Apink in Japan, Part 2

I felt a bit crazy. A week ago, I was at a concert. The day before, at a fan event. And on the 23rd of December, I'll be meeting Apink face to face in Osaka. I felt quite overwhelmed, really, especially considering that one of the idols will be handing me a Christmas card. To think that I haven't gotten a card from anybody in years...and this year, I'll be getting it from an Apink. It was overwhelming.

The coupon I got from the album. I actually wanted Chorong...but I got Hayoung instead. I pulled a random Hayoung photo during the fan event, and for the coupon I got Hayoung. I think I pulled her for just about every single fan merchandise I got ever since. Not that I really care - I've always thought Hayoung maknae is the true visual of Apink. She was stunning in person, and the photos obviously did not do any justice.

The event was held in Osaka ATC, about 1.5 hours from Kyoto.

There was a morning and afternoon session. I slept in so I went in the afternoon.

There were about 150 people at the fan-meet. The fanbase was an interesting mix of high school girls, women in their late twenties, early twenties guys like myself, and quite a few uncle fans. The male-to-female ratio was about 40/60. I was a bit surprised to see so many females. A few were fanclub members and wore pink T-shirts. Still there were several cute girls who dressed up as pandas.

The Apink fanbase in a nutshell.

To be honest, Apink is about five years too old for the cutesy pink concept.

There's something oddly satisfying though, about seeing Eunji in a pink dress...

It was my first fan-meet ever. I was so shocked at how crazy some of the fans were. At least a dozen bought a whole stack of albums so they could stock up on coupons. There was a lot of coupon trading going on to (Chorong was probably the most popular, Namjoo the least). People had photo albums filled with the pictures of their idols. And the weird thing was that they weren't uncle fans. They were well-dressed girls who look completely normal until they flipped out their idol stuff.

They then announced that there was a super special secret event you get invited to, if you bought every single album (which was almost 30k yen) To be honest, that felt really, really greedy from them. It was a cash grab from them and I felt really turned off by it. I mean, I guess album sales are important, but doing it at a fan-event was just kind of shameless. It turns out that you get rewarded with some photos and snacks, and that's it. It really wasn't a very pleasant feeling.

The girls came in while the fans waited. Eunji looked very happy, waving and smiling, but everyone else looked exhausted. Hayoung smiled a little but Chorong and the others had blank faces. Naeun looked very sad and 'off'. But what was really heartbreaking was that Namjoo was on a wheelchair. She'd hurt her ankle a couple days ago at the Seoul concert. But she's here anyway. Cries of 'Namjoo-chan ganbare!' came from the crowd. I don't understanding why she still has to work.

Hayoung: こんにちわ！メリークリスマス~ どぞ～ (hands me the card, tired smile)

Me: こんにちわ！えと。。。ハヨンちゃん。。。可愛い～

Hayoung: (giggles) ありがとございます！バイバイ~

Me: ありがとございます。。。

Hayoung: (waves)

Anyways, the actual handing-out of the Christmas cards was as efficient as it was industrial. You get in lines (the idols are in the booths), and under supervision you remove all your belongings. No photos, no touching (obviously) and you get about five seconds each. So I felt a lot less like a fan and a lot more like a cow being pushed into the slaughterhouse. I guess that's what happens when you leave it to the people who invented Tokyo assembly lines to organize fan-meets.

And it was over, just like that. What an anti-climatic end to a whole week that revolved around idols. I left not really knowing what to feel. Not exactly disappointed. But rather a feeling of emptiness. The whole thing felt so incredibly corporate (a bit exploitative, even) and it was really uncomfortable. If anything, I actually respect the idols so much more. I can't imagine being in a career where I have to pretend to be cute to entice fifty year-old men to spend money. Nor can I imagine coming to work in a wheelchair, with a broken ankle, and having to put up with such a crazy schedule.

And even despite all this, I felt kind of happy. I was alone in a foreign country, and there's something perversely magical about being handed a Christmas card from a beautiful woman. If anything, I understand idols a lot more now. Maybe I wasn't just the only person who felt this way. Maybe everyone, especially the uncle fans, feel the same way. It's just supply and demand, really. The fans demand some sort of emotional connection, and the idols supplied it at a hefty fee. That's just life.

Still, I really don't mean to say anything negative. I love Apink as much as before, if not more. They did their job well, and I really respect them a lot more than before. It saddened me too that I'll probably never get to see them in person again. Will Apink still be around in two years time? Will I still be into this thing? I guess I'll answer these questions then. Maybe this is as far as I'm gonna go. Maybe, in the end, I just wasn't that much of a fan, and you know, I think that's okay.

