素直な気持ち伝えるのさ

In about 14 hours or so, I'll be on my way back to Japan! I'm annoyed that on this trip I once again missed all the summer music specials, so I'll have a lot to catch up on when I get back, lol. But on the bright side...

♡ I had a really good vacation!

♡ I caught an episode of ShoKura on TV in Hawaii, which was very unexpected XD It was the first time I had watched Shokura in a long time, so that was kind of fun.

♡ I read Shige's most recent short story, "Pocket" in the anthology, "Ikitakunai." I enjoyed it! I hope to make an actual post about it sometime soon.

I hate flying >< But, soon I'll be home!

This is a comprehensive list of all of the Johnny's Concerts and events I've been to. Those for which I've written reports have a link to the report underneath. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to write a report for every concert I've been to, but if you have a specific question about any of the shows or events here (for example, for clarification about something you read on Twitter), please don't hesitate to comment, and I'll be happy to help!

I have also written a comprehensive venue guide here. If you have questions about any of the venues here (for example, if you can buy food inside the venue), please check that post first, but if your question isn't covered, again, please feel free to ask me here or on that post in the comments!

I'm happy to help fans going to concerts or venues for the first time, so I hope this can be of use, and please let me know if you have any questions beyond what I've written here!

( 2011 )

( 2012 )

( 2013 )

( 2014 )

( 2015 )

( 2016 )

( 2017 )

( 2018 )

( 2019 )

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!

So much has happened since the last time I posted. I should have posted on Sunday or Monday after seeing the concert on Saturday, but it didn't happen. I have lots of things to say, but first and foremost...

Is anyone else watching Shige's drama?? I had a lot of mixed feelings about it at first just in terms of the quality of the show, but while it's still pretty goofy, I'm really, really enjoying it, and in particular, I'm totally in love with Seigi and Yuuki's characters right now (sorry Shige!). I'm tickled that they got a 5 episode arc about their character development, and I really, really enjoyed their interaction with each other and Zero in Episode 8. If anyone out there is watching, please drop me a line and let's discuss the show, because I'm really enjoying it and I want to know if anyone else is, too!

That said, other things that happened: I saw JUMP in Tokyo on Saturday! It was weird going back to the same complex as AjiSta again, but I was very glad I was going into the smaller venue. I never have a great impression of concerts the first time around, so I'll certainly have more to say later, but, can I just say, OH MY GOD INOCHAN'S SOLO. There aren't even words to describe how amazing it was. I don't want to post too many spoilers here since the tour just started, but let me just say that it was the sort of thing that I would never expect to be even allowed in Johnny's, not to mention done by my tan. I can't wait to see it again next weekend *__*

The other thing that happened is that I got a new phone! I finally swapped out my little SE (which had a horrible battery life at this point, among other problems) for a new iPhone 8! So far, I'm liking it a lot. The screen is so much bigger; I had been worried that my tiny hands wouldn't be able to type on the keyboard, but there's a setting that moves the keyboard from the center to either the right or left side to make it easier to type, which helps a lot. It's also fast, and the screen color and resolution is amazing. I haven't tried wireless charging yet, but I'm looking forward to trying that as well!

I haven't watched the most recent episodes of Inochan's drama because it comes on so late at night, but I have them recorded, and I'm looking forward to them! I was also extremely excited to see Inochan crossdress, and see his character turn dark. I enjoy that he always plays dark characters, ahaha. :3

That's about it for me. I'm headed to Miyagi this weekend to see a show on Saturday and Sunday each, so I'm looking forward to that. And of course, hopefully I'll be home in time catch Shige's drama on Sunday night!

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!

After spending the night in Sendai, I headed back to Sekisui Heim Super Arena on April 8th to see the show a second time! My seat this time was in the stands in the back of the venue (the Arena B side), but only row 6, so the view was fairly good, and also opposite of what I'd had the previous day, which I appreciated! While I'll give details of the things that differed from the previous show, this report will rely on information given in my report of the April 7th show, so please read that one first!

( NEWS Arena Tour 2018 Epcotia in Sendai Sekisui Heim Super Arena, 2018.4.7 @ 12 pm )

Sorry this is over a month late! I'm heading to Nagoya this weekend to see the show in Gaishi, but I'll do my best to get my Ecopa report done sometime in the near future, and hopefully I'll be able to finish my reports through the end of the tour in a reasonable amount of time.

Also, I want to take this chance to once again promote my comprehensive venue guide! Feel free to ask me any questions you might have about going to concerts or the venues themselves, but if it's a question about a specific location, it might be helpful to check there first. ^^;

Happy new year, everyone! 今年もよろしくお願いします！

Drive by post to say:

♡ Congratulations JUMP on your first Kouhaku! They did a really good job with it ♥ They were also really cute in the background of various other numbers!

