[fan project] international paana uchiwa fan project SUMMARY
International Paana Uchiwa Fan Project
SUMMARY
The Uchiwa
Thank you to everyone that participated in the 2016 Quartetto Tour Uchiwa Project. It was truly amazing how on board you got with this idea and it was an honour to carry your heart felt messages into the concerts of the 2016 Quartetto tour. As you can see in the images above, paanas from 25 different countries left over 40 messages to be used on the uchiwa. The initial design of the uchiwa was made by elrianahana then adapted by the Paana Playground team into what you see above.
Prologue
Before concerts were to begin, we took the uchiwa on a warm up adventure to Koyama's Mama's ramen restaurant. We showed her the Uchiwa and explained the project, to which she was super excited and amazed.
The Journey
In an amazingly lucky turn of events we realised we could get the uchiwa to every single one of the concerts on the Quartetto tour, by passing it from hand to hand.
The journey started on March 26 in Sapporo, in what could be described as godly seats. Perhaps the Johnnys gods were smiling down on this project in giving us such luck. Only 1 meter from the stage itself, it was obvious when Tegoshi laid eyes on the Uchiwa. His eyes lit up and he gave a wonderful grin. Though we suspect every member did see the uchiwa on that first day, the other three did not show their reaction to it.
The uchiwa swapped hands to attend the Osaka, Shizuoka, the Fukuoka concerts by which time it was confirmed that both Massu and Shige-chan had also seen and reacted to the uchiwa. 3 down, 1 to go. While in Shizuoka, we visited a beautiful temple. With the international uchiwa in hand, and with the feelings of the worldwide paanas, we prayed for NEWS' ongoing success and safety throughout the tour.
The next stop was Nagoya where, unexpectedly, we gained a lot of attention. A large number of Juniors noticed the foreigners in the crowd and therefore also the uchiwa. We danced along together to the music when NEWS were busy playing with other fans. NEWS' wonderful juniors now know just how wide reaching the reign of their senpais are.
After Nagoya was Sendai, Hiroshima and then Tokyo Dome. By this stage Tegoshi had interacted with the uchiwa a number of times, yet still there had not been an incident where Kei-chan had interacted with it. On the first day of Tokyo shows, however, it finally happened. Kei-chan pointed up at the uchiwa as it was being held by my illustrious Paana Playground partner in crime (during her first ever concert). Then with one last show the following day, we had finally done it. We had transported the international uchiwa to every single concert in the tour, taking along with it all your thoughts, love and wishes.
Thank You
To all those that participated and to those that helped us to get the Uchiwa out there. And to those that responded to us after the tour had started with your address, I do hope you enjoyed the little piece of this adventure that we sent out to you. It would be wonderful to see all of your names and more repeated on the next international uchiwa for 2017.
This is where we went...
Sapporo
Makomanai Sekisui Heim Ice Arena (26-27 March 2016)
Osaka
Osaka-jo Hall (1-2 April 2016)
Shizuoka
Ecopa Arena (9-10 April 2016)
Fukuoka
Marine Messe Fukuoka (29-30 April 2016)
Nagoya
Nippongaishi Sports Plaze Gaishi Hall (7-8 May 2016)
Miyagi (Sendai)
Sekisui Heim Super Arena (15-16 May 2016)
Hiroshima
Hiroshima Green Arena (28-29 May 2016)
Tokyo
Tokyo Dome (12-13 June 2016)
Mission Complete!!
Epilogue
I was lucky enough to get to Tokyo Dome for Johnny's Countdown on Dec 31st. Welcoming in the new year with NEWS and all your messages from Quartetto tour.
Throughout the adventure, I sent live updates via twitter. Please feel free to add my open account there to have a look at the old posts or to keep updated on the next uchiwa adventure.