NEWS IN TOKYO DOME 9/7/2013
SO!
I still intend to write my Osaka con report! I got busy, then lazy, then busy, then lazy, and now I've just gotten home from Tokyo Dome and NOW I HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THIS BECAUSE IT WAS AMAZING. *______*
...
WHERE TO BEGIN.
THIS IS ALSO MY PROBLEM WITH THE OSAKA REPORT. XD
OKAY.
LET'S BEGIN HERE:
• HOW DID I GET MY TICKET? (feel free to skip to the next bullet point, this is just my little section of shaming myself for being dumb)
"But Kya," you say, "you're in the NEWS fan club, didn't you just ballot?"
WHY YES, GENTLE READER, I DID. :D TWICE IN FACT.
"But Kya," you say, dubious, "did you have to ballot twice?"
WHY NO, GENTLE READER, I DID NOT. :D
"Then...?"
LET ME EXPLAIN.
"Okay...."
NEWS announced their Tokyo Dome event in Osaka. That's the 23rd of August. The event was today, the 7th of September. THAT'S A VERY SMALL WINDOW OF TIME, GUYS. I thought, "Okay, self, we just went to Tokyo a fuckton of times for Tsubasa in Playzone. That's a lot of times. Should we really go again so soon?"
YUP.
SO! For the uninitiated, balloting for J&A cons is pretty simple once you get the hang of it. (I say that now, but you should have seen me the first time I balloted on my own. I took an hour painstakingly drawing each stroke of each kanji and triple-checking everything because this is my mind and the psychotically obsessive way it works.) You go merrily to the post office, pick up a deposit sheet, fill out the necessary information (I WANNA GO TO THIS CON ON THIS DAY OR MAYBE THIS DAY AND THIS MANY PEOPLE ARE GOING AND THAT'S MY FAN CLUB NUMBER AND HERE'S MY ADDRESS SO YOU CAN COME TAKE MY SPLEEN FOR THE ANNUAL CULT SACRIFICE).
Usually, the fan club will send you one of two things: 1) a pre-filled out ballot sheet! This is when the fan club likes you. When the fan club is in a Mood, it will send you 2) a text message with the information you've got to go fill out by hand. 1 is vastly preferable to 2, even after you've gotten the hang of balloting. Writing is annoying. Says the writer. (COMPUTERS. *FISTPUMP*)
This time, the fan club did not send out a pre-filled ballot. I assume there just wasn't time. So, they sent a text! And it said a lot of things that I skimmed over because kanji and whatevs, I figured it was just your average balloting situation. So I was busy with work for a few days and didn't ballot and didn't ballot and then suddenly it's Sunday and I get a text from the fan club: "REMEMBER THE DEADLINE IS TOMORROW AT NOON~!" and I realize, "Oh, awesome, I have to be at work at nine tomorrow. In the mountains. Shiiiit."
Cue hysterical texting. "WHERE CAN I BALLOT ON A SUNDAY." Post offices are, naturally, closed on the weekends. I ran around for a while and then decided to check my local post office on a whim. And lo, the ATM was still open. O__O I ran in at 3:30, noting the sign that had 4:00 as the closing time, and scrawled out the ugliest ballot I've ever written. I was so frantic I even managed to screw up the button-pressing on the machine that I've done dozens of times by now. Appropriately, I screwed up the button-pressing...dozens of times.
While I'd been writing out the ballot, however, I realized something odd. The text the FC had sent me didn't have the ID number of the event. That...was a problem. A huge problem. I panicked, thought of the official fan club site, and logged in. I saw a link with information about the event and clicked. I skimmed - again, not bothering to try and read anything, because lol, why would I do a silly thing like that - and found a little ticky box below the question: "WANT SEATS TO THIS EVENT?" Bewildered, I clicked on it and submitted the page. But...the deadline was tomorrow. What...was that? Had J&A actually started automating things? THAT WOULD BE AWESOME. I pushed the thought aside and continued looking for the ID number. Just in case. Finding no number, I ended up putting down NEWS's fan club number and wrote out TOKYO DOME EVENT extra clearly just in case. As I made the deposit, I knew I'd done something dumb but I couldn't quite put my finger on why.
The following day, I got a text saying, "YAY YOU HIT!" and I said, "YAY! Wait." Because you don't hear back that fast. Ever. Unless...it was the online thing. Sure enough, later in the text it said, "Please make your deposit by Wednesday. Thanks~!"
I was, by this time, very very broke, so I didn't make a deposit. Cue kicking-self feelings.
About a week later, I got my refund card from J&A along with a note that said, "Haaa, you fucked up, you'll get your money back in October." AS IT TURNS OUT, for some events, there is computer balloting. I've just never, ever done it with either NEWS or T&T (and I've yet to join K8's fan club).
YOU LIVE YOU LEARN.
So I resigned myself to not going. I saw tickets for the event going up for auction, all for way more than I could afford. Then I was visiting mah friend Awesomeface and she spotted a lady on Mixi offering a ticket. Exuberant, I sent her a message. She sent a very polite one back saying, "By your profile I see NEWS is not your absolute favorite, so I'm afraid I can't offer it to you." Fair enough, right? Your ticket, you get to be selective~ Then Awesomeface saw another person offering and I got in touch with her.
My Japanese, it should be noted, is extremely casual. I only studied Japanese formally for two years in college, graduated, forgot everything but the funny/dirty things, and built my way back up starting from the time when I moved to Japan. So, since about 2010, my studying materials have consisted of dudes in their twenties and thirties shouting at each other/hitting on each other/yelling for the sake of yelling.
The result of this? Eclectic vocabulary, extensive familiarity with slang, tenuous-at-best grasp on formalities. Awesomeface, meanwhile, is extremely well-versed in both sides of Japanese and thus, helped me write a message to the girl that wasn't, "SUP CAN I GET THAT TICKET PLEASE I LOVE SHIGE AND I FIND IT ENDEARING WHEN THE OTHER MEMBERS MAKE HIS LIFE DIFFICULT."
