Arashi's Japonism Concert Report for Sapporo, Nov. 13th
Sapporo, first day!
We arrived yesterday night and after settling in to our hotel, we went to meet jun_yumemakura for dinner. The limited edition masking tape sold out again, so it's safe to say that they will continue to the rest of the tour.
Let's skip the whole mess with the tickets and go into the report, though I'm very much grateful for the effort of my friends. Our seats were a little off center and in the upper part of the stands. I was happy to be able to see the screens well, because at Nagoya we had a pillar almost in the way.
The deep thump of drums signaled the beginning of the show.
During the opening video when Aiba meets his other self with the child on his back, the crowd started giggling.
I'll skip to the most memorable parts of the concert, so please check my previous report for a full set list. The list and order of the songs did stay the same as Nagoya though.
Arashi welcomed us to the concert in Kabuki style.
All: Let's enjoy the show!
The choreography for "Miyabi Night" still strikes me as mostly movements of their arms. The juniors waving their red scarves also stand out.
They came to the backstage in "Wild At Heart" where we could see them pretty well. And I'm still in love with the short little new dance in "Troublemaker". The long line of juniors that joins the five members does the dance staggered to Arashi's for a cool wave effect. Sho and Ohno's heart with a surprised Jun behind them is quickly becoming a cute routine.
"Aozora" earned some "oooohs" from the crowd when the penlights were first high jacked.
J: Everyone at the top! Everyone down low! It's been a while! We wanted to meet you! Are you ready?! We'll make all 50,000 of you happy!
N: Welcome! (X3) Tanne zo! (It's not enough!)
Nino actually DID say it tonight, so there wasn't any laughter at Aiba's greeting.
A: Ne, ne! He said it wasn't enough! (X2) More! Yeah! (X3)
O: Hi! (X3) Ikeru?! (Are you ready?) Are you really ready?! Let's do the usual shout!
We'd been rhythmically shouting "yeah" after each thing that he said, but he paused for just a second and although we were all ready to do the shout, he continued with, "Here I go!", making us laugh hard.
O: Sapporo Japonism Matsuri-!!
Us: Dei!!
He did a tiny closed hand wave with his nasally "Yoroshiku".
Sho looked up and pointed at the very top section that was even above the upper stands. "Ah! I found the top of the top!" He shouted to each of the sections. "Let's get the utage started!"
During "Make a Wish", I was being distracted by Aiba who came to a complete stop before waving up to our section and Nino who was leaving the stage. When Nino got to the top of the stairs leading off stage, he hopped down to the top step very cutely. Also, Aiba slung an arm over Sho's shoulder, making the crowd scream in approval, which then made Sho laugh at our response and laugh more when he glanced to his right at a grinning Aiba.
We also got Nino smirking smugly at our reaction to the different sounds the tap shoes made in "Music". I could see the screen on the stage that he dances on better tonight. There were shooting stars and fireworks before the dance game steps came out. They did away with the "combo" display and went for a simple score up in the corner.
Jun's solo was pretty much the same free running as Nagoya. I'd read that the height of the stages changed from the first night, but from what I could tell, they were only slightly lower than before. But! This time there was an MJ cam view on the screens (at least I don't remember that from before). Jun collapsed back on the couch after being chased.
"In the Room" dyed the whole dome red. At the beginning, when each member sings their parts, the stage lights shone down on only them. Sho did all of rap sitting down, then he threw his head back at the end of it and pulled himself up to his feet. It was a rather sexy move, if I do say so myself.
In "Masquerade", I'm not sure if I just wasn't paying attention or if the timing was early, but I nearly missed the "spitting water artistically" part.
We danced along to "GUTS" and "Ai wo Sakebe". It was there that something set Ohno off laughing every time that Jun pointedly stared over at him with a faint smile on his lips too. That in turn got us laughing as well. Sho got plenty of screams from his kiss to the audience too.
MC
S: Yeah! (X3) Good evening! We're Arashi!
Nino said in a cute voice to us, "Good evening".
S: Genki desu ka?! (Antonio Inoki impression) This is our first show at Sapporo. It's pretty hot, isn't it?
Aiba immediately agreed. Jun didn't look like he was dying tonight and his hair was still mostly in place.
