About SKE48

Having watched the events unfurl during the final night of the AKB48 Budokan concert series, and having read the various opinions of it online across a wide range of perspectives, it is difficult for me personally to somehow reconcile them all. However, I do want to express my feelings towards the issues at hand, although I held off from doing so until I could settle my thoughts down and think them through.

Japan Spring 2013 Trip: Wrapup

Before I left Australia, I was doubting whether it would be appropriate to call this adventure of mine "epic". I usually don't like to hype things up and then suddenly not meet preconceived expectations. 

I can safely say, from the bottom of my heart, that the past three weeks have indeed been worthy of the title "epic". 

Japan Spring 2013 Trip: Day 22-24 - Final Days of Greatness

My trip is slowly coming to an end. The final three days were rather uneventful, but I'll surmise it anyway.

Japan Spring 2013 Trip: Day 21 - Back to Tokyo

Waking up to the bright white glow of the overhead capsule pod light, it was time for me to continue my onward journey back towards Tokyo. Needless to say, it wasn't without incident.

Japan Spring 2013 Trip: Day 20 - History Lessons

As my final days in Japan were approaching fast, so my time in Kyushu came to an end. It was time to head back eastward. But not before a trip on the way to Hiroshima and Miyajima.

Japan Spring 2013 Trip: Day 19 - Yukirin (and Sakura) Town

My final Kyushu day-trip destination was going to be somewhere like Mt Aso or Kumamoto. However, it was raining and wet today (and this time, I am talking "proper" rain, not the light sprinkles I've experienced whilst in Japan) so I decided to head straight down to Kagoshima. Luckily I did, because there's quite a lot more to explore than I originally thought.

Japan Spring 2013 Trip: Day 18 - Deserted Island

Another Kyushu locale to visit today. This time, it was the touristy and (slightly) tragic port city of Nagasaki.

Japan Spring 2013 Trip: Day 17 - Bathing in Sand

Being based in Kyushu allows you to go to all sorts of interesting places on the island. Today, I went to Beppu, a town famous for its hot springs - both the ones you can (only) see and those you can actually submerge yourself into.

Japan Spring 2013 Trip: Day 16 - The 2-shots

I moved to Fukuoka for another reason this week. There was a HKT48 photo event going on today, and I won a few tickets to, put it simply, take photos with some of the members. It was also my first time attending such a (fairly rare nowadays) 2-shot event, so needless to say I was pretty excited.

Japan Spring 2013 Trip: Day 15 - Journey to the West

An early start for me today, since I was to leave Tokyo and head further west down to Fukuoka, where I'd be staying for the next few days. But not before a planned stop at Nagoya to pick up a few goods.

Japan Spring 2013 Trip: Day 14 - Minato no Yoko Yokohama Yokosuka

Since I was in Hakone yesterday, I decided to venture a bit closer to Tokyo. Considering I haven't been to Yokohama before, I spent a bit of time there today.

Japan Spring 2013 Trip: Day 13 - Hakone and the Impromptu Nagoya Rush

Today, I decided to head out of Tokyo again for a while. This time, I planned to go to Hakone - a pleasant, mountainous region adjacent to Mt Fuji and home to a few sulfuric gas deposits.

Japan Spring 2013 Trip: Day 12 - Being a Kid at Disneyland

Today, since I had a free day, I decided to go to Disneyland Tokyo. It was my first time to any Disneyland, and since I never had the time whilst I was in America a few weeks ago to go to one there, I figured why not go visit the Tokyo one whilst I'm here for longer.

Japan Spring 2013 Trip: Day 11 - The Gundam in the Bay

Thankfully, with no AKB48 TV shows to stay up for that night, I caught up on my sleep and managed to get a proper nine hours of rest. Feeling refreshed today, I decided to relax a little and take it a bit easier. Woke up a bit later than usual and ended up going to Odaiba.

Japan Spring 2013 Trip: Day 10 - Mt Fuji Relief

With the memories of yesterday still fresh in mind, I was tired. But because the weather was clear and fine at Kawaguchiko (near Mt Fuji), I had no choice but to take this opportunity and go there to witness Mt Fuji on a clear day, surrounded by Lake Kawaguchiko and its cherry blossoms. Which meant I really only had one hour of sleep that night, since I also stayed up to watch the final episode of SKE48 no Magical Radio 3 at 2am. Nevertheless, the rest of the week looked rather a little cloudy, so today was really the only day I could go.

Japan Spring 2013 Trip: Day 9 - Makuhari Dreaming

Today was a special day for me as a fan. The day I finally get to meet, greet, handshake and talk to some of the 48-group members of my choosing. It was the AKB48 29th single "Eien Pressure" handshake event at Makuhari Messe.

Japan Spring 2013 Trip: Day 7 and 8 - The ShinKansEn Obsession

Today I moved base from Nagoya to Tokyo, where I'll be staying for the next week. Not that I won't be returning to Nagoya any more; in fact, I had an SKE48 stage performance (KII, Ramune no Nomikata) that evening to attend to.

Japan Spring 2013 Trip: Day 6 - Osaka

It was time to head a little further west today, towards Osaka, as I had an NMB48 concert (NMB48's 2013 West Japan Spring Concert Tour) to attend to later in the evening. So I decided to spend most of the day there.

Japan Spring 2013 Trip: Day 5 - The Live Performance

I had another free day today so again, I decided to head up to Tokyo for some more window and actual shopping.

Japan Spring 2013 Trip: Day 4 - The AKB48 Theatre Performance

An exciting day today, as this would be my first time ever entering the AKB48 Theater and watching a stage performance - AKB48 Kenkyuusei performing Pajama Drive (B3). More on that later.

Japan Spring 2013 Trip: Day 3 - Nagoya and Outskirts

I had a free day today, so I intended to go at my own pace and explored Nagoya for a bit.

Japan Spring 2013 Trip: Day 2 - Wet Sakura

Because I heard that the cherry blossom period arrived unusually early in Tokyo, and despite the weather forecasts predicting a bit of rain, I decided to head up to Tokyo early in the morning to at least experience it before the petals all fall off the trees.

Japan Spring 2013 Trip: Day 1 - Arrival

A few weeks ago, I left the blazing heat of Melbourne and began my long-awaited adventure to North America and Japan. It was my first time travelling to the other side of the world, but I had so-called "unfinished business" to do in Japan. One of them was to be able to experience springtime in Japan. The others revolve around the -48 group fandom. So I intended to fulfil these short term life goals, and to really make use of my extended holiday, before I jump headfirst into the workforce.

I'll spare you my first two-three weeks in North America and jump straight into my Japan trip.