dream of blue

Arashi Blast in Hawaii, Saturday 20th, 2014

2014-09-22T02:42:08Z

This is what happens when I'm stuck alone and I don't know the current wifi password. I was writing this on Saturday night and in the small hours of Friday morning, so the tense tends to skip. Essentially, any reference to "today" is Saturday and "yesterday" is Friday. It was rather late and this is mostly written as a reminder to myself, but I'm leaving it unlock in case anyone finds it of interest.

TL;DR: I enjoyed myself and things worked out okay-actually really well- for me, but some people got completely screwed over by the lack of crowd control outside the venue, and you'd think they'd have learned from yesterday, but apparently not. Also the concert itself was excellent, but that was pretty much a given.

The line management on Saturday was downright terrible. It was way worse than Friday- you could tell as soon as you got there. I think people had started lining up way earlier than they the day before. I arrived at around 12:30 about half-an-hour earlier than I had on Friday and ended up nearly two lengths of the street behind where I was the day previous. I thought there would be a more organized set up than Friday, but there were still no more barriers than there had been originally the day before.

(Essentially the only barriers were on the very first stretch of the sidewalk. and inside the closed off venue. Trouble brewing. There wasn't even a pylon placed to curve the line along, which means that when the line starts to actually move, people will cut corners like crazy. Luckily we were right about where the line turned around in the front, which gave me a pretty good view of what was going on later. Oh, and I happened to notice the uchiwa of a tumblr user I had seen posted earlier, which I found highly amusing. Incidentally, after the concert on Friday, I found the tumblr of people a few people behind me in line that day, which I had found somewhat less amusing.) There were more staff to tell people where to go, but not many more. They weren't policing the end of the line. There was the addition of a sign to tell people where the end of the line was, which was a major point of confusion the day before, but they looped the line up and down each side of the street 3 times instead of twice. My cousin, who had been in a different bit of line than I was yesterday, said that she thought they were trying for this sort of configuration then, but they were unable to pull it off.

There was a lot of really blatent line jumping yesterday, when people just kind of sidled up next to the people who had been in line for hours. Not joining a group, just kind of squeezing in, so I was hoping that we'd see more organization today. This was not the case. Also, the KZOO line ended up mixed in with us on Friday because apparently the staff was confused too- they had told the KZOO voucher-holders that they should go through the same line.They looked like they had a separate line today, as their vouchers act differently. (Essentially the KZOO "tickets" that were sold at the radio station were actually vouchers, to be exchanged for tickets on the day of. I asked at the KZOO station the first day they were selling tickets, just to see if they had better sections, but they didn't know where in the venue the tickets would be, only that they had drawn the lines of the sections and were able to fit more people in. The vouchers were really pretty. If you saw someone with a paper ticket, that was actually an embossed KZOO voucher. If I had one, I'd wish I could keep it. My ticket today is essentially receipt paper and it's sopping wet.)

The the humidity was high, but this time they had ...volunteers? student nurses? handing out ice to help ward off heat stroke. (Though they only came by once or twice, it still felt like I saw more of them than I saw of the event staff. Ah, there was someone who was watching the road to the bathroom, but people were jumping in and out of their groups all day, so it was tough to see what they were supposed to do.) I now know why they tend to include hooded towels in concert goods- it's more useful for sweat than rain (more on the subject of rain later.) In fact, within the people I've spoke with, 4 had bought towels at the venue on Friday because of the heat.

There was no one policing the turn arounds and the lines were already starting to blur when they started to run bag checks- while people were still in line. (I think they were mostly checking for cameras and ipads, but with the way people were moving in and out of line, I'm not sure what good it did.) I heard rumors that they'd start letting people in early, and a staff member with a ticket scanner- one person- moving through the line ticketing people in advance at about 3ish, but I was right behind the turn and they had gotten the rest of the turn, stopping literally right before me, before heading up the line next to me- and they never did come back like they said they would. (When I say literally, I mean they scanned the people directly ahead of me in line, and when I got my card out in preparation, told me they were going to go up the other side of the line first.) They were also heading in the direction opposite of the flow of the line, so I think that mainly got people turned around from where they were originally facing, because I noticed that the line I was in had ended up facing the opposite direction. Which might have been okay if, you know, they had more than one person scanning tickets?

About half-an-hour before the gates opened, they moved the three lines on the other side of the street and compressed them into our side, to the great confusion of everybody involved. None of the people moving really knew what was going on; I heard no announcements on the loudspeaker while in line today. Granted, the announcements I heard while in line yesterday were completely unintelligible beyond the fact that I could tell that they were trying to make some sort of communication. The announcements were not repeated, and you couldn't make the contents out over the ambient noise. I sincerely doubt that we were missing much, as I heard one while in line for the bathroom yesterday and it turned out be completely wrong.

Did I mention that the closest restroom had only two stalls? It had only two stalls, and any other public restrooms -also overcrowded- were a long walk away. Well over a quarter mile. I'm not sure if anyone successfully made it into the nearby hotel to use them, but the hotel staff directed me to to use the other public restrooms (3 stalls!) down the beach yesterday. (They also turned people away from the nearby restrooms yesterday, because apparently they were going to do some sort of maintenance or other yesterday at 4 o'clock, but instructions I got from various (hotel) were rather conflicting. I'm not sure if they ever did close it. On the upside, both times I made my way out to the next lagoon I encountered no line, though when my cousin went, she said the line there was really long. And this bathroom was really quite far away.) There was also a single port-a-potty by the parking lot and a row of them by the set up for the tour group. There exists a rather nice portable trailer set up, which is what I had initially expected.

Digressions aside, I do, definitely, know that the other lines were definitely told to move. It looked like they were making way for a vehicle at first, but none came through. I was later told by one of the event security staff that they were making room for an ambulance at Ko Olina's request. (They tend to keep ambulances at concerts like this at concerts like this as a precaution, so it might have been making room for the potential egress of the ambulance that had been stationed inside the venue. If they had followed the same set up as yesterday, it would have had a path,though I honestly wasn't able to see the full scope of the line on Friday.)

