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My first ℃-ute Hawaii FC Tour just finished recently, I had a BLAST! Just like for the MM tour in 2011, I had to do long hours of overtime at work during the days leading up to the tour, so I was a bit sleepy/drowsy throughout the entire thing... and my recollection is a little fuzzy... >_<
I'll try and make this concise and easy to read, but it will probably end up being overly detailed like the last Hawaii Tour report was. Anyways, here we go....
DAY ONE (Optional Tour Day)
In the morning, I hopped on a bus near my home and took it to the Honolulu Airport, since I was told by the staff that I should meet them and the groups arriving from Japan near the tour bus area. For the Morning Musume Tour last year, I was in a group of 8 people (the other 7 people in my group were friends from Japan), but since I didn't personally know any C-ute fans on this tour, I was in a group by myself...
Just like on the 2011 MM Hawaii Tour, we did a pre-tour sightseeing trip (with no C-ute members of course), and took us to the King Kamehameha statue, to the Aloha Tower, and then to Todai for lunch. During lunch I sat at a big table with a bunch of people I didn't know, but during lunch a person across the table from me asked me where I was from and what member I liked.... we had a really good conversation. He was a part of a group with 3 others, 3 of them being Okai-wotas and the other person a C-ute DD.
After lunch they bussed us to the DFS building in Waikiki, and on the top floor we drew lots for where we would be sitting during the optional tour. The optional tours were:
1) Maimi+Nakki → East Oahu Tour (Kailua area + kailua shopping center)
2) Chissa → Power Spot Tour (Aiea area, Moanalua garden +pearl ridge mall)
3) Airi+Maimai → North Shore Tour (Haliewa town, Dole Plantation)
I chose the Airi+Maimai tour. I've been a C-ute DD for a while but I started to really like Airi more than the others a year or so ago. The seat on the bus I drew was next to someone who is apparently quite famous in the Hello!Pro wota world, I won't give his name out but if you read the Hawaii Tour thread on 2ch, a massive amount of the posts in there with a tripcode are his. Apparently he goes on every single Hello!Pro FC Tour and to almost every H!P concert, he is the Hello!Pro DD KING. He handed out pink or yellow bracelets/wristbands that his wife made to everyone on our optional tour, I took a pink one since I'm an Airi Wota
The first 4 rows of the bus were empty, so we thought Airi and Maimai were going to ride the bus with us to north shore, but they didn't.... I was in row 9.
After being in traffic for a long time, my bus (and the one other bus on our optional tour) finally arrived at the Dole Plantation. After we stopped, the door opened on the front of the bus, and Airi and Maimai ran in!
When they came on the bus, everyone let out a half-assed cheer, since most people didn't sleep on the plane and apparently the customs check-in was a nightmare. Maimai was annoyed at our medium-volume cheer and shouted out "みんなテンション低すぎ！！(Everyone's spirits are too low!)” in a loudspeaker 
Airi and Maimai then welcomed everyone to Hawaii and wished us a good time.
We all filed off the bus and waved hello to Airi and Maimai while getting off, they were standing next to the bus door. The staff assembled us wotas into one big group, and then Airi and Maimai started walking to the entrance of the Dole plantation. All of us wotas didn't know what to do since the staff weren't giving us instructions, so we just kinda casually followed them really slowly at about 10-15 meters distance. Airi and Maimai noticed this, so Airi turned around and said "来てくださいよ!" (please come with us!). Somehow, everyone spontaneously all at once shouted out "Hai!" and started running towards them! This scared Airi and Maimai, so they started running away from us for a few dozen paces or so, it was quite a hilarious scene. All of the tourists there stared at us like we were complete idiots At the entrance to the dole plantation they told us to go inside and buy some souvenirs, and the staff then took Airi and Maimai on their own into the plantation and the maze area. After about 5 minutes, the staff called us back to our buses, and the two buses left for Haliewa.
When we got to Haliewa, the staff led us off the bus, and told us some places to visit in Haliewa. In particular they told us to go to Matsumoto Shave Ice for some famous Shave Ice ("Shave Ice" is a Hawaiian snow-cone for people who don't know). Most people went off to Matsumoto's for Shave Ice and some souvenirs, but since I knew that place would be crowded I went to Aoki's Shave Ice instead. I actually did want some shave ice but didn't want to wait forever in line, and Aoki's is just as good but not as famous. Aoki's was pretty empty, so I was able to get my Shave Ice after only a minute in line behind one person. Once I started placing my order for my shave ice, I heard a group of people approach me from behind, and some voices that sounded really familiar.... I turned around and there was Airi and Maimai standing right behind me!!!
There were about 5 staff with them too, and one person with a big camera filming them. I said to Airi "お先にどうぞ”(you first, please), then Airi replied with a "No no, you first" I didn't want to say anything else at that time since I didn't know if personal conversation was allowed (and staff were surrounding me), I was wearing my C-ute tour badge too so they definitely knew I was a wota and not just some random local guy. I just minded my own business after that and watched the Aoki staff make my Shave Ice while Airi and Maimai chatted in line behind me....
After I got my shave ice I moved a few paces away from them and started eating it, while watching Airi and Maimai order theirs. I literally couldn't leave the store since the UFA staff had it blocked off, there is only one way out, and a bunch of wotas were all crowded around outside the entrance. I didn't hear what they ordered, but once I saw Airi's shave ice I mumbled to myself "イチゴとなにかな？(Strawberry and something else?)", then Airi looked over to me and said "I like STRAWBERRY ....and.... ....VANILLA!) in English The staff made a hole through the wotas outside so that Airi and Maimai could leave, then everyone followed them around for a few minutes to a few other stores (but the staff wouldn't let us in the stores with them, we just hung around outside them). After about 10 minutes we had to be back at the buses, so I got on my bus while Airi and Maimai showed up outside the buses with the staff. We sat inside for about 15 minutes while Airi and Maimai made funny gestures and were practicing some dance moves with each other (probably for the concert on Saturday).
