Watanabe Daisuke ～ 2 days/1 night Fantour - Report, Part 3
And here is the final part of the report.
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The next day started early for me, at seven o’clock to be exact. My friends and I had decided to take a dip in the outdoor hot spring on the 8th floor of the building, enjoying the scenic view it offered. I’m not much of a morning person, especially on weekends, but the beautiful view of the mountains and forests surrounding the resort was well worth the effort of dragging myself out of my warm and very comfortable futon at such an ungodly hour.
We spent about an hour bathing and relaxing before heading back to our room to get dressed and to pack our bags before we finally headed towards the breakfast room around nine o’clock. There was a large breakfast buffet and I enjoyed a typical Japanese breakfast with vegetables, rice, Miso soup and some fish which was really delicious.
After breakfast we returned to our room to finish up packing, went down to the lobby to check out and around ten-thirty we made our way to the meeting room on the 2nd floor for the final event of the tour, the talk show. Unlike at the talk show held during the day tour to Yamanashi in July, we didn’t have to dash into the room in order to get a good seat since our seats had been determined previously by the staff through a lottery.
The seats were divided into three blocks and I got a good seat in the second half of the center block, directly next to the aisle. On the way to my seat I had to pass by a counter in the hall where I could pick up the plate I had decorated the previous day and I was quite satisfied with the result of my work.
Once I had claimed my seat I left my bag on it and roamed the room to chat with some of the other fans and finally just before eleven o’clock a staff member of H.I.S announced the beginning of the talk show asking us to take our seats and we quickly did as we had been told, excited to see Dai-chan again and excited about the upcoming event.
When everyone was seated the MC asked us of how we would like to call the star of the show into the room and we quickly decided on the usual “Dai-chan” since Dai-chan likes to be called by that nickname and we love to address him this rather casual and intimate fashion. After a countdown we shouted out his name as loud as we could and after a few seconds the door to my right behind me opened and Dai-chan poked his head into the room with a mild smile on his face, pretending to be shy which was really adorable.
We began to clap our hands and finally Dai-chan stepped into the room exclaiming a cheerful “ohayo”. He walked past the last row of chairs of the center block and then down the aisle where I was sitting which made me smile happily and as he walked past my chair I could get a whiff of the perfume he had chosen that day…he smelled heavenly!
Once he had reached the stage he greeted us again with another cheerful “good morning” and then exclaimed “it’s hot in here,” which we affirmed with nods and murmurs. Dai-chan chuckled and asked us to enjoy the talk show anyway and said that he would see us off with high fives at the end of the show, a fact that made me smile happily and thus the talk show started.
The MC explained that the questions for the talk show were questions that the fans had submitted prior to the tour and lost no time to ask the first one. A fan wanted to know whether Dai-chan had come to Yamagata before on a private trip. Dai-chan replied that he had never been to Yamagata on a private holiday and that he had only watched some reports about Yamagata prefecture on television in the past and he thought it would be a nice place to go with us.
The next question was also directly related to the fan tour. Someone wanted to know why Yamagata and in particular Kaminoyama Onsen had been chosen as the destination for the fan tour. Dai-chan explained that there were several reasons. First, he wanted to go on a trip to a place he hasn’t been to yet. Secondly, he hadn’t been much in the Tohoku region (Yamagata-ken is part of Tohoku) on business in the past and finally when he checked his schedule he noticed that the upcoming work projects wouldn’t leave him much time for fan events and talk shows. That’s why he thought that going on a trip to Yamagata with us to enjoy the hot springs and to have a good time would be nice.
He added that another personal reason for his choice was that his sister’s husband is from Fukushima and that he feels therefore connected to Tohoku area in some way. He then asked us if we had enjoyed ourselves and we responded with a round of applause and Dai-chan exclaimed “Yokatta” in such an adorable manner that it made us chuckle.
The MC then wanted to know how Dai-chan had liked his stay in Yamagata since it had been his first trip to the area. Dai-chan responded that he had enjoyed his stay a lot. He said that the summer in Tokyo area hadn’t been that good with a lot of rain and that he was quite surprised when he came to Yamagata because the weather was so good and it felt like a proper summer. He then exclaimed “Isn’t it hot here,” and some of us answered by shouting back “yes, it’s hot”.
Dai-chan added that he loved the fresh air and the relaxing atmosphere and that he is generally very fond of the countryside. He also said that it had made him very happy to have been able to spend some quality time with us in such a nice place and said “thank you” for which he was awarded with another big round of applause.
