(Day 28) Winter Party Diamond

The most anticipated day of my entire vacation had finally arrived. Today (October 25, 2008) I would make the journey north on the bullet train to Sendai, where I would see NEWS in concert. Say it with me now: “KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!” Now, I know there are several people that will read this and wonder why I’m so excited and say that they look like girls and yadda yadda yadda. This is completely irrelevant because…I’m in love. Sigh. Please familiarize yourself with these faces as they are my quest for today:




(In case you don't know by now, I like the shrimpy one, second from left. Tee hee!)

Ready? Okay, let’s be off then.

NOTE: Please be aware that this post is extremely detailed – this post is more for me and my memories of this day than it is for the reader to indulge because, let’s be honest, you don’t care even a fraction of what I do.

The concert was to start at 2 PM from the Sendai Hot House Super Arena…I calculated backwards and figured I should leave by 7:30 AM. What? Yeah. The only people out that early on a Saturday were me and this obaachan.



I was to catch the bullet train from Omiya at 8:22 AM…here I go again, a pro at riding the train – just like a real person.



Vroom vroom, no big deal right? Boo…I made a mistake. Instead of seat 13 in car 8, I went to car 13’s seat 8 – there were people happily sitting in those seats, munching away on some bento. Realizing my error, I decided I would just walk through the train, which was now departing the station and find my seat in car 8. When I reached car 11, I was stopped by a conductor from entering, as the car was for the VIP (or reserved, whichever wording you prefer) and I could not pass. He scolded me harshly in Japanese for inconveniencing him in this way and scribbled out my seat number on the ticket. He reassigned me to a seat in car 12 and I sheepishly made my way to it and sat down.

After an hour, the train cruising through the rural Tohoku region in northern Japan, we arrived in Sendai.


Delicious onigiri made by my host mother that I enjoyed on the train.


A sleeping person on a train? Well I never…

So I must admit, I was extremely worried about finding the venue properly. I had to ride from Urawa to Omiya and catch the bullet train to Sendai (no problems there). Then, I was to catch a local train from Sendai to Rifu, a half hour away. From Rifu, I was to catch a bus and ride for another 15 minutes to the arena. For someone traveling alone in a foreign country where I don’t know the language, this was a bit stressful…but I’d been in stressful situations before, right?

Arriving in Sendai, I found my way to the Tohoku line no problem…I knew I was in the right place when herds of girls chattering away, began arriving, carrying handmade bags with their favorite member’s face plastered all over it…and t-shirts, past concert memorabilia, key chains, cell phone stickers….yes, I was going to find my way after all.

Once the train reached Rifu (which was the end of line, literally), we all herded onto a bus where I noted I was the tallest creature…and images of the foreign ogre Erin once again emerged in my mind. Once the bus rolled to a stop and the herds started to move, I followed. See? Maybe I can fit in after all…following the crowd is a national pastime here.

I continued to move with the herd up the hill until we reached a big lineup for the merch tent. There was a hot guy in a “Johnny’s Entertainment” jacket directing the traffic and shouting that we should spend at least $40 in merch. Ha ha…they are already lucky I’m thinking about buying anything at all, considering my embarrassment level for being a 25-year-old at a boy-band concert. But I’m here, so what the hey!!

I got herded into the corral of lineups and I stared blankly at the crap that was available for sale – a photobook for $20? A tiny hat clip for $12? A cheap-looking ring with a honkin’ plastic bauble on it for $16? Eh… When it was my turn, I figured that instead of pronouncing “Nishikido” incorrectly, I’d point to his uchiwa (fan)…this was my big moment of announcing to a worker of Johnny’s Entertainment that I too, had fallen for one of it’s products. Such shame. I also bought a bag with shiny gold writing on it to keep my precious new purchase safe and free from potential bumps and scratches! :D

After I was out of the lineup, I checked my watch – 10:45 AM. I had made great time so I now I had three hours and 15 minutes to kill before show time.




The herds inside the merchandise corral. Spend spend spend! Many of them did.

I headed towards the entrance and when I got closer, I could hear music and the thumping of bass. What what what?! NEWS was sound-checking!! Uwaaaa! Since I recognized the songs, I knew which lines were Ryo’s and when he sang, I fainted. Okay, not really, but I was secretly thrilled. Since I’m super hard-looking, I kept my “cool” face with my arms folded. Ha ha. There were lines in which they would screw up and then they’d swear and carry on with one another. It was kind of better than the show itself, I think.

At noon, another hot guy in a suit started getting everyone to line up in front of the doors…I didn’t want to be left out and I’m now a crowd-follower, so I followed the crowd. We stood patiently and quietly in line for the next hour…I cursed the system because it was hot and my feet were getting tired. But the girls teetering on their heels, caked in makeup didn’t mind, so neither should I.

At 12:30, an army of perfectly-coiffed Japanese men in suits, age-range of 20-25 marched out from inside the arena…these apparently were the ticket-takers and bag-checkers. Johnny’s Entertainment goes all the way.

At exactly 1:00 PM, the line-up began to move…I love the punctuality of the Japanese. It never ceases to impress me. The guy who peered into my bag stared at me and asked me if I had a camera...I lied, of course and he let me go in. Like I’d let this pass by without some kind of picture! But he doesn’t need to know that. I made a bee-line for the closest washroom since there was no way I was going to miss a second of NEWS on stage because of a trivial thing like peeing.

