It's been exactly a year since I went to Japan. Since then, I want to think about going back and watch more idol shows. I really hope I can renew my visa next year and return for the same amount of time that I've been there. Of course, I'm still bummed that I'm unable to go but it's for a good reason.
I still have mixed feelings between my plans for next year, like go to Hokkaido and enjoy the winter there or just stay in Saitama and be within reach of Tokyo. I also think about if I can stay with some friends so that I can stay past 12 in Tokyo. There's a lot of possibilities. Also, I haven't updated my blog about the trip since I stayed for almost a month there so there's some sort of backlog that I have to complete. Stay updated for that soon.
Test of Loyalty - Oshimen
So this is what's up. Team 8 went to the Philippines last December 3-4 and that meant that there's this hangover period that we all expect to have in the past week or so. Cutting to the chase there's this site that ranks your kami 7 of Team 8. You select your top 7 members of Team 8 not necessarily in order and then the sorting begins.
What's fun here is that you sort the members out and when you highlight a member, a message will pop out on top which can be good or bad but the message is randomly generated so it's fun and a little stressful. I experienced it myself with this.
Of course Honda Hitomi is my oshi but the message is funny because Sato Nanami does the KISS YOU to appeal to a lot of her fans and potential fans. I witnessed that myself so it's ironic. Also, last year, I said this.
Sato Nanami did end up being my 3rd favorite in Team 8 behind Nagano Serika. Of course I didn't expect her to jump up in rank but after I personally saw her, it changed. People say she's dangerous but I didn't heed the warning so it came down to this. I'm beginning to think that personally seeing the girls perform does affect their rank in this. A lot of the top 7 that I've seen from my friends were mostly girls who already visited here.
For the test of loyalty topic, we joked that our friends have already oshihened to other girls because of what happened. The event probably happened to bite us in the butt because as a friend of mine said, it is a oshihen event much to our dismay but signs are pointing towards that. Someone was already becoming a Shimoaoki Karin oshi even if he didn't intend to. Someone else oshihened from Gyouten Yurina to Nagano Serika despite both girls have went to the event. A friend of ours oshihened from Miyazato Rira to Takahashi Ayane and of course others kinda followed suit so everybody wanted to play that game. However, I stood firm in staying as Honda Hitomi oshi because the shirts that I wore to the event had her name at the back of my shirt. It made me think about supporting her even more. It was mostly teasing but I kind of entertained Sato Nanami recently so you might predict what might happen right?
Honda Hitomi hasn't had a lot of activities this month probably because of tests and she only had 1 Showroom this month so I'm looking forward to see her do more starting next year. Also, she hasn't had her birthday show so there's that.
So recently, I've been following a certain idol. She claims to be a singer songwriter idol. My friends joke me about her looking a lot like Uehara Ai. Her name is Suzune Hitomi. Her nickname is Hitonyan. I was already watching her Showroom but never commenting on it, just lurking for a while but until me and my friends talked about her on Facebook, I was just blown away about how she performs.
Lie or Truth is such a catchy song that it is the video that plays in her showroom when she's not active and of course, being a sucker for idol music, I instantly liked it. She does cover songs as well.
What striked me in one of her Showroom lives is that she calls pretty much everyone who comments so I was confident that I get called. The first time I did comment, she didn't know how to say my nickname on Showroom so I changed it and now she called me by my name. It's the first time that an idol actually read my name. Usually they just comment on everything the fans post but being recognized is an accomplishment for me.
In her Showroom earlier, she was playing LiSA songs in the background. She revealed that she is a LiSA fangirl especially the guitar parts of the song but she also sang some songs too so I'm confident that she gives off that idol-like vibe and now, I'm gonna follow her until she graduates being a soloist.
So in addition to Team 8 having a fan meeting on December 3, 2016, there's also the performances of Team 8 and Starmarie. I'm more surprised with Starmarie because they usually have a busy schedule at this time.
There was supposed to be an event regarding Watanabe Kaede's birthday show on December 3 but was cancelled as it would be in conflict with the Philippine performance.
Also Team 8 members are usually busy at around that time as well.
Oda Erina, who went to the Philippines last year to perform said that she knew some of her teammates will go and she remembers her performance last year. Also Tani Yuri and Ota Nao have solo activities in their respective prefectures this coming weekend so there's no shortage of activites for the members, which may have played a factor why they were not included in the present lineup.
I'm really excited to lose my voice and that I will have fun meeting a lot of people again and new ones this time.
So yeah, I got a confirmation which says that I'll be able to go to the event and that I'll be able to get what I need when I get there with no hassle whatsoever. Now, I need to prepare my stuff in getting there.
Since all of our things were fixed, we had to leave really early in the morning. We got to Nippori Station after 5 minutes of bringing our stuff. We went to a bakery while waiting since we're ahead of schedule. I got some melon pan, cheese bread and a lot more just for the trip. I got some drinks too while we're at it.
It's not really a rush hour since we were going on a Sunday but there are a lot of people in this station. We took the Keihin Tohoku Line to Ueno and then Yamanote Line to Tokyo. It was a little chilly in Tokyo that time so I could feel the wind blowing in our direction.
