(Day 14) Helping Johnny Pay His Bills

NYE. The last day of the year. We’ve arrived. It’s a good time to reflect, no? 2010 began with slightly less than a *poof* in my parents farm house in snowy Manitoba. I was reading my old school diaries to my older sister who was laughing so hard I think she almost peed. It was pretty funny. The year itself was fairly uneventful – no job changes, home changes, friend changes – but I did discover where my next major stop in life is going to be. So while 2011 won’t be the year to bring that about either, it will come eventually. Also, I finished school this year, which is monumental. I get a least a few letters behind my name for that. But right now, I’m closing 2010 in this crazy city, so let’s focus on that for today.

We woke up this morning and casually discussed going to the major Johnny Countdown concert at Tokyo Dome tonight. And then we decided that we should go. It was that simple. Now the small matter to find some tickets… But first, ramen in Shibuya.




Oh Ichiran, let me have your babies.

After lunch, I bought the exact sweater I’m wearing as I write this (though it is actually Marty’s) and then we busted over to Harajuku to procure the aforementioned Johnny tickets. And I grabbed a crepe along the way just for the hell of it.





So…after wedging ourselves into Gorakudoh’s ticket shop (glorified scalpers) along with a bucket-load of tweens, we escaped with two overpriced tickets in hand. Instead of crowding around the display case, we went straight to the counter to buy. And so we beat everyone to the bunch. Hah! Suckas. Then we hunkered down for some Sutaba.




Whoooo! Johnny’s Countdown 2011, here we come!

We were still lazy bones, so we killed time at the killing-time parlour again.


Hallucinogenic qualities.

So eventually the hour arrived and we prepped for the long night ahead. Janelle was pondering our opportunities for imbibing alcohol and was attempting a stealthy sneak-in into the arena.


Good hiding spot. They’ll never notice it there.

So we headed to Suidobashi and followed the masses up and out onto the streets. We then had the foresight to grab snacks before heading inside, so we joined the 40-strong queue at Family Mart. But damn, they are fast. We were out in about five minutes. Then, into the dome.





As you can see, our noses were practically bleeding and we were in the first floor stands – there were two sections above us yet! Turns out they don’t care if you bring food and booze in – only cameras. Oh Johnny. The poor, poor girls who landed behind us must have been a total of four and a half feet tall…though they were a step above, we were still taller than them. They kept saying ‘mite nai!’ (‘I can’t see!’) Sorry, girls.





Now let me put things into context. I’ve been watching this countdown on the internet for a few years now and it really is the event of the year for this stable of Japanese male idols. Hence the inflated ticket prices. But this year had lost a certain ‘oomph’ because a bunch of groups weren’t in attendance. The screaming wasn’t any quieter though.




My baby, stuffed away at their concert in Osaka. They really needed to show more of them on the big screen.

The big moment arrived…



There it is – the first moments of 2011, rang in while breathing the same air as 60,000 other people. Yippee! But I was disappointed with the lack of hugging and general goodwill people show when a new year is born. How sterile these people are…but I hugged Janelle with abandon.


The reason for cheaper tickets this year. Thanks for not showing up, Arashi.


Cute!



Aaaaaand, scene. I didn’t get any close-ups of individual hotties because the zoom is really kind of sad on my lovely camera. And they were moving around wildly. And it was dark. And we were far. So, excuses. And then we all shuffled down to the subway to wait in the congestion for the single train that comes each hour. C’mon Tokyo. If you are going to run the trains all night, RUN ALL NIGHT.

Our next stop was Roppongi. Drunkards littered the streets and the train stations bathrooms were the grossest facilities I have ever encountered. And that’s saying a lot. Puke in the sinks, toilet paper and pee on the floor…if you’ve been to a public bathroom in Japan, you’ll know that this is quite a departure from the norm. Oh and ps, I was sick with a crazy-nasty cold that night and so I didn’t drink at all. And so I didn’t even have the alcohol to temper my grossed-outed-ness.

We headed to Lex to find a massive crowd brimming in every direction. I made it as far as the bar before I turned back and headed outside. Not a single person could move inside. Fire hazard! I was kind of crabby and so we just headed home. Well, not quite. We made it back to Akasaka and then searched for food. We found that Matsuya place which is ridiculously cheap, but the food was crap. Oh well. Happy New Year.