S: I happened to be watching the TV, the local channel... HBC? Anyway, they were doing a report on Arashi coming to Sapporo. There I was, lying on my side watching it and thinking, "there's one right here". It showed some of the fans coming inside and you know how some of them are shy so they duck down, trying to escape from the camera?
He demonstrated for us.
Sho asked Ohno for his opinion.
O: Well you know... Sapporo's supposed to be cold, right?
Everyone, including the members, started chuckling and looked at him incredulously.
O: When I asked the manager if I'd need a coat, he said it would be cold.... But it's not so bad.
I could understand what he meant. Last year was minus Celsius in December and snowing. This year is still November and you only need a light coat at most.
A: It'd be bad if you caught a cold!
O: When we did our rehearsal, it didn't feel cold........ Are you listening?
The other members were smirking at him, waiting to see where this was going. We burst out laughing at Ohno's slightly annoyed question.
O: It wasn't cold, even though it has been every time we've done our rehearsals.
S: Are you sure that wasn't because of your shoes? This person was wearing completely different shoes from normal.
The members laughed since they all knew what he was talking about.
J: Ohno's personal shoes when he came in today were very fashionable. They were boots.
S: Don't your parents always buy everything for you?
Ohno waved his hand "no" at him and said, "They're just like these." He pointed down at his feet and the camera switched to them. "They're really light. Lighter than sneakers."
J: So it wasn't because of the cold that you wore them?
O: Yeah.
A: It's like all of a sudden, Leader's becoming an adult. Don't you remember his phone case from before? That lame one that looked like a pass case?
J: Ah, the train pass case one.
O: The red brown one I have now is one a folding notebook kind.
S: The one that's the color of a passport? (A Japanese passport)
O: I bought the same kind that Sho has.
S: Mine's navy though.
N: Why did you decide to buy the same kind as Sho?
O: Because it looked like if I dropped it, the screen wouldn't break.
S: Well THAT'S not why I bought mine.
A: Don't you remember the pattern on the one he had before? The 3D picture one that moved.
N: The tiger? If you moved it from side to side, the picture looked like it moved like this.
He demonstrated a tiger posture from the side, then shifted his hips to the right and mirrored the one he'd just been in.
They all complained that when Ohno changes things, it's always a dramatic sudden change.
Still on the subject of phone cases, they asked Jun about his. He has one that seems very "Michael Jackson".
N: Well, you're not wrong. It's still MJ!
Nino's phone doesn't have a case and neither does Aiba's.
N: About your phone, it's actually a fake, isn't it?
A: Of course it's not!
J: Yes, it is! It makes a sound like no other phone.
He did his impression of a normal phone vibrating on silent mode and then Aiba's grating one. It kind of sounded like something was wrong with it.
A: Hey! I bought that in Ginza!
Sho jumped in and explained, "Aiba told me he wanted to change his phone, so I said I'd recommend him a place. After an hour, he sent me a picture of the phone he got."
A: That's why if mine is a fake, then that means yours is too!
Aiba pointed at Sho. It was really cute how worked up Aiba was getting about it.
S: What are we talking about here?
A: Fakes!
Sho apologized to the audience for their pointless rambles.
O: Sorry, I started this mess.
They moved to the main stage.
J: Thank you for all coming tonight.
S: And how many was it? That you said you'd make happy tonight?
J: 50,000 people.... Bit by bit..... They should be becoming happier as we go.
It was funny how uncertain he sounded about it. He did brag that the newspaper said Arashi holds the record for biggest capacity for any concert held at Sapporo Dome.
S: That's not fake, is it?
J: Probably.
They were about to split off into groups to get changed, but Jun said he'd join the game for once. And guess what the result was? The same it's been nearly every time.
N: Three out of four times it's been us...
They ignored Nino's complaining and Sho prodded Ohno into talking more before he followed Jun and Aiba offstage.
O: You have lots to talk about, don't you?
N: Not that many things.
O: No, I heard you do. The first one?
N: A movie.
O: And the title?
N: Haha to Kuraseba.
O: Did you? Really live with your mom? (The meaning of the title)
N: Doesn't everyone?
O: Are you done with filming?
N: It's done.
O: When's it showing?