Once the lines were moved, there was really no way of keeping any sort of order. They simply didn't have the barricades, nor the staff necessary to maintain them. There was, initially, a staff member at the first bit of barricade asking people to maintain the line, but from where I was standing, it was obviously pretty futile and they gave up fairly quickly. From the lack of barricades/staff, I somewhat expected the lines to break down into a rush for the gate, but not as badly as they actually did. I heard people say that the people who were just showing up were just jumping into line on the other side of the street, but I wasn't in a position to see that.

At this point, the danger wasn't so much as from heatstroke as the press of the crowd. If someone trips, there's not enough visibility for the people around them to see them until they're right in front of them. Even then, it's difficult to fight the push of the crowd. I was really worried someone would end up seriously injured. In situations like this, there's nothing you can really do to fight the flow of the crowd. It's stupidly dangerous. I told the people with me to just make sure we didn't get separated and I kept track of our footing. We ended up hanging on to each other.

I saw several security staff heading off saying that a fight had broken out. With the way things were going, I was not surprised.

I felt incredibly bad for the people who were in the first turn up the street that fell right against the barrier. They had been there for hours and they were completely trapped. I was pretty nervous about my own safety until we made it inside the barriers, where you'd only get pressed from one direction. It's not just that it's galling to watch people go by after you've waited so long, but that being in a mob like that is pretty terrifying, even if you're not claustrophobic. I don't know how long they were stuck there, but I would have been really frighted. On Friday, I had been standing where they were in line today. If we had arrived a little earlier or a little later, my group would have been in exactly the same position as they were. Mostly I was scared that someone would get trampled.

(Incidentally, a recent news report said that the hotel next to the venue was only notified about it ~45 days ago. I think the same was stated in the business journal here, which places the move at about a week before the ticket sale was announced. The previous venue was somewhere near Wakiki? I can't think of a single appropriate place. If this were in planning for 2 to 5 years- depending on which news report you read- why was the venue moved so late? Seriously, I don't know of anywhere that could support a full-scale Arashi concert near Waikiki, and before they announced the venue, I was really pondering it. Also, I heard something about 80,000 applicants for the tour lottery. If that's the case, I think the limiting factor might have actually been hotel rooms. A lot of people I spoke with told me they were staying near the airport, but other than the really ritzy ones, I'm not really familiar with the relative "niceness" of hotels. Also, did you know some of them have those fancy electronic toilets installed? I really want one of those, but they're really expensive.)

When I got inside the fence, there were a bunch of places to throw a way your food/water and I tossed a full water bottle, but they didn't check bags again. (Creepy. With the way the line was moving, you could take anything in.) I saw people running once they were past the ticket scanners, but I knew from yesterday where in my section I wanted to be. Luckily, I was able to get exactly that. (Riiiiight along the far right side, along the edge so I'd 1) have fresh air, 2) have a relatively unobstructed view of the main stage, 3) be able to see the rising platform, and most importantly 4) I had noticed that my section today was right near the path where those mini carts run. The moving stage goes down the other side. Actually, you can tell by the tracks, but the important point is that it's easier to see what's going on a moving stage when you're a little further back.)

They were originally planning on designating sections by wristband, but that fell through very early on Friday. I happened to be in line by the trailer that looked like it was serving as an office and overheard some staff when they decided to call them off that day due to time constraints. Apparently that person didn't think that they'd work in the first place. There WERE signs directing you to go in accordance with your section on Friday, but by the time I got to the ticket scanners, you just went wherever the staff sent you, which of course meant that the line I was in had a scanner that broke down a few people ahead of me.

(I'm not entirely certain, but I think the major time constraints were that 1) the live stream and 2) the show needed to be over by 9:30 PM and if they didn't start on time they wouldn't be able to get through the whole thing. I think they started about 10 minutes late on Friday?)

Essentially, what this means is that there was no way to effectively enforce what section people go to. I'm not sure whether much of that happened yesterday, as I got inside relatively early, but I noticed that my section that day (D1) was rather sparse, except for when people rushed the stage during the Hawaiian-themed songs. Finding my way back to my seat after that was an interesting experience. (There was a guy with a kid on his shoulders literally right in front of my group. I ended up using him as a landmark, but most people marked their place with their bags. Their identical Arashi Blast tote bags. My mom was with us that day, and she was watching our stuff. She said that there was a girl checking bags to see which one was was her seat and I don't blame her at all. I wasn't entirely sure I had the right stool until I checked to see if my sunglasses was in my bag, and that was with my mother sitting right next to me.)

The fans with tickets from the Tour were in A, B, & C. Those had assigned seating. I'm not sure where the KZOO tickets ended up, but I'd guess in the E's. (There's stuff going on in the back, so those were also quite good.)

The staff asked the section next to us (D4) to consolidate repeatedly tonight. We were asked to consolidate...once, maybe twice. I ended up standing right on the line of the edge of the section- there was no room otherwise. There were people who were still being seated during the first VTR segment, though I'm not sure if it was due to the crowding of the section or that the lines were moving that slowly. At one point, I saw a firefighter walk by, which is what I found really worrisome, but I'm not entirely sure how the fire code works for outdoor concerts.

The show was absolutely amazing. Nino came by twice on the cart. We also saw Aiba and Sho and our view of the central walkway was really good. Also Nino was facing us during that bit in PARADOX. (Well, he wasn't actually <i>facing</i> us, but you know what I mean.) It's really interesting to see what other members get up to when they're not the one being shown on the video feed. I saw a bit of Ohmiya, a lot of members sneaking drinks of water, and Aiba singing along to some parts that weren't his. (He did remember to put the mike down, but it was really, really adorable. Also, Sho didn't appear to be crushing his water bottle- perhaps he grew out of that?)

I've always been fascinated by the way Arashi moves around the audience, ever since I noticed that the little carts they ride weren't motored, but rather pushed around by staff. I got a good glimpse of what they looked like on the inside, and it looks like that part is really unfinished- most effort is concentrated on the parts that show on cameras. It works for the video? Seriously, I love that stuff.

Nino was the closest to us when they had the water blasters. He looked like he was enjoying himself. (I'm happy that I got to see both Nino for this segment today and Matsujun during this segment on Friday, because from what I remember of Shukudai-kun, I think they'd enjoy it the most.) We weren't close enough to be hit by the spray, but we could see him pretty well. They need to give these guys waterguns more often.

