Arashi's Japonism Tour Concert Report for Nagoya, Nov. 6th
Japonism Tour starts!
I went to Nagoya this morning with boblemon and we headed straight for the dome to buy goods. (10 AM) There were a lot of people, but the line kept moving for the most part. I finished buying my goods in under an hour, which included the masking tape. The Nagoya blue tape sold out at 11:30.
We went to eat lunch at Yamamotoya, miso udon. There's a picture below.
There was a handy free shuttle bus that took us to and from our station. After walking around Aeon Mall, we went inside to check our seats.
The stage this year is black and red themed, with long red poles that are reminiscent of torii gates. A large Japonism banner hung down from the top of the stage. The main stage has three smaller runways kinda in the shape of a window. The back stage is pretty far away, with many sections of seats in between.
Our seats were the last row of the first floor and on the right side, directly across from the center stage.
The concert began right on time with the Japonism banner falling down.
I liked the opening video. It was in an anime style. The members were in what looked like Sky Tree, judging from the view. Nino was hunched over playing his game and Ohno stared intently at a sword on display. On the windows behind them, scenes of Japan played on the glass like videos.
The scenery shifts to an ancient battlefield, scattered with yellow flags. Two samurai warriors are fighting to the death. The last one standing turns to present day Nino and he sees a man with his own face.
Ohno watches a blacksmith making a sword, who also looks like him.
Aiba watches himself cut bamboo in a bamboo forest with a child strapped to his back.
Sho's lord counterpart in his mansion with a garden of koi fish and trees with colored leaves spoke to him, saying, " It's beautiful, isn't it?"
In a magnificent Japanese castle, Jun looked down on the city until his lookalike commented, "This is a good town. The swords they make are very good." He examined one in his hands closely. Then he asks cryptically, "How do you live your life now?"
Each person asked the members the same question.
Another large banner fell over the stage and Arashi snuck on stage behind it.
"Sakura" was the first song of the night. They did the dance behind colored flames in outfits that were mostly gold. It's hard to remember more details from it because we were so excited at them coming out.
O: Welcome to Nagoya Dome and the start of our concert.
S: We wanted to think back on our origins.
A: And about Japanese culture.
N: Today, we hope you'll enjoy the good points about Japan through Johnnys style of entertainment.
J: Let's begin the show. We hope everyone, all the way from that corner to that corner, will have a good time tonight.
The five of them were kneeling on pillows across the stage and bowed low to us.
The main stage screens opened like sliding doors to show a large golden dragon on a painted screen. "Miyabi-night" was a mixture of fast and slow moves. I remember the red scarfs the juniors were holding.
The members took a low stance and moved to the beat of drums. Shamisen joined, making a melody we were familiar with, linking into "Wild at Heart". They were busing moving via the moving stages, so they just stuck to waving to the crowd.
The shamisen could be heard playing through part of "Troublemaker" too. I liked being able to hear a new version of the songs we already know. It was during that song that the penlights got hijacked. The part I loved was the short new dance sequence. The juniors also participated. For Sho and Ohno's heart, not only did they make it, to screams of approval, Jun was right behind it, with his hand over his mouth in a surprised look.
The penlights were controlled through "Aozora no Shita, Kimi no Tonari" too. The dance didn't change in this one.
They were back to the normal greetings, sort of. The penlights changed colors for each member automatically.
Jun allllllmost forgot how many people the Dome could hold, promising to make us happy.
Nino wanted to make some great memories together, BUT didn't mention anything about us not yelling enough for them.
Aiba didn't pay enough attention and did his usual "He said you weren't loud enough!" Most of the crowd was chuckling at it.
O: Are you ready?! Are you really ready?! It's a Nagoya Japonism Matsuri-"
Us: Dei!!!
In a very small voice, he sort of attempted Jun's impression of Leader from Miyagi.
Sho called out to each section. "Let's get the utage started!" (Utage is a party with food or drink. Close enough, I guess.)
They moved around the stages in "Make a wish", trying to hide that Nino was gone. The penlights were mostly turquoise and pastel colors.
Nino was at center stage in a white outfit. He was holding a light sword/saber and had these straps around his ankles that made sounds when he moved, like how the technology worked in "Hope in the Darkness". Each color of the saber changed the penlights and the sound it made when he moved, some high some low. Yellow alone was very squeaky, making everybody laugh when Nino cocked his head at the noise. "Music" had simple cute dance moves, leaving me wanting for something a little more. Nino tap danced to the game music, busting out a 178 combo for a perfect score.
Several TVs sat alone in a room on the screens. In a gold and blue outfit, Jun was lounging on a couch. As he started "Don't you love me?", juniors slowly popped out from behind the couch. While Jun jumped a big height to the stage below, I was more impressed by one of the juniors that jumped and shimmied his way up to the higher second floor stage. Metal bars set on the stage gave them an excuse to climb and flip over them. Jun also did a frontwards flip off a stage from an almost dangerous height. Being targeted, Jun ran away from the others, doing "free running" across the stages to get away. Exhausted, he collapses back on the couch as the TV screens crack.
Sitting on the edge of an upper stage, Nino sang the beginning of "In the Room". Sho and Ohno were sitting in chairs and Aiba was sitting on the stairs, but they were all scattered across the stage. It was a very pretty picture when Sho rapped sitting IN the chair. Red sheets dropped down and hung over the background for dramatic effect.