♡ Congratulations NEWS on entering your 15th anniversary year! You've worked so hard and come so far. I'm really looking forward to the tour!

♡ Congratulations KAT-TUN on your comeback!! I screamed so loudly when it was announced. I really had my fingers crossed for this Countdown, and I'm so happy my wish came true. I'm really looking forward to your future activities as 3!

I don't know what 2018 will bring, but just judging on tonight, I feel pretty darn hopeful for the first time in a while. ♥

I should be in bed, but I'm currently watching the TBS CDTV Halloween music special, and I wanted to drive by and say that it's been pretty great. JUMP and NEWS performed back to back, which was convenient! Also:

→ Inochan wore his hair styled such that it looked like cat ears! It was seriously the cutest thing ever. I love that he's still running with the cat-boy theme even 2 years (!!) after that fateful Hanako magazine was released!

→ Shige's costume was something I didn't recognize and stared at through the whole performance trying to figure out... and then when they were asked to explain their costumes, he replied that he likes the book "Clockwork Orange" and so he dressed as a character from it. OF COURSE HE DID. Shige, how the heck do you Shige so hard, lmao.

But now Inochan needs to get home and get to bed! He has to be on TV at 5 am tomorrow, after all. Poor baby!

...and I also should get to bed. XD;

This weekend was stupidly busy, and I'm exhausted already on Monday afternoon, but it was also exciting! 24 hour TV started on Saturday, and I was excited to watch the drama since it was starring Kame and also had Shige in it, as well! Weirdly (since the 24 hour TV drama tends to be extremely emotionally charged?), it was more of a docu-drama about Aku Yu, a famous Japanese lyricist, and didn't have very much actual plot, but... I was fine with that XD; I don't really enjoy the normal genre of 24 hour TV dramas, so while this was sort of bland, I like non-fiction TV, and I enjoyed it. Sadly, Shige's part was way smaller than expected and he was only on screen a couple times, but he was suuuper cute the whole time! His hair was adorable. XD; So it could have been better, but... it definitely could have been worse. XD;

The Arashi ni Shiyagare special was amusing also, especially the "This is MJ" special with Kame, Koyama, Sho, and Ohno. XD; They were supposed to use a bar to swing in through a window over a locked door to save a damsel in distress, but after Koyama flailingly broke most of the door, Sho seemed to want to outdo the level of doM, and just ran straight through the door. XD;; It was so funny that all the female talents and athletes on the show, who were asked to vote, chose Sho as the winner! Playing on the common Japanese turn of phrase "to pass over a wall" meaning to overcome hardship, Sho joked, "There's no wall that I can't bust through!" XD;

I went to bed after the first segment on Shabekuri (where there was a strange segment about how Kame supposedly acts "gay" when drunk), which was already probably later than I should, because the next day I had a work commitment... but when I woke up, I put on the morning segments while I was getting ready XD; Koyama encouraging the high school girl who's aiming for the Paralympics was cute, and I was glad I caught NEWS singing U R not alone before I had to head out!

But then I had to head out to my new job's anniversary gala, which was as exciting as it seems XD But before this entry gets to long, I think I'll leave off and save the story of the gala for next time. XD; At any rate, I enjoyed 24 Hour TV this year... and I'm hoping that certain people host again next year XD;

I'm back from Nagoya! I had a great time, the show was wonderful, and I didn't even get typhoon'd on the way I did in Shizuoka! I'm really sad that that was my second-to-last time to see the show, but... since I've been able to see it three more times than I saw last year's tour already, I'm happy.

I also was able to get tickets to Inochan's Peach Girl stage greeting in Gunma! It's crazy that he's even coming out here?? I was all prepared to go to Tokyo, so I'm really stoked that I won't even have to leave my home prefecture in order to see him XD It's hard to believe that the movie is finally coming out, more than a year after I first heard about it being filmed! I'm really looking forward to it.

In unfortunate news... It seems that Shige lost his voice for the second day of shows in Nagoya, after waking up that morning with no voice at all, cried over his inability to sing during the first show, and then was really struggling in the second show ;; He posted to his J web about it using really humble language, apologizing over and over, saying he deserves to be criticized for not being able to perform well, and that he feels like he failed. I really hope he's reading all the fans' tweets about how they were so impressed with how hard he tried despite that he lost his voice, and that no one is blaming him, because it's killing me to think how much he's beating himself up over something that isn't his fault.

For the time being... I'll be sending him positive thoughts until I see him again at the Tokyo Dome shows ;__;