There are 6 parts in the article below\u2026..
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Part 1: Disclaimers<\/a> Part 1: Disclaimers<\/p>\n This is not a tale of triumph, nor is it a sob story. This is a report of sorts of what some of us come Idols in Hawaii Time. <\/p>\n As a way to start I wanted to be able to set everything I can think of that is necessary to try to make sure the rest of this story isn\u2019t misinterpreted.<\/p>\n I am not from Japan. I am not an FC member, I know people who live in Japan but am honestly not very close with many of them, especially in a way that I could ask them to invest a lot of money even in a temporary sense to support me in my fandom. I am from Hawaii, born and raised. I believe in the Aloha spirit, to be nice to the people you meet, to treat them well, to be respectful. I also understand and try to adhere to a lot of the rules of Idol following. <\/p>\n I am neither a rich man nor a poor man. I have had enough money that I could buy goods from Japan, I\u2019ve kept up buying some of my favorite videogames through the years, while still keeping up with purchasing goods off and on since my \u201call in\u201d joining of Momusu fan some time in 2006. In contrast I don\u2019t have a smartphone, the only reason I got a tablet was because I am horrible at keeping track of folder paper for notes. Even in this state of financial flux my first trip on my own was to AX for Morning Musume. The first time I went on an international trip was to Japan for Gaki\u2019s graduation. I try to do my part, pay my price, and make what I have worthwhile.<\/p>\n I admit I am human. I am weak, I do get jealous knowing that these things and people I love are further away than what appeases another person. I try not to let it bother me, we all have a price to pay for our hobbies and interests, but it would be careless to try to make off like I\u2019m entirely without fault or jealousy. I would hope as you read this though, that you also understand I try to adhere to a code, to an understanding of respect as I do what I do.<\/p>\n That said, if I haven\u2019t scared you off with this kind of flat and to the point disclaimer, keep reading , it might get more dramatically written as I go along ^^;. I know I know, you stuck around through that whole disclaimer and here I am talking about before Momusu is even here. Just give me a sec here, because I\u2019m going to say the thing you guys probably already know about it, just to help set the mood.<\/p>\n That day when the Sayu grad announcement happened, I felt my heart break a little. We all knew it was coming, and it is for the better you know, Sayu knows how to go out with a bang; how to be the best Idol she can and that\u2019s to go out on a high note and give it all you can while you can. At the same time, it\u2019s still something you don\u2019t want to be said, it\u2019s almost the utmost example of contradiction (says the guy who calls himself Invisible and is talking to you very visibly =P).<\/p>\n So feeling my heart crack with the news, my immediate prayer was for one last Hawaii tour. And you might think to yourself, \u201cWhy do you care about that?\u201d seeing the disclaimer that I am not an FC member or in Japan, but I wanted to know that for at least one more time Sayu could experience Hawaii as an Idol. And when the news that they were getting a Hawaii tour was announced, that fragment of my heart that was chipping from the news of her graduation lit ablaze, wanting to go out in a blaze, happy that one last Hawaii gets to happen.<\/p>\n Now I am not saying that is the only reason. Of course, the members coming to Hawaii, coming here, means they would be almost literally in my backyard. My hometown, near the world that I have to be in every day, just knowing they are near feels me with a kind of energy I feel like the Japan fans get almost every day. And for one week, give or take a couple of days I suppose, I get that feeling in my body, that extra rush of adrenaline, that hope and dream that I could do more and be more than just that guy on the internet that gushes over how much I love them.<\/p>\n And so, in that announcement, I also felt that maybe I could do something, make a difference in some way. I wanted to try to make it better. Now again I have to make it clear I\u2019m human, there is a part of me that wanted that recognition too, that tiny sliver that everyone probably has in their heart and mind that thinks, \u201cHey I\u2019ll do this amazing thing and then they\u2019ll remember me at least a little!\u201d but that\u2019s a natural thought. And I don\u2019t ever want to feel like I earned it or deserved it or anything, what I mean is I am not special just because I\u2019m in Hawaii, or that I\u2019m \u201cInvis\u201d or anything like that, heaven\u2019s no. I have hope, the same hope everyone has for the best, but most of the time I know better than to let hope blind you from natural, proper expectations, or the logic to know anything I want to do may not work out the way I wanted it to.