December 2015

Hey everyone, it's finally December and houses are starting to look twinkly and pretty everywhere!! And look, we almost have 1000 fans on Facebook! Just 46 more and we'll be hitting a milestone! Maybe we should host a contest or a giveaway huh? And to welcome the holiday season, here's a quick festive photo! I know you've missed these little Nendoroids as much I did. Thank you as always!

Cool Japan Festival 2015

Just when I thought I've had enough of Japanese girl bands and their catchy songs, Team 8 visits Manila and holds a live concert. FOR FREE. And nothing gets you as quickly hooked up on a band like a live concert. FOR FREE. Something about live experiences gets you so wrapped up in the moment and vividly captures all the singing, dancing and cheering in your memory that you start enjoy yourself so much and like the band, even if you weren't a fan at first. The AKB48 handshake event last September proved that first-hand encounters are very impressionable so I wouldn't expect less from Team 8's concert participation.

Team 8 is an unofficial AKB sister group, whose existence is sponsored by Toyota. While the official 48group in whole are "idols you can meet," Team 8 in contrast are "idols who go meet you." Since Team 8 is one of the newer groups, I didn't get to know them because I purposely refrained from getting into the other sister groups like SKE, NMB (there are just too many now!!) But when I learned that they were coming to the Philippines for an event, I decided to go see them because an unofficial AKB concert is better than no AKB concert lol

For your pleasure and to possibly a trap to lure you into the 48G fandom as well, I've attached my videos of the concert. Sorry about the heads--I didn't get to a good position right away. Enjoy the singing and dancing anyway!

There were two sets of the concert and I watched both with my friends. (the people in the background you can clearly hear screaming insanely--that's us lol) After the event, I found a rekindled interest in this distinct girl band. It helped a lot that the songs they sung were old favorites so I found myself listening to the singles once again. Watching Team 8 perform reminded me why I liked AKB48 in the first place.. The girls' unwavering cheerfulness, their passionate energy, their friendships so close and sweet it makes me puke with envy, their humble appreciation for ALL fans and their unlimited amounts of kawaii that probably come from some secret Japanese hot spring is all so intensely contagious that I can't help but want to sing and dance along them and throw buckets of sunshine at other people as well.

I still don't think I'll be as big a fan like the super hardcore fans out there. But AKB48 will still definitely be on my playlist, even only as a small pill of infinite glee on a dull day.

Jet set in Japan

One of my favorite countries in the world is Japan. I've had the opportunity to finally visit the country last March 2013 with my sister for her Suzuki convention. (read one of my early travel blog entries about it here ^_^) Although my interest in Japan started out childish because of the anime and the music, I grew to love everything else about the country as I learned more about the Japanese culture and history. After my first visit, I was already eager to go back.

If there's something I'm greatly thankful for, it's the opportunities I've had to travel to other countries and visit places not a lot of people can travel to. I was able to go to Japan again this year with my friend vanillux, when she won tickets to Watanabe Mayu's concert. Mayu is a member of the popular Japanese group, AKB48. While I missed AKB events last time in Japan, this time I was able to join their handshake event, which is similar to a meet-and-greet. I'll explain more about this in my next entry.

Japan in September is actually a nice time to visit for foreigners from more tropical countries (like me). The last warmth of summer meets the early chills of a fall, mixing sunny days with refreshing nights. Interestingly, Japan is apparently also another humid Asian country. So if you'll be visiting during that time, wear light and comfortable clothes for the day but bring a jacket or two to keep you warm at night.

For all my 10 days in Japan, these are my top 10 highlights.

1. AKB48 Handshake
2. Tachibana
3. Harry Potter in Universal Studios
4. Going Around Osaka
5. Shibuya
6. One Piece in Tokyo Tower
7. Pokemon Center in Ikebukuro
8. The Apartments
9. Bullet Train to Osaka
10. The Japanese

Next time, I'll talk more specifically about my experiences in Osaka and my second time around Tokyo. I'll also talk about my AKB experience in more detail. I've taken a lot more pictures of my trip but most are artistic shots, which I won't post here. Instead, you can view them on my Flickr account.