Nino dutifully listed off the date.
O: Was it interesting?
Nino was unsuccessfully stifling back a laugh at Ohno's terrible interviewing and enjoying making it more difficult by answering with short phrases, but that question did it and he gave an "I can't believe you just asked me that" laugh.
O: Like an interesting episode during filming or something? After all, it's not a funny movie, is it?
We all cracked up at that. He'd used the word "omoshiroi", but since it can also mean "interesting", it sounded like he was calling Nino's movie boring.
N: I enjoyed making it.
O: Did you start filming early in the morning?
He gave a schedule off the top of his head and asked if that was like Nino's or not. It wasn't and Nino denied having to film late.
N: We don't continue until evening.
O: Why?
N: It's the director's decision.
O: What's the best part to look for in the movie?
N: The scenes when I'm with my mother, which is most of them.
O: You didn't film with anyone else? Why?
N: I did, but it was always short.
O: What's your second promotion?
N: At this pace?!?
S: You're still going?
Sho had returned and plopped down on the stairs.
O: Hurry and say it!
Ohno tried to pin the blame on Nino. Aiba came out as Nino was telling us about another special movie of his.
O: Was it fun?
Nino looked to the other two with a pained expression.
N: It's always like this.
A: Wow, it's interview hell.
Nino went on to tell us about the director as Aiba started stretching in the background, looking from Ohno to Nino as they moved at a snails pace. He was almost doing a split, with his long legs spread wide.
O: And the third?
N: A drama named Bocchan.
O: How's filming?
Nino tried in vain to explain the period the drama is set in, but it wasn't familiar to Ohno, nor the author of it.
O: Was it fun?
N: ....Yes.
O: Okay, we should go change now.
Sho was surprised at the sudden end to the talk and took back control of the MC.
S: We'll be performing in "Best Artist". The theme is favorite love songs. What would you pick as a good one, Matsujun?
J: Eeeeeh?
S: Then Aiba, how about you?
A: Eeeeeh?
J: And Sho?
S: Eeeeeh?
They weren't able to think of anything right away.
J: A love song? Well "Ai wo Sakebe" is kind of different... So I'll go with "Meikyuu Love Song".
S: Aaaaah.
A: "Love Parade".
J: It's a good song.
S: "Love Situation".
This one had the biggest reaction.
J: I know we performed it at Arafes because you voted for it, but why do you like it so much?
He was asking us very seriously, but we couldn't reply any better than to cheer.
S: They want to see dancing, right?
We cheered again in approval.
S: Many others will perform too. Please watch the show.
Remembering something, Sho lowered his mic and started talking to Aiba quietly, reminding him of a story he should tell. Aiba grinned as he remembered.
A: I was with Ohno. The two of us. We were going to the Sapporo dressing room... And we got stopped by the security guard.
The crowd laughed loudly at his confession.
S: That was close! We almost had to do a concert with only three of us!!
A: It was after rehearsal, when we were going back.
N: And you even had two of the five members together!
Aiba and Nino pretended to reenact it.
The guard had stuck out a hand in front of him to stop Aiba, right after another staff member with a pass had already walked through.
A: Um... I'm a member.
The guard let Aiba pass and two seconds later when Ohno tried, the same thing happened again.
J: He's so serious about his job.
S: If you don't have a pass, you can't go in!!
N: I heard the two of them getting stopped behind me.
S: I was the last to return to the dressing room. And when I walked past, the guard was like this.
Aiba acted as Sho and Sho bent down low, staring up at Aiba's face and comparing it with an invisible pass.
Finished with their stories, Jun explained the concept of the tour and going back to their roots of "singing, dancing, and working up a refreshing sweat".
J: Aiba-sensei.
A: Ah, a warm up? Okay, I'll get them warmed up.
S: Are you really one of the members?
Sho peered at Aiba suspiciously.
A: I'm not a fake!!
Aiba got us yelling "Yeah!"
A: Music start!
The only note I have for "Nihon Yoitoko" is Ohno's pretty spin after his little solo part.
The young Arashi pictures in "Kimi e no Omoi" made the crowd happy. Sho quickly exited the stage as soon as his rap was over.
His solo looked good again tonight. Boblemon thought he might have been nervous the first night, but that he's more relaxed now.
