So I've basically been MIA for the past few weeks due to the unique combination of insane credit markets, CFA cramming, presidential election obsession, and an inability to resist reading economist blogs when I should be sleeping. A.K.A. "Getting the Grima Wormtongue makeover." But I will come out of my cave to mention that Matsuki Miyu's new " Best Songs" album released in late September caught me by surprise when hitting the playlist. Four out of the fifteen songs in there are written by Momoi including "Musume Gokoro Otome Gokoro," which I actually had never heard before. It's interesting stuff. In fact I hadn't realized Miyu was the singer for the Coco version of Kokodayo. It also has Camera=Mannenhitsu (Miyu's labeling doesn't include the !!! part even though it probably should), a bit of an amusing coincidence because I was really looking forward to hearing the same song in Momoi's self cover album coming out next month. Matsuki says they are really cheerful songs. Momoi is not mentioned by name in the liner notes commentary though

Tora no ana main store: topic in Momoi's Koko da yo, Enter, and other songs. Frequently has Momoi promotions in the display wiinow, although during the time we went, the current feature was Sakakibara Yui.

Hourin Park: Location of the playground structure Momoi posed on for the cover of the special edition Yume no baton.

Visited the huge Inokashira park in Kichijoji the other day.

Exhibit A: Lake that Momoi and her horse companion rowed on.
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/ax1513319

Exhibit B: The bridge from the infamous recorder scene.
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/ax1651925

There was a big shrine in the park so a charm had to be made. Hmm can you guess which one?

Momoi was added to Connichi 2008 officially this week by convention organizers on their message board. This will be the second year in a row that she will attend the convention in Kassel, Germany. If you are thinking about making the trip from other parts, halko-momoi.de has no shortage of friendly bilingual German Momoists willing to help you out.

Announced earlier this Month, Momoi and angela are performing with live bands in Taiwan at the Taipei City Hall Theatre on Saturday afternoon 9/28. It is the first time Momoi has performed with a band abroad. Momoi has also partnered with travel agency JTB again to offer another "official fanclub tour" which includes dinner with Momoi and sightseeing for a minimum of 20 people.

It has been too long without a Momoi concert DVD release. Finally the week has arrived, causing me to think about it on a daily basis. COVER BEST LIVE in CLUB CITTA and Momo-i Sunday Early Morning Live @ Shibuya-AX come out this Friday, followed by the Feel So Easy CD single on the following Monday MONTH.

Toranoana also has updated their store page with a picture of the DVD jacket (including back cover!). The set list looks very exciting.

So this post has been sitting for almost two months because I wanted to wait until I got a dress stand and glass case to show off a certain special item, but it looks like that is not happening soon. I figured I should probably post this before Animelo comes around or it will get outdated if I start posting about the next Momoi event and this STILL isn't up. On May 23-25 weekend, several Momoists made a trip to Ontario, Canada to see Momoi perform at Anime North. Specific names have been omitted for privacy reasons.

Arriving in Toronto on Friday morning, I and another fan (we drove up in a car from New York) met up with everyone at a hotel to drop off 1300 glowsticks packed in our trunk purchased with funds donated by various fans. In all, our little international group consisted of 7 members from Japan, 4 from US west coast, and 2 from US east coast. After settling down and swapping materials (Momoi doujinshi, call books, Hawaii DVD, posters, etc) we headed out to a nearby Canadian chain family restaurant Swiss Chalet for lunch. Some American fans had the idea to secretly arrange a surprise for the Japanese fans by inviting Momoi to the same lunch.

We finished our food a little earlier than expected, and Momoi showed up a little later than expected. These circumstances led to hilariously obvious attempts to stall for more time at the restaurant via repeated ordering of drinks. After what seemed like an eternity due to the stress, Momoi appeared in a conspicuous sweet lolita dress complete with ribbons, lace, and a rabbit ears hood. She arrived along with manager Mr. Suzuki, Mr. Sawa (I remember this guy because he was on the delivery signature for fanclub calendar), and one other guy who was filmed the whole event. After going around to thank each person, Momoi settled into the middle of our table of 13 where she received gifts from almost everyone, including Japanese fans who apparently keep a stash of presents and concert materials on hand just to be ready for the remote possibility of meeting her any time. We also pooled some money to get a gift for Mr. Suzuki for letting the whole thing happen even though Momoi's schedule was so packed. Although we would have been satisifed with just a few minutes of interaction, the whole thing went down way better than expected as Momoi spent a pretty long time with everyone at the restaurant.