Awesomeface beta-read my messages back and forth with the girl and gave suggestions where needed. When I left her place, however, there arrived the problem: HAVE TO CONTINUE POLITE-ING. ACH.
I did well enough, surprisingly! I shook a few bolts loose and forced myself to remember things from class. Enough to know how to respond when she wrote me a message earlier this week to say, "The tickets arrived!"
I wrote back, "That's excellent! I'm glad to hear that. I look forward to attending the event together." Rather than the Japanese equivalent of, "HOLY SHIT YAY." Then she told me where we'd be sitting.
In the arena.
In Tokyo Dome.
BECAUSE FATE FELT SORRY FOR MY RIDICULOUS SELF.
And that's the entirely unnecessarily long story of how I got my ticket! :D
MOVING ON.
• THE SHOW
SO. TOKYO DOME. IT'S A PRETTY FUCKING HUGE PLACE.
Whiiiich means that hitting for the arena in Tokyo Dome isn't always an awesome thing. Sometimes it's a sucky thing. You could be smack dab in the middle of a section where everyone is taller than you and the ground is level so you can only really see the giant screens above the stage and not, like, actual humans.
AS IT TURNS OUT, the part of the arena I was in was one of the luckiest spots. :}
I met my new Mixi friend outside the Dome, and, together with two of her friends and her mom, we walked inside. As we all got better acquainted, her mom said to me, "You'll be sitting with my mother and her friends. よろしくお願いします！" Which was pretty awesome! Three generations of NEWS fans. :}
We all took a moment to appreciate the ENORMOUS NUMBER OF PEOPLE gathered outside:
At the entrance to the Dome, a staff member handed us two bags-one with a glowstick and one with four colored bracelets. My little group reconvened close to the doors and we realized that the glowsticks were in NEWS's colors! I'd been lucky enough to get green, and-strangely-everyone else had gotten their favorite member's colors also. Ah, actually, Mixi friend and her mother had to switch. XD But the colors were all accounted for! Remember these glowsticks-they're important later. ;)
Inside the Dome, it was organized chaos. NEWS fans everywhere in con shirts, custom-made shirts, pink tutus, green jumpsuits, purple skirts, and yellow jerseys. Tegoshi's fans stuck out the most to me; many of them had styled their hair in huuuuge curled and hair-sprayed and glitter-fied ponytails, and dressed in hot pink outfits to varying degrees of lavish and lacy. Shige's fans were less obvious-green shirts, green sweaters, pretty normal-looking green clothes. Every so often I'd see a Shige fan decked out, though, so there were definitely some Shige fans who went the nine extra miles to show their love. :}
We walked through the massive horde of fans to gate eleven and, after much meandering trying to find the entry to the arena, spotted a line of fans making their way through the stands to the floor. Triumphant, my Mixi friend's best friend shouted, "FOLLOW ME!" and marched off in the direction of the fans. Amused, I ran after her, while her friends reacted in a generally, "...Wait what?" kind of way. XD
We got to the arena together and showed our tickets once more to one of the Arena Guards. He smiled at us, probably entertained by our "AREEEEENAAAAAAA" expressions, and let us through. We parted ways there, after much bowing and me thanking them, and then I made my way to S block. There, another Arena Guard showed me to my seat, waaaay at the far end of my row. Right up against the gate. Which was right next to a runway. That connected to the main stage. O___O
Mixi friend's grandma and her friends noticed me and perked up, waving. They must've heard that a foreign fan would be joining them. :) I sat down, had some, "AAAAAAAH ARENA!" feelings out loud, then gave my NEWS fan introduction. "I watched Nobuta in late 2006 and from there I became a NEWS fan and also Takitsuba and Kanjani. I LOVE SHIGE MORE THAN IS REASONABLE." The grandma and her friends were Tegoshi fans. :D
I sat back, unpacked my ~*SHIGE*~ uchiwa and penlight and sat back to bask in utter disbelief and joy. The ladies next to me were very amused. The one directly next to me was beautiful, too-she had so many laugh lines and a naturally happy, vibrant face. She leaned over often to chat with me. :} Once, about thirty minutes before showtime, she leaned over holding a small tray with a piece of fried chicken and an onigiri. "You'd be doing me a huge favor if you ate this," she said, smiling. "We all bought them earlier but I'm stuffed now. Would you mind having it? よろしくお願いします！"
I was, actually, really hungry, so I beamed and thanked her and ate half of it in about a bite and a half. Then, naturally, I was thirsty, so I got up and hurried up to the stands and bought myself a Shige kakigouri. Then I hurried back to my seat and promptly had a disastrous time actually getting the ice into my mouth and not all over my purple dress.
We had a staff member assigned to stand right next to my row and, like, hold the railings down? Be...there? XD Look very bored for money? XD Kidding aside, he was a really sweet guy. He looked a little younger than I am, and like he'd rather have his arm chewed on by NEWS than attend NEWS's concert, but he still gathered tape and other Ceiling Treasures for us when they fell in the dreaded abyss of an area between the railings and the stage. (He also looked surprised and touched when I thanked him later on for his help. So all in all, nice guy! :D Maybe he was a Yamapi fan disappointed he missed the opportunity to see 6nin. ;___; Yes, I'm making a backstory for the staff guy. XD Welcome to Kya's Con Reporting Style. ;D)
Isn't it fun how we've gotten this far and the show hasn't even started yet? XD
• THE SHOW (FOR REAL THIS TIME)
THE LIGHTS WENT OUT! :D
THE FANS SHRIEKED! :D
THE CENTER STAGE, ADORNED WITH A HUGE SQUARE METAL COLOSSUS AND A SCREEN FOR EACH OF THE FOUR SIDES, LIT UP! :D
NEWS TIME!
