T&T in Sendai and Niigata -CON REPORTS-
~ TACKEY & TSUBASA ~
| SENDAI 9/13 | NIIGATA 9/17 |
| SENDAI 9/13 |
[I'm counting on luin_lote pretty hard to fill in the gaps for this one because I didn't take notes at all and I'm going off pure memory a week later. Plus I don't have a set list for either con. XD]
First off, Sendai is gorgeous. It's one of the prettiest cities I've seen so far in Japan, and the people seem really relaxed and friendly. The streets are much wider than they are in denser-populated areas, and there were a lot of little accents to pretty up the city even more (fountains and narrow water channels carved into the sidewalks, that kind of thing).
I arrived at 8am via night bus (I am really good at the night bus thanks to Johnny's), and checked myself into an internet cafe to become Not Gross and Better-Smelling, then wandered around Sendai until luin_lote arrived. I had grand plans of visiting a famous garden, but then I decided not to risk the time it would take to get to an unfamiliar place and back in time and, luckily, I made the right choice. Five minutes after I told the gate staff I'd made a mistake and needed to get out, I got a mail from Em telling me she'd be arriving in about ten minutes. XD I would have been on a train headed fifteen minutes east if I hadn't decided to be Not Crazy.
Anyway! We went out to eat together at this incredible little ramen place we discovered by going off the beaten path in an arcade, and the broth was fascinating. It was really thick and rich, and so were the noodles. I've never had anything like it, so maybe it's a Tohoku/Sendai specialty?
We still had loads of time to kill before the con, so we meandered our leisurely way to the hall, talking about T&T and their married and both of us just generally enjoying the feeling of being around another hardcore fan, and stood in line for the goods. I love waiting in line for goods, as crazy as that sounds, because you get to talk to the Japanese fans around you or just enjoy the speculation going on around you. XD I'd gotten most of my desired goods at Tokyo Dome, but I'd decided to collect the wristbands since they change color and feature the name of every venue, and I was still missing Takki's photo sets and I'd forgotten to buy FRAU at Tokyo Dome. I realized, walking away from the goods stand, that I'd only bought Takki-related stuff and immediately felt weird. Because I love Takki. Takki is THIS guy:
I just couldn't remember a time when I'd only bought something Takki-related with nothing Tsubasa-related to keep it company in my bag.
........I was talking about something but now I'm watching that gif. ...Yeah, I didn't have any more thoughts more important than watching Takki strut down a red carpet over and over. Tsubasa, you lucky loon.
So! Em and I sat on the stairs after making our purchases and we got all kinds of friendly smiles and remarks from passing Takitsuba fans. Also, the staff of the hall were having their smoking break nearby and they were super amused and intrigued by us, too. I'm pretty sure we were the only foreigners there, so we stood out a bit. XD
When it was time to go inside, we filed in and saw ~posters~ set up for the fans to write messages on! I did something banal because I couldn't think of anything (I had a message in Spanish prepared for Niigata but it seems like the posters were something they were only doing in Tohoku, maybe, because I didn't see any yesterday).
- Opening VTR -
Two balls of light - one blue and one pink - spiraling through space. They come upon Earth, spiral down to Japan, and to the highlighted city of the day: Sendai.
They started with...um. Wow, I really need a set list. XD
I don't have much to say about the songs anyway, aside from *___________* and :DDDDDDDDDD and EEEEEEE, so there you go. XD
- Aishiteruze Anniversary T&T -
They've changed up Aishiteruze T&T into a rap intro. It's not really lovey-dovey except when Takki raps about Tsubasa's love for Spain. XD
I think it's maaaybe to save time?
The one change I'm sad to see is that there was no battle call. o___o It's one of my favorite parts of their cons, but I haven't heard anyone else commenting on it so I guess maybe they just don't do the battle call in small venues? Maybe?
I really, really hope they add Osaka or Yokohama on at the end of the tour. ;___;
- MC -
Ohhh dear. I don't remember a lot at all. Ummm.