<\/p>\n Luckily for me, I\u2019m not the only person who wanted to do something. I had friends here, who wanted to do things with me. Our strength together helped us have the courage to try to do things we knew could do nothing in the end, but together we could at least feel we worked together to try to do something magical. We wanted to show the Hawaii spirit so we prepared to do so the best we could. Here\u2019s what you\u2019ve been waiting for they the day they\u2019ve landed, day -1, and\u2026 wait a second, -1? That\u2019s right, for anyone living in Hawaii, the excitement starts at day -1, if day 0 is the optional tours, then day -1 is the landing. Early tour groups, and the girls are sure to arrive on day -1. Naturally, this is an uncharted day, no one expects anything out of day -1, it\u2019s really a chance of fate if whatever you plan to do that day crosses over with whatever they happen to be doing.<\/p>\n After a small misstep in our plans working on how to help spread Aloha, a friend and I decided to head for the mall. It\u2019s true we had no explicit reason for going to the mall but the small chance that we could cross paths with someone. It\u2019s little different from your average teenager going to window shop in some sense, but at the same time I can understand how questionable it still sounds. Yet, given the opportunity we found a reason to be there, so that it wasn\u2019t a trip for nothing.<\/p>\n A walk through the mall isn\u2019t anything unusual. In my free time when going to get a game or look to see if there\u2019s any PBs or CDs for cheap I take a trip to the mall and check things out, walking across the mall just to see what\u2019s changed or you know general people watch. This time with all our walking we found ourselves basically just looking over the normal things. Nothing out of the ordinary, we had no idea what we were looking for really. After doing this kind of thing over and over I got use to the idea that, \u201cit\u2019s like finding a shiny needle in a pile of almost as shiny needles,\u201d you\u2019re looking for someone barely distinguishable from other people, and you\u2019re paying for the search with sweat and exhaustion.<\/p>\n We had just about given up when my friend was in shock. I turn to the side towards where he was facing to see a young woman passing by with a sanitary mask around her neck. Her light jacket covered her top but a prominent red skirt and purse accented her look, and casual flats on her feet. Our brains literally stopped working properly, my friend looked at me saying, \u201cIt\u2019s her right?\u201d and I simply kept saying, \u201cIs it?\u201d My heart sped up in the thought. In all the years I\u2019ve decided to walk around to see if I\u2019d ever see someone, this was probably the first time I wasn\u2019t just getting some extra exercise. The young woman turned her head but never gave us a clear look of her face, and yet for the two of us we were almost sure of what we saw.<\/p>\n It took only a moment before she left our view into a nearby coffee place. We watched in wonder if she would come out the way she came in. We couldn\u2019t approach her, no we couldn\u2019t, it would be foolish to be so disruptive, against our cause, at the same time we wanted to know if we were just kidding ourselves into thinking it was someone it wasn\u2019t. Alas, it was the last we saw of the girl, we sat stupefied in our luck. We weren\u2019t 100% certain of what we saw, we couldn\u2019t really be sure, but we walked away that day without regrets, and happy to know we might have seen something magical and rare. We\u2019re pretty sure now we did. Day -1 ended with us happy. Day 0 happened to expected results. We as a group gathered to work on our plans, and wondered if our choice of meeting might be a good place, but we were just throwing our chances into a slot machine. Day 1 was not a day for us, we weren\u2019t FC members, we weren\u2019t on the tour and Day 1 is certainly the day for FC members. If you followed reports from fans in the tour Day 1 is often indoors, or in private areas, and have them doing all the wonderful fan close things. It\u2019s a wonderful time for fans and Momusu to interact close and friendly. Also because it has them working all day to do things with the fans the girls often do not get time to go shopping or anything, meaning chance happenings or anything are not possible. It\u2019s both an understanding that we shouldn\u2019t do anything and a logical thought that trying to find anyone is foolish in the first place.<\/p>\n Day 2 is almost like a different story. In the olden days if you wanted to see the fans, feel the aura of the fans, they would open a mini-store during Hawaii tours, where fans would line up to buy all the goods they could handle, and where on the last day (usually day 2), we could also get in to try to buy things which were not reserved to the FC participants. Currently that no longer exists, and so seeing fans in motion is fairly limited. <\/p>\n We\u2019re going to fast forward here, because I\u2019m just about as impatient as you to getting to the good part. So basically the big thing in Day 2 is the live performance. At least for someone on the outside the live performance is about as close as you can get to knowing exactly what\u2019s going on. For several tours now, the company has used a certain reserve-able outdoor but enclosed property on a college campus as their location of choice.