SO one thing I should mention immediately is that there'll be a DVD! :D We knew before NEWS told us (during the MC, I think?) because the cameras were everywhere. And they were super fancy, too. *___* Like, there was one camera on a zipline above the arena and it would fly back and forth taking footage everywhere. There were also huge cranes with cameras at the ends that the staff members would lift and control from the ground. I was really fascinated with the whole process. XD
Also, there was some kind of malfunction going on with the tape cannons. They were shredding the ends of the tape. O__O As a result, I have two green ribbons for Shige, but one is damaged, and I have a mangled fragment of Tegoshi's pink ribbon. XD I was happy enough to get Shige's though - the cannons were actually too close to us, so we missed the majority of them. There were ribbons in every NEWS color, though! After the show I saw a girl with a sign asking for any yellow ribbons.
Ceiling Treasures are srs bsns, yo.
Also, there were feathers that fell from the ceiling and I grabbed those because I need them.
SO LET'S SKIP ON THROUGH THIS DAFFODIL FIELD OF FEELINGS SHALL WE.
This all just happened and I didn't take notes so...THINGS I REMEMBER IN APPROXIMATELY THE ORDER THEY HAPPENED IN PROBABLY:
The first half was relentlessly SONGSONGSONGSONGSONGSONGSONGSONGSONGSONGSONGSONG and the set list was, I'd say, maybe 85% the same as the tour. I figure this counts as part of their tour, then? Since I didn't hear about any other part of the tour getting filmed, I think? Anyway!
Remember that runway I mentioned earlier, the one I was right next to? I love that runway. I'm friends with that runway now. We're going to be penpals.
Massu showed up during the introduction portion of the concert, and while the others were introducing themselves Massu strutted around the little stage and gave the fans amused looks and little waves. Massu is fucking awesome, guys. Like, back when they were 6nin I was in my fog of SHIGERYOYAMAPISHIGESHIGEKOYAMASHIGETEGOSHIKOYAMAYAMAPISHIGERYOSHIGE and Massu was this constant who liked food and looked like a cute chipmunk. That's about as far as my feelings on Massu went - fond of the dude! Didn't know much about him! And then last year's SCP happened and I found out that Massu is a snarky sonuvabitch. And ever since NEWS became 4nin, I've found out more and more about him that I didn't notice before.
I fucking love Massu now. XD
Then, a little later on, while Massu was back on that stage, a wild Koyama appeared and went all HUG AMBUSH on him from behind. XD I'm pretty sure it was while Massu was singing, too. XD
LEMME SKIP TO MY FAVORITE PART.
THE MC~~~!
So, Koyama's like, "WHAT DOES NEWS STAND FOR, EVERYBODY?" and we're all like, "...You just sang the song...do you not remember? SHOULD WE SING IT FOR YOU?"
In fact, he was introducing a special corner, not being Koyaditzy. ;D The N stood for...I forget. OLD BABY PICTURES, basically.
And oh my god, you guys. NEWS as babies. Each slideshow had captions written by the members, and Tegoshi's had a line in his like, "Young Tegoshi wanted to be a girl, so..." and the next photo was him at, like, five years old with a long brown wig on. XD And looking inhumanly pretty. I INTRODUCE YOU TO TEGOSHI, EVERYONE.
Shige's was funny too and now I can't remember why. XD GOOD THING THERE'LL BE A DVD.
Then! There waaaas a video from their debut. AND IT WAS SO GODDAMN CUTE.
As the video ended, NEWS appeared wearing their same outfits from the video - which were, of course, their outfits from their debut. White tracksuits/sweatsuits. They sang a bit of a song and we all stood up, confused (this is MC time when everyone is supposed to be sitting, so singing=standing but MC=sitting!), and then NEWS finished singing and Koyama chuckled, "Arena, sit down please."
We were BAMBOOZLED.
They launched into reenacting the movie Clueless.
KOYAMA: Tegoshi, you fit so well into yours! You're so thin!
TEGOSHI: Eh, really? I was sixteen then! XD
Then Shige did the most beautiful thing in all the world. When Koyama turned the attention on him, he was like, "The pants are snug." And CLENCHED HIS ASS.
Beloved Helpful Cameraman zoomed in while Shige flexed his ass for us and we all got to see that, YES INDEED, Shige has developed an ass to fill out those pants. Then he got embarrassed and pulled his sweatshirt hem over his ass.
Koyama talked about his own outfit, too, but I didn't hear a word he said because he played around with the jacket and I noticed that the tank top underneath had very, very deep arm holes and his excellent torso was very, very visible.
So that was N! Next came E! As in いい物あげる/We're Gonna Give You Some Really Nice Stuff.
They had four boxes onstage and four plastic cases filled with seat numbers. They were each giving away something to the fans as a sign of their love and general awesomeness. Koyama's was a suit from I-don't-remember, and Massu's was the latest WinkUp with him on the cover and signed on the inside along with hair spray and something else. Tegoshi and Shige were giving away by far my favorite things. *_____* Tegoshi gave away the soccer ball he's been using to warm up all tour - it was scuffed and dirty and signed and I WOULD HAVE GIVEN MY SOUL TO HAVE IT. *_________* And Shige!
Shige's was amazing. He was giving away two pictures. One was of a city street that he'd taken himself and the other was a photo of him. "I didn't take that one," he said, super shy, "but it's of me, so it's kind of my photo?" He was so cute and serious explaining why he'd chosen these to give away and then his awkwardness peaked and he was like, "None of you sound excited!"
I'd just been sitting there in DESIROUS SHOCK, so I took that as my cue to cheer - along with everyone else. XD Then he kept whining about it, and in the silence that followed, I yelled, "お願いします！" and the women around me started laughing. The lady next to me even leaned over and said, "He definitely heard you."
BELLOWING AT MY IDOLS FOR THE WIN.
Aaaand I didn't win. XD I would've started the report with that if I had. XD
NEXT!
Uhhh. What next. XD
OH I KNOW.
SHIGE.
LET'S DISCUSS SHIGE AND WHY I LOVE HIM BEST.
...NEVER MIND THAT WILL TAKE TOO LONG AND I DO WANT TO SLEEP EVENTUALLY.
However, I can tell you why I love him EVEN MORE now!