After this, we headed to the con to pick up some volunteer passes (one fan had managed to contact AN staffers and explained our plans to distribute glowsticks and teach calls, so they ended up making us official con volunteers). An unexpected perk to being part of the fan club and also volunteering was that AN staff let us into the "Meet & Greet" event room before the scheduled time. We just decided to spend the entire duration of the session with Momoi. Since the area was very limited in size and only limited to about 60 people across ALL guests, there weren't many people there and only a few recognized Momoi. Because of that, we managed to hog Momoi all to ourselves without feeling guilty about preventing someone else from having a chance. Actually, every time someone not from the fan club came over, it was a big exciting event to see how Momoi would interact with them.

One such notable incident was when a young Mii cosplayer was spotted by Momoi in the room. Momoi pretty much flipped out when she saw this and ran over to the cosplayer screaming "MIITAN" and possibly freaking out the cosplayer's mom. Speaking excitedly in half broken English and half Japanese, Momoi tried to explain she was the Japanese voice actress for Mii, and jumped up and down exclaiming "pikohan magical" and other signature Mii phrases while trying to get the girl to follow suit. When the cosplayer had left, Momoi said she got so excited that a little girl did it with all the correct accessories.

Momoi spoke too soon, because minutes later when we were posing for a photo, she turned around to find the Mii cosplayer back, but this time carrying something Momoi did not anticipate: Popotan underwear (as see on TV). This caused Momoi to giggle uncontrollably, followed up by a literal anime-style spin and collapse. She launched herself at a nearby table that I was sitting at. She declared the popotan apparel to be awesome and insisted on taking pictures while holding it up. Momoi ended up signing and mock-wearing them.

It should be noted that Momoists who never got a chance to see an UNDER17 concert live owe this cosplayer a HUGE debt of gratitude, because she directly inspired Momoi to sing one of her most famous old songs the next day: Popotan! Holy shit I never thought I would ever hear that one live in post-UNDER17 times...

Thanks cosplayer whoever you are!

At this event, we would also meet some new fans who joined the fan club on location, and helped out with the concert call preparations later on.

Immeidately after, we staked out the plaza ballroom for an hour to fill in the front row for opening ceremonies and make sure Momoi got cheered when introduced. While waiting, we scoped out the stage for the concert which would be in the same room. Everyone had glowsticks ready that they wave for cheering when Momoi went on stage but we ended up breaking a few of them early when Momoi suddenly came out and sat in the front row with us while waiting to go on stage. Following protocol, Momoi got massively cheered anyway when announced to go on stage. AN was pretty generous to her and treated her like a major keynote speaker at the opening, so she had plenty of time to talk to the fans and describe her feelings about coming to Canada.

Following the opening ceremony, we had a quick makeshift dinner of hotdogs and headed to lineup at Momoi's Q&A panel. The turnout was decent.At the panel, Momoi squashed the rumor that she was under Avex's thumb in terms of image and said she enjoys controls her current style. She also talked a bit about her clothing and how she became interested in lolita fashion. She revealed that she wore the same outfit when touring Casa Loma earlier that morning since she felt it suited the setting, being a castle and all, and the swords in there "looked kind of scary." As the session drew to a close, Momoi helped out our Momoist call workshop by giving it a little publicity and asking everyone to attend it so they could learn how idol calls work in Japan. Momoi also apparently was not referencing the Knights who say NI in her Naito de Naito song (although she said her friend Nogawa Sakura is a big fan of Monty Python).

After the panel ended, we headed back to the hotels to plan for the next day. The fanclub began applying Momoi sticker labels to the huge pile of glowsticks with amazing efficiency finishing all 1300 in about an hour.

