Furukawa Yuki in San Francisco
So today was all about Furukawa Yuki. I took PTO off work to go see him. I also bought the VIP pass just to shake his hand. Of course, it was great to get the goody bag including the black L pin from Death Note. Bonus!
I stood in the 2nd row center for Black Diamond's, a gyaru group, performance which started late. By some miracle, a female fan who was in front row center left immediately before Yuki came on stage so I asked the cameraman next to me if I could sneak in there. He let me so I did. However, Yuki's talk on stage was super short. The MC only asked him a few questions. I must note that everyone had to mention about his time in Canada and the US as a child, the MC later did the same. Most notably, it was Yuki's first time in San Francisco and he was unaware of 'Japanese town' and the J-pop summit going on in our city. He announced the news about ItaKiss 2 which I already knew about and is also filming a movie based off a manga which he cannot reveal. When he first went to Canada, he only knew 'hello, 1-20' and one other phrase, maybe 'how are you?' or 'thank you'. LOL, he also called twitter 'tweeter'. I saw him walk off the stage to the left. I had the same idea as some Chinese fangirls to go off to the left side but I figured he wouldn't come out since the hand shake event would be soon.
One girl at the booth told us the handshake event would be around 2 pm instead of 1:30 pm so I just waited around and watched Daichi, the human beatboxer perform. He was very cool. But good thing I was paying attention because I saw a line forming inside the gate and a girl collecting the blue handshake tickets for Yuki! So I went over there and waited in line. I was halfway in the line as a bunch of girls were sitting down behind me and a male fan ended up behind me. I saw Yuki come out from the side tent to enter the main tent with some staff for the event. The tent could not be seen from the side so people could only see him while shaking his hand. Very clever.
I saw girls putting their bags down before their turn for the handshake so I put mine down too, all the while holding my letter. The guy behind me didn't, when I asked him later. At that time, he mentioned no one rushed him and he was kind of having a conversation with Yuki. As the line started moving, my heart started to beat faster. When it was my turn, and the volunteer asked me to go on ahead, I noticed the table Yuki was standing behind had all these photos of him. I should have taken one but no one did. I shook his hand and said that I was so glad to meet him as we looked into each other's eyes. His eyes sparkled! No joke. He thanked me for coming. I handed him the letter from my left hand to his and he took it thanking me and looked down at it briefly, for a few seconds. I didn't know what to say and the time seemed to lag, so I said the same thing worded a bit differently, "So happy to meet you. Thank you." He said, "thank you" and then I left. Now I'm the bimyo no onna, but not as bad as Anna.
My friend and I stayed to watch Yuki leave from afar as the short handshake line dwindled. He came out and was drinking water holding my letter in his hand! No one else gave him anything. I was so proud of myself for being prepared. I did have my business card with me, which my mom wanted me to give him so badly, but I already sealed the envelope so I could not stick it in. He disappeared in the tent, re-emerged, and left to the left with 3 staff members.
We waited in line for the movie and was like halfway in the line. Good timing as people started showing up. I managed to sit in the third row smack dab in the center. Prior to the film screening, Yuki was introduced on stage and was asked to give a short greeting in either English or Japanese. He said, "I think in English." He then very concisely and simply asked us to please enjoy the movie. That's it. Then he left as the movie started.
The short film was good. Quite a bit of comedy. A bit of the scenes in English were awkward even though Yuki's English was perfect and very easily understandable. Some of the Chinese girl's English I could not understand. Unfortunately during the last few minutes of the movie, the video crackled and skipped a scene with Yuki (I found out by watching the ending on youtube) and blacked out during the last scene and start of the credits.
After the film ended, the MC apologized for the technical difficulties. There was one very annoying girl diagonally to my left in front of me in 2nd row who kept blabbing out stuff during the whole Q&A. My friend wanted to hit her with the program. She told him not to go to Uniqlo, but apparently, Yuki loves Uniqlo. Nudge to rayray0826! Poor Yuki. Their flight got canceled so he flew into Washington DC and SF last night. He had time to take pictures only and enjoy pizza (his favorite thing about SF) somewhere nearby. He forgot the name of the place. But he hadn't gotten to see the Golden Gate Bridge yet which he wanted to see. I'd take him! Also I should have stalked SFO last night.