<\/p>\n While it still is a private event, there is certainly an area of influence it extends to beyond the private zone. Over the years I\u2019ve found the event, and slowly learned about how it works and what happens. And there I found a way I could help, even a little. The Hawaii tour uses a very small part of company staff, using JAL staff, private security, and even employing the college campus staff for the area. Unfortunately the college campus staff, and private security often do not come with any knowledge of Japanese. This means while tour staff is busy controlling bus outtake into the live, the handing out of the merchandise the fans have purchased, and guiding them to their seats, they do not have the manpower to help regulate the bathroom facilities.<\/p>\n At my first adventure to seeing this set up I had seen very long lines in certain bathroom areas based purely on the lack of open area. Over the years I\u2019ve talked with the custodian staff (who is often different per event) and learned they just open the bathrooms, and have no responsibility to guide people to them. The long lines and disorganization often led to time consumed waiting to the restroom, eventually I began volunteering whenever I showed up to help regulate the bathrooms. At first the staff had no idea who I was, but over the tours they\u2019ve gotten use to me being around, and thank me for the assistance.<\/p>\n Now I make signs to help guide them to the restrooms, and during the initial charge I stand as a guide to the restrooms, pointing them to the freer bathroom area of the two in order to keep the lines going smoothly. It\u2019s gotten to the point that I\u2019ve even made a friend of sorts who\u2019s in the FC, though because of the time constraints we hardly get to talk much. Some people remember at least the presence of someone showing them where the bathroom is and asked me if I\u2019m there all the time. I could say little back in the small time passing each other, but I showed my support for the group and made sure to proclaim, \u201cSayu Saikou\u201d to the best I could between pointing them to the bathroom and asking them to enjoy the show. It\u2019s a great thing I feel I can do to contribute to their time here in Hawaii. Granted it has the added benefit over the years of them allowing me to hang around closer than one would normally be able to, but at the same time task myself with attempting to keep unwanted people from getting too close to the performance as well. I feel a little hypocritical sometimes when I have to walk up to someone and say, \u201cThis is a private performance, please refrain from hanging around,\u201d but at the same time I\u2019ve seen people trying to take pictures and record things, both very unwanted by the staff, and turning them away feels like I\u2019m helping.<\/p>\n This tour things this time were a little more frantic. After waiting for the tour buses, we noticed that the bathrooms weren\u2019t opened. We met with the campus staff and learned there was a communication malfunction and we began to worry. The campus staff understood things weren\u2019t the way they were supposed to be, and for the security, while they learned we were volunteers, they had no idea how many people would need the restroom area. Eventually the doors were open and we began to direct people to the bathrooms. The closest call I\u2019ve ever seen for the fans, but one luckily avoided.<\/p>\n Over the times, the staff has gotten more into communicating with us too, the first time they just wanted to make sure we wouldn\u2019t try to go in, which we acknowledged and respected. A couple times later they asked us if we were fans and how we knew it was going to happen. This time, I believe it was the first time a member of the staff shook our hands to thank us. Honestly I\u2019m not sure if they were JAL or UF staff, but they acknowledged we were volunteers and thanked us. We\u2019ve gotten thanks before for helping, but it felt like a big step to be acknowledged in such a way. And our reward was for what felt like the first time we were able to watch (from a good distance away from the actual event) part of the performance. We still had to ask other people to leave, we still had to avoid being anywhere near camera line, and if anyone came out we had to point out the bathrooms, but we were okay.<\/p>\n At the same time these things are unstable. I\u2019ve made it sound like it\u2019s always been slow progress, but it hasn\u2019t always been so. There were times we helped and they still asked us to leave. Times when the custodians felt that the Japanese staff were being less than grateful for our assistance. Times when security has said we were okay, only to later have to shoo us away. And times when we did what we did and still had to just listen to the concert outside of the \u201cprivate event\u201d visible range. We were lucky this time, and who knows, next time I may ask if I can help, even put up signs only to be kicked out immediately after, it is an uncertainty we can never account for.