Apink in Japan, Part 1

My original plan, upon returning to Japan, was to head straight to Kyoto. Then I learned that Apink just released their new Japanese album, 'Pink Doll', and that moreover they will be holding launch events across three cities: Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka. Usually the sort of people who chase idols like this are a bit on the crazy side. But their schedules fitted in so well with mine...that I couldn't help it. 

Apink held their first launch event at Lazano Kawasaki, which is a shopping mall halfway between Shibuya and Yokohama. This was on the 21st of December. The track-list looked fairly promising: there were going to be about 7-8 songs in total. Obviously there'd be 'NoNoNo' and 'MyMy' (both were hits when they were re-released in Japan), but a few new songs would be there too.

I got to the venues about three hours before it started. Turns out it wasn't early enough. There were about two hundred people crowded around the stage already. I guess what was really surprising was how polarized the fans here were. You were either a high school/middle school girl who came here after school (quite a few working women as well) or a fifty to sixty-year-old uncle fan. Bit weird.

Lots of merchandise on sale. Bit different from the stuff I saw at the concert. They had stickers and fans for sale, which I couldn't spot in Korea. The girl gave me a weird look when I said 'Park Chorong' instead of 'Chorong-chan' when she asked for which fan I wanted to buy. I guess I forgot this was Japan, after all. It's mostly female fans here so I have to treat my noonas with respect.

What was really interesting was just how many versions of the same album they had here. So for Pink Doll, for example, they had two collectors editions, six regular editions for each individual member, and an ordinary edition. Whereas Dear only had two editions: an early edition, and a regular edition. I heard if you bought everything, you get to pet Chorong on the head. Well, a boy can wish.

Still, I was surprised at just how many females there were. I supposed in Korea Apink is marketed as potential girlfriends, whereas in Japan they are more like role models? High school girls seem to love it, though. One girl was showing her friend the video for 'Cause You're My Star' (followed by gasps of kawaii). Another one had Lovelyz Kei as her wallpaper. Another had a few Twice badges on her bag. K-pop sure is popular.

Apink themselves also had to change tactics. Japan has its own slew of idols (AKB48, Nogizaka, not to mention the likes of Aqours) so Apink had to go down the cutesy route. In Korea, Apink mostly grew out of the cute phase after 'MyMy', but in Japan it felt a bit like debut all over again. Lots of pink, cutesy dresses, hearts, and forced aegyo (more like forced kawaii). Can't say I don't love it.

The photo is from the official twitter. Cameras/drones weren't allowed, and surprisingly everyone followed rules. I guess this is Japan, after all. The concert started with an opening act by a nugu group. Then a wave of crazy screaming (amidst shouts of 'Apink saranghae') erupted from the fan girls. Apink was here. Chorong and Bomi seemed particularly popular, followed by Naeun. Eunji looked very happy and goofy in that pink dress.

Namjoo hurt her ankle a couple days ago at the Seoul concert so she couldn't dance. I was surprised at how great she looked in that pink dress. I called her name out loud (remembering to say 'Namjoo-chan' this time) and I think she waved at me. Or at my general direction. In either case this concert felt a lot closer than Seoul since there were only about a thousand people in total. Still a lot.

They handed out free pink penlights for the people who came. They were distributed voluntarily from person to person and I was pleasantly surprised no one tried to hoard anything. This is Japan, after all - no cameras, no rubbish, no bad behavior at concerts. I never opened my penlight. It's still in my drawer and I'll take a photo, along with all the other Apink merchandise I bought, some other day.

They only performed like three songs, though, before disaster struck. Some random Japanese comedy duo that I couldn't care less about jumped on stage and did their skit. I just wanted to see Apink, goddammit. But the concert was cut short and it was over in less than half an hour. I got pretty upset. And so was the uncle fan next to me who decided to come dressed in all pink. Kind of adorable.

I bought the collector's edition of Pink Doll, which was twice as expensive as Dear. Really goes to show how much more expensive being a K-pop fan is in Japan. Anyway, with every album you get a ticket to a proper fan-meet. The first fan-meet is going to be at Osaka, the day after tomorrow. I will be at Kyoto the day after tomorrow. Somehow, luck has it that I'll be a crazy fan for one more day.

Seoul

I got into K-pop about two years ago, and since then there hasn't been a single day when I hadn't been listening to it. Awful! In any case, I really wanted to visit South Korea as part of my vacation and so I decided to go to Seoul. Besides doing the touristy stuff, I also went to a concert by my favorite girl group, Apink. It was amazing! But before that, I decided to do some window shopping first. Here's what happened.

