karened

Arashi weekend!

I met up with 2 people today!

One at the JE shop to pass her some yen for 2 auction items (an Ohku folded fan and Ohku goldfish hp strap!). I was a bit blur due to the lack of sleep so I forgot to bring like a lot of essentials. My camera (gosh! I saw so many Arashi CM posters around but I couldn't take any photos!) and my list of contact numbers to call.

So, I ended up standing outside at the queue waiting, waiting, waiting.........There was someone whom I suspected was the person I was waiting for, but I had no guts and waited till the very last min before I went to ask if she was. And it turned out that she was! She forgot about the attire she had described to me about and wore something entirely different from what I expected. lol. We had a nice short chat about the concerts, about fandom, tickets and stuff. Aiba-chan ichibaner. =] We got quite high discussing about the concert! Ahh....that was so enjoyaable, fangirling about the concert.

Then I rushed back to Ebisu station to meet Jen. Couldn't call her because...yeah, I forgot my contact list. So, I just waited....and then she appeared! Yay!

We went to Ebisu Garden for brunch and tea. It was really enjoyable talking to her, a fellow Singaporean who could understand all the Singlish, the mix of Chinese and English and Malay and dialect and whatnot. She was at the concert on Friday too, so we fangirled a little over the concert happenings. Quite glad about that because she brought up some things I didn't notice/had forgotten. And since she was a JunxAiba girl, there was some kind of connection ne. In fact, it felt like I was meeting an idol. HAHA. Because she was one of the very first Arashi fan I knew when I entered fandom...so, to meet someone I 'knew' for so long through the net is a really amazing thing. And to think that we were meeting for the first time in Japan and not home country we share!

She kind of influenced me to give KwP a try. I hope I did the same to her for My Girlfriend Is A Gumiho. Good things are meant to be shared!

And I'd like to add that the strawberry shortcake at that tea place was superb. =]

After that, it was shopping with my family. I went to Tokyu Hands and finally found the thing I've been looking for over the past year. A clear, hard case for my posters! I've bought one back to Singapore, but the size was too small. So I tried my luck, at Jen's suggestion, at Tokyu Hands. I asked the store person for one that could accomodate the Johnny poster, and when he came out with the B1 size, it was darn big! Really big. Now I wonder how I'll put it in my room!

I'm going to try getting tickets from that Harajuku shop tomorrow. Who knows, they may celebrate Oh-chan's birthday in advance! But if I really go to the concert again, I'll not be able to do any shopping for the whole of next week! Tough choice....

In any case, I'm reposting my not-100%-accurate concert report (19/11/2010, Tokyo Dome) under the cut. The concert was great, but the sense of...loss was also great after it ended. コンサートが終わって一人きりになって寂しくて寂しくてたまらない！

Day 5, goods shopping

Short one today because HNA is starting soon.

I went to Disney today, and did the usual thing: ride, play, snap, shop <s>,act cute</s>. When I saw a light at the landmark castle, I got reminded of HNA's first episode.


 

We ended our day at Disney quite earlier, and my family wanted to stay at Odaiba for games and shopping. Then, I remembered reading in the morning jazzinjuly's comment about the goods being sold today till 8. It was 5, a good 3 hours before the line closes! Nevermind about VS Arashi! Hahaha!

So, I headed for Dome an found myself alongside woman, youngsters, adult man in business suits even, standing in the very very short queue at aound 630. Nothing was sold out yay! Within an hour, I was done and left the store.





And took photos.

I even stood there snapping continuous shoots as the logo changed colours.


I wasn't the only one! Everyone was doing that. I even saw a man (pretty good looking one) taking repeated shoots on his iphone!

It was really difficult trying to snap a good photo of the flags. Everyone kept trying, but the wind wasn't strong and the flags just wouldn't stay. This is the best of the lot.


While walking to the train station, I spotted a bookstore.

Every single surface of the bookshelves outside the store, and along the passageways leading into the shop, was filled with Arashi magazines. Current and old, old ones. What a smart shop owner! I wasn't planning to look (because I had promised to control my mag expenditure) but I went in to look for shokim's KimuTakua mag.

And ended up buying these.

I have the Aiba one already so I looked at the other members'. Saw a few pages that made me want to get Ohno and Nino's.

The thing is, since I'm getting Nino and Ohno's, I should get Jun and Sho's too right..............

I also got myself 2 old +act mags too.

Oh, ending it all...goods for myself, 8 friends, 3 random lj people, and my family (T.T my own amount is only 20%!!!) And from all the confusion, I bought an extra Ohno jumbo, an extra T-shirt and was short of 1 hp strap. T.T


Ok HNA started! Ja ne!

