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Day 0 @ April 21st~
I picked up Berryz Kamen (Referred to as Misa, from here onward) and sanrio, and headed down the border toward Sakura-Con 2011. Nothing eventful really for the drive down, except for almost crashing a handful of times. (Remember kids, it's not safe to wotagei and drive at the same time going 70mph on the freeway!)
Got to Seattle downtown at 11:30am, no I wasn't speeding, honest!..... I decided to park my car in the convention center, as it's $26/day compared to $33/day Valet at Sheraton, where we were staying. Also, I don't like other people touching my car.....no one else can operate it properly anyways, 25 years old car
We left everything in the car and went inside to see if line up has began for pre-reg badge pick up. The staff told us to not worry and come back later, so we went to search for food. After walking for blocks, we ended up in....
McDonald's lol Food is food, whatever =P Went back to the con after that, it was 3pm already.
The hall for badge pick up was like 2/3 filled. The staffs kept yelling for people to line up at the furthest line in the back, no one listened.... we did ^____^ the line was shortest and fastest in the back. We were done in less than 30minutes lollll
Since there was over an hour before more people in our group will begin to show up, we headed down to IGA 3 blocks away to pick up some snack and water for the concert on Day 2. $1/liter of water and Poptarts were $4 for 2 boxes of 4s..... anyways
Back at the hotel, waited around the lobby for another hour for sferris and kyyuna to show up. After what seems like an eternity, they arrived and we went back into the con to get their badges. By now the pickup area was complete empty \o/ They got their badges instantly orz I took this chance to ask the information desk about priority wrist bands. The staffs there said it'll be available from the event pass booth beginning day 1, 9AM.
Back to the hotel, and more waiting! Oh the joy~ This time for Misa's friends. After that, guys and girls split up for dinner.....and somehow, we all ended up at the same Vietnamese Pho noodle place, lol. We realized Berryz were at Il Fornaio eating at the same time, but didn't want to go bother them. Went back to our hotel, and prepared for Day 1.
Day 1 @ April 22nd~
I woke up at 6am~ Showered and geared up for a day of events~
Outfit for Day 1:
Miyabi Happi on the outside
Home made AC Popopopo~n t-shirt on the inside. (I will explain it in the next post)
Misa was in green, for her Kumaicho and I lend my Miyabi BLT shirt to sanrio~
Meet up with sferris and kyyuna, they stayed in a different room, and we headed into the convention at around 9AM and met up with Misa's friends.
Once inside, we went straight to the event pass booth to get our priority wrist bands. A horde of people were already there, mostly Berryz fans. Spotted some wotas sporting happis of various Berryz members, and a few local fans in Berryz t-shirts, home made clothes, and even Berryz cosplayers. We weren't keeping a track of time, but it must of taken us a good half an hour before we were able to get our wrist bands.
Right after, we went straight to the door of the exhibit hall to see if anyone ignored the no line ups 30minutes before rule, since we were planning to skip the opening ceremony, knowing Berryz will be there (Autograph tickets > seeing Berryz far away for 2 minutes, YARLY). hello!projecthappiness (formerly known as Morning_Musume_3, now banned from H!O) were among one of the people trying to "line up" hours ahead of time. People began to slowly group around and staff had to tell everyone to leave. This is when we were told by a few Japanese fans that an unofficial line was being set up on the 6th floor, beside Artist Alley and that everyone should put names down on this tiny notebook to keep the line in order. Everyone did and migrated our way to the 6th floor. A good 60 or so fans were already there, waiting. Just as we were about to sit down, someone yelled out, "GUYS, WE'RE GOING BACK DOWN, THEY HAVE A LINE FOR US NOW!"....Great~ I was just about to sit down, thanks~ Once we all got back down to the 4th floor, in front of the exhibit hall, the yelling fest commenced. Sakura-Con staffs, Japanese fans in charge of the notebook, daigong from Jphip, and this fat guy who was really loud, were yelling at each other, trying to figure out what would be the best and most fair solution. (Here's a hint to any Anime convention organizers: If you invite a Japanese idol group/artist to your con, be prepared for fans that will do anything and everything. We're not here to see your Anime and Manga! And yes, there are a sh*t load of us, so you better extra make room, cuz we ain't going away just cause you say so!)
