Fangirling Beginnings
I watched the first half of Arashi's Japonism tour the other day and I was simply awestruck. Thank you so much for Arashigoodies for sharing it.Well, just to share how I started liking Arashi, it all started many years back when Gokusen was shown on one of the local channels in our country. I've always been fond of watching anime, but unlike my classmates who had parents or otaku older siblings who were there to buy the anime cds for them. I had to just be content with whatever was being aired on Animax, AXN or other local networks. My parents were not really supportive of my obsession with everything Japanese so whatever otaku merch I wanted, I had to save up for it from my allowance.Anyway when Gokusen started airing in PH, I was just soooooo enamored with Matsujun. I also got charmed by Shun Oguri and Hiroki Narimiya but Matsujun really takes the cake! So I started researching about him. Well... at that time I was a kid with limited internet connection since all we had was broadband in our area. It's actually worse off now. Not even broadband is available. Just prepaid. Ughh hello dial up days. Anyway, when I researched Matsujun, I found out that he was part of a boy band called Arashi. And of course I started researching about Arashi as well and eventually ended up downloading a ton of their music since it wasn't readily available in our country. I would love to purchase the actual CDs, but at that time the music stores didnt sell them and I was too poor! Anyway, I started to enjoy the music. I researched the translation and figured that their music's message were mostly about determination and overcoming adversities and of course the occasional love songs here and there. I was struggling with depression at that time and songs like Kansha Kangeki Ame, Kimi no Tame ni Boku ga Iru and Hero really helped me a lot to get through everyday. Well, those songs were already pretty old when I discovered them, but they were absolutely meaningful. I hope I could tell them how much their songs have helped me during the rough days of my depression as a youth.
I had a friend during that time who was also a fan of Arashi but was more of a fan of kpop. We would go to record stores here in the country so she could purchase albums and concerts of her beloved Big Bang, and at the same time I would look for Arashi too! But there was no Arashi... just Big Bang, so she bought those and would watch the big show at her house. I told her I would've killed to grab a copy of an Arashi concert. She said I should look harder. I couldn't understand what she meant by that. I had really limited finances and resources and of course it wasn't available at our country. So fast forward to today, thank you Arashigoodies for making my dreams come true. I am finally able to watch the Arashi concerts I have longed to view for years.
It's also great that their music is readily available on youtube. That's where I listen to it, especially after watching on Netflix that Matsujun monitors that.
Thank you so much livejournal communities for providing me with the opportunity to watch my idols and for Johnny Kitagawa as well for discovering said idols!
P.S.
I was watching Tokyo Alien Brothers while watching this! Love you Inoo chan and Hey! Say! Jump. I'll be watching Yuto's Suits next