Japan Expo X Tokyo Crazy Kawaii: Part 2 (Notall & Others)

Time to visit some social idols!

Social idols notall

Social idols? Yeap thats how Notall presented themselves as such. In the advent of social media where people love to post and upload photos online, this group capitalise on the trend by allowing fans to take photos and videos of their performances. Other usual idol groups rarely have such allowance. Just add in hashtags like #notall_photo or #notall_movie to twitter should you take photos and videos respectively. True to the 'social idol' tag, their songs and even costumes are a collaborative effort with fans.


Notable example is the the penguin costume for 'Penguin Ningen' CD release This is the 2nd time they were invited to Bangkok and its my 2nd time seeing them in person.

Notall favourite member? Thats hard to say. Narumi was the first person to approach me during TIF though I find Chiko has that aura which draws me in. I guess to be fair, I would choose Na-chan (Narumi).

Buying notall goods will alllow you to have cheki tickets whereas photos via using mobile phones is free. I prefer cheki though as I find it personal and it makes a special memorable keepsake.

Ready To Kiss & Chu-Z

Chu-Z, photo not at Japan Expo (credits: jpopasia)

I do listen abit of Chu-Z. Though the busy schedule and the buppans made me miss most of their performance. They held a buppan in the evening and was approached by Kana. Since she's the first to approach me, I decided to have a cheki taken. And unfortunately she's quite a popular with a long queue of eager fans. The Japanese wota behind me was kinda moody because of his fate of queuing behind me. Too bad, idols are free to be cherished by many, boo hoo~

Kana's Cheki!

Curse of graduation, member Asuka announced her graduation during their Chu-Z programme on 5th February.

Ready To Kiss was great. The Japanese wotas of all different ages were interesting to watch with their unique way of wota-ing. From their youtube, they are from Stand-Up! Records, the very label which Iketeru Hearts were in!

AKB48

AKB48 made their first appearance in Thailand! Although its just 5-members (honestly most of them are unknown to me), the crowd swelled to the brim at the Japan Expo stage. The familiar AKB48 overture played and it transported me back to the time when AKB48 came for monthly concerts in Singapore.

The crowded Japan Expo!

AKB48 on stage

They played a few classic songs such as Ooge Diamond, Koisuru Fortune Cookie (which they substituted the words Onigiri in it) and Aitakatta. Most of the segment is just interview with the members and some lucky draw giveaway conducted by them.

Tempura Kidz
Saw Tempura Kidz too! And they remembered me! Hahaha, it was kinda embarassing that they remember this guy that they dragged to dance LOLLIPOP during Moshi Moshi Nippon SG. And their cheki is... 10BAHT! WTH! hahaha, this as opposed to 300 baht for the other idoru chekis. And its a big sized cheki too! OMG!

Tempura Kidz asked for a pose and one of the members exclaimed Lollipop. Oh dear...

Lollipop pose

みみめめMIMI aka MIMIMEMEMIMI was there too. She was very thrilled to see fans as from Singapore coming down to support (most notably to my collaborator friend Daniel~). Buying her CD will allow you to have a photo taken with her! And she can speak good english too! I'm very impressed.

2-shot with Mimimememimi

Wrestling

They have a wrestling ring outside showcasing the wrestlers from Thailand's Gatoh Move Pro Wrestling and Japan's Michinoku Pro-Wrestling. Met up with some of my wrestler friends and said hi to Gatoh Move's promoter. Unfortunately due to stage delays, I was unable to see the wrestling match apart from Day 1 ending match.

Wrestling ring beside the Japan Expo stage

The legendary Jinsei Shinzaki, as more known as Hakushi during his tenure in WWE, was there. Very proud to take photos of him. And this lady wrestler Riho. AH! She's so cute!

Jinsei Shinzaki

Riho!

Wrestling wont be complete without a photo with our own SPW's champion, The Statement Andreuw! Though he didnt compete in any of the matches. Felt bad that he be participating in the inter-promotional match with Gatoh Move on the day I fly back home.

Hmph! That face!

One of my favourite Maidreamin meidos was at the Daisuki booth. Its the only time I can take photos of Chise without paying for a cheki or mobile photo.

Lovely Chise~

The day ends with a party! Almost every performer for Japan Expo comes on stage at the closing ceremony. Quite a spectacle really.


End of event is chillax at MaiDreamin. And weather was cooling due to the global cold front. Its was freaking 19 degrees! Comparable to Spring/Autumn season in Japan. However due to the meidos busy schedule, need to collect my cheki on another day. Sadly.... That means I need to visit Thailand again some time in future.

Maidreamin with Ruru in it

In all, this Japan Expo is truly spectacular! Its massive, jam packed with artistes, loads of experience zones relating to Japan and very very memorable! (stares at my cheki stash). Thus its only fitting I give this event:

★★★★★stars

Cheki Received:
1) Festive: Hinarin, Hiyo-chan x2
2) Akishibu Project: Yuechi
3) Notall group cheki
4) Tempura Kidz

Miscellaneous
Maidreamin: cheki 2x Chise, 1x Meido Group Shot,
1x Inori 1x Ryouko to be collected

Whoa! 9 Chekis! Book completion almost there~