The penlights shined like candles at the beginning, but the overall theme of "Masquerade" was Big Band Broadway. They all had hats!! Of course, Ohno's looked perfect, tilted to the side. They danced with standing mics on the stage, leaning together close. The hats did fly off pretty soon. Ohno's choreography was fun. I can't describe well, but I like the cute moves for "I love you baby, otogibanashi wo". After more dancing, some on their knees, they reach for bottles of water and with the right timing, the lights turn them into silhouettes and they spit out the water into the air. We were a mix of amused, surprised, and thrilled.
They moved to the big carts for "Happiness", "Hadashi no Mirai", and "GUTS!" The scoreboard on the screens had "ARASHI" and "JAPONISM" in place of scores. Nino's solo part sounded better than the one from Music Station. They marched to the center stage with the juniors.
"Ai wo Sakebe" had an aerial camera shooting from above, showing us the heart patterns on the stage. Streamers popped out at the end of the song, meaning lots of people were still trying to catch them as the MC started.
MC
Jun said playfully, "We're trying to talk here! Pay attention!"
S: So it's started again.
N: A new album tour.
S: How has the concert been so far? Are you enjoying it?
Us: Yeah!
S: And that greeting of yours, Aiba-san.
A: Yeah!
Us: Yeah!
A: It's so hot in here!!!
It really WAS hot inside, like a sauna, but that wasn't going to fool the members into the changing the topic.
S: You and your out-of-control greeting.
A: Wait. There's a reason for this. Mine are always after Nino's. And I just did the usual one. The one that follows his.
They made him say it again and when he got to the part in question, Nino jumped in and refuted ever saying our shouts "weren't enough". Nino explained what he'd said and Aiba tried his "Ne ne, tannaitte!" again for some laughs.
S: How has the concert been for you, Ohno-san?
Finally pulling himself back into the conversation, he realized the others had already taken off their jackets. "Ah!" Playing back into Aiba's point, he complained that Nagoya was really warm. "You'll start sweating soon! (From the lack of response) ......... I guess I shouldn't talk about this?"
S: That's not really it, but anyway, Ohno-san, have you told anyone about THAT yet?
O: No, I don't think so.
S: Not even for the pamphlet? Okay, then out of the following songs, one was choreographed by Ohno-san. Which is it? "Miyabi Night", "In the Room", "Masquerade", "Sakura".
We clapped for the one we thought it was, but there was an overwhelming difference.
O: I must have said it somewhere.
A: Radio?
They couldn't come up with a straight answer, because no one was sure.
J: Maybe it was just the mood of the song?
N: Ohno's choreography is pretty unique.
A: And there was the water spitting!
N: We were thinking "Really?" when he said he wanted to do it.
O: I knew they would have a big reaction to it.
N: As soon as we finished it, you should have seen his face.
Nino demonstrated the smug pleased look Ohno made at our reaction.
O: I knew some might think it was kind of disgusting, but I wanted to show that it could look pretty when done well. With the lights and all.
Sho asked Jun how he was doing.
J: So tired.
S: It looks like you just got out of a shower. This is a first.
A: It's a new hair style for you!
Jun ruffled his flat, sweaty, messed up hair and mumbled, "Don't put me on the screen."
J: Everyone waited all year, listened to the new album, wondering what we'd do for it and here I have to look like this.
We laughed as he grumbled about his hair.
S: So for "Masquerade", did Matsumoto make any requests?
O: Yeah.
J: I wanted it to be showy, in a Johnnys way, but also like what they did in the 80s. Like Shonentai. Trying to remember what it was like, it reminded me that Ohno was one of the few juniors that experienced that.
S: Sensei?
Ohno smiled at the name. "It made me happy. And it already made me happy just to be able to do the spitting water part. I JUST KNEW he'd make a face at it. (Really getting into talking about it, he kept talking nonstop without anyone prodding him to continue) And when he did it the first time during rehearsal, his timing was off by a lot, so I started worrying if it was going to be okay, but today, he got it perfect.
Jun seemed pleased that he'd gotten complimented.
S: Everyone was into your tap dancing too, Nino.
N: My solo's rather fluff. But you should look forward to the ones coming up. They'll be downright dazzling!
S: Don't say that! (You'll get their hopes too high)
J: We'll be watching from the front row!
S: Stop! Enough!
Jun left the stage to get changed. The four left behind had to decide who would go too. Sho suggested only one of them stay behind, to their horror, but they left it up to a "paper rock" game. They all threw out rock the first time, making them back away from nervousness.
The second time, they split into Sho-Aiba and Ohno-Nino. Aiba and Nino did janken, with Aiba losing. He immediately apologized to Sho, but Nino offered to let them go first.
Sho was about to leave, but feeling uneasy leaving those two alone on the stage, he poked Ohno, "Make sure you actually listen to him. I mean really listen. And talk."
So the first thing out of Ohno's mouth once Sho was gone? "You got something going on?"
He put his hand in front of himself, gesturing for Nino to go first. Nino started listing off his special drama and movie promotions.
O: How's filming?
N:.... For which?
O: Either.
N. Well, we haven't finished for Bocchan yet.
O: Jaa, Bocchan dou? (Then how's Bocchan going?)
Nino gave him an incredulous look and waited until Ohno formed a proper question out of it.
