素直な気持ち伝えるのさ

Wow, where the heck did December go? And all of November, for that matter, lol. I just got back from JUMP in Tokyo Dome and I have to get to bed before heading to Osaka for NEWS tomorrow, so I'll post more in depth in the new year, but just to recap...

In November, I...
→ Spent most of my time with friends! I helped several friends clean their apartments, and went to Disney (which was actually October 30, but shh...) with a friend as well!

→ Saw JUMP in Big Hat in Nagoya, which is the first place I ever saw them, so that was nostalgic! Also we had arena seats, which were amazing

→ Continued to be obsessed with Shige's summer drama Zero Ikkaku Senkin Game.

→ Also celebrated Thanksgiving with friends, and had an early birthday party! I got the first two Junior Meikan that Shige was in and an adorable illustration of Inochan. ♥ Thank you!

In December, I...
→ Went to Osaka to see JUMP in Kyocera Dome on December 1 and 2! On December 1, they celebrated Chinen's birthday, and then on December 2, they did a really cute birthday surprise for Hikaru! December 2 is also my birthday, so I was very happy about that.

→ Made friends with a Japanese JUMP fan who I happened to be seated next to on the shinkansen back from Osaka!

→ Finished work in mid-December and have been enjoying my winter break!

→ Celebrated my birthday and Christmas in various ways at various times with various friends! Home-cooked Christmas food, KFC, and Outback were all delicious. XD;

→ Became mildly infatuated with Koseki Yuta, the actor who played Yuuki in Zero, and saw his goofy romance movie twice.

→ Watched Ooku for the first time! Nino is always a great actor, though I found his character a bit annoying (I mean, he was supposed to be 19...), and the sets and costumers were absolutely gorgeous! Okura was really pretty too, lol, which wasn't something I was expecting since, while I'm not too familiar with Kanjani8, I always saw him as more of a "handsome" guy. Also does Sasaki Kuranosuke play the exact same character in everything that he's in? XD; (As an aside, Koseki Yuta has an extremely tiny bit part in it, lol).

→ Saw JUMP again in Tokyo on the 28th, 29th, and 30th (today). Sense or Love isn't my favorite album or my favorite tour, but there have been some really good parts ♥

And that's about all! I hope that everyone is having a safe and happy holiday season! Happy New Year in advance, and I'll see everyone in 2019!

Whew, long time no see, LJ. I can't believe how quickly summer flew by, but I'm also amazed at all the things that happened. Looking back...

☆ As I mentioned previously, I went back to America for two weeks in July. My current workplace has summer vacation about two weeks earlier than my previous job, so it was a little off from previous years, and it actually had me sort of jumbled up based on things I usually am able to do surrounding my summer break (for example, I missed The Music Day, which was annoying, but all in all, I had a good, relaxing time at home with my family! I got to see my pets, eat nostalgic foods, and watch American TV, so... that's a win for me? XD;

☆ After getting back, I randomly was able to go see Reia when Seven Men Samurai appeared in the Hi Hi Jets Summer Station show. yomimashou is still a member of the Junior fanclub, and we balloted on a whim when we heard that Reia was going to appear... and hit! It was really nice to see him perform again (he's still wonderful and talented ♥), but man did I feel like a grandma surrounded by all the screaming teenagers there to see some teenagers who think they're really cool. I don't know anything about Hi Hi Jets and I have absolutely nothing against them, but I have to say, the appeal was lost on me. It was sort of depressing to know that I'm getting old. |D;

☆ The next day, I went to see Massu's play at the Globe. Despite the fact that yomimashou and I balloted for it 15 times (!!!), we didn't hit even once, and had to pay a stupid amount for resale tickets for the very last row, but it was definitely worth it! A musical made up of only Johnny's songs was, as expected, pretty great, and I always enjoy Massu's singing. His acting left something to be desired, but that wasn't really the point of the play, anyway, and it was just a really fun watch from beginning to end.

☆ In the meantime, both Shige and Inochan's dramas started! Having both of my tans have dramas at once has been a really strange and overwhelming experience (I've bought so many magazines in the past few months!), but I'm really happy about it! Unfortunately, Inochan's airs past midnight on a week night, so I'm not able to watch it in real time, but I've been recording it each week. While it's sort of weird and goofy with a lot of sex and otherwise body-related humor, which is not usually to my taste, it somehow fits Inochan well, and his character is pretty delightful. I'm actually not totally caught up right now, but I'm looking forward to when I get the chance to watch the most recent episodes.

☆ On that topic, COSMIC☆HUMAN is also a really great song that I really enjoy a whole lot, and I'm so happy Inochan had such a perfect song for his drama theme song. The sales weren't great in comparison to JUMP's recent sales, which was sad, but I'm just happy Inochan had such a really wonderful single made for the theme song for his drama.