I hope they include both MC segments for a dvd release, because it was incredibly interesting on both days and you KNOW they were filming. Also because I'm going from memory, I don't remember all of the details aside from the fact that they were incredibly interesting.

Yesterday there was the bit where Ohno reveals that he's choreographing one song in the upcoming concert and that it was essentially on Matsumoto's orders. So Matsumoto asked him if- if asked- he'd do all of the songs in the concert and Ohno backtracked quickly, claiming that it would be like a concert centered around him. Heavily implying that he didn't think it would be interesting, please don't volunteer me for extra work, Matsujun. At which point Matsumoto asked the audience if we'd like to see something like that, which was our cue to cry that yes, indeed we would.

Today they talked about what various members thought was stood out about this concert. Matsumoto thought it was the helicopter entrance, and he apologized to Sho because he had heard from Nino that Sho's hands were shaking. Sho claimed that he was actually okay with helicopters because helicopters have floors. Cue disbelief, but Sho insisted. Also, Nino also thought the helicopter stood out- oh, sorry, did they speak about it already? (He had been backstage changing during the previous conversation.) No, it's okay, they'll talk about it some more. Nino had to run backstage again to pee, which led to a discussion about how he does what he wants (or is carefree? I don't know, I usually hear the word they used to describe the nature of cats,) and oh, doesn't he look like he had just eaten something sour? Which segued to a bit about eating lemons to refresh oneself, but I kind of lost track of the conversation at that point. (Also, where the hell did Nino go, as he was pretty quick about it? I guess they had somewhere on the inside, but there didn't appear to be a lot of space backstage.) They also spoke a bit about Believe and the dangers of some part of the choreography, though I didn't catch exactlly why they thought the footing(? I seriously forget?) for the jump was risky. It involved a bit of a cappella and a demonstration of said move, which was really cute. Sho was MCing the MC segment, so he was the last to leave to change, and he almost took the wrong door, which the other members were quick to point out.

Nino's yakiniku anecdote was during the VTR and not the MC. I'm seriously blanking on what he talked about during Friday's MC, as you know he has to have said something. My strongest memories of the MC on Friday was the choreography bit I mentioned earlier and Aiba and Ohno recounting when they found out that they were going to Hawaii. Aiba tried to make Sho take on Johnny's half of the conversation.

(Incidentally, during the vtr Aiba said it didn't sink in that Arashi was a permanant unit until the second single.) Oh, and Aiba was really cute when he was promoting his movie. He essentially made the same joke on both days, but it was really cute and an actually funny joke about how the movie wasn't even airing in Hawaii. I think they went into more detail on Friday. (Not that much detail. It was based on a book! which was based on a song! written by some guy whose name I don't remember offhand and am too lazy to look up!)

I think part of the reason they moved performances around the venue is to take advantage of the sky behind. Even though Arashi shows tend to fall at dusk, the stage and arena walls usually block the view of the sunset. It was hard to really appreciate from the angle we were in (for which I was thankful, as I enjoy my eyesight and prefer not to be looking directly at the sun,) but from what I could see of the video feed, the background looks spectacular on film and this concert dvd will be amazing. They used two different stages to take advantages of two different levels of light during the sunset. The towers stand against the dark of the night sky and you can totally see the fireworks in the background at the end- a view that is usually blocked. I hope the people watching in Japan were impressed, because I had the feeling that they were really taking some awesome footage.

It had been threatening to rain from the beginning of the concert. The humidity was high. The sky was turning a bit gray. You'd feel a drop, maybe two and wonder if you were imaging it. We were thankful when it started really raining shortly after the last vestiges of the sun faded after the Hawaiian-style segment. The humidity had been nearly unbearable and it was a really refreshing light rain. I was amused to note that the rain started during "Summer Splash."

A few songs later, it was seriously pouring. Everyone got soaked to the bone. Also of note was that the field was completely mud. I was actually really pleased about this. It was hot, and no one's microphone failed this time, though we did see Nino furtively trying to dry his off right before a solo line. Also, I've always thought that lighting effects look really cool when viewed through the rain. It was really reminiscent of the water screen projections. It's going to look incredible on film. I was worried about the pyrotechnics, but I didn't notice any decrease from last night. (There's this really incredibly cool thing they do during "Dare mo Shiranai" where they shoot flames in all of the member colors. It took me a while to catch on what they were trying to do last night, but I liked it so much that I especially watched for it tonight.)

In the DVD's, you see girls putting on hooded towels when it starts to rain. I don't think it keeps you any drier, but it does help keep the water out of your eyes.

I'm not a great fan of when they hire professional backup dancers; I usually find it pretty hit or miss. The only ones tonight are fire dancers during Monster, which was excellent. There is a video effect that looks like an infinity mirror, and Arashi, in front of it, with SPINNING WHEELS OF FLAME is really a sight to behold. (Actually I was looking for the colored flames during Monster, was disappointed I didn't see it, and didn't realize that I was mis-remembering the sequence of events until "Dare mo Shiranai.")

At one point, I saw Nino spit out a mouthful of water, despite the fact that I didn't see him taking a drink, and I honestly think that it might have been rainwater. The rain was really heavy at that point.This concert was the very first time that I've seen Ohno's hair gel (or whatever miraculous substance that they put in it) actually give out.

The rain stopped during Kansha Kangeki Ame Arashi, and I find that hilarious. And also a total relief, because flying a helicopter at night is dangerous enough, at night during heavy rain is really risky.

Aiba was really cute during the final thanks segment. He only stumbled over his words once tonight, but he turned around to hide that he was crying. (Jun: Face forwards!) It made sense, as the 24 hour tv letter was about 10 years ago, and they STILL haven't stopped ragging on him about it. (Which is absolutely wonderful. We need to be reminded that Aiba broke down crying while reading a sappy letter on national television. Often. Perhaps on a daily basis.) With the rain, it was really hard to tell if it was water or tear tracks, but it seemed to me that everyone's eyes looked kind of red.

The ending of the concert yesterday, was a real shock, but we were expecting it today. I wonder if difference would show up in the dvd footage. I also wonder if some of those screens were ruined, because a few of them were malfunctioning, but most were just out completely. It was too bad, as they were supposed to be flashing photos through the years, with each member on a different screen. They ended up just turning them off completely, which just looks better than only running half of them. (I've heard that running electronics while wet totally fries them.) Incidentally, I think someone mentioned that Ohno was a "rain man" yesterday, which was humid but dry. No mention of that today, but ahahahahaha, Ohno.)