Airi and Maimai finally came back on our bus while we were waiting in Haliewa, Maimai with a Sprite can in hand. Some wotas told Maimai that food and drink wasn't allowed on the bus (we all had to throw out our food we bought...), so she handed her sprite over to a staff member, then explained to us how much she loves Sprite and had 4 cans of it in the last 2 days Our bus then departed Haliewa for the Dole plantation (again), and Airi and Maimai rode in the 2nd row of the bus. We were then told that they rode with the other bus on the way to Haliewa, and were riding with us back to Dole. The guy in the seat next to me (that famous wota) spoke/shouted pretty much the entire time to the members and wouldn't let any other wotas say anything to them, a lot of the wotas told me he is famous for that... -_- After a while of that, we played a "todofuken" game where we had to name off different prefectures in Japan (without repeating any), I chose Yamaguchi-ken. Everyone kinda got bored of the game after a while... I managed to ask one question to Maimai, and that was "Do they not have Sprite in Japan?", and she said that they do have sprite but it is hard to find. Once we got to Dole we all had a group picture taken with Airi and Maimai in-front of the Dole entrance, and then Airi and Maimai went back on their own to Waikiki while they bussed us wotas to our hotels for check-in. In the lobby, the staff gave us some athlete bibs (called "Zekken") that we had to decorate ourselves for the undokai (sports festival event) the next day.
DAY TWO (Start of Official (non-optional) Tour)
I decorated my zekken early in the morning, it had my name on it (in Katakana) in black and outlined in pink, then I made a rainbow with the C-ute member colors that went through my name (I was thinking of the Hawaii license plates). I did a pretty good job of it IMO, but since there were enormous rainbows on the front and back.... it looked like something for a preschooler
All the wotas met in the lobbies of their hotels, where we were told that they were delaying the event for an hour since the undokai ground was wet due to an overnight shower. We all waited around until they finally told us that they were going to start the event, and they marched us out of the hotel and down the street several blocks to a convention room in the Marriott hotel on Kalakaua street. They had a small stage set up in there and a bunch of seats, there they told us they were canceling the undokai, but to keep wearing our name bibs (zekken). The staff split everyone up into 4 large groups, about 40 or so in each (there were about 160 people on the tour, ~130 males and ~30 females). They lead each group one at a time into a separate room, while the rest of us waited. After about 15 minutes each group came out with a big smile, so we were all guessing it was a good event of some sort. My group was the last of the 4 to go.
When we went into the room there were 5 groups of chairs, with 10 seats in each group, with the seats facing each other in a big circle. We were split into 5 groups, and told to sit in the chairs. The chairs had numbers on them too. We all sat down in the chairs, and two seats were open (some only one seat) at each group. The staff then told us that they were going to pick a topic and a number. The groups would have a combined total of 3 minutes to talk about the chosen topic with each member, and the number chosen is where the member would sit (if someone was sitting in that chair, they had to move to an open chair).
Chissa was the first one to come to my group, and the topic chosen was "℃-uteのファンになったきかっけは何ですか？(Why did you become a C-ute fan?)". Chissa sat in a chair 3 chairs to the right of me, and asked each person in my group their thoughts. When she got to me, I explained that I discovered C-ute while I was studying Japanese as a minor at my university in america, and that out of all of the idol groups I discovered, I thought that C-ute has the best personality, the best vocals, and the best dancing. Chissa was really really happy and said あああ、ありがとうございます！！ (aaaa, thank you!!)
Next was Airi, and she sat at a chair two chairs away from me on the right. The topic was "℃-uteの直したいところは何ですか？(What do you want C-ute to fix/improve). I didn't really have a good answer when Airi got to my turn, and when she read the name off my bib it was something completely different than what was written (it was written in huge letters too), so that startled me a bit I said that I thought that there isn't really much that C-ute needs to improve, that I think they are the best idol group in Japan. She seemed really happy of course ^^
3rd was Maimi, she sat 4 chairs away from me on the left. The topic was "℃-uteはなにをチャレンジーしたい？(what would you like C-ute to try and do?)". I said that I really enjoyed the C-ute vs s/mileage concert, and I wanted them to try and do a similar thing again / be in competitions or such with other groups (be them hello!pro or whoever). I said C-ute wouldn't lose. There are probably other things than that I could have said... but I couldn't think fast enough in Japanese... >_<
4th was Nakky, and she sat right next to me in the chair on the right. The topic was "℃-uteの一番好きなところは何ですか？(What is your favorite part of C-ute?)" I said that my favorite part of C-ute is their dancing, and that I really enjoyed the Dance Special concert. I also said that I particularly like Nakky's dancing, and that she is a great dancer. She started blushing and said thank you
Last was Maimai, she sat directly across from me (5 chairs to the right or left). The topic was "℃-uteの一番好きな曲はなんですか？(What is your favorite C-ute song?)". I said to Maimai that I really like Bye!Bye!Bye!, since I like 80's-style music and that sort of electronic-based music. Maimai responded saying that her dance instructor likes that song too or something or other, I couldn't really hear her since she was talking softly and so far away....
After that event we waited around for a few hours (I went home and got lunch), then assembled back at the Marriott for our 6-shots. I did the shaka (aloha sign) again, since I couldn't think of anything more original I wanted.... >.> Here is the pic:
Note: When you go to take the picture with C-ute, you have to tell a staff member a few feet away from them what pose you want C-ute to do, and then he tells/shows the members how to pose. I told him I wanted C-ute to do the shaka sign with back of their hands facing towards the camera, because that is the proper way to do it (at least, that is how I was told to do it by some local Hawaiians soon after moving to Hawaii over a year ago.... I'm not sure if doing it other ways is necessarily "incorrect"). I'm only mentioning this because it has to do with something surprising later on in the writeup.