Nino told him they were doing filming on a ship.
O: Ho〜〜.
N: I thought I'd puke.
Ohno made another noise to show he was listening.
N: It was a small wood ship.
Us: Eeeh?!
N: The water kept coming back into the boat. And back then, that might have been normal, but it meant during standby, the staff was valiantly throwing buckets full of water overboard.
Distracted by the way Ohno was standing while listening, he stopped to comment on it and continued, "It's in the same time slot you did that show... Hannin wa..."
O: Mou yuukai nante shinai?
N: That one. It's at that time.
O: Ah.
N: Okay, your turn.
O: Umm... I'm in the middle of a tour now. Today was the first concert in Nagoya.
Nino played along, nodding his head at him.
Then Sho and Aiba returned, stealing all the attention with their outfits.
N: Fashionable.
S: This is the "personal wardrobe corner", right?
Nino teased, "Those suits are your own?! But why do you have matching ones?!"
Nino and Ohno left to change and Jun came back on stage.
J: Do you have something to announce?
S: I do. Music Day.
Once that was over, they looked at each other and wondered what they should talk about.
S: How about "what did you do last night?"
Aiba and Jun repeated it slowly, nothing interesting coming to mind.
S: It doesn't have to be amazing or anything. If you remember the Digitalian making, the night before, Matsumoto was working hard.
J: This time it was the same as everybody else.
A: He was last to leave.
J: I was.
A: We rode in the same car together.
Us: Whoooo!
S: It's only the same car! And at the hotel? What did you do?
J: Showered... Stretched... Fell asleep.
A: I showered... And ate some snacks.
We laughed, so Sho felt the need to explain that they'd come from the catering at the Dome.
S: Standing in front of the catering tables, he looked like a little kid.
A: I took all of the interesting ones with me. I couldn't stop.
S: I got to the hotel... Had some spinach salad.... And fell asleep.
J: Why did you choose this topic?!
Laughing, Sho said, "There really was nothing at all!"
J: It's the first day. You were just nervous.
S: Sorry.
Jun and Aiba assured him it was fine.
Aiba announced he'd been to Nagoya for Aiba Japan, but that it hadn't been aired yet. Not even in the studio. Aiba's random secretive comments just confused them even more.
With everyone back, they started to gear up for the second half.
J: For this Japonism tour, it's been 16 years to look back on, on the road Arashi has walked, and the road that other Johnnys have made for us. The company started in 1960. We had to think about what that meant Johnnys was to us. In the second half, we'd like to show our respect to them.
That led perfectly into "Nihon Yoitoko Makafushigi". Not only did we get all the flips, we also got the rap part too! The juniors all came out in different outfits of other groups.
Each Johnnys group was listed out in order of their debut date. The music for "Kimi e no Omoi" played as it reached the end and pictures of Arashi from before their debut and after slowly passed by on the screens. Sho's rap was almost too low to hear properly.
The last picture at the very end is probably one that will change with every concert day. Keep an eye on it.
Sho's solo, "Rolling Days", was rather interesting. Personally, I prefer the CD version. He played a drum on his own to show us the different techniques he'd learned to spin and twirl the drum sticks while playing. Juniors join him on stage to make a marching band. They walk to center stage, where another drum is ready waiting for him. He joins the juniors in a line and they do a complicated performance together WHILE he's singing and rapping.
In "Mr. Funk", Aiba appears hanging from a long, long piece of fabric attached to a balloon. He had it wrapped around his arm so he wouldn't fall. He did drop down to the stage to sing. The juniors were "his brothers" from the lyrics. He DID do a Disco Star move once and some hip thrusting, but the rest was different. The juniors held him up high for one part too.
Suddenly, he took off his shirt and replaced it with one that said "Funk" on it. He rolled up his pants and loosed up. Aiba climbed back up the long hanging fabric, wrapping it around himself in a way that when he let go, he twirled down to a stop and was left hanging upside down. He yelled, "What's my name?" We chanted for him until he came down.
And speaking of funk, that meant "Funky" was next! We were sort of unprepared for it after watching Aiba's solo, but we switched over to dance mode quickly. It looked like everyone remembered it perfectly.
Keeping with our excitement levels high, they sang "Bolero" next. We waved our arms around and shouted the crowd parts, having a blast. Jun and Nino were doing Daigo's rocker move at the back.
Ohno was gone. Which meant!! "Akatsuki".
He came out in a gold kimono with a black feather scarf around his neck and a paper umbrella in his hand. He put on a mask that appeared out of nowhere and umbrellas were popping out of his hands like magic. Switching to a new spot and with a new mask on, he made fire come out of his hand, brought out sheets of gold, and went though about ten costume changes. Keep in mind that some of these people aren't Ohno, because it would be impossible to get around the stage like he does.
Ohno pulled off mask after mask, revealing himself. He was sweating a lot. The last kimono came off, showing us his long black coat with red lining. It was a very stylish look. The choreography for his solo flows from one style to another. From geisha-like, martial arts, Johnnys, and to his own personal style. There are graceful moves, in particular, for each word about nature. The end seemed to be most Ohno-like. I look forward to seeing it again in Sapporo.
Curtains at the back of the stage opened, with a line of shamisen players and taiko drum players on each side. There was a single flute player and three men at the top of the stage who were playing very large taiko drums. Every time they hit those, you could really feel the beat in your chest.