During "太陽のナミダ" I think? Massu and Shige were on the Birthday Cake Carts (so very much not kidding XD) and Shige was finally facing our section. The women around me shook me from behind and I was like, "I SEE HIM I SEE HIM," and waved my penlight and tilted his uchiwa up so he could see it. And he did! As the cart moved toward our section, he scanned the crowd and spotted me and grinned, kind of like "Yes, yes, I remember you," and waved. HE SHOULD. HE TROLLED ME HARD ENOUGH IN OSAKA. Short story: In Osaka, he must've seen me a few times. My seat was pretty close to the stage and - again - to the runway, plus he was staring straight in my direction for part of the MC, so I was like, "Whoo! Connection established!" So I shouted his name every time he walked by to be like, "HEY DUDE I SUPPORT YOU :D" but he never turned and looked a little awkward and eventually I decided I was annoying him so I stopped. The last time he walked by I was like, "SEE, NOT A WORD OUT OF ME," and it was at that point that he smirked at me over his shoulder. Because my type is trolling men who troll. /).-
Later on! During weeeek! He actually visited the stage next to us. I was already joyous because weeeek is my favorite song *____* and then he showed up and I was suddenly living in the penthouse of paradise. *________* By now I'd made friends with the lady in front of me, too, and she grabbed my arm and yelled, "SHIGE!" Said idol was meandering the stage without looking anywhere in particular. Then he wheeled around on his heel and looked at our section and a huge swell of people bellowed, "SHIGE!" at him. He smiled down the line, waving once or twice. Then he saw me, glanced at my uchiwa, and got this brutally adorable shy smile. He looked around a few times more, gave me one last grin, and headed back to the main stage.
Upon which time I was smiling so hard my face was about to break and the women around me were shaking me with glee. "THAT'S AMAZING!" one shouted, and the lady next to me yelled, "YOUR POOR HEART!"
INDEED. Also, while that happened, there was a camera right over Shige's shoulder aimed straight at our section, so there's a small chance I'm on the DVD having a heart attack at Shige. :D/ Yay conniptions of bliss!
WHAT ELSE WHAT ELSE.
SO MUCH ELSE.
It's almost 2:30 though, my brain's forcefully shutting down. XD
ETA: I FORGOT THIS. THE PART ABOUT THE GLOWSTICK BEING IMPORTANT LATER. Okay, so we had a note with the glowstick telling us to use it during the encore. So encore begins and we've all got the glowsticks cracked and lit up and the audience is just a huge wash of purple, pink, green, and yellow. So they sing, we wave our glowsticks at them, and then at the end they talk for a bit. Suddenly Shige's like, "What the hell are you guys waving around?" and I thought, "Ahh, he's going to tell us these were gifts too just like the bracelets." But then Koyama's like, "What's happening?" and Shige's like, "Look what they've got!" And it seems that NEWS had no idea about the glowsticks. :}}} I'm guessing it was a gift from the staff? Shige looked super touched. :}}}
Damn, okay, skip to the ending! (AGAIN, THANKFULLY THERE'S A DVD AND WE DON'T HAVE TO RELY ON MY SHIGE-ADDLED MEMORY. XD)
They gave ending speeches one by one, just like the tour, and oh my god, Massu. <3 The very first thing he said was, "Fifteen years ago," and then he teared up and had to stop. He actually buried his face in his towel and took a few long seconds to compose himself. He talked about back-dancing for KinKi when he was twelve and how much the experience of being in Tokyo Dome tonight meant to him. He was so emotional, and at one point he interrupted himself to chuckle through a watery smile and lift his towel. "I brought this with me because I thought I'd cry."
Something I think all of them brought up was the fact that they didn't think they could ever be in Tokyo Dome again, and so being there meant the world and more to them. <3
When Massu was leaving the stage and Koyama was walking onto it, Koyama intercepted him and gave him a big hug. :}
Then Koyama was like, "I TOO HAVE BROUGHT A TOWEL BECAUSE I THINK I WILL CRY." XD And he almost did but he muscled through it and toward the end we kept making cooing sounds of sympathy and he was like, "I'M NOT GOING TO CRY OKAY. I BROUGHT THIS TOWEL WITH ME IN CASE I DID BUT I AM NOT GOING TO CRY." And he didn't! ...Not then. >;D Toward the end he was like, "I'M MAKING A PROPOSAL." Fans screamed. "IF YOU EVER LOOK AT ANOTHER GROUP, I'M COUNTING THAT SHIT AS AN AFFAIR, GOT IT?"
Immediately the lady next to me turned to me and went, "What're you gonna do about Takitsuba?"
HIDE, MA'AM. BEHIND SHIGE'S FACE ON A STICK.
Shige's speech was what did me in. XD He seemed to want to finish his as fast as possible (maaaybe to avoid crying the way he did last year?). I cried anyway. XD He talked about the song they wrote together to perform for the event (called "Aikotoba, Te wo Hiite"). He said it wasn't the first time they'd written a song together as a group, that 6nin wrote Share together, too. He has such a depth of love for NEWS and I love when he shows it. <3
Tegoshi, too, was really emotional towards the end. His speech was long, too. I can't remember specifics, since he went first, but he was definitely misty by the end. <3
THEN we got to the final song and they left and we kept chanting, because we'd only had two encores! MORE ENCORES! Then the four of them came back out, chuckling sheepishly, and told us they deeply appreciated it all but it was time to go home. They did, however, give one more speech each. This time, all of them got very, very teary.
At the end, when they were waving goodbye, Koyama and Massu were smiling but Tegoshi and Shige looked riiight on the brink of outright crying. Shige kind of lingered behind the others as they filed offstage and he was the last to go. <3
AND THAT WAS THE EVENT. :}}}}}}
It lasted approximately three hours and forty minutes. *___* When we all realized that we were like, "OH. THAT'S WHY THEY WERE LIKE, 'GO HOME WTF.'"
THERE WAS A LOT MORE. IF I REMEMBER THINGS I'LL COME BACK AND ADD AN ETA. ;D
FOR NOW, SLEEP AWAITS! <3
GOOD NIGHT, DEAR NEWSIANS!