Also, those signatures you see on there I will explain later, each member signed the picture during an event the next day.
We had a few more hours of free time after that, then we had to meet (yet again) back at the convention room in the Marriott. There were tables (19-20 of them I think?) all set up around a stage, and we drew lots for which table we were at. I was at a table quite close to the stage
The evening event then started.........
The C-ute members all came out on stage, and started doing a chat about what they had done in Hawaii so far, and their opinions on some things they were told in the morning event. They also had a comedian guy up on the stage as an MC (I forget his name, but he works for UFA), and they were joking a bit about Maimai's Sprite addiction. After that they one at a time showed us large pictures they had made that were Hawaii themed. Maimi's and Airi's were super detailed, and Maimai and Chissa were really REALLY embarrassed since they spent only a little time on theirs and didn't want them compared to Maimi's and Airi's... they tried to hold off showing us them as long as they could. Maimi's picture had all members playing on a beach, with Chissa burying Maimai in sand Airi's had different scenes with Su-san doing different things in Hawaii, and they were all drawn like they were on postcards. Nakki's was a picture of 3 different scenes in Hawaii (palm trees, the ocean, and something else.. I forget sorry.... >_< ). Maimai's was of Hagio and Hagiko playing on the beach. Chissa's was of the sun (wearing shades and had a big grin), and some guy with what looked like a sombrero on standing below it shouting "日焼けしないぞ！！(Don't get sunburn!)”. They then drew numbers, and 5 lucky people won a picture.
The next game involved everyone, and on the table for each wota were 5 cards, each with different colors (Red, Blue, Pink, Green, Yellow), and we were told to put up a card for which question best suited each member. I can't remember all of the questions, but here are some of them:
- "Which member seems like she doesn't have a lot of friends?" Most people put up blue (Nakky), and then the MC asked one of the wotas why he chose Nakky. I couldn't hear his explanation... I think it had to do something with her blog only ever involving herself.
- "Which member seems the most malicious?" Most people put up pink (Airi), I dunno why... Airi didn't seem to mind it too much though and just laughed about it.
- "Which member seems the least idol-like?" Most people put up green (Chissa), and Chissa seemed a bit upset, but said that everyone was probably being nice and saying she is more Artist-like instead.
- "Which member would you want to scold, or have scold you?" I think this was what the question was, I didn't understand the words that they used in the question, so I might be wrong... >_< Either way, it was a mix of people.
- "Which member would you NOT want to be your girlfriend?" This was also a mix of people. The members were really curious about these answers (especially from wotas that chose their oshimen). The MC went around and asked some wotas their opinions. For Maimi, someone said that she seems too strong for him. For Airi, someone said that it seems like she would daze off too easily when they were together, and Airi admitted that she does daze off sometimes too much. For Maimai, someone said that at some sort of event in Fukuoka where she had to choose clothes she did a really bad job, and wouldn't want her to choose his clothes. For Nakky, someone said that he wants to cheer for Nakky as an idol and it would be weird/unpure for him to be dating her. Last was for Chissa, and a Chissa wota said "彼女じゃなくて、嫁にしたい！" (I don't want her to be my girlfriend, I want her to be my BRIDE!). All of the wotas burst out laughing, while all the members ran around in circles on stage screaming. Chissa's face was bright red like a tomato
The next game was to make your own cellphone strap, there were pens and such to make them with on the table. While we were making them, the members came around and helped explain things for us if we were having issues, and showed us the straps they made. The Chissa wota next to me called Airi over when she was nearby, and wanted her to see my strap. The strap I was making had a picture of the Hawaiian islands in the center, with a Japanese flag in the top right and an American flag in the bottom left. He asked what she thought I was making, and Airi said "Japan and America? Huh?", and then the wota said "No, what is that in the center"... and she didn't know, so I said it was the Hawaiian islands. The Chissa wota then said that I live in Hawaii, and Airi was like "EEEHHH????" She probably thought I live in Japan and came along with some people from there.... She showed us her cellphone strap, it was of Su-san of course At the end, 5 peoples names we drawn again, and each of them won a strap that a member made.
After that, they got on stage and the MC came on an said that something terrible had happened, that someone had stolen the ℃ mark from ℃-ute. We had to interview each member tomorrow to find out who is the criminal.
That was the end of the evening event, and on our way out we got to high-five each member. I said "thank you!" in English to each member and they all replied with a "thank you!" back in English.
After I got back to the hotel, the 4 wotas I was talking with at Todai invited me with them to dinner at Ruth's Chris, so I went there and had a really good (but REALLY expensive) dinner. I don't think I've ever spent that much money on a dinner before, I don't regret it though since it was a great experience. They also invited me to chat with them in their rooms, and we had a good long chat, especially when each person gave their background story about how they became a ℃-ute wota.
DAY THREE
The event in the morning was the "Find the Criminal!" game. We were given a map , and given our 6-shot pictures we took yesterday. The map had three dots on them, one was at the Princess Kaiulani hotel, one was at the Pacific Beach hotel, and the last one was at the Marriott. We were also given a sheet that had three questions we had to ask each member in 30 seconds, and spaces for the answers. The questions were "What did you do in your free time?", "What has been on your mind recently?", and "Can you prove you have an alibi?" I had a lot of difficulty on this game with the Japanese....we had so little time to ask questions, had to write answers down too, and I couldn't process the Japanese and get it on my paper fast enough for the next question.
