山下智久福岡ソロコンサート『ASIA TOUR 2011 Super good Super bad』2011年4月10日

Warning: Will contain a lot of fangirling

10th of April 2011 I went to Fukuoka to go to the concert I never thought I would be able to go to, Yamashita Tomohisa's solo concert. I had been looking forward to this day since the day I heard that I might get a ticket, even the fact that I got a ticket was unbelieveable. Yamashita Tomohisa is a member of the very popular entertainment group in Japan, "Johnny's". He is an artist, whereas he sings in a band, but also plays in movies and tv-dramas. "Johnny's", the entertainment group is very big in Japan, and the most popular band right now is Arashi. If you are not a member of their fanclub it is almost impossible to get a ticket to their show, and they have become so popular that they only do concerts in Tokyo and Osaka. 

Luckily for me my favorite artist of all Johnny's decide to have a solo tour the year I come to Japan, and I am able to get a ticket for it as well!! Lucky!!!

On to the summary of what was one of the best days I have spent in Japan:

Since I did not bring my camera to the concert I thought I would not have any pictures to put up here on the blog, but I did bring my cellphone. I am sorry for the quality, but it is better than nothing, right? 

So on the 10th of April I woke up early, dressed up, and left the house while my host family were just waking up. I took a small local train two stops to a place where I could change for the bullet train, shinkansen, and started my trip to Fukuoka. 

I chose to go by Shinkansen so that I could go and come back on the same day. As an exchange student I do not have the freedom to stay overnight everywhere I want to. Also because I am still considered a child in Japan. 

This is where I live and where the concert was.

alone on the shinkansen I almost missed the place where I changed trains, scary.

I was a bit nervous since I was going by myself and I did not want to be late (I planned so I would be there about two hours before the doors even opened though), but I arrived at Fukuoka at the right time and in good shape. It was my first time in Fukuoka, and I can say that it is a pretty town. 

I went on a bus to Marinmesse, where the concert found place and realised that being two hours early is almost like being late for these concert people. There were already a lot of people standing in line for buying goods or just standing around waiting. There were even two girls sitting in a staircase curling their hair with a curling iron and fixing their homemade fan-shirts, that is true fangirls right there!

I stood in line for 30 minutes to 45 minutes to buy goods, and if you can see (again, sorry for the quality) on the picture above there were a lot of people.

After a while I randomly met some friends who were going to the concert as well, and I went in together with them. Before getting inside there was a baggage check and also a uchiwa check, because you can not bring items that are too big because they can block other peoples sight. Johnny's concerts have some quite strict rules, where for example if you are too noisy or if you move too much they will throw you out. 

Getting inside I got to see where my seat was.

LUCKY!!! 

The seat's are chosen at random, so I was really happy to figure out I was this close to the stage. 

What was even better...

On my row I was the closest to the fence! Closest to the main runway-thing where all the artists walk. I felt so extremely lucky that I could not do anything but to smile and giggle and not wait for the concert to start.

...

And then it started, and I do not know how to explain this and at the same time come out as a sane person. 

But it was fantastic!! I got to see Yamapi in real life, and the concert was really good. 

There were 8,500 people there, 99% girls, therefore very noisy. 

As you can see in this clip, very noisy. I have gone to an only girls school for 8 months now though, so I have really gotten used to this kind of noise, and I think I was very noisy myself standing there. 

And... I can not really fint a way to express how much fun it was. Yamapi was great, insanely handsome(ikemen!!), all my favourite songs got played and there was a great show as well. In Johnny's concerts they have a part called MC where everyone in the audience has to sit down, and the artist talk for about 45 minutes. I could understand all the japanese, and it was really much fun. I got to understand Yamapi's sense of humor even better, and he is super funny! 

BEST PART:

After the MC-part, he jumped up on some kind of rolling carriage (I guess you can call it,) and circled around the audience singing. He came over to where I stood, and started touching some of the hands who were desperately reaching out to him. And when he came over to where I stood, I got to shake hands with him!!! When he came back again, I got one more handshake, and I even met his eyes and smiled. 

UNBELIEVEABLE

and I was so happy I almost felt like crying~ yes, true happiness.

Now at this point some people might be reading this thinking I am nuts, but if you are not a fan yourself you can never imagine how it is. Especially when it comes to fans of J-pop and K-pop, I think they beat everyone on the entire planet in being crazy fans. But it is all love~ And it is hard to explain, so whatever.

8,500 people going out

So after two and a half hours with the time of my life everyone packed their bags with confetti from the concert (everyone here collect confetti) and went out. 

Afterwards I went to see my cute exchange friend Paula, and we had a great time in Fukuoka before I had to leave for my train home. It was super nice meeting her(she is also a fellow Johnny's nerd, Janiisu otaku), even though I was bothered with an terrible headache which I think came from being too excited, and dancing with my penlight and uchiwa for two and a half hours straight. Small price to pay though.

On my way home on the shinkansen I felt I had to take some pictures with my hand after I got to shake it with Yamashita Tomohisa. It is now holy and will always have this beautiful shine to it, hehe. I am not that crazy though, I washed it the same night. The happy expression on my face lasted for at least a week. 

YAMAPI, PLEASE COME TO EUROPE

I LOVE YOU

 THANK YOU!

fangirl peace out