Tegoshi came to the Philippines, and... [the FULL entry]
Had I known this ahead of time, I would've kidnapped him. Of course I'm kidding. (Oops. Aren't jokes half-meant? xD)
(Above photo: Tegoshi, "PO", and the scenic Manila Bay)
A year ago, me and another Tego-biased friend, Ria, were rambling and ranting wildly about Tegoshi and how he already circled the countries around ours except for ours. We were frustrated, thinking that he should come here because we have a list (a funny list of reasons, from the things he could do to the tourist spots to the band of waiting, emotion-driven Tego-paanas like us!). I also thought that if he couldn't come here any sooner, then he wouldn't come here ever. I may sound like a pessimist but I was just realistic. Hello, Philippines is just one time zone away from Japan! Why can't he notice??? *this is shallow, I know it's entirely not his fault.* Despite the ranting I was just as hopeful as any international fan.
In the months that follow I loaded my imagination with Tego visiting Philippines, maybe for ItteQ or for a short vacation or maybe not just him--but all of NEWS--holding a little concert slash fan event. The first option, ItteQ, was the most reasonable. Though ItteQ went to Baguio (a Philippine city) years ago without him there's still a big possibility of filming an Entertainer Tegoshi segment here!! In fact, among all Johnny's talents, it is Tego who has the biggest chance of going to our country which is apparently "unknown" to Johnny's... Thank God for ItteQ. The pessimist/realist-turned-optimist/still realist me started to look forward, creating the line I never thought I'd diligently say to my self everyday: Pupunta sya rito. Kahit di ko na sya makita, ang importante pupunta sya rito. (He will come here. Even if I don't see him personally, what's important is he will come here.)
Indeed, he came. And indeed, I didn't see him personally.
It was harder than I thought. Filipino fans share the same sentiment--he came and he left, without the most of us knowing. I only got teary-eyed when the preview came out; the others cried hard! Nevertheless we were anxious to watch the full episode which was aired a week after.
He learned the Philippine Bamboo dance, the Tinikling. Ria and I guessed right--we thought Tinikling would be the first, if not the perfect thing he could learn here if ever. Days before the airing, our anticipation grew so as our questions. When did he come? Where did he stay? Did anyone see him? And the desperate question: WILL HE COME BACK?
The Filipinos are naturally close-knitted. This could be seen in social networking sites (a country so small as Philippines belongs to the top 10 or top 15 countries with most users); naturally, the Filipino fans are close-knitted too. Within a day or two, everyone in the fandom, and even the people from other fandoms, were informed of the news. A day or two before the airing, more proof came such as the fan who works at the hotel where he stayed, and the tear-jerking accounts of the dancers he worked with. One said, "He's such a lovable person! Very humble."
Oh Tego, How I strongly hope to see you someday. ;_;
Despite the celebration, there's still the bashing. The skeptics who wouldn't believe (they were, before the full ep. was aired), the cynics who said Tego might have been circling the country but the fans were scarce so one spotted him, and the haters who said Tegoshi doesn't deserve the attention. A friend told me all about this, frustrated, yet we ended up laughing. "Whatever they say! We're the lucky ones!"
Lucky is an understatement. I feel so blessed. I'm sure every Filipino fan feels the same.
Even though it was only a 20-30 minute segment and we actually expected a lot more (e.g. going to Boracay--our world-famous white sand beach!), Tegoshi doing poses at the Manila Bay, learning a Filipino dance from Filipino dancers and saying "Sankyuu PO!" (Po is a Filipino word used for respect *its equivalent in Japanese is ございます*), are definitely reasons to be proud of being a Filipino koneko-chan.