Day 4, meetup with fan

Had actually arranged to meet 2 fans on lj today...but one didn't turn up (strange enough, she emailed later saying that she was waiting for hours but we didn't turn up...what exactly happened??) so I went ahead with the other to the JE shop. My first time with someone at the JE shop since Rika a few years back! We met at 9, waited till slightly after 930 before giving up and heading to the JE shop. Surprisingly (since I've been reaching the shop at around 10 each time and never had to queue) there was already a queue. But we were quite front and managed to enter the shop at around 1005.

Good for us. Or rather, for me since she (let's cal her K-chan) didn't buy much. It soon got crowded but as the crowd started building up at the Arashi corner, I was already near the end of the ordeal. Photos for myself, Angel, Yen and other fan friends amounted to a 3-digit number, but I had already controlled myself a lot! Still, Jun in Hatenai Sora was too irresistable! I bought almost all of his individuals. A few great Juntoshi and Ohmiya ones too, of course.

Then it was a bit of shopping at the unofficial shops where I became a happy fangirl.

I finally found the In A Rush photobook, completing my photobook collection!



Also bought a lot of live photos with precious moments. K-chan was amazing, remembering which costume came from what performance and what incident happened at which performance, such as the Jun-randomly-eating-banana-during-MC photos below.





Look at the last Juntoshi picture!












Then, we made our way to Shinjuku to get tickets for Ohku! Passed by quite a few Arashi-related advertisements on the way.








A backdrop worthy of Nino. =P


Am really quite impressed with Japanese cinemas! No wonder they charge such a high price for tickets! I got mine at 1000 yen, only because Wednesdays are ladies day so we get a discount. But 1000 yen is still really high! Well, it's value-for-money because:
1. The seats are comfortable.
2. Leg room is about twice that of Singapore's typical theatres.
3. Sound system is really powerful.
4. Screen is clear and with little 'black lines' running through during the movie.

And once again, the creativity and meticulous side of Japanese:

There's a holder for your umbrella and a hook on the seat in front to hang your bags!

Ohku was good, better than expected. I could understand much of it, though some details escaped me, so I'll rewatch it on dvd. Some parts I enjoyed:
1. Mizuno's view towards sex and skinship: he was open to all invitations to spend the night over, just to help people produce an heir. He even kissed a male just to thank him, even though he wasn't gay (and was quite obviously against it).
2. Mizuno's repeated efforts to scare off the other Ohku servants who bullied him. I thought he was an interesting character. He wouldn't mind bowing to others and swallowing his pride. But when he really dislikes something, he'll stand up for himself.
3. How the lower servants turned into fanboys (with hearts in their eyes!) when Mizuno defeated the strong swordsman in Ohku.
4. The male version of Yoshiwara was hilarious. It was quite a torture seeing man all powdered up and waiting to be chosen. =/
5. Onobu got jealous about Mizuno sleeping with woman (never rejecting anyone who came to him, that powerhouse LOL) and asked him to do the same with her....and Mizuno agreed, only to be laughed off by Onobu. But, on the eve of the night with the Shogun, Mizuno was regreting not sleeping with her, regreting not telling her that he likes her.
6. When the Shogun apologised to Mizuno for asking for him (and hence causing him to face death), Mizuho made one request - that she forgive him if he calls out Onobu's name later on. It was quite sweet, in many ways.

After the movie ended, the lights didn't come on straight away. And the crowded didn't leave (I wonder if it was due to the still-dim-room or because they wanted to stay) as Dear Snow played during the credits roll. It was only after the credits and song ended that people left. Quite cool eh?

We spotted a GANTZ poster outside the theatre and so took photos!



This is how big it is, compared to me.


Took some chirashis, some for shokim.


Then it was dinner (had intended KTV, but K-chan wasn't a KTV girl so we went for dinner instead) and then goodbye. I went back to Kino because petto-san asked if I could help her get an anan mag...since I was still near Kino, might as well go back ne. But it was a bad choice because I bought another mag for myself too! Here are what I bought for myself...the MUST GET (flipped through and the content's really interesting) Arashi concert guidebook and some magazines.




I really like the Monthly TV one because there's Juntoshi!


This was why I bought the anan mag as well. Nino looks really good. In this picture especially, he looked a bit like Kenichi!


By then, I was quite tired, so I took the train back. Saw this on the way back...really beautiful!


Dropped by Toho on the way to check for any Ohku goods. The shop at the cinema we watched Ohku was overflowing with Harry Potter stuff only....There wasn't much left, just the OST, stuffed bear and the pamphlet. So, I got the pamphlet!


I was quite tickled by the DS cover...I mean...it's so random! Perhaps an idea from Nino?