...
I don't think I remember anything. XD luin_lote?
- 4U Corner -
I love 4U's corner a lot. It's all dance, no speaking or singing whatsoever, and it's really amusing and impressive. :D
It starts off with the four of them in suits with different color accents (I can't remember who was which color, so I'll check it out next time) walking across the stage. Then they freeze one by one, so it looks like one person walking in stop-motion (...I hope that paints the right picture XD).
They do various breakdances, and then they file up the stairs to the higher platform. One by one, they flip off the platform back down to the stage, and then Matsu chickens out and runs down the stairs instead.
Tangentially, MATSU IS WONDERFUL. XD The man is really, really funny. Like, there are times when I'm watching Tatsumi being adorable or Kosshi being hot or Fuku-chan being amusing and then I'll look at Matsu and he'll have this bizarre face on, trying to make some fan laugh. I love this guy, he's seriously fantastic. Just, man, all of 4U. I love this unit. :}
- 絆も奇跡もここにある -
This is the song I keep talking about. *___* It's been translated here by loveandcoffee and it's really, really beautiful. It's one of my two favorite songs off the new album (together with "裸のMIND" on the Past version), and when they sang it at Tokyo Dome I remember lovespiral and I were all like, "...THIS IS REALLY MARRIED."
But we didn't read too much into it. *cough*
Then, after they sang it in Sendai, Takki explained that the song is one they hold very close to their hearts and has a lot of honesty to the lyrics. Plus, they had a montage of themselves going on behind them while they sang. Which ended on a photo of chibi!Takki hugging chibi!Tsubasa from behind. So, I dunno, I'll just go ahead and keep shipping what they ship. XD
- epilogue -
At one point halfway into the song Tsubasa just turned his head and stared at Takki for a bit while he was singing. He cried, as expected, and looked all moved.
Part of why this report is so short compared to others I've written is because the concert felt really short! When Takki said thank you to us I thought he was joking!
As it turns out, it was shorter than your average T&T con - and there was a reason for it. They did two encores and then told us we'd get to shake their hands on the way out of the hall. :}
Like I wrote in my other spastic entry, I found Em even though we were in different sections and we could see T&T just ahead and oh, man.
I tried to explain in my other entry what it was like but I can't really express it without a lot of emotions and flailing (more than usual) and I don't think I can do it in words. Buuut I'll try. XD
Tsubasa's my hero. He's driven and devoted and passionate and shameless, and he works incredibly hard. He takes vocal lessons even though plenty of Johnny's talents don't, he travels abroad alone, he's dedicated himself to actually studying (with books and teachers!) a second language, and the guy only graduated high school by - he says - the skin of his teeth because he was going to school at the same time as he was working in Johnny's. He's also just admirably genuine, cries when he's sad, doesn't put on a happy face when he's upset - he's exactly as he seems most of the time (except when he has to be a human being and bottle some stuff up). He fanboys things so hard and he's so joyful about the things that make him happy - no acting cool and pretending things don't touch him when they do. He's everything I want to be, and whenever I see him succeed I get so proud and happy for him because you can see in his smiles how much he appreciates what he's earned.
And so meeting him, even if it's just a handshake and a smile, means everything to me. Even more so when he remembers me. All I want as a fan is to see my idol happy. And so, when he smiled at me with that I KNOW YOU! smile, I thought he looked happy to see me, and knowing I made my idol happy, if only for just a handful of seconds, felt incredible. :}
...Aaaand I came very close to crying just now. XDDDD SEE, THIS DOESN'T WORK IN WRITING. I NEED FUNNY THINGS TO SAY. *hides under rock*
On our way to the station, Em and I ran into these two older fans in their late forties. They've been Takitsuba fans since they were Jrs, they said, and when I asked what drew them to T&T they said, "They were cute as KinKi Kids' backdancers." I've been curious for a while what Japanese fans think about the hiatus, so I've asked my friends and other fans, and I also asked these two women. "I don't know," one of them said, and then her friend said, "Lover's spat, probably."