After an intense battle (I really thought they were gonna Mortal Kombat it up), with HSU's staff coming out, all Berryz fans going for the autograph tickets were allowed to form a special line in front of the hall to be let inside first, while everyone else were allowed to line up in a separate line next to us (Regular Sakura-Con attendees were not impressed with this, but what are you gonna do about it, HA? Do you want to take on 300+ crazy Berryz fans, DO YOU? Let's take it outside buddy!!! =P). Loud fat white guy (Sorry, don't know your name) took charge and DEMANDED everyone on the notebook list to sit down in order. Buddy, I know you meant good, but calm down and watch your tone of voice. We're here to see our idols, not to be yelled at by some random guy. All of us were desperate for our autograph tickets, so we sucked it up and did as he told us to.
We probably waited there for 45minutes? The Opening Ceremony was happening at the other end of the convention center at the same time. Luckily for technology and awesome people such as noorangenolife, we were able to watch the show on Ustream via his channel: http://www.ustream.t...l/berryzseattle. One wota whip out his Ipad and held it up for everyone to see. I hooked up my mini portable speakers to sferris' phone so all the people around us could see and hear the show. When Berryz was introduced, everyone in line cheered! Everyone else was like wtf is going on
As we expected, Berryz only went on stage for a few minutes, and we watched it in real time on Ustream, no lost imo~
10minutes or so later, the doors to the exhibit halls were opening up. Everyone in line got up, and were repeatedly told to NOT RUN, or have our badges taken away and have other rotten things done to our pet chihuahua!!! Yikes~
We slowly made our way into the hall. The first 20 or so people were "speed walking", good job guys =P I was....79? in line. A Sakura-Con staff was standing in the corner, with a mic, talking into the PA system, reminding us to not run and how to line up for the HSU/Berryz booth. I was 4 booths length away from the booth when suddenly one of the staffs standing around pointed us at where to line up for the CDs (to get the autograph tickets), and where to line up for other goods. He had us all confused, and I stopped in my tracks, with everyone else behind me all coming to a halt. My friends went right, and waved at me, "Dude, what are you doing? This way!" And followed them I did!
By the time the mad "speed walking" dash was over, the whole "Let's stay in order as we march into the hall" thing went out the window. Some people dropped way back in line, and some wound up in front somehow. The line was so long, it snaked around the entire hall and it was inconvenient for everyone (and no we're not sorry, we want our Berryz autographs, lol). HSU's booth was way under staffed, and it took forever to reach the CDs. Many took this chance to snap pics off all the wonderful Berryz items on display. (Or fake 8shots with the Berryz banner lol) When it was my turn to purchase CDs, there were still over 100 tickets left for Sunday, and 30 or so for Friday. Our group went for Sunday tickets, since we weren't in a hurry to leave on Sunday, like some people. Misa wanted to see Berryz, like REALLY wanted to see them, so sferris got a Friday ticket and gave it to her, cause he's FTW like that.
After that, we went around to the other side to line up for goods.The line was really compact. It literally was just a mob of people standing in front of the booth. Misa and her friends lined up first (Ladies first, we're not a$$holes =P). The line did not move AT ALL. When we tried to figure out what's going on, Misa and her friends were shuffled to the front of the line, along with a few other people, while the rest of us got cut in line by this big group who claims their friends were holding spots for them. If this happened in the autograph tickets line, words would of been exchanged and egos would be stepped on, but it was just for t-shirts and Sakura-Con limited photo sets, we let it slide. Instead, our minds were fixated onto a more important task, the Q&A. it was already 1PM, and the Q&A was to begin at 2PM. Time was running out. By the time Misa and her friends finished buying their goods, we decided to ditch the goods line and head over to 6C on the 6th floor for the Q&A line up.