"Mr. Funk" entered on his balloon. I'm not sure if I didn't notice it the first time or if it was new, but the screens had lots of pictures of Disco Star being covered dramatically by new Mr. Funk ones. I think Aiba's dance is ridiculous, but so very fun. We started the Mr. Funk call on our own as Aiba climbed up the cloth for his final pose upside down.
J: Are you ready?!
I can never seem to get the hang of switching from his solo to "Funky". It's like my mind blanks as it's already time to start dancing.
Since Ohno has to leave the stage to get ready for his solo in "Bolero", the parts that he would usually sing are covered by Aiba and Jun. They all took turns doing a running "salsa" move that looks more like a celebratory dance after getting a soccer goal or something. It was cute and Aiba added his own original step. Jun was chasing Nino off the stage at the end.
I tried hard to spot the differences in Ohno's magic show from before, but even if there were a few, they were hardly noticeable. One or two less costume changes maybe.
Ohno's dance followed to a difficult rhythm and it impressed the fans. A guy next to us complimented it as "cool" to his girlfriend.
After the instrumental break with the shamisen and taiko and juniors all around, we made it through several songs.
Nino didn't screw up Sho's rap tonight in "Sunrise Nippon". It might've helped that they went down different stages tonight.
In "Believe", Nino was down on his knees and sprawling on the stage for a short while. The best part for me was when Ohno and Sho were at the back stage and Ohno started swaying cutely to Sho's rap.
Speeches
Sho's didn't change from Nagoya's. "Let's grab our dreams together."
O: Today went so fast. For our Japonism tour, we thought about what represented Japan and Johnnys... Like back flips. (We laughed) There was a lot to do to prepare. I was worried at first, but we did it. As Johnnys, we want to do more and more. And more and more. And more interesting things for you. That's all I can do for now. We'll keep going, so please keep supporting us.
A: Did you have fun? I did. And I was nervous too. When I climbed that cloth, it felt taller than usual. And the mat seemed smaller too. I want to tell you about this. When I first started climbing, I couldn't last more than 3 seconds. I felt heartbroken. But I kept practicing and somehow, I made it in time for the tour. You don't always have to think of the future. Just try your best at what you can do here and now. Try challenging new things. This was a challenge you all made for me and I'm grateful for it. I'm grateful to my kouhais. And I'm grateful to all the people in the world! Thank you!
N: Thank you. Today was so fun... Although, now that I said that I kind of regret it. After all, we're the ones who're supposed to be making it fun for YOU! If you did enjoy yourselves, it'd make us happy. Going back to our roots means we remember nostalgic things and exciting scenes. I really feel like Johnnys is a great place. There's not a better entertainment agency, is there? We have good sempai, good kohai, good coworkers. Like Aiba said, we're grateful to be here performing somewhere so big. We'll keep working hard to do bigger things and so that we can make more fun memories for everyone.
J: Did you have a good time? We made a concert about what Johnnys is like and we hope you'll feel something from it. Like in the opening, we were wondering how the present will connect to the future, how this peaceful Japan will connect to the next generation. Making fun memories and having direct communication with you makes us really happy. With these five members, we want to keep going forward. Thank you.
They sang "Bokura ga Tsunaide iku". I hadn't noticed that when they sing hikari hanatsu, the camera zooms in on Nino's eye, until it looks like a star reflecting light.
The end time tonight was
"2015.11.13
8:29:13"
The encore began with "Yume ni Kakeru". Ohno was singing his solo part with his hand outstretched to the camera.
On the same cart, in "Love So Sweet", Jun and Ohno found the right camera to sing to and took turns reaching their hands out to it. Nino started doing the airplane, and Sho jumped to do it too, looking like he'd almost forgotten about it.
We sang along for "Arashi". Jun introduced the juniors, but there was a new four man team who did the stunts in Jun's solo, at least I think they were new.
As they said their goodbyes and the stage lowered, Sho gave us a salute, Jun and Aiba had their arms over each other's shoulders and Ohno was doing a double peace sign.
We tried for a double encore, chanting an Arashi call loudly for several minutes, making it impossible for the poor announcer man to do his job. At least we tried. Maybe the last night we'll get lucky.