I still intend to write my Osaka con report! I got busy, then lazy, then busy, then lazy, and now I've just gotten home from Tokyo Dome and NOW I HAVE TO TALK ABOUT THIS BECAUSE IT WAS AMAZING. *______*
...
WHERE TO BEGIN.
THIS IS ALSO MY PROBLEM WITH THE OSAKA REPORT. XD
OKAY.
LET'S BEGIN HERE:
• HOW DID I GET MY TICKET? (feel free to skip to the next bullet point, this is just my little section of shaming myself for being dumb)
"But Kya," you say, "you're in the NEWS fan club, didn't you just ballot?"
WHY YES, GENTLE READER, I DID. :D TWICE IN FACT.
"But Kya," you say, dubious, "did you have to ballot twice?"
WHY NO, GENTLE READER, I DID NOT. :D
"Then...?"
LET ME EXPLAIN.
"Okay...."
NEWS announced their Tokyo Dome event in Osaka. That's the 23rd of August. The event was today, the 7th of September. THAT'S A VERY SMALL WINDOW OF TIME, GUYS. I thought, "Okay, self, we just went to Tokyo a fuckton of times for Tsubasa in Playzone. That's a lot of times. Should we really go again so soon?"
YUP.
SO! For the uninitiated, balloting for J&A cons is pretty simple once you get the hang of it. (I say that now, but you should have seen me the first time I balloted on my own. I took an hour painstakingly drawing each stroke of each kanji and triple-checking everything because this is my mind and the psychotically obsessive way it works.) You go merrily to the post office, pick up a deposit sheet, fill out the necessary information (I WANNA GO TO THIS CON ON THIS DAY OR MAYBE THIS DAY AND THIS MANY PEOPLE ARE GOING AND THAT'S MY FAN CLUB NUMBER AND HERE'S MY ADDRESS SO YOU CAN COME TAKE MY SPLEEN FOR THE ANNUAL CULT SACRIFICE).
Usually, the fan club will send you one of two things: 1) a pre-filled out ballot sheet! This is when the fan club likes you. When the fan club is in a Mood, it will send you 2) a text message with the information you've got to go fill out by hand. 1 is vastly preferable to 2, even after you've gotten the hang of balloting. Writing is annoying. Says the writer. (COMPUTERS. *FISTPUMP*)
This time, the fan club did not send out a pre-filled ballot. I assume there just wasn't time. So, they sent a text! And it said a lot of things that I skimmed over because kanji and whatevs, I figured it was just your average balloting situation. So I was busy with work for a few days and didn't ballot and didn't ballot and then suddenly it's Sunday and I get a text from the fan club: "REMEMBER THE DEADLINE IS TOMORROW AT NOON~!" and I realize, "Oh, awesome, I have to be at work at nine tomorrow. In the mountains. Shiiiit."
Cue hysterical texting. "WHERE CAN I BALLOT ON A SUNDAY." Post offices are, naturally, closed on the weekends. I ran around for a while and then decided to check my local post office on a whim. And lo, the ATM was still open. O__O I ran in at 3:30, noting the sign that had 4:00 as the closing time, and scrawled out the ugliest ballot I've ever written. I was so frantic I even managed to screw up the button-pressing on the machine that I've done dozens of times by now. Appropriately, I screwed up the button-pressing...dozens of times.
While I'd been writing out the ballot, however, I realized something odd. The text the FC had sent me didn't have the ID number of the event. That...was a problem. A huge problem. I panicked, thought of the official fan club site, and logged in. I saw a link with information about the event and clicked. I skimmed - again, not bothering to try and read anything, because lol, why would I do a silly thing like that - and found a little ticky box below the question: "WANT SEATS TO THIS EVENT?" Bewildered, I clicked on it and submitted the page. But...the deadline was tomorrow. What...was that? Had J&A actually started automating things? THAT WOULD BE AWESOME. I pushed the thought aside and continued looking for the ID number. Just in case. Finding no number, I ended up putting down NEWS's fan club number and wrote out TOKYO DOME EVENT extra clearly just in case. As I made the deposit, I knew I'd done something dumb but I couldn't quite put my finger on why.
The following day, I got a text saying, "YAY YOU HIT!" and I said, "YAY! Wait." Because you don't hear back that fast. Ever. Unless...it was the online thing. Sure enough, later in the text it said, "Please make your deposit by Wednesday. Thanks~!"
I was, by this time, very very broke, so I didn't make a deposit. Cue kicking-self feelings.
About a week later, I got my refund card from J&A along with a note that said, "Haaa, you fucked up, you'll get your money back in October." AS IT TURNS OUT, for some events, there is computer balloting. I've just never, ever done it with either NEWS or T&T (and I've yet to join K8's fan club).
YOU LIVE YOU LEARN.
So I resigned myself to not going. I saw tickets for the event going up for auction, all for way more than I could afford. Then I was visiting mah friend Awesomeface and she spotted a lady on Mixi offering a ticket. Exuberant, I sent her a message. She sent a very polite one back saying, "By your profile I see NEWS is not your absolute favorite, so I'm afraid I can't offer it to you." Fair enough, right? Your ticket, you get to be selective~ Then Awesomeface saw another person offering and I got in touch with her.
My Japanese, it should be noted, is extremely casual. I only studied Japanese formally for two years in college, graduated, forgot everything but the funny/dirty things, and built my way back up starting from the time when I moved to Japan. So, since about 2010, my studying materials have consisted of dudes in their twenties and thirties shouting at each other/hitting on each other/yelling for the sake of yelling.
The result of this? Eclectic vocabulary, extensive familiarity with slang, tenuous-at-best grasp on formalities. Awesomeface, meanwhile, is extremely well-versed in both sides of Japanese and thus, helped me write a message to the girl that wasn't, "SUP CAN I GET THAT TICKET PLEASE I LOVE SHIGE AND I FIND IT ENDEARING WHEN THE OTHER MEMBERS MAKE HIS LIFE DIFFICULT."