When we got there, there was already a huge line up of people, along the wall, outside of hall 6C. One of the Japanese fans who was helping with the exhibit hall line up was behind us in line, I believe his name is Kosuke, if I remember correctly. He spoke pretty good English and we talked about which member each of us likes~ I was obviously there for Miya. sferris, kyyuna, and one of Misa's friend, Rebecca were for Kyaputen (Captain, aka SAKICHANNNNNNNNNN), Misa's other friend, I never found out who her favorite is. Misa likes Yurina the best (KUMAICHOOOOO). Problem was sanrio. He was there for Miya, but had a secret crush on Risako. When he told Kosuke this, Kosuke said it's not good to be DD (Daredemo Daisuki, to love everyone, instead of having a clear favorite) Ironically, Kosuke's favorites are Chinami and Risako..... so he has 2, but that's supposed to be bad? LOL Anywho, he told us we are very lucky to be able to see Berryz like this, since they never do such events in Japan, even for the fan club. He and his friends flew all the way from Japan, each paying $2000 for plane tickets, just to get a chance to get into the autograph signings. This right here, is dedication. We also talked about with him what we were planning to get signed at the autograph session. Kosuke was still undecided on which item. Out of no where, sanrio told him, he should get his glasses signed. We all laughed, harharhar~
Soon after, Kosuke went to check out the situation at the front of the line and came back to tell us, those of us with priority wrist bands could line up in another line and be let in first. We thanked him and switched lines, he didn't have a wrist band, sadly.
At around 2PM, we were let in, and my group sat down in the 4th or 5th row, since we wanted to face the stage, more than we wanted to be as far up as possible. Yaz (Dragon Lady) came out and the staffs played a Berryz Koubou introduction video for us. They used VLC, to which those of us who knew about the VLC trouble back in '09 at the H&A Q&A, yelled out, "NOOOOOO, USE MPC INSTEAD!!!!" lol Here's how things went down, right before Berryz came on stage:
We were allowed to take pictures/video of them for a minute and nothing after that.
Luckily, Niconico douga streamed the entire Q&A, and it has been re-uploaded to Youtube:
Part 1 of 4
Part 2 of 4
Part 3 of 4
Part 4 of 4
Here's an excerpt from Part 2 of 4, of me asking Miya to do her Miya-beam~ English subbed for your viewing pleasure.
Thanks to my Miyabi happi coat, Dragon Lady thought I'm from Japan.
Sorry my Japanese was so horrible, I was really nervous =P
It was 3PM or so, when the Q&A panel ended. Berryz Koubou's Friday autograph signing was an hour away. Everyone headed down to the Autographs hall 4B on the fourth floor to get into the priority line for people with tickets or standby line for others. Misa had sferris' Friday ticket, so we line up in the standby line opposite of her. We took this waiting time to figure out what we wanted to get sign. Many of us actually planned to buy some photo sets at the HSU booth first, but since we ditched the line up there for the Q&A, we didn't have enough photos on us. I quickly went back to the HSU booth but the line up was still stupid long. Knowing I would never make it back in time if I got into the line, I rushed back to my hotel room (thank god it's just next door to the con) and grab a bunch of goods I bought with me from home. When I got back to my friends in the line.... they were like, "Dude, there's still like 30minutes before it starts, why run" FML orz
A bit after 4PM, Berryz came out and we all screamed and yelled. My attempt to get Miya's attention failed. We waited as we watched Friday ticket holders getting their stuff autographed and acting all high from it. Misa got her stuff signed and showed us. 30, 40 minutes passed, and a staff came over to our line and told us there's no time for us at all, and that we should be on our way. Everyone in the standby line got up and left, it was a bit discouraging, but we weren't expecting to get in to begin with. No harm done.
The next and final Berryz event of the day was the Guest Reception at the Red Lion Hotel a few blocks away, at 6PM. It was only 5PM or so, and we thought, hey, let's check the HSU booth again. This time, the crowd of people were gone, but the newspaper outfit Sakura-Con limited photo set was already sold out. We each ended up with a Berryz in Sakura-Con t-shirt, and some of us bought the red outfit Sakura-Con limited photo set. Oh also, we all donated money and got the ALL FOR ONE & ONE FOR ALL charity wrist band. There were still plenty of time before the Guest Reception. Back to the hotel rooms for a quick pit stop.