The group of 10 people I was chosen to be with decided to go to the Princess Kaiulani first, and we found Maimi there at a table. Maimi signed everyone's pictures, and then someone else in my group asked her all the questions. He first asked if she could respond in English for my benefit, but Maimi responded with "無理、無理！ごめんなさい！"(Impossible! Impossible! I'm sorry!). In typical Maimi-chan fashion she was really talkative with the people in my group and had a huge smile the whole time. Her answers centered around the fact that she was out shopping for a shirt for her mom (and showed us the shirt), and that the criminal couldn't be her.
Next, we went to the Pacific Beach hotel, and Nakky and Maimai were sitting at an outdoor cafe at different tables. Nakky signed our pics, and then the Nakky wota in our group asked all of the questions. She said that she was watching DVDs and thinking of poses for something, and that Airi called her about it. At Maimai's table I had a really tough time with the Japanese, the only bit I got was that she was playing with Chissa. I asked Maimai when we were leaving how many Sprites she has had so far in Hawaii, and she said 5 or so ^^
At the Marriott was Airi and Chissa, we went to Airi's table first. She signed our pics, and my group was very courteous in letting me ask Airi the 3 questions. When Airi was signing my picture, she looked over to me and said "この方は本物のシャカサインですよね？" (this is the proper "Shaka Sign", right?). She must have overheard my conversation with the staff just before I took my 6-shot. Airi has a great memory.... and great ears!! I asked before the staff started the stopwatch if I could ask the questions in English (my group wanted me to ask this, to see if we could get more time as a handicap or something). Airi responded in funny English with "UUHH, NO NO, ENGLISH?!? MAYBE?! UH..." I then said that it's no problem and I would ask the questions in Japanese instead. When I put my question/answer sheet down on the table to write her answers, she was surprised I was writing all my notes in English. I started asking the questions before the staff started the stopwatch, and he had to stop me mid-sentence, and I apologized to him a lot for starting early... it was really embarrassing >_< Airi's answers centered around that she was thinking of Dajare and was shopping for presents for her mom. At Chissa's table she signed our pics too, but one of the Chissa wotas asked if it was okay to put "To ____-san" on it. The staff was hesitant about it and was really uneasy about it, but Chissa said yeah sure and signed it with his name on it. She then signed everyone else's pics with their name on it too that wanted that, which is why there is that white strip across the top of my 6-shot That Chissa wota then asked Chissa all the questions, and her answers centered around the fact that she was thinking of gags with Maimai. We ran into the MC around then too, and he said that the remaining "ute" letters had "by Airi" written on them.
We figured out that Nakky was the culprit, because she apparently had canceled plans with Airi, and it would be dumb for Airi to steal something then put "by Airi" on the crime scene. We turned out to be right, and the culprit was announced during the concert.
Next was the concert, and the setlist was about as follows:
-Momoiro Sparkling
-Kacchoii Uta
-Hitorijimeshitakatta dake nanoni
-Namida no Iro
-Tropical Koishiteru (Maimi and Airi)
-Pira Otome no Negai (Nakky, Chissa, Mai)
-Chu! Natsu Party (Nakky, Airi)
-Campus Life (Maimi, Airi, Mai)
-Otome COCORO (Chissa, Mai)
-Hare no Platinum Doori (Nakky, Chissa)
-Bokura no Kagayaki (Maimi, Nakky, Chissa)
-Ashiteru Ashiteru (Mai)
-Seventeen's Vow (Chissa)
-Tsuugaku Vector (Airi)
-Big Dreams (Nakky)
-Natsudoki Lipstick (Maimi)
-Shines
-Kimi wa Jitensha, Watashi wa Densha de kitaku
-Wasuretakunai Natsu
During Shines they went off the stage and went around the back and sides of the crowds while we were spinning our towels. I'm REALLY glad that I decided to bring my towel too.
Also, during some songs it was raining quite hard, but the members and fans just put up with it and sang or danced through it.
I don't know if there are any audio rips yet (or will be), security was really tight this time compared to the MM tour in 2011. The staff checked every pocket and nook and cranny in everyones bags, and even gave people patdowns... it was a bit excessive in my opinion, having security that strict at concerts in Japan is unheard of.
It's really hard to explain how the concert was in words, other than it was awesome and you have to watch it if a DVD comes out for it. It did seem to be really fast though... the MCs were short and they didn't give out any custom presents like they did during the MM tour. I oshi-jumped when I could during the Airi parts, and did some dances (poorly) to the songs I knew the dances of. I had a lot of fun though At the end was the handshake event, and we had about 7-8 seconds with each member. All of them were really happy with what I said and thanked me. Airi managed to surprisingly know my name, even though she said it completely wrong during the day before..... she said it twice too! Airi also said some other really kind things, I'm definitely a permanent fan of hers now
At only 7-8 seconds though it seemed extremely quick with each member... most were only able to say a simple "thanks" back, and I was only able to mutter a sentance or two. For ~$2500 (the cost to go on a Hawaii FC Tour), you think they would give everyone a little more time...
After the concert I drove those same people I had dinner with the night before to the mall, and then we had dinner together again. It was a really fun day, yet again.
All in all, I had a fantastic experience, one that probably surpassed the MM tour in 2011. Two things I will take away from this experience is that all of the C-ute members truly are great, and so are all of their true fans. I didn't meet one fan that was a bad person (even the guy on the bus next to me the first day was nice, he was just maybe too talkative with the members...). Most wotas were quite outgoing and willing to talk with me.
Anyways, the end! I hope you will find the chance to go on a Hawaii FC Tour of your choice in the future, they really are great. ℃-ute 最高！！！
EDIT (on April 25th): I just wanted to update this blog entry with this tidbit of news: A wota I met on the ℃-ute Hawaii FC tour (and only talked with for a few mins), decided to ask Airi during a recent handshake event if she remembers ME!