When we got to Tokyo Station, we went up a level so that we reached the Tokaido Shinkansen. We got on board the Hikari train since it's the fastest that we can use our JR Pass on. We hurriedly put our bags at the back seats because it would be convenient for us. The train has a 3 x 2 configuration so luckily we got the one with the 3 seats. Me and my cousin got the food and we already ate while my younger brother took some photos since he sits on the window side.
After 3 hours we reached Shin Osaka station. Before we went down, my brother took a picture of another shinkansen. I like the design though. It might run faster than the shinkansen that we rode.
It's a 500 Type EVA. It runs from Shin Osaka to Hakata and the schedule is in the link below here. I really want to ride that shinkansen but the schedule doesn't match.
Shin Osaka station is quite large though. It had like 4 floors. The top floor which we came from was the shinkansen level. Third floor are the local trains to Kyoto and Osaka. Second floor are the restaurants near Midosuji Line and the first floor is for the bus stations. My cousin had to coordinate with some guy who has the apartment keys. Eventually we went by a local train to Osaka station.
When we got to Osaka station, we took a taxi to Marui near Nankai Namba station. Since we can't use our JR Pass for the subways, my cousin thought it was the best idea ever. When we got down to Marui, my cousin tried to use Google Maps to find our location. This is where we had to walk since forever.
A 10 minute walk isn't a 10 minute walk for me so I knew it might be longer. We tried to pass through a lot of side streets and we got lost until we got near Namba Parks. We need to be in Nanbanaka in Naniwa-ku. After a lot of walking we got to our apartment and we met this American guy whose office is just beside our place.
When we got our things into the apartment, we had short rest because it was tiring. We came all the way from Nippori in Tokyo so it was the worst travel I've been in for a long time.
So we got into a weekly/monthly apartment. It was arranged before we came to Japan so we had a place to stay. We had to coordinate with when we got there and when we leave in 10 days.
To start off, there's a place to put our clothes on. Beside that is the computer where I mainly used for internet purposes. Since there are a lot of programs and installed stuff in there, it's too slow right now. Our smartphones and iPad are faster than that since there's wireless wifi anyway. The table has a large map of Osaka and the JR and subway stations. The refrigerator and the kitchen are conveniently placed on a side and the toilet is near the bedroom. The shower room has a really strong pressure so taking a bath was easy. It had everything we needed.
Most of the stuff that we needed to do in Osaka and Kansai region were convenient for us. I thought my cousin kinda studied the area before we came but it's one of these cases where I'll thank him later.
We went to eat ramen in a ramen shop called Raumen. Since I knew we'll be in for the food trip, I really ate a lot. Additional karaage and gyoza would really make me full.
After that we went to Life supermarket to buy corned beef, rice and sausages. We bought more drinks and snacks. When we headed back to the apartment, we placed the food at the table and the other stuff at the fridge. My cousin wanted to cook but we decided to go to Dotonbori later that night. We rested for a few hours before heading out.
Now that we know where Dotonbori is, we headed there to do some sight seeing and possibly, some shopping. We did end up having dinner at McDonald's so it wasn't what we initially planned but we walked a whole lot at the strip and we thought it wasn't going to end. We saw a lot of shops there and really spent a good part of the night there. In the end, we decided to go home by Shinsaibashi to Daikokucho by subway. Since Daikokucho station is like 5 minutes away from the apartment, we just walked from there. After that, we're done for the day.
So for anyone who is following Milan (@maiyanee) on social media and is currently a fan of the 48G and 46G must have known this already. For the benefit of the readers who still don't know the situation, Milan says that he will retire from 48G when Miyazaki Miho returns to senbatsu.
At first, I thought it was a joke when he first mentioned it so I did ask him if he was serious about it. Maybe that would have changed his mind.
From that, I knew that he needed a break. For those who don't know, his ask.fm account gets loaded with questions almost everyday so he answers the ones he can depending on his pace so I understand that it's not easy answering them most specially when dealing with some hard topic that needs some research.
Still, I think that it's a hard dare. It's one of those things where it's make or break. For me, I found it hard to leave Hello Project for 48G years ago but I've done stuff to transition from one group to another. Leaving a group that you've spend a good amount of your time is really hard. I'll use myself as an example. I knew I won't stay in the fandom forever. I needed to move on but how will I handle it.
I do intend to leave 48G in the near future. I've been trying myself to do it. I do have conditions in which I would fully leave the fandom. Recall from one of my earlier posts
- Honda Hitomi graduates or becomes 18 years old (whichever happens first)
- Watanabe Miyuki, Sashihara Rino, Watanabe Mayu all officially graduate from the group.
- Cindy Yuvia graduates from JKT48.
- I celebrate my 10th year as a fan of the group (Oct. 2019)
None of these things have happened yet but I'm ready when they do. One of the latest developments is me abstaining from voting in the elections of AKB48, JKT48, SNH48 and also not voting for Request Hour.
Even if those conditions are fulfilled, it's not like I would leave with a heavy heart. I'm still gonna be emotional because of the spur of the moment but I know I will get over it. I don't want to think about it but rest assured, when it does happen, I'd be proud to say that I've distanced myself from the group.
