First kid who actually reacted back to me in some other way than running away :)

What I have noticed btw is that kids do lots of talking to sellers etc. Previous trip boy pretty much bought drink on his own. ”sumimasen! Orenji juusu. Arigatou”. If mother had given him money before hand he might even had paid the drink himself. Another time at 100 yen shop(though more like 105 yen shop these days) girl handed some hello kitty product and thanked the store owner. Not sure why but these always make me smile.

When I reached Osaka however problems started. I tried to find hotel but despite asking locals were not able to find any reasonable priced one. One I found but that was like 150e for one night. After oomphing and considering my options I decided against it. Weather isn't that cold here and I would be able to spend time inside enough that it would only be about 3 hours outside. Then I would head to station and go to Osaka and continue to Hikone and sleep on train. Bit uncomfortable but 150e for one night...Bloody hell no. Unfortunately the time spent searching the hotel also meant I had no time to visit the Osaka castle so apart from couple far shots taken on my way to concert no luck there either.

And then to the concert. Since I know there will be likely few fans reading this I'll give as detailed describition of the event as I can. If you have no insert for J-pop feel free to skip this part. I have added some describitions for those who have no previous knowledge but are going to read anyway.

The entrance was case of bit uncertainty as I wasn't quite sure what we were supposed to do. There was one line forming on left, one line forming right, board that said something about standing seats but I had no idea had I standing seat spot or sitting. Well row K place 42 but do they number standing seats as well? Damned if I know. Most of the people were just standing outside those lines anyway. Well I solved this by simply waiting until crowd started to get in and then just walked up and showed ticket. No problem appeared. Yey. Was mentioned about no photographic but didn't have to give it to anybody for holding or anything so it stayed in back(and no didn't break the rule. Hell I stand out so well not exactly smart idea to pull up this big camera I have!)

I had worried a bit about my seat but turns out I was bloody lucky. with K row, 42 seat was on the better half from the stage so I had good view of the girls and I was right next to walkpath(this proved handy as I was able to step slightly to the standpath to stand which gave me bit of well needed room. Seat itself housed my belongings. No point sitting as that would mean not being able to see to the stage). Yey!

And this time I could be happy about being so tall as thanks to it and steps down I could just stand and even when there was 10 rows of japanese jumping in my front I had no trouble whatsoever seeing the girls on stage. Can't say the same about the guys BEHIND me however! Though seeing my location, seat configuration and angle to the stage(I was nearly at the walls) there wasn't that many people behind me anyway. Hopefully none were girls or if were they were able to find some other spot as Japanese females are so short I probably WOULD block view entirely to them!).

So unsurprisingly show started with their latest single(Asian Celebration) and the girls were wearing outfits for this single. Before song started though there was short bit of video though where girls were talking about their new mansion and so on(couldn't follow it entirely though understood general sense over it). One of them was counting floors but somebody always ended up saying some number in other counters and she missed the count. ”7, 8” -”And now clock is 19” ”20, 21...STOP SAYING NUMBERS!”. Got some laughter from the crowd. And I got sensory overload as the crowd was chanting and LOUD(and then there was guy who let out huge MAAAAAAAASAAAAAAA! I hope room has good sound muffling walls or that was heard outside!). And then the song started. Bloody hell. I sure hope my hearing survived the event intact as the volume was earsplittingly loud.

(disclaimer note: Clips are either official PV's or performances from other concerts so especially with older ones aren't quite what they were this time. Also obviously single performances is going to change from when all are singing)

After this they switched to their very first song(Anata nashi de wa ikite yukenai. Translated roughly ”can't live without you”) from 9 years back.

After this it was time for first quick costume change which they performed simply by running to sides and took off outer layers of their clothing revealing this black very sparkling dresses. Running to side had just purpose of throwing previous clothes somewhere out of the way. As they simply removed outer layer of clothing they were wearing had no real need to be hidden out of view for sure. The new dresses were quite elegant and beautiful. One of my favourite group costumes of the night actually. Then some songs which I didn't recognize so guess they were from albums or b-songs that I don't know that well. Googling up succha ka meccha ka(no idea of what it says), mythology(ai no album), shining power(which I did recognize and which is semi favourites). Then one of the thai cover songs which varies in concerts. Here was song I hadn't heard before called ”I like picnic”. Would have prefered the other one but ah well can't get it all and I had no way of finding out what it would be before hand anyway.

Next stage all but Chinami and Maasa left and 3 kenkyuusei(young girls wanting to become idol singers themselves and are going through singing and dancing lessons + acting as backup dancers like here) sung "nanda kanda de ii kanji”(something about good feeling). Still not sure what to think about 10-15 year girl olds performing when crowd is primarily males and average age is probably something like 30. Ah well. I won't change it by complaining. At least the costumes weren't particulary revealing(bit of thigs and tiny slice around midrift) and dance routines weren't particulary suggestive either. Girls were obviously quite young and short. Have to admit I found one of them(Taguchi by name. She has very easy kanji's for that name which is how I was able to recognize it later) was positively adorable.

