Meeting info for fans going to Yokohama concert on 9/5 or 10/5

[Joeyoh]

Hey Everyone!

Ahhh, Tokyo is awsome. Anywho, what time shall we meet tomorrow ? May 10th? I plan to be at Yokohama early tomorrow, I would say around 11 am.

I will be checking later so please let me know!

-Jo

[kel64]

Well, tonights the night of the first concert, I hope you all are having a great time Getting nervous about tomorrow myself...

since the only soccer player i know ..is beckham...so im just going to say beckham.. and if it IS beckham..then id have to take a pic with him too~ =P

Keep guessing

Well, we said we were going to the rides at Tokyo Dome today. We went, but the main attraction, the big rollercoaster, was out of service So, that idea went out of the window. Shame, but we plan to go again Friday, hope its back in action then.

Our back up plan was to visit Sunshine City. It sounded better than it was though really. I wouldn't really recommended going out of your way to visit there. You can look out of the 60th floor for quite a nice view, the smog obscures the view in the distance though. Would be more impressive otherwise.

There was one good place we found at Sunshine City though. Just as we were looking to leave, we found a used CD 'stall'. Most of the stock was of no interest, but they had a small Y100 section. Picked up Gam's first two singles for Y200 total

So then, tomorrow is the day, the day that I have been building up to for so long. Can't wait. I'll be meeting Hatix, and anybody else at the palace, first thing. See you tomorrow!

[AyuGAME]

750+ pics??!!! WOW thats a LOT!!!
hope i will see u guys in that pics..not just the scenery...
waiting for your complete report of you trip...take a lot of pics at yokohama arena and ayu fans...i want to see the crowd

[Hatix]

I just came back from the concert! But I'll start with a quick overview of the whole day. So we went to Tokyo station at 12h, but didn't see anybody, we went first to yokohama arena to be very early to buy our merchandise, we arrived there at 13h. There we met with Blasterion and his sister. eddi was somewhere else in Yokohama. We were one of the first who got to buy merchandise when the shop opened at 14h30. After we got loaded with stuff, us four (me,maneayu,blast&sis) to minato mirai. Went up to the 69th floor with a very nice view. We decided to skip yokohama china town and the ramen museum to get into the arena at opening time at 17h30.
By now it was swarming with people. When we got inside the arena, we found to our big surprise, that the center B-blocks are actually next to the round thing of the catwalk-thing. So there is NO B2 block either. We were in the 7th & 8th seat from the middle, last row. So we had a very good view of the round-stage, we were like 10-15 meters away from it. By 18h35 the last call was made, and by 18h40 the concert started!

I'll say it up front, these are the changes made to the songs: JEWEL (not Secret) got replaced by momentum (!!!), and flower garden with Independent (using the original japanese song list) I think she also sang Secret, but I'm no sure about that, I'll check that tomorrow, it sounds so much alike another song...

So for my report of the concert (it's of course pretty similar to the other reports):
Concert started with a wonderful version of LABYRINTH followed by a long orchestral-like part of evolution. Ayu was sitting on a swing that came from the ceiling. After Evolution, UNITE! kicked in. Then we got a nice intermezzo with taskinst, which had live guitar from yocchan. Almost all songs had at least some live instrumentation, including the intermezzos. Then we got 1 LOVE and until that Day.
It was so lovely to hear M starting, as it's an old favorite. appears was also quite nice. Then came the part where Ayu wore the pink kimono during part of Me and momentum. Ayu was really stretching her voice at this time, so she almost broke her voice, which could be heard during some of the next songs. After this we got an awesome church organ by Yamazaki, which was the intro for kiss 'o kill, of course. After this we got an awesome laser show during Not yet. It's really much better than the one they did at the last CDL during the same song. We then got some very nice songs like SURREAL, AUDIENCE and Boys & Girls. We got a nice long ending to SURREAL like in AT03-04. This was the end of the first part. After about 5-10 minutes the ayu sign started turning and "Ayu Ready" kicked in. Good "unplugged" versions of JEWEL and SEASONS.
Then, like it was telepathy she made us all clap the Independent rhythm, and some nice jumping on Humming 7/4. We ended with a wonderful Who... and Ayu yelling "Arigatou Gozaimasu" marked the end of a wonderful concert.
I have to mention that the new video clips between some of the songs are very very nice and good, again to the standards from the MY STORY tour. She used some flames this time during of the first songs.
Also Yocchan, was absolutely perfect during every single song; his solos were just awesome. Yocchan just rocks BIGtime.