Oh, and this part is a big deal. The first question was mine! Another pat on the back for preparing questions like since I found out about this event. I asked, "What was your favorite role to play so far?" The lights kept dimming and brightening during the Q&A but the MC and I hope Yuki were able to see me. He replied, "Irie Naoki, is that okay?" I nodded and said, "Okay." Funny. Yuki laughed and smiled at some points. Other fans asked pretty good questions. I wanted to ask more but I think nobody got to ask more than one question.
Some things I learned from the Q&A are that Yuki is S, loves to play mean characters, wants to play more adult roles (as he is almost 27 and has been playing young 20s or high school characters), hates traveling alone as he would be lonely and because he loves Japan and his house there but will travel for work, will visit a cat cafe in NY if he gets a job there but won't go out of his way to go to one (which makes sense), hates bowing, doesn't bow when he talks on the phone (he isn't that Japanese), and is half fluent in English. He did not know the difference between the meaning of 'high tension' in Japanese and English until the MC told him. He admires Watanabe Ken greatly and wants to be like him. He finished filming ItaKiss 2 but cannot reveal the release date. He played basketball and did skateboarding as a teenager to gain friends in Canada/USA as he could not speak English when he first got there. He was very modest and kind of shy. His answers were kind of short and succinct. Apparently his hardest role was playing a British-English and Japanese priest in a London stage play. He would not speak British-English for us. Also he says his singing is horrible so he will not try to go into singing.
After the Q&A, the people in the first row had to move back. Sucks for them. Yuki sat in the middle for a group photo. I was behind him to his right! 3-4 different professional photographers took 3-4 photos each. There was also a big flower display for Yuki from Yuki PFC Japan. I couldn't figure out what the P stood for, but FC is most likely fan club. They looked like real flowers. I took a photo. My friend took video during the Q&A. I just sat and enjoyed and tried not to stare at him especially when he was looking directly behind me to answer questions of fans back there.
Something I realized and jokingly said to my mom, who knows I love many, is that Yuki could be her potential son-in-law (along with Kevin Woo and AJ Kim and a number of others. My mom pointed out MatsuJun and Yamamoto Yusuke, NOT Shirota Yu). He is tall, handsome, speaks English, and loves cats. Also he is a man of few words. This is a big bonus for me as I do not like guys who talk too much. Yep. What a great day. There must be some secret back entrance from the New People movie theatre as he was hiding on the side behind the Exit sign and I could stalk him no more thereafter.
I stood in the 2nd row center for Black Diamond's, a gyaru group, performance which started late. By some miracle, a female fan who was in front row center left immediately before Yuki came on stage so I asked the cameraman next to me if I could sneak in there. He let me so I did. However, Yuki's talk on stage was super short. The MC only asked him a few questions. I must note that everyone had to mention about his time in Canada and the US as a child, the MC later did the same. Most notably, it was Yuki's first time in San Francisco and he was unaware of 'Japanese town' and the J-pop summit going on in our city. He announced the news about ItaKiss 2 which I already knew about and is also filming a movie based off a manga which he cannot reveal. When he first went to Canada, he only knew 'hello, 1-20' and one other phrase, maybe 'how are you?' or 'thank you'. LOL, he also called twitter 'tweeter'. I saw him walk off the stage to the left. I had the same idea as some Chinese fangirls to go off to the left side but I figured he wouldn't come out since the hand shake event would be soon.
One girl at the booth told us the handshake event would be around 2 pm instead of 1:30 pm so I just waited around and watched Daichi, the human beatboxer perform. He was very cool. But good thing I was paying attention because I saw a line forming inside the gate and a girl collecting the blue handshake tickets for Yuki! So I went over there and waited in line. I was halfway in the line as a bunch of girls were sitting down behind me and a male fan ended up behind me. I saw Yuki come out from the side tent to enter the main tent with some staff for the event. The tent could not be seen from the side so people could only see him while shaking his hand. Very clever.
I saw girls putting their bags down before their turn for the handshake so I put mine down too, all the while holding my letter. The guy behind me didn't, when I asked him later. At that time, he mentioned no one rushed him and he was kind of having a conversation with Yuki. As the line started moving, my heart started to beat faster. When it was my turn, and the volunteer asked me to go on ahead, I noticed the table Yuki was standing behind had all these photos of him. I should have taken one but no one did. I shook his hand and said that I was so glad to meet him as we looked into each other's eyes. His eyes sparkled! No joke. He thanked me for coming. I handed him the letter from my left hand to his and he took it thanking me and looked down at it briefly, for a few seconds. I didn't know what to say and the time seemed to lag, so I said the same thing worded a bit differently, "So happy to meet you. Thank you." He said, "thank you" and then I left. Now I'm the bimyo no onna, but not as bad as Anna.