Juniors came out in "Japonesque" to do many acrobatics, one doing swordplay, and quite a few on roller blades. Arashi were in brightly colored kimonos. A huge sakura trees decorated the screens while cherry blossom petals fell down on the stage.
The things I remember the most from the dance are them swaying from side to side a lot and using silver fans and red umbrellas as props. It seemed very Johnnys.
The juniors gathered and hid them behind the umbrellas. They changed quickly on stage to red outfits for "Kokoro no Sora". You could still feel the beat of the taiko drums well. They performed the same dance as Music Station, except we got Sho's rap part!! Fireworks surprised us at the end.
I noticed the colors of the penlights changing again in "SUNRISE Nippon" from red and white to rainbow. Jun did the juniors introduction briefly. The members stood on the raising stands at five points. Nino was right in front of us, waving the whole time in "Oh yeah".
The penlights in "Believe" were very hard on the eyes with how they were blinking rapidly. They took off their jackets, but I think it was Sho who was really late in doing so (red jacket) and it seemed like Jun noticed and was watching to make sure he didn't forget completely. Nino was laying down on the moving stage, waving to people underneath through the clear plastic on his stomach.
S: This was our new concert for our new album. Did you enjoy yourselves? Like we said during the MC, we were taking the chance to look back. Normally, we'd focus on challenging new things, getting away from the Johnnys image. 20 years later, here we are doing the opposite. It's a strange feeling. Sometimes to go forward means to stop and look around. Also, to stop means to go forward. Please keep supporting us in the future.
O: Thank you. .... Iya iya, it's amazing! We were thinking about what would show off Japan best for the Japonesque Tour... And Johnnys. And it made me realize again, Johnnys are amazing! They can sing and dance at the same time!! I really felt that deeply inside. To tell the truth, I'm exhausted. But it was really fun. This Japonesque Tour-
Sho and Jun interrupted him. We'd been snickering from the first time he said it, but they couldn't let him keep saying it like that.
J: Ohno-san, it's "Japonism".
Ohno realized his mistake and apologized while laughing. "Please forget that. Let me start over." Everyone was still laughing, so he whined, "It's because there's actually a song named that!!"
O: Also I found out that the tour title has the initials for the five of us and the fans.
Us: Ooooh.
O: We still have a ways to go, so I hope we can make it through with no injuries.
A: Thank you. I still feel nervous. It's really good we made it through the first day safely. At the opening, we asked "How are you living your life now?" For me, all I can do is live this moment. It's impossible for me to think ahead. (We laughed) For Japo....nism (we laughed again at his pause), I was in charge of the goods. I didn't get to ask during the MC, but was the calendar okay? It wasn't too much? (We cheered) Good. I was worried about it. Today was so fun. Thank you!
N: Thank you. For the first time in half a year, I drank outside of my house. With the members. (Ooooh!) And the juniors. (Aaaaah.) And Tackey. (Eeeh?!) Because we're the same age and we've gone through the same things together, it's really great to have people you know with the same values and views as you. It's a good place. Johnnys is a really good place. It was a fun concert today. Like at a reunion, how you exchange numbers again with the people you know. Except that Aiba and Ohno don't really use their cell phones. I wonder if this means they're getting old.
Aiba complained about something about a group, probably for LINE, that they weren't included in or the like.
N: We wanted to show you our history. And that even a person that goes with the flow can go down in history. We didn't know when it would happen. Like Aiba, we've just been living in the moment for the past 16 years and somehow gotten this far. For good or bad, we're still here. We're really grateful for it. Thank you.
J: Did you have fun? For Japonism, we asked how are you living now. We were thinking about Japan's culture, Johnnys history, and how we've made Arashi with you. It was very important to us. The road that you opened for us. The roads that will open. The roads that we didn't take. And that we'll keep passing on the batton to others. We thought hard about how to show you this. This was a fun start to the tour. We'll keep going until the end of the year, so please support us.
The last song was "Bokura ga Tsunaide iku". The penlights started blue and scenes from the opening anime showed on the screens. You could hear the difference in their solo parts really well. At the end, a clock on the screen showed us it counting up from their debut to this very second. It kept ticking until fading away.
It said
"Nagoya
2015.11.06
8:25:57"
We had a bit of a wait until the encore. They were preparing the large carts backstage and changing into outfits like the tour tshirts that had the chidori pattern on them.
They waved a ton during "Yume ni Kakeru" and "Love so sweet". Jun and Ohno sang their part together. As Ohno was about to drift away, Jun caught his attention and pointed to Aiba, who was on the same cart as them. They went to stand directly behind him and copied his wave. It was very cute. Sho and Nino did their airplane with just the two of them.
Making it back to the main stage, they were going to all get off and go to the stage, but Jun stopped Ohno and made him stay so everyone wasn't out of sight at the same time. In "Arashi", he was having so much fun he was smiling as he sang most of the song.
Nino seems to have made it his mission to find ways of screwing up Sho's rap part. He did his low "come on, come on" move to success.
The harmony parts at the end were great.
Jun introduced all the juniors again, Mount Blast, and the other guests players of the shamisen and taiko. Arashi asked for their name and did their bow.
J: Bye bye!!
S: It was awesome today!
Sho saluted to us.
The show ended at 8:42. Now we'll have to wait and see what Jun changes during the course of the tour.
