Japan Trip 2010 #6 ~ Shibuya & Concert!

When you think of Japan what do you think of? Shibuya, Harajuku etc right? And since there was a H!P official shop in Shibuya how could we have not gone?

While Stef was doing something, I entered this bookstore called Tatsuya. It was 6 stories high so I thought I would find a lot of H!P stuff? To my disappointment, there was only a small section. And the place was blasting AKB songs @@ Whenever I see AKB posters in the train stations and that AKB lorry driving about I get annoyed. It should be MM damnit!!

I wasn't sure if photos were allowed to be taken in the shop. And just for the heck of it I took pics of the back of cover of Eri's DVDs XD

Me and Stef were walking around Shibuya trying our darnest to find the shop. Armed with just the address, we found the building. But after going up all the levels we still couldn't find it. So I wondered if there were two buildings with the same name but one being a newer building and the shop was in the older building. Don't ask me why I thought of such a thing cuz on hindsight, I think it was riduculous too ^^; Maybe Risa's building talk got to me XD

We finally found the shop in the basement level!

I took these before I noticed the 'no photography' sign :P

Look at the walls and walls of photos!!! I could go nuts in here. And I did too. My bill was @@ A word of caution. Please, please, please check and double check your order list before going to make payment. I don't know how I did it but I miswrote the number for an Eri item and ended up with 8 of Maimai's pop card??

OMG I was so freaked out when I saw the staff taking all those Mai cards. I kept thinking in my mind "Is that my order? But I didn't buy any Maimai and WHY ARE THERE 8 PIECES!?!?!!?" ^^; Those cards weren't exactly cheap and if I had gone ahead and paid for them I would seriously die.

There was a TV monitor playing the latest PVs of MM, Berryz, C-ute and Mano Erina. Was there S/Mileage? I can't recall. Gomen ^^;

And look! The actual costumes of the girls. I would have liked to see Morning Musume's too but I guess they display the outfits on rotation? Maybe. Somehow the clothes don't look as small as I expected them to be? I thought the girls were tiny?

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Our concert tickets ^^

We started out real early on the day on the concert just in case we couldn't find the place and needed to spend time queuing for the goods. This is what the nearby building near the concert hall looked like.

Crap! As usual I forgot to take pics of the actual venue. Although photos are prohibited at the goods area, I should have taken some pictures of the fans waiting in line. ARGH!!!

This is the box where MM collects funds for the Dog Assistance program. Doesn't it look sad with so few coins? I wonder how filled the boxes were during the earthquake fundraiser. The Eri goods at the bottom left corner belong to Stef :D

Now onto the actual concert... (I can't comment on every song as everything was mostly a blur. When you are being that star-strucked, it's a miracle I even remembered to breath :D)

Morning Musume Concert Tour 2010 Spring ~Pika Pika!~


01. Moonlight night ~Tsukiyo no Ban da yo~

I didn't feel this song when I first heard it on the album. But damn! It was an awesome choice to start with. The girls in bunny outfits and that image of a wolf right in the center of the stage didn't really fit but the energy brought about by the song got the crowd all riled up and excited. With all 8 girls on stage I didn't know who to look at ^^;

02. Kimagure Princess

With this being Eri's song, my eyes naturally landed on her first and this was when I realized she had cut her hair!!! OMG kawaii~~ This shorter style really suits her and the turtle was so amazing throughout. Her moves were so fluid and she was just ultra sexy :P

03. RR21

Sorry I couldn't remember much about this. I was probably staring at the girls while being surprised that such an old single was performed :P Oh and I had to decide whether to gawk at Risa, Eri or Sayumi with just two eyeballs. If there was anytime I wished I had more eyes, this was it XD

MC 1


04. Aishite Aishite Ato Ippun

I always liked this c/w song even from the first listen so I was really looking forward to seeing what the dance was like. There was this part where the girls all laid down on the floor? Damn, it was hawt *explodes*

05. NR


06. SYO

Remember the part where two girls face each other and their hands kinda go around the other person's waist? They paired KameMame here! Which made me giddy with joy obviously ^^

MC 2: 6kkies

07. Ano Hi ni Modoritai

This song sounded a little boring in the CD but it wasn't bad and I still liked it. However, when watched live, the entire thing was so beautiful that it's indescribable. As all of you would know by now, TakaGaki were clad in long dresses with a denium jacket over and the dance incorporated umbrellas. Ai had this headband thingy that made her looks so hobo. Flower power era!

I think Ai was the better performer in the sense that she was excellent with her facial expressions. And her singing was good too. For Risa, her voice was so filled with emotion that I was almost brought to tears. Tee hee, do I sound as though I'm exaggerating? Unfortunately she tends to overdo her expressions and I wanted to laugh out on a couple of occasions :P

I would have liked for the dance between leader and sub to have more interaction instead of focusing solely on the prop aka brolly. But I guess I can't complain as it could have been worse.

08. Osaka Oshiinen


The 8th gen song isn't that bad live but on the album it was.... I guess it's true that everything sounds better with visuals?