I have put some pictures on my blog, see url in my sig. I'll take some more pictures tomorrow. Then I'm also going to try to take pics during the concert, as we are more on the side.

[eddi818]

no more talking of photos.....

2000+ photos..just thinking about sorting/photoshoping/fixing/deleting them is making me tired already...

hahaha
ill do it asap...but there arnt that many pic of me thou..seeing how i'm traveling alone most of time..

concert was AWESOME...just wish i could've use my camera..well aim when i use my camera..(i kinda took some blind shots...turn out..blind) but ayu is really cute..she talked about being in taipei, hk, and shanghai.. and thats all i could understand..not sure wut she was saying about them. Then she asked about any one from foreign country...i would've scream america..but yeah..im already losing my voice. ...anyway..more updates later.

ill be leaving tokyo tomarrow...so hope you guys will have fuN!!

[Sim']

Wow, seems so exciting =3

Hatix, thanks for your pictures on your blog ^.^
aww, waiting for the live's report~ =)

Were there any videos/pictures from the Asia part during the MC ?

[AyuGAME]

SECRET replace by MOMENTUM?!
and there is JEWEL?!
wow..

[AyUmIXx]

no way..
Secret is one of the main song...
probably JEWEL!

[Hatix]

Yeah, I checked it again today, and it was JEWEL that got replaced with momentum, not Secret. But it's very nice that momentum was in it, because it wasn't in any of the previous concerts.
maneayu took some more pictures today, and I took some after the concert, but not during the mc.
But again, awesome concert!!! Yocchan was a little bit less good, he was better yesterday, but still awesome. Ayu's voice was better than yesterday though!
We had seats on the side this time, A6, which means block A, row 6, which were still very good seats. And the 2 seats next to us were still free, so we had much room to stand/jump/wave. And me and mane think (we think!), that at one point, when Ayu was on the central round thing, she waved back at us, because I saw no one else waving but us, and she reacted by waving back in our direction, although we were 25 meters away. It was a wonderful moment.

We met with Kel64 and his friends at the imperial palace today, and went to the concert with them. We didn't find any one else, we waved the AHS-sign around a bit, but only to be approached by japanese that thought we either needed tickets or that we sold tickets I think the best thing to do next time is to find fixed and exact meeting points (not like "at Tokyo Station", because it has 6 exits, or "Outside at the arena" because there will be loads of people). Also, there is really no time afterwards to go karaoke, unless you're going to yoyogi and you're like 5 minutes from shibuya. But not if you're in yokohama. So we learned something for next time

I also bought some more stuff (the bag,the cookies,and again all the ayupans/phonestraps for some friends), I'm really wondering how I'm going to get it all home! (especially the box of cookies, I'd have to eat them,or put them separately and fold the box)

After seeing 2 concerts, I really must say: waw. If you are there, and you are watching the screens too much, you forget the feeling that Ayu is actually standing there singing & talking. If you really start thinking about that Ayu is really there, it gets a bit emotional. And Who... is really THE BEST ending song! But I think that many people think that ;p
So, I will definitely be back! Might be next year, we'll see

[kel64]

Omg, what a day. Just got back from the concert and dead tired. Want to write a bit tonight though while everything is still in my mind.

Firstly, the day certainly did not go to plan. Me and one friend met Hatix and Maneayu at the Imperial Palace in the morning. Took a couple of attempts of asking caucasian people where they where from before I found out who I was looking for. It went something like...

"Hi, where are you from?"
"Belgium"
"AHS wouldn't mean anything to you would it?"
"Yeah"
"Then you must be Hatix"
"Yeah, the Ayu shirt didn't give it away?"

Anyway, we finally found each other and said hi. Have some chat while walking around the palace, though I'm not the best conservationist when first meeting someone. After the tour, we needed to split up, to go back to our hostel to pick up my second friend who was coming along to the concert. He laid in after a late night.

Unfortunately we didn't find him, he was already looking for us at the palace. So, after waiting a while, we left for the main Tokyo Station, to get the Shinkansen to Yokohama. Have to say, it was an excellent ride. The whole train is essentially business class, plenty of legroom even for us tall people.

