Japan Expo [report]
Ok, my brain is still working in English so i thought i'd write a full English entry for once. I'm sure the last English stuff i wrote here was a report too... ^^;
I woke up way too early cause i'm always very slow to get prepared, even though i don't dress up in special clothes and i'm always very casual.
Anyway, i was supposed to meet Tsao and her brother at Chatelet station around 9:30 but i got there a few minutes ahead. There were already a lot of people who were obviously going to Japan Expo as well and they were really easy to spot for most of them. I wondered if it was as obvious that i was also on my way to the convention but i hope it wasn't. I don't feel like belonging to that "community" anymore...
I read while waiting for Tsao and her bro but they arrived very fast and so did the train to the Parc des Expositions. About 30 minutes later, we left the train and just had to follow the crowd to guess the way to the convention. Tsao's brother hadn't bought his ticket in advance so we left him to queue with people who already held their tickets. I think there were more people but fortunately, the waiting wasn't as long as i had expected it to be. I don't know at what time we got in, though.
We decided to have a quick look at the whole area before doing anything else. We checked JV store's stand without buying anything (i hoped they were doing some promotions but they weren't, too bad xD) and the "traditional" area but didn't see many interesting stuffs. This part was quite disappointing, actually.
The venue was very wide but the different areas weren't isolated enough and, as a consequence, you could hear the karaoke's songs, the cosplay contest and so on at the same time. And when you know that the conferences were held a few metres away, you can guess how noisy and uneasy it was. The CNIT is a better place for such big conventions, in my opinion.
We didn't know where to go afterwards cause we mostly came for the fashion show feat. Anna Tsuchiya and it was supposed to start in the middle of the afternoon. So we basically hung around, went to the Jmusic related stores and answered a visual kei quiz. We forgot to give the answers back, though ^^;
We also found an area where they were broadcasting some PVs extracted from Space Shower TV, the Japanese equivalent of MTV channel apparently. However, we didn't watch that for a long time but i was pretty interested in a PV featuring Bump of chicken's sailing day. Must look for other songs of theirs, which shouldn't be too hard as i know they're pretty famous in Japan.
We then ran into some acquaintances of ours and i got to see two girls from my University, with whom i chatted a bit. One of them was handing out some sheets of paper supposed to warn people against the HK and Chinese CDs sold by some stores instead of the original versions. She seemed to take part in an association which is trying to get Gackt over here, by making people sign a petition. I doubt it could work this way, especially with him... ^^;
Well, we were hungry afterwards and sat to have lunch (an apple only, yay! let's go on a diet, even if it doesn't look effective yet...). Later on, i got a phonecall from takuropop, whom i had planned to meet before. It was a bit difficult to understand anything at all because of the various noises around, and i was a bit surprised so i didn't manage to speak English very well xD
Fortunately, i eventually found takuropop and her friend samie_ling in the kind of garden located right in the middle of the hall (weird thing). We talked together for a while and it was really nice to meet them and get to know them a little more.
However, Tsao and I had to leave because we wanted to wait next to the Tôkyô Style Collection stage so that we could get a good spot. takuropop and samie_ling, on the other hand, were more interested in Plastic tree's conference and sign session which were to take place almost at the same time.
Some people were already sitting all around the stage for the fashion show so we just sat there as well and waited for the beginning of the show, one hour and a half later. Tsao's brother joined us after hanging around on his own and we had to wait for what seemed an endless moment.
When they started showing the Tôkyô Style Collection's logo on a big screen, everybody jumped to their feet but it was far too early and we thus had to stand for the rest of the time which was especially uncomfortable...
Eventually, the show began with a projection of FF7 Advent Children trailers which they displayed in Japanese and then, again!, in English. Although the graphics were very beautiful, the trailers were really long and therefore quite boring. Besides, my ears started hurting because the music was too loud. Then, we were made to watch a trailer of FF7 new video game whose soundtrack is Redemption by Gackt.