After the pair had song song came series of individual performances where several of the girls performed one song though shortened version of it rather than full version(boo!). These vary between concerts and again I was on mercy of random on whose performances I would heard. It started by Risago who was wearing this black dress with big white circles. Would have been total failure as a cloth IMO except that behind it continued behind so while her legs were bare from the front behind had this almost cape-like extension which I found that rather nice touch. Song performed was shy boy and performance was one of the most "make male blood heat up" I have seen from them. 

Next up the shortest(Momoko) came and as expected(she's playing the part of hyper-cute girl in the band. I have heard she doesn't particulary like it but does it well anyway) she was again wearing super-cute clothing. Pink with loooots of white ruffles. And some sort of silly small cape she thankfully got rid of later. And pink ribbons in small pony tails as usual. White appron at front completed the attire. Cuteness-overload except for that stupid cape. Not sure why but I definitely didn't agree with that addition but at least it was just this song.

Song was called Ai no Suki Suki Shishuu Joshochuu.

Then came Chinami again. She was wearing cloth of which what stood most was the top part that was all flowers. She performed Aitai kedo(”Though I want to meet”). She's not my favourite member(mostly cause she's so unnoticable. Not helped by not having much of lines. Might even have least) but did the song well and this time she had changed noticably as she has cut her hair to boyish length. Don't think I have seen that look on her in any previous singles. Looked surprisingly good on her even though usually I prefer longer hairs on women(tad under shoulders is good).

Then my favourite member aka Shimizu Saki aka Captain(since she's the oldest member she's the leader of the band though that's just basically a title. Definitely no influence in line count which is among least generally). She performed sprinter which is not my favourite songs and IMO one of the worst songs she performs with big part(all in this case). Think she performs better with less high pitched voice. She was wearing this black dress with some colour breaking parts on her front top and veeerrrry light pink(almost white) segment on her miniskirt. Very beatiful look.

After this song first music rises up and I thought we were going to see 5^th individual performance(in which case why not just have all 7). Then it cut off and the Momoko appeared carrying a broom of all things. Whole room chuckled over this. What followed was again some discussion between him and another member after which the rest of the members came up. Miyabi was wearing this very white clothing and thankfully flowers in her haid or otherwise she would have looked bit dull but the flowers added some colour to break the whiteness. Maasa was wearing what looked a lot like school girl uniform though don't think I have seen one with lines zig-zagging it anywhere near like this(of course they likely wouldn't use real school's uniform. But it's also possible there is school with similar uniform). Usually school uniforms seems to be single colour with no shapes.

And then the one who stood out most for me. Yurina who's the tallest member looked positively stunning today with her very light-blue-grey gown(hard to describe the colour) that hung down along her legs rather than have wide skirt that takes up lots of space or anything like that. 2 layers with outer one being very opaque and extend tad lower than the interior one so part of her legs were covered by partially see through cloth. Very simple looking with silver belt and silver hair ornament and amounted for a stunning look. Have to admit I had trouble taking my eyes of her from time to time!

First song with these clothings was Skit. Then came WANT! that was released at the end of last year. Then was Otoko mae.(Thank god for google or I could not recount the song names for most of the songs!) by shortest(Momoko) and tallest(Yurina) followed by a song(Koi itoshiki kisetsu, something about lovely love season or so I think) with Captain, Miyabi and Risako. Captain even had pleasantly lots of solo lines here which I found nice(well she IS my favourite member!)

Another song by whole group(Massugu na watashi).

Then came act by the Yurina(yey! seeing how stunning she looked I can't say I could complain about getting to watch only her for couple minutes). She had to act like older sisters from the fairy tale Cinderella. Started pretty well but wasn't that convincing toward the end(not helped by her laughing. Wonder how pre-scripted that thing was). After this the kenkyuusei's came back, introduced themselves(and the Taguchi was super-cute) and then performed a song which I had NOT expected(okay so maybe it's standard kenkyuusei's perform song in concerts. Damned if I know since this was first time in one!). Seeing what Yurina had just did it was appropriately enough one of the band's older songs called ”cinderella until 21 o'clock”.

While kids were singing the girls were again changing clothes on backstage. This time to dresses with blue, white and red altering and very wide skirts. One of my least favourite clothings from today as they looked bit dull to me. However in return they performed one of my favourite songs from their early period ”jiriri kiteru” and don't ask what that means. Been trying to figure that out myself. Can't seem to figure anything. Was interested in how this sounds now that they aren't little kids they were when the song was originally released. Sounded even better as their voices have grown and they have improved their singing(well seeing they were about 13-15 I think when original version came I think it's natural enough they have improved during the time).

They also performed meddley here and with rotting luck most of my favourite songs were here. Would have prefered to hear longer versions rather than these short pieces(but short pieces is idea of medley). They performed munasawagi scarlet(scarlet premonition, one of my favourites), ryuusei boy(meteor boy), koi no jubaku(love's spell, favourites), ai no dangan(love's bullet, semi-favourite. Works better without the original clothings at least. Those gives me tooth sore to watch), heroine ni narou ka(shall we become heroines, favourite song from the ones performed today), rival and maji bomber!!(serious bomber).

