★´∀｀★《charmyful》☆´∀｀☆: Japan 24 Apr

I wake up at about 6am as I have to catch a flight to Hokkaido at 9am

It is my first time to Hokkaido so I am very excited.

The flight is about 2 hours so I reach around 11am. From the Airport, it is a 1.5hour bus ride into the city.

Even though I always fall asleep on buses, somehow I always manage to wake up just before my stop. My special talent I think.

Bare Maruyama Park

The event I am attending only starts at 6pm, so I have plenty of time to kill. I meet up with a friend and take a train (20min from city center) to Maruyama Park and Zoo to spend the afternoon.

Maruyama Park is supposedly a popular spot for Sakura Viewing. However, the trees were all still bare… I was hoping that I would have been able to catch Sakura in Hokkaido at least, but I was a few days too early…

An Early Tree

Next up is Maruyama Zoo! I love Zoos! The Zoo is practically empty and not really all that big. I would say that within 2-3 hours it is possible to finish the whole Zoo. The entrance ticket costs 600yen

The main attraction is undoubtly the Polar Bear as all their snacks and souviners are Polar Bear Themed.

Honestly to me this is a pretty standard Japanese Zoo. Can't be compared to our world class zoo in Singapore rofl.

I enjoy the these 3 attractions the most

1. Big Bird of Prey. This giant eagle looks like something out of a fantasy book! I don't think I have seen such a regal looking bird before

2. Wolf. There are 3 of them. The one in the largest enclosure keeps pacing and staring at his Zoo Keeper, who is chatting with some aunties (likely regulars to the Zoo)

3. Brown Bear. This Bear keeps pacing right in front of the glass. He often stands up and bounces against the glass. Which is kind of scary the first time. He is so close!

Normally I would really enjoy the petting Zoo, but this Petting Zoo didn’t have any baby animals (NO BABY GOATS!?) so it was kind of meh for me.

I actually didn’t find the Polar Bears too impressive.

Some of the enclosures were so small I felt sorry for the animals.

After grabing a quick meal at Matsuya, its off to the Idol Event!

IDOLige 4.25 SAPPORO @ Sapporo Mole

The venue is a live house with capacity of I would estimate as 100 people. But at any given time, there are only about 20+ people on the floor chilling out so it was really cool. Not stressful and everyone can comfortably enjoy the performances from anywhere in the venue. As there are so few people, there are a lot of chance to interact (get response) with the idols. Very Homely feel. 10/10 would go again if it wasn't in Sapporo. Each group/soloist performs about 4 songs per set.

I make friends with a Kikka fan High School Girl. She is so quiet though. I think she was kind of scared of me when I told her I was a foreigner. We exchanged twitter, she is cute hehe

18:00 – 18:30 白井美彩

Misa-tan is my friend's Oshi, future Wife (for real) and solo idol. She is 31 years old this year. Former Fruity Member. She sings 1 anime song and 3 original songs. She has a very strong singing voice. I am quite impressed. Too bad she is not young anymore otherwise I am sure she will be more popular. On the other hand, her speaking voice is kind of Burikko, which I don’t really like haha. I guess guys are ok with it. My friend says that her voice used to be even more high-pitched and child-like so she already has improved in that aspect.

18:30 – 19:00 2代目HAPPY少女

Belong to same company as Fruity group of 6 Youngish (?) Idol group performing lively songs. They are full of energy and just watching them makes me feel tired. They are cute, but not THAT cute. I would say that only 2 out of the 6 members could compare to the underground idols in Tokyo. I am a harsh master.

19:00 – 19:30 寺嶋由芙

This might be my 2^nd or 3^rd time watching Yuffi, I can't really recall. Usually Yuffi, Mainya and Kikka come as a set. Her Mascot Kyara Mania is still going strong. Personally I feel that these 3 solo idols kind of complement each other. The fans of each of the solo idols usually enjoy the other 2 lives as well as it’s a great package to have. I do enjoy her lives quite a bit, not as much as Mainya's, but as a solo idol fan, I can appreciate the difficulties of supporting a solo idol more so than others might.

Her singing is so on point. Her voice is much easier on the ears than Mainya. And when she speaks, there is a ふわふわ感 which I like.

19:30 – 20:00 小桃音まい

Yay Mainya! She announces that this is her last live as a solo idol in Sapporo. She will be forming an idol unit soon. Her idol aura is so strong as usual and she performs her "BANG BANG 鼓笛サンバ" and " Dreamscape☆". The crowd gets really into these songs as well. (Because these songs are so OLD that everyone would know them by now lol) For some reason Kikka fans really love Mainya and participate fully in her live. I guess we all just think alike so naturally we will like the same idols.