I know it's a shame but it was actually the first time i got to hear this song, because i've wanted to buy Diabolos since its release but i'm still waiting and can't be bothered to download it. Anyway, it sounded really good and made me want to buy the CD all the more >_<;
Talking about Gackt, a message he had recorded for French fans was broadcasted afterwards. I was convinced he would have spoken French (since he's supposed to be fluent, as everyone knows ¬¬) and was therefore longing for this ridiculous message. Nevertheless, he didn't bother and his message was all in Japanese with French subtitles. I was quite far away and hadn't a proper view of the bottom of the screen, so i didn't catch the whole thing but i'll try to sum up what he said.
"Hi French people! I'm Gackt. You've just seen FF7 *insert the name of the new videogame here (dirge of something xD)* which i'm singing for. I've my own character in this game and so on and so forth.
I've been in France in summer several times already and i even thought of living there. If i had found a castle i could buy, i would have settled in France (this sounded SO ridiculous, no matter how i love him xD). I'm also planning to perform in France and in Europe, we're trying to prepare a tour. I don't only want to focus on Japan, i'd like to touch China, Europe and... (didn't see the end of the sentence). Please look forward to it!
And now, here is Redemption PV. Watch it please..."
Well, that's all i remember at the moment but it was rather short anyway. And of course, i don't transcribe *exactly* what he said, only the way i can remember it. That's why i might even have used a different way of speaking but believe me, he looked and sounded really self-confident.
Dear guy, i'm still a fan of his but i guess why some people can't stand him ^^; However, i hope he'll indeed come and perform in Europe, even though i'd feel a little upset if he eventually came right when i'm away!
After his PV, there was a trailer for Fullmetal Alchemist's movie <3 It was shown during the convention but i couldn't see it, since it was also at the same time as the fashion show. No problem: when i can understand Japanese well, i'll watch the dvd.
Then, the show began and guess who was the first model on stage? Anna Tsuchiya, of course! She had short blonde red hair and looked very pretty.
I thought she was very impressive compared to the other girls but it's maybe just because i already knew her and were looking forward to seeing her. Btw, in spite of her charisma, i have to say she's quite small ^^;
The show went on fast enough for people not to get bored. The girls were all good-looking (how surprising! -_-) and the clothes they were wearing just look fine on them. I think i liked the first brand best and the second one least because it included a lot of fur (fake or not, don't know) which i find unattractive.
Anyway, i'm not into fashion at all so i didn't care that much. It was just nice to watch that. The music was horribly loud, though, and i was afraid of endind up deaf @_@
When the parade was over, you could see Nana's opening and ending on screen before the curtains rose and Anna and her band appeared. Instead of getting crazy, most people took their cameras to take pictures of the stage. So not only was i far away from the stage and had many people in front of me preventing me from having a good view, but i also had to stand all those hands holding their cameras up ^^;
Therefore, i could barely see Anna and ended up looking at the other members instead. Fortunately, the music was great! I hadn't heard a lot of her songs and i only remembered Taste my skin, which was performed at the beginning (like 3rd or 4th song). I was very glad to hear it live cause i really liked this song and it sounded even better that way.
You know, i didn't expect Anna to be such a skilled singer. From what i had listened before, i thought she was okay but not that good. But her voice was really perfect and stronger than it sounds on CDs. I was definitely impressed and the music itself was wonderful, i think the show turned me into a fan.
I also recognized Somebody help me (one of my fav), which happens to be the opening of an American series called Tru calling. I watched it on tv a few months ago and already liked the opening, that's why i was nicely surprised to hear Anna Tsuchiya sing it.
She performed a good range of songs, contrary to what i expected. I thought she was only going to sing a few songs because the Tôkyô Style Collection show wasn't supposed to last more than 2 hours but in fact, she had enough time to perform lots of songs. Not as a real live, of course, but i was still satisfied.
Nonetheless, i wish she could have had a real live because it's really a different atmosphere. The audience weren't very cheerful, except at the end when she played Rose, Nana's opening that is. It was such a pity cause most of the songs rocked!
The musicians and Anna herself tried their best to cheer everybody up. I loved the bassist who was a talented showman, always encouraging people into putting their hands up and shouting. The left guitarist wasn't bad either, he looked prettier but he was calmer too. I liked the way he sometimes sang along with Anna, though.
I was seeing these two guys best, actually, and wasn't disappointed at all. They seemed to be good musicians and had a few solo parts.