It was quite inconvenient today because of the rain...and really cold since I didn't bring my gloves along. Hopefully it won'train on Friday!

Oh, and from yesterday. I spotted this game at the game center!



First time working overseas

First day of work overseas.

It was a seminar, followed by a meeting with a potential client (that didn't go on too well).

Anyway, it was 'accidentally' leaked to the Tokyo office reps that I know some Japanese. And the next thingI know, they were asking me which part of Japan I like. Of course, I replied (but not without hesitation to reveal the idol-loving, unprofessional side of me) "Arashi". I was going to say "嵐っていうグループ"/A group called Arashi" when the two reps 'U'-san and 'D'-san said, almost immediately, "Ah...Arashi, Arashi."

And while I thought tht would be the last of it....

We had company dinner this evening. U-san, D-san, 'A'-san, 'X'-san and us from the Singapore office. And the first thing that followed my introduction was "she can speak Japanese!"

A 'M''-san came later and when the Tokyo office people introduced me, they again brought up how I can speak Japanese, Korean, Cantonese and whatever. And then! And then!

M-san: Do you like a Japanese idol group?
D-san: She likes Arashi!
M-san: Oh Arashi! My dauughter is also a big fan!
Me: Really?
M-san: Yes.
A-san: At the Haneda....
Me: Yes, yes, Haneda Airport...
M-san: Which member do you like?
Me (tried to think of someone who will make me sound intelligent):.....................
M-san: Ohno?
D-san: Oh-chan?
Me: Yes.
X-san: Is he the youngest?
Me: Nope, the oldest.
D-san: Eh....Ohno? Doesn't seem like it (like he's popular).
Me: And Matsujun too.
M-san: Icic.

And a while later...
M-san: So is this your first time in Japan?
Me: Nope, I come to Japan frequently.
M-san: Do you come to watch concerts?
Me: Yes.

O.O

I kinda regret revealing that actually... But in any case, businessman actually know Ohno as Oh-chan! And the name Matsujun! I'm amazed.

Got them. My heartaches.

I really feel like making an uchiwa that reads this:

翔さん、
裁定取引って知る？

Sho-san,
Do you know the term Arbitrage?

Plenty of examples here if you don't know this economics term.

But of course, it'll be too long to fit into the uchiwa ne!

On a separate topic, rumours may be rumours, but they still sting!

I really cannot stand seeing my boys' hard work being leveraged on like this. Not once. Not twice. But thrice (at least that's all I've read of)!

First time I read something like that was regarding Kohaku 2009, whereby some people said that Arashi was the exchange condition for NYC in the show. And then, Jen mentioned before (can't find the post) about rumours that a primetime slot aka Arashi ni Shiyagare was the exchange condition for Ohno in Kaibutsu-kun. Third time this.

100 days, 100 minutes of Park Yong Ha

7 Oct 2010 was the 100th day of PYH's passing, and while I couldn't participate in the 100th day memorial event organised by Summer Face Japan, his official fanclub in Japan (容夏 is his Korean name in hanja, and it literally means "Face Summer"), I wanted to post this up. Work got the better of me, so I'm a bit late. (In fact, I started building up the post since 24 Sep!)

But here you go, (almost) 100 minutes of PYH footage - 99min 54sec to be exact, I didn't made it that way, I just posted up all the videos I wanted to share, counted, and got pleasantly surprised that the timing came so close to the 100 min target I set.

Mainly focused on his 09-10 LOVE concert tour, meaning his newer songs.

I've posted some of his older videos before here. Check if interested!
 

This October...

...has 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays, and 5 Sundays. It only happens once in 823 years. Oh, the little things in life.

Business etiquette

Will be going to Japan for a business trip, and I'm quite worried about having to interact with the Japanese because I know how particular/sensitive they can be towards certain behaviour. I'm representing my company, so I don't want to screw up...

Anyone has any idea of some common etiquettes to observe when interacting with Japanese businessman/woman? Might be dining together too, so I'm praying that I won't drop food on the table. Lol.

Thanks for any help in advance!

Ohku OST

Ok, at least typepad allows the uploading of audio clips.

I like the Ohku soundtrack...and will surely look towards it if I need any background music in the future. Here are some of my favourite pieces from the cd.

Please visit my lj to listen to the audio streaming!

[EDIT]
On the spur of the moment, I rewatched the Dear Snow PV...and got excited over this:



I've always loved Ohno's two top front side tooth that used to appear so often during their CxDxG no Arashi days. Maybe it's because he changed the way he smiles, or maybe he did something to those two funnies...I don't see them much anymore. So, I'm really happy to see that one lower teeth sticking out! Love his uneven teeth!

Wink Up Nov 2010

Scans from anj



Name: Ohno Satoshi
Age: 30