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.
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.
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 2nd or 3rd 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
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 2nd 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
.
It's amazing how much I can get done in just 2 days
actually.
I need to stop writing "actually" so much. Also my posts are devolving into walls of text.