T&T FANS: pretty much all of us ship it. XD
| NIIGATA 9/17 |
This one, sadly, I attended all on my lonesome. XD First con I've seen alone since World Wing in 2008. *___*
Howwwever, I had a friend on the phone and fuyukoi to mail, so I wasn't completely alone.
I arrived in Niigata via night bus (seriously, if anyone wants night bus aid, I'm your girl) and used the same internet cafe chain Em and I used in Sendai to shower-evolve into Good-Smelly Kya and charge up my phone and iPod and spare charger (Fangirl Essentials in the Modern Age).
I had lunch at a sushi place where I met three T&T fans in their late fifties and we talked about how Tsubasa should shave his face. XD
Then I took a bunch of pictures of a park near the hall, lay in the grass, and stared up at the totally cloudless sky for about two hours. Oh, and I had two things of shaved ice because 1) hot, and 2) delicious. The second time I went back the people in the food tent were like, "Are you going to the concert?" because the tent was directly in front of the hall and I'm pretty sure they saw me buying my wristband there earlier. I said yep and they said, "Do you live in Japan?" and I said yes and told them Kansai and they were all amazed and amused by the trip I'd made to see my adorable married people. XD
THEN it was time for the show. :D I expected the poster and I was super thrilled for it but there was none there. XD I guess I'll have to send my message as a fan letter, but it won't be nearly as much fun - I had part of it addressed to Takki in Spanish and I was amusing myself imagining Tsubasa refusing to translate it - or mistranslating it on purpose. XD
Hopefully they'll bring the poster thing back at a different venue I go to. *____*
SO! My seat this time wasn't as close as the one in Sendai (where I'd been in the eighth row on the aisle where Takki saw me and was all happy I knew the furitsuke XD), but I was in the center, so I still had a great view. :D
I'll admit here that the main focus of this report is the MC. So let's cut ahead to that! :D
- MC -
About 80% of the MC was T&T talking about their date the day before. XD
The way Takki told the story at the very opening of the con was like this (paraphrased): "Ahh, I ate so much yesterday. We got to Niigata yesterday and I got a mail from this one for the first time in a while! It just said, What do you want to eat? so I wrote back Crab and shrimp, because those are my favorite foods. Immediately he wrote back, There's a crab and shrimp festival going on!"
Later, during the MC, Tsubasa explained that T&T got to Niigata the day before the con, and Tsubasa went out to dinner with his manager. As luck (or extensive research and ulterior motives) would have it, there is apparently a crab and shrimp festival in Niigata on 9/16. (I tried looking this up to confirm that Tsubasa didn't just make it up to lure Takki out of the hotel, but I haven't turned up anything yet. XD) Takki and Tsubasa happen to have the same taste in food, and they're both really fond of crab and shrimp, so Tsubasa was like, "Have to mail my husband, one sec."
So the mail exchange happened and from what I understood, Takki got there three minutes before the place shut down. XD The owner shut the door behind him and closed down shop while they ate. And apparently they ate a lot. When it came time to pay, Takki (naturally) goes up to the cashier and he rings them up and goes, "...You ate all of that?" and Takki was like, "...Yes?" in this kind of bemused voice. Who doesn't eat a metric ton of their favorite food? /eighter
This is probably at the core of why Hina and Takki get along so well. A deep appreciation and reverence for food.
(Which reminds me of the MC they had in Sapporo last year where Takki was making fun of Tsubasa for being hungry, like, an hour after breakfast, and Tsubasa was just like, "I'm always hungry. When I finish breakfast I'm already thinking about lunch.")