To be continued~
I picked up Berryz Kamen (Referred to as Misa, from here onward) and sanrio, and headed down the border toward Sakura-Con 2011. Nothing eventful really for the drive down, except for almost crashing a handful of times. (Remember kids, it's not safe to wotagei and drive at the same time going 70mph on the freeway!)
Got to Seattle downtown at 11:30am, no I wasn't speeding, honest!..... I decided to park my car in the convention center, as it's $26/day compared to $33/day Valet at Sheraton, where we were staying. Also, I don't like other people touching my car.....no one else can operate it properly anyways, 25 years old car
We left everything in the car and went inside to see if line up has began for pre-reg badge pick up. The staff told us to not worry and come back later, so we went to search for food. After walking for blocks, we ended up in....
McDonald's lol
Food is food, whatever =P Went back to the con after that, it was 3pm already.The hall for badge pick up was like 2/3 filled. The staffs kept yelling for people to line up at the furthest line in the back, no one listened.... we did ^____^ the line was shortest and fastest in the back. We were done in less than 30minutes lollll
Since there was over an hour before more people in our group will begin to show up, we headed down to IGA 3 blocks away to pick up some snack and water for the concert on Day 2. $1/liter of water and Poptarts were $4 for 2 boxes of 4s..... anyways
Back at the hotel, waited around the lobby for another hour for sferris and kyyuna to show up. After what seems like an eternity, they arrived and we went back into the con to get their badges. By now the pickup area was complete empty \o/ They got their badges instantly orz I took this chance to ask the information desk about priority wrist bands. The staffs there said it'll be available from the event pass booth beginning day 1, 9AM.
Back to the hotel, and more waiting! Oh the joy~ This time for Misa's friends. After that, guys and girls split up for dinner.....and somehow, we all ended up at the same Vietnamese Pho noodle place, lol. We realized Berryz were at Il Fornaio eating at the same time, but didn't want to go bother them. Went back to our hotel, and prepared for Day 1.
Day 1 @ April 22nd~
I woke up at 6am~ Showered and geared up for a day of events~
Outfit for Day 1:
Miyabi Happi on the outside
Home made AC Popopopo~n t-shirt on the inside. (I will explain it in the next post)
Misa was in green, for her Kumaicho and I lend my Miyabi BLT shirt to sanrio~
Meet up with sferris and kyyuna, they stayed in a different room, and we headed into the convention at around 9AM and met up with Misa's friends.
Once inside, we went straight to the event pass booth to get our priority wrist bands. A horde of people were already there, mostly Berryz fans. Spotted some wotas sporting happis of various Berryz members, and a few local fans in Berryz t-shirts, home made clothes, and even Berryz cosplayers. We weren't keeping a track of time, but it must of taken us a good half an hour before we were able to get our wrist bands.
Right after, we went straight to the door of the exhibit hall to see if anyone ignored the no line ups 30minutes before rule, since we were planning to skip the opening ceremony, knowing Berryz will be there (Autograph tickets > seeing Berryz far away for 2 minutes, YARLY). hello!projecthappiness (formerly known as Morning_Musume_3, now banned from H!O) were among one of the people trying to "line up" hours ahead of time. People began to slowly group around and staff had to tell everyone to leave. This is when we were told by a few Japanese fans that an unofficial line was being set up on the 6th floor, beside Artist Alley and that everyone should put names down on this tiny notebook to keep the line in order. Everyone did and migrated our way to the 6th floor. A good 60 or so fans were already there, waiting. Just as we were about to sit down, someone yelled out, "GUYS, WE'RE GOING BACK DOWN, THEY HAVE A LINE FOR US NOW!"....Great~ I was just about to sit down, thanks~ Once we all got back down to the 4th floor, in front of the exhibit hall, the yelling fest commenced. Sakura-Con staffs, Japanese fans in charge of the notebook, daigong from Jphip, and this fat guy who was really loud, were yelling at each other, trying to figure out what would be the best and most fair solution. (Here's a hint to any Anime convention organizers: If you invite a Japanese idol group/artist to your con, be prepared for fans that will do anything and everything. We're not here to see your Anime and Manga! And yes, there are a sh*t load of us, so you better extra make room, cuz we ain't going away just cause you say so!)