The concert ended at 8:47.
<3
We arrived yesterday night and after settling in to our hotel, we went to meet jun_yumemakura for dinner. The limited edition masking tape sold out again, so it's safe to say that they will continue to the rest of the tour.
Let's skip the whole mess with the tickets and go into the report, though I'm very much grateful for the effort of my friends. Our seats were a little off center and in the upper part of the stands. I was happy to be able to see the screens well, because at Nagoya we had a pillar almost in the way.
The deep thump of drums signaled the beginning of the show.
During the opening video when Aiba meets his other self with the child on his back, the crowd started giggling.
I'll skip to the most memorable parts of the concert, so please check my previous report for a full set list. The list and order of the songs did stay the same as Nagoya though.
Arashi welcomed us to the concert in Kabuki style.
All: Let's enjoy the show!
The choreography for "Miyabi Night" still strikes me as mostly movements of their arms. The juniors waving their red scarves also stand out.
They came to the backstage in "Wild At Heart" where we could see them pretty well. And I'm still in love with the short little new dance in "Troublemaker". The long line of juniors that joins the five members does the dance staggered to Arashi's for a cool wave effect. Sho and Ohno's heart with a surprised Jun behind them is quickly becoming a cute routine.
"Aozora" earned some "oooohs" from the crowd when the penlights were first high jacked.
J: Everyone at the top! Everyone down low! It's been a while! We wanted to meet you! Are you ready?! We'll make all 50,000 of you happy!
N: Welcome! (X3) Tanne zo! (It's not enough!)
Nino actually DID say it tonight, so there wasn't any laughter at Aiba's greeting.
A: Ne, ne! He said it wasn't enough! (X2) More! Yeah! (X3)
O: Hi! (X3) Ikeru?! (Are you ready?) Are you really ready?! Let's do the usual shout!
We'd been rhythmically shouting "yeah" after each thing that he said, but he paused for just a second and although we were all ready to do the shout, he continued with, "Here I go!", making us laugh hard.
O: Sapporo Japonism Matsuri-!!
Us: Dei!!
He did a tiny closed hand wave with his nasally "Yoroshiku".
Sho looked up and pointed at the very top section that was even above the upper stands. "Ah! I found the top of the top!" He shouted to each of the sections. "Let's get the utage started!"
During "Make a Wish", I was being distracted by Aiba who came to a complete stop before waving up to our section and Nino who was leaving the stage. When Nino got to the top of the stairs leading off stage, he hopped down to the top step very cutely. Also, Aiba slung an arm over Sho's shoulder, making the crowd scream in approval, which then made Sho laugh at our response and laugh more when he glanced to his right at a grinning Aiba.
We also got Nino smirking smugly at our reaction to the different sounds the tap shoes made in "Music". I could see the screen on the stage that he dances on better tonight. There were shooting stars and fireworks before the dance game steps came out. They did away with the "combo" display and went for a simple score up in the corner.
Jun's solo was pretty much the same free running as Nagoya. I'd read that the height of the stages changed from the first night, but from what I could tell, they were only slightly lower than before. But! This time there was an MJ cam view on the screens (at least I don't remember that from before). Jun collapsed back on the couch after being chased.
"In the Room" dyed the whole dome red. At the beginning, when each member sings their parts, the stage lights shone down on only them. Sho did all of rap sitting down, then he threw his head back at the end of it and pulled himself up to his feet. It was a rather sexy move, if I do say so myself.
In "Masquerade", I'm not sure if I just wasn't paying attention or if the timing was early, but I nearly missed the "spitting water artistically" part.
We danced along to "GUTS" and "Ai wo Sakebe". It was there that something set Ohno off laughing every time that Jun pointedly stared over at him with a faint smile on his lips too. That in turn got us laughing as well. Sho got plenty of screams from his kiss to the audience too.
MC
S: Yeah! (X3) Good evening! We're Arashi!
Nino said in a cute voice to us, "Good evening".
S: Genki desu ka?! (Antonio Inoki impression) This is our first show at Sapporo. It's pretty hot, isn't it?
Aiba immediately agreed. Jun didn't look like he was dying tonight and his hair was still mostly in place.