Awesome that Airi apparently remembers me still, but even more awesome he would do that without me even asking. How cool is that? Wotas are so kind!!!!!!
I'll try and make this concise and easy to read, but it will probably end up being overly detailed like the last Hawaii Tour report was. Anyways, here we go....
DAY ONE (Optional Tour Day)
In the morning, I hopped on a bus near my home and took it to the Honolulu Airport, since I was told by the staff that I should meet them and the groups arriving from Japan near the tour bus area. For the Morning Musume Tour last year, I was in a group of 8 people (the other 7 people in my group were friends from Japan), but since I didn't personally know any C-ute fans on this tour, I was in a group by myself...
Just like on the 2011 MM Hawaii Tour, we did a pre-tour sightseeing trip (with no C-ute members of course), and took us to the King Kamehameha statue, to the Aloha Tower, and then to Todai for lunch. During lunch I sat at a big table with a bunch of people I didn't know, but during lunch a person across the table from me asked me where I was from and what member I liked.... we had a really good conversation. He was a part of a group with 3 others, 3 of them being Okai-wotas and the other person a C-ute DD.
After lunch they bussed us to the DFS building in Waikiki, and on the top floor we drew lots for where we would be sitting during the optional tour. The optional tours were:
1) Maimi+Nakki → East Oahu Tour (Kailua area + kailua shopping center)
2) Chissa → Power Spot Tour (Aiea area, Moanalua garden +pearl ridge mall)
3) Airi+Maimai → North Shore Tour (Haliewa town, Dole Plantation)
I chose the Airi+Maimai tour. I've been a C-ute DD for a while but I started to really like Airi more than the others a year or so ago. The seat on the bus I drew was next to someone who is apparently quite famous in the Hello!Pro wota world, I won't give his name out but if you read the Hawaii Tour thread on 2ch, a massive amount of the posts in there with a tripcode are his. Apparently he goes on every single Hello!Pro FC Tour and to almost every H!P concert, he is the Hello!Pro DD KING. He handed out pink or yellow bracelets/wristbands that his wife made to everyone on our optional tour, I took a pink one since I'm an Airi Wota
The first 4 rows of the bus were empty, so we thought Airi and Maimai were going to ride the bus with us to north shore, but they didn't.... I was in row 9.After being in traffic for a long time, my bus (and the one other bus on our optional tour) finally arrived at the Dole Plantation. After we stopped, the door opened on the front of the bus, and Airi and Maimai ran in!
When they came on the bus, everyone let out a half-assed cheer, since most people didn't sleep on the plane and apparently the customs check-in was a nightmare. Maimai was annoyed at our medium-volume cheer and shouted out "みんなテンション低すぎ！！(Everyone's spirits are too low!)” in a loudspeaker Airi and Maimai then welcomed everyone to Hawaii and wished us a good time. We all filed off the bus and waved hello to Airi and Maimai while getting off, they were standing next to the bus door. The staff assembled us wotas into one big group, and then Airi and Maimai started walking to the entrance of the Dole plantation. All of us wotas didn't know what to do since the staff weren't giving us instructions, so we just kinda casually followed them really slowly at about 10-15 meters distance. Airi and Maimai noticed this, so Airi turned around and said "来てくださいよ!" (please come with us!). Somehow, everyone spontaneously all at once shouted out "Hai!" and started running towards them! This scared Airi and Maimai, so they started running away from us for a few dozen paces or so, it was quite a hilarious scene. All of the tourists there stared at us like we were complete idiots
At the entrance to the dole plantation they told us to go inside and buy some souvenirs, and the staff then took Airi and Maimai on their own into the plantation and the maze area. After about 5 minutes, the staff called us back to our buses, and the two buses left for Haliewa.When we got to Haliewa, the staff led us off the bus, and told us some places to visit in Haliewa. In particular they told us to go to Matsumoto Shave Ice for some famous Shave Ice ("Shave Ice" is a Hawaiian snow-cone for people who don't know). Most people went off to Matsumoto's for Shave Ice and some souvenirs, but since I knew that place would be crowded I went to Aoki's Shave Ice instead. I actually did want some shave ice but didn't want to wait forever in line, and Aoki's is just as good but not as famous. Aoki's was pretty empty, so I was able to get my Shave Ice after only a minute in line behind one person. Once I started placing my order for my shave ice, I heard a group of people approach me from behind, and some voices that sounded really familiar.... I turned around and there was Airi and Maimai standing right behind me!!!