The next question was if Dai-chan could tell us something about some travel experiences he had made in the past. Dai-chan explained that he went camping a lot with his family and that they also went on a lot of family trips by car. Dai-chan said that he remembered that they drove from his hometown in Kanagawa all the way up north, through Fukushima and Aomori prefecture, to Hokkaido since he has relatives living there and he mentioned that they always travelled with their pet dog in the car, a Golden Retriever who passed away when Dai-chan was in his freshman year at university.
Dai-chan went on saying that, should he ever have some sort of family of his own in the future, he would like to buy a dog and go camping again to somehow relive the good old days of his childhood (at that point a picture of Dai-chan, Mao and a dog on a camping holiday had popped into my head) and finally he remarked chuckling “now I feel like crying somehow”, making such an adorable face that we couldn’t help but break into laughter.
And while I was laughing, I couldn’t help but dwell for a moment on what Dai-chan had said because I found his choice of words quite interesting. He said ‘some sort of family’ which to me implied that he was not necessarily referring to a family in the conservative, conventional sense. However, that is just my opinion and there are certainly other ways of how these words can be interpreted. Also, my opinion certainly isn’t entirely objective since I’m still crazy in love with a certain couple, but I’m getting off topic here…my apologies…
The next question was also related to Dai-chan’s private life and habits. The MC asked what kind of breakfast Dai-chan usually has when he travels compared to times when he is at home. Dai-chan answered that very important for him is to have coffee in the morning regardless whether he has breakfast at home or at a hotel. He explained that he usually has a Japanese-style breakfast with Miso soup, rice and grilled fish and that he really likes that kind of breakfast.
He added that when he is at a hotel, since there is usually a big breakfast buffet, he usually eats much more than he would at home. He explained that he chooses mostly Japanese food on these occasions, but foods that he normally wouldn’t have on the table for an ordinary breakfast at home. He also mentioned that whenever he stays at a hotel he often chooses some bits and pieces of Western food along with his selection of Japanese food like bread or yoghurt and so on and mused that most of us are doing the same thing.
We were fully expecting him to continue talking so we remained silent, but apparently Dai-chan had been expecting a reaction from us and when it didn’t come he exclaimed chuckling “Why are you so silent? Have you fallen asleep?” and we burst out laughing. Then, someone from the audience asked what kind of breakfast Dai-chan had enjoyed that morning. Dai-chan answered that he had a Japanese-style breakfast, but that he hadn’t eaten in the breakfast room but in his room together with his manager.
Chuckling he explained that he had thought it better to have his breakfast separately instead of having it together with all of us at a fixed time because he suspected that we wouldn’t really eat anything as long as he was in the room but focus on him instead and acted out a couple of scenarios which earned him a lot of chuckles from us and I had to admit that he was pretty much right about everything. Dai-chan went on saying that he also wanted us to have some relaxing time that would allow us to chat with our friends and other fans and that it had therefore been decided that during dinner and breakfast he wouldn’t be present.
With that he let his voice trail off and expected the MC to move on to the next question on the list, but it took the man a moment to catch on, so the room fell completely silent for a brief moment and then Dai-chan said jokingly to the MC “are you okay to go on?” Accompanied by our chuckles the MC assured Dai-chan that everything was alright and with that the man finally turned his attention to the next question which was ‘when have you last been to an onsen?’
Almost instantaneously Dai-chan blurted out “I can’t remember” and then added that he had enjoyed a bath in the hot springs the previous night, that he had also been to the hot springs earlier that morning and how nice it had felt and he did it in such an adorable manner that it made us chuckle again. He explained that, even though it’s a rather cold outside in the early morning, enjoying a hot bath in a ‘rotenburo’ (outdoor bath tub in an onsen) feels very nice and refreshing and mused “I wonder why it feels so good…maybe it’s a Japanese thing…”
Then, to my surprise, he turned to me and asked “how was it for you? What do you think?” I hadn’t at all expected that Dai-chan would address me directly at any point during the talk show and therefore it took me moment to recover from my surprise and to gather my wits, but finally I told him that going to an onsen feels indeed very good and that I really love the onsen culture in Japan.
Dai-chan replied “really? That’s great!” and then went on saying that he was under the impression that foreigners in general had started to enjoy this particular aspect of Japanese culture more compared to the past and that trips to an onsen resort has become more popular with tourists and said that, being Japanese, that fact made him very happy.