The next day, we hauled all the materials to ballroom in order to set up the Momoist call workshop. Attendance was quite sparse with only about 10 showing up although this grew gradually as the panel went on. However all participants were highly enthusiastic and not in the least embarassed to be learning and doing the calls with the rest of us. The steps were taught directly by a Japanese fan and subsequently translated by another west coast fanclub member and were pretty informative, going over concepts like rallying calls and tips on recognizing them, UO signals, meanings behind some hand gestures, song-specific chants, and even practicing on another member who acted as a stand-in for Momoi. For a (very basic) example of some of the things covered, you can see a few at the Momoi call website.

After we finished hosting the workshop, we stuck around to take some group photos with a few fans who had attended the workshop and then headed to lunch. Then we headed back to the stage area to measure out and cut streamers. These were basically long ribbons that we would throw towards the stage during the concert (but not long enough to hit Momoi), and materials to make them were brought courtesy of one fan had pointed out Momoi liked idol concerts with streamers and hoped to give her the same treatment.

Near the start of the concert, staff began showing up. We went over a basic explanation of what were were planning to do with the glowsticks so they cordoned off a section of the front for us and gave us a place backstage to stash all of our stuff and change into our concert gear. Once plaza ballroom doors opened, people began filing in. Several members were stationed at the door, with others patrolling the aisles to make sure everyone had working glowsticks (now we know why those glowsticks were cheap: about 10% of them were duds). I ended up filling my loading belt with returned or defective glowsticks as long as they still gave off some amount of light.

I won't go too much into the concert, as there is already a great summary of concert specifics (broken down by songs) at denpa no sekai written up by another fanclub member who was with us. I can say it was the most fun I had since Hawaii. My only complaint revolves around the bracelet system, since it was all the way at the other end of the convention center they should have just been letting people when the concert itself started instead of having them go back to get a bracelet (although they might have done this later and I just didn't know).

When it was over, Momoi said she would be giving autographs downstairs in half an hour. Since we had already monopolized Momoi most of the previous day, the fanclub decided to sit out the autograph session so anybody who became a new fan from the concert could have a slightly better chance to get in line for Momoi. As the crowd exited and began lining up at the stairs, we decided to take a break around the stage area instead before going backstage to retrieve our things. Momoi surprised everyone there by showing up backstage and thanked everyone again before leaving to host her autograph session at the merchandise table. We just in a group next to the autograph table to observe the line and see the interactions Momoi had with other fans.

Since that was the last Momoi event for the day and the last day for our con responsibilities, at night we did regular touristy things like visit downtown Toronto, check out Casa Loma, and eat at the rotating restaurant at the top of the CN tower. Apparently we hadn't considered the CN tower restaurant was supposed to be fairly ritzy so we all 13 of us went in still wearing t-shirts, Momoi wristbands, backpacks, glowstick holsters, otagei jackets, etc...much to the disdain of the waiters serving us who seemed clearly irritated.

On Sunday we attended an awards brunch since Momoi was supposed to be a guest there. Momoi noticed us from her table and came over several times to chat. No matter how many times she does this, it still impresses me that Momoi likes to establish such rapport from fans...having approached us first before we approached her (originally we had remained respectful distance and simply waved because we didn't want to interrupt her meal).

Momoi hosted a second panel that afternoon which, following the concert, which was understandbly much more packed than the last one and had people standing at the doors due to lack of room. The crowd was pretty lively, and Momoi joked around a lot with the audience: She suggested putting a glowstick should be in the Toronto museum since it marked a historic event. When asked if she had many boyfriends in middle school, she replied only in her imagination, and sometimes, she was the boyfriend (referring to times when she would play bishoujo games). When apologizing for her English being bad, she sang "Good Enough" impromptu as an example of what kind of English she knew. Momoi said a number of times how much she appreciated people coming from around the world to see her and invited everyone to visit Akihabara and come see her in Japan some day.

After the panel, we headed to catch Momoi at the charity auction. First auction item was one of the glowstick boxes, signed by Momoi and renamed the "Memory box" which was picked up for $40 by one of the new Momoists that we met earlier during the Meet & Greet. A T-Shirt signed by all the guests including Momoi went for $120. Momoi had also signed a copy of her "Halko Momoi Best Clip" DVD but due to technical difficulties with getting the DVD to play during the auction and time constraints, it was not auctioned off separately. Last item was Momoi's LOVE.EXE dress that she wore in her music video shown here:

I ended up winning it for $750, proceeds which I think went to a local childrens' hospital. The auctioneers decided to just throw in the signed DVD too since they didn't have any time left to auction it, and Momoi wrote some more stuff on the CD case. Then some staffer told me it was the highest charity bid so far in AN's short history so I'm glad at that at least for now, they can say Momoi was responsible for it.