My friend and I stayed to watch Yuki leave from afar as the short handshake line dwindled. He came out and was drinking water holding my letter in his hand! No one else gave him anything. I was so proud of myself for being prepared. I did have my business card with me, which my mom wanted me to give him so badly, but I already sealed the envelope so I could not stick it in. He disappeared in the tent, re-emerged, and left to the left with 3 staff members.
We waited in line for the movie and was like halfway in the line. Good timing as people started showing up. I managed to sit in the third row smack dab in the center. Prior to the film screening, Yuki was introduced on stage and was asked to give a short greeting in either English or Japanese. He said, "I think in English." He then very concisely and simply asked us to please enjoy the movie. That's it. Then he left as the movie started.
The short film was good. Quite a bit of comedy. A bit of the scenes in English were awkward even though Yuki's English was perfect and very easily understandable. Some of the Chinese girl's English I could not understand. Unfortunately during the last few minutes of the movie, the video crackled and skipped a scene with Yuki (I found out by watching the ending on youtube) and blacked out during the last scene and start of the credits.
After the film ended, the MC apologized for the technical difficulties. There was one very annoying girl diagonally to my left in front of me in 2nd row who kept blabbing out stuff during the whole Q&A. My friend wanted to hit her with the program. She told him not to go to Uniqlo, but apparently, Yuki loves Uniqlo. Nudge to rayray0826! Poor Yuki. Their flight got canceled so he flew into Washington DC and SF last night. He had time to take pictures only and enjoy pizza (his favorite thing about SF) somewhere nearby. He forgot the name of the place. But he hadn't gotten to see the Golden Gate Bridge yet which he wanted to see. I'd take him! Also I should have stalked SFO last night.
Oh, and this part is a big deal. The first question was mine! Another pat on the back for preparing questions like since I found out about this event. I asked, "What was your favorite role to play so far?" The lights kept dimming and brightening during the Q&A but the MC and I hope Yuki were able to see me. He replied, "Irie Naoki, is that okay?" I nodded and said, "Okay." Funny. Yuki laughed and smiled at some points. Other fans asked pretty good questions. I wanted to ask more but I think nobody got to ask more than one question.
Some things I learned from the Q&A are that Yuki is S, loves to play mean characters, wants to play more adult roles (as he is almost 27 and has been playing young 20s or high school characters), hates traveling alone as he would be lonely and because he loves Japan and his house there but will travel for work, will visit a cat cafe in NY if he gets a job there but won't go out of his way to go to one (which makes sense), hates bowing, doesn't bow when he talks on the phone (he isn't that Japanese), and is half fluent in English. He did not know the difference between the meaning of 'high tension' in Japanese and English until the MC told him. He admires Watanabe Ken greatly and wants to be like him. He finished filming ItaKiss 2 but cannot reveal the release date. He played basketball and did skateboarding as a teenager to gain friends in Canada/USA as he could not speak English when he first got there. He was very modest and kind of shy. His answers were kind of short and succinct. Apparently his hardest role was playing a British-English and Japanese priest in a London stage play. He would not speak British-English for us. Also he says his singing is horrible so he will not try to go into singing.
After the Q&A, the people in the first row had to move back. Sucks for them. Yuki sat in the middle for a group photo. I was behind him to his right! 3-4 different professional photographers took 3-4 photos each. There was also a big flower display for Yuki from Yuki PFC Japan. I couldn't figure out what the P stood for, but FC is most likely fan club. They looked like real flowers. I took a photo. My friend took video during the Q&A. I just sat and enjoyed and tried not to stare at him especially when he was looking directly behind me to answer questions of fans back there.
Something I realized and jokingly said to my mom, who knows I love many, is that Yuki could be her potential son-in-law (along with Kevin Woo and AJ Kim and a number of others. My mom pointed out MatsuJun and Yamamoto Yusuke, NOT Shirota Yu). He is tall, handsome, speaks English, and loves cats. Also he is a man of few words. This is a big bonus for me as I do not like guys who talk too much. Yep. What a great day. There must be some secret back entrance from the New People movie theatre as he was hiding on the side behind the Exit sign and I could stalk him no more thereafter.