There were about 5 staff with them too, and one person with a big camera filming them. I said to Airi "お先にどうぞ”(you first, please), then Airi replied with a "No no, you first" I didn't want to say anything else at that time since I didn't know if personal conversation was allowed (and staff were surrounding me), I was wearing my C-ute tour badge too so they definitely knew I was a wota and not just some random local guy. I just minded my own business after that and watched the Aoki staff make my Shave Ice while Airi and Maimai chatted in line behind me....After I got my shave ice I moved a few paces away from them and started eating it, while watching Airi and Maimai order theirs. I literally couldn't leave the store since the UFA staff had it blocked off, there is only one way out, and a bunch of wotas were all crowded around outside the entrance. I didn't hear what they ordered, but once I saw Airi's shave ice I mumbled to myself "イチゴとなにかな？(Strawberry and something else?)", then Airi looked over to me and said "I like STRAWBERRY ....and.... ....VANILLA!) in English
The staff made a hole through the wotas outside so that Airi and Maimai could leave, then everyone followed them around for a few minutes to a few other stores (but the staff wouldn't let us in the stores with them, we just hung around outside them). After about 10 minutes we had to be back at the buses, so I got on my bus while Airi and Maimai showed up outside the buses with the staff. We sat inside for about 15 minutes while Airi and Maimai made funny gestures and were practicing some dance moves with each other (probably for the concert on Saturday). Airi and Maimai finally came back on our bus while we were waiting in Haliewa, Maimai with a Sprite can in hand. Some wotas told Maimai that food and drink wasn't allowed on the bus (we all had to throw out our food we bought...), so she handed her sprite over to a staff member, then explained to us how much she loves Sprite and had 4 cans of it in the last 2 days
Our bus then departed Haliewa for the Dole plantation (again), and Airi and Maimai rode in the 2nd row of the bus. We were then told that they rode with the other bus on the way to Haliewa, and were riding with us back to Dole. The guy in the seat next to me (that famous wota) spoke/shouted pretty much the entire time to the members and wouldn't let any other wotas say anything to them, a lot of the wotas told me he is famous for that... -_- After a while of that, we played a "todofuken" game where we had to name off different prefectures in Japan (without repeating any), I chose Yamaguchi-ken. Everyone kinda got bored of the game after a while... I managed to ask one question to Maimai, and that was "Do they not have Sprite in Japan?", and she said that they do have sprite but it is hard to find. Once we got to Dole we all had a group picture taken with Airi and Maimai in-front of the Dole entrance, and then Airi and Maimai went back on their own to Waikiki while they bussed us wotas to our hotels for check-in. In the lobby, the staff gave us some athlete bibs (called "Zekken") that we had to decorate ourselves for the undokai (sports festival event) the next day.DAY TWO (Start of Official (non-optional) Tour)
I decorated my zekken early in the morning, it had my name on it (in Katakana) in black and outlined in pink, then I made a rainbow with the C-ute member colors that went through my name (I was thinking of the Hawaii license plates). I did a pretty good job of it IMO, but since there were enormous rainbows on the front and back.... it looked like something for a preschooler
All the wotas met in the lobbies of their hotels, where we were told that they were delaying the event for an hour since the undokai ground was wet due to an overnight shower. We all waited around until they finally told us that they were going to start the event, and they marched us out of the hotel and down the street several blocks to a convention room in the Marriott hotel on Kalakaua street. They had a small stage set up in there and a bunch of seats, there they told us they were canceling the undokai, but to keep wearing our name bibs (zekken). The staff split everyone up into 4 large groups, about 40 or so in each (there were about 160 people on the tour, ~130 males and ~30 females). They lead each group one at a time into a separate room, while the rest of us waited. After about 15 minutes each group came out with a big smile, so we were all guessing it was a good event of some sort. My group was the last of the 4 to go.When we went into the room there were 5 groups of chairs, with 10 seats in each group, with the seats facing each other in a big circle. We were split into 5 groups, and told to sit in the chairs. The chairs had numbers on them too. We all sat down in the chairs, and two seats were open (some only one seat) at each group. The staff then told us that they were going to pick a topic and a number. The groups would have a combined total of 3 minutes to talk about the chosen topic with each member, and the number chosen is where the member would sit (if someone was sitting in that chair, they had to move to an open chair).
Chissa was the first one to come to my group, and the topic chosen was "℃-uteのファンになったきかっけは何ですか？(Why did you become a C-ute fan?)". Chissa sat in a chair 3 chairs to the right of me, and asked each person in my group their thoughts. When she got to me, I explained that I discovered C-ute while I was studying Japanese as a minor at my university in america, and that out of all of the idol groups I discovered, I thought that C-ute has the best personality, the best vocals, and the best dancing. Chissa was really really happy and said あああ、ありがとうございます！！ (aaaa, thank you!!)
Next was Airi, and she sat at a chair two chairs away from me on the right. The topic was "℃-uteの直したいところは何ですか？(What do you want C-ute to fix/improve). I didn't really have a good answer when Airi got to my turn, and when she read the name off my bib it was something completely different than what was written (it was written in huge letters too), so that startled me a bit
I said that I thought that there isn't really much that C-ute needs to improve, that I think they are the best idol group in Japan. She seemed really happy of course ^^3rd was Maimi, she sat 4 chairs away from me on the left. The topic was "℃-uteはなにをチャレンジーしたい？(what would you like C-ute to try and do?)". I said that I really enjoyed the C-ute vs s/mileage concert, and I wanted them to try and do a similar thing again / be in competitions or such with other groups (be them hello!pro or whoever). I said C-ute wouldn't lose. There are probably other things than that I could have said... but I couldn't think fast enough in Japanese... >_<
4th was Nakky, and she sat right next to me in the chair on the right. The topic was "℃-uteの一番好きなところは何ですか？(What is your favorite part of C-ute?)" I said that my favorite part of C-ute is their dancing, and that I really enjoyed the Dance Special concert. I also said that I particularly like Nakky's dancing, and that she is a great dancer. She started blushing and said thank you
Last was Maimai, she sat directly across from me (5 chairs to the right or left). The topic was "℃-uteの一番好きな曲はなんですか？(What is your favorite C-ute song?)". I said to Maimai that I really like Bye!Bye!Bye!, since I like 80's-style music and that sort of electronic-based music. Maimai responded saying that her dance instructor likes that song too or something or other, I couldn't really hear her since she was talking softly and so far away....
After that event we waited around for a few hours (I went home and got lunch), then assembled back at the Marriott for our 6-shots. I did the shaka (aloha sign) again, since I couldn't think of anything more original I wanted.... >.> Here is the pic:
Note: When you go to take the picture with C-ute, you have to tell a staff member a few feet away from them what pose you want C-ute to do, and then he tells/shows the members how to pose. I told him I wanted C-ute to do the shaka sign with back of their hands facing towards the camera, because that is the proper way to do it (at least, that is how I was told to do it by some local Hawaiians soon after moving to Hawaii over a year ago.... I'm not sure if doing it other ways is necessarily "incorrect"). I'm only mentioning this because it has to do with something surprising later on in the writeup.