Awesomeface beta-read my messages back and forth with the girl and gave suggestions where needed. When I left her place, however, there arrived the problem: HAVE TO CONTINUE POLITE-ING. ACH.
I did well enough, surprisingly! I shook a few bolts loose and forced myself to remember things from class. Enough to know how to respond when she wrote me a message earlier this week to say, "The tickets arrived!"
I wrote back, "That's excellent! I'm glad to hear that. I look forward to attending the event together." Rather than the Japanese equivalent of, "HOLY SHIT YAY." Then she told me where we'd be sitting.
In the arena.
In Tokyo Dome.
BECAUSE FATE FELT SORRY FOR MY RIDICULOUS SELF.
And that's the entirely unnecessarily long story of how I got my ticket! :D
MOVING ON.
• THE SHOW
SO. TOKYO DOME. IT'S A PRETTY FUCKING HUGE PLACE.
Whiiiich means that hitting for the arena in Tokyo Dome isn't always an awesome thing. Sometimes it's a sucky thing. You could be smack dab in the middle of a section where everyone is taller than you and the ground is level so you can only really see the giant screens above the stage and not, like, actual humans.
AS IT TURNS OUT, the part of the arena I was in was one of the luckiest spots. :}
I met my new Mixi friend outside the Dome, and, together with two of her friends and her mom, we walked inside. As we all got better acquainted, her mom said to me, "You'll be sitting with my mother and her friends. よろしくお願いします！" Which was pretty awesome! Three generations of NEWS fans. :}
We all took a moment to appreciate the ENORMOUS NUMBER OF PEOPLE gathered outside:
At the entrance to the Dome, a staff member handed us two bags-one with a glowstick and one with four colored bracelets. My little group reconvened close to the doors and we realized that the glowsticks were in NEWS's colors! I'd been lucky enough to get green, and-strangely-everyone else had gotten their favorite member's colors also. Ah, actually, Mixi friend and her mother had to switch. XD But the colors were all accounted for! Remember these glowsticks-they're important later. ;)
Inside the Dome, it was organized chaos. NEWS fans everywhere in con shirts, custom-made shirts, pink tutus, green jumpsuits, purple skirts, and yellow jerseys. Tegoshi's fans stuck out the most to me; many of them had styled their hair in huuuuge curled and hair-sprayed and glitter-fied ponytails, and dressed in hot pink outfits to varying degrees of lavish and lacy. Shige's fans were less obvious-green shirts, green sweaters, pretty normal-looking green clothes. Every so often I'd see a Shige fan decked out, though, so there were definitely some Shige fans who went the nine extra miles to show their love. :}
We walked through the massive horde of fans to gate eleven and, after much meandering trying to find the entry to the arena, spotted a line of fans making their way through the stands to the floor. Triumphant, my Mixi friend's best friend shouted, "FOLLOW ME!" and marched off in the direction of the fans. Amused, I ran after her, while her friends reacted in a generally, "...Wait what?" kind of way. XD
We got to the arena together and showed our tickets once more to one of the Arena Guards. He smiled at us, probably entertained by our "AREEEEENAAAAAAA" expressions, and let us through. We parted ways there, after much bowing and me thanking them, and then I made my way to S block. There, another Arena Guard showed me to my seat, waaaay at the far end of my row. Right up against the gate. Which was right next to a runway. That connected to the main stage. O___O
Mixi friend's grandma and her friends noticed me and perked up, waving. They must've heard that a foreign fan would be joining them. :) I sat down, had some, "AAAAAAAH ARENA!" feelings out loud, then gave my NEWS fan introduction. "I watched Nobuta in late 2006 and from there I became a NEWS fan and also Takitsuba and Kanjani. I LOVE SHIGE MORE THAN IS REASONABLE." The grandma and her friends were Tegoshi fans. :D
I sat back, unpacked my ~*SHIGE*~ uchiwa and penlight and sat back to bask in utter disbelief and joy. The ladies next to me were very amused. The one directly next to me was beautiful, too-she had so many laugh lines and a naturally happy, vibrant face. She leaned over often to chat with me. :} Once, about thirty minutes before showtime, she leaned over holding a small tray with a piece of fried chicken and an onigiri. "You'd be doing me a huge favor if you ate this," she said, smiling. "We all bought them earlier but I'm stuffed now. Would you mind having it? よろしくお願いします！"
I was, actually, really hungry, so I beamed and thanked her and ate half of it in about a bite and a half. Then, naturally, I was thirsty, so I got up and hurried up to the stands and bought myself a Shige kakigouri. Then I hurried back to my seat and promptly had a disastrous time actually getting the ice into my mouth and not all over my purple dress.
We had a staff member assigned to stand right next to my row and, like, hold the railings down? Be...there? XD Look very bored for money? XD Kidding aside, he was a really sweet guy. He looked a little younger than I am, and like he'd rather have his arm chewed on by NEWS than attend NEWS's concert, but he still gathered tape and other Ceiling Treasures for us when they fell in the dreaded abyss of an area between the railings and the stage. (He also looked surprised and touched when I thanked him later on for his help. So all in all, nice guy! :D Maybe he was a Yamapi fan disappointed he missed the opportunity to see 6nin. ;___; Yes, I'm making a backstory for the staff guy. XD Welcome to Kya's Con Reporting Style. ;D)
Isn't it fun how we've gotten this far and the show hasn't even started yet? XD
• THE SHOW (FOR REAL THIS TIME)
THE LIGHTS WENT OUT! :D
THE FANS SHRIEKED! :D
THE CENTER STAGE, ADORNED WITH A HUGE SQUARE METAL COLOSSUS AND A SCREEN FOR EACH OF THE FOUR SIDES, LIT UP! :D
NEWS TIME!
