TOKYO: Shibuya CC Lemon Hall

Oooooook, so I just got back from Tokyo, where Mizushima Hiro's last day of his fan events occured!!!!!

I was sitting in the 19th row on the second floor in the middle of CC Lemon Hall in Shibuya. It was an OK seat.

The event was themed Christmas, and there were even christmas trees on stage.


A lady announcer came out and sort of helped proctor the event. Hiro talked about the photo shoot of his new book set for release on Tuesday (but available for purchase today at the event) and showed special footage. He said that he likes to do his own hair as much as he likes it when the makeup artist does it. We got to see video of him in bed, and even in the ofuro (bath tub). It was very yummy!



He also talked about his year and how he is amazed at the difference in number of fans from last year's event to now.

There were video messages from both Narimiya (Hiro's co-star in DROP) and Shinagawa (the director of DROP).

We learned that Narimiya thinks very highly about Hiro. We also learned from Shinagawa that Hiro is an "aho" or idiot, and that one time he mistaked his cell phone for chopsticks as he attempted to get food out of the nabe pot.

Then there were behind the scenes footage of Drop filming, and Hiro talked about the fact that they didn't use any stuntmen to do the fight scenes. Also, they didnt use pads for most of the part, so they were really fighting.

Then there was a question an answer segment. Hiro pulled questions that people in the audience asked out of a box.

He said the character most like him is the one he played in "Room of King".
Also, he said the most difficult part he played was the one he is doing now for his new drama.

At the end of the event, we all got to meet Hiro and shake hands with him one by one.


When it was my turn, I told him, "I am America."
and he said, "Oh... OH! You are!?"
and I said, "Yep, and I think you're awesome!"
then he said, "Thank you, thank you so much!"
and then the manager-worker lady pushed me away.

let me just say that he is tall and soooo handsome in real life!!!!! (plus I love his lisp!)

He seriously changed to english without even thinking about it. Like, instead of saying the usual, "EH!?" or like "Majide!?" he said, "Oh?... OH!!" hahaha.
It was awesome, then I was followed by my friend who said she was American too and he thanked her for coming.

When we walked off the stage, we got a Christmas Present from Hiro. It is a notebook with his picture on it and in the back it says Mizushima Hiro Dou deSHOW '08 with a christmas theme.





It is very cute.

now i just have to find a use for it!!!


Here's the rest of the stuff I accumulated.



They were handing out fliers for the Drop movie, and a paper with a special link to a keitai website.
And then I got the "7" pen, a key chain, and two pins.

TOKYO: Fuji TV

So... applying to attend tv show tapings is quite difficult in Japan... especially for the world of Johnnys.

On December 15th, 7pm Arashi will be on Hey! Hey! Hey!'s 2 hour special!!!!!

Why is this important to me?



Because I went to the taping of the episode today!!!




I went to FUJI TV first to get a HEY! HEY! HEY! keychain at the gift shop because I was there two hours too early... and also got some karaage chicken curry to eat at Aqua City. Then...









I got to Telecom Center in Odaiba at around 3pm because the call time was 3:30.

I was number 1022... which means I was the 122nd person... not sure why they added the 0 in there. I got in line and handed the lady all my papers, my fc envelope, id, and fc card.

a half an hour later we were handed little green tickets (which really had no purpose as mine is still in tact) and were lead into a holding area. Here we left all of our purses and jackets (because Japan is getting pretty cold) and then we were escorted into the studio.

Once we got in, we realized that it was a "fancy" set, and the AD guys announced that we were watching the filming of the 2 hour special that will air on December 15th!!!!

On top of this, we were not only going to be watching Arashi's talk, but we would be watching one more artist... Aoyama Thelma!!!

So this comedy duo comes out and talks to us for what seems like an eternity, and then they are testing cameras and telling us to cheer for downtown and aoyama just as much as we would for Arashi (with the clapping and kya kyas). So Matsumoto and Hamada-san come out first and talk a bit. Then they show the Oricon top 10 ranking of the year... Arashi comes in 10 with Beautiful Days, then Kattun with 9 and 8... and then 2 is One Love and 1 is Truth... and out comes Arashi!!!!!!