The last activity of the day was Momoi's final autograph session in the afternoon. We had previously decided to sit this one out since the lines opened at the same time as the auction, and we wanted to cheer at the auction instead. So, we just did the same thing as last time and waited around the autograph table for Momoi to finish without being on line ourselves. The line had closed at that time due to the maximum capacity being reached anyway. However a nice staffer saw us and let us know that Momoi would go overtime and do some extra autographs for fanclub members so I got a Sunday Early Morning tour shirt signed. We met Momoi one last time at the staff exit to send her off (a fanclub member apparently had a really sharp eye for spotting Momoi).

After Momoi left, we decided we would spend the rest of the time doing a bit more sightseeing in Canada rather than spend it at a convention without Momoi, so our group squeezed together into three cars and headed for Niagara Falls. After enjoying the falls we headed up to the shops to see explore the shops. One last ditch effort was made to find Momoi again, as we had received information earlier that Momoi might be touring Niagara Falls so a small search party went down along the falls to stalk accidentally bump into Momoi while we kept browsing the stores. It proved unsuccessful however, so they eventually gave up after multiple passes. We had dinner at some jungle themed restaurant which had a cake with sparklers on it.

On Monday after a night's rest, I and the other east coast Momoist made the drive back to the States while West coast and Japan crew headed for the airport. It had been a great weekend jam packed with Momoi events almost nonstop. On our way back, as one final tribute to Momoi we stopped by Casa Loma in the morning to take this:

We stole the angle from Momoi's blog.

Momoi has published a fairly lengthy entry about her feelings about the tragic Akihabara stabbing incident. As most may know, Momoi, the Queen of Akiharaba, has a very special attachment to the place and has always talked about it fondly, even releasing a memoir about growing up alongside it. The latest crime has affected her very deeply.

I felt her latest entry on the topic was very good piece reflecting her frustration about what has happened, and it seems like something every Momoi fan should read.

The following is an unofficial quick translation. Standard disclaimer about claiming no affiliation with Momoi, no guarantee for accuracy, etc..

Now read on...

------

To readers of MOMOBURO,

I have many memories of Akihabara's main street. As a middle schooler, I would make friends with the arcade people and have conversations with the customers.

When I found CDs that I was looking for, I would impatiently open it in a nearby cafe to look at the lyrics card. Around the time I was a highschool student, I would ride the train by myself in the mornings to go see idol events. Waiting in front of the shuttered event doors, seeing my likeminded comrades it made me happy.

The promotional video for my debut CD was produced in Akihabara. It was very emotional to see my own songs streaming at Akihabara's storefront. At a modest event hall, seeing everyone singing and jumping to the music and the emotions swelling, at that moment I felt that without a doubt, this was the most fun place in the entire world.

And there were many many more other wonderful memories.

To me, every single leaf of the tree lined streets and the color of the roads evokes pleasant memories. Just from visiting it my heart became a more enjoyable place.

I became an adult, a singer, a seiyuu, and even recently a guest who was invited abroad. In Germany, a male anime fan told me "In my life, just once, I want to visit Akihabara." In Canada, a girl into Lolita fashion said to me, with difficulty in Japanese, and with sparkles in her eyes, "My dream is to go to Akihabara." For me, those words made me so happy, so proud; I said "Yes, let's meet next time in Akihabara!"

In that Akihabara, a great tragedy has happened.

Just like that, in the slightly chaotic shopping center where it should never have happened, it is now something that can never be taken back. The dead can not be returned. The scars of the injured can not be healed. Feelings that had not been felt until now are welling up.

In that place where I have smiled so much, I felt I could not anymore. In that location, that scene, that place which is so important to me, that place where listeners of my radio show surely call the "Holy Land", it is ironic that we are forced to say "give back everyone's yearning and joyful feelings!" Akihabara is a place that is very dear to me. It is a place that has become sad.

