My journal of the second day! Probably not as exciting as some other fans since Manuel and Tiffany aren't wota trash like me and my other friend and I didn't want to abandon them. Also because I was legitimately working to an extent so I was busy and exhausted a lot. Finally, also because I'm withholding some information specifically for A-To-J articles coming soon. Anyway, enjoy my account of the second day!
February 26th - Friday
I woke up and noticed that my lips were chapping to the point of bleeding. The dry Texan weather was killing my poor lips! I kicked off the day reasonably early and started by heading over to the Houston Shopping Center in order to get some quick breakfast. On my way out, I spotted Aika, Mizuki and Kanon chilling at the Starbucks. I waved to them as I passed by and headed to meet up with Manuel for some food. They were so sweet. Those three have to be some of the sweetest and kindest members of Morning Musume ever. That being said, it was kind of funny to just randomly run into them in the hotel all casual-like. I finally got to the shopping center and I tried a Texas Steak and Potato wrap from one of places which was actually not good at all. I then headed to the convention center to line up for the Morning Musume goods line which would open up early for Super Pass holders.
There was no indication of where the Super Pass holders were supposed to line up and most of the staff (who was volunteer) had no idea either. I eventually figured it out very shortly before the doors opened. At about position 70, we ended up having to wait an extra hour since the goods had not actually arrived. The first few people were actually allowed to purchase more than one of each item, before they realized that they shouldn't be that lenient. I got my T-shirt and towel and they gave me a special ticket to get into the autograph section that would be held the next day (specifically for Super Pass holders). They actually didn't distribute the tickets until shortly before they reached my position. As a result of this, further confusion was had to the people who were ahead of me and didn't get the handshake ticket. To top it off, some people were able to get one of the normal raffle tickets from the autograph booth nearby, which was particularly infuriating (at the time) that people would do that and take away opportunities from general admission people who were actually there (luckily, everything worked out in the end).
After that we headed straight to the Opening Ceremonies to be able to greet the guests. Being a Super Pass holder, I managed to get in and sit in the first row along with some fellow Morning Musume fans from various places. The microphones were acting up for most of the event. Since I was not interested in any of the guests there except for Morning Musume, I didn't really pay attention to the guests, though I still politely clapped for all of them. There were a couple of the guests that the girls got particularly excited about (the guests were all sitting in the section directly across from us). Finally, as one of the final announcements, the girls were introduced very briefly. All of us fans stood for them as they came up. Mizuki took the reins and introduced them as Morning Musume '16. Before they went off stage, it was announced that we, the fans, had a gift to give to them as a welcome. A couple of fans (who organized the whole thing) were then able to hand the banner to the girls. They were all so excited and impressed. Some of them even cried a little at getting a gift like that from us to them. It was actually really sweet and I want to give a special shout out to the guys who helped organize the whole gift. There was another guest who came up after them who was ignored by most of the crowd (I felt a little bad about this) as the girls walked off the stage. This was especially cool because the girls walked around the front of the seats holding the banner and waving to all of us. It really pleased the fans that they did this and it really helped to make everybody realize that this was going to be a really special weekend. They sat down and there were a few more guests before the Opening Ceremonies were over.
Since part of the A-To-J team had to go elsewhere to try and arrange an interview with Hitomi (CEO of the Maid Cafes in Akihabara, if I’m not mistaken), Eric and I took over to film and take pictures of the Morning Musume Q&A panel that would be happening immediately after the Opening Ceremonies. All of us press worked hard to prepare the area for the event, setting up the tables, chairs and accommodations in order to assure the girls were comfortable and respected. We then set up our cameras and sat down on the floor in front of the stage in order to allow for space for the actual attendees to be able to have space to sit. The Morning Musume girls had actually specifically asked for the attendees to be able to sit as close to the stage as possible so that they would be able to interact and see all the fans. That was sweet. I found it quite amusing, actually, because I often saw the staff scrambling to change plans in order to accommodate what the girls wanted to do over the whole weekend. The only downside to this event for me was that I couldn't ask any questions since I was serving as press for it. Ultimately, this was fine since others essentially asked what I would have wanted to anyway. After everybody settled in, we jumped right into it. Of particular note was the fact that one of my online friends, Berry, was the one who got to be the translator/interpreter for the panel. She must have been ecstatic. Fair warning, I don't remember most of the questions, so you'll have to look elsewhere for full details (in fact, I’ll be using the video to transcribe the whole thing at a later date, so keep an eye on http://www.a-to-jconnections.com/index.html. What I can mention are some highlights. Masaki actually made some fans play rock paper scissors in order to be able to ask her a question. That was really fun to see. Ayumi asked if a fan could dance, and one of the fans totally went all out and danced a little of Brainstorming which was cute. He then got to ask Ayumi his question. Another fan asked about the girls' favorite game. Of particular note to me personally was Haruna, who mentioned Dragon Quest, Resident Evil and some other favorites of mine as games she really enjoyed. That was cool. There was a lot of fun and personal interaction during this panel which really made it quite special to us fans. Before we knew it, the panel was over, and we were all clearing out.