They stand from left to right: Matsumoto-san (bald host) Oh-chan, Aiba, Sho-kun, Nino, MatsuJun, Hama-chan.
The boys were all wearing Black, Red, and White (I am guessing they performed Truth, but I'm not sure, since I only got to watch the talk part), and I think Oh-chan's was mostly black (i wanna say black collard shirt with red tie... but I can't remember), Aiba-kun was wearing a white leather jacket with a rolling stones shirt, Sho-kun was wearing a red trench coat, Nino was wearing black with a white extremely long scarf that kept slipping throughout the entire taping, and Jun was wearing mostly red (i think it was a vest thingy, I can't remember because Nino was fixing his scarf the whole time and distracting me from looking at Jun... but i do remember MatsuJun's lips looked really red for some reason.).

Then they congratulate the boys and give them an award. Their talk was veeery funny... and the main part was probably inappropriate for TV... haha.

First they say that the most busy member was Oh-chan this year (who was very tan and tiny in real life), because he did his butai and drama and all that good stuff. And he said that during his busiest, he didn't even have a day off.

Then they talked about an episode in Shanghai involving Nino, Sho, and Aiba. I feel that it is just too funny, so I will wait until after it airs to post about it in public... but it was funny.

After Arashi left, walking right next to us and waving like the cool superstars they are, Aoyama Thelma did her talk segment, then we all went back to get our stuff and left. The whole thing lasted about two hours.

On our way out, we got little keitai screen cleaners (the little white thing in the picture with my ticket and confetti i collected. The silver is from ARashi and the blue one is from Aoyama Thelma)







I can't wait for the next event!!!!

OSAKA, HYOGO, KYOTO: Himeji castle, Kobe, Amemura and Dotonbori, Kyoto

This weekend was a three-day weekend... which meant time for another trip!!!

Dave, Shauna, Aki, and I headed out for Kansai on a night bus Friday night. At a pit stop somewhere between here and there, Shauna and I experienced our first snow fall!!!!

We overreacted a tad, but I am glad I got to share the experience with another Hawaii person! We got to Namba early Saturday morning, then set out for Himeji Castle. It was my first time there, and I was totally excited!!! The fall leaves were turning colors, and the day was beautiful. That castle is huge! And it makes Osaka castle very commercial (although still pretty to look at). I think I still liked Matsumoto castle better, but Himeji is a must see for sure! I think it's listed as the most beautiful (or was it treasured?) castle in all of Japan.

After that, I parted with the others to meet up with my friend, Akiko, for sweets in Kobe (Sannomiya) (they're famous for their sweets). We went to a cool little cafe and had some cake and coffee after hitting up Harbor Land for a kitty strap (Kobe Chinatown) for my sister.

Then I headed back to Osaka to meet up with DSA and my friend (and old student) Yone. He picked us up in his skyline and drove us to AmeMura (America Mura) and we had Takoyaki on the street before heading over to Dotonbori to be tourists and take lots of pictures. In one of the arcades (alleys) we hit up an Okonomiyaki place. It was really good! While in Osaka the two things you have to do are eat takoyaki and Okonomiyaki... and we did both in the span of a few hours! haha.

After the meal, Yone drove us all the way to our hostel (which was more like an apartment complex) and we said our goodbyes.

The next day we headed over to Kyoto... BIIIIIG mistake! There were sooooo many people there! We were only able to go to Ryoanji, which is a zen garden temple area. We did also cruse around gion and kawaramachi for a bit, but it was so crowded that the bus from Ryoanji back to gion took three hours and we lost a lot of time. That night, we went to Pure night club near Dotonbori in Osaka and hung out with another ALT from Gunma, Li. Then we went back to our hotel and crashed.

Monday wasnt too exciting as we were going to be heading back to Gunma that afternoon. We hit Dotonbori up again and walked around, bought omiyage, and then hit up Namba Walk for lunch. Before we knew it, it was time to get on the bus back home!