<\/p>\n The show itself is a give or take when it comes to being there. From the outside, the music and the singing is very clear. But because of the way the sound system works, hearing the talks is fairly limited. We sit at an angle almost perpendicular to the stage so seeing them is give or take. But during this time we enjoyed a great show as we could. It\u2019s wonderful getting to hear group songs like Password is 0, One Two Three, and Egao no Kimi wa Taiyou sa in person. And hearing classics like Mikan and Love & Peace remind me that in our own little way we\u2019re living life as best we can. During the live, Fukuchan blew me away with how much she\u2019s grown over the years with her solo singing. And Sayu as always impresses me with her style despite her weaker overall singing power. And it is fun doing hand motions for things like Pepper Keibu and Shanimuni while we stay out of camera and audience view. Of all the things the weirdest thing to see was Riho doing Kaitenzushi, her dance looked like a woman running in place in a circular pattern, and them spinning around. I couldn\u2019t help but laugh at seeing her act so sporadic.<\/p>\n There\u2019s always some fun in seeing the fan interactions, especially since they don\u2019t often include those in the DVDs anymore. The fact that PureMoni seems to be an ongoing theme during the tour made their fan interactions really fun to see, one fan in particular was masterful at doing furi to get the girls to guess songs. We\u2019re far enough away we can\u2019t see much well, but we do get to have fun on the side.<\/p>\n I\u2019m sure there\u2019s people who comment that I\u2019m taking advantage of the situation and interrupting an event. In some ways it may be so, but it is a problem regardless of me being there. There is always an open area, people are always drawn in by the music. I try making the effort to keep the area safe from people trying to record or take pictures, doing my part to be helpful in my amount of disturbance. We could argue about if what I did was bad or not, but I can\u2019t do much other than tell you what you\u2019ve read. I\u2019ve volunteered, done what they\u2019ve said, and I feel I\u2019ve earned what I got. If you\u2019ve been to a concert in Japan you know you can enjoy the sound check outside the venue while waiting to buy goods even if you aren\u2019t going to go in, this feels similar in a way. The show had ended, the fans were getting their handshakes, and we were taking down our signs. We had done our part to help make the tour feel a little better but we wanted to be able to do a little more. Three of us together had decided to put our plan in action. <\/p>\n I won\u2019t go into details about this here, there is a certain amount of discretion necessary at this point as to protect both us and them from any kind of misinterpretation here. I wouldn\u2019t want you to think that we were ignored, but at the same time I wouldn\u2019t want you to think we did something crazy either. For the sake of clarity I will compare what we did to the kind of normal thing people do to celebrate people coming to or leaving from an airport. We wanted to see Morning Musume, especially Sayumi, off with as much energy as we could. We prepared for months, ideas we could do, trying to balance possibility with feasibility.<\/p>\n The balance for what we could do is finicky, you can\u2019t do much, they still go with the same rules they always do. This means you can\u2019t give them things that could hide other things in. You can\u2019t approach them, anything you do is purely just an expression of appreciation the best you can do. Work too hard and you\u2019re basically doing it for nothing or possibly being disruptive, do too little and you\u2019re not doing your feelings justice. After months of planning we had an idea and were putting it into action.<\/p>\n As the fans were getting handshakes we began to work. We tried to work quickly never knowing when they\u2019d finish, and we wanted to make things nice. Time rolled slowly, we did our best, as the last of the tour vans left campus. We sat around waiting, giving each other \u201cOtsukaresama\u201ds and listening to Momusu songs to keep our energy up. The sun begins to set and still they don\u2019t come out. Staff has come out and back in, seeing our work and thanking us for the display of appreciation. We give thanks back.<\/p>\n The sun has disappeared now, as we sit in the low glow of the campus lights, not nearly bright enough for our full display to be effective, and yet we weren\u2019t prepared for such a scenario. Eventually they emerged. We screamed our thanks and \u201cOtsukare~\u201d as we thought, but besides some light waves they walked away in a quickened pace. Most of them barely saw or acknowledged the display, though thanks to a bug, some of them noticed the work we put out around the area. After a long time in the theater, the girls looked exhausted, or at least like they had given it their all. We could do nothing but wave them good bye and wish them a good night. Sure it wasn\u2019t a spectacular reaction, but we got a wave, and in their tired state they seemed to appreciate the effort. At the time we didn\u2019t know what had happened, we didn\u2019t know they were playing around and lying under the Hawaiian sky, that wasn\u2019t known till the blogs came out later. We parted that evening, us fans wishing each other a good night and went our separate ways, not given the best outcome, but not taking for granted what we witnessed on our own. So, I suppose if you made it this far you must be thinking to yourself, \u201cWait that\u2019s it? That\u2019s nothing!