Pics:
Next is Sapporo!
<3
I went to Nagoya this morning with boblemon and we headed straight for the dome to buy goods. (10 AM) There were a lot of people, but the line kept moving for the most part. I finished buying my goods in under an hour, which included the masking tape. The Nagoya blue tape sold out at 11:30.
We went to eat lunch at Yamamotoya, miso udon. There's a picture below.
There was a handy free shuttle bus that took us to and from our station. After walking around Aeon Mall, we went inside to check our seats.
The stage this year is black and red themed, with long red poles that are reminiscent of torii gates. A large Japonism banner hung down from the top of the stage. The main stage has three smaller runways kinda in the shape of a window. The back stage is pretty far away, with many sections of seats in between.
Our seats were the last row of the first floor and on the right side, directly across from the center stage.
The concert began right on time with the Japonism banner falling down.
I liked the opening video. It was in an anime style. The members were in what looked like Sky Tree, judging from the view. Nino was hunched over playing his game and Ohno stared intently at a sword on display. On the windows behind them, scenes of Japan played on the glass like videos.
The scenery shifts to an ancient battlefield, scattered with yellow flags. Two samurai warriors are fighting to the death. The last one standing turns to present day Nino and he sees a man with his own face.
Ohno watches a blacksmith making a sword, who also looks like him.
Aiba watches himself cut bamboo in a bamboo forest with a child strapped to his back.
Sho's lord counterpart in his mansion with a garden of koi fish and trees with colored leaves spoke to him, saying, " It's beautiful, isn't it?"
In a magnificent Japanese castle, Jun looked down on the city until his lookalike commented, "This is a good town. The swords they make are very good." He examined one in his hands closely. Then he asks cryptically, "How do you live your life now?"
Each person asked the members the same question.
Another large banner fell over the stage and Arashi snuck on stage behind it.
"Sakura" was the first song of the night. They did the dance behind colored flames in outfits that were mostly gold. It's hard to remember more details from it because we were so excited at them coming out.
O: Welcome to Nagoya Dome and the start of our concert.
S: We wanted to think back on our origins.
A: And about Japanese culture.
N: Today, we hope you'll enjoy the good points about Japan through Johnnys style of entertainment.
J: Let's begin the show. We hope everyone, all the way from that corner to that corner, will have a good time tonight.
The five of them were kneeling on pillows across the stage and bowed low to us.
The main stage screens opened like sliding doors to show a large golden dragon on a painted screen. "Miyabi-night" was a mixture of fast and slow moves. I remember the red scarfs the juniors were holding.
The members took a low stance and moved to the beat of drums. Shamisen joined, making a melody we were familiar with, linking into "Wild at Heart". They were busing moving via the moving stages, so they just stuck to waving to the crowd.
The shamisen could be heard playing through part of "Troublemaker" too. I liked being able to hear a new version of the songs we already know. It was during that song that the penlights got hijacked. The part I loved was the short new dance sequence. The juniors also participated. For Sho and Ohno's heart, not only did they make it, to screams of approval, Jun was right behind it, with his hand over his mouth in a surprised look.
The penlights were controlled through "Aozora no Shita, Kimi no Tonari" too. The dance didn't change in this one.
They were back to the normal greetings, sort of. The penlights changed colors for each member automatically.
Jun allllllmost forgot how many people the Dome could hold, promising to make us happy.
Nino wanted to make some great memories together, BUT didn't mention anything about us not yelling enough for them.
Aiba didn't pay enough attention and did his usual "He said you weren't loud enough!" Most of the crowd was chuckling at it.
O: Are you ready?! Are you really ready?! It's a Nagoya Japonism Matsuri-"
Us: Dei!!!
In a very small voice, he sort of attempted Jun's impression of Leader from Miyagi.
Sho called out to each section. "Let's get the utage started!" (Utage is a party with food or drink. Close enough, I guess.)
They moved around the stages in "Make a wish", trying to hide that Nino was gone. The penlights were mostly turquoise and pastel colors.
Nino was at center stage in a white outfit. He was holding a light sword/saber and had these straps around his ankles that made sounds when he moved, like how the technology worked in "Hope in the Darkness". Each color of the saber changed the penlights and the sound it made when he moved, some high some low. Yellow alone was very squeaky, making everybody laugh when Nino cocked his head at the noise. "Music" had simple cute dance moves, leaving me wanting for something a little more. Nino tap danced to the game music, busting out a 178 combo for a perfect score.
Several TVs sat alone in a room on the screens. In a gold and blue outfit, Jun was lounging on a couch. As he started "Don't you love me?", juniors slowly popped out from behind the couch. While Jun jumped a big height to the stage below, I was more impressed by one of the juniors that jumped and shimmied his way up to the higher second floor stage. Metal bars set on the stage gave them an excuse to climb and flip over them. Jun also did a frontwards flip off a stage from an almost dangerous height. Being targeted, Jun ran away from the others, doing "free running" across the stages to get away. Exhausted, he collapses back on the couch as the TV screens crack.
Sitting on the edge of an upper stage, Nino sang the beginning of "In the Room". Sho and Ohno were sitting in chairs and Aiba was sitting on the stairs, but they were all scattered across the stage. It was a very pretty picture when Sho rapped sitting IN the chair. Red sheets dropped down and hung over the background for dramatic effect.