During her MC she made several booboos. She was supposed to say "I haven’t been to Sapporo in 1 year!" but instead she said "I haven’t been to Sapporo in 1 month!", when in actual fact she just came to Sapporo last month. This means that she made a mistake which turned out to be the truth, but promptly tried to correct herself, to the wrong statement ("1 year"), when in fact what she originally said was the right statement ("1 month"). This left everyone mindfucked. Lol

Stolen from Kikka Twitter, this is what she wore. Photo does not relate to live at all.

20:00 – 20:30吉川友

KIKKA! As with UUG, I haven’t seen her in 6months (considered long for me). She looks like she lost A LITTLE bit of weight. I would guess its due to her lead role in her Musical "Snow Princess". There are about 5 Kikka fans who flew from Tokyo and 1 Hokkaido fan. As such, I got to stand right in front and enjoy HD Kikka.

She sings "Ha wo Kuishibare" from her new single first. This is my first time listening to this song as it has yet to be released (release date: June 2016) Actually this is a really strange sounding song and I think anyone who hears it will agree with me too. It is written just for Kikka by Omori Seiko (an eccentric idol/composer). She uses so much of her Nasal voice which I don’t really like (Kind of like Ayaya during the Nee~ period). Knowing Omori Seiko, the lyrics are probably really "special" so I have to be sure to check it out when I have the CD.

Then it is 2 of her hype songs "Konna watashi de yokattara", "Akanedisuco" and"Renai Endo". I realized that she was not able to hit some of her high notes. She sounded kind of tired too… Besides that I absolutely adore Kikka's voice because of her ability to change the tone so skillfully. She can sound really sweet and idol-ish in "Konna watashi de yokattara", and then switch to a rock sounding "Renai Endo" without you even realizing. It is so easy to get swept away by the mood she creates.

She closes off with the other A Side to her new Single "Charming Shoubu Sedai". I initially didn't think much of this single, but after listen to it several times throughout the course of my Japan trip, I really like it now (Now in Singapore)

During MC, she mentioned how she doesn’t really come to Hokkaido often. Dwells briefly on her new single and upcoming birthday tour (unfortunately there is no Hokkaido leg). She wishes to come back again. She also has Showroom streaming right after this so she reminds everyone to watch.

20:30 – 21:00 フルーティー

There are about 10 of them. Immediately my eye gets caught by Seina. She looks like THE Hashimoto Kanna. So cute and charismatic. Its easy to fall in love with her because of how easy she makes performing look, and the cheeky smiles she gives the audience.

The only song I know is "Captive". The fans are really enthusiastic and it’s an enjoyable live overall. Could easier be compared to any Tokyo Idol Group I think. When I listened to Captive on Youtube, my impression was that their singing was sub-par, but hearing it real life was so different. The 2 lead vocals (Obachi and Seina) CAN SING so well. 10/10 Performance

21:00 ~ Buppan

I pre-order 2 copies of Kikka's new single, which entitles me to 2 handshake with Kikka.

1. I tell her this is the first time I am seeing her this year and she wishes me "Happy New Year". I say good job on the performance. She asks what I intend to do after the live. I say "Go back Hotel" LOL

2. I tell her I will attend her Birthday Live next weekend. And ask her if she has a new birthday T this year. She says yes, it's in the same colour as the previous one (LOLOL) I tell her I will see her again soon~

I am kind of disappointed that there isn’t any Tokutenkai (Cheki kai etc.)

I also give away the vouchers for the new CD because I would not be able to collect them.

After Kikka leaves, I go to Shirai Misa's Buppan and pay 1000yen for a Cheki and 1 minute of Chatting. For the cheki she suggested the pose of "Yubikiri". Misa is really friendly, although I have a few things to say she her, she keeps talking and doesn’t give me any chance to say anything. I tell her that my friend really likes her and always talks about her. She asks me how old I am and when I tell her, she says NO WAY~ You look so young… We do the thing where she says Im cute, then I say nonono you are cuter. I wanted to ask her about Hokkaido but 1min is over in a flash

After this I approach Mainya's booth. I pay 1500yen for her cheki. I told her this is the 2^nd time Im seeing her and I really enjoy her songs, especially "BangBang Koteki Sanba" (Which I refer to as the Flag song". I tell her that she is TINY. She POUTS and says "NO I AM NOT TINY, I AM HUGE WITH LOTS OF CURVES". (OMG SO CUTE, I LOVE MAINYA) Mainya… is really good at this… I lost to her… I am weak piss… orz