[8UPPERS TOUR] TOUR FINALE
The 8UPPERS tour ended in Osaka today. I ended up going to 5 cities, 11 shows in total. I am feeling kinda sad now since it's all over now, :-( But! It was a very fun tour nonetheless. THANK YOU KANJANI8!!!
Some highlights and quick recaps from Osaka:
- I already wrote a bit about the 30th here: http://paaaaan.livejournal.com/218484.html
2010.12.31 @ 13:30
- For the 1st show on the 31st, I was dead center in the arena, only a few rows from the main stage. I think this was the best seat I've ever had at a Dome concert. Everything was SO close!!!! I didn't know who to look at when they were playing LIFE and Baby Baby, but since I was in between Subaru and Ryo, I think I was watching these two most of the time. I did watch Ohkura the entire time for the rock medley, though!! I don't usually watch him during that (sorry) so I figured this was a good opportunity since he's the only one left on the main stage. Actually, I'm liking Ohkura more and more these days, compared to the past when I didn't really pay too much attention to him!
- Yoko lost the Wink Killer game (for the first time in this tour, the Killer "gave up"!!!!) and at first, he was about to read it to Shota because he had won the janken. But they started saying that Shota's been read to already so Yoko should read to Ryo who was second place in the janken instead. Yoko said "No, I'll read to Yasu, I have many things to say to him." Ohkura got pissed, took Shota with him and said "I'm not letting you read to him!!" Yoko said "You sound like you're protecting your ex-girlfriend." Subaru immediately went over to "protect" Shota, too, haha. Ryo got pissed because it seemed like Yoko didn't have anything to say to him. It was getting out of control, so they re-did the janken without Shota joining. This time, Subaru won so Yoko read to Subaru. He said that he's not only a member of the same group but more like a real friend. Subaru's there whenever Yoko needs help. Yoko was getting so nervous while reading the letter, so he said "Hellllllllp!!" haha. It was a nice letter :-)
- In the MC, I think this was when they talked about their families (or was it another show?? I don't remember now...). Shota's becoming more and more like his dad; if the family went to the zoo together, the staff would probably start feeding them! Hina's dad looks exactly like him. Big nose and the same kind of hair except that it's all grey. Subaru imitated the way Hina's dad says "Itadaki mammoth." Unlike Hina, his dad talks quietly so it's hard to hear out what he's saying. He said he has no idea what his brother is up to these days. Ryo's parents look alike, and the big brother looks like his dad, the next brother looks like Ryo and the sister looks like his dad. Ryo said that he now has 5 nieces and nephews. He's got a big family in general. Subaru's niece is pretty big now. The brother is divorced and now he's working for Sagawa Express. He used to work at a pachinko store, but he did stuff to the pachinko machine to make the customers win more, so he got fired. He's so skinny and says that the long hours of driving is hurting his back, lol. He's very good at fishing and he has many trophies. Ohkura's brother is pretty good looking, with the older of the two being built. They say it's hard to imagine him being the oldest one, but Shota said that he's a good brother (how the heck does he know!?). Yoko's youngest brother Mitsuru has a girlfriend but he's never seen her before. However, he's eaten stuff that she has made and kept in the fridge. Even though he has a girlfriend, the brothers would put Yoko in the top priority. They would make time to hang out with Yoko. Hina asked him what he was going to do if the brothers got married and left him or something; he said he'd cry a lot, lol. Maru's dad is a bit famous in his town in Kyoto; he was on a radio show one time, haha. He's 46 and looks like B'z Inaba-san. He's a really good-looking body builder.
- During the encore, they did the new song "T.W.L." again and this time they were RIGHT there so I couldn't focus on the lyrics on the screen! They were all very hyper. When Shin-chan was giving them a message, he pointed out Yokoyama-kun and said that his ketsu-dake-seijin wasn't as good as his. He told all the guys to do it, and they all did, lol. It was very nice seeing their butts wiggle like that from such distance, haha. Someone, I think Ryo said "Geez, Shin-chan's really good at that," and Subaru said "Of course, that's how they draw him!" ...SUBARU!! Haha, he destroys every kid's dreams!