Finally, he addressed me once more and said “please continue to enjoy going to the hot springs and other aspects of Japanese culture” and then added “and everyone else too.” Grinning from ear to ear and with burning cheeks I nodded my head in response, feeling very flattered by the fact that Dai-chan had put me on the spot by giving me a bit of extra attention, not to mention happy and elated.
The next question was related to Dai-chan’s latest musical “Sauce” in which he plays two characters ‘Masa’ the best friend of Junki Yoshida during their school days and ‘Phil Knight’, the founder of Nike and closest friend of Junki after he had emigrated to the United States. The question was how he felt about these two characters.
Dai-chan explained that he enjoyed portraying Masa and said that Masa has quite a lot in common with Junki. Like Junki, Masa is an outsider and doesn’t have many friends and is therefore quite lonely. Dai-chan said that Masa is a kind-hearted guy, who likes to act cool and strong, even though he is a bit of a chicken in reality. He said that he felt very sorry for Masa when Junki finally left for America since they had been really close friends and that he wondered what kind of man Masa might have become since it was never mentioned in the musical what had become of him after Junki’s departure.
Regarding Phil Knight Dai-chan said that Phil is from the start a more mature person compared to Masa and that he has a determination to succeed and that he is very similar to Junki in that respect. He went on saying that that Phil is also a very loyal friend and that he supported Junki in business as well as in private matters ever since they first met at university and vice versa. Dai-chan finished by saying that he thinks of both Phil Knight and Mas as very likable characters.
He also mentioned that the biggest challenge in that production for him had been to speak in three different accents, Kansai accent, Kyoto accent and dialect and ‘standard’ Japanese (as Phil Knight), to learn the different intonations and unique features of the Japanese spoken in the Kansai region and Kyoto and to use these accents and dialects accurately. He pointed out that the accent in the Kansai region is quite different compared to the accent in Tokyo area and Kanagawa prefecture and was very pleased when some fans in the audience who were from Kansai assured him that he had done well and mentioned that he had learned a lot about dialects and accents thanks to Sauce.
The next question was whether there had been some sort of mishap during any of the performances. Dai-chan thought for a moment, but couldn’t really think of anything until one of the fans exclaimed “you lost your microphone” which then rang a bell in Dai-chan’s mind.
He explained that when Junki and Phil Knight meet for the first time (at a karate club) there is a scene in which Junki and Phil have a little duel. It ends with Junki winning the match having Phil in some sort of choke-hold. On one occasion while trying to get Dai-chan into that position Nadagi-san, who played Yoshida Junki, accidentally ripped of Dai-chan’s microphone.
As a result, they had to improvise because the scene originally ends with Phil Knight beseeching Junki on his knees (traditional Japanese style) to accept a position as karate instructor at the club, but without his microphone that was impossible for Dai-chan to do since nobody in the audience would have heard him. The only solution in that situation was to use Nadagi-san’s microphone instead. Chuckling Dai-chan explained that instead of falling to his knees, he stayed in the choke-hold and pretending to gasp for air, he made his request.
Unable to hold back his laughter Dai-chan even gave us a little reenactment of that scene and mentioned that this performance was one of the shows that had been recorded and that he and Nadagi-san laughed so hard when saw this scene later on video. He added that in case of ‘Sauce’ this mishap wasn’t much of an issue since the musical has a number of comedy elements in it and the way he and Nadagi-san had solved the problem matched the atmosphere and style of the musical very well.
He also mentioned the many improvisations they made on stage when it came to the dialogues, that almost every performance contained some ad-libs that the cast had made up on the spot, Nadagi-san in particular. He explained that when he played ‘Masa’ he and Nadagi-san improvised almost every time during one special scene. It’s a scene set in a café which is run by the mother of one of Junki and Masa’s few friends and Dai-chan revealed that most of the stuff he and Nadagi-san said during that scene were ad-libs, made up in the spur of the moment and that they had a lot of laughs backstage because of those ad-libs.
The next question was related to Dai-chan’s participation in the “I love Musical” concerts at the Globe theater only a couple of weeks prior to the fan tour. The fan wanted to know how Dai-chan felt about performing in a concert compared to performing in a musical. Dai-chan explained that he finds it more challenging to perform a musical song in a concert because the actions that set the mood and atmosphere for the song are missing. He took the example of his solo from ‘South Pacific’ which he had performed at those concerts as well as the previous night and explained that he had to rely a lot on his memories from the time he sang that song in the actual musical, like what he did, who he was with, how he felt towards that character and so on, in order to recreate the right atmosphere and mood in his mind.