Also, those signatures you see on there I will explain later, each member signed the picture during an event the next day.
We had a few more hours of free time after that, then we had to meet (yet again) back at the convention room in the Marriott. There were tables (19-20 of them I think?) all set up around a stage, and we drew lots for which table we were at. I was at a table quite close to the stage
The evening event then started.........The C-ute members all came out on stage, and started doing a chat about what they had done in Hawaii so far, and their opinions on some things they were told in the morning event. They also had a comedian guy up on the stage as an MC (I forget his name, but he works for UFA), and they were joking a bit about Maimai's Sprite addiction. After that they one at a time showed us large pictures they had made that were Hawaii themed. Maimi's and Airi's were super detailed, and Maimai and Chissa were really REALLY embarrassed since they spent only a little time on theirs and didn't want them compared to Maimi's and Airi's... they tried to hold off showing us them as long as they could. Maimi's picture had all members playing on a beach, with Chissa burying Maimai in sand
Airi's had different scenes with Su-san doing different things in Hawaii, and they were all drawn like they were on postcards. Nakki's was a picture of 3 different scenes in Hawaii (palm trees, the ocean, and something else.. I forget sorry.... >_< ). Maimai's was of Hagio and Hagiko playing on the beach. Chissa's was of the sun (wearing shades and had a big grin), and some guy with what looked like a sombrero on standing below it shouting "日焼けしないぞ！！(Don't get sunburn!)”. They then drew numbers, and 5 lucky people won a picture.The next game involved everyone, and on the table for each wota were 5 cards, each with different colors (Red, Blue, Pink, Green, Yellow), and we were told to put up a card for which question best suited each member. I can't remember all of the questions, but here are some of them:
- "Which member seems like she doesn't have a lot of friends?" Most people put up blue (Nakky), and then the MC asked one of the wotas why he chose Nakky. I couldn't hear his explanation... I think it had to do something with her blog only ever involving herself.
- "Which member seems the most malicious?" Most people put up pink (Airi), I dunno why... Airi didn't seem to mind it too much though and just laughed about it.
- "Which member seems the least idol-like?" Most people put up green (Chissa), and Chissa seemed a bit upset, but said that everyone was probably being nice and saying she is more Artist-like instead.
- "Which member would you want to scold, or have scold you?" I think this was what the question was, I didn't understand the words that they used in the question, so I might be wrong... >_< Either way, it was a mix of people.
- "Which member would you NOT want to be your girlfriend?" This was also a mix of people. The members were really curious about these answers (especially from wotas that chose their oshimen). The MC went around and asked some wotas their opinions. For Maimi, someone said that she seems too strong for him. For Airi, someone said that it seems like she would daze off too easily when they were together, and Airi admitted that she does daze off sometimes too much. For Maimai, someone said that at some sort of event in Fukuoka where she had to choose clothes she did a really bad job, and wouldn't want her to choose his clothes. For Nakky, someone said that he wants to cheer for Nakky as an idol and it would be weird/unpure for him to be dating her. Last was for Chissa, and a Chissa wota said "彼女じゃなくて、嫁にしたい！" (I don't want her to be my girlfriend, I want her to be my BRIDE!). All of the wotas burst out laughing, while all the members ran around in circles on stage screaming. Chissa's face was bright red like a tomato
The next game was to make your own cellphone strap, there were pens and such to make them with on the table. While we were making them, the members came around and helped explain things for us if we were having issues, and showed us the straps they made. The Chissa wota next to me called Airi over when she was nearby, and wanted her to see my strap. The strap I was making had a picture of the Hawaiian islands in the center, with a Japanese flag in the top right and an American flag in the bottom left. He asked what she thought I was making, and Airi said "Japan and America? Huh?", and then the wota said "No, what is that in the center"... and she didn't know, so I said it was the Hawaiian islands. The Chissa wota then said that I live in Hawaii, and Airi was like "EEEHHH????" She probably thought I live in Japan and came along with some people from there.... She showed us her cellphone strap, it was of Su-san of course
At the end, 5 peoples names we drawn again, and each of them won a strap that a member made. After that, they got on stage and the MC came on an said that something terrible had happened, that someone had stolen the ℃ mark from ℃-ute. We had to interview each member tomorrow to find out who is the criminal.
That was the end of the evening event, and on our way out we got to high-five each member. I said "thank you!" in English to each member and they all replied with a "thank you!" back in English.
After I got back to the hotel, the 4 wotas I was talking with at Todai invited me with them to dinner at Ruth's Chris, so I went there and had a really good (but REALLY expensive) dinner. I don't think I've ever spent that much money on a dinner before, I don't regret it though since it was a great experience. They also invited me to chat with them in their rooms, and we had a good long chat, especially when each person gave their background story about how they became a ℃-ute wota.
DAY THREE
The event in the morning was the "Find the Criminal!" game. We were given a map , and given our 6-shot pictures we took yesterday. The map had three dots on them, one was at the Princess Kaiulani hotel, one was at the Pacific Beach hotel, and the last one was at the Marriott. We were also given a sheet that had three questions we had to ask each member in 30 seconds, and spaces for the answers. The questions were "What did you do in your free time?", "What has been on your mind recently?", and "Can you prove you have an alibi?" I had a lot of difficulty on this game with the Japanese....we had so little time to ask questions, had to write answers down too, and I couldn't process the Japanese and get it on my paper fast enough for the next question.
