Japan Expo 2014 PART 5 The 1st of July

I’ll try to be consise because nobody wants to know about the day before the important day 🙂 But bear with me. I deeply apologise any French ppl here or anybody with a strong opinion about this country because I’m soo skipping any sightseeing I did that day.

It was great, France is very nice, my hostel was great, Paris at night is so pretty etc.

That’s all.

The day before the expo starts, exhibitors can enter and set up their stalls. I was giddy just thinking about seeing any Berikyuu posters. I slowly changed from a sister/friend the people I went with knew, to the Nyuchandesu I am deep down.  In practice it all boiled down to me spazzing around, squealling and screaming like a crazy person randomly.

The empty hall of Japan Expo was a really nice sight to see but I just looked for one thing only. And I found it.

Trying to look normal. Just conceal the excitement….

…. screw that! ~    enftiogjmtlbv,d;fk4iefncdmdmdm droool :D~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wandered around I talked to any Japan Expo staff I could find to know everything about the following Berikyuu events. That I got a cold shoulder is a tiny bit understatement. I mean they were VERY helpful and nice but overall acted like it was so strange to be into a group this hard.

For example I talked with some staff members from the signing systems to make sure that as an exhibitor I can’t attend a signing. It took half an hour and many phone calls to tell me that I could only attend the drawing session with the Japan Expo ticked I would have to buy just to be a part of the drawing.

The man I talked with looked at me and said:

Is it really that important to you? *doubtful look*

I wanted to scream : Yes it’s THAT important! It’s more important that you could even imagine but am I really the only obsessed person you’ve met working for Japan Expo for two years? Seriously? No weird looking people? Are you blind?!

And it wasn’t just this guy. I talked to many staff members that day and the following day just before the Japan Expo started. I asked various complicated questions and made sure I understood everything. I probably made them sweat and cry just a bit 🙂 I really forced them to step up with their English.

And I can’t stress it more. They were extremely nice (yet not always informed) and always trying to give me all the info I wanted even if that meant using silly preschool gestures for queueing which was hilarious.

I learnt the basic French phrases to be polite to them before jumping straight to English so don’t judge me.

But most of them reacted to me the same way.

Is it really that important to you? – kept on reapeating itself and made me doubt myself. Is it really “normal” that this is extremely important to me?

It was the day before I met any fan mind you so I only had the Japanese wotas picture in my head and nothing else to compare it to in real life. Would people be more reasonable/laid back about Berikyuu? Less panicky and eager than me? Not very likely but the staff’s reaction stuck to my head.

I took pictures of empty halls.

I wished I had internet connection to post it to people not knowing where to go during Expo 😦

To sum up what I gathered.

– the halls are huge but not as huge as I thought they would be after listening to my sister’s rambling from previous years

– going to the conference before the Berikyuu conference to get the best seats was not an option because for the “vidage” all people need to get out (you can imagine how hard it was for the security guards and the JE staff to explain the whole “vidage” rules with broken English 😀

– the stage for the conference as well as the signing place weren’t far away from my sister’s booth which was very convenient

-being a wota means putting up with non-wotas laughing at you

I need my strenght for the following day.

nyuchandesu

Japan Expo 2014 PART 4 before the flight to Paris

Waiting for the day of my flight to Paris was like crawling through desert towards a fridge full of icy cold water and some Airi photobooks. Difficult.
The closer I got to the date the more panicked I felt. I planned the day since I first saw them on YouTube (which btw was Sakura Mankai by Momusu and Rock n’ Roll Kenchoushozaichi ~Oboechaina Series!~ by MiniMoni). I wanted to be the hardcore wota but the reality hit me hard. And the name of the reality was MONEYZ$. T-shirts, towels, Kingblades, wristbands, posters – all the good stuff that I would love to just put on myself to express how much of a fan I am at heart (but I learnt that it’s not the only way). There was no way I would afford any of that. I was so happy that at least I could meet them.
I had to improvise. Airi’s colour is pink so I bought anything pink to wear I could get. I’ve written Team Berikyuu on a T-shirt and decided on borrowing my sister’s pink wig (which as it turned out later was a brilliant idea).
Another step was learning the chants and discovering all the songs that I might have missed out like B-sides or any album songs. I didn’t want to be surprised by any song. I put everything I could find on my mp3player on a constant loop. I was ready to force myself to listen to them even if I didn’t like them but I surprised myself. I loved them all! I haven’t been listening to either C-ute or Berryz Koubou recently. But the songs were really good!Especially Yuuwaku no Kyuujitsu by C-ute and I’m so cool by Berryz Koubou.
I imagined the last week to be all about preparing myself but it was so hectic thanks to my job, my friends, my flatmates and family. I had nightmares and trouble falling asleep. Every second of every day was filled with thoughts like:
What if I miss the flight?
What if they change the venue and I won’t know about it?
What if I’ll meet them and just freeze speechless?
What if I won’t be accepted by the fans?
But there was no time to think it over because of all the other build-up stress.
The saddest thing was that nobody really understood what I went through.
I talked with some of my friends about the concert but how much can you really say without being riddiculed?
The usual was:
There’s this group I really REALLY like and thought that I’d never ever see them live because they’re from Japan but this year they’ll perform in France and it’s as close as it gets.
I had different reactions. The most predictable was a polite “Good for you COUGH weirdo COUGH” but one of my collegues (now I don’t think that “friend” suits her best) frowned when I showed her the video and said that the girls look way too young and that I might not be a pedo but definitely support them in this way.
Can you hear it? Yes, it’s the sound of my jaw hitting the floor.
That’s perhaps why I cried myself to sleep during those days and hoping that I’ll meet peaple who feel the same I do. The people who understand what it means.
Buckle up my dear readers because it’s gonna be a very emotional report from now on. Nothing you would have expected from your old/snarky/pervy/Nyuchandesu you know.

nyuchandesu