He went on saying that it was therefore really difficult to sing songs from musicals that he had not performed in because in those cases he could only rely on his imagination when it came to how a certain character might be feeling while singing the song and what emotions he wants to convey. He mentioned that he learned a lot from that experience and that he had really good support from his seniors too who were always ready to give him advice whenever he needed some.
He finished by saying that the staff at the theater was very supportive too and that he was extremely happy about the positive reaction from the audience to these performances.
The next question was who he had shared the greenroom with and Dai-chan answered that on that occasion the greenroom was ‘men only’ and that the ladies had had a greenroom/make-up area to themselves. He mentioned that he sat next to one of his seniors from ‘Hakka’ and that they had a lot of fun talking about that musical. He also mentioned that the ‘I live Musical’ concert had been his first time to perform in ‘Globe Theater’.
Once Dai-chan had fallen silent the MC announced that there were still a lot of questions, but that it was almost time for the lottery and Dai-chan seemed really surprised. He exclaimed “really, has it really been that long already?” and then he turned to us and apologized for talking so long about each question. The MC said that there were about five minutes left for some short answers to simple questions.
First question was ‘what do you do to calm your heart and nerves when you are nervous before a performance’. Dai-chan’s answer was that he thinks of the fun he always has on stage and that helps him to calm his nerves.
The next question was how Dai-chan had changed over the years since his debut in the entertainment world. Dai-chan said that he has lots of pictures of his debut days and he mentioned some of the photos on the cover of the tour pamphlet, saying that he had gone through a number of looks and styles over the past decade and that looking back he finds it quite amusing to see how he his looks have changed over time.
He explained that those pictures also remind him of the stages in his career, of how he has developed as an actor and has become stronger and that he has lots of memories and experiences that are connected with each of the style phases he went through.
The MC cut Dai-chan off at that point to move on to the next question “Is there something about your body that you don’t like?” Dai-chan couldn’t come up with and answer immediately and some fans exclaimed “nothing”. Dai-chan replied that there are a few things he dislikes, but that he just couldn’t chose upon which the MC asked “well then, different question: what fruits do you like?” which made us burst into laughter. Dai-chan said that he likes peaches as well as bananas and cherries. He also mentioned that he likes cheesecake, especially rare (unbaked) cheesecake.
Hearing that I couldn’t help but chuckle for obvious reasons and I just thought ‘There is an interesting pattern here…Dai-chan says “I like the sky” and a certain someone says “I like the sky”. Dai-chan says “I like sunflowers” and that certain someone says “I like sunflowers”. That same person said many times that he loved cheesecake, especially rare cheesecake…’ Grinning from ear to ear I looked around the room and at that moment it was really easy to tell the old fans from the new fans because most of the old fans had knowing smiles on their faces while the new fans accepted Dai-chan’s answer with straight faces.
I glanced at the fan sitting next to me…she glanced back grinning just as much as I was and we both thought the same thing…‘thank you Dai-chan for this indirect, little, yet beautiful DaiMao moment’ and while I was trying to keep my fangirl giggles under wraps, the MC announced that the following question would be the last.
The question was hilarious. “What would you do if you could be a girl for one day?” Dai-chan immediately blurted out “I would go out and hit on handsome guys” and once again we burst out laughing.
With that the talk show ended and it was time for the usual lottery. This time a number of signed photos were given away, his onsen towel and the headband he had worn the previous night during the mocha making. This time the numbers printed on our fan tour membership cards had been written onto pieces of paper and served as lots. Once Dai-chan had drawn all the lots and read out the numbers the lucky winners made their way to the stage to receive their prices and soon the time for Dai-chan’s speech of thanks had come, which made me a bit sad because it marked not only the end of the talk event but the end of the fan tour and I really didn’t want it to end.
The MC asked how Dai-chan had liked the tour. Dai-chan replied that he had a great time and that he felt that the time had passed too quickly. He said that it had been really nice to go on a trip with us, to spent time with us in a relaxing environment and to enjoy the hot springs. He explained that he was going to be relatively busy with various projects, but that he is also thinking about ways of sneaking some events into the schedule and added that he definitely wanted to go a trip with us again.