\u201d and to that I reply, \u201cYup!\u201d Hawaii is both a blessing and a curse in itself. A couple months down the line, the Alo-hello\u2019s and the FC tour DVDs will be coming out and you will probably get to see all those wonderful things and be as happy as I am that Momusu got one last Hawaii tour, but when they\u2019re here this is what we get. And still, it is one of the most excited times I\u2019ve ever had on the island. The pure thrill knowing someone nearby Idols are doing something fun is had to compare. At the same time I\u2019ve felt the same kind of counter-thrill, the depression over the fact that I\u2019ve been stuck at work instead being out there, going to see if fate would lead me to them.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a special kind of feeling perhaps, one I hope that all the people in New York get to feel at least a little come October. But it comes with that little tiny asterisk disclaimer in the writing. I have very high hopes every time someone comes here, but I have very low expectations. Hawaii is indeed a magical place, you can come here and enjoy the wonders of the Aloha spirit, and the wonderful culture\/atmosphere. You can always hope for the best, think maybe it will be the one, but you can\u2019t honestly be too discouraged when it doesn\u2019t turn out that way. Life isn\u2019t a fairy tale or anything too magical, but sometimes it likes to give you little blessings.<\/p>\n This may have been Morning Musume\u2019s Michishige Sayumi\u2019s last FC Hawaii Tour, possibly the last time ever that Sayu may come to Hawaii. I may not have been able to do anything to make it better for her, but I tried. And I\u2019ll always be happy to know that she\u2019s been here; every Genki PikaPika, every Lalala no Pipipi, and every Shanimuni Paradise reminds me that wonderful Idols have been here. I may not have another chance to help her enjoy Hawaii more, but she enjoyed it, so I\u2019m glad. I\u2019m depressed I couldn\u2019t make it even better, but glad it was good. And that is the kind of world we live in here, good and bad, balanced and unbalanced. And I don\u2019t know if we\u2019ll have it any other way.<\/p>\n I thank you for reading this to the end. I began writing this feeling kind of hollowed out by the experience, just another of Sayu\u2019s Lasts that we all have to check off. But as I wrote I began to question if anyone would really read this. A long somewhat fruitless article maybe? Or perhaps you understand these feelings? I can\u2019t tell how anyone would react to it. But I thank you if you took the time to read it.<\/p>\n So what do you think? Have you ever felt that kind of good\/bad \u201crubberbanding\u201d feeling to your Idol experience? Do you feel guilty for some of the thing you do? Or perhaps feel you could do more after the fact? Maybe you have an experience you\u2019d like to share too? The comments are always open, but please be kind to everyone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There are 6 parts in the article below\u2026..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4OTgd-diy","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nantonaku.mittsi.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51122"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nantonaku.mittsi.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nantonaku.mittsi.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nantonaku.mittsi.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nantonaku.mittsi.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=51122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/nantonaku.mittsi.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51122\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nantonaku.mittsi.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=51122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nantonaku.mittsi.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=51122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nantonaku.mittsi.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=51122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nPart 2: The Pre-days<\/a>
\nPart 3: Day -1: They Have Landed.<\/a>
\nPart 4: Day 2: The Part You Probably Want.<\/a>
\nPart 5: The After Show.<\/a><\/a>
\nPart 6: Conclusions<\/a><\/p>\n
\n
\nPart 2: The Pre-days<\/p>\n
\n
\nPart 3: Day -1: They Have Landed.<\/p>\n
\n
\nPart 4: Day 2: The Part You Probably Want.<\/p>\n
\n
\nPart 5: The After Show.<\/p>\n
\n
\nPart 6: Conclusions<\/p>\n