To be quite honest, I spent most of the day onboard Shinkansen trains. Three, in fact.
From Nagoya to Tokyo to dump my luggage at the hotel I'd be staying at, then back to Nagoya to watch Team KII, and finally back to Tokyo again. That's more than 6 hours of me sitting on a Shinkansen seat although to be fair, they're better than flying Jetstar or Tiger, given how fast, punctual, regular, comfortable (legroom comparable to premium economy) and efficient they are. Better if you have a JR pass: you can use them as often as you like (with restrictions) as if you're taking subway trains.
At Tokyo, because I still had some time before I could check in, I went to buy another variant of the sakura mochi: the sakura goromo. It was pretty much the traditional Sakura mochi I had yesterday but the entire thing wrapped in a pink piece of sticky rice flour dough. Quite a unique taste.
I stayed in Hotel Villa Fontaine Ueno. A bit of a walk to the nearest JR station, but the essentials took care of themselves. Zippy Internet - upload speeds almost 50x faster than back home - and, finally, Tokyo TV programming. No more having to miss out on standard TV programs just because I'm not in Tokyo.
After I dumped my luggage down, I went straight back to Nagoya, this time eating a simple katsu sandwich (and the Sakura goromo I purchased earlier).
I was back in Nagoya. Today, I was finally able to enter through those locked gates (see my Day 1 post) and experience the recently renovated SKE48 theater.
Entering some rear stairs behind the escalator, I picked up my ticket and explored the theater lobby afterwards.
The lobby area was certainly smaller than the AKB48 theater, but also cleaner, fresher and, subjectively speaking, better looking interior decor. Giant screens displaying random member videos and real-time updates of members' Google+ posts, as well as the Guinness World Records certificate proudly hanging on the wall. Strangely, they had great looking washrooms, too.
And of course, my oshimen's portrait hanging proudly on the wall of members along the corridor.
Because I still had time before the concert, I bought a few small things from the SKE48 shop and went to have a look around the Sakae area for a bit.
5:30pm came, and it was time for me to head back to the theater. Today, I won using regular Ippan, so when I could enter (and where I would sit) depended entirely on luck. Today's audience makeup was similar to Tuesday's AKB48 Kenkyuusei show, although I didn't really notice any other foreigners. There was also a fairly vocal Riho Abiru wota who kept shouting her name (constantly and incessantly) during the show and led most of the member calls/encore.
My queue entered fairly early, so I managed to get a decent seat. Inside the theater, it was every bit as I imagined and saw from LODs (and other media). Certainly more spacious, too; unlike in the AKB48 theater where I felt a bit cramped at times, I had enough space to feel comfortable here. The screens were newer, too, and fixed (unlike the projector screen in the AKB48 theater). One thing they should have done during the renovation work though: elevate all the seating rows like in the AKB48 theater, not just every three. My view was partially blocked by another person's head, but it was a minor issue. The best thing about the theater? The central front stage platform, and the members really do make full use of it, coming up really (and scarily) close to you during certain songs, like in Kizashi, Nice to meet you and Akushuu no Ai. Whereas in Orix Theater yesterday (for NMB48) they were like stick figures, here the members were larger than life and you could almost see every bit of detail.
Enough about the theater itself. Today's Ramune no Nomikata setlist highlights:
- No Churi, Airin nor Annya tonight. Center for Cross was Seira, Mieko Sato ("Neesan") subbed in for Airin in Manzashi Sayonara and Shiori (Iguchi) likewise for Annya in Usotsuki na Dachou. Post-Shawako, Reika became the ballerina. Miki Yakata ("Mikitty") was general center for the entire stage performance.
- Performances were top notch across the board, as you'd expect from SKE48. Especially during the final singles medley.
- It was great seeing some of the KII members live (Neesan really is short, and Shiori Ogiso's face really is small). Kenkyuusei Mikichan (Miki Hioki) was also there, looking like Miorin as usual. Speaking of the former two, Ogiso mistakenly forgot Neesan's age. "28", she said. Laughter and embarrassment followed.
- Mikitty still has work to do in one very important area if she wants to be a good Churi replacement: being able to hit the ball properly (in Winning Ball). She failed to do so tonight, the ball ended up going nowhere. Funny points aside, incredibly sharp performance from her tonight.
- Today's handshakes (in Akushuu no Ai) were from Manatsu on the left and... (because I sat on the left side where Manatsu was and I didn't notice the other side) someone else.
- Just like (I'm guessing) nearly every 48-group theater performance of late, they performed Tenohira ga Kataru Koto at the end and showed the MV.
- High touch again today. Of particular note and memorable was the only girl in the crowd of lively members saying ありがとう! that, well, wasn't. All she did was smile gently without saying a word. Thanks, Manatsu. Nice legs, too.
Had enough time to take the train back to Tokyo, despite the late-night Nagoya metro rush hour.
And caught the latest episode of HKT48 girls stuffing themselves with food i.e. HKT48 Odekake.
Breakfast: Onigiri
Canned coffee of the day: Wonda Espresso (3.5/5 - a bit better than your average Wonda red can)
The next day was a fairly light affair. I went to church and met up with some fellow AKB48 friends afterwards for dinner at the AKB48 cafe. This time I picked Takamina's ribbon-shaped katsu rice bowl. Not too bad - the katsu was stuffed with what tasted like bacon and some sauce.
Later did some minor shopping around in Akihabara. I really do mean "minor", because that day's weather was incredibly horrible, with record rain and strong winds, so we went home a bit early.
Moreover, I needed to mentally prepare for the next day.
Breakfast: Fruit yoghurt
Canned coffee of the day: UCC Black (2.5/5 - ridiculously bitter, thanks to "no sugar")
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