S: I happened to be watching the TV, the local channel... HBC? Anyway, they were doing a report on Arashi coming to Sapporo. There I was, lying on my side watching it and thinking, "there's one right here". It showed some of the fans coming inside and you know how some of them are shy so they duck down, trying to escape from the camera?
He demonstrated for us.
Sho asked Ohno for his opinion.
O: Well you know... Sapporo's supposed to be cold, right?
Everyone, including the members, started chuckling and looked at him incredulously.
O: When I asked the manager if I'd need a coat, he said it would be cold.... But it's not so bad.
I could understand what he meant. Last year was minus Celsius in December and snowing. This year is still November and you only need a light coat at most.
A: It'd be bad if you caught a cold!
O: When we did our rehearsal, it didn't feel cold........ Are you listening?
The other members were smirking at him, waiting to see where this was going. We burst out laughing at Ohno's slightly annoyed question.
O: It wasn't cold, even though it has been every time we've done our rehearsals.
S: Are you sure that wasn't because of your shoes? This person was wearing completely different shoes from normal.
The members laughed since they all knew what he was talking about.
J: Ohno's personal shoes when he came in today were very fashionable. They were boots.
S: Don't your parents always buy everything for you?
Ohno waved his hand "no" at him and said, "They're just like these." He pointed down at his feet and the camera switched to them. "They're really light. Lighter than sneakers."
J: So it wasn't because of the cold that you wore them?
O: Yeah.
A: It's like all of a sudden, Leader's becoming an adult. Don't you remember his phone case from before? That lame one that looked like a pass case?
J: Ah, the train pass case one.
O: The red brown one I have now is one a folding notebook kind.
S: The one that's the color of a passport? (A Japanese passport)
O: I bought the same kind that Sho has.
S: Mine's navy though.
N: Why did you decide to buy the same kind as Sho?
O: Because it looked like if I dropped it, the screen wouldn't break.
S: Well THAT'S not why I bought mine.
A: Don't you remember the pattern on the one he had before? The 3D picture one that moved.
N: The tiger? If you moved it from side to side, the picture looked like it moved like this.
He demonstrated a tiger posture from the side, then shifted his hips to the right and mirrored the one he'd just been in.
They all complained that when Ohno changes things, it's always a dramatic sudden change.
Still on the subject of phone cases, they asked Jun about his. He has one that seems very "Michael Jackson".
N: Well, you're not wrong. It's still MJ!
Nino's phone doesn't have a case and neither does Aiba's.
N: About your phone, it's actually a fake, isn't it?
A: Of course it's not!
J: Yes, it is! It makes a sound like no other phone.
He did his impression of a normal phone vibrating on silent mode and then Aiba's grating one. It kind of sounded like something was wrong with it.
A: Hey! I bought that in Ginza!
Sho jumped in and explained, "Aiba told me he wanted to change his phone, so I said I'd recommend him a place. After an hour, he sent me a picture of the phone he got."
A: That's why if mine is a fake, then that means yours is too!
Aiba pointed at Sho. It was really cute how worked up Aiba was getting about it.
S: What are we talking about here?
A: Fakes!
Sho apologized to the audience for their pointless rambles.
O: Sorry, I started this mess.
They moved to the main stage.
J: Thank you for all coming tonight.
S: And how many was it? That you said you'd make happy tonight?
J: 50,000 people.... Bit by bit..... They should be becoming happier as we go.
It was funny how uncertain he sounded about it. He did brag that the newspaper said Arashi holds the record for biggest capacity for any concert held at Sapporo Dome.
S: That's not fake, is it?
J: Probably.
They were about to split off into groups to get changed, but Jun said he'd join the game for once. And guess what the result was? The same it's been nearly every time.
N: Three out of four times it's been us...
They ignored Nino's complaining and Sho prodded Ohno into talking more before he followed Jun and Aiba offstage.
O: You have lots to talk about, don't you?
N: Not that many things.
O: No, I heard you do. The first one?
N: A movie.
O: And the title?
N: Haha to Kuraseba.
O: Did you? Really live with your mom? (The meaning of the title)
N: Doesn't everyone?
O: Are you done with filming?
N: It's done.
O: When's it showing?
Nino dutifully listed off the date.
O: Was it interesting?
