Day 5 - June 2ndThe long-awaited and well-fought-for day of the Fan Meeting event!
Around 10 am Erich, Jerry, Sam, and I went to Ala Moana to eat and shop around a bit. At one of the stores I randomly came across the same Stussy shirt that
HARU just so happened to be wearing that day and took it as a sign that I should buy it. So I did. haha.
After that, Jerry let us borrow his rental car and Erich and I drove to the Dole Plantation and Laniakea Beach, AKA "Turtle Beach," on the North Shore about an hour away. We saw something cute at Dole that MAMI would probably like because it resembles
Funassyi and decided we had to get it for her as a present.
Since Funassyi (ふなっしー) is a pear and this one is a pineapple, we named it "Pinassyi" (ぴなっしー)!
It was around 2 at that time and we knew we had to be back by 4:30 to meet up at the Marriott to be taken to the "secret location" of the Fan Meeting. Turtle Beach was thankfully only 10 minutes away from Dole, so we drove there, visited the beach for 5 minutes, and had to quickly hurry back to Honolulu.
Oh, and Turtle Beach is aptly named so because there are giant green sea turtles just chilling along the shore:
We finally got back to Honolulu in the nick of time around 4:05. Erich dropped me off at our hotel so that I could change into my "Taiyou to Kimi ga Egaku STORY" outfit while he parked the car at the Marriott. I changed in about 5 minutes, grabbed all of our gifts to the band, and pretty much ran to the Marriott (luckily only 2 blocks away).
Mostly everyone else was there by that time. Shirley found me right away, checked me in, and gave me 2 index cards for myself and Erich to write questions to ask to SCANDAL. I still had to finish putting together the Fan Letter Project so I couldn't really focus on what question to ask. Right as we were about to board the bus I just wrote down "What do you guys think when overseas fans cosplay?" which didn't end up getting selected.
As we were boarding the bus Shirley all gave us an envelope that contained the results of where we'd be sitting for that evening. Erich and I were pretty much the only ones that were going to take a picture together so in our envelope were two pieces of paper with seat locations. We got 3-G and 3-H.
Oh, and here's the Fan Letter Project. It turned out awesome, if I do say so myself. I dropped in into the gift box along with the SH shirts and Pinassyi.
We soon arrived at the venue and waited around on the bus for a little bit. The Japanese fans were let in first and we were let in second. They checked our bags briefly to make sure we didn't have anything dangerous on us and got into a line to get handshakes and a lei from SCANDAL.
Erich and I were the last ones to go up and greet them. Erich was second to last and I was the last. Since I was wearing my TaiKimi outfit, some of the comments I got from the band were, "Kawaii ishou! (cute outfit!)," "Kawaiiii!", and "Natsukashiiii! (How nostalgic!)." I didn't really have anything to say to them besides "Arigatou!" and "America ni itte arigatou gozaimasu! (Thanks for coming to the US again!)" though I remember I had gotten tongue-tied and said it pretty clumsily haha. RINA was at the end and giving people leis, and she said, "Ah, kyou wa TaiKimi nan ya ne! Ii neー. (Ah, today's outfit is TaiKimi! That's greatー.)" and gave me a pink lei.
Once we got inside we headed to table 3, which was the first table on the right! Our tablemates were Lale, Rachel, Mark, Jesus, Don, Fred, and one more person I can't recall (sorry!). We were basically in the front row on MAMI's side.
Shortly after we all got settled in, a J-Pop radio station DJ came out and was to be the MC of the night. She also tried attempting to translate things that the band was saying, but it didn't really work out too well.
Anyway, the band came out and each member said a comment. I'm paraphrasing these a bit (but I'll try to do better than the DJ), but this is what they basically said:
HARU: "Aloha! There are people who came all the way from Japan and people who came all across the US, and we'd like to make our time here together a very deep and wonderful one. There's food in the back, so relax and take it easy!"