2010.12.31 @ 21:00
- For the Countdown show, I was 5 rows from the center stage. This turned out to be an AWESOME seat!!!! They only come to the center stage for a few songs during a normal concert, but for countdown, they ended up being in the center stage for a looooong time!! And to make it even more awesome, Shota was always in front of me!!!!! He was always smiling, too!! I don't want to be like "OMG HE WAS LOOKING ONLY AT ME!!!!" or anything, but I must say I got a good amount of love <3 <3 The moment I remember the most is when they were raised on the stage while Kinki Kids were singing the Family song. Shota looked down while I was looking at him instead of the screen, and he motioned something like "(this song is) teary" wiping his eyes and then pointing to the screen, all the while looking down at me!! I had no idea why he was saying that to me, lol, but it made me feel so happy!!! Also, I was able to get a great view of Shota's tummy/belly button... hehehe. When they were dancing to Matchy's song, he had his arms up so I could see under his shirt, haha!!! I love the line going down his stomach!!! Everytime Shota would come to the area, he would smile so much that it definitely gave me a great start to the new year :-) I think his dad was sitting really close to us, too. Ryo kept on whispering to Shota and pointing a few rows behind me and they'd be laughing. Today, during the MC, Shota said that his dad was there for both of the shows that day. Yoko said that he was able to spot him immediately. I'm going to assume Mr. Yasuda was very close to where we were and that's why Shota was coming by a lot!! THANK YOU MR. YASUDA FOR BEING THERE WHEN I WAS!! lol
- They did the entire show before Countdown started, so they had Wink Killer like always. Shota was the Killer but he lost, and he ended up reading a letter to Ohkura!! Awwww. He said how it was nice to be able to write a song with him and that his lyrics convey messages that he normally doesn't say out loud. He kept on saying "...tte" without thinking much about it, so the guys were like "You say 'te' too much!" But when Shota started changing his sentences so that he wouldn't say "te," the guys said "Don't think about it, just speak naturally!" Shota went on to say that they hang out often with their common friends and he said, in the end, "Let's hang out A LOT next year, too!!" making his eyes really big. Once Shota finished with his letter, Subaru imitated that part over and over again, saying that it was very expressive. During the greetings in the show the next day (Jan. 1st), Shota said "Let's all have A LOT OF fun!" with his eyes big and round again, haha.
- BBV (Bad/Boys/Veteran)'s appearance and song (Big Game!!!) surprised me and many of the fans. Normally for the juniors segment, the little ones will dance a bit before the Veterans sing Go. But since the little ones can't perform late at night, BAD and BOYS came out together with Veteran to sing Big Game. I love this song so I was so excited!!! They came to the center stage often and they also back danced to Kimi no Uta wo Utau. Junta and Daichi were in front of us, and they were so cute :-) Junta's always so shiny and sparkly!!! Kikuoka was in front of us often too.
- When they came out in their sushi outfits, they (mostly Ohkura, Shota and Ryo) were dancing and singing to many of the songs that the people in Tokyo were performing. They were actually standing by very early; they were in their sushi suit even before Arashi sang from NHK! They looked so dumb and adorable when they were facing the screen; all we could see were a bunch of rice with white legs sticking out watching the big screen. It was quite the scenery, lol. They ended the TV part on the center stage and remained there for the encore! They sang T.W.L. right in front of us again, and I'm definitely getting into this song more and more. Seeing it live first before the CD is a different way of enjoying the song!
- Oh god I almost forgot. It must have been during Kyu Jo Show when Subaru was humping his mic stand. It's kind of weird saying this, but I think he was getting a bit too "excited" after that LOL. It might have been Hama-chan or someone from BBV, I don't remember which, but him and Shota, who were watching Subaru, were like "Geez, Subaru!!!!" I loved him doing the "running man" during the NewS song though, lol. It was HILARIOUS when he was shown at the top of the screen behind Ryo, haha!!! They were talking before the Countdown show started on TV and Subaru was saying how year by year his legs are getting tired and tired. Last year's "running man" was more like a "walking man," so he was saying he'll do a better job this year, lol. They took turns getting changed for their first rainbow outfit; Hina, Shota and Subaru went to change first after Ohkura and Yoko told Ryo to stop following them and to join their team, haha. There were a lot of fun dancing and random singing throughout the broadcast behind the scenes just like last year :-D
2010.01.01 @ 18:00
- For the all-last show today, I was in the arena again but way to the side. I was right by the hanamichi though, so I still had a good view of everyone. It wasn't as much as the views I had on the 31st, but still, I can't complain considering how huge the dome is!! I was very lucky with the ballots this time. Thank you ticket gods!!! Here, Subaru came by a lot. They all sort of run/walk by so I didn't really have any eye contact or whatever until the end... Ryo walked by and he nodded a couple of times to me, again!!! What is it with him nodding everytime he sees me!? It is the third time during this tour that Ryo nodded at me when he saw me. At first I thought it was just a coincidence, but 3 times in the same tour??? It's such a mystery...
