CK's Japan Tour, Fall 2008 Day 1 ~Hello Ayaya!~

My god, it feels like this is my first chance to breathe since I arrived in Tokyo about 29 hours ago.  Yes, 29 hours and this trip is already as cool, if not cooler than my visit this past January!

I am always in a quandry on how to minimize jetlag, especially since I knew I would be attending a concert (Matsuura Aya) a mere hours after my plane landed.  In fact, even getting to this concert was contingent on my plane being at least "close" to on time.  First obstacle, the plane left around 35 minutes late (Uggh!).  Second obstacle, it was a pretty bumpy flight, so I managed to pull off about 30 minutes of sleep!  I managed to get to my hotel, check in, shower, and pop over to Roppongi in plenty of time.  But I was friggin' exhausted!

Matsuura Aya

Matsuura Aya ~Special Live 2008~ at STB-139

Man this was a cool show!  In some ways it was similar to Ayaya's concert in Shanghai DVD.  Albeit a much more mature version.  It's funny, when I reviewed that DVD I said that I would love to see her in a setting like that.  I guess I got my wish!  Actually I almost didn't!  When I first got there they said they had no record of my ticket at the booth.  But I was persistant, and the people were very nice.  So I eventually got in just fine!

But this was different.  STB-139 is a Jazz-club dinner theater.  And I am guessing it seats about 300 people tops!  So the fans were all sitting at tables eating and drinking.  You had waiters, and a full bar.  But I was afraid to eat because I was sure it would make me even more sleepy.  So I had my waiter keep bringing me coffee and ice water the whole night.  But enough about me...

STB-139 entrance

This was an incredible show, and it was very different from any Ayaya experience we have ever seen before.  She looked beautiful, and so sophisticated.  Red satin suit with a black sleeveless top and a fedora.  Her hair was long and flowing.  I love Ayaya!  She had a three piece acoustic group behind her...piano, guitar and drums.  Aya spent most of the show sitting on a stool.  I can't remember all of the songs she did.  I am going to say she sang around 10-12, mostly her mellow stuff and a couple of songs I don't remember hearing before.  The songs I do remember were Love Namida Iro, 100 Kai no Kiss, Oshare!, and Toudai.  Keep in mind I was dead tired through this show.  And as awesome as it was, the whole time I was thinking about getting back to my hotel so I could sleep!  So I hope they do come out with a concert DVD.  There were cameras there.  But the show I was at was not the last one, so I guess they will film it in two weeks when she returns there.

She did a lot of talking between songs.  I know she spoke about the Elder club graduation, something about meeting with Ayaka, and about how nasally her singing voice was in the early days.  She kept singing Doki Doki Love Mail in this ultra-high and whiny voice,  It was pretty funny.  It was also funny when she asked the people in the balcony how the top of her head looked.  She also had a drink, and it looked alchoholic!!!  She led us in a toast to good fortune in the future.  It was very sweet.

All I can say is this moment alone made the entire trip worth it.  Ayaya is so amazing.  I am so glad I got to experience such an incredible show!

Day 2 to follow...

CK in California