This was the hotel that Becs and I stayed at while we were at Yokohama. It was a wonderful change from the one we stayed at for the past 10 days, because this one has shopping places linked to the hotel, the room was fantastically cosy, and even the bellboy was good-looking! I was tempted to take a picture of him just to prove my point, but erm, luckily rationality took over ^^
I loved the fact that our room was on the 29th level. There was this serene feeling just admiring the pretty view of Japan from there.
Plus, we could also see Yokohama Arena! I could easily spot the crowd of fangirls gathered outside the concert venue. Hahah, I was even tempted to whip out my pair of binoculars just to see if I could spot Becs amongst them (the tickets were way over my budget, so Becs had no choice but to go without me)!
The day before we were due to arrive at Prince Hotel, we decided to pop down to Shin-Yokohama in advance just to check out how the place is like. It was important because we only had each other to help move our luggage from Ueno to Yokohama after all. Just one day in Harajuku could make us shop and buy non-stop, what's more we had 10 very fulfilling days of walking and exploring at many other places!
Anyway, when we first stepped into Shin-Yokohama, it was a Sunday and gosh, the place was teeming with fangirls! Everyone seemed to want a ticket for Arashi's con - they were all lined up outside the train station and holding handwritten placards a placard that could be roughly translated to: "Please give me a ticket". If anyone needs proof for Arashi's popularity, I guess that scene could well explain everything then.
So many people. It was obvious that fangirls dominated that area - all the fastfood restaurants became meeting places for fangirling and making new fan-friends!
Waiting and hoping that someone would sell them a ticket. I didn't dare take a photo too upclose; the girls may be feeling frustrated already not to watch the concert. Better not incur their wrath!
They were supposed to be the fangirls' last hopes - the scalpers! Haha, Becs did expect them to be more yakuza-like wearing suits, but from what we witnessed, they looked more like fierce-looking uncles in white T-shirts and bermudas!
Negotiations taking place. The tickets were really expensive! I was shocked when I heard that one could fetch something like 30,000yen! The fact is, there really IS high demand anyway.
By the time we finished walking around, it was evening time. Then Becs spotted the queue for the con goods, and it was comparatively a lot shorter since people tend to queue early in the morning rather than at a later time. They wouldn't want to risk going later in the day and find some items out of stock, I was told. We were really lucky, the line moved fast and we managed to buy what we needed in less than an hour.
Waiting in line to the tent selling the goods. Thank god for the fine weather too, not too hot!
The Johnny's staff hard at work even till evening. Many of them had towels around their necks. Becs was pleased, she said their sweat won't drip on her precious Arashi stuffs then! Hahah, hilarious! It's always good to have a friend to chat with while queuing ne~~
Read this on Live Journal:
NewS con on Oct 6 & 7 will be held at Taipei Arena. The tickets will start to go on sale on Aug 10.
I'm excited already? Wld I be allowed to go on another trip after Japan? I'll be testing my luck, I'm praying hard I do pass my job interviews successfully today!
Heard from Becs that there were people in Taiwan who intended to camp there for the tickets one week before that! Wow, I would never imagine myself to have that type of resolution I guess...
*credits to the_lilone
I finally found time and energy to blog about my Japan trip. After I got back, I have been suffering from what I suspect is post-Japan withdrawal symptoms! I missed the great customer service, the delicious food, the endless shopping and fashion haunts, the kakoii guys in suits to ogle at, the wonderful scenery of the country, and of cos, the fangirling!!
It's really so so much easier to be a JE fangirl in the land of Japan itself. Firstly, I was happily buying the tv guides and monthly mags since I didn't have to pay for inflated prices like I do back here in Singapore. Plus, there were billboards and advertisements of the boys at train stations and shopping districts. My only regret was I couldn't see any sign of KAT-TUN's adverts =( The closest I could go was this:
The candy in the KAT-TUN CM...
Johnnys shop! Definitely a must-stop for any fangirl! And yes, all the warnings about the long queues and endless waiting are true. Gosh, Becs and I spent around 3 hours there, not because we were doing our photo and good selection slowly, but because there were queues to go into the shop, queues to go to level 1 after you are done at the basement, queues to pay for all your je stuffs, and queues to wait for your things to be packed. My legs were sore and tired just from the standing, and Becs nearly died too since she was wearing heels ^^"
Alright, we did have a little difficulty in finding the shop still despite researching in advance how to get to Johnny's shop. What took me by surprise was that people actually had to gather at a meeting place first before they were led to the shop. And I had initially thought we just had to wait outside the shop itself?
I spotted girls gathering and waiting around that area and sniffed something je-related. After all, I've read fans' accounts that the key to nearing the Johnny's shop is the congregation of girls hahhah. Plus, the woman right in front walking in the photo was carrying the trademark yellow bag!
It turned out that the 2 guys behind the tree were the shop's staff. They were in charge of giving out time tickets to tell you what time you could be queue for your turn, and splitting the girls into groups before leading them to the shop.
Our ticket to JE land! Unfortunately we could only be admitted at 1.30pm despite reaching there at around 9. I figured all the tickets for the 10am slot (the shop's opening time) must have been given out like hotcakes. I could only imagine how early the girls must have been there in order to get their hands on the first round of tickets!
Took this pic while waiting in line, sorry for the blocked view! Basically we just had to wait at the open space in front of this Meiji-jingumae stn before the person gets the signal from the staff at the shop to bring in the next batch of customers. Johnny is making big bucks I tell you.
The little sloping lane beside this shop will bring us to the je goodies!
The Johnnys shop's staff now wear professional white tops with the logo proudly printed behind. They communicate with one another throught the walkie-talkie too. Everything was done in a systematic and fuss-free way really. I was just impressed with the business-like feeling!
After the long but extremely satisfying visit to the shop, girls being girls, Becs and I could still summon energy to do more shopping at Harjuku. There were of course many more unofficial je shops along the area, and they sell almost anything just to maximise consumerism. There were mirrors with the boys' pics printed on them, stickers, keychains, phone straps, notepads and letterpads, posters (which were actually blown up laminated pieces from the magazines' pin-ups), unofficial photos and smaller versions of uchiwas. You name it, they have it!
These unofficial shops are usually small in size, and many of them have steep steps that leading all the way down. But it's a treasure trove when you go inside, since there are many more photos besides je boys. I was excited to see Oguri Shun's and Mokomichi's photos too! However the photos are not any cheaper despite being the non-official types, they still cost 150yen per piece.
Becs and I had difficulty finding the "unofficial je shop above the bra shop". There was another big shop selling bras before this one, so we were confused for some time. Finally we decided we could probably walk down the street somemore, and there it was! Hidden upstairs! So yes, there IS another bra shop at Harajuku, so be sure to remember that it's the 2nd one! We took pains to locate this one because they were known sell con tickets too, so we were there to track down any bargains we could find.
I guess that has been quite a bit. Should give myself a rest now, or I'll start missing Japan again if I continue! Will update on my Yokohama con scalper experience soon!