Sometime during the medley(or maybe right before it. Heroine ni narou ka they definitely had it as I remember captain's post-change look in it) they performed yet another quick clothing change ditching outer layers revealing black and white clothes with bar code like look. Clothing covered various amount of body between members varying from quite demure Momoko to more bold Chinami with legs bare to the boldest ones Captain and Yurina. Captain was wearing boots that covered legs almost to the knee and then just skin tight pants and top leaving large parts of her legs above knee, midrift, entire arms and shoulder-neck area bare. Yurina was same except she had just shoes so pretty much entire legs were bare(and seeing she's tallest one of them that's a lot of bare legs. Though I think captain looked more bold even though she was showing less skin anyway. Guess the boots did it and it's true that it's not just what you show but what you hide).

Bit funny that one of their least skin-showing clothing from the ”let's show some skin” section comes just when I'm here and when they have grown to adulthood. Would have had bit of moral issue watching some of their clothing when they were 14-16(though to be fair they only expose legs, stomach and arms. Upper top is quite decently covered). For example of more revealing clothes they have worn:

Yellow one is my favourite member.

Kenkyuusei's made one last show around this time too dancing among backup dancers except one who was dancing right in the middle(what was that anyway? Not really backup dancer like to be in top spot!). Songs performed were kachoii uta and icchoume rock.

Then last song before encore section which was their standard ”let's make crowd shout” song yuujou junjou oh seishun(friendship, pure hearted, oh youth). So they were doing all they can to get crowd shout along in lots of places(song is clearly designed for concert use) and crowd was going with it even throwing mufflers high in air which I hadn't noticed before. Atmosphere was quite enthusiastic.

Then came wait for encore's(doubtful they wouldn't do that even if crowd wasn't shouting them back which they were. They were shouting in unison. Didn't quite get what it was that they were shouting). Again costume change for black and white dresses with outermost layer being member colours(Shimizu aka captain yellow, Momoko pink, Chinami orange, Maasa blue, Miyabi purple, Yurina green and Risako red) with member colour part having very small black dots(hats off to the lighting btw which allowed to spot even that small detail easily). First song they performed for encore was Otakebi boy wao!(warcry boy wao! Not my favourites at all). 

Then short speech section and then last one cha cha SING. During the speech part there was positively adorable little part where camera's zoomed in to little toddler who was probably like 1 year old top(I hope she had good ear protectors!) and who went totally nuts soon after she appeared on the screen. Guess she recognized her own face on the big monitor. Owwww CUTE! This was nice catch from the crew(I assume she wasn't there deliberately as part of the act but was taken along by her parents who were enjoying the show. Or at least mother was. Not sure was father as well there).

Again crowd was going with it. Guy front of me was even doing the spins around at the appropriate times(well probably were others as well but wasn't paying attention. I came here to watch the girls, not the crowd!).

And then they made last thank you's and went off.

So what did I think of the experience? Well at least interesting! Haven't had any experience like this that I can remember. Can't say I'm against watching bunch of pretty girls in pretty clothes dancing and singing either. So even though I had no place to stay not regretting coming here. There's worse ways to spend time than the concert(and at least so far hearing seems to be okay). Would I go again? Given chance yep. There's definitely worse ways to spend time so provided it's not too expensive(obviously coming to Japan JUST for concert is big no-no unless I win something like lottery!) yeah it's good way to spend couple times. Maybe next times I will even courage up and chant along. Now I was just basically standing there tapping along with my feets while everybody else is jumping and shouting :D Well at least I tried to be less hindrance of view to people behind ;)

Got myself 2 of their concert dvd's and latest album and got as a bonus posters. Umm...This is actually tad annoying as what the hell am I supposed to DO with them! Well okay that's stupid question. Put them on wall. Better question: How I'm supposed to get these frigging big posters to Finland INTACT and preferably without being totally wrinkled!?! The women selling realized immediately my dilemma when I said precicely that :D ”Dou yatte Finrando ni motte ikeru ka wakarimasen kedo”. Preferably without spending tons of money to that in some special curier express postage solution. Humhum. Free photographs or something would have been at least easier to carry extras than these big posters.

After this was the annoying ”spend night outside part”. Well 1.5h I killed off at coffee bar drinking hot chocolate and cola(fair to at least buy something if you are going to stay there) writing most of this entry. Then I went to station and hopped to Osaka loop line which is train that runs in circle so I could be inside warm train for a while. This continued until about 00:30 at which point last stop was called faster than I had thought. I planned to spend rest of the night in osaka castle park where at least I would have toilets and vending machine available but was 2 stations off. Thankfully some workman were visible so they pointed to right direction so after some walking was in the park. Surprisingly there were still people running despite the late hour. Even what looked like for all like couple on a date. Then again maybe they were just holding hands for mutual warmth :D

Then I settled down with some hot drinks and wrote up rest up to this. Not sure what I'll be doing from now but I'll think something. Still couple hours before trains start again.

Found ramen restaurant that's still open around 2.25 am. Dunno how long I'll be able to spend here. Some other people here too.

(above written during night. I'll write another post with pictures and detailing Sunday's trip to Hikone later. Now I'm dead tired. Within 36 hour period I have slept mighty 2 hours)