After an intense battle (I really thought they were gonna Mortal Kombat it up), with HSU's staff coming out, all Berryz fans going for the autograph tickets were allowed to form a special line in front of the hall to be let inside first, while everyone else were allowed to line up in a separate line next to us (Regular Sakura-Con attendees were not impressed with this, but what are you gonna do about it, HA? Do you want to take on 300+ crazy Berryz fans, DO YOU? Let's take it outside buddy!!! =P). Loud fat white guy (Sorry, don't know your name) took charge and DEMANDED everyone on the notebook list to sit down in order. Buddy, I know you meant good, but calm down and watch your tone of voice. We're here to see our idols, not to be yelled at by some random guy. All of us were desperate for our autograph tickets, so we sucked it up and did as he told us to.
We probably waited there for 45minutes? The Opening Ceremony was happening at the other end of the convention center at the same time. Luckily for technology and awesome people such as noorangenolife, we were able to watch the show on Ustream via his channel: http://www.ustream.t...l/berryzseattle. One wota whip out his Ipad and held it up for everyone to see. I hooked up my mini portable speakers to sferris' phone so all the people around us could see and hear the show. When Berryz was introduced, everyone in line cheered! Everyone else was like wtf is going on
As we expected, Berryz only went on stage for a few minutes, and we watched it in real time on Ustream, no lost imo~
10minutes or so later, the doors to the exhibit halls were opening up. Everyone in line got up, and were repeatedly told to NOT RUN, or have our badges taken away and have other rotten things done to our pet chihuahua!!! Yikes~
We slowly made our way into the hall. The first 20 or so people were "speed walking", good job guys =P I was....79? in line. A Sakura-Con staff was standing in the corner, with a mic, talking into the PA system, reminding us to not run and how to line up for the HSU/Berryz booth. I was 4 booths length away from the booth when suddenly one of the staffs standing around pointed us at where to line up for the CDs (to get the autograph tickets), and where to line up for other goods. He had us all confused, and I stopped in my tracks, with everyone else behind me all coming to a halt. My friends went right, and waved at me, "Dude, what are you doing? This way!" And followed them I did!
By the time the mad "speed walking" dash was over, the whole "Let's stay in order as we march into the hall" thing went out the window. Some people dropped way back in line, and some wound up in front somehow. The line was so long, it snaked around the entire hall and it was inconvenient for everyone (and no we're not sorry, we want our Berryz autographs, lol). HSU's booth was way under staffed, and it took forever to reach the CDs. Many took this chance to snap pics off all the wonderful Berryz items on display. (Or fake 8shots with the Berryz banner lol) When it was my turn to purchase CDs, there were still over 100 tickets left for Sunday, and 30 or so for Friday. Our group went for Sunday tickets, since we weren't in a hurry to leave on Sunday, like some people. Misa wanted to see Berryz, like REALLY wanted to see them, so sferris got a Friday ticket and gave it to her, cause he's FTW like that.
After that, we went around to the other side to line up for goods.The line was really compact. It literally was just a mob of people standing in front of the booth. Misa and her friends lined up first (Ladies first, we're not a$$holes =P). The line did not move AT ALL. When we tried to figure out what's going on, Misa and her friends were shuffled to the front of the line, along with a few other people, while the rest of us got cut in line by this big group who claims their friends were holding spots for them. If this happened in the autograph tickets line, words would of been exchanged and egos would be stepped on, but it was just for t-shirts and Sakura-Con limited photo sets, we let it slide. Instead, our minds were fixated onto a more important task, the Q&A. it was already 1PM, and the Q&A was to begin at 2PM. Time was running out. By the time Misa and her friends finished buying their goods, we decided to ditch the goods line and head over to 6C on the 6th floor for the Q&A line up.