Thinking over and over as I trying to find way to reconcile these feelings, I only further realized my own powerlessness. But for people who loved Akihabara, those lives that were stolen away like that, I felt I couldn't just do nothing. So although it may have been a little conspicuous, I put my hands together in that place for those people who died, and I made a wish for their happiness in the next life from the bottom of my heart, and on the morning of the 9th, I made an offering of flowers.

When I arrived at Akihabara station, it looked like the weather was going to be rainy. At the mouth of Electric Town, I saw that many news vans were lined up there. Near the intersection of the incident, the scenery was different from the usual. Near there were many people with one atmosphere: they were wearing arm bands, carrying equipment, reporter types. Among that crowd, I saw that the shopping district had been set up with tents, under which there were flower altars. Upon seeing those, the reality of the situation slowly began to sink in. This place wasn't the usual main street. It had become a crime scene.

I drew closer to the flower altar, saying "excuse me" as I opened up a path. Having done that, one after another, those reporters were calling out to me. "Are you related to the victims, are you an acquaintance of the dead parties?".... Hearing the same thing repeated over and over, it was almost unbearable as I tried to ignore my annoyance at them. But I didn't say anything and I quickly brought my flowers to the altar and unwrapped them. As soon as I had done so, light shined from the immense number of camera flashes.

"Please don't take pictures," I asked, but even as I placed down the flowers to pray, the lights continued.

"Please stop taking pictures" I said, once again. After that, whenever there was a flash I pleaded "please don't take pictures" many times. In the end, I finally said it pretty loudly. I put my entire heart into that plea, but instead people only continued to interrupt with the sound of shutters and the light from flashes. I clasped my hands together and said "please stop" over and over, my tears were flowing out. Then I stopped saying anything.

I thought "for something so sad, can't I at least be allowed to pay my respects? I truly can't do anything. What should I do?" I said a short prayer, and though I wanted to run away, I realized I would regret it. So I turned around once again, and from the bottom of my heart, I was able to put my hands together. In that moment, even though there were flashes from people, I had already accepted it as something that I couldn't change. It was something that cannot be described with words...an extreme sadness that I had never felt until then. Even after that, they followed me, and labeled me as "grieving family" as they called out to me. I responded "No" and walked away. It was a very very unpleasant feeling.

Before the incident happened, when I met newspaper and magazine reporters in this place covering an event, they had been kind, principled, and overall just good people. When I thought my love for Akihabara could be made into a report, and transmitted to readers, and preserved into future generations, my heart would fill with gratitude. I thought about having a photo in the middle of an article, showing how much I love Akihabara with the biggest smile I had ever seen. But today, in the same place, facing those cameras, it was completely different from that time. My memories were steadily being turned upside down. It was very sorrowful.

Once, Akiba's pedestrian shopping district was supposed to be a fun place. There was a girl who came to hear her own songs, from early in the morning, carrying equipment to come sing, dreaming of becoming a singer. There were people performing tricks, and there were dancers too. And there were cosplayers too. But, those kinds of people have also been immediately warned, arrested, or taken in by police.

And yet, here and now, there are these big cameras and microphones preying on the emotionally wounded, and people who are arguing loudly about business on cellphones in a place where others are trying to bring flowers to the dead. And even though they are occupying the middle of the street, and their cars are parked in the middle of the road, not a word is said to them. There are policemen nearby, but none of them were in front of the altars paying any attention to it.

But even before the law, I really wish people would just be more considerate of others. I get a little lost, and just stare mindlessly at the scene. Gradually, the rain began to fall. The roads would be filled with people, there umbrellas colliding. It would be very troublesome. The stores are open, but in this kind of atmosphere nobody goes inside. I cry from the feeling of loneliness. It was the first time I shed tears in Akihabara for a reason other than happiness.

I really yearned for the fun I had in Akihabara with all the fans and their smiling faces. Boys and girls who came to my live, they always had such lovely smiling faces to cheer me up. On many TV programs, Akiba-kei otaku are portrayed as disgusting, and targets to be laughed at. I often receive requests like "I want to see Momoi and her fans appear together on variety programs and participate in stuff like Otagei Taikai," but I reject them. If we did appear on that kind of show, how would it be portrayed as? My fans, though they strike weird poses from time to time, and though they dance in funny ways, they always follow the rules, give and take seats courteously, clean up after any garbage, and are mannered ladies and gentlemen. In front of the media who block the way in front of this altar, which side do you think will be portrayed?