Getting out of the venue was kind of interesting with all of that muck. We ended up just agreeing to use our pre-determined meeting point and trying do our best on the way out. A crowd + a field of mud + carrying muddy chairs = how the heck did mud get onto that part of my shirt? I crossed towards the back in search of firmer ground- the moving stage tracks were unexpectedly slippery. The back of the venue was that orange portable net-type fence and a few people must have made a gap in it and went out that way.

(The tall 12 ft fences are only on the front and sides. Incidentally, you enter through the area behind the stage.) I had already bought the Arashi-labelled bottled water, so I was following that group, but they closed it right before I got there and I had to veer left.

We took the path along the lagoon-side back to the parking lot, with a quick detour to view the yacht that Arashi debuted on. It was tiny. (Arashi went to look at it during the VTR segment, and they were surprised at the size.) We could have gotten closer for a better view, but the path to get above it was all muddy grass and that was not a thing that was going to happen.

The view of the stage from the lagoon is incredibly pretty.

Although it seemed more together when we first arrived, parking was a nightmare to get out of. There was nobody directing traffic, but I really don't see how there would be a safe place for any attendant in that mess. It took a bit over an hour to get out of there. It looked like the taxi queue this time was better organized. The road out was pretty jammed, so we had a lot of time to discuss the concert. They had limited concert traffic to one of the two exits to Ko Olina which meant that the line barely moved at all.

All in all, it was a pretty amazing experience on both days. I was in D1 the first night, and on the way home all I could say was that I couldn't believe how close we were to Arashi. Not just because we actually could go to the concert- which was a miracle in and of itself- but because, even in that section, we got REALLY CLOSE to Arashi. The moving stage went by and there was also the Hawaiian songs segment. There were so many things going on in different directions that it was sometimes difficult to tell where to look. When the seating chart was released, I remember wondering which aisles would be the ones that Arashi would travel and the answer was "most of them." D3 was pretty interesting because of the proximity to the hanamichi and the rising platform in the center. I had a much better view on Saturday night, but I wouldn't have managed it without my experience Friday, where we were wondering where in the section we ought to sit.

When the tickets were first announced, I had people who had never heard of Arashi tell me that they were shocked by the price of the tickets. (Actually, people who actually subscribe to the Hawaii Business News feed found out before I did, despite the fact that I had subscribed to the international Johnny's newsletter AND had run nearly daily searches on the subject from May through the announcement in August.) I'm not sure if they sold out or not- I know that they ended up doing the last of the KZOO tickets by lottery in the end, and ticketmaster was just buggy as hell. I think we were extremely lucky just to have a way to get tickets without having to pay ridiculous scalping markups. Any seat in the venue tonight was, in terms of distance to the stage and members of Arashi passing through, the equivalent of an arena floor seat and a nice one at that.

I met a lot of interesting people with like interests. Most of them had flown in for the concert.

I enjoyed myself, despite that fact that it showed that Ko Olina, while pretty, kind of sucks as a concert venue in terms of ability to accommodate crowd control. (Like I said, they were the ones who TOLD people to move over and compress to the other side of the street. It was complete chaos.) I'm really sad about the complete failure at crowd control; it gives a really bad impression. And honestly, about the way they handled the hotel guest's complaints? There were some saying that they wished the hotel would offer to switch them to a different property, which was ironic because I'm sure there were plenty of girls on the tour with the deluxe hotel package in Waikiki who would have switched with them in a heartbeat. They were trying to sell Ko Olina as a vacation option, but from my limited interaction with the resort staff, I was not impressed in the slightest. Comparing it to the staff at say, other hotels I've been to recently, it was really terrible. I know that most of the problems stemmed from poor planning by concert organizers, but I got the distinct impression that the Ko Olina management (and the Marriot in particular) made things decidedly worse. By the way, I saw them trying to sell $15 chill towels to the tour group and other ridiculously expensive Ko Olina branded goods, which was kind of hilarious. (No, I don't think anyone was buying it. I think they received these little blue neckerchiefs that cool when you wet them for free from a tour sponsor booth in Waikiki.`It said "eco" on it, so it might have been Hitachi? They were handing out a bunch of Ko Olina fans inside the venue on Friday, but didn't on Saturday.)

I hope that everyone gets home safely.

Also, my Mother- who only came Friday night- has become a Sakurai fan. He was by D1 the most often, and she thinks he looks way more handsome in person. She didn't really know much of Arashi, but she saw some bits of my concert dvds and wanted to see what it was like. She was really impressed.

Also, also, I spent well over 3 hours writing that, what the hell? That took forever.

re: news reports

2014-09-20T11:44:34Z

- The Ko'olina mariott notified guests that they received notice about 45 days ago, and it was previously set to be held in Waikiki. (Which begs the question, where the hell in Waikiki can you fit this thing?)

- Tom Moffatt said he hadn't heard of them before 6 weeks ago. there was a post on his facebook in may, but the most probable explanation is that someone else runs his facebook page, which would make sense. (He noticed that most of the fans knew to look for the helicopter.)

- I find the fact that the lighting/staging industry calls moving parts "gags" inherently charming. (I'm also charmed by said moving parts, but I freely admit that I am strange like that.)

- it was really hard to decide where to look. Really difficult. Things were going on EVERYWHERE.

- I wish I had worn covered shoes, it was dusty. I'm thankful I decided against the wedges, though, even if it would have been really cute with my outfit. There were a ton of people with hats and umbrellas, so it would have been okay for me to bring mine for the line. Well, hindsight.

- As a mother/daughter experience, it was pretty cool. Also Mom likes "Ai wo Utaou."

- Uchiwa and muffler towel. the weather demands it. Also, the local craft store has a machine that will die cut paper in to shapes and they let you use it if you buy the supplies there. One of said shapes is a template that fits a normal sized uchiwa, which is an awesome thing to know if you were say, planning a wedding. (It also has box shapes. My aunt was like "Did you know how many of those I cut out by hand?!? D:" It is also really fun to play with.)

- They opened parking way earlier than originally stated, which was cool.

