Japan Expo 2014 PART 6 The conference

The day started with choosing the outfit. I opted for a short  black skirt, my Team Berikyuu T-shirt and a pink wig I decided to decorate with cat’s ears headband and a cherry pin. From the lobby of my hostel I managed to send a message on Hello!Online about my outfit so ppl would recognise me. I packed my Polish candy and was ready to go.

                                                                                  The secret ingredient is COCAINE .

Okay, just vodka. What did you expect from Polish candy anyway?! :>

Again, from the very early morning I harrassed the JE staff for information, although I already knew everything but I was just so stressed and giddy.  I harrassed the official JE booth the most since they had the H!P staff so eventually they gave me my goodie bag that comes with a premium concert ticket way earlier than they announced. Well, asking for it like 100 times helped a bit 😀 The goodie bag consisted of a poster, album and a black T-shirt (the same girls wore that day). I oggled those items in my booth waiting for JE to open. I looked at the tracklist of the album and was happy that Yurushite Nyan was there and slightly sad that my song “Berryz Kamen” wasn’t. Still I was satisfied with the choice.

When the time for first premium JE ticket holders to enter the expo came, I went to the signing place and felt immediately taken back. I didn’t know any of those ppl! Did I really expect them to yell ” Hi, nyuchan!” ? The wota family is big and I only knew some of them online. I wandered around the queue willing myself to be brave and just talk to any of those ppl. They had merchendise all over them. I admired the T-shirts, the towels and felt really out of place. Then I noticed a Kappa costume and recognised chobineko.  I knew how she looked from her website photos and Youtube channel and of course from the previous H!P concerts in France 🙂 She was in the line for the first-come-first-serve signing and I felt like a total stalker waiting for her. I jumped at her when she finished and my heart was racing (not in a perverted way but pretty close :D). She turned out to be as sweet and kind as I thought she would be and then some more. And boy was she excited! I gave her my secret Polish candy and helped her to find the official JE boutique so she could take her goodie bag. I was surprised how excited and stressed she was. Next to her enthusiasm I felt relatively calm and composed 😀

And then she did something that I would never expect. She offered to take my poster to the signing.

I was speechless. 1. I didn’t know that a person can take more than one item to the signing. 2. I didn’t know that anybody would be willing to do it for a person they didn’t even know too well

I think I fell in love with this bundle of energy and sweetness that is Angelique that instant. It was the first nice thing any fan did to me and that was just the beginning.

She asked which member’s sign would I want and I knew that Airi is of course her favourite so I said it didn’t even matter. Of course I have my favourite in both groups but all of them are precious to me in their own way. That’s why I wrote Team Berikyuu not Team C-ute or Team Berryz Koubou on my T-shirt. She promised to get Maasa’s and Chinami’s signs and give me the poster at the conference. I showed her my booth and we parted. I went to queue for the conference. I expected hundreds of people already there but I was the only one. A conference for some anime already started so I was standing at the railing when some fans came. One of them was Japanese and the other French that spoke English well. The man was Ethaneal Natsugaya.

He made sure with the JE staff (happy to talk to a French speaking person :D) that we’re standing in the right place. The security prepared the line for the conference so we were the first ppl. Of course the first in the line for ordinary ppl without the JE premium tickets/Press/VIP. We talked a lot but mostly I listened to his stories :)) He’s been to Japan and apparently was a hardcore Risako lover (I felt bad about bashing her so much on my blog but shh… 😉 He volunteered to translate the conference if I sat next to him (which I vowed to do no matter what). New fans came and more people returned from the signing session I kinda felt sorry for skipping. I couldn’t do both.And then another small miracle happened which made me believe in the unity of wota family. Some random guy that I’ve never seen before asked about my favourite member ( I neeply regretted not having any Suzuki Airi merch on me) and gave me this:

He gave out other pictures to different people around me but I was the only one that started crying (that was just the beginning of the pattern of me crying all of the sudden ==). Ethan translated to this guy how much this small gesture meant to me. I had chobineko signing my poster and this nice man giving me Airi’s photo. I couldn’t believe how blessed I was. Yeah, laugh go on. Because it doesn’t really mean anything, right? It’s just one picture. But for me it was huge.