During the meal, Tsubasa said Takki gave him some of his own shrimp/crab. :}
Naturally they were drinking throughout the meal, and Takki said Tsubasa got really drunk and really cheerful, so much so that he lay down (I'm assuming this was a restaurant with chairs on the floor). Takki mimicked the sighs Tsubasa made and Tsubasa responded in this cloyingly sweet/seductive voice, "I was thinking about how you'd be sleeping next door to me." Takki got all flushed and giggled and told the fans to stop cooing at them.
After dinner, they stopped by a convenience store on their way back to the hotel. As they were walking, Takki said Tsubasa was humming to himself (some song by Maki Ohguro). Aaand I think it's at this point that Tsubasa, like, stopped in the entryway to the convenience store and just stood there letting the chime go off because it sounded like "Ai wa Takaramono." XD Takki said he looked like a little kid, totally enchanted and delighted. Tsubasa didn't seem to remember this. XD
Then they got into a taxi and Tsubasa managed to lose his wallet. During the MC, he was like, "I got back to the hotel and looked in my bag, but it was gone. I thought maybe he took it," and pointed at Takki, who laughed and went, "Why me?" So Tsubasa's manager called the police and it turned out the cab driver found it while he was cleaning the back of his taxi and delivered it to the police station. Tsubasa was really touched - he said if the same thing happened in Tokyo there'd be no way he'd have gotten it back; I'm assuming he had a lot of money in there (probably keeps a secret chunk of yen in there for emergency trips to Spain).
TSUBASA: I tipped the driver ¥100,000 to say thank you.
TAKKI: You did not. XD
TSUBASA: No, I didn't. It was ¥200,000.
Randomly, I'd like to express some love for Tsubasa's sarcastic side. XD It's really entertaining.
Then Takki called for 4U and god, I love 4U. :D I'm so happy they're on tour with T&T right now because ever since Our Future I've just been getting fonder and fonder of them - and having seen them four times in Playzone they've officially become my fourth favorite unit in Johnny's. Probably tied with KinKi. I can't decide if Koichi would be amused or annoyed. XD I'm fairly sure Tsuyoshi wouldn't give a shit. (By the way, while I'm mentioning people I love, I think it's worth throwing out there that Nagase is my favorite human being ever. Whenever someone decides to make him King of Awesome Dramas again, I will give that person a cookie. A really fuckin' good cookie.)
So! Kosshi was like, "Hey, so you were talking about Tsubasa humming and stuff just now, right?" (I love when guests/Jrs show that they've been listening backstage XD) and Takki was like, "Mm," and Kosshi said, "Right before the start of the show I heard Tsubasa-kun humming 'Sexy Zone' to himself." Kosshi said it didn't seem like he realized he was doing it. XD Cute.
TAKKI: You really are a Johnny's fan, aren't you?
TSUBASA: Of course I am!
Then Fuku was like, "I got a mail from Tsubasa-kun yesterday! It said, Arrived in Niigata. Tomorrow, よろしくね. (I never know how to translate 宜しく XD)." He thought Tsubasa must have been in a good mood and Tsubasa was like, "Ah, I sent that before Takizawa arrived. I'd gotten his mail saying he was on his way, so I was happily waiting for him."
Then someone brought up how Takki doesn't put emoji in his mails but he'd put one in his mail to Tsubasa. XD
Fuku was like, "Takizawa-kun, you don't even know my phone number do you? Here, I'll tell you: 080-"
TAKKI: WJEKWJ STOP THAT. XD
They also talked about Matsu and Kosshi and some blunder Matsu made in Japanese but I didn't catch all of it, so I only know that much. XD;
Then the MC ended. It was really long! Or it just felt that way. I was really relieved I caught so much of it, and then after the show I saw that fans were posting summaries of the MC on Twitter, so I compiled a bunch to keep my facts straight. :D
- 4U Corner -
Whereas in Sendai they flipped off the top platform, this time they just jumped down one by one. Matsu chickened out again. XD
- 絆も奇跡もここにある -
When they finished the song, Takki started a word and then stammered and Tsubasa, who'd been in this emotional haze, did that comic stumble forward and went, "Aren't you from this country?"
