I know this is a bit late, but I have been very busy. I wanted to share my experience with the forum.
After 13 years of insane fandom, my dreams finally came true. As some of you may know, because I bugged you to help me get tickets, or for whatever information I could get a hold of (sorry, I get paranoid and anxious when traveling to new places), I had been planning a trip to go to at least one of the final two dates at Yoyogi Stadium.
I booked my flight and hotel without even having tickets. I tried SO many different avenues online but I just had no luck. SO, I took a chance. Quite a few people were reassuring me that I'd be able to find tickets at a reseller shop, so OK.
My original flight was supposed to arrive in Narita at about 3:45pm on Friday, 7/26. I got to my airport and my initial flight was cancelled. I was about TO CRY. They told me they could only get me to Japan on Saturday. I told them that wasn't going to work. I had to wait about 30 minutes while this kind man searched for flights for my boyfriend and I. Finally, after a gut-wrenching wait, he found a flight that would take us to Chicago, with a connecting flight to Narita, getting there at about the same time as my original flight. THANK. GOD.
I didn't sleep much on the trip over. (Longest of two flights being about 12.5 hours), and as soon as I got to Tokyo, I got to my hotel, checked in, put some deodorant on to freshen up, and went out to meet my friend "TeamAyu2004" so he could help me get tickets. We got to the reseller shop...AND THEY WERE CLOSED. They had closed at 9pm, and it was 915. My boyfriend Mike knew how much this meant to me, so he just knocked on the window to see if they'd open it. THEY DID. They let me, my boyfriend, and my friend in. They had about a dozen ayu tickets left for that weekend if I remember correctly. It took us a while to decide on seats and such, but we got two pairs of tickets in the end, and spent almost $1000 USD. I don't regret it at all. I WAS FINALLY GOING TO SEE AYU!
Then I was soooo exhausted that I passed out as soon as I got to my hotel.
I'm not good at getting around, despite knowing quite a bit of Japanese. I was asking people for help a lot during my first few days there, but after two days or so, we got the hang of it, and it was almost like second nature (along with one or two VERY helpful apps to help you get around the Tokyo Rail system).
I went to check out Yoyogi on Saturday, 7/27. Got there at like 1pm. The goods were set up, there was a HUUUUUUGE line and they hadn't even started selling anything yet. I didn't wait in line...it was too hot, and I just decided to hope that they'd have what I wanted when I came back. I got back about 20 minutes before the doors opened, and was able to buy a wristband, a big pink towel, and some light sticks. I wanted the fan, but oh well.
Once my boyfriend and I got inside Yoyogi, we quickly went to our seats. Someone came up to us, saying that we were in their seats. I was about to get really mad and upset, but I was nice. So (BEFORE I GOT UP AND MOVED) lol I asked an attendant where my seat was actually supposed to be, and showed her my ticket. I was on the exact opposite side...the first man that I asked about my seats pointed me in the wrong direction! Haha.
So we sat for almost an hour. A few minutes before the show was supposed to start, SOMEONE ELSE came up to us and said that we were in their seats! I said NO WAY. I wasn't moving. Another attendant came over and checked my ticket...and told me that I was in the right seat. Thank God! Because I got SPECTACULAR seats both days I went! Here is a pic from where I was on 7/27:
I LOVED my seats because I could see the entire stage the entire time, and all of ayu's movements. My favorite performances were A Song for, Tell all, Fly high, HEAVEN, BLUE BIRD, You & Me, Who..., Sunrise, teddy bear, and the DJ part where he played all kinds of ayu remixes (all of them I could name, except for one...I had definitely never heard it before.)
On the second day, my seats were on the lower level, pretty close to the stage. C block. I caught a balloon! My friend caught two balloons and gave me one. As I was walking out...I looked up and saw this girl literally crying with her hands out...I had two balloons and she had none. And she wasn't sitting in a seat where she had a chance to get one. So I gave her one. After all, I was OK with having just one.
So after the excitement of the concerts was over, we spent our time shopping in places like Shijuku, Harajuku, Shibuya, and Akihabara. Went to the zoo, went to Tokyo Tower, took SO many pics, and I even managed to catch the FNS special live from my hotel room! Where ayu sang BLUE BIRD and evolution, obviously. This was probably the happiest time of my life. Here's a few more pics: the view from my hotel room, my boyfriend wearing an outfit he bought in Harajuku, and others.
If I can make it happen, so can you~! I think in total, together we spent about $5.5-6k. That's flight, hotel, tickets, food, shopping, everything. Sigh. I told him we're definitely going back for Arena Tour 2014. LOL I LOVED Japan.