Nino was unsuccessfully stifling back a laugh at Ohno's terrible interviewing and enjoying making it more difficult by answering with short phrases, but that question did it and he gave an "I can't believe you just asked me that" laugh.
O: Like an interesting episode during filming or something? After all, it's not a funny movie, is it?
We all cracked up at that. He'd used the word "omoshiroi", but since it can also mean "interesting", it sounded like he was calling Nino's movie boring.
N: I enjoyed making it.
O: Did you start filming early in the morning?
He gave a schedule off the top of his head and asked if that was like Nino's or not. It wasn't and Nino denied having to film late.
N: We don't continue until evening.
O: Why?
N: It's the director's decision.
O: What's the best part to look for in the movie?
N: The scenes when I'm with my mother, which is most of them.
O: You didn't film with anyone else? Why?
N: I did, but it was always short.
O: What's your second promotion?
N: At this pace?!?
S: You're still going?
Sho had returned and plopped down on the stairs.
O: Hurry and say it!
Ohno tried to pin the blame on Nino. Aiba came out as Nino was telling us about another special movie of his.
O: Was it fun?
Nino looked to the other two with a pained expression.
N: It's always like this.
A: Wow, it's interview hell.
Nino went on to tell us about the director as Aiba started stretching in the background, looking from Ohno to Nino as they moved at a snails pace. He was almost doing a split, with his long legs spread wide.
O: And the third?
N: A drama named Bocchan.
O: How's filming?
Nino tried in vain to explain the period the drama is set in, but it wasn't familiar to Ohno, nor the author of it.
O: Was it fun?
N: ....Yes.
O: Okay, we should go change now.
Sho was surprised at the sudden end to the talk and took back control of the MC.
S: We'll be performing in "Best Artist". The theme is favorite love songs. What would you pick as a good one, Matsujun?
J: Eeeeeh?
S: Then Aiba, how about you?
A: Eeeeeh?
J: And Sho?
S: Eeeeeh?
They weren't able to think of anything right away.
J: A love song? Well "Ai wo Sakebe" is kind of different... So I'll go with "Meikyuu Love Song".
S: Aaaaah.
A: "Love Parade".
J: It's a good song.
S: "Love Situation".
This one had the biggest reaction.
J: I know we performed it at Arafes because you voted for it, but why do you like it so much?
He was asking us very seriously, but we couldn't reply any better than to cheer.
S: They want to see dancing, right?
We cheered again in approval.
S: Many others will perform too. Please watch the show.
Remembering something, Sho lowered his mic and started talking to Aiba quietly, reminding him of a story he should tell. Aiba grinned as he remembered.
A: I was with Ohno. The two of us. We were going to the Sapporo dressing room... And we got stopped by the security guard.
The crowd laughed loudly at his confession.
S: That was close! We almost had to do a concert with only three of us!!
A: It was after rehearsal, when we were going back.
N: And you even had two of the five members together!
Aiba and Nino pretended to reenact it.
The guard had stuck out a hand in front of him to stop Aiba, right after another staff member with a pass had already walked through.
A: Um... I'm a member.
The guard let Aiba pass and two seconds later when Ohno tried, the same thing happened again.
J: He's so serious about his job.
S: If you don't have a pass, you can't go in!!
N: I heard the two of them getting stopped behind me.
S: I was the last to return to the dressing room. And when I walked past, the guard was like this.
Aiba acted as Sho and Sho bent down low, staring up at Aiba's face and comparing it with an invisible pass.
Finished with their stories, Jun explained the concept of the tour and going back to their roots of "singing, dancing, and working up a refreshing sweat".
J: Aiba-sensei.
A: Ah, a warm up? Okay, I'll get them warmed up.
S: Are you really one of the members?
Sho peered at Aiba suspiciously.
A: I'm not a fake!!
Aiba got us yelling "Yeah!"
A: Music start!
The only note I have for "Nihon Yoitoko" is Ohno's pretty spin after his little solo part.
The young Arashi pictures in "Kimi e no Omoi" made the crowd happy. Sho quickly exited the stage as soon as his rap was over.
His solo looked good again tonight. Boblemon thought he might have been nervous the first night, but that he's more relaxed now.