During the MCs, Anna introduced all the members (two guitarists, a bassist, a drummer and a keyboard player or a DJ, i couldn't see) and got them to talk a little. They said a few words in French like "Bonjour" and "Merciiii".
As for Anna, she was being very nice but mostly spoke Japanese and repeated "Thank you" in English. I did understand what she said in Japanese but maybe everyone couldn't, even if it wasn't very complicated (i wouldn't have got it otherwise ^^; ). She often asked if we were having fun but the audience didn't always react in time.
Even so, she said at the end that the crowd was wilder than in Japan and she seemed happy about it and willing to come again. As a matter of fact, when the live ended, she agreed to give a conference. The questions had been already prepared (and maybe it was better that way, you'll see later why...) and made sense. Good point!
Then, twenty people who had won a contest could go on stage and had a CD signed by her. That done, she said goodbye to the audience (some people had left earlier so we were closer to the stage and could see a little more properly) and left the stage.
I'd be glad to get an opportunity to see her live again. I like her songs and how energetic she is! She's also very nice to the audience and was, for instance, highly amused when someone yelled "kawaii" and she answered "arigatou". Too bad she had to perform in a convention, though.
By the way, during the instrumental part of the slowest song she performed, we heard a message like "The little girl called X is waiting for her mother at the information area.", which was really annoying -_-;
Well, apart from that, it was great and certainly the best moment of the day.
At the time when the live ended, Plastic Tree's conference was still supposed to be going on so Tsao and I went to see if we might get a glimpse of the band. How lucky we were, they had actually started with the sign session because Anna's live was too noisy and you couldn't have heard anything xD
People were having their items signed when we arrived at the place. We could see the members very well and we just stayed there, observing. We were then apprised that the conference had yet to be held so we waited there. We ran into Gwenaëlle who was a staff member this time but she didn't really know how things were supposed to go on. No one knew, the organization was crap!
We met takuropop and samie_ling again and waited for the conference with them. It started around 6 and we had an opportunity to get a seat, so we seized it because the live was a bit tiring. However, i had to sit all alone because there weren't many seats left.
The conference was extremely disappointing. It wasn't the band's fault, though.
The journalists were the first to ask questions, nothing more than 2 or 3 questions. The first one was: "if you hadn't been a musician, what would have you liked to be?"... The translator was conspicuously not familiar with visual kei and even seemed to have trouble understanding everything in Japanese. Wtf? He said that Tadashi would have wanted to be a cook and then "oh no, sorry. I made a mistake. He'd have liked to make furniture and stuff, you know..." (i also understood the cook thing, to tell the truth but hey! i'm only a 1st year student and don't have much knowledge yet xD)
And it wasn't his only mistake but i'm too lazy to tell everything about that. I suppose the (kind of) conference would be transcribed on JaME or some other websites.
Anyway, some questions were really ridiculous. The last person in the audience allowed to ask something wanted to know if the band had gone shopping in Paris... Yes, everybody was desperate to learn about that! =_=
Nevertheless, there were more fans than i expected. I mean, i know Plastic Tree is a famous and "old" band in the vk world but i couldn't guess how popular they were in France. So i hope they'll also have a huge audience tomorrow ^^;
Moreover, it was nice to see the members for real. They're not very different from photographs, contrary to other guys, and Ryutarô completely looks like the image i had of him. He was very funny and cute, waving to the fans from time to time during the sign session and bowing everytime they got applause.
And i really like how Tadashi looks and speaks (cause it was easier to catch than Ryutarô's soft voice ^^; ). Akira looks nice too and the drummer (Hiroshi? i can't remember his name) didn't say many things ^^;
That's it, i'm tired of writing this report and anyway, the conference wasn't that interesting at all.
Finally, we took the same train all together and i came home.
My day was both disappointing and nice: the convention itself didn't please me but i'm not surprised, the conference could have been really better but the live was fun and it was nice to meet some people =) Thx!
THE END
I'm sorry, it's very long and Plastic tree's fans are going to be disappointed by my report cause i was too fed up at the end to tell everything in detail. But questions are welcome if you wanna know more about the conference, i'm only too lazy tonight.