Window Shopping

Myeongdong is one of Seoul's premier shopping districts, and the place you're most likely to find K-pop merchandise. There is no K-pop equivalent of Akihabara in Seoul. K-pop stores are spread out and hard to find unless you deliberately search it out. There were two that I wanted to visit: the SM Entertainment store at the Lotte Mall, and a smaller store nearby. By the way, if there's one thing I really appreciate about travelling in Korea, it's how cheap it was. I probably spent less than twenty New Zealand dollars on subway fare for five days. That's crazy cheap.

#Gee

Russian Roulette was amazing. The song, the choreography, the music video. All incredible. When it came out a couple months back I was playing it on repeat for hours. Speaking of which: the day before, I was touring the War Memorial. There was a very serious documentary playing (with death and gore and whatnot) and some guy played Russian Roulette on his cellphone. It was such a bizarre scene that I couldn't stop laughing. I'm going to hell.

Anyways, the SM shop is located at the basement floor of the Lotte Young Plaza. It does take a bit of searching because there were so many similar looking underground shopping streets down there. The store itself is kind of small, and is more into apparel (shirts, jeans, etc) than CDs because most people go there for fashion. It's a very chic place to shop, made me realize that within Korea, K-pop isn't exactly a hobby. It, along with idols, are so well integrated within the culture that it's a way of life.

The store above is located pretty close by. It's called Buru's Ddeurak, and is apparently quite a famous store. The store's interior is incredibly crowded but the prices are fair, and the range of goodies is really extensive. Most of the posters/cards aren't really worth buying, since I don't think they're the official merchandise, and for room decoration you could just print them out for cheap.

Apink is one of the more popular girl groups out there, little surprise the store has every release on sale. I guess I was a little surprised how well packaged those albums were. There were few, if any, jewel cases. Most albums had a nice booklet attached and came with photo cards. Two days later I came back and bought the new Apink fan album, Dear. It was a really nice purchase (only 17k won too) and I'll probably do a review on it soon. A few of the songs were really comfy.

Huge selection of autographed albums for sale. Around 5-6 times the cost of a normal album. AOA's Good Luck was actually a great song, despite it being trashy like every other AOA song. TT is the only Twice song that I really like, though the song is really great. I wish SM Station released more songs like Taeyeon's Starlight - I loved the music video. Finally, Eunji's album was flawless. Hopefully Sky is probably my favorite release of 2016, and the video was very charming.

Apink Concert

 

I came to the concert venue about three hours early from Myeongdong. There were about a thousand fans lined up already, was surprised that some of the merchandise had already sold out. I guess what was really surprising was just how different the fans were. I was expecting mostly males in their early twenties, but I guess Apink attracts lots of different fans. Lots of high school/middle school girls, mums bringing their daughters, and of course a large cohort of very dedicated uncle fans.

I ended up meeting one of the members in a Japan fan-meet! But that's a story for another day.

I knew Eunji was popular, but not this popular. She probably had more fan rice than every other Apink member combined. Bomi came second with Chorong/Hayoung/Naeun with a few bags each. I don't think I saw any fan rice for Namjoo. Popularity contests can be pretty cruel sometimes.

They were going for a fairy tale setup for the concert, aptly called 'Pink Party'. Honestly after five years I'm surprised Apink kept up the pure/cutesy concept (even though Chorong is 26...). Frankly I loved their transition from 'Mollayo' era innocence to 'NoNoNo' cutesy-ness and to the more mature stuff they're putting out now. People might disagree, but the transition has been really well-done.

 

Couldn't believe my eyes when they came out. It was an amazing rush of adrenaline. I guess when 4000 people scream at the top of their lungs, you gotta scream too. When the first chord of 'MyMy' played the crowd went absolutely crazy. The fan-chant, Eunji pointing her mic so we would scream 'MyMy' at the chorus, the incredible live band that was playing. It was so, so, so amazing.

Apink fan-chant:

"Park Chorong, Yoon Bomi, Jung Eunji, Son Naeun, Kim Namjoo, Oh Hayoung, A-Pin-N-Ku!"

I must say, seeing Eunji in a gingerbread costume was really funny...

But not quite as cute as Chorong as a lollipop! Really cutesy, loved it.
They also threw candies at the crowd. Didn't catch any.
Eunji took selfies with the phones of lucky fans. Didn't get it! Very sad.

Solo performances. Bomi started things off with her trademark song, Annyeong Goodbye (which I've never heard in full before). Naeun and Namjoo did dancing (didn't like the sexy concept, but the girl who screamed 'Naeun-unnie sexy!' clearly enjoyed it). Chorong did a cute cover of Crush's Don't Forget (one guy did the loudest 'Park Chorong' roar I've ever heard, wasn't me). Hayoung covered Bolbbalgan4's Galaxy - she looked incredible in that pilot uniform. Eunji covered All By Myself.

Thanking the fans. Eunji obviously wouldn't be the one to cry...