- The Wink Killer was Ryo and he won. At the beginning of the game, Yoko said that they should have the winner choose who would be reading letters to whom. Yoko said "Who cares about the pyramid, it's the last show!" lol. Yoko was the one who made that rule, but he kept on complaining when Ryo was trying to decide what to do. Ryo eventually said "I've made my mind! Yokoyama-kun, read a letter to each and every one of us!!!" Yoko kept on trying to put the fans to his side by saying stuff like "We all want to hear Ohkura and Dokkun reading letters, right!?" but Ryo said "You're so annoying, trying to make people agree with you like that!!" The fans liked the idea of Yoko reading to everyone better anyway, so it was decided.
- They discussed which order they should have Yoko read it in. They all made Hina go last, because everyone wants to hear what Yoko has to say to Hina. They put Subaru first because Yoko just read to him the day before. Next up was Shota because he had said that he had many things to say to him and that it was easy to come up with a letter for him. The next one was Ryo, since he was apparently a hard one, lol. They then had Maru and Ohkura ("providing kindness") before Hina.
- For Subaru, he basically said similar things as the day before. Subaru's a great friend, and he wants to hang out a lot this year as well. He tried going to Shota a few times but always had a thing or two to say to Subaru again, haha. He said he's jealous of how well Subaru can sing, and he asked him to please not sing the first song when they go to karaoke together because it makes him feel sad. He wants Subaru to teach him how to sing (he probably said this the day before). He also said that there are moments when he feels that Subaru's a rich man. Whenever he uses two Q-Tips for one ear, he thinks Subaru's rich. He would put those in his ear and go "Ahhhhhhh."
- For Shota, Yoko said that he can show his weak side to Shota. Whenever he has problems or concerns, he'd talk to Shota and that makes him feel a lot better just by talking to him. Shota's always a good listener and is so kind and nice. He has the warmest eyes when he listens to him. (I don't know why but I can't remember anything else! I will add once it comes back to me...!)
- For Ryo, he talked about his greatest memory they have together. When Ryo was 12 or 13 and Yoko was 16, he took him to a yakiniku place for his birthday. Since Yoko didn't have much money back then, he took him to an all-you-care-to-eat type of place. But because Ryo's sense of taste was still poor back then (haha) he was smiling at everything he was eating. Yoko said that it must be really hard working for Kanjani8 as well as NewS, but he's happy to see him always smiling when he's working with them. Yoko said Ryo's talented in many ways such as with music and acting, so he's got a lot of things he admires about him.
- For Maru, he said first of all, he shouldn't be on the verge of tears already when he hasn't even said anything to him yet! (He was getting teary from the letters before his.) According to Yoko, Maru's a lot like Shota because he can show his weak side to him as well. But the difference between Maru and Shota is that while Shota always says "Un, un" and is a good listener, Maru always gives him weird comments and they go off track often, forgetting what they were talking about. But that's Maru. Yoko said he's very thankful of how always cheerful Maru is. Even when it's early in the morning or late at night, he would do stuff to make the guys laugh. It lightens everyone's moods. When Yoko was saying this, I don't know why but big drops of tears came out from my eyes!! LOL
- For Ohkura, he said that even though he's the youngest of the group, he's pretty mature. A few years ago, Ohkura, Subaru and Yoko went fishing (I think??) and on the way back they slept over at Yoko's house. Yoko's place wasn't big. Because Yoko and Subaru slept taking a lot of space, Ohkura had to curl into a ball. He said "Sorry about that, considering you were the biggest." When he was a junior, he was one of the Islanders in the play they had in Shochikuza, and his only line was "Oooooi!" Yoko said that he can feel how much Ohkura's grown. The thing he likes most about Ohkura is how he always laughs big. He hopes Ohkura would keep on laughing at Maru's stupid jokes.