The group of 10 people I was chosen to be with decided to go to the Princess Kaiulani first, and we found Maimi there at a table. Maimi signed everyone's pictures, and then someone else in my group asked her all the questions. He first asked if she could respond in English for my benefit, but Maimi responded with "無理、無理！ごめんなさい！"(Impossible! Impossible! I'm sorry!). In typical Maimi-chan fashion she was really talkative with the people in my group and had a huge smile the whole time. Her answers centered around the fact that she was out shopping for a shirt for her mom (and showed us the shirt), and that the criminal couldn't be her.
Next, we went to the Pacific Beach hotel, and Nakky and Maimai were sitting at an outdoor cafe at different tables. Nakky signed our pics, and then the Nakky wota in our group asked all of the questions. She said that she was watching DVDs and thinking of poses for something, and that Airi called her about it. At Maimai's table I had a really tough time with the Japanese, the only bit I got was that she was playing with Chissa. I asked Maimai when we were leaving how many Sprites she has had so far in Hawaii, and she said 5 or so ^^
At the Marriott was Airi and Chissa, we went to Airi's table first. She signed our pics, and my group was very courteous in letting me ask Airi the 3 questions. When Airi was signing my picture, she looked over to me and said "この方は本物のシャカサインですよね？" (this is the proper "Shaka Sign", right?). She must have overheard my conversation with the staff just before I took my 6-shot. Airi has a great memory.... and great ears!! I asked before the staff started the stopwatch if I could ask the questions in English (my group wanted me to ask this, to see if we could get more time as a handicap or something). Airi responded in funny English with "UUHH, NO NO, ENGLISH?!? MAYBE?! UH..." I then said that it's no problem and I would ask the questions in Japanese instead. When I put my question/answer sheet down on the table to write her answers, she was surprised I was writing all my notes in English. I started asking the questions before the staff started the stopwatch, and he had to stop me mid-sentence, and I apologized to him a lot for starting early... it was really embarrassing >_< Airi's answers centered around that she was thinking of Dajare and was shopping for presents for her mom. At Chissa's table she signed our pics too, but one of the Chissa wotas asked if it was okay to put "To ____-san" on it. The staff was hesitant about it and was really uneasy about it, but Chissa said yeah sure and signed it with his name on it. She then signed everyone else's pics with their name on it too that wanted that, which is why there is that white strip across the top of my 6-shot
That Chissa wota then asked Chissa all the questions, and her answers centered around the fact that she was thinking of gags with Maimai. We ran into the MC around then too, and he said that the remaining "ute" letters had "by Airi" written on them.We figured out that Nakky was the culprit, because she apparently had canceled plans with Airi, and it would be dumb for Airi to steal something then put "by Airi" on the crime scene. We turned out to be right, and the culprit was announced during the concert.
Next was the concert, and the setlist was about as follows:
-Momoiro Sparkling
-Kacchoii Uta
-Hitorijimeshitakatta dake nanoni
-Namida no Iro
-Tropical Koishiteru (Maimi and Airi)
-Pira Otome no Negai (Nakky, Chissa, Mai)
-Chu! Natsu Party (Nakky, Airi)
-Campus Life (Maimi, Airi, Mai)
-Otome COCORO (Chissa, Mai)
-Hare no Platinum Doori (Nakky, Chissa)
-Bokura no Kagayaki (Maimi, Nakky, Chissa)
-Ashiteru Ashiteru (Mai)
-Seventeen's Vow (Chissa)
-Tsuugaku Vector (Airi)
-Big Dreams (Nakky)
-Natsudoki Lipstick (Maimi)
-Shines
-Kimi wa Jitensha, Watashi wa Densha de kitaku
-Wasuretakunai Natsu
During Shines they went off the stage and went around the back and sides of the crowds while we were spinning our towels. I'm REALLY glad that I decided to bring my towel too.
Also, during some songs it was raining quite hard, but the members and fans just put up with it and sang or danced through it.
I don't know if there are any audio rips yet (or will be), security was really tight this time compared to the MM tour in 2011. The staff checked every pocket and nook and cranny in everyones bags, and even gave people patdowns... it was a bit excessive in my opinion, having security that strict at concerts in Japan is unheard of.
It's really hard to explain how the concert was in words, other than it was awesome and you have to watch it if a DVD comes out for it. It did seem to be really fast though... the MCs were short and they didn't give out any custom presents like they did during the MM tour. I oshi-jumped when I could during the Airi parts, and did some dances (poorly) to the songs I knew the dances of. I had a lot of fun though
At the end was the handshake event, and we had about 7-8 seconds with each member. All of them were really happy with what I said and thanked me. Airi managed to surprisingly know my name, even though she said it completely wrong during the day before..... she said it twice too! Airi also said some other really kind things, I'm definitely a permanent fan of hers now At only 7-8 seconds though it seemed extremely quick with each member... most were only able to say a simple "thanks" back, and I was only able to mutter a sentance or two. For ~$2500 (the cost to go on a Hawaii FC Tour), you think they would give everyone a little more time...
After the concert I drove those same people I had dinner with the night before to the mall, and then we had dinner together again. It was a really fun day, yet again.
All in all, I had a fantastic experience, one that probably surpassed the MM tour in 2011. Two things I will take away from this experience is that all of the C-ute members truly are great, and so are all of their true fans. I didn't meet one fan that was a bad person (even the guy on the bus next to me the first day was nice, he was just maybe too talkative with the members...). Most wotas were quite outgoing and willing to talk with me.
Anyways, the end! I hope you will find the chance to go on a Hawaii FC Tour of your choice in the future, they really are great. ℃-ute 最高！！！
EDIT (on April 25th): I just wanted to update this blog entry with this tidbit of news: A wota I met on the ℃-ute Hawaii FC tour (and only talked with for a few mins), decided to ask Airi during a recent handshake event if she remembers ME!
Awesome that Airi apparently remembers me still, but even more awesome he would do that without me even asking. How cool is that? Wotas are so kind!!!!!!