- People were getting kind of peeved in line. Namely the line for the bathroom. Did I mention that there were only two stalls in the nearest restroom? There were only two stalls.

- Tour buses were booked solid. Apparently so was Waikiki? I really felt for the girls in the taxi queue.

- the heat really kills the appetite.

- I'm running on less than an hour of sleep because I accidentally woke up at 6 am.

random arashi blast notes, Friday edition

2014-09-20T09:44:17Z

The line organization was terrible.There were no barricades save for the first section of the crowd, which made it easy to leave to go to the bathroom, but I saw a lot of people cutting (not joining a group that was already waiting, but cutting) once they started to let people in.

Speaking of leaving to go to the restroom, there was a severe lack of facilities. The one closest to the line? Only two stalls. I also saw a long line outside a single portapotty by the parking lot. This other lady I talked to said she expected that portable bathroom trailer, which was what we were expecting as well.

It took forever to get out of the parking lot.

The staff at the restroom said they were closing it at four. While in line, I heard something like an announcement that they were letting people in at four, which worried me. I ended up going to the next closet one, which was....pretty damn far away. At least a quarter mile, I'd say. No line, though.

I have this theory on how one should navigate those steel barricades they herd people through and I get kind of pissy when (not that there were enough of those for the outside, but maybe they'll learn for tomorrow? I wish I could see the entire line.)

The seats they gave us were pretty awesome, though we didn't use them much. They're really comfortable, so they came in handy.

I now understand why they always have those towels on the goods list. I was thankful I had mine. My cousin and her friend bought one each on the way in. The people behind me in line went to go buy one. (IT IS FOR THE SAME REASON THAT I ALWAYS ADVISE PEOPLE WHO WILL BE TRAVELLING TO JAPAN TO BRING ONE OF THOSE HANDKERCHIEF-TYPE WASHCLOTHS. WE WERE SWEATING BUCKETS.) note that this is also why bringing an uchiwa is an excellent idea. I might bring my normal-sized (as opposed to jumbo) one that I made as a backup, because the cardboard I used to make the large one negates the....flappiness of a good uchiwa. They also gave away free koolina fans once you got inside, but that does you no good in the line.

That said, my favorite kind of uchiwa is a free uchiwa and there is a reason they give them away in the summer in Japan. There is also the time one of my classmates found one in the restroom during a summer trip, which was duly dubbed the toilet uchiwa and a source of great hilarity. And utility. And grossness, but it was pretty funny.

Setlist was pretty much a retrospective of singles, as expected. No member solos, which surprised me.

They use the entire place- every section is a good section, though ours made it hard to see the main stage. They did a lot of planning to take advantage of the sunset. Also, a ton of fireworks, which started earlier than I expected.

They had a Hawaiian-style songs segment right next to us. People rushed the stage. Mom watched our bags, so we went too. (This is when I got close enough to Nino as he was leaving the stage that I was fairly certain that he saw that I had made an uchiwa with his name on it. Must have been within 20 feet? That was cool. Speaking of which, I envy the...laser cutter? They have at Tokyu Hands and the like? So cool. Some of the other fans I saw were also impressive. The girl next to me had one with the design made out of rhinestones.) (finding the way back from there took some doing, but some guy had his kid on his shoulders in front of us pretty much the whole time, which was obnoxious, but also the only way I found my seat.)

Some of the edits the Japanese fans made to the concert merchandise were really cool. Highlights include a peasant style blouse+skirt made out of the aloha shirt, a lot of changes to sleeves, and edits to the tote bag. Also this kid dressed as Kaibutsu-kun, so cute. There was someone as Taka from Ohmiya SK near me.

oh god, I found the tumblr of these girls near us in line.

The little carts that they push them around on? Never ceases to amuse me. But we were by the moving stage tracks, so they didn't come down our aisle.

I forget which song they had the high-pressure water guns on, but Jun was nearest to us and he looked like he was enjoying himself, but we weren't close enough to get sprayed. Which would have been nice, as it was really, really hot. (And yet not as insufferably hot as last week.)

Member color flames during Monster! Also, I'm not a great fan of most of the choreography when they bring in professional backup dancers, but the only ones here were fire dancers, which brought about a really cool infinity mirror-type shot with the main screen.

notes: Sho came by first! (With Ohno on the other side.)

Matsumoto also came by on his own. We were able to get really close to Nino when he and Ohno left the the Hawaii segment.

When Ohno came by later, we were close enough to see sweat dripping.

Sadly, aside from the brief bit after the Hawaiian-style songs segment, we didn't see much of Nino (or Aiba for that matter) at all, though he came by with the rest of the Kaze Trio on the moving platforms at the end. (We saw a lot of Sho and he is now Mom's favorite.

MC notes: They went to see the cruiser and were surprised about it. They talked a bit about the song that turned into the novel for Aiba's movie. They were really happy to be back.

Aiba told his story about how he found out 3 days beforehand and tried to make Sho be Johnny as he recreated the dialogue.

Ohno talked about how he was asked to record about a week beforehand.

Jun wanted to hunt for the pineapple field. Something about taking private pictures. Sho took some, Jun asked if we wanted to see it. (obviously yes.)

Ohno will be choreographing for the next concert. Sounds like only one song. On Jun's orders. (Jun: What?) Jun wants to know if Ohno would choreograph all the songs if he were so ordered. Ohno thinks that it would be like his own concert, and would people really be interested in that? Jun disagrees and asked the audience for confirmation. (We confirmed.)

Apparently they all went out to yakiniku together right before the debut and Nino went back alone right before they came to Hawaii. The Obaa-chan that ran the restaurant was really excited.

I don't really recall all of the mc, but I was 1) pretty much able to get what was going on- so was mom- so the vocab wasn't that difficult, 2) completely convinced that they really need to include it in the dvd, and 3) really curious to see if there are changes in tomorrow night's commentary. Obviously, if it is different, they need to include both mc's, it is not like we don't know that they were filming.

The sunset (and ocean) behind various bits looked spectacular on the screen, but was hard to see from my angle. It was a very nice sunset, though, and I was thankful to not be looking directly at the sun.

The audience really sucks at chanting "Arashi" in unison while asking for an encore. (Chants kept getting started, but they weren't in time with each other. it took a really long time.) (We did manage to mostly sing Arashi during the encore.)