I opened my cellphone under the overhang of the UDX building. I didn't know any others within the same industry who felt the same way about Akihabara. Though I searched for blogs, the searching method was difficult so I didn't find any. I thought about updating my own blog too, but I was in a sloppy mood. At any rate, feeling lonely and wanting to meet someone who could understand, I went into a familiar store. I talked a little with the people in the store, and I did some autographs. There, I added "I love Akihabara" and postscript indicating my gratitude to Akihabara.

After that I went to a radio recording. During the program, I didn't talk about the incident. I felt, "to help those who have been hurt to begin healing, I had to provide an existence of encouragement" so I did a cheerful radio session.

Returning from work, I met with some otaku friends of mine, and we talked about the incident. At that time, my body wasn't feeling very good and though I was withering, I wanted to convey what it felt like to have no place to go, so I talked about it with all my might. My friend, shedding tears, listened to what I had to say. Thereafter, they said "I want you to put this in your blog. There are definitely people who feel the same way as you out there", so it is why I have written this.

Though it was sad, I think I somehow wanted to do it. Though I am far from perfect, I want to be a kind person to others. My words may not be eloquent and may be irritating, but I put in all of my heart to convey my feelings. People who love Akihabara and have been hurt like me, people who yearn for Akihabara, people who feel depressed, please, feel better. Akihabara stores, please, do your best. I will not diminish, and tomorrow, I will do my best in what I want to do.

Those who have injuries, I am praying for your recovery. Families and friends who have been hurt emotionally, I wish for those wounds to mend.

Thank you for reading this to the end,

2008/06/09, Night, Momoi Haruko

A couple of interesting things have been added to Momoi's discography page. Two new DVDs are scheduled to be released on July 25th: Sunday Early Morning LIVE @ SHIBUYA AX recorded on 4/20/2008 and COVER BEST LIVE in CLUB CITTA, recorded on 6/24/2007.

The cost is 7560 yen per DVD, and each purchase will include one of 3 random photographs, a remix CD, and a special promotion postcard. If you buy both DVDs and apply to the promotional campaign with the postcards, you get an original T-shirt present. Additionally, you qualify to be randomly selected for an autograph (100 available) as well as an invitation to a private tea party (10 spots).

As part of the momo-i point club promotion, if you buy these DVDs through " mu-mo shop" by June 25th, you can earn 1 "momopo" for every 1000 yen you spend. These points can be used to redeem prizes such as momo-i point club telephone card set, with the most significant reward being a backstage invitation to the in-store release/minilive event if you can get 50 momo-i points.

Update:
CDJapan has started pre-orders. For overseas fans who do not have a way of buying them through mu-mo, please buy them here!

Cover Best Live In Club Citta [DVD+CD] / Haruko Momoi
Sunday Early Morning Live @Shibuya Ax [DVD+CD] / Haruko Momoi

You could use this coupon.

Note that these are affiliate links now so I also get some bonus points if you follow the links from this site :)

When the concert was over, Momoi set up a table for autographs. The crowd was much bigger this time, and you could see people who you would never expect scrambling to buy shirts, CDs, and fliers as souvenirs. Entire families were waiting ranging from small children to teenagers to musclebound tough guys to grandparents. Even Momoi's limo driver ended up joining the line. Ad-hoc interviews were also done on the spot by local newspapersch. Like the previous day, the fan club decided to wait off the line until everybody else could go. Japanese momoists were more interested in documenting the incongruous audience phenomenon, eagerly snapping pictures of "unlikely" fans. In the end, because of the larger crowd, Momoi was not able to sign things for us. That was ok though, as fanclub members would see Momoi again later at the closing dinner.

Nyol and I had a bit of a scare on the way back to the hotel though. He and I were the last ones to leave (around 4:30 PM) in order to help get cabs for everyone else. Unfortunately, the final cab was incredibly late because major roads had been closed for the parade. We spent a hellishly SLOW 45 minute ride back to the hotel nervously wondering if we were going to miss the dinner, at one point contemplating just walking the rest of the way. We ended up making it on time though, and it was nice of the cab driver to just stop the meter at $20 to prevent the fare from getting to ridiculous levels.