09. Ookii Hitomi

OMG this song just blew me away!! I liked it on the disc but when the Rokkies performed it, it was all sorts of win! The girls were cute, the singing was right on cue, the outfits were a mixture of cowboy and frills which means it was erokawaii (?). Ha ha, Eri's special term has stuck on me so I'm gonna use this to describe cute + hawt from now on. And of course the dance was adorable. I loved the little action where they encircle one eye with their thumb and forefinger. Too sweet for words :)

The turtle wore her cowboy hat in the afternoon concert but not in the evening. I thought that she had forgotten it or she didn't have enough time to put it on and secure it. But Stef thinks that she didn't wear it on purpose. Perhaps it was in the way of her dancing?

I couldn't decide if Sayu or Kame was better here since they were both so gorgeous. I think the usagi won out just by a little. As for Reina, I'm sorry I couldn't watch her much since I had my eyeballs full with KameShige. But there is one thing I noticed. Why doesn't she sweat? Reina looks the same right from the beginning and stays the same till the end @@

10. RB


MC 3


Risa with VTR of Souda We're Alive [In the evening it was Eri with Ai Araba It's Alright]

Gaki's choice is hmmmm to me but Kame's was awesome! I love Ai Araba. I even have both the single and Single V. The girls mentioned their reason for choosing the respective songs which were of course lost on me. Curse my non-existent Japanese skills :(

11. Medley


[Love Machine - The Peace! - KT - Koi no Dance Site - Roman My Dear Boy - Koko ni Iruzee!]

This was the part where the girls burst out in the blue kimono like outfits right? In the evening concert, Sayumi pinned her bangs up and woah! She looked fab that way. She should seriously consider doing her hair that way more often.

Needless to say after her mesmerizing appearance, I couldn't take my eyes away from her. Badsaints totally agrees with me on this as she couldn't say anything else other than "Sayu is hawt" after the concert. XD

12. Ame no Furanai Hoshi de wa Aisenai Darou?

This was supposed to be entirely in Chinese and I expected the girls to all get a line each. But it was more like a JunLin song with the rest acting as backup.

MC

13. Onna ga Medatte naze Ikenai


The best pose for the dance has to be the pointing bits. Where they point in various directions in accordance to the best of the music.

14. 3,2,1 BREAKIN' OUT


I didn't expect this song to be sung since it was the Anime Expo theme but it was alright. Another song that is better with visuals :P


15. Mikan

Obviously Tsunku finds this song great for concerts. Why else does he insist on including it everytime? I don't mind this song since the lyrics are meaningful. But if I was given the option of Onna ni Sachi Are vs Mikan, I'll pick OnSA. I love the kicking bit and the interlude portion. Woot~

16. Genki Pika Pika

Besides the 5th and 6th gen songs, I like this one the most. Happy, genki and chirpy. One should listen to these types every now and then to keep yourself in a good mood ^^ All of the member were super happy during this song and it rubbed off on me. I kept smiling to myself. I must have looked stupid :D

17. Loving you Forever


This was the perfect ending to the concert. It's almost as if the girls are telling the fans that they would love us forever. Yeah it's clique but if it works why not?



Encore

18. HOW DO YOU LIKE JAPAN

Oh dear lord, GAKI-SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!!! This is the part where I can't look at anyone else besides her. O---k, I did catch glimpse of Eri now and then. But it wasn't my fault! She was dancing so vigorously that it was impossible not to look her way. That said, I can honestly say that Risa was the best here.

Her clothes were so cool and she had a hat on. I'm a sucker for hats. Her actions were a little boyish but still sexy. And then her singing. Has there been any doubt that this song is MADE for her. How do you like Japan? More like how do you like Risa? Yes, I wub you omame. I'm your faithful fan till the end of my days :P

MC

The afternoon talk was hilarious. Someone commented on Eri's hair, calling it the 'Aho-ge' standing up. And she was desperately trying to smoothen her hair down from flying all over the place but failed. So she said something like "my hair isn't the point of this talk!" Everyone LOL-ed at how comical she was and I distinctively recall Gaki-san laughing so hard that she fell on the floor XD

In the evening concert, this was Kame's section again :D Fans like to jump and jump when their fave member is talking right? A couple of Eri's fans started jumping as she stepped forward to speak and the Erien told them to stop cuz it distracted her and she couldn't think of what she wanted to say properly. In response to that, more of the turtle's fans started jumping XD Omg it was so funny XDDDDD

19. Namidacchi

I still want to laugh when I hear Risa's long speech camouflaged as a rap but this song is nice so I'm okay with it. I really didn't want this song to end as it would mean that the concert is truly over :( It wasn't long enough!! I was standing throughout the concert but I don't mind standing for a few more hours. It was that good!

There were a number of TakaGaki moments and at the end there was some too. The leader and sub are always the last to leave the stage and they hold onto each other before running off. During the afternoon concert, Ai did this mini jump as she ran off and her straw hat flew upwards and fell onto the floor. Risa laughed and I smiled too because it's TakaGaki, no matter how small the interaction :)

My Stash

If only I had exchanged more yen. Then I would have bought even more stuff. Waving glow sticks is so much fun despite your arms aching ^^;

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This last portion I didn't know where to stuff so here it is.

I tried the Nissim Foto noodles where Ai, Risa, Sayu and Jun visited the Sumos filming the CM. They weren't available at every convenience store so I bought two cups when I found them XD

And this brings to the end my Japan trip happenings. I really hope I can go to Japan again and this time I'm gonna make sure I attend more concerts. I wanna go to the BUONO!, C-ute and Berryz ones too :D

I hoped you enjoyed reading and gained some insights on what it was like going to Japan for the first time and watching a real live concert (^_^)