I noticed a lot of watery eyes during the thankyou's, but Ohno actually cried. This threw off Aiba, who followed him (he admitted that he forgot his speech,) to the point where it sounded like he kind of messed up when he was saying his own name.

Mom thought Nino wasn't really making as much of an effort, but I suck at body language. Mostly this made me worry if he was doing okay. She thought Sho was much more handsome in person. I'm in a different section next time, so I'll see different things. Oh, and also Nino's butt was definitely pointing in our direction for that one bit of paradox. short jackets this time, excellent.

On a related note, the weather was really fucking hot. And humid. Also, when you strike up random conversations with people in Japanese, 99% of the time it will be about the weather. I don't know why, but it is so. (The people near us in line were pretty cool. They praised my Japanese, which is the cue for me to go "noooooooooooooooo" and Mom to comment on how they sent me on study abroad, so really, isn't my current proficiency a disappointment? Well, she didn't actually say the last bit, but it's usually heavily implied. Let's not get started on my accent, which sucks. Mom went to Japanese school, so she can hold simple conversations, and she caught that they actually found the field they were looking for earlier.)

Ohno did his Carnival night backflip, but what surprised me is that I saw cartwheels when they did ARASHI.

I walked right by the tower things on my way out. They're pretty cool. I hope to see more of the moving bits of the stage in my next section- those boxy things that raise up? They shot fireworks out of it this time, and also had some segments off to the side which move independantly. I'M REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO A BETTER LOOK AT THAT.

Using the helicopter is actually kind of genius- it conceals where Arashi came from and where they are headed, which is important as this venue doesn't really have much of a backstage area. Also, it's cool.

TLDR: I am easily impressed by moving bits of the stage, the members all came really close and it was awesome, and if Jun manages to finagle Ohno into choreographing entire concert, it would be the best thing ever.

on the subject of world peace.

2012-04-16T02:59:37Z

This weekend marked the beginning of the local film festival's Spring Showcase. I found they were playing the Phoenix Wright movie. Twice.

"!!!!," said I.

Unfortunately, last night's showing was while I had something else to do. (Surprise birthday party for mom at a hotel buffet- I was determined to eat enough seafood to make up for kid brother's lack of appetite. I ate a ton of sushi.)

The other showing was today at noon. Mom offered to come with me if the time was right, but she said she had to go to the Dalai Lama instead. (I assumed that meant a different movie, but found out during lunch on Friday that no, she meant she was going to see the Dalai Lama give a speech. Which disappointed me as that was something I would have liked to see. Brunch on Friday was red velvet pancakes- excellent.)

This morning, I was still feeling the aftermath of last night. (I had eaten entirely too much food. I regret nothing.) I was on my way to leaving the house, but I realized I hadn't charged my phone properly. Mom offered to take me to the theater, but on the way, stuff happened, including a trip to the ER and I ended up going to see the Dalai Lama instead of Mom. (You know those life alert commercials that are "I've fallen and I can't get up!" It's actually like that, unless they've pressed the button by mistake.) (Also, the hospital continues to have the best fried saimin, although mom claims it used to be better when her friend's mom worked there.)

The speech was supposed to be on World Peace and Aloha, but it was actually on whatever the Dalai Lama decided he felt like speaking about. Which was a bit disjointed, but rather interesting. (He doesn't prepare for speeches because he likes to keep things conversational.)

Important points:
- action creates results
- but not just any action, it has to be reasonable action
- be realistic about things
- your perception is major part of everything.
- fear is okay as long as it's logical. being afraid of ghosts- not logical. Being afraid of a mad dog...you'd be crazy not to be afraid.
- the Dalai Lama thinks President George W. Bush is a good person, but does not think some of his policies were very realistic.
- they bonded over cookies.
- this is an overly simplistic explanation of the speech.

Afterwards I went to have frozen yogurt and was not fast enough to get the check. (I was with my parents friends. They confiscated my credit card while they paid the bill- I felt bad because it was Yogurt Land and they charge by weight there.)

ririkit @ 2012-02-15T13:54:00

2012-02-15T23:54:50Z

Strange dream last night: I had just pulled an all-nighter when I realized I had a paper for a different class due the next day. And I could not find the prompt. And I was inexplicably still in high school.

Also, so I don't lose it, my "I AM NEVER GOING TO USE THIS RED, AM I?" -themed nails.

(It's raining men by Deborah Lippman with Konad special white on plate m57....and I need to upload this to my regular scrapbook, but that's entirely too much work.)

i spend way too much time on my nails

2012-02-05T08:23:36Z

I've juuuuuust bought a konad nail kit. It wasn't something I was intending to do, it's just that I went to go look at it and it was on sale until today.

(If I had more time, I'd have picked out which plates I wanted in advance.)

Conclusion 1: It's pretty damned easy to use. Less aggravation than actually painting the nails, actually.

Conclusion 2: It does require a bit of hand-eye coordination. I suck at hand eye coordination.

Conclusion 3: I filed my nails crooked. (The shape would have been fine if it was rotated a few degrees right? I have trouble seeing what I'm doing.)

Final conclusion: LET IT DRY BEFORE YOU APPLY THE TOP COAT, MORON. ;____________;

It's cute so I won't redo it, but seriously, that was kind of funny.

ririkit @ 2011-09-28T16:15:00

2011-09-29T02:15:26Z

There are certain points in a book where you are absolutely sure that you have picked a winner.

"I also discovered that the US government employed a 'deputy fish coordinator,' a marvelous title.)"

- My Life in France, pg 172

Oh Julia Child, I love you forever.

and mine? it was impressive

2011-08-09T08:46:35Z

http://www.testyourvocab.com/blog/2011-07-23-New-results-for-native-speakers.php

What they forget is that the people with impressive SAT scores are the ones who are more likely to want to report it.

And, perhaps, be interested in taking this test.

mon

2011-08-07T12:13:36Z

This reminds me- I need to look up the family crest.

I had thought that we had "wisteria," but apparently on Dad's side there's 九枚の笹　（きゅうまいのささ） (nine grasses)　(grandpa?) and 桔梗（ききょう）(chinese bellflower)(grandma???).