The dinner was a catered event in one of the hotel's conference rooms. Seating arrangements were groups of 6 - 8 at round tables, with Momoi having her own individual table/panel at the front of the room. Drinks were served by a minibar in the corner. Prior to starting the meal, everyone went around the room to touch glasses with Momoi and each other. The menu lineup was soup, steak and chicken cutlet, and a custard tart with fruit.

While eating, Momoi would talk about various topics using her table microphone, such as her thoughts on the concert, the experience in Hawaii, and upcoming roles and events. She also broke into evil "ohohoho" laughs quite frequently. During the course of the dinner, her manager Suzuki also had a speech thanking everyone for the success of the trip. Due to nature of the room, the whole format was a little more reserved but fans were still free to call out at any time or go up to her table. Momoi remarked that she really thought it was great that everyone could get on stage, prompting Vesper to show Momoi footage of the final performance that he captured on camera.

When dessert was nearly finished, Mandi and I brought out our secret present which we had kept concealed from everyone: 21 ounces of customized pink M&M candies with "momo-i" and "moe is rock" printed on the shells, stored in a special "Sunday early morning" themed box. When Momoi opened it, she doubled back and did a crazy prolonged "UWAAAAAAAH! UWAAAAAAAH!! UWAAAAAAAAAAH!!! UWAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!" scream with her hands on her face. She was so excited, the entire room stopped to stare at her. We took this opportunity to reveal the second bonus as we also included smaller individually wrapped packs for everyone else in the room. It seemed to be pretty well received as everybody spent a lot of time taking pictures.

After this, Momoi decided to get a bit more interactive with fans with a series of activities. First she issued a question which will not be repeated here, but the answer could only have been obtained if one had the unusual foresight of looking up Momoi's skirt during the concert. There were no winners. The second activity was a round of bingo, with the first three winners getting special Hawaiian shoulder bags that Momoi bought from ABC. I ended up tying as the first bingo so I got to have one. Then, she made the rounds at the tables for about 15-20 minutes each for individual attention, chatting, posing, trying out gadgets, doing calligraphy, or autographing. This lasted until the end of the dinner around 9:30PM. When everything was done, Momoi gave a final thank you speech in tears.

From there, we each lined up at the door to receive a gift from Momoi and JTB: a large print of a group photograph we had taken earlier when everyone was on stage. Momoi signed and wrote thank you messages to each person as they picked up their copy. Even after leaving the conference room, things did not end though. The fans packed into the elevator to head back down to the lobby, while Momoi and staff stayed the outside. Even as we were near maximum capacity, Momoi suddenly started walking toward us as if to get into the elevator, then stopped, then started again. In what seemed to be a few moments of internal debate, she finally got a "ah what the hell, I'll give them what they want" look on her face and crammed herself into the elevator with us. Everybody cheered. Yet another service to fans, courtesy of Momoi.

In the second floor JTB lobby, to celebrate the end of a successful trip, we spent another 40 minutes getting individual pictures taken with Momoi. She was very accomodating to any type of photo a fan wanted to do, and posed in pretty much any position including mock strangling / slave-driving. Once everything was done, we escorted Momoi outside where she shook hands with everyone including non-fanclub members who didn't get to meet her at the dinner. By the end of the night I had lost track of how many times she had thanked fans. As a final send-off, the crowd brought out glowsticks and mass cheered her as she left for her limo, and didn't stop until she was well out of sight. It was a great feeling of unity even as we were creating a commotion at night in front of the hotel.

Oblivious to jet lag, I slept soundly that night fully satisfied with having been able to participate in this great event at Hawaii. Looking back, it may be the single best Momoi-related decision I ever made. It was an awesome experience, and I am glad to have shared it with the friendliest and most dedicated Momoists in the world. Now to do it all again in Canada!

Some other bonus pictures:

200 glowsticks that we brought for the concert. In all, fanclub members contributed for a total sum of over 800.

Special "Momoi edition" M&Ms.