The penlights shined like candles at the beginning, but the overall theme of "Masquerade" was Big Band Broadway. They all had hats!! Of course, Ohno's looked perfect, tilted to the side. They danced with standing mics on the stage, leaning together close. The hats did fly off pretty soon. Ohno's choreography was fun. I can't describe well, but I like the cute moves for "I love you baby, otogibanashi wo". After more dancing, some on their knees, they reach for bottles of water and with the right timing, the lights turn them into silhouettes and they spit out the water into the air. We were a mix of amused, surprised, and thrilled.
They moved to the big carts for "Happiness", "Hadashi no Mirai", and "GUTS!" The scoreboard on the screens had "ARASHI" and "JAPONISM" in place of scores. Nino's solo part sounded better than the one from Music Station. They marched to the center stage with the juniors.
"Ai wo Sakebe" had an aerial camera shooting from above, showing us the heart patterns on the stage. Streamers popped out at the end of the song, meaning lots of people were still trying to catch them as the MC started.
MC
Jun said playfully, "We're trying to talk here! Pay attention!"
S: So it's started again.
N: A new album tour.
S: How has the concert been so far? Are you enjoying it?
Us: Yeah!
S: And that greeting of yours, Aiba-san.
A: Yeah!
Us: Yeah!
A: It's so hot in here!!!
It really WAS hot inside, like a sauna, but that wasn't going to fool the members into the changing the topic.
S: You and your out-of-control greeting.
A: Wait. There's a reason for this. Mine are always after Nino's. And I just did the usual one. The one that follows his.
They made him say it again and when he got to the part in question, Nino jumped in and refuted ever saying our shouts "weren't enough". Nino explained what he'd said and Aiba tried his "Ne ne, tannaitte!" again for some laughs.
S: How has the concert been for you, Ohno-san?
Finally pulling himself back into the conversation, he realized the others had already taken off their jackets. "Ah!" Playing back into Aiba's point, he complained that Nagoya was really warm. "You'll start sweating soon! (From the lack of response) ......... I guess I shouldn't talk about this?"
S: That's not really it, but anyway, Ohno-san, have you told anyone about THAT yet?
O: No, I don't think so.
S: Not even for the pamphlet? Okay, then out of the following songs, one was choreographed by Ohno-san. Which is it? "Miyabi Night", "In the Room", "Masquerade", "Sakura".
We clapped for the one we thought it was, but there was an overwhelming difference.
O: I must have said it somewhere.
A: Radio?
They couldn't come up with a straight answer, because no one was sure.
J: Maybe it was just the mood of the song?
N: Ohno's choreography is pretty unique.
A: And there was the water spitting!
N: We were thinking "Really?" when he said he wanted to do it.
O: I knew they would have a big reaction to it.
N: As soon as we finished it, you should have seen his face.
Nino demonstrated the smug pleased look Ohno made at our reaction.
O: I knew some might think it was kind of disgusting, but I wanted to show that it could look pretty when done well. With the lights and all.
Sho asked Jun how he was doing.
J: So tired.
S: It looks like you just got out of a shower. This is a first.
A: It's a new hair style for you!
Jun ruffled his flat, sweaty, messed up hair and mumbled, "Don't put me on the screen."
J: Everyone waited all year, listened to the new album, wondering what we'd do for it and here I have to look like this.
We laughed as he grumbled about his hair.
S: So for "Masquerade", did Matsumoto make any requests?
O: Yeah.
J: I wanted it to be showy, in a Johnnys way, but also like what they did in the 80s. Like Shonentai. Trying to remember what it was like, it reminded me that Ohno was one of the few juniors that experienced that.
S: Sensei?
Ohno smiled at the name. "It made me happy. And it already made me happy just to be able to do the spitting water part. I JUST KNEW he'd make a face at it. (Really getting into talking about it, he kept talking nonstop without anyone prodding him to continue) And when he did it the first time during rehearsal, his timing was off by a lot, so I started worrying if it was going to be okay, but today, he got it perfect.
Jun seemed pleased that he'd gotten complimented.
S: Everyone was into your tap dancing too, Nino.
N: My solo's rather fluff. But you should look forward to the ones coming up. They'll be downright dazzling!
S: Don't say that! (You'll get their hopes too high)
J: We'll be watching from the front row!
S: Stop! Enough!
Jun left the stage to get changed. The four left behind had to decide who would go too. Sho suggested only one of them stay behind, to their horror, but they left it up to a "paper rock" game. They all threw out rock the first time, making them back away from nervousness.
The second time, they split into Sho-Aiba and Ohno-Nino. Aiba and Nino did janken, with Aiba losing. He immediately apologized to Sho, but Nino offered to let them go first.
Sho was about to leave, but feeling uneasy leaving those two alone on the stage, he poked Ohno, "Make sure you actually listen to him. I mean really listen. And talk."
So the first thing out of Ohno's mouth once Sho was gone? "You got something going on?"
He put his hand in front of himself, gesturing for Nino to go first. Nino started listing off his special drama and movie promotions.
O: How's filming?
N:.... For which?
O: Either.
N. Well, we haven't finished for Bocchan yet.
O: Jaa, Bocchan dou? (Then how's Bocchan going?)
Nino gave him an incredulous look and waited until Ohno formed a proper question out of it.
Nino told him they were doing filming on a ship.