But Naeun and Chorong obviously did. Naeun's cry was more of a sob. As for Chorong, she managed to get out two words before she basically broke down in tears. Really cute. I can't stand watching girls wearing cat ears crying on the stage. I felt really guilty for deriving a kind of sick pleasure from watching Chorong cry.

Rong leader happy again!

The four hour concert ended with everyone holding up their fansign while To Us played. It was very touching. It saddened me somewhat that I probably won't be able to go to another Apink concert in the next two years. In fact, I don't even think Apink is going to be around in two years. You can only be young and cute for so long. I can't imagine Chorong doing the 'NoNoNo' dance at 30 and look as if she's being serious.

Apparently every audience member was entitled to a box of panda-shaped cookies. Well I guess I missed out. To make up for that (and the fact Chorong cried), I bought some more merchandise. Got back to the hotel at about 11 and it was completely freezing. I was happy that I got to see my favorite group live and I thought that'd be the end of it all. Well, I was wrong. Very, very Rong.

Numazu: Part 2

To get to Awashima Island, you have to take a ferry. And to take the ferry, you have to buy the tickets to the aquarium on the island. The Aqours actually came here to shoot a short film not so long ago (one of their videos was set in another nearby aquarium) so the Dia autograph was a nice little surprise. It was quite cute.

Got two nice shots of both the hotel and the aquarium, though neither Kanan nor Mari were anywhere to be seen. I mean really, aside from the lack of cute schoolgirls and actual sunshine, this place is exactly like the Numazu I pictured. The more I think about it, the more I am impressed by Sunrise's effort to tie the anime to its actual setting. Their attention to detail is crazy.

The aquarium itself wasn't anything special. Aqours might have saved Uranohoshi, but what they actually saved was Numazu's local tourism. In any case, they have a very well-stocked souvenir shop, with your typical anime mascots, clear files, wall scrolls and even Aqours bottled water. I heard that Kanan bottled them herself and every bottle is filled with love. I wish!

I wasn't really interested in sea-life in general, but since I bought the tickets, I thought I might as well give the aquarium a tour. It was okay. If anything I actually got a bit hungry since I kept on thinking about wanting to get sushi later. Fishes don't seem to like me very much - they do have some hilarious expressions that I see quite often when I try to approach women, ha!

A quick walk around the island. That's Uranohoshi Girl's High School in the far distance. Bit anti-climatic to be honest since the weather was so bad. They were hosting a seal performance which was really adorable - she even knew how to wave! Very well trained. There were about ten people watching in total, which was surprising since this wasn't a weekend and it was raining nonstop.

After that, another long walk to Chika's house. Unless you've actually been to Numazu, you won't understand what the Aqours meant when they say their school is remote and isolated. It was wet and cold, the day was darkening and the air smelled heavily of sea salt. It was actually quite a soothing experience listening to the sea waves and looking at cute girl posters on the windows.

Where's Chika-chan?

If you've watched episode one, you probably can notice the two locations shown above. The place on the left is another aquarium, the setting for their second single, 'Koi ni Naritai AQUARIUM'. The place on the left really needs no explanation. Even though the day had been exhausting so far, I was pretty excited to finally be here. I guess you could say my kokoro went all dokidoki, ha!

The aquarium itself was okay. It wasn't nearly as spacious as the Aqours music video, but it was interesting having a relaxing walk around the place. I think me and the other two Argentinians were the only people here who came for the idols. Everyone else seemed pretty normal . 

The seiyuus left their autographs here as well. I think they visited here in March 2016, so it's been a long time. The aquarium is quite well-decorated with various Aqours stuff, which was actually a little jarring since it looked weird next to all the fish and crabs and whatnot. Also, best girl to the left.

By the time we got out, it was already dark. Raining a bit hard than before, so cold. Very miserable. The bus from here to Numazu station takes nearly fifty minutes. No wonder one of the Aqours (couldn't remember who) complained that the bus costs 500 yen. It was a lot of money!

For the last stop of the day, I visited the Love Live cafe near Numazu station. Prices are about the same as Akiba's maid cafes. I ordered the Chika drink, which is basically orange juice. Tasted quite nice and for a moment I fantasized about Chika-chan squeezing the juice just for me. Hey, a boy can at least dream, right?

Well, that's it for the trip. On the rock train back to my hostel, I reflected back on the day. To be fair, the trip was a bit anti-climatic. It was exhausting, a bit expensive, and the weather was bad. If anything, my biggest takeaway from the trip was that the anime did a really good job showing Numazu as it is - a rural gem full of nature, now spotted with cute idols here and there. I definitely won't look at Love Live Sunshine the same again now that I've been to the actual location.

Oh, and here's a photo of all the stuff I bought on the day. Just helping to grow the local economy, that's all!