Not quite sure on Mom's although one of her cousins that mon are usually passed down through the maternal line, and we confirmed with her mother that SHE was an 揚羽蝶（あげはちょう） (swallowtail butterfly) which means that therefore grandma, mom, and I all share that crest.

WHICH LOOKS WAY COOLER THAN THE WISTERIA CRESTS, EVEN THOUGH I DO LOVE WISTERIA. ♥♥♥ (I also really, really love kikyo- icon related)

Downside is that "Ageha" is associated with a certain breed of kogal. XD

ririkit @ 2011-06-11T16:58:00

2011-06-12T02:58:30Z

I've been meaning to get a hula hoop ever since we've got Wii fit.

The hula hoop mini game is my best game, so I had been looking for one. Most of them were depressingly expensive, though- okay, so the only ones I saw were at the Disney store.

So you can imagine how pleased I was to see them at the supermarket (!) for $2.50 each.(!!!) I ended up coming home with a couple.

Mind you, I've never been able to hoop in my life. The last time I had tried it at all was in elementary school, and I was terrible at it then.

It turns out that I'm still terrible at it now. (A sense of rhythm? I have none.)

I was trying it out in the living room, and Dad came out to see what the noise was. It turns out that he knows how.

[edit: this is one of those things where even googling youtube how-to videos does not help. IT'S LIKE TEACHING SOMEONE TO WHISTLE BY TELLING THEM TO PUCKER THEIR LIPS AND BLOW.]

naturally, this is all because of plants versus zombies

2011-05-20T10:46:03Z

The girl who composed the soundtrack to Plants versus Zombies also has a cover of Ue wo Muite on her youtube account.

Which of course made me think of Lili Marlene.

And in the same genre, The Moon Represents My Heart.

Which reminded me that if your class is playing a round-robin game where the number of sentences the class says in Chinese equals the number of extra credit points the class will receive on their next test, that is NOT THE TIME TO ATTEMPT TO FORM COMPLEX SENTENCES, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE GOING TO STUMBLE OVER THEM.

(I generally fared well on oral language exams, even if my accent sucked.)

Anyway, in her blog, she said that she got her father to voice the zombies in the Japanese version of the ending theme- trying to imitate the voice of a game show host.

He didn't really sound like that, but I started thinking of the Cocorico "live on $100 for a month" segment (which wasn't so much of a game show as much as a "let's be mean to minor celebrities" sort of thing. I think it might be possible to make spaghetti carbonara entirely in the microwave, although the Parmesan cheese might be to expensive to use. (If you used a tiny bit of what they sell as cheese in Japan, you might be able to wing it.)

I need a HEY LOOK, I HAVE A KNIFE icon

2011-05-14T08:25:09Z

When I was very small, we used to have a jabon tree in our backyard.

My aunt lives there now, but it turns out that the tree still gives fruit. (She hadn't known that I had liked it, but it's really tasty- I hadn't had it in years.♥)

She brought some over the other day, and it turns out that she gave us six! (Eating jabon is easy- the fruit lasts and it's very tasty.)

It took well over an hour for me to break one apart. Not easy. :[

(To put things into perspective, these pomelo are close to the size of my head and the rind is at least an inch thick.)

ririkit @ 2011-04-21T23:12:00

2011-04-22T09:13:08Z

Ohhoho. I might need to watch this one.

(Note 1: The main characters names are Taka and Yuuji.)
(note 2: I sometimes watch "Partners" and I like it.)
(note 3: thank you karekano. I saw Partners and I was like I WATCHED THAT SHOW! <3)

Shige's going to be on that Suntory cooking show. I plan to watch it, even if the only beer I really like is Sapporo. (Hopefully I can find the episode somewhere. Although he's making eggplant pasta, and I'm not so sure about cooking with eggplant. Sure, I'll happily eat it, but frying it myself seems like a pain. I forgot who was guesting for that one, but the gyouza episode was fairly helpful.)

ririkit @ 2011-04-20T01:36:00

2011-04-20T11:36:07Z

I forgot to mention that I bought a container of Charity Pot and a bar of the Japan fundraiser soap from Lush yesterday. (The salesguy informed me that the company donated the materials as well, so all proceeds went to Japan. I was mildly surprised that there was a salesguy at Lush.)

The soap is orange and cinnamon and is supposed to look like the Japanese flag, but seriously, the first thought that comes to mind is "fried egg." I rather like it.

Oh, and a bottle of American Cream shampoo. That's nice too.

current honey count

2011-04-09T07:52:58Z

1 largish jar. (24 oz, wildflower, raw, from somewhere not that far from my house)
1 not quite as large, but not small jar (16 oz, macadamia, unheated/filtered)
2 bears (also macadamia)
1 bear (from texas. yeah, I don't know either.)

ririkit @ 2011-04-01T23:32:00

2011-04-02T09:32:11Z

Cactus for dinner tonight.

Mostly because I was curious and it was there.

ririkit @ 2011-03-11T08:24:00

2011-03-11T18:24:46Z

Just woke up.

I have no clue what's going on, but apparently school's canceled.

It will either be a very quiet day, or a very sucky day at work- I don't know which, but the electricity is still working which is always very nice.

I stayed up til 2, though. sleepy. ;-;

Ah, and someone thoughtfully posted about the saftey of various JE groups! Still no idea about that one newscaster's father, though- even though he said the dad lives on high ground, who knows. We were flipping through the channels, so I don't remember which one he was on. Which means I probably won't find out. :[

edit: just saw a time lapse of Kona. Wow. Nowhere as near as bad as it was in Japan, but it's really, really nice that we had a lot of warning.

she is not a cat

2011-02-13T03:45:48Z

一万円札が千円札にくずれる瞬間
私は少しだけ悲しくなるのです
千円さつが百円玉にくずれる瞬間
私は少しだけワクワクするのです

なぜでしょう

I think I'm going to like this drama.

edit: IT IS THE MAIN CHARACTER'S HUSBAND'S BIRTHDAY? HOW SHOULD THEY CELEBRATE IT?

OBVIOUSLY THEY SHOULD THROW A SURPRISE PARTY AND HIDE WITH MONSTER MASKS WHILE WAITING FOR HIM TO COME HOME.

hiking near haunauma bay

2011-02-07T04:48:09Z

The humpbacks were active today-

We heard one breach before we saw it.