O: Ho〜〜.
N: I thought I'd puke.
Ohno made another noise to show he was listening.
N: It was a small wood ship.
Us: Eeeh?!
N: The water kept coming back into the boat. And back then, that might have been normal, but it meant during standby, the staff was valiantly throwing buckets full of water overboard.
Distracted by the way Ohno was standing while listening, he stopped to comment on it and continued, "It's in the same time slot you did that show... Hannin wa..."
O: Mou yuukai nante shinai?
N: That one. It's at that time.
O: Ah.
N: Okay, your turn.
O: Umm... I'm in the middle of a tour now. Today was the first concert in Nagoya.
Nino played along, nodding his head at him.
Then Sho and Aiba returned, stealing all the attention with their outfits.
N: Fashionable.
S: This is the "personal wardrobe corner", right?
Nino teased, "Those suits are your own?! But why do you have matching ones?!"
Nino and Ohno left to change and Jun came back on stage.
J: Do you have something to announce?
S: I do. Music Day.
Once that was over, they looked at each other and wondered what they should talk about.
S: How about "what did you do last night?"
Aiba and Jun repeated it slowly, nothing interesting coming to mind.
S: It doesn't have to be amazing or anything. If you remember the Digitalian making, the night before, Matsumoto was working hard.
J: This time it was the same as everybody else.
A: He was last to leave.
J: I was.
A: We rode in the same car together.
Us: Whoooo!
S: It's only the same car! And at the hotel? What did you do?
J: Showered... Stretched... Fell asleep.
A: I showered... And ate some snacks.
We laughed, so Sho felt the need to explain that they'd come from the catering at the Dome.
S: Standing in front of the catering tables, he looked like a little kid.
A: I took all of the interesting ones with me. I couldn't stop.
S: I got to the hotel... Had some spinach salad.... And fell asleep.
J: Why did you choose this topic?!
Laughing, Sho said, "There really was nothing at all!"
J: It's the first day. You were just nervous.
S: Sorry.
Jun and Aiba assured him it was fine.
Aiba announced he'd been to Nagoya for Aiba Japan, but that it hadn't been aired yet. Not even in the studio. Aiba's random secretive comments just confused them even more.
With everyone back, they started to gear up for the second half.
J: For this Japonism tour, it's been 16 years to look back on, on the road Arashi has walked, and the road that other Johnnys have made for us. The company started in 1960. We had to think about what that meant Johnnys was to us. In the second half, we'd like to show our respect to them.
That led perfectly into "Nihon Yoitoko Makafushigi". Not only did we get all the flips, we also got the rap part too! The juniors all came out in different outfits of other groups.
Each Johnnys group was listed out in order of their debut date. The music for "Kimi e no Omoi" played as it reached the end and pictures of Arashi from before their debut and after slowly passed by on the screens. Sho's rap was almost too low to hear properly.
The last picture at the very end is probably one that will change with every concert day. Keep an eye on it.
Sho's solo, "Rolling Days", was rather interesting. Personally, I prefer the CD version. He played a drum on his own to show us the different techniques he'd learned to spin and twirl the drum sticks while playing. Juniors join him on stage to make a marching band. They walk to center stage, where another drum is ready waiting for him. He joins the juniors in a line and they do a complicated performance together WHILE he's singing and rapping.
In "Mr. Funk", Aiba appears hanging from a long, long piece of fabric attached to a balloon. He had it wrapped around his arm so he wouldn't fall. He did drop down to the stage to sing. The juniors were "his brothers" from the lyrics. He DID do a Disco Star move once and some hip thrusting, but the rest was different. The juniors held him up high for one part too.
Suddenly, he took off his shirt and replaced it with one that said "Funk" on it. He rolled up his pants and loosed up. Aiba climbed back up the long hanging fabric, wrapping it around himself in a way that when he let go, he twirled down to a stop and was left hanging upside down. He yelled, "What's my name?" We chanted for him until he came down.
And speaking of funk, that meant "Funky" was next! We were sort of unprepared for it after watching Aiba's solo, but we switched over to dance mode quickly. It looked like everyone remembered it perfectly.
Keeping with our excitement levels high, they sang "Bolero" next. We waved our arms around and shouted the crowd parts, having a blast. Jun and Nino were doing Daigo's rocker move at the back.
Ohno was gone. Which meant!! "Akatsuki".
He came out in a gold kimono with a black feather scarf around his neck and a paper umbrella in his hand. He put on a mask that appeared out of nowhere and umbrellas were popping out of his hands like magic. Switching to a new spot and with a new mask on, he made fire come out of his hand, brought out sheets of gold, and went though about ten costume changes. Keep in mind that some of these people aren't Ohno, because it would be impossible to get around the stage like he does.
Ohno pulled off mask after mask, revealing himself. He was sweating a lot. The last kimono came off, showing us his long black coat with red lining. It was a very stylish look. The choreography for his solo flows from one style to another. From geisha-like, martial arts, Johnnys, and to his own personal style. There are graceful moves, in particular, for each word about nature. The end seemed to be most Ohno-like. I look forward to seeing it again in Sapporo.
Curtains at the back of the stage opened, with a line of shamisen players and taiko drum players on each side. There was a single flute player and three men at the top of the stage who were playing very large taiko drums. Every time they hit those, you could really feel the beat in your chest.