Settling into my seat, the stage was awash in lights and the name of the concert tour, “Winter Party Diamond” (whatever that means) was splashed across the somewhat elaborate set. Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida” was playing on the overhead, and hot Japanese men in suits were wandering back and forth carrying banners with camera’s x’ed out on them. Girls were sneaking out their cell phones and taking pictures of the stage…BIG MISTAKE. A hottie man in a suit was over in a second, hovering over them until the picture was deleted from their phone. This was enough to rattle me since I didn’t want to draw attention to myself and possibly get my camera confiscated.

At 2:00 PM sharp, the lights dimmed and the crowd chanting “Neyu-zu! Neyu-zu!” became silent before the wild cheering started and the intro video began playing. Cue the boys of NEWS on the video screen, running around Tokyo in a mad rush as they are late for our concert. Each has their own cute intro, and then the music to their latest single, “Happy Birthday” begins. Suddenly, a large diamond rises from the stage and…and…


I’m now dead – x’s on the eyes, the whole nine.


More dead. (Ps, I didn’t take those two pictures, but they are from the concert. The rest from here on out are mine.)

Thankfully, when the concert started, the hottie men were nowhere to be seen so out came my camera. The bad part though, was the lighting was so dim so the shutter speed was slower than slow. And the b in front of me kept bouncing so I have her dumb head in some of my pictures. Boo. My seat wasn’t the greatest, but I brought my binoculars and for the next two hours, I was glued to them.




Performing ‘Hoshi wo Mezashite’.


Chatting with Tackey from Tackey & Tsubasa during the chatting part of the show. (Jealous, Mayuko?)


That piece of man-boy in the centre is Ryo-chan! CHUUUUUUUUU! So close yet so far. Boo.



During one song as I was peering through my binoculars, I noticed that the group’s leader Yamapi (pretty much #1 hottie in Japan – he does nothing for me), was in front of my section so I decided to focus on his sweaty face since he was, like, right there. Suddenly, he throws his hand up and points at me, then smiles and waves. WHAT. I impulsively smile back. Did that just happen? Did I just smile-cheat on Ryo-chan? I’m pretty sure since I was focusing on him more than any other human possibly could have been, but I won’t claim it as true until I’ve had a discussion about it with Yamapi himself.


Ryo-chan performing his solo, Ordinary. He wrote it himself. I dote.


So into it…he’s so emo.



And just like that, its over. I mean, they DID perform 28 songs, but it just wasn’t enough! Boo! I want more! Okay, truthfully, they had barely left the stage after the encore and I was out the door, running down to the bus…I was a bit sad, running away from Ryo-chan rather than to him, but I can’t be a stalker…oh yeah, and I’m married. Ha ha.

I made it back to Rifu station with a smaller herd of girls then when I arrived and now it was just to Sendai station and then onwards to home.


In the sticks: Rifu.


Dressed-up concert friends, waiting for the train.

I made it to Sendai station, where I picked up an unnecessary amount of pastries to eat on the train. I also picked up some more goodies for my wonderful host family. I was grateful I had reserved a seat back to Tokyo a few days earlier, as the train was completely sold out coming back.

I arrived back in Urawa by 7:30 PM. I went to Parco one last time to pick up some last-last-minute things and bid farewell to the mall which was now like my second home. Since the day was one to be marked for posterity, I decided to give the purikura booth another try and emerged slightly more successful (and photogenic):



I wandered home under the evening streetlights…



Once I arrived home, my family was eager to find out if everything went smoothly. They were just preparing dinner (they eat late here), so I was given a glass of Calpis to refresh my energy while dinner cooked (although I stuffed myself with pastries, as you may recall – tee hee!)



Did you know they don’t really eat raw vegetables (except for salad) in Japan? Broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots are usually steamed before eaten – they find the idea of raw vegetable quite unappealing.


Maya’s broccoli with mayonnaise.


Delicious homemade pizza.


Caramel roll for dessert.



After dinner, we sat around and chatted while the TV showcased a variety show with singers of varying caliber…and appearance.


I loved this obachan’s bright pink lipstick.

I loved staying with the Suzuki’s. Maya and her family were so kind to me (and my Mother while she was out) that I owe them a great debt I feel I can’t repay. On top of that, I was presented with gifts at my departure…I’m so incredibly humbled.


Uwaa~! An Isetan and Loft bag of gifts! I love both of those stores, so it will be good, whatever it is.


Kawaii! I love these diorama-type cards they sell at Loft. This one had floating sakura…utsukushii (beautiful).


A Vivienne Westwood handkerchief…I don’t need to tell you how much I love it because you should know. Uwaaaaaa! Sugoi!

Since my hours are now on countdown, I took some pictures of familiar things to remind me of my daily life here:


Chobi-chan, relaxing with his hair clips.


I don’t get this…so I stared at it during every meal at some point.

Eventually I needed to retire for the evening to get my packing done. Recalling the day, I carefully laid out my most precious purchase to record for future generations (ha ha ha!):




Le sigh.

I don’t want to talk about tomorrow.