SO one thing I should mention immediately is that there'll be a DVD! :D We knew before NEWS told us (during the MC, I think?) because the cameras were everywhere. And they were super fancy, too. *___* Like, there was one camera on a zipline above the arena and it would fly back and forth taking footage everywhere. There were also huge cranes with cameras at the ends that the staff members would lift and control from the ground. I was really fascinated with the whole process. XD
Also, there was some kind of malfunction going on with the tape cannons. They were shredding the ends of the tape. O__O As a result, I have two green ribbons for Shige, but one is damaged, and I have a mangled fragment of Tegoshi's pink ribbon. XD I was happy enough to get Shige's though - the cannons were actually too close to us, so we missed the majority of them. There were ribbons in every NEWS color, though! After the show I saw a girl with a sign asking for any yellow ribbons.
Ceiling Treasures are srs bsns, yo.
Also, there were feathers that fell from the ceiling and I grabbed those because I need them.
SO LET'S SKIP ON THROUGH THIS DAFFODIL FIELD OF FEELINGS SHALL WE.
This all just happened and I didn't take notes so...THINGS I REMEMBER IN APPROXIMATELY THE ORDER THEY HAPPENED IN PROBABLY:
The first half was relentlessly SONGSONGSONGSONGSONGSONGSONGSONGSONGSONGSONGSONG and the set list was, I'd say, maybe 85% the same as the tour. I figure this counts as part of their tour, then? Since I didn't hear about any other part of the tour getting filmed, I think? Anyway!
Remember that runway I mentioned earlier, the one I was right next to? I love that runway. I'm friends with that runway now. We're going to be penpals.
Massu showed up during the introduction portion of the concert, and while the others were introducing themselves Massu strutted around the little stage and gave the fans amused looks and little waves. Massu is fucking awesome, guys. Like, back when they were 6nin I was in my fog of SHIGERYOYAMAPISHIGESHIGEKOYAMASHIGETEGOSHIKOYAMAYAMAPISHIGERYOSHIGE and Massu was this constant who liked food and looked like a cute chipmunk. That's about as far as my feelings on Massu went - fond of the dude! Didn't know much about him! And then last year's SCP happened and I found out that Massu is a snarky sonuvabitch. And ever since NEWS became 4nin, I've found out more and more about him that I didn't notice before.
I fucking love Massu now. XD
Then, a little later on, while Massu was back on that stage, a wild Koyama appeared and went all HUG AMBUSH on him from behind. XD I'm pretty sure it was while Massu was singing, too. XD
LEMME SKIP TO MY FAVORITE PART.
THE MC~~~!
So, Koyama's like, "WHAT DOES NEWS STAND FOR, EVERYBODY?" and we're all like, "...You just sang the song...do you not remember? SHOULD WE SING IT FOR YOU?"
In fact, he was introducing a special corner, not being Koyaditzy. ;D The N stood for...I forget. OLD BABY PICTURES, basically.
And oh my god, you guys. NEWS as babies. Each slideshow had captions written by the members, and Tegoshi's had a line in his like, "Young Tegoshi wanted to be a girl, so..." and the next photo was him at, like, five years old with a long brown wig on. XD And looking inhumanly pretty. I INTRODUCE YOU TO TEGOSHI, EVERYONE.
Shige's was funny too and now I can't remember why. XD GOOD THING THERE'LL BE A DVD.
Then! There waaaas a video from their debut. AND IT WAS SO GODDAMN CUTE.
As the video ended, NEWS appeared wearing their same outfits from the video - which were, of course, their outfits from their debut. White tracksuits/sweatsuits. They sang a bit of a song and we all stood up, confused (this is MC time when everyone is supposed to be sitting, so singing=standing but MC=sitting!), and then NEWS finished singing and Koyama chuckled, "Arena, sit down please."
We were BAMBOOZLED.
They launched into reenacting the movie Clueless.
KOYAMA: Tegoshi, you fit so well into yours! You're so thin!
TEGOSHI: Eh, really? I was sixteen then! XD
Then Shige did the most beautiful thing in all the world. When Koyama turned the attention on him, he was like, "The pants are snug." And CLENCHED HIS ASS.
Beloved Helpful Cameraman zoomed in while Shige flexed his ass for us and we all got to see that, YES INDEED, Shige has developed an ass to fill out those pants. Then he got embarrassed and pulled his sweatshirt hem over his ass.
Koyama talked about his own outfit, too, but I didn't hear a word he said because he played around with the jacket and I noticed that the tank top underneath had very, very deep arm holes and his excellent torso was very, very visible.
So that was N! Next came E! As in いい物あげる/We're Gonna Give You Some Really Nice Stuff.
They had four boxes onstage and four plastic cases filled with seat numbers. They were each giving away something to the fans as a sign of their love and general awesomeness. Koyama's was a suit from I-don't-remember, and Massu's was the latest WinkUp with him on the cover and signed on the inside along with hair spray and something else. Tegoshi and Shige were giving away by far my favorite things. *_____* Tegoshi gave away the soccer ball he's been using to warm up all tour - it was scuffed and dirty and signed and I WOULD HAVE GIVEN MY SOUL TO HAVE IT. *_________* And Shige!
Shige's was amazing. He was giving away two pictures. One was of a city street that he'd taken himself and the other was a photo of him. "I didn't take that one," he said, super shy, "but it's of me, so it's kind of my photo?" He was so cute and serious explaining why he'd chosen these to give away and then his awkwardness peaked and he was like, "None of you sound excited!"
I'd just been sitting there in DESIROUS SHOCK, so I took that as my cue to cheer - along with everyone else. XD Then he kept whining about it, and in the silence that followed, I yelled, "お願いします！" and the women around me started laughing. The lady next to me even leaned over and said, "He definitely heard you."
BELLOWING AT MY IDOLS FOR THE WIN.
Aaaand I didn't win. XD I would've started the report with that if I had. XD
NEXT!
Uhhh. What next. XD
OH I KNOW.
SHIGE.
LET'S DISCUSS SHIGE AND WHY I LOVE HIM BEST.
...NEVER MIND THAT WILL TAKE TOO LONG AND I DO WANT TO SLEEP EVENTUALLY.
However, I can tell you why I love him EVEN MORE now!