Juniors came out in "Japonesque" to do many acrobatics, one doing swordplay, and quite a few on roller blades. Arashi were in brightly colored kimonos. A huge sakura trees decorated the screens while cherry blossom petals fell down on the stage.
The things I remember the most from the dance are them swaying from side to side a lot and using silver fans and red umbrellas as props. It seemed very Johnnys.
The juniors gathered and hid them behind the umbrellas. They changed quickly on stage to red outfits for "Kokoro no Sora". You could still feel the beat of the taiko drums well. They performed the same dance as Music Station, except we got Sho's rap part!! Fireworks surprised us at the end.
I noticed the colors of the penlights changing again in "SUNRISE Nippon" from red and white to rainbow. Jun did the juniors introduction briefly. The members stood on the raising stands at five points. Nino was right in front of us, waving the whole time in "Oh yeah".
The penlights in "Believe" were very hard on the eyes with how they were blinking rapidly. They took off their jackets, but I think it was Sho who was really late in doing so (red jacket) and it seemed like Jun noticed and was watching to make sure he didn't forget completely. Nino was laying down on the moving stage, waving to people underneath through the clear plastic on his stomach.
S: This was our new concert for our new album. Did you enjoy yourselves? Like we said during the MC, we were taking the chance to look back. Normally, we'd focus on challenging new things, getting away from the Johnnys image. 20 years later, here we are doing the opposite. It's a strange feeling. Sometimes to go forward means to stop and look around. Also, to stop means to go forward. Please keep supporting us in the future.
O: Thank you. .... Iya iya, it's amazing! We were thinking about what would show off Japan best for the Japonesque Tour... And Johnnys. And it made me realize again, Johnnys are amazing! They can sing and dance at the same time!! I really felt that deeply inside. To tell the truth, I'm exhausted. But it was really fun. This Japonesque Tour-
Sho and Jun interrupted him. We'd been snickering from the first time he said it, but they couldn't let him keep saying it like that.
J: Ohno-san, it's "Japonism".
Ohno realized his mistake and apologized while laughing. "Please forget that. Let me start over." Everyone was still laughing, so he whined, "It's because there's actually a song named that!!"
O: Also I found out that the tour title has the initials for the five of us and the fans.
Us: Ooooh.
O: We still have a ways to go, so I hope we can make it through with no injuries.
A: Thank you. I still feel nervous. It's really good we made it through the first day safely. At the opening, we asked "How are you living your life now?" For me, all I can do is live this moment. It's impossible for me to think ahead. (We laughed) For Japo....nism (we laughed again at his pause), I was in charge of the goods. I didn't get to ask during the MC, but was the calendar okay? It wasn't too much? (We cheered) Good. I was worried about it. Today was so fun. Thank you!
N: Thank you. For the first time in half a year, I drank outside of my house. With the members. (Ooooh!) And the juniors. (Aaaaah.) And Tackey. (Eeeh?!) Because we're the same age and we've gone through the same things together, it's really great to have people you know with the same values and views as you. It's a good place. Johnnys is a really good place. It was a fun concert today. Like at a reunion, how you exchange numbers again with the people you know. Except that Aiba and Ohno don't really use their cell phones. I wonder if this means they're getting old.
Aiba complained about something about a group, probably for LINE, that they weren't included in or the like.
N: We wanted to show you our history. And that even a person that goes with the flow can go down in history. We didn't know when it would happen. Like Aiba, we've just been living in the moment for the past 16 years and somehow gotten this far. For good or bad, we're still here. We're really grateful for it. Thank you.
J: Did you have fun? For Japonism, we asked how are you living now. We were thinking about Japan's culture, Johnnys history, and how we've made Arashi with you. It was very important to us. The road that you opened for us. The roads that will open. The roads that we didn't take. And that we'll keep passing on the batton to others. We thought hard about how to show you this. This was a fun start to the tour. We'll keep going until the end of the year, so please support us.
The last song was "Bokura ga Tsunaide iku". The penlights started blue and scenes from the opening anime showed on the screens. You could hear the difference in their solo parts really well. At the end, a clock on the screen showed us it counting up from their debut to this very second. It kept ticking until fading away.
It said
"Nagoya
2015.11.06
8:25:57"
We had a bit of a wait until the encore. They were preparing the large carts backstage and changing into outfits like the tour tshirts that had the chidori pattern on them.
They waved a ton during "Yume ni Kakeru" and "Love so sweet". Jun and Ohno sang their part together. As Ohno was about to drift away, Jun caught his attention and pointed to Aiba, who was on the same cart as them. They went to stand directly behind him and copied his wave. It was very cute. Sho and Nino did their airplane with just the two of them.
Making it back to the main stage, they were going to all get off and go to the stage, but Jun stopped Ohno and made him stay so everyone wasn't out of sight at the same time. In "Arashi", he was having so much fun he was smiling as he sang most of the song.
Nino seems to have made it his mission to find ways of screwing up Sho's rap part. He did his low "come on, come on" move to success.
The harmony parts at the end were great.
Jun introduced all the juniors again, Mount Blast, and the other guests players of the shamisen and taiko. Arashi asked for their name and did their bow.
J: Bye bye!!
S: It was awesome today!
Sho saluted to us.
The show ended at 8:42. Now we'll have to wait and see what Jun changes during the course of the tour.
Pics:
Next is Sapporo!
<3