Later, JE staff came up to us with pieces of paper to write questions for the girls to ask them during the concert. I asked Ethan to translate for me two: Was pole dancing difficult? (I knew it was but I wanted them to talk a bit about it) And if they would like to do more tap dancing during concerts.

Premium tickets already sat in the very centre so we decided for the right side which was closer to stage. Chobineko came and sat in the centre so I went to her and got my poster back. The right side was the Berryz Koubou corner but I just wanted to be close to my new friends and understand the conference. I was the only Airi fan on this side and slowly I began to be Team C-ute more than Team Berryz Koubou. Another guy came up and talked a bit with Ethan and gave me those awesome stickers.

I had no time to cry again and express my happiness properly because soon the girls came and I was too busy screaming. Ethan managed to sneak a red penlight in my hand (me supporting Risako, the world is ending XD).

Seeing the girls was surreal. It was everything I imagined and it shocked me. They were there in front of me, without the glass screen looking like normal human beings with legs, eyes and facial expressions. They reacted to the crowd with waving and smiled at us. I know how it sounds. Of course they’re human beings! >< But it’s so easy to forget about it when you just watch the PVs. I don’t know how to explain it. I felt obliged to show them how much I love them and how I longed for this moment. And I think they received the message because the conference hall was loud with our screams and our faces were sore from the constant beaming.

The girls walked on stage and…. sat the other way round! So I had C-ute in front of me! Hehe, the Berryz Fans around me screamed for them to change places but Momo saved the day by swapping the signs. I was so glad ❤ I wasn’t in the centre so I got Chisato and Nakky straight in front of me.

I won’t re-tell the conference because many ppl already did that and you can read the translations but I can tell you what I noticed:

– poor Nakky fell off the bar stool many times before she decided she could just lean on it. Later Chissa did the same and both had some whispering conversations clearly concerning those stools XD They were clearly uncomfortable

– Nakky and MaiMai looked scared of us. Okay, we did look mighty obsessed and fanatical but they definitely have seen some weird shit fans in Japan as well (even weirder I’m pretty sure). Was it the racial/cultural difference? Or were they just nervous and shy? They never look shy and nervous in Japanese lives so I was surprised.

– Momo stood out the most. Just as I expected her to be she was the usual over the top/helium addict we love to hate. She made us do the Yurushite Nyan which we all did with great delight. She also made us do the horse which wasn’t as nice. Of course we all did it enthusiastically but inside a part of my soul died just a bit. Is there a video of us doing it? Please, God no! >o<

– (don’t take this one too seriously 🙂 Maimi was smiling really brightly and out of the C-ute girls I think she tried her hardest. It’s just my subjective opinion but I think she wanted to express “Please, like me”.  Other girls were more like: “I appreciate your support” (Airi was the best example of that) “It’s fun! Unicorns fly and rainbows taste like cotton candy” (Momochii of course), “I’m the Queen and you’re my peasants” (Miya and Risako) or “JUST LEAVE ME ALONE” (MaiMai, Nakky, Chissa, Yurina, Maasa ….) Maimi had a completely different vibe.

– questions were BORING and PREDICTABLE. I’m sure there were better ones out there. What’s Risako’s favourite colour?! WHAT THE HELL? The beatbox was nice at least. I would like some acapella to it as well.

– some girls had problems answering the questions. Especially MaiMai was often out of words and other girls had to help her. It was imperfect but showed another side to my favourite idols so I felt happy 🙂

– I don’t know how Chinami’s special glowstick move (THE BARREL :D) originated but doing the move just for her was fun

When the conference ended and the girls left the stage I felt totally spent. I looked around and wondered how the girls would leave the hall for the second signing session. I noticed some space on the right which was separated from the hall yet had some holes in it and I noticed the girls there. I wasn’t the only one and we all ran there. The girls were soo close and we exchanged waves and smiles 😀 We sang an early Happy Birtday for Maasa in French and I think she said Merci or I love you in French 🙂 I even shared a special moment with Chinami who did a strange semi wave like the ones models do at pageants or Queen Elisabeth. I parroted the wave with a silly face and she laughed. This was amazing!

Thinking back about it it must have been hard for them. They were chased, screamed at while expected to maintain eye contact and exchange gestures/signs with their fans. I would be terrified :O Especially after the AKB48 incident when some psycho attacked the girls at the handshake.

Woah, the emotions were high and the drawing signing session didn’t even start.

nyuchandesu