500 flyers printed in NYC and shipped to Hawaii

Due to work, and also because I was contributing to a certain Momoi project, I was too busy to write anything. Finally I am going to finish this...

Sunday (early) morning, the fan club had plans to shoot a Romantic Summer video copying Seto no Hanayome's opening. Mandi and I arrived a bit late since we didn't get the details the previous night, but luckily Nyol called in to let us know the meeting place. As a huge HUGE surprise not previously disclosed, Momoi was also there and planned to be in the video.

Fans set up a ton of cameras on tripod, and we chose a little spot in the middle of the beach where we would do Romantic Summer otagei. Thanks to some generous fans who wanted to let Americans in front, I got shuffled up right next to Momoi. However, since I had only practiced Romantic Summer otagei two or three times ever (and there is currently no good reference of the motions on DVD), I didn't know 40% of the moves. The remaining 60% that I barely remembered was also promptly forgotten due to the mindbending effects of being within the Momoi sphere of influence. I felt a little guilty about wasting such a good position (since then, I have practiced it dozens of times and now can confidently say that I know it 100%). Luckily for me, once the music started, Momoi herself didn't remember the moves and just began cracking up while attempting to improvise. This lead everyone to abandon whatever routine they had memorized and just follow Momoi's lead. It was a little chaotic, with plenty of hilarious screw ups all of which were caught on camera. Some time in the middle of this, people in the water saw this whole spectacle and also started following along with motions, not knowing what it was for. It was a little chaotic but also amazing. The whole thing lasted maybe a few minutes, but it was a memory for a lifetime.

After our "performance", we toasted on the beach and just hung out for a little while. Momoi decided to eat her breakfast there and had some orange juice and a cinnamon bun. She also bought some beach shoes and jokingly said she was going to change into her swimsuit and go into the water. This turned out to not be a joke after all, as she ended up revealing a cute two piece much to the surprise of everyone. Since it was Hawaii, "it was natural to go swimming" she later said at an event in Japan when recalling the event. So we ended up having the privilege of going swimming with Momoi. We also took a bunch of pictures together on the beach to commemorate the time on the beach. After this Momoi left to go prepare for her concert, leaving us to roam as we pleased.

This was such an insane turn of events, my brain pretty much shut off and I can't remember anything else after (my order of events was probably wrong too). All I know was that when everything was over, it was already noon. I left with Nyol, mandi, Priz, and PantsGoblin to try some puka dog at Priz's suggestion. It was basically a huge roasted hot dog stuffed into an interestingly heated bun, but it was pretty good. Determined to be ready for the afternoon's concert, I asked Nyol to be my otagei teacher. And so, I learned the finer points of various movements during our lunch break. Having finally seen "Thundersnake" demonstrated fully, I knew I had to learn it.

After lunch, we spent some time going over DVDs in Nyol's room and practicing for calls until it was time to head to the convention center. I came armed with my newly signed power glove. Coverman also gave everyone a very cool sticky version of the flyers. I put one on my shirt.

For this concert, Momoi put on her classic sailor outfit. Delightfully, the exhibit hall was much more packed than the previous days and we managed to give out a lot more stuff to the crowd. There were also many kids who were totally enthusiastic about participating, which was nice. The songs played were:

Wonder momoi
21st Century
Romantic Summer
Figure ni Naritai
Naito de naito
LOVE.EXE
Yume no Baton

The concert went very well the second time, with much more participation and we had to hand out spare glowsticks midconcert as more and more people came up to the front.

Then it happened. During LOVE.EXE, suddenly Momoi called out to "come join me on stage." WHAT? This was completely surreal. Seconds later, we immediately peeled off from the front line and scrambled on one by one, preparing to do otagei on the same stage as our idol. Some people who learned about Momoi the same day even joined in. Many new Momoists were created in those moments. It was the first, and probably last time something like this would ever happen, and as the reality soaked in it was just complete euphoria while on that little platform. Momoi seemed to be immersed in it as well, as she threw herself into the center of the crowd on stage that was furiously waving "kecha" motions. In synchronized action, the cult of Momoi was kowtowing to its empress. We remained on stage for the rest of the concert, performing otagei with Momoi for Yume no baton as well as joining her for final stage photos.

Honolulu Festival Report