2 posts tagged “tanabe miku”

So this is like the halftime intermission of the trip, which is fine because the rain was coming down is sheets this morning.  Thunder and Lightning too!  I didn't have any concerts to attend for Thursday or Friday.  And I didn't win any tickets for AKB48 those days either.  Actually that's okay.  I have won a ticket to see AKB48 Team K twice over the next three days...Saturday and Monday night.  That means I will get to see Team K's new stage three times while on this vacation.  Pretty cool, eh?  Now if I could only win a ticket to see Team B I will have hit the trifecta, all three teams.  Wouldn't that be cool?

So that means I didn't have to do any rushing around.  Instead I did some leisurely shopping and picked up a few more goods.  By the way, I love the Shinagawa Prince Hotel.  It is centrally located, and it has tons of restaurants in the immediate vicinity to sample.  That also means that it is a major hub for morning and evening commuters.  I had a great time yesterday watching the endless stream of salarymen making their way to their daily jobs...

It is quite a sight to see.  I love sitting in Starbuck's sipping my morning coffee and watching the action.  It's an endless sea of men dressed in dark suits heading in the same direction.  And it seemingly never ends!!!

Whenever I head over to Japan I usually get requests for certain souvenirs from friends, family and co-workers.  This time my good friend Wendy really wanted certain Shiseido products.  So that meant I was off to Ginza, which is another "Rodeo Drive" type of shopping district.  Many of the top fashion designers and brands have stores in this neighborhood.  And I always have fun learning the different train lines in Tokyo.  I needed to take the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line from Shimbashi to get there...

Yes, Prada has a location there, as do Salvatore Farragamo, Tiffany and Co., Coach and I believe this is where Nissan's main office is.  They had a neat storefront at the bottom of an office building right on Chuo Dori!

Nice car!  But not as cool as CK's AKB48mobile.  I wish I was driving that around town.  Anyway, I found Shiseido's two stores and got Wendy her stuff!  I have such a crush on her, but she has expensive taste!!!

There ya go Wendy!

I keep mentioning how much I love the store Trio2 on Nakano Broadway.  I headed back there today with the idea I would pick up the Idoling!!! photobook and perhaps a few more Ohori Megumi photos.  Then maybe I would hit a BookOff or two to see what discoveries I might find there.  But first I stopped for a little lunch...

Isn't that great?  A standing sushi bar, no seats!!!  They serve your food on some sort of banana leaf, and you help yourself to hot tea at no extra charge!  The cost of my lunch which included soup, six pieces of nigiri sushi and one handroll?  Less than six bucks!!!  I told you that food is not expensive here!

I also failed to notice that Trio2 is next to one of the biggest Anime chains in Japan, Mandarake.  And the Nakano location is their main hub!  Now I am not into anime, but I can tell this place has absolutely everything!  They have seperate storefronts for DVD's, figurines, comics...heck they even have a Maid Cafe and a place where people can sell their own stuff!

I finally made it to Trio2, and it was so much nicer to be in that store when there isn't a J-pop concert happening right across the street.  I could actually look at things without fighting for position!  There were a bunch of different items I was interested in.  And some of the posters are great!  sadly I have no use for posters, and have no desire to tote them all the way back to California.  I was ready to pick up the Idoling!!! PB when I discovered...

They had three of the AKB48 graduation photobooks!  And for about 33% off of the retail price!  These are the gravure PB's from the Team A members who graduated last November.  Now most of you know I am a Meetan fan.  But early in my AKB fandom I was partial to Ohe Tomomi and Nakanishi Rina.  And these PB's looked uber-sexy.  There is one shot of Oh-Yay where she is almost naked!  So I picked them up instead, I also grabbed a handful of pics from the 50 yen bin.  Most of them from my favorite Team B member Tanabe Miku!

I think the rain is finally subsiding, and hopefully we will see the sun again starting tomorrow.  Tonight I head back to Akihabara to pick up a cheap copy of the theater version of AKB48's 10nen Zakura from a friend who has too many from all of the handshake events.  And this weekend I have plenty of shows to see, AKB48 twice and Morning Musume once.  And I may try to grab a last ticket to MoMusu's Saturday matinee as well.  That will be a last minute decision.

CK in Tokyo

Even though I have been in Japan before, I wasn't entirely familiar with the way the trains work.  Even now I am unsure about a few things, so a Japan Rail Pass was a great, albeit expensive way to learn and use the train system with ease.  However, if you plan to make at least two trips on the Shinkansen, it pretty much pays for itself.

There are many different train lines throughout Japan, and there are also multiple private companies operating public transportation, but the biggest is the JR Line.  Plus, JR also runs the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) throughout Japan.  I took the Shinkansen to see Berryz Kobo in Shizuoka Prefecture.  It was amazingly fast and smooth.  The nice thing about the Rail Pass is you can board most any JR train or bus just by showing your pass, you don't have to figure out what the fare is.  Although all stations have a well detailed map of destinations and corresponding fares.