EDIT: Maybe i'm complaining a bit more than what i meant, aren't i?
I woke up way too early cause i'm always very slow to get prepared, even though i don't dress up in special clothes and i'm always very casual.
Anyway, i was supposed to meet Tsao and her brother at Chatelet station around 9:30 but i got there a few minutes ahead. There were already a lot of people who were obviously going to Japan Expo as well and they were really easy to spot for most of them. I wondered if it was as obvious that i was also on my way to the convention but i hope it wasn't. I don't feel like belonging to that "community" anymore...
I read while waiting for Tsao and her bro but they arrived very fast and so did the train to the Parc des Expositions. About 30 minutes later, we left the train and just had to follow the crowd to guess the way to the convention. Tsao's brother hadn't bought his ticket in advance so we left him to queue with people who already held their tickets. I think there were more people but fortunately, the waiting wasn't as long as i had expected it to be. I don't know at what time we got in, though.
We decided to have a quick look at the whole area before doing anything else. We checked JV store's stand without buying anything (i hoped they were doing some promotions but they weren't, too bad xD) and the "traditional" area but didn't see many interesting stuffs. This part was quite disappointing, actually.
The venue was very wide but the different areas weren't isolated enough and, as a consequence, you could hear the karaoke's songs, the cosplay contest and so on at the same time. And when you know that the conferences were held a few metres away, you can guess how noisy and uneasy it was. The CNIT is a better place for such big conventions, in my opinion.
We didn't know where to go afterwards cause we mostly came for the fashion show feat. Anna Tsuchiya and it was supposed to start in the middle of the afternoon. So we basically hung around, went to the Jmusic related stores and answered a visual kei quiz. We forgot to give the answers back, though ^^;
We also found an area where they were broadcasting some PVs extracted from Space Shower TV, the Japanese equivalent of MTV channel apparently. However, we didn't watch that for a long time but i was pretty interested in a PV featuring Bump of chicken's sailing day. Must look for other songs of theirs, which shouldn't be too hard as i know they're pretty famous in Japan.
We then ran into some acquaintances of ours and i got to see two girls from my University, with whom i chatted a bit. One of them was handing out some sheets of paper supposed to warn people against the HK and Chinese CDs sold by some stores instead of the original versions. She seemed to take part in an association which is trying to get Gackt over here, by making people sign a petition. I doubt it could work this way, especially with him... ^^;
Well, we were hungry afterwards and sat to have lunch (an apple only, yay! let's go on a diet, even if it doesn't look effective yet...). Later on, i got a phonecall from takuropop, whom i had planned to meet before. It was a bit difficult to understand anything at all because of the various noises around, and i was a bit surprised so i didn't manage to speak English very well xD
Fortunately, i eventually found takuropop and her friend samie_ling in the kind of garden located right in the middle of the hall (weird thing). We talked together for a while and it was really nice to meet them and get to know them a little more.
However, Tsao and I had to leave because we wanted to wait next to the Tôkyô Style Collection stage so that we could get a good spot. takuropop and samie_ling, on the other hand, were more interested in Plastic tree's conference and sign session which were to take place almost at the same time.
Some people were already sitting all around the stage for the fashion show so we just sat there as well and waited for the beginning of the show, one hour and a half later. Tsao's brother joined us after hanging around on his own and we had to wait for what seemed an endless moment.
When they started showing the Tôkyô Style Collection's logo on a big screen, everybody jumped to their feet but it was far too early and we thus had to stand for the rest of the time which was especially uncomfortable...
Eventually, the show began with a projection of FF7 Advent Children trailers which they displayed in Japanese and then, again!, in English. Although the graphics were very beautiful, the trailers were really long and therefore quite boring. Besides, my ears started hurting because the music was too loud. Then, we were made to watch a trailer of FF7 new video game whose soundtrack is Redemption by Gackt.
I know it's a shame but it was actually the first time i got to hear this song, because i've wanted to buy Diabolos since its release but i'm still waiting and can't be bothered to download it. Anyway, it sounded really good and made me want to buy the CD all the more >_<;
Talking about Gackt, a message he had recorded for French fans was broadcasted afterwards. I was convinced he would have spoken French (since he's supposed to be fluent, as everyone knows ¬¬) and was therefore longing for this ridiculous message. Nevertheless, he didn't bother and his message was all in Japanese with French subtitles. I was quite far away and hadn't a proper view of the bottom of the screen, so i didn't catch the whole thing but i'll try to sum up what he said.