☆ Meanwhile, Shige's drama actually started while I was in America, which was crappy timing, but after the first episode, I've been able to watch in real time. The premise is extremely goofy (the parallels to Yu-gi-oh are a little ridiculous, and Shige's character was supposed to be a high schooler in the original manga, which shows in his behavior if you ask me, lol) and I feel like they're trying to fit a 26 episode (two anime seasons) series into 10 episodes (presumably? Most dramas run 10 episodes), but it suddenly got way better last week, and this past week's episode (episode 6) was a real treat. In particular, I really am enjoying Tego's performance (I was not expecting that!), as well as the way the stories have started to turn out maybe slightly more nuanced and slightly less straightforwardly "let's solve this with the power of friendship by the skin of our teeth" shonen anime style. I really hope it continues to go well for the second half of the drama!

☆ Relatedly, I also really like Ikiro as a song, and I'm anxiously awaiting the CD release (which is sadly distant). Seeing the guys sing it really emotionally, enough so that Tego cried, at the 15th anniversary concert really moved me, and it's really grown on me especially since then. I'm also waiting with bated breath to find out what's in the mystserious anniversary box (though they did give some spoilers in the concert).

☆ Tying into that previous point, I saw Strawberry both days at Ajinomoto Stadium, and boy do I never want to see another open air concert ever again in my life. I'll try to write up a report at some point (I know, I know...), but the humidity was killer, and having so many people in that venue made the logistics of going to the stadium, getting inside, getting out again, and getting home totally miserable. The arena in particular was set up really awfully, with only two entrances that had pinch points such that people basically had to wait in a single-file line to get into the arena, which is what led to the show starting so late on Saturday. But, the guys did a really good job with the set up and (presumably) minimal rehearsals that they had, and I had a really great time. Happy 15th anniversay, NEWS! They've gotten through so much, and I'm really proud of them.

☆ JUMP's album comes out this week, which I'm looking forward to! I don't really like the dance style that they've chosen this time (the light and fluffy cute pop style is more to my taste), but I'm still interested to see what they do with it, and I really can't wait to hear Inochan's solo! I'm really, really excited that they're finally having solos for the first time, so I'm definitely on the edge of my seat to see what he does with it. I'm also going to see one of the Tokyo shows of the tour, so I'm interested to see what they have planned for the tour, as well.

☆ Maybe the last bullet point of this stupidly long post is that I recently bought a Wii. You may be thinking this was an interesting life choice 10 years after the Wii was originally introduced, but... I really wanted to have the Wii Fit game so that I could work out in my own home. I made Miis of all the Johnny's I like (as you do, lol) and I'm enjoying cycling and jogging and doing other goofy excercise activities with them, so I think it's been a success so far. XD;

I can't believe that August is more than halfway over! Work is about to go back into a busy cycle, but at least I'm prepared now that I've been here for a year. Ganbarimasu!

I'm back for one last post in 2017! Hawaii was amazing and relaxing, and the JUMP concerts for the past two days were really wonderful. The show was the same as in Osaka, but our seats were much better for getting a good view, so I feel like I was able to enjoy it more as a whole even though I was in the arena in Osaka. I guess I sort of take spending the end of the year/beginning of the year with JUMP for granted at this point after 3 years of New Years shows and Johnny's Countdown before that, but I really feel grateful that I was able to spend their last concert in their anniversary year with them.

2017 has probably been my most tumultuous year in quite a while for a lot of reasons. The world is a shitty place, and for me personally, I dealt with friendship drama, moving house, and finding and starting a new job all basically at the same time. But at the same time, I feel like I've been able to overcome so much and grow as a person. I found a new apartment on my own in my non-native language for the first time, got a new job through my own effort and merits, made a lot of new friends for whom I'm extremely grateful, and of course, got to spend JUMP's tenth anniversary year celebrating with them at a record number (for me) of shows during their arena and dome tours. I'm ready to make 2018 a much less stressful and more productive year, but I also want to look back on the good things that happened in 2017.

I know that I don't hear much from most of my friends on LJ anymore, and that many people have moved on or have other priorities, but I wanted to thank everyone who's been here with and for me over the past year, and wish everyone a happy new year!

In an attempt to avoid letting it join the long list of overdue concert reports that I need to write, here's the report for the first day of NEWS's 2017 Tour, which I saw in Sapporo on Saturday! I had a really good time and tried to capture as much detail as possible here, so I hope it's an enjoyable read!

( NEWS Live Tour 2017 'Neverland,' 2017.4.1 @ 5 pm )

All in all, there were some weird parts or parts that I need to see again to really get, but all in all, it was a really great show and I enjoyed it a lot! It's always fun to see the happenings that go on on the first day, too XD; There were particularly a lot of mic issues this time! But at any rate, I'm really looking forward to going again!

Up next in my very late reports, it's the first show of DEAR. I went to in Yokohama in October! I'm really sorry for how late these all are, but I'm trying to catch up. At any rate, here's the report!

( DEAR. tour in Yokohama Arena, October 8th 2016 @ 12:30 pm )

As I always say in these things... I'm going to try to keep going and posting these in a timely manner, and as always, I'm sorry for the wait!