Upon arriving at Shin-Yokohama, I was under the distinct impression that we needed to get the normal line train to Yokohama, which we did. After arriving there we soon realised that we were not in the right area as we could not locate the arena on the street maps. We headed back to the station and asked an attendant, with generous use of flashing the tickets to him. He said we need to catch a train to Shin-Yokohama, via platform 4. We just come from there

So, we headed back on a slow journey. After arriving back, we suddenly saw all the signs for Yokohama Arena. Doh! We hurried to the arena, it was now getting late and we was worried we wouldn't be able to buy concert goods.

Luckily when we arrived, our friend, Matt, had found his own way to the station. Funnily enough, he also went to Yokohama first as well We found Hatix waiting patiently as well. I said we wouldn't be long but we had been much longer. Oops, sorry.

It was now roughly 4:45 - 5:00pm. We jumped in the queue for concert goods, and to our surprise, we got served within 15 mins and picked up all the goods we wanted. I picked up a towel, T-shirt, phone strap and night stick.

While waiting for the doors to open, we stood as a group of 4 waiting for Maneayu and others to appear. We held up our homemade AHS sign, shouted out AHS a few times as well This seemed to get the attention of two ticket touts who approached us asking us if we had tickets. I think thats what they were saying anyway

The time come and we headed into the arena. Finding our seats was easy enough. I was surprised to see how close my B1 seat was to the front and the centre part. Even my friends C1 tickets were very close to the centre part. After seeing everyone else with a fan, I picked one up from the seller inside.

And so, the concert started. One word, WOW! If you are a fan of Ayu, you must try as hard as you can to get to see her live, there is nothing else like it. Glad I did pick up my fan, I was dancing/jumping/waving it around to the music. You can see Hatix's report for more details on the concert.

By the end, I was completely worn out, I had hardly eaten and my body was aching all over. Me, my two friends and Hatix meet up again and our first priority was food. Mcdonalds was the closest and fastest place to get food so thats where we headed. Felt better after that, even if it was a Mcdonalds,
never been so pleased to eat one.

We started to head back to where we where staying after, catching the Shinkansen back to main Tokyo station. Here we said our goodbyes and parted. Was nice to meet you

Written quite a bit here, not sure how, think I'm going to go and collapse on my bed now. Night!

[kel64]

The concert date may have passed, but I'll continue to update this thread on daily events, I'm sure at least one person is interested, at least I hope so

There was heavy winds when we woke up this morning. Not a good sign. Still, we headed to the Tokyo Dome intending to go on the rides. Our fears come true though. All the interesting rides were closed due to the weather

The last day we have free is Monday, hope the rides are working then.

So, we headed to Akihabara in search of cheap things. We spent at least five hours walking around and we probably missed a good deal of shops, its an expansive area. So many side streets, often with the best deals, twisting and turning around any area of space. I ended up buying a couple of cd's/dvd's. My friend bought a new digicam. The prices on them really make it worth buying one over here. I compared the price of my current camera, which I bought about a month ago. New, in the UK, the cheapest I could find new was £182. Thats an online price. Here, I can walk into a shop and pick it up for ~£125

[AyuGAME]

nice report..waiting for another pics...keep it up

[Hatix]

I just arrived in my hotel in Osaka. It's a small tatami room, but it looks quite clean.

@kel64
About the rides being closed, that's probably because there was an accident in another park with a rollercoaster, and now all the security has to be checked. It was on the news. Might be because of that, but it was very windy though

[fanmail]

JEALOUSY!! I must make sure I go to an Ayumi concert in the future!! It sounds so exciting!!

[kel64]

Originally Posted by Hatix

I just arrived in my hotel in Osaka. It's a small tatami room, but it looks quite clean.