"Hi French people! I'm Gackt. You've just seen FF7 *insert the name of the new videogame here (dirge of something xD)* which i'm singing for. I've my own character in this game and so on and so forth.
I've been in France in summer several times already and i even thought of living there. If i had found a castle i could buy, i would have settled in France (this sounded SO ridiculous, no matter how i love him xD). I'm also planning to perform in France and in Europe, we're trying to prepare a tour. I don't only want to focus on Japan, i'd like to touch China, Europe and... (didn't see the end of the sentence). Please look forward to it!
And now, here is Redemption PV. Watch it please..."
Well, that's all i remember at the moment but it was rather short anyway. And of course, i don't transcribe *exactly* what he said, only the way i can remember it. That's why i might even have used a different way of speaking but believe me, he looked and sounded really self-confident.
Dear guy, i'm still a fan of his but i guess why some people can't stand him ^^; However, i hope he'll indeed come and perform in Europe, even though i'd feel a little upset if he eventually came right when i'm away!
After his PV, there was a trailer for Fullmetal Alchemist's movie <3 It was shown during the convention but i couldn't see it, since it was also at the same time as the fashion show. No problem: when i can understand Japanese well, i'll watch the dvd.
Then, the show began and guess who was the first model on stage? Anna Tsuchiya, of course! She had short blonde red hair and looked very pretty.
I thought she was very impressive compared to the other girls but it's maybe just because i already knew her and were looking forward to seeing her. Btw, in spite of her charisma, i have to say she's quite small ^^;
The show went on fast enough for people not to get bored. The girls were all good-looking (how surprising! -_-) and the clothes they were wearing just look fine on them. I think i liked the first brand best and the second one least because it included a lot of fur (fake or not, don't know) which i find unattractive.
Anyway, i'm not into fashion at all so i didn't care that much. It was just nice to watch that. The music was horribly loud, though, and i was afraid of endind up deaf @_@
When the parade was over, you could see Nana's opening and ending on screen before the curtains rose and Anna and her band appeared. Instead of getting crazy, most people took their cameras to take pictures of the stage. So not only was i far away from the stage and had many people in front of me preventing me from having a good view, but i also had to stand all those hands holding their cameras up ^^;
Therefore, i could barely see Anna and ended up looking at the other members instead. Fortunately, the music was great! I hadn't heard a lot of her songs and i only remembered Taste my skin, which was performed at the beginning (like 3rd or 4th song). I was very glad to hear it live cause i really liked this song and it sounded even better that way.
You know, i didn't expect Anna to be such a skilled singer. From what i had listened before, i thought she was okay but not that good. But her voice was really perfect and stronger than it sounds on CDs. I was definitely impressed and the music itself was wonderful, i think the show turned me into a fan.
I also recognized Somebody help me (one of my fav), which happens to be the opening of an American series called Tru calling. I watched it on tv a few months ago and already liked the opening, that's why i was nicely surprised to hear Anna Tsuchiya sing it.
She performed a good range of songs, contrary to what i expected. I thought she was only going to sing a few songs because the Tôkyô Style Collection show wasn't supposed to last more than 2 hours but in fact, she had enough time to perform lots of songs. Not as a real live, of course, but i was still satisfied.
Nonetheless, i wish she could have had a real live because it's really a different atmosphere. The audience weren't very cheerful, except at the end when she played Rose, Nana's opening that is. It was such a pity cause most of the songs rocked!
The musicians and Anna herself tried their best to cheer everybody up. I loved the bassist who was a talented showman, always encouraging people into putting their hands up and shouting. The left guitarist wasn't bad either, he looked prettier but he was calmer too. I liked the way he sometimes sang along with Anna, though.
I was seeing these two guys best, actually, and wasn't disappointed at all. They seemed to be good musicians and had a few solo parts.
