After NEWS, Kis-My-Ft2 is the group that I wanted to catch live in Japan. Unfortunately, their live tour only starts a month after my trip.
Thankfully, I still had a chance to attend my first ever Johnny's concert at the Johnny's World Thanksgiving Concert at Kyocera Dome on 31/03/13. This is a thanksgiving concert for fans which had supported the theater show Johnny's World which ran for a few month in 2012 up till January 2013.
The thanksgiving concert was set to run for 4 days, 2 in Tokyo Dome and 2 in Kyocera Dome in Osaka. I had requested for the tickets through Johnny's International. The ticket costs 7800yen with a handling fee of 700yen and another 250yen for their support card.
Some view from the train
Navigated this every day
Inside the pretty station
At Umeda
No time to enter Yodobashi Camera this time
1st day using our Hankyu pass, we traveled directly from Hankyu Sannomiya to Umeda (310yen, covered by out pass) before changing to the Osaka loop line from Osaka station to Taisho station (170yen, not covered under the Hankyu pass).
From Taisho station to Kyocera Dome
Very nice area for picnic
The dome!!!
Happy me! :D
No worries about getting lost because once we were at Osaka station I could immediately spot girls who look like they were going to attend a concert. So we just followed them all the way ahahaha.........Just look out for a bunch of girls who are very well dressed, with very nice hair or carrying bags that usually have the artist's names on them.
Arrived there early because I wanted to check out the concert goods. Luckily, there wasn't any queue and it was easy to get concert goods. I initially wanted to get the penlight but decided not to because it was rather pricey. I then saw a lot of fans with Hey! Say! JUMP's uchiwa. It seems that majority of the fans there were their fans so I bought one of A.B.C-Z's instead, to show some support.
A.B.C-Z uchiwa
We were supposed to go to this kaitenzushi restaurant but then I suggested that we eat nearby instead. So we headed back to Taisho and found this stall that was opened.
I had katsu kare while cuzzie had kitsune udon.
The auntie shop keeper was really friendly, she asked if there was a concert going on because she saw many people walking past her shop and asked who was performing. hahaa.....generation gap, she doesn't know who is Hey! Say! JUMP or A.B.C-Z but she know Johnny's. Oh well, at least that explains why there were so many females walking around.
At the little shop~
Cousin's healthy kitsune udon
My not so healthy, katsu kare
The outside of the shop near the station
Cousin's dango....
She was so kind to us foreigners that she even offered to fill up our water bottles. Really too nice!
Since we had time to kill before ticket collection at noon, we shopped at a nearby drug store and I bought hair dyes. They are cheaper in Japan and there are more colours to choose from too.
Inside the dome. Some hand prints of international artist that have performed there.
Just because of a concert, soooo many people had to work from early in the morning. Right from the station, there are people setting up dividers and stuffs to help control human traffic. Then there would be people standing near the zebra crossing to help guide people across. Then there are signs everywhere or people holding up signs and shouting to tell you where to go for what. Then there are those to keep the traffic moving so as not to block other people at the stairs or some entrance. Everything is really very well planned and executed. Something that we Malaysians should learn too.
Warning
Even with so many ppl there and 99% are females, toilet is not a problem too. People queued and used the toilet properly. It was still clean after so many ppl had used it.
I feel so super under dress at the venue because the fans were so well dressed. Many good friends even dressed in pairs up till their hairstyle. Some had much more interesting costumes, like Alice from Alice in Wonderland or the Queen of hearts, then there are those in french maid costumes or kimono. The word feel is under-rated, I AM UNDER DRESSED!!! I am probably the only one among the 50k audience there who was in jeans and sport shoes!!! The next time I attend a Johnny's concert, I'm going in a dress~!
As for the ticket collection, there is a separate line for international fans and at 12pm sharp they opened their counters. Everything moved so smoothly, just showed them my passport and confirmation slip and I got my tickets.
Looked down at my ticket and saw that I got arena seats~!!! Yay~!!! Always wanted arena seats!!! Super lucky! Cuz I believe that arena seats are the best in the entire dome.
Entered the dome at 1pm and there were so many ushers around to guide ppl around. They were so nice, really guide us all the way to our seats.
Concert started at 2pm sharp and lasted for almost 3 hours with 2 encores. I stood almost the whole 3 hours except during the MC part.....so tiring!!!! I don't know how those girls did it with their super high heels!!!!
The audiences really adhere to the rules of the concert such as no camera or no jumping and fans usually keep their uchiwas below their heads so as not to block other people. There are no silly rules such as no outside food/ water/ umbrella into the venue like in Malaysia. Even when in queue, people queue properly. These are another few things that we could learn about.
This concert was the best I've ever attended. The stage was amazing and so were the theatrics. The set made use of water, fire and fireworks. The performers were great too as they performed many other stunts other than just singing. I feel like they look into every single little, up to their paper confetti!! Even tiny pieces of paper confetti looks pretty, they had pink colour sakura shaped ones~!!!
I sang to all the songs that I know even if I didn't know the songs there were lyrics on the screen. Then I like all the hand movement that the singers do with the fans. Was dancing the whole time~ <3
Could see that Hey! Say! JUMP had the most fans, followed by SexyZone and A.B.C-Z. I guess being around longer does help to garner a larger fan base. And I think 90% of the audience are Yamada Ryosuke's fans as the cheers for him were crazy!
I also like the fact that they showed the audiences special footages from their CM or of other Johnny's artists! Was soo happy when I saw Taipi and Yamapi on the screen~
Really enjoyed the concert, I could imagine that if it was my favourite group, it would have been superb! Hence, I will definitely attend one by Kis-My-Ft2, NEWS or Arashi in future.
With 50k ppl in the dome, they evacuated us properly. The people that I mentioned earlier were still working after the concert to divert/ control the human traffic.
That night we were supposed to head to bampakukinenkoen for the night sakuras, but we couldn't make it because I wasn't feeling well.
Only managed to stop by a shopping arcade nearby before stopping by a family mart near our hotel to get dinner.
Our dinner.....cup ramen~
hahaha.....so sad~