"Mr. Funk" entered on his balloon. I'm not sure if I didn't notice it the first time or if it was new, but the screens had lots of pictures of Disco Star being covered dramatically by new Mr. Funk ones. I think Aiba's dance is ridiculous, but so very fun. We started the Mr. Funk call on our own as Aiba climbed up the cloth for his final pose upside down.
J: Are you ready?!
I can never seem to get the hang of switching from his solo to "Funky". It's like my mind blanks as it's already time to start dancing.
Since Ohno has to leave the stage to get ready for his solo in "Bolero", the parts that he would usually sing are covered by Aiba and Jun. They all took turns doing a running "salsa" move that looks more like a celebratory dance after getting a soccer goal or something. It was cute and Aiba added his own original step. Jun was chasing Nino off the stage at the end.
I tried hard to spot the differences in Ohno's magic show from before, but even if there were a few, they were hardly noticeable. One or two less costume changes maybe.
Ohno's dance followed to a difficult rhythm and it impressed the fans. A guy next to us complimented it as "cool" to his girlfriend.
After the instrumental break with the shamisen and taiko and juniors all around, we made it through several songs.
Nino didn't screw up Sho's rap tonight in "Sunrise Nippon". It might've helped that they went down different stages tonight.
In "Believe", Nino was down on his knees and sprawling on the stage for a short while. The best part for me was when Ohno and Sho were at the back stage and Ohno started swaying cutely to Sho's rap.
Speeches
Sho's didn't change from Nagoya's. "Let's grab our dreams together."
O: Today went so fast. For our Japonism tour, we thought about what represented Japan and Johnnys... Like back flips. (We laughed) There was a lot to do to prepare. I was worried at first, but we did it. As Johnnys, we want to do more and more. And more and more. And more interesting things for you. That's all I can do for now. We'll keep going, so please keep supporting us.
A: Did you have fun? I did. And I was nervous too. When I climbed that cloth, it felt taller than usual. And the mat seemed smaller too. I want to tell you about this. When I first started climbing, I couldn't last more than 3 seconds. I felt heartbroken. But I kept practicing and somehow, I made it in time for the tour. You don't always have to think of the future. Just try your best at what you can do here and now. Try challenging new things. This was a challenge you all made for me and I'm grateful for it. I'm grateful to my kouhais. And I'm grateful to all the people in the world! Thank you!
N: Thank you. Today was so fun... Although, now that I said that I kind of regret it. After all, we're the ones who're supposed to be making it fun for YOU! If you did enjoy yourselves, it'd make us happy. Going back to our roots means we remember nostalgic things and exciting scenes. I really feel like Johnnys is a great place. There's not a better entertainment agency, is there? We have good sempai, good kohai, good coworkers. Like Aiba said, we're grateful to be here performing somewhere so big. We'll keep working hard to do bigger things and so that we can make more fun memories for everyone.
J: Did you have a good time? We made a concert about what Johnnys is like and we hope you'll feel something from it. Like in the opening, we were wondering how the present will connect to the future, how this peaceful Japan will connect to the next generation. Making fun memories and having direct communication with you makes us really happy. With these five members, we want to keep going forward. Thank you.
They sang "Bokura ga Tsunaide iku". I hadn't noticed that when they sing hikari hanatsu, the camera zooms in on Nino's eye, until it looks like a star reflecting light.
The end time tonight was
"2015.11.13
8:29:13"
The encore began with "Yume ni Kakeru". Ohno was singing his solo part with his hand outstretched to the camera.
On the same cart, in "Love So Sweet", Jun and Ohno found the right camera to sing to and took turns reaching their hands out to it. Nino started doing the airplane, and Sho jumped to do it too, looking like he'd almost forgotten about it.
We sang along for "Arashi". Jun introduced the juniors, but there was a new four man team who did the stunts in Jun's solo, at least I think they were new.
As they said their goodbyes and the stage lowered, Sho gave us a salute, Jun and Aiba had their arms over each other's shoulders and Ohno was doing a double peace sign.
We tried for a double encore, chanting an Arashi call loudly for several minutes, making it impossible for the poor announcer man to do his job. At least we tried. Maybe the last night we'll get lucky.
The concert ended at 8:47.
<3