Well, it's officially Friday! That means I'm leaving "today"! Granted, I'm going to sleep before then, but still. XD;

I'm going to be on hiatus until December 28th (traveling with friends), and then again from December 30th to January 3rd (going to Tokyo for the JUMP concert/countdown). Basically, I'm going to be away from my computer/the internet for the remainder of the December until into the new year, so if you contact me, I probably won't see it immediately, or it'll take me a while to get back to it. I'm sorry! I will have my phone, and I'll be checking my email, so I'll do my best to respond to things, but I'll be mostly away from the internet!

But, I hope everyone has a happy winter/holiday season for those who celebrate winter holidays, and I'll check back in on December 29th if I can!

Today yomimashou came over and we finally got through the backlog of magazines that I had to be cut! 100% of the non-idol magazines (fashion, movie, TV, etc) magazines that I had bought for JUMP or Inoo are cut now! I'm amazed; it seemed like it was never going to get finished XD; I had built up Inoo magazines... since Karafuto Ojisan?? At first, he didn't have that many magazines, so it didn't really matter if I kept the whole magazine or not, but around early 2015, it really started to pick up, and my house was a magazine disaster. I now have 6 wide binders and 5 letter sized (A4) binders of Inoo magazine pages, 5 wide binders and 6 A4 binders of JUMP or other JUMP members magazine pages, 1 wide binder and 2 A4 binders of NEWS/Shige magazine pages, 2 A4 binders of other Johnny's magazine pages, and 2 wide binders of Inoo and Daiki's "with" corner pages. I'm pretty happy about this!

In other news, I'm trying to sort through and get rid of the majority of my old issues of the 5 regular monthly idol magazines. I'm going to either sell them to Book Off or an idol goods store, but if you have a back issue of Myojo, Popolo, Duet, Winkup, or Potato between September 2012 and September 2016, please let me know! Up until then, I got two or three of the five choices each month, so there's a slightly greater than 50% chance that I'll have it! I'm happy to send it to anyone here for just the cost of shipping, so if you're interested in any almost-free magazines, please do let me know.

I think I'm coming down with something. @__@; I can't stop coughing. Time to drink one last cup of tea and head to bed!

I wanted to be able to post this on yomimashou's actual birthday, because we won't be doing anything special that day since we're celebrating a little tomorrow and then more when we're in Yokohama for JUMP this weekend, but this week gets crazy busy for me after today, so... I'm sorry that it's a day early! It's also un-beta'd because yomimashou is my usual beta, so please forgive the typos. And of course, I hope it's enjoyable!


title: Devotion
rating: g
pairing: gen; Namikiyo (+ Saiga) centric
warnings: talk about war in a historical setting (the Sengoku period in Japanese history); if that might be upsetting to you, please read with caution!
word count: 3,507
author’s note: This is an early birthday present for yomimashou! She fell for the new Namikiyo in the Samurai Mode saien, so I wanted to write a little something about him for her. ♥ Happy birthday, bff!
summary: Everything in Namikiyo’s life has always been devoted to Saiga-sama, all Saiga-sama, only Saiga-sama.

( Namikiyo's first memories are of Saiga-sama )

Trying to keep the ball rolling with the really late reports! I'm going to be traveling from Saturday to Monday, and then heading back to Japan early Tuesday morning, but at least I was able to finish up the JUMPing CARnival in Yokohama Arena reports. As in previous entries, this is mostly just specific details from that day, so for more information about the concert, check out the previous reports from Nagoya here and here, as well as the first and second shows I saw in Yokohama here and here.

( JUMPing CARnival in Yokohama Arena, 2015.10.12 @ 12:30 pm )

Whew, I'm glad I was able to get these reports done. I know I still have a few left before I'm totally up to date, but I'm working on it. XD;; Tomorrow and the next day I'll probably be a little busy, so I'm sorry if I go MIA! But for now, I hope these reports are at least enjoyable, even though they're late. XD;

Sunday was crazy busy, so I didn't really have time to post, but!! Inochan was so good in the Doctor X special! I was sort of let down by how melodramatic the main plot was and how there wasn't much weight given to Inochan's resolution in terms of the skating tournament, but he was really good and I enjoyed his performance a lot. Also! You can see me! My face was cut off, but I'm right behind him when he's speaking in the end, so… yay? XD;

Today was an ALT Day event at yomimashou's school, and it was the first time I've ever been to her school! Her ALT Days were all on days I couldn't be scheduled to go in the past, so I was never chosen, but I finally had a chance go! There was a part of the activity where the students had to ask me who my favorite famous person was, and it was exciting that most of them knew Inochan without prompting, and all of them knew who he was once I gave some context (the guy who likes cats on Shimura Doubutsuen, lol). Most of them wrote his name on their paper as "Inou," but hey, I'll take what I can get. XD;

This week continues to suck, but I'm going to do my best to get to the weekend. T__T; My friends and I are going to Tokyo to celebrate Shige's birthday, so I'm looking forward to that!