We got into Takasaki at 2am, and Shauna and I decided we would stay up and talk instead of trying to sleep for three hours. So we did that, and then made our way to McDs in the station before catching our trains home and heading straight to work (which is something I dont think I will do again).

TOKYO: Ueno, Ikebukuro, Harajuku

Today I went to Tokyo to hang out with some of my old students from ALI.

Before I met up with them I went shopping in Ueno to pass the time before heading to Ikebukuro for winter clothes (it's getting pretty chilly) in Sunshine City.

The next thing I know, it's time to meet up with the friends! We met at Harajuku, took some purikura, and had some coffee before I had to head out back to Gunma!!!

Tokyo: Aoyama Theater

Ok, so I am finally recovering from my crazy Johnny's weekend. Beginning with NEWS and ending with Ikuta Toma starring as Danny in Grease!!!!!!!!
On to the pictures and report!!!!


I got to Aoyama Theater a little after 1pm, and there weren't that many people (probably because it was a Monday). So I just walked right in, bought my pamphlet, and
The play was about 2 1/2 hours long, and it was really good. I have not seen Grease on broadway or anything, but I think the way they adapted the words was great! The set was pink and decorated with things reminiscent of the 50's (i forgot to take a pic when it started, so all I got was this one of the mirror ball wall during intermission. The cool thing was the back wall opened up to show the live band and Vince would appear every once in a while through an old microphone cut out everytime the radio was played.The play started with a moonlight backdrop and the shadows of Sandy and Danny, on the last day of summer, talking about how this isn't the end, and that it's only the beginning. Plus, Toma was waaaaaay hot! I was really glad to be able to see him dance and sing. He was very cool (which is unlike the Toma we have been seeing lately), I think he took on the Danny character very well. I think there was only one or two times where he was silly, but that comic relief is always welcome.Kinicke didn't seem to have a bigger role than Doody and the other TBirds. But he did have his time to shine. He's a Johnny's right?The rest of the cast was really good. Sayaka was really cute.... she along with all of the pink ladies had really good voices. I think "Grease Lightning" was the best number. The guys did a really good job, and the dance sequence was very cool, and had a more modern flare to it. My only negatives are that "Hopelessly Devoted" was not sung and the dance sequence with Chacha wasn't all that great.After the show I went and took pix of the flower in the lobby...
there were some from every Johnny's magazine, and a bunch of different TV show stations along both sides of the theater. It was really nice, but I think the flowers were starting to die. haha.I took pix of the toma parts of the pamphlet so you can see what a Japanese Danny Zucko would look like!

Miyagi: Sendai, NEWs Winter Party Diamond

So, this weekend, I went to the Tohoku region for the first time... making my way through Tochigi and Fukushima to get to Miyagi... where I was going to see the "NEWS WINTER PARTY DIAMOND" Concert in Sendai (on opening day of the tour!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).


Annie getting her Uchiwa ready and our tickets the madness outside of the arena before the doors openedOur seats.... that open space on the top of the screen was where the carts went! (the space between handicap and our row wasnt even 1/4 the size the map shows)This was the view of the stages (totally illegally to take these, I think) from our seat Oh! and here's one side of my Uchiwa (that I made in my last post)... in the mood lighting*ooo!!! so pretty*

So I thought the concert was pretty awesome... it was my first Johnny's con, and there wasn't anything I could've asked for *except maybe Ryo or Tegoshi (my favorites) to be on the cart on our side, and not Koyama*. I was happy to see that Shige (a cute guy...) not only dyed his hair back to brown, but he also had a very nice haircut! (unfortunately, the pamphlet has bleached hair pix... with a weird middle part...)