When we got there, there was already a huge line up of people, along the wall, outside of hall 6C. One of the Japanese fans who was helping with the exhibit hall line up was behind us in line, I believe his name is Kosuke, if I remember correctly. He spoke pretty good English and we talked about which member each of us likes~ I was obviously there for Miya. sferris, kyyuna, and one of Misa's friend, Rebecca were for Kyaputen (Captain, aka SAKICHANNNNNNNNNN), Misa's other friend, I never found out who her favorite is. Misa likes Yurina the best (KUMAICHOOOOO). Problem was sanrio. He was there for Miya, but had a secret crush on Risako. When he told Kosuke this, Kosuke said it's not good to be DD (Daredemo Daisuki, to love everyone, instead of having a clear favorite) Ironically, Kosuke's favorites are Chinami and Risako..... so he has 2, but that's supposed to be bad? LOL Anywho, he told us we are very lucky to be able to see Berryz like this, since they never do such events in Japan, even for the fan club. He and his friends flew all the way from Japan, each paying $2000 for plane tickets, just to get a chance to get into the autograph signings. This right here, is dedication. We also talked about with him what we were planning to get signed at the autograph session. Kosuke was still undecided on which item. Out of no where, sanrio told him, he should get his glasses signed. We all laughed, harharhar~
Soon after, Kosuke went to check out the situation at the front of the line and came back to tell us, those of us with priority wrist bands could line up in another line and be let in first. We thanked him and switched lines, he didn't have a wrist band, sadly.
At around 2PM, we were let in, and my group sat down in the 4th or 5th row, since we wanted to face the stage, more than we wanted to be as far up as possible. Yaz (Dragon Lady) came out and the staffs played a Berryz Koubou introduction video for us. They used VLC, to which those of us who knew about the VLC trouble back in '09 at the H&A Q&A, yelled out, "NOOOOOO, USE MPC INSTEAD!!!!" lol Here's how things went down, right before Berryz came on stage:
We were allowed to take pictures/video of them for a minute and nothing after that.
Luckily, Niconico douga streamed the entire Q&A, and it has been re-uploaded to Youtube:
Part 1 of 4
Part 2 of 4
Part 3 of 4
Part 4 of 4
Here's an excerpt from Part 2 of 4, of me asking Miya to do her Miya-beam~ English subbed for your viewing pleasure.
Thanks to my Miyabi happi coat, Dragon Lady thought I'm from Japan.
Sorry my Japanese was so horrible, I was really nervous =P
It was 3PM or so, when the Q&A panel ended. Berryz Koubou's Friday autograph signing was an hour away. Everyone headed down to the Autographs hall 4B on the fourth floor to get into the priority line for people with tickets or standby line for others. Misa had sferris' Friday ticket, so we line up in the standby line opposite of her. We took this waiting time to figure out what we wanted to get sign. Many of us actually planned to buy some photo sets at the HSU booth first, but since we ditched the line up there for the Q&A, we didn't have enough photos on us. I quickly went back to the HSU booth but the line up was still stupid long. Knowing I would never make it back in time if I got into the line, I rushed back to my hotel room (thank god it's just next door to the con) and grab a bunch of goods I bought with me from home. When I got back to my friends in the line.... they were like, "Dude, there's still like 30minutes before it starts, why run" FML orz
A bit after 4PM, Berryz came out and we all screamed and yelled. My attempt to get Miya's attention failed. We waited as we watched Friday ticket holders getting their stuff autographed and acting all high from it. Misa got her stuff signed and showed us. 30, 40 minutes passed, and a staff came over to our line and told us there's no time for us at all, and that we should be on our way. Everyone in the standby line got up and left, it was a bit discouraging, but we weren't expecting to get in to begin with. No harm done.
The next and final Berryz event of the day was the Guest Reception at the Red Lion Hotel a few blocks away, at 6PM. It was only 5PM or so, and we thought, hey, let's check the HSU booth again. This time, the crowd of people were gone, but the newspaper outfit Sakura-Con limited photo set was already sold out. We each ended up with a Berryz in Sakura-Con t-shirt, and some of us bought the red outfit Sakura-Con limited photo set. Oh also, we all donated money and got the ALL FOR ONE & ONE FOR ALL charity wrist band. There were still plenty of time before the Guest Reception. Back to the hotel rooms for a quick pit stop.
To be continued~
Oh well... you deserved it!