During "太陽のナミダ" I think? Massu and Shige were on the Birthday Cake Carts (so very much not kidding XD) and Shige was finally facing our section. The women around me shook me from behind and I was like, "I SEE HIM I SEE HIM," and waved my penlight and tilted his uchiwa up so he could see it. And he did! As the cart moved toward our section, he scanned the crowd and spotted me and grinned, kind of like "Yes, yes, I remember you," and waved. HE SHOULD. HE TROLLED ME HARD ENOUGH IN OSAKA. Short story: In Osaka, he must've seen me a few times. My seat was pretty close to the stage and - again - to the runway, plus he was staring straight in my direction for part of the MC, so I was like, "Whoo! Connection established!" So I shouted his name every time he walked by to be like, "HEY DUDE I SUPPORT YOU :D" but he never turned and looked a little awkward and eventually I decided I was annoying him so I stopped. The last time he walked by I was like, "SEE, NOT A WORD OUT OF ME," and it was at that point that he smirked at me over his shoulder. Because my type is trolling men who troll. /).-
Later on! During weeeek! He actually visited the stage next to us. I was already joyous because weeeek is my favorite song *____* and then he showed up and I was suddenly living in the penthouse of paradise. *________* By now I'd made friends with the lady in front of me, too, and she grabbed my arm and yelled, "SHIGE!" Said idol was meandering the stage without looking anywhere in particular. Then he wheeled around on his heel and looked at our section and a huge swell of people bellowed, "SHIGE!" at him. He smiled down the line, waving once or twice. Then he saw me, glanced at my uchiwa, and got this brutally adorable shy smile. He looked around a few times more, gave me one last grin, and headed back to the main stage.
Upon which time I was smiling so hard my face was about to break and the women around me were shaking me with glee. "THAT'S AMAZING!" one shouted, and the lady next to me yelled, "YOUR POOR HEART!"
INDEED. Also, while that happened, there was a camera right over Shige's shoulder aimed straight at our section, so there's a small chance I'm on the DVD having a heart attack at Shige. :D/ Yay conniptions of bliss!
WHAT ELSE WHAT ELSE.
SO MUCH ELSE.
It's almost 2:30 though, my brain's forcefully shutting down. XD
ETA: I FORGOT THIS. THE PART ABOUT THE GLOWSTICK BEING IMPORTANT LATER. Okay, so we had a note with the glowstick telling us to use it during the encore. So encore begins and we've all got the glowsticks cracked and lit up and the audience is just a huge wash of purple, pink, green, and yellow. So they sing, we wave our glowsticks at them, and then at the end they talk for a bit. Suddenly Shige's like, "What the hell are you guys waving around?" and I thought, "Ahh, he's going to tell us these were gifts too just like the bracelets." But then Koyama's like, "What's happening?" and Shige's like, "Look what they've got!" And it seems that NEWS had no idea about the glowsticks. :}}} I'm guessing it was a gift from the staff? Shige looked super touched. :}}}
Damn, okay, skip to the ending! (AGAIN, THANKFULLY THERE'S A DVD AND WE DON'T HAVE TO RELY ON MY SHIGE-ADDLED MEMORY. XD)
They gave ending speeches one by one, just like the tour, and oh my god, Massu. <3 The very first thing he said was, "Fifteen years ago," and then he teared up and had to stop. He actually buried his face in his towel and took a few long seconds to compose himself. He talked about back-dancing for KinKi when he was twelve and how much the experience of being in Tokyo Dome tonight meant to him. He was so emotional, and at one point he interrupted himself to chuckle through a watery smile and lift his towel. "I brought this with me because I thought I'd cry."
Something I think all of them brought up was the fact that they didn't think they could ever be in Tokyo Dome again, and so being there meant the world and more to them. <3
When Massu was leaving the stage and Koyama was walking onto it, Koyama intercepted him and gave him a big hug. :}
Then Koyama was like, "I TOO HAVE BROUGHT A TOWEL BECAUSE I THINK I WILL CRY." XD And he almost did but he muscled through it and toward the end we kept making cooing sounds of sympathy and he was like, "I'M NOT GOING TO CRY OKAY. I BROUGHT THIS TOWEL WITH ME IN CASE I DID BUT I AM NOT GOING TO CRY." And he didn't! ...Not then. >;D Toward the end he was like, "I'M MAKING A PROPOSAL." Fans screamed. "IF YOU EVER LOOK AT ANOTHER GROUP, I'M COUNTING THAT SHIT AS AN AFFAIR, GOT IT?"
Immediately the lady next to me turned to me and went, "What're you gonna do about Takitsuba?"
HIDE, MA'AM. BEHIND SHIGE'S FACE ON A STICK.
Shige's speech was what did me in. XD He seemed to want to finish his as fast as possible (maaaybe to avoid crying the way he did last year?). I cried anyway. XD He talked about the song they wrote together to perform for the event (called "Aikotoba, Te wo Hiite"). He said it wasn't the first time they'd written a song together as a group, that 6nin wrote Share together, too. He has such a depth of love for NEWS and I love when he shows it. <3
Tegoshi, too, was really emotional towards the end. His speech was long, too. I can't remember specifics, since he went first, but he was definitely misty by the end. <3
THEN we got to the final song and they left and we kept chanting, because we'd only had two encores! MORE ENCORES! Then the four of them came back out, chuckling sheepishly, and told us they deeply appreciated it all but it was time to go home. They did, however, give one more speech each. This time, all of them got very, very teary.
At the end, when they were waving goodbye, Koyama and Massu were smiling but Tegoshi and Shige looked riiight on the brink of outright crying. Shige kind of lingered behind the others as they filed offstage and he was the last to go. <3
AND THAT WAS THE EVENT. :}}}}}}
It lasted approximately three hours and forty minutes. *___* When we all realized that we were like, "OH. THAT'S WHY THEY WERE LIKE, 'GO HOME WTF.'"
THERE WAS A LOT MORE. IF I REMEMBER THINGS I'LL COME BACK AND ADD AN ETA. ;D
FOR NOW, SLEEP AWAITS! <3
GOOD NIGHT, DEAR NEWSIANS!