Takki was all flustered and giggly and went, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
Then he just gave a standard explanation of the song, like, "This is from our new album, it's a new song, um," and skipped over the part where it's about their marriage.
- カミラ -
The reason I single this one out is because of the cool thing they did at the end.
The staff brought out six cymbals, each one extended so it was at least 5'7" feet tall (it was a little taller than T&T, and I think they're about that height - Tsubasa, anyway XD).
In Sendai, they went down the line, each one doing a high-kick to the cymbal. Tatsumi and Kosshi kicked theirs over. XD
In Niigata, Fuku-chan punched his, then Kosshi did the same, then Tsubasa head-butted his, so of course Takki had to do the same thing (complete with goofy smile when his head hit the cymbal), and then Tatsumi, and finally there was Matsu. And Matsu did my favorite thing. XD He'd taped a debut picture of Tsubasa to his cymbal and, when it was his turn, he kissed it. Tsubasa looked amused in the, "I didn't know more than one of you (Tatsumi) had a crush on me, how interesting," sense. I didn't catch Takki's reaction. XD Then, while the song continued, Matsu pretended to DJ with the cymbal, then made some more sappy faces at the picture, and finally kissed it one last time.
It bears repeating: I love Matsu. XD
- epilogue -
Tsubasa cried so much during this one he pinched his nose at the end, then swiped his hand over his face while Takki was giving his farewell speech.
Tsubasa's speech was interesting. I didn't listen to it closely because I thought it'd be your typical thank-you-bye speech but I did notice he looked and sounded nervous. Later I checked Twitter and I saw a few fans reacting to his farewell speech with stuff like, "Wow, so he really is gay, seriously. Congratulations on your gayness, Tsubasa-kun," and, "Did I just listen to him announce their marriage?"
He said:「大変個人的なことですが、デビューして10年出逢って17年…ずっと隣で僕を支えてくれた滝沢とこの先一生、共に歩んでいきますので、これからも熱い応援をよろしくお願いします。」
I think it's Tsubasa talking about how Takki's always supported him and will do so for the rest of their lives. Meanwhile, Takki stood next to him looking really shy/embarrassed.
(My favorite reaction to the whole con, though, was this:
ひぇ〜タキツバらぶらぶすぎてもうなんなん本当！(*´∀｀*) ＭＣはタキツバらぶらぶ自慢＆ノロケ話を聞く会だよねホント(^3^)/ 早く日本の法律変わんないかなぁ！ｗそれかタキツバに限り同性婚認めてあげてよ！！ｗ
"HURRY UP AND LEGALIZE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE, JAPAN, SO OUR IDOLS CAN MARRY." Loosely translated. XD)
The fans in Niigata were amazingly energetic! They called for a fourth encore (I think because we didn't know there wouldn't be a handshake so some of us were like, It's not over, right?) until finally T&T walked back out onstage. Tsubasa was in his leopard-print bathrobe XD and Takki was in jeans and a T-shirt and Tsubasa was basically like, "Look, guys, we really, really do appreciate it, but we're finished." He said a lot more than that, but I didn't catch it because I was distracted by Takki standing next to him making sheepish faces. Tsubasa totally lost the janken backstage and had to be Bad Cop and was not in the mood to do it. XD
The fans kept up the chant, though, even after they left (Takki did this, like, kangaroo hop offstage XD the adorable weirdo) for about five more minutes. *___* I could tell Tsubasa at least was done, but I stuck around anyway just in case he had a mood swing and changed his mind. XD
It seems the handshake was only for the Tohoku cons.
Afterwards, I took notes as fast as possible and then skipped merrily back to my hotel.
And then today I saw this on the train:
And when I got home, my version of Past had FINALLY arrived!
So I'll be making gifs tomorrow. *____________________________*
........This took a very long time. XD
:DDDDD THE END! :DDDDD