The Entertainment of JPop

Anyone familiar with me (or my antics in this past week's Body and Communication class) may know that I happen to be a bit of a fan of the Japanese music scene. So when I heard that this past week was Japanese Art and Entertainment, I was excited to see what I could come up with. Out of pure coincidence, I noticed I had the perfect subject.
A friend of mine in Southern Japan had acquired tickets for the 2008 Tour of my favorite JPop group: AAA. The venue was far, but the tickets were good, and I was willing to do just about anything to see them a second time.

Once I arrived I met up with my friend Tomek and wandered the grounds until we found the venue: ZEPP Fukuoka. Because of prior knowledge I knew that Japanese fans tended to get to venues quite early, which is why my friend and I showed up roughly at 12pm when the venue was not to open until 4. I thought we were even a bit too early, but upon arrival we discovered there was already a very large line for AAA merchandise, and the booths hadn't even been set-up yet! Tomek had already seen and bought all of the tour goods online at Mu-Mo and through the fan club (which I've heard many fans do), but I was looking to buy some for myself, so we hopped in line.



Merchandise
I've discovered that the T-shirt is a very important thing to have as a fan. Most people, including myself, would want the shirt anyway, but it seems to be a common trend to wear the shirt to the concert. My ex-boyfriend and his friends once mentioned to me that only the "loser" wears the band's tour shirt to the same concert. In Japan, you might be the loser if you weren't wearing the shirt. On countless DVDs I always see groups of fans in the front rows wearing the t-shirts; this Sunday was absolutely no exception. My friend threw his shirt on, and without any hesitation, I did the same; right over my other shirt. Tomek even made sure to wear a shirt underneath that would match the colors of the tour shirt.
Continuing with Japan's strange obsession for stick-on sparkles, we even met up with some of Tomek's Japanese friends who had "blinged out" their t-shirts by outlining the design in sparkles and adding gems in the shape of stars.

Another item on everyone's list is often the wristband. For this particular group, there were seven different colored wristbands; one color to represent each of the seven members. The trick? You couldn't choose which color you wanted when buying. Each one came in a mysterious black bag, so you wouldn't know what color it was until you opened it. Some fans don't care, some will buy as many as they want before finding the "right" color, and others will trade. I ended up buying 4 for myself, and later traded two. One girl outside the venue even wore four at the same time; they were all on the same arm, lined all the way up to her shoulder.

The last item, while I did not buy it myself, is sometimes a very important one, at least for this band. The muffler towel, while I haven't seen too much prominence of it at American concerts, is a very common item to have at Japanese ones. Especially at AAA concerts, it is an essential part of audience participation during the chorus of a certain song. When the time arises, everyone spins their towels above their heads to the beat. It's quite an interesting sight. (If you don't have a towel, you should probably just mimic the video and spin your hand in the air while making the "hang loose" Hawaiian sign with your fingers. Why this is, I don't know, but the band did happen to be in Hawaii at the time of filming.



As you can also tell in this opening video, Glow Sticks are very popular for Pop concerts. You can bet I had some for myself as well.

Merchandise aside, I also had the opportunity of meeting a very interesting person there, and a friend of Tomek's; the so-called AAA Official Fan Club "Queen". She has become known as a major participant in the fan club, has been to every show AAA has performed, and has bought all of their merchandise in multiple. When I met her, she had been to every other stop on this tour (the band travels the length of Japan). She had decked her shirt out with sparkles, and was also the girl I traded wristbands with. "Don't worry, I have plenty of each colored wristband." She mingles with fans, trades items, and seems to know a good number of people at the venue. During break, she was also the one to go get everyone drinks.
Note: Unfortunately, at the time all of this was happening, I had to leave my camera and all of my other belongings in a locker in preparation for the show. Pictures were impossible, which is why I'm writing way more than I should.

Eventually, it was time to line up for the concert. I was surprised to notice we were undoubtedly the only foreigners in attendance, and we got enough stares to prove it. Our tickets were located in the standing section towards the back of the venue, up a step to the seating in front of us. In my past experience with a concert in Japan, I had a seating ticket, so I was completely unprepared for what was about to happen next.



I had been told that Japanese fans had the potential to get a little vicious, but I myself didn't think this was too true. From what I had seen, Japanese audiences were even less enthusiastic than American ones, and Japanese bands often said that when visiting America they thought the audiences were a lot more energetic.
From my place in the front however, I learned that Japanese fans indeed do get quite pushy.
In the seating section the fans are much tamer, because they each have their place and are content with it, blocked off according to rows and numbers. In the standing section however, it's a free-for-all.
Right from the start I was being pushed against someone off to my side, and the guardrail to my front. Girls were clawing at my left shoulder and pulling my shirt in order to get a better view of the empty stage, and some were pushing me so far forward I had to balance with one hand on the railing and only one foot on the ground. There was no room to put down two feet at once, and I had the potential of falling off of the raised ledge in front of me.
When the concert started, it of course got even worse. One girl was nice enough to ask if she could put her hand on my shoulder for support, but that didn't even last long because of so much pushing. I found myself often pushing back, using leverage on the rail to throw my body backwards to get girls to stop shoving at me. Though they wouldn't let up for a while. Miss "Queen" next to me put a few girls in their place with some choice words, and even elbowed a bunch of girls in the arms and stomachs. Eventually a girl tried to squeeze past me, and ended up falling off of the raised stair and face-first into a chair below. I was amazed at the level of contact.

Nevertheless, amongst the pushing and shoving, towards the second half of the concert the fans let up, and I had my space back. I only use that space to dance, of course. But not just any dancing, coordianted dancing. In the world of JPop, many artists have specific dance moves to go along with their songs (much like American Boy Bands were), and if you didn't know the moves, you were very left out. Especially in Japan, a nation where everyone loves to do coordianted things in big groups, learning dance moves is very popular. While I do pride myself in knowing most of the dances, I was surprised to find that the male next to me definitely out-moved me.

Male, did you say? Yep, I did. Even though the majority of the fan base for AAA may be female (I don't blame them, there are five adorable little Japanese boys on that stage as opposed to only two girls), AAA seems to carry in a large number of males as well. And they're not all there for the two lonely girls. In fact, the male next to me was chanting most of the boy's names. At the end of the concert, before the encore, he single-handedly managed to get a cheer going for one of the male members.



Even after the concert, the events didn't stop. Miles away from the venue, at a small ramen shop, we encountered a group of girls who had gone to the concert too, and from Tokyo! Even further than I had traveled. We talked for a while in good spirits, and they wanted our pictures. Tomek told them of a little story that happened last year when I met the band, involving me dressing up as one of the members from their music video and being posted on AAA's Staff Blog, so they all wanted to shake my hand. Embarrassing!

But after it had all ended, I wasn't regretful of my sore arms or random bruises at all. In fact, I would do it all again. I'm upset I couldn't sneak any photos, but the venue was small and the people close, and I couldn't bring anything at all inside for fear of it being stepped on. I apologize for the self-indulgence of this post, and maybe I can do better next time.
I encourage a lot of questions this time, because I know I need to improve my focus here. Please, go ahead and ask!

EDIT: For a preview of the actual concert I was at, here's a video!


Merchandise photographs thanks to Attack'd All Around, the American AAA Fan Site; Original pictures from Mu-Mo.