It was a good day for whale-spotting.

ririkit @ 2011-01-31T20:16:00

2011-02-01T06:17:24Z

Basically, the past few days have been an exercise in why, if at all possible, one should never, ever use UPS.

(I think I've had exactly one time where they didn't piss me off horribly, and that was the time dad commanded me to camp by the door waiting for his package to arrive. And retrospect, that's pretty annoying in and of itself.)

I wouldn't be half as annoyed if I weren't paying extra for inferior service.

nothing in this post is actually spoilerific, but it's getting cut anyway

2011-01-21T10:48:05Z

So I've just gotten back from seeing Gantz. I was kind of annoyed, because I had intended to arrive early, but I only ended up being about 20 minutes before the start. (Luckily, I still ended up with a decent seat because I went alone.) I missed most of the pre-show, but the trailers reminded me that I need to sit down and actually watch the taste of tea.

Actually, funny story: I happened to mention to my aunt that I was going to a Japanese movie tonight. I told her that it was an action movie, and that one of the leads was in a boy band.

"Is it a five-person band?" she asked me.

It turns out that my cousin's wife also likes Arashi. (We called my cousin to see if they could make it, but it was very short notice and they already had plans. But the fact that my aunt made the connection- she knew Arashi by name- was pretty impressive. It was because of this year's Red and White, and they usually don't even watch it.)

I haven't read Gantz in ages, but they seemed to do a fairly good job of adapting it to a movie. Several major plot elements were changed- but considering time limitations, they were changes that tended to make sense. I was kind of disappointed that they cut out the dog, but considering budget and logistical restrictions, it was a good move- especially if those suits cost $5k apiece.

(And I got my dose of OH LOOK, PUPPIES AND KITTENS IN GANTZ SUITS from tensai shimura doubutsuen, which featured PUPPIES and KITTENS in GANTZ SUITS and also very large and very small baby bunnies. My only complaint with that segment was that I thought there ought to have been less Nino playing with dogs and more Nino playing with kittens but 1) they were at some sort of puppy land and 2) I am obviously biased.)

The Onion kid was kind of creepy. (In a cute sort of way. I still feel sorry for it.) The tanaka alien design was kind of beautiful. (Probably my favorite alien. Seriously. Even with it's stupid 80's radio cassette player.)

Also, having been inside dimly lit museum rooms with lots of buddhist statues, I can personally attest to the fact that it is creepy. (Although not as creepy as the statues in the Asian/Pacific islander rooms that got even less traces of outside light. My Hobby: going to the Art Academy on weekdays and wandering around setting off all of the motion detectors.)

The dub was hilarious. Maybe they decided that no matter what they did, people weren't going to like it, so they might as well take the comedy option? The timing was off and the acting was horrible- kind of like the old Godzilla movies, though What's Up Tiger Lily? was what immediately came to mind.

That is to say it went straight through bad and right into kind of inspired.

Oh, and while they translated it as "Tama" (probably for brevity,) the location of the first mission clearly read "Ichinomiya." Adorable. ♥

Near the end, I was kind of questioning the movie logic, though. But we all know that questioning action movie logic is kind of a losing battle.

As for the interviews: if you consider the length of the plane ride, even if they managed to sleep, it was a very long day!

They went very well, in spite of the fact that a few of the questions were kind of stupid. I thought the MC was a little lame at first, but he wasn't terrible and he did have his moments. It was kind of clear that he wasn't used to MCing and he kind of came across as smarmy at times.

(Someone- on the staff, mind, as it was not a viewer submitted question- decided to ask them what they thought of their Oscar chances. It was a terrible waste of time- Matsuyama and Nino had to politely say a lot of nothing while everyone knew that their chances can best be described as slim to none.

Although Matsuyama said something about raising awareness of Japanese movies set in the present day. They didn't mention it, but a Japanese film won best Foreign Language last year and it was excellent. Seriously, people, you want to watch Departures.)

The translation of the interview was pretty good- Nino was funny and his translator (I mentally dubbed him "blond guy") preserved the humor well. They were both clearly amused, which was nice. The two of them seemed to get along well.

Matsuyama went on at length for everything- it was actually sort of adorable. His translator kind of looked like a Buddhist monk...well, he was kind of young, so maybe an acolyte. Except he also happened to be about a head taller than Matsuyama and wearing as suit.

It was fun to watch him fidget. (Matsuyama went on at length about everything. Without giving the translator a chance to let the audience know what was going on- and that's a lot of speech to memorize on the fly.)

All in all, it was a decent evening, even if I have an early shift tomorrow.

ririkit @ 2011-01-17T02:41:00

2011-01-17T12:41:50Z

Browsing random journals.

It brings back lovely memories- one of the very best parts of Japanese conversation classes was that you get to make up salacious (and patently false) rumors about your classmates. :')

ririkit @ 2011-01-02T03:34:00

2011-01-02T13:34:58Z

In television dramatizations, near death experiences are often characterized by a blinding light- a bright white that excludes all else.

I had one such experience the other day and it was terrifying.

Mind you, we had just come out of a tunnel and were cresting a hill and the sun happened to be at just the wrong angle that you really couldn't see anything at all for a few seconds.

And it was terrifying because at that time, we were on the freeway in a moving vehicle. (I am thankful that I was not the one driving.)

I got the kindle I wanted and 3 copies of super scribblenauts

2010-12-26T10:25:48Z

The King's Speech was an excellent movie. (While watching the credits, the conversation turned to "hey, aren't all those people in the harry potter movies?" Which was kind of interesting.)

My laptop suddenly stopped recognizing its power source unless I have the cord at the most peculiar angle. Luckily, a bit of troubleshooting revealed that it was the cord and not the jack that was the problem. Unluckily, I discovered that out of the 2 spare laptop adapters I had, none had the right specs. (One had the correct voltage, but while one site I checked said that a higher wattage was okay, it was waaaaaaaaaaaaaay higher. The laptop it came from had long since died.)

I ended up buying a portable hard drive so I wouldn't have to pay shipping. In my defense, it was the gold deal of the day and what I'd consider entirely reasonable. OH AND IT'S MOCHI POUNDING TOMORROW. <333333333

I had to do a report on a state in elementary school and I chose Maine

2010-10-21T08:09:14Z

Longcat is long