- For Hina, he said the good thing about him is how positive-minded he is. He remembers clearly of this one time during their radio show when he felt that he could never beat Hina. They were talking about the rankings they had on the magazine AnAn, and he saw Murakami Haruki's name on the "smart people" list, and said "Hey, I made it half way!" lol. Yoko went on to say that he can come up with so many things that Hina does that irritates him. He said when they are recording the radio show, he would sit down in his seat with a big sigh and that wind would blow Yoko's bangs all the time LOL. He said he also has some good things that he can say. He suddenly goes, "Do you want me to say it to you, or what!?" Hina mouthed "Say it" like giving an order, so Yoko said "You aren't asking me properly but I will say it to you" and went on to say that the good thing about Hina is that he doesn't show it when he is tired. He's always loud and creating a good work atmosphere. I had tears coming out during this one too, haha.
- After Yoko finished reading all the letters (it lasted nearly 10 minutes!) the whole place had a warm atmosphere. Everyone was touched by Yoko's words :-)
- During the MC, Maru said that his sister came to watch yesterday. Yoko said that he was in the same car as Maru's family on the way back after the concert, and there were some funny moments between him and his sister. Maru would ask "So how was the concert?" the sister says "Oniichan, you were very energetic." LOL Apparently Maru's sister likes Shota, and Maru told her "Hey, I told Sho-chan that you liked him!" and then the sister got so mad saying "WHY!? WHY DID YOU SAY THAT!? So embarrassing!" and Maru had to say "...Sorry." Yoko was laughing the entire time. When they were about to get out of the car, Maru said "Yokocho, sorry for all this..." Maru said his sister was there today as well. She's here to see Sho-chan, haha. Maru also did random imitations of Oshima Yuko from AKB48. He did the last part in Heavy Rotation where she has the "oishii" part. Maru had a weird face on him towards the end of it though, haha.
- Shota's family came to both shows on the 31st. He said that some people sitting around him recognized him from the picture shown during the Wink Killer game, and Shota's dad said "people turn around to see me and they laugh!" hahaha. Hina's dad and brother once came to see one of their shows a few years back, but when they picked on Hina's dad, he got annoyed and stopped coming to their shows, lol.
It's past 2am and I haven't had proper sleep in the last few hours, so I'm going to stop here!! I will add more once my mind starts functioning again and I start remembering things. Right now, I feel like a huge chunk is missing from my memory... Going to 4 shows in a row kinda confuses you as to what happened, when and why! lol
Anyway, thank you Kanjani8 for a wonderful tour! I hope to see a DVD of this!!!!
EDIT: I'm going to add some things that I just remembered:
- During the Jan. 1st show, they talked about how the people in Tokyo and their company loved the sushi performance at Countdown. They were so proud, again! They said that at first, there was no plan to have three sushis lying on the floor like that. But during rehearsal, Ohkura laid down, then Shota, then Maru and they were having fun. Yoko saw that and went over to do "Soy sauce attack!!!" The staff was watching that and said "That's too funny, you should do that!!" so they incorporated it into the song, haha. Unfortunately the rolls (Ryo and Subaru) couldn't lay down on the floor like that because of their shape, lol. They said that people are expecting more and more every year. They enjoy doing it, but they're not the ones choosing the songs so it'll be a challenge to come up with fun stuff to do for next year. They asked the audience if they preferred normal performances, and only a few clapped "yes." Yoko said "They obviously didn't like the sushi performance!" and Maru said "But they're still here watching us now, thanks for coming!" Haha I love how positive-minded they are :-D
- I don't think I wrote about the Proactiv CMs yet. 12/30 was Aburatani (Subaru covered in oil), 12/31 1st show was Ma Ryonjun (Maru being a Korean singer), 12/31 2nd show was Segare (Ohkura as the son of a big yakitori restaurant, lol!! This was the first time I saw this one and it was hilarious. He said Proactiv would smooth the bird skin and make the bumps go away!) 1/1 was Aburatani again, and I was honestly disappointed because A) I HATE that! It's so gross! and B) They've done this both times in Tokyo and twice in Osaka. I've seen enough of this! So, throughout the tour I've seen normal Subaru once, normal Maru once, normal Ohkura once, Ryo as Kudo twice, Maru as Ma Ryonjun twice, Subaru as Aburatani three times, Ohkura as Segare once... meaning I haven't seen any of the Shota and Yoko ones!! They're my two favorites in the group and I didn't get to see them (T_T)