Where we were sitting, we got a lot of Koyama... who is not my favorite, but it was balanced out with YamaPi (everyones favorite... like the Justin Timberlake of the group) coming right in front of us on the cart, and Massu and Ryo seeing us foreigners and frantically waving at us like crazy people. Their singing was on key and Tegoshi (the best singer) was sooo awesome! Shige may have seen us in the beginning, but it's hard to tell because he didnt stop in front of our section for very long. All of them loved seeing kids... maybe next time I will bring one of my students along with me so I can get some member love. hahahaha.About the goods. I wanted to buy the ring at first. But when I got there, it was not as cool as I thought it was going to be. They were really pimping the ring during the concert. In fact, all of the boys were wearing it, and it was a present for the fans in the video.... but I just wasnt feeling it. It looked kinda tackey, only cool part was that it came in a cute red pouch and said news on the back part (inside of ur hand). I ended up buying the tote bag, the muffler towel, and the pamphlet. The pamphlet is sooo pretty, and the candids they have in the insert are suuuuper cute (although there are a few wasted pages of random background). It's hard cover and there are stars on it (just like the muffler towel), and the writing on the cover is in a white glitter screen print. The tote bag is written in gold glitter, and there is a little NEWS tag (which you can see on the top left hadn corner).

Tokyo: Roppongi, Harajuku, Shibuya

So, we are now officially well into October and it has become that time of the year to start buying warm clothes.
I went to Roppongi Hills to buy some Onitsuka Tigers boots. I bought the white snowtopia and the grey and pink snow heaven boots. they are waaaaaay cute!!!
After that, I headed over to Omotesando to visit MAC, which is suuuper expensive here. I am talking $42 for a compact of studio fix and $23 for one eye shadow.
Then I went to Kiddyland where I found Yamanote line and Shonan-Shinjuku line Kitty straps. I met up with my friend Hajime and had lunch at a small cafe with him. Then, made my way over to Shibuya.



The main reason for Shibuya was to get stuff for Uchiwa making.... so we journeyed over to Tokyu Hands.

they seriously have everything you need to make an Uchiwa. My friend and I decided we'd be original and make our Uchiwa from scratch. So we bought the "bone" structure and then picked our own seal sheets to make our custom color uchiwa. I chose hot pink glitter and black, and she chose orange glitter and neon green. After that, I figured that it would be much less stressful to buy die-cuts of the words I wanted to put on my uchiwa, so I had those done too.And $46 (100 yen equals $1 right now... awesomely bad American Economy!!!) later, I had all of the supplies to make my own fan-girl uchiwa.

Cutting up my uchiwa and sticking on the stickers went quite fast. The only things I had to make were the uchiwa its self, the hearts, and the outlines for the wording.

On the hot pink glitter side it says I ♥ Ryo, and on the black side it says I'm from Hawaii. Because the surfaces are plastic-like, I can remove the wording and reuse my uchiwa backwards for something else. My uchiwa is suuper simple, but I am not a hard core NewS fan, so I am ok with the plain and simple. I wish my camera could take a better picture of the hot pink, cuz it is seriously an awesome color.Anways, I am really getting excited for the last weekend of the month. NewS concert and Grease with Toma!!!!

Tokyo Sumo Tournament

So, this past weekend I went to my first Sumo tournament in Tokyo. The GA JET (Gunma JET) association gathered a group of us together to go down to Tokyo to watch this awesome ancient battle of men with gigantic butt muscles.

My Sumo Bento

My first Ghetto Capsule Hotel in Akebonobashi (what good timing!)

After we checked into the hotel, I went to have dinner with my friends from SDSU.

That night we went clubbing until the sun came up and on our train back we saw an awesome little add hanging in the Tokyo Metro.

Since we were obviously lacking sleep, sweaty, and a bit drunk, the boys decided it would be a good idea to hang their shirts up to dry while we made it back to the capsules.

As soon as we got back we slept, and when I got up in the morning I headed for Omotensado to pick up some rediculously expensive MAC makeup, and catch a glimpse of the Matsuri.

It was odd seeing that traditional scene passing in front of the very western and chic Omotesando Hills. I went through Takeshita dori (famous Harajuku street) and picked up a present for Annie's (my friend from DC in Shibukawa) birthday.

After the purchase, I rushed back home to make it for Annie's birthday dinner at Negril. Delicious Jerk Chicken and Curry set!!!!! Plus Justin and Hisami brought cake!