From there, we finally had the time to get lunch. We stood outside of the room talking for a little and the girls just casually walked by to probably head to their room or out to eat lunch as well. We waved to them and smiled as they did the same back. We did our best to not fan out, since we had to act somewhat professional plus we didn't want to make the experience weird for the girls in any way. We didn’t want them to think we were hanging around waiting for them, which we legitimately weren’t. Manuel, Tiffany and I then headed to Pappacito's Cantina, a restaurant attached to the hotel to eat lunch. Most of the food had lard, which was unfortunate for me. Luckily, the waitress suggested the chicken enchiladas which had no lard. It came with some cilantro black beans and cilantro rice. It was actually very tasty and I enjoyed it thoroughly. We went back to the room to hang out for a little and rest up before the panel we would be hosting later that evening. I really wanted to attend the fashion show too, since Haruna and Haruka were supposed to be guests in it. We had ordered pasta from Dominos to eat but I didn't get to eat it since it didn't come before I needed to head out to the fashion show.
Unfortunately, the girls never made it to the show, which was a bummer. The show itself was still really fun and exciting though. It was set up with special themes to represent different designers but each theme had a sort of story to it. That made it fun and interesting and I had a blast. There was even a horse and carriage in one part of the show! Most of the outfits were actually pretty good too. Due to the timing I ended up coming right before it started so I got seated three rows in. They forced press to sit down so I wasn't able to get many good pictures.
After the show I waited for Manuel and Tiffany in front of the room where we'd be holding our Hello! Project panel. This was the same room that the Opening Ceremonies and Morning Musume Q&A were held in. All of the stuff was exactly as we left it from the Q&A, including all the girls' water bottles. We joked that we would be drinking from the bottles that belonged to the girls and joked that we could probably sell them on eBay or something. We didn't, of course, and merely drank them since they were unopened (the ones that were opened we set in a corner for cleanup later). After setting up, we tested the sound and discovered that there was no way to get audio from our laptop. We needed to resort to using one of the microphones to enhance the sound from the laptop speakers. It was terrible quality, but it was the best we could do. On top of that, we had to hunt for an extension cable and also the projector wasn’t working which we had to fix. Shortly before people were let in, Aika Mitsui walked in. We didn't exactly recognize her at first due to her being far away. I had a hunch based on what she was wearing (Obviously I’m total wota trash when I can recognize one of my favorites merely based on their taste in clothing.). I started approaching her and immediately confirmed it was Aika. She asked us if it was ok to sit for the panel and watch. She was extremely polite and kind. We, of course, told her we'd be honored for her to join us and were ecstatic. It was actually quite nerve-wracking and totally made us mess up a little. A lot, actually. We were so happy that Aika officially attended our panel just for kicks, which was quite the accomplishment for us. She sat in the back though, in order to stay out of sight. We respected her privacy and didn't tell the crowd, who began to come in shortly after she sat down. We ended up having a decent turnout.
Tiffany opened up with a performance of Sakura Night Fever and Sexy Boy (Aika actually danced along to this in her seat, much to our delight.) and then we jumped into the actual information panel. It was fun and went well minus a couple of technical difficulties and some weird drunk guy who only stayed for a short time. About halfway through the panel, Aika, who had been checking her phone constantly for a couple minutes, ended up quietly leaving the panel. We figured she was tired, since it was late, but later found out that she actually found out about Hello! Disco and decided to drop by to say hi to the fans and hang out briefly! We panelists couldn't make it, of course since we were in the middle of paneling, but it must have been amazing for my fellow fans who were at the party instead! Everybody ended up a winner by the end of the night as a result of this. The panel ended as a success despite the hiccups, which was great. Thanks to Aika, we’ve been mentioned in multiple reports in Japanese media when talking about Morning Musume’s time in Houston. After that we just headed back to our room to get some work done before going to bed. It was a fabulous day.