Waku-Waku Gakkou 2015 Live Screening

See, the thing was, I didn’t even think there was going to be a Waku-Waku Gakkou screening for 2015. The 2014 screening was done in the pretext of “friendship”, and JE hasn’t really been all that interested in actually making a connection with international fans. Even the “international ticketing” thing they started ended up dying off, probably because they were only fobbing off tickets to acts international fans weren’t as interested in. But we kept our hopes up, and I immediately said “okay! Let’s go!” when Fatin messaged me that it looks like Waku-Waku was happening.

In 2014, Shaw Cinemas opened ONE small cinema for one of the time slots. It made me wonder how the event went in Japan for the other time slots – did they reuse the footage, or did they do things differently? The battle for tickets was incredible, and it was only thanks to Fatin that both of us managed to go. In 2015, it turned out that two cinemas were reserved for each of the Tokyo time slots. Which meant three shows in Singapore! Fatin and I managed to get tickets for the first show, on Saturday evening. But as we were planning our transportation back to KL and realised we were free on Sunday morning, we decided to get a second pair of tickets for that date.

It was the best thing we did, and in a way, also the worst.

Blast in Miyagi goods list (and some Waku2 news)

The goods list is up at Johnny’s net!

It looks so interesting; there’s a lot of goods that are of the unusual type. I want so many of them! I wonder which I’ll end up getting. I wonder if I would bother taking the long trip to Miyagi just to get goods, since I was going to be in Tokyo around that time anyway. Long expensive trip to buy goods or buying them expensively through online services? Hmm… of course, I’m assuming I won’t hit the ballot, I’m not very lucky with these things.

In other news, there will be a Waku Waku Gakkou live broadcast in Singapore this year as well! Lets hope that this is a trend that will continue, and maybe available for concerts one day. This year all three Tokyo time slots will have a live broadcast. Tickets start selling at Shaw Cinema’s website tomorrow.

New single, Waku Waku Gakkou, and FREESTYLE II

Image and details from Johnnys Net

Their latest single, Aozora no Shita, Kimi no Tonari was released two days ago. I think this is the first time I didn’t preorder a copy – I was too late to do so, and the LE was all sold out. I plan to look for it at secondhand stores my next trip to Japan!

The song is also the ending theme for Aiba’s drama, Youkoso, Wagaya e.

Details:

CD
01. Aozora no Shita, Kimi no Tonari
02. Dandelion

DVD
01. Aozora no Shita, Kimi no Tonari (music video + making)

CD
01. Aozora no Shita, Kimi no Tonari
02. Kono te no Hira ni
02. Nando datte
04. Aozora no Shita, Kimi no Tonari (karaoke)
* Ura Ara Talk 2015

Arashi also announced two events (somewhat) recently. I’ve been a bit out of it, and also annoyed with the scheduling of the events, so I didn’t blog about them. The first is their annual Waku Waku Gakkou event, which will be in JUNE.

Osaka dates for Waku Waku Gakkou are June 6th and 7th, while the Tokyo dates are June 27th and 28th.

Last year I thought I would ballot for this year’s event, but I guess I won’t now, because there’s no way I could make it for June, since I just came back from Japan last month. Which brings me to their other event, which I also anticipated this year and was hoping to go to…

Ohno Satoshi’s FREESTYLE II exhibition!
Location: Omotesando Hills (B3F), tickets 1000yen, available from LAWSON from 14th June onwards.
Dates: July 24th to August 23rd

I was really, really hoping to go, you know. Since this is more my kind of thing than most of Arashi’s endeavors. But the exhibition dates are just too close to September, and so if I hope to go to Miyagi I’ll have to give up on the exhibition.

I’m just very annoyed and excited and conflicted at the moment – on the one hand, I’m so happy for Arashi since they’re obviously going to be busy with work all the way til September (and I’m sure they’ll announce their winter concert in Miyagi? Probably?) but the close timings mean that I will have to choose only one to go (if only I don’t have to factor in flight tickets).

At least I’ve preordered the FREESTYLE II book (at Kinokuniya KL store, of course)!

Waku-Waku Gakkou 2014 Live Screening in Singapore

On June 29th I attended the live screening for Arashi’s Waku-Waku Gakkou 2014 (Arashi Exciting School) event. I wasn’t all that excited until I was there, and realised that (1) OMG THIS IS AN ACTUAL OFFICIAL EVENT IN SINGAPORE, and (2) I GET TO WATCH WAKU2 WITHOUT BEING IN TOKYO! Fatin and I were hoping that the cameras would be three-ways instead of just us (in Singapore) and those in Shanghai viewing the ongoings in Tokyo, so our tension went to the max when we saw the camera as we went to our seats.

Before the screening started, the staff tried to get us excited (so not needed) by making us shout “Arashi!” to the camera, while they did sound checks. Most of us were grinning like loons and shouting half-heartedly, since the event hasn’t really started, and it was the first day of puasa, and we wanted to save our voices for later. Since this is a Tokyo event after all, it started exactly on time. First the screen still showed the same placeholder pictured above, but we heard one of them call out experimentally, “ya-ho-!” We shouted back, and another member shouted back to us. After all five of them had done so, the screen changed to show the inside of Tokyo Dome. Arashi drove into the stadium in the cutest minibus ever. When they got on stage and greeted the audience/students in Tokyo, they informed everyone that this class is different because they were joined by students from Shanghai and Singapore. They called out to us, and the screen changed first to the Shanghai students (they were in a live house of some sort, it looked like), and then us in Singapore. The theme for this year’s class is “friendship”, hence the inclusion of students from other countries.