During the MCs, Anna introduced all the members (two guitarists, a bassist, a drummer and a keyboard player or a DJ, i couldn't see) and got them to talk a little. They said a few words in French like "Bonjour" and "Merciiii".
As for Anna, she was being very nice but mostly spoke Japanese and repeated "Thank you" in English. I did understand what she said in Japanese but maybe everyone couldn't, even if it wasn't very complicated (i wouldn't have got it otherwise ^^; ). She often asked if we were having fun but the audience didn't always react in time.
Even so, she said at the end that the crowd was wilder than in Japan and she seemed happy about it and willing to come again. As a matter of fact, when the live ended, she agreed to give a conference. The questions had been already prepared (and maybe it was better that way, you'll see later why...) and made sense. Good point!
Then, twenty people who had won a contest could go on stage and had a CD signed by her. That done, she said goodbye to the audience (some people had left earlier so we were closer to the stage and could see a little more properly) and left the stage.
I'd be glad to get an opportunity to see her live again. I like her songs and how energetic she is! She's also very nice to the audience and was, for instance, highly amused when someone yelled "kawaii" and she answered "arigatou". Too bad she had to perform in a convention, though.
By the way, during the instrumental part of the slowest song she performed, we heard a message like "The little girl called X is waiting for her mother at the information area.", which was really annoying -_-;
Well, apart from that, it was great and certainly the best moment of the day.
At the time when the live ended, Plastic Tree's conference was still supposed to be going on so Tsao and I went to see if we might get a glimpse of the band. How lucky we were, they had actually started with the sign session because Anna's live was too noisy and you couldn't have heard anything xD
People were having their items signed when we arrived at the place. We could see the members very well and we just stayed there, observing. We were then apprised that the conference had yet to be held so we waited there. We ran into Gwenaëlle who was a staff member this time but she didn't really know how things were supposed to go on. No one knew, the organization was crap!
We met takuropop and samie_ling again and waited for the conference with them. It started around 6 and we had an opportunity to get a seat, so we seized it because the live was a bit tiring. However, i had to sit all alone because there weren't many seats left.
The conference was extremely disappointing. It wasn't the band's fault, though.
The journalists were the first to ask questions, nothing more than 2 or 3 questions. The first one was: "if you hadn't been a musician, what would have you liked to be?"... The translator was conspicuously not familiar with visual kei and even seemed to have trouble understanding everything in Japanese. Wtf? He said that Tadashi would have wanted to be a cook and then "oh no, sorry. I made a mistake. He'd have liked to make furniture and stuff, you know..." (i also understood the cook thing, to tell the truth but hey! i'm only a 1st year student and don't have much knowledge yet xD)
And it wasn't his only mistake but i'm too lazy to tell everything about that. I suppose the (kind of) conference would be transcribed on JaME or some other websites.
Anyway, some questions were really ridiculous. The last person in the audience allowed to ask something wanted to know if the band had gone shopping in Paris... Yes, everybody was desperate to learn about that! =_=
Nevertheless, there were more fans than i expected. I mean, i know Plastic Tree is a famous and "old" band in the vk world but i couldn't guess how popular they were in France. So i hope they'll also have a huge audience tomorrow ^^;
Moreover, it was nice to see the members for real. They're not very different from photographs, contrary to other guys, and Ryutarô completely looks like the image i had of him. He was very funny and cute, waving to the fans from time to time during the sign session and bowing everytime they got applause.
And i really like how Tadashi looks and speaks (cause it was easier to catch than Ryutarô's soft voice ^^; ). Akira looks nice too and the drummer (Hiroshi? i can't remember his name) didn't say many things ^^;
That's it, i'm tired of writing this report and anyway, the conference wasn't that interesting at all.
Finally, we took the same train all together and i came home.
My day was both disappointing and nice: the convention itself didn't please me but i'm not surprised, the conference could have been really better but the live was fun and it was nice to meet some people =) Thx!
THE END
I'm sorry, it's very long and Plastic tree's fans are going to be disappointed by my report cause i was too fed up at the end to tell everything in detail. But questions are welcome if you wanna know more about the conference, i'm only too lazy tonight.
EDIT: Maybe i'm complaining a bit more than what i meant, aren't i?