The main train around Tokyo is the Yamanote Line (the green circle in the middle of the pic), it stops at most of the major tourist areas around Tokyo.  If you have ever been to London, it would be comparable to the "Circle Line".  Everything moves really fast with the trains.  You walk among a sea of people into the train station.  The ticket gates are designed you no one needs to pause as they insert their ticket into the slot.  And the trains come almost instantaneously.  The Yamanote stops every 3-4 minutes normally.  It reminded me of when the guys on Utaban asked Sayumi Michishige what she thought of Tokyo, and she remarked that she was amazed how the trains come so quickly.  By the way, they were putting new signs on the trains today.  here is one of the new ads on many of the cars...

Why yes Matsuura-san, I will gladly board your train!  I don't think we need to worry about Ayaya leaving the Elder Club.  She seems to be doing just fine.  In any case, one of the things foreigners (including myself) find so fascinating about the JR Lines is the "music" they play at each stop.  I have heard three different explanations on why they do it, and I believe every station's music is different!  It is just another "unique" thing about Tokyo.

 

A Quick Preview of Morning Musume

My next post will be my thoughts about seeing two Morning Musume shows this weekend at Tokyo Koseinenkin Kaikan in Shinjuku.  But suffice it to say that it was a great performance.  I went to the first show with Celestia of Bikkuri Project, and she has also done a preview.  But like me, she is waiting to see it a second time before giving a full review.  By the way, Celestia was very nice, and great company at the show!  Even there she was making selections for her "Costume Hall of Shame", sorry JunJun!

 

One Last Visit to the AKB48 Theater

I had a "Cancel Machi" reservation for the Sunday matinee Team B show.  And it would end just in time for me to dash across Tokyo and meet Celestia for Morning Musume.  So I went for it, and got in again.  That means I got to see all three teams (A, K, and B) while I was here.  And let me tell you, Team B's 3rd stage is just as good as Team K's fourth stage!

This is Team B's first stage with original material, and I think they did a great job with it.  Almost every song in it is upbeat and fun.  My favorite songs had to be Wasshoi B! and Kagami no Naka no Jean da Arc, which had all of my favorite members in it.  Watching this stage live also gave me an opportunity to pick some favorite Team B members.  I didn't even know who was popular on this team, although I do hear Noguchi Reina talked about a lot, and Watanabe Mayu is prominent in the Oogoe Diamond PV.  First off, Urano Kazumi is gorgeous!  She is the oldest member of B, and she reminds me A LOT of Abe Natsumi!  I can see why she is popular, great personality!  The girl who I made repeated eye contact with was Yonezawa Rumi.  She stared right at me throughout the show, so she gets a vote too.  Here's another sample of Team B's Third Stage...

But the one I was dying for was Tanabe Miku!  My god is she adorable!  She reminds me of a Japanese "Pippi Longstocking" for some reason, and she has sort of a smokey voice too.  I couldn't believe how young she was (almost 16, Saggitarius like me).  Sixteen going on Twenty-Five is more like it.  She is totally off the charts HAWT!!!

But I might be breaking a cardinal rule by naming more than one member as my favorite.  One of the first things an AKB48 fan asks you when you meet them is "Who do you support?"  What I noticed is everyone seems to have ONE person that they most like, just one!  Although they may be fond of multiple members.  Fans have so many different opportunities to meet the members, and I guess there is some jealousy that goes on when an idol sees you at events, and then sees you meeting another member.  They all want to be your #1 Idol...Funny!

I mentioned the opportunities to meet the members.  It blew my mind to find out about all of the goings on at that place!  At the end of every show there are a bunch of fans standing around the door with flowers and gifts.  They have won the opportunity to meet their favorite AKB48 Idol!  And it seems fairly common, Every time I stuck around there were 10-20 fans waiting.  The whole thing lasts about 2-3 minutes.  They call your number and you go to the theater doors, they open and there she is!  You go for a short walk to the stage where you can talk to them for a minute or two, then they take you to a camera and take your photo with her.  And then (there's more!) the girl personalizes a message for you on the photo!  Mind you, this is a prize you have to win.  But from what I was told it can be "bought" as well.  But this is just the tip of the iceberg, there are tons of other "prizes" like that to get!  That and all of the handshake events, you can really get to know these girls!

This is why I have fallen in love with AKB48.  Sure, they have invented all sorts of ways for the fans to spend money.  But everything about the experience, from the tiny theater to the handshake events, to the "stage" concept, to all of these "prizes" that give you the opportunity to personally interact with the idols...it is just such an amazing concept!  And of course the AKB idols are adorable!  I'm going to miss the theater most of all when I leave, but when I return you can be sure I will be looking into that meet/photo-op prize...now who to pick?

Just look for this guy on the main drag in Akihabara just two blocks from the JR Station.  He is your ticket to AKB48 Heaven!

CK in California