@kel64
About the rides being closed, that's probably because there was an accident in another park with a rollercoaster, and now all the security has to be checked. It was on the news. Might be because of that, but it was very windy though

Good to hear you arrived ok

I do understand about the safety aspect of the rides, but its annoying when you have been twice and both times the main ride has been closed

Today was all about shopping for us. We went to Harajuku first. Hardly any cosplayers etc on the saturday unfortunately. Anyway, had a proper look around the large Book-Off there. Over an hour later, I spent over Y10000, and I could have easily spent much more. I had to tell myself to leave before I did spend more

Took a short walk to Shibuya and had lunch in Starbucks. Chose this spot as it directly overlooks the main crossing, so you get a great view of the sea of people crossing when the lights change. It really is a sight to watch and stare. Had a look around after, but generally less interested in the fashion shops that seem to be all around.

Sumo tomorrow, yay.

[eddi818]

a little update of me..would be nice..eh? (for whoever that cares..haha)
i've arrived nice and sound in taiwan...sadly.. no internet at my grandparents..so i am at the cybercafe.. with bunch of teenager playing games around me...(i got carded...you have to be 18 and I got carded...so happy..hahahha)

anyway...japan pic is still sitting in my ext harddrive...cuz im lazy..
i really need to start on those..blah..

e

[kel64]

Originally Posted by eddi818

a little update of me..would be nice..eh? (for whoever that cares..haha)
i've arrived nice and sound in taiwan...sadly.. no internet at my grandparents..so i am at the cybercafe.. with bunch of teenager playing games around me...(i got carded...you have to be 18 and I got carded...so happy..hahahha)

anyway...japan pic is still sitting in my ext harddrive...cuz im lazy..
i really need to start on those..blah..

e

Going to take me all day to sort my pics

As I said before, it was Sumo day today. We arrived there at 8:15, matches started at 8:30. The last match was at 18:00, so we saw 10 hours worth of Sumo

The day starts off slow, with little people there. From the beginning until around 14:00, only basically unknown trainees fight, so the matches aren't too popular for most. Interesting for us Gajin though. The 'middleweights' come out later and this is when it starts to get more busy. The arena is basically full by the time the 'heavyweights' come out. These matches are certainly exciting, you get more build up to each match and the crowd really gets behind them.

For Y3600, we had the cheapest seats, but you still get an great view of the matches. Not the best place for pictures though, even 6x zoom isn't much. So, when the arena isn't very full, you can wander down to the lower area, much nearer the ring for better pictures

[ayu1m]

Hi folks, it's me again.

Sry for not posting anything, the comp was like hell in Andon, eventhough the place itself was great. We decided to abandon to concert, because there was so much to see and it'd have cost a lot..

We just arrived to Helsinki, about an hour ago, and I have probably ~500yen with me, so it was about time to leave :b

Overall I probably spent 140k-170k yen + flights + hotels.. but it was worth it, oh yes

Hopefully I'm able to visit Tokyo again and then we'll meet or something

Probably going to post something else later on, I'm out.

[Sim']

Originally Posted by ayu1m

Hi folks, it's me again.

Sry for not posting anything, the comp was like hell in Andon, eventhough the place itself was great. We decided to abandon to concert, because there was so much to see and it'd have cost a lot..

We just arrived to Helsinki, about an hour ago, and I have probably ~500yen with me, so it was about time to leave :b

Overall I probably spent 140k-170k yen + flights + hotels.. but it was worth it, oh yes

Hopefully I'm able to visit Tokyo again and then we'll meet or something

Probably going to post something else later on, I'm out.

Home SWEET Home =D

Euh, how much is your final budget in € please ?
And wasn't the language bareer difficult for you guys ?

[Hatix]

*watching domouto kyoudai*

Wow, a whole day of sumo, that's a lot...!

I think my feet died today, especially my heels, and the inside of my shoes are kind of broken... :s Well, I did a very far trip today to Lake Kizaki (takes about 5 hours), took a hike around the whole lake, and went back to Osaka. For those who don't know (most people), Lake Kizaki was the scene for the anime Onegai Teacher/Twins, and has some exact location. Call me crazy, but it was fun, and I still had a free day in my schedule But this hike around that lake really killed my feet. I did combine this with visiting Matsumoto Castle. Tomorrow off to Nara. Taking it a bit more easy.

Hmm, I still got 76k yen left, but I'm going back to Tokyo the last day, so I'll get spending then

Hmm, I think I've tasted like every mineral water there is to get in Japan, sometimes the same shop doesn't have the same water the next day. I've at least tasted every european mineral water, and some japanese too. And I'm really going to look for calpis in a chinese supermarket in Belgium...