He also made a little announcement at that point, an announcement that made us very happy. He revealed that there would be an official Watanabe Daisuke Calendar 2018 and we all started squealing with happiness. He added that the shooting would take place the following week which earned him a lot of excited murmurs from the crowd.
Then the MC mentioned that people from all over Japan had joined the tour and Dai-chan answered that he had talked the previous night with some fans who had come from Hokkaido and then decided to check which parts of Japan the fans who had joined the tour were from. He called out a number of regions, including the other three islands Kyushu, Shikoku and Hokkaido and as it turned out all the areas Dai-chan had called out were represented by some fans.
Finally, he asked “and what about people from abroad” upon which two girls from China and I raised our hands. Unfortunately, the two friends had been separated as a result of the lottery for the seats and had ended up sitting at opposite ends of the room. Dai-chan asked whether they had been able to make some new friends, but there was a tiny comprehension problem.
The girl Dai-chan had asked finally replied in English “sorry, I can’t speak Japanese”, so her friend who had some Japanese language skills helped out, saying that they had indeed made a couple of friends and had created a LINE group with them.
Dai-chan seemed quite pleased with that result of ‘Daisucation’ and took the opportunity to speak about his foreign fans in more general terms. He went on saying he was very aware of the fact that he also has a fanbase not only in other Asian countries, but in the Western world as well. He explained that the knowledge of having achieved such a thing, as a result of his work and effort, made him not only very happy, but that it made him feel really proud as well.
He mentioned that for the Triple Zone broadcasts fanarts are sent from around the world and then he said something which made me want to squeal. He said that for several years now an international birthday video with greetings from fans all around the gets published for him on YouTube and that watching them makes him incredibly happy.
He mentioned that he is always amazed when he sees in how many foreign countries he has fans and that he often finds it hard to believe that he is known in so many places and that he is grateful for the effort these foreign fans make to show their support and I felt like crying happy tears.
Dai-chan went on saying that he feels extremely blessed with all his fans and their constant support and that all of us give him the motivation to continue moving forward, to develop further and further and he said that he was determined to make it to the top within the next five years. Unsurprisingly the whole room broke into appreciative applause and with that the end of the event had finally come.
Dai-chan thanked all of us and the MC thanked Dai-chan and under our applause Dai-chan took his leave in order to get ready for the individual goodbyes. The MC explained that Dai-chan would see us off with high-fives and that we would also receive a little souvenir from him.
The people in the front rows were the first ones who had to get ready for exchanging their goodbyes with Dai-chan, so I had to wait a little while for my turn. After a few minutes the staff asked us to get ready and reminded us to check carefully whether we had all our belongings with us since we would be going straight to the train station after the event, so I got my suitcase and handbag and made my way to the door.
There was a little queue, but it moved relatively quickly and soon my turn to say goodbye to Dai-chan had come. I raised my hand to give Dai-chan a high-five and instead of merely touching it, Dai-chan held my hand for a moment, giving it a gentle squeeze and smiled warmly at me. He thanked me for having joined the tour and asked me if I had enjoyed myself.
I told him that I had a great time and I even got the chance to tell him how happy I was that he enjoyed watching the international birthday videos and I hinted that he should definitely check YouTube again this year on his birthday. Dai-chan immediately caught on and promised me that he would and said that he was already looking forward to whatever he would find there on that day. With that Dai-chan handed me my souvenir, cheerfully saying in cute English “see you again soon” and I returned the greeting, grinning from ear to ear before I finally had to take my leave.
Smiling happily to myself I made my way down to the lobby where I met up with my friends. The plate that Dai-chan had decorated the previous day had been put on display for us and we were allowed to snap some pictures. It had turned out to be a really beautiful piece of artwork and once again, like on so many other occasions in the past, I couldn’t help but marvel at the multitude of talents Dai-chan has.
Shortly after I had taken a couple of pictures the tour staff announced that the shuttle buses were ready and together with my friends I made my way to the exit. Some members of the resort’s staff were waiting for us outside, ready to help us board the bus and finally the saw us off in traditional Japanese fashion.
During the short ride back to the station I thought about the incredible weekend I had enjoyed, about all the exciting moments I had been able spend with Dai-chan and about the beautiful, unforgettable memories I had been able to make.
Thus, an incredible fan tour came to its end, a tour which I will never forget and which blessed me with new memories that I will cherish and treasure forever.
PART 1: HERE
PART 2: HERE