TOMO: "Thank you for coming here today! We're in Hawaii, and we'd like to make this a relaxed time for everyone here. Best regards!"
MAMI: "Aloha! Thank you for coming! This is SCANDAL's first time in Hawaii and we'd like to make some wonderful memories together with everyone, so let's all enjoy Hawaii! Best regards!"
RINA: "Aloha! Here in Hawaii we wanted to do an event unlike any we've done in Japan and we thought up of something special. It's important that music can connect people, and I want all of you guys to become friends! Best regards until the end!"
Then, it was time to do a toast. The juices the place had were either guava or orange juice. Maybe they weren't sure they had a decision or not, but RINA said, "I'll have orange juice!" Then she was like, "Water! Water's fine!" and then said orange juice again. haha. Guava juice would have been the better decision, though. So 4 glasses of orange juice were brought up to the stage and HARU made a toast: "Let's spend a long time together today! Kanpai!"
The members exited the stage while the rest of us had dinner.
The buffet of Hawaiian food:
Some time during the meal, most of the SH members who have known each other since the last time SCANDAL came to the US 3 years ago (and a few new ones we've only just met) went outside to take a picture in front of the banner we signed with SCANDAL:
The staff soon shooed us away, saying that the event was going to start back up soon, so we went back inside and took our seats. I think the only thing they started doing was playing the recording that the band did with the DJ who was MCing the event.
The band came back out when the recording was done, this time with leis around their necks, flowers in their hair, and dressed in Hawaiian print muumuus. TOMO was wearing a white one, HARU was wearing a melon one, RINA was wearing a black one, and MAMI was wearing a light blue one.
They began talking about things like:
-Where they bought their muumuus
-What sightseeing they did (went to Boots & Kimo's to eat)
-They went to the beach
-The fans respected their privacy
The results of the Ekiden teams who were part of the Fan Meeting were announced as well. The 3 teams from Japan did pretty well. Then, the DJ was like, "I'm sure this team ran in order to meet SCANDAL. So, here is a team with a...great accomplishment. It was 144th place out of 162 teams: SCANDAL HEAVEN USA!"
As she announced the team name, HARU began laughing and all of them started clapping, putting their hands in the air, and saying "Yay!" Mark picked up Erich's CANTA head next to him and began waving it around in the air, garnering a point and a smile from TOMO. The DJ then read the team's total time (4:56:00) and the band said, "Sugoi!" The DJ mentioned how hot it was, and TOMO was like, "Yeah, he ran with the CANTA head on! I'm glad you lived." hahaha.
It's too bad that they didn't talk about Team Runners High, but since you guys signed up the day before the race they unfortunately probably forgot that you were also part of the Fan Meeting group.
RINA then began talking about SH. She said how it was made by a gathering of international fans, how it's like their foreign fan club, and how we're really excellentー.
They then talked about the live the day before on the beach. HARU said how getting to play a live while the sun was setting and the sky was getting dark was really awesome, and the natural lighting was good too. MAMI said how they've played lives on the beaches in Japan before, but the one in Hawaii was completely different. The DJ said their performance was powerful, which led to the question, "What's the reason for the powerfulness of each member?" AKA "Where does your power come from?"
TOMO: "Everyone." *everyone claps and cheers*
HARU: "Food." *everyone laughs and claps* (she also mentions meat)
RINA: "Everyone's voices and seeing the 3 members as I'm sitting on my drum chair are a great source of energy for me."
MAMI: "The members and everyone powers me up."
Next was the Q&A corner. Mark already posted it a few posts up and it's pretty good (though the first question was actually "At what age do you plan on getting married?"). There were originally supposed to be 5 questions, but only 4 were read. Eisuke decided that it was taking up too much time and had the DJ cut the last question out.
To add to RINA's answer about why she likes the beach, it's because she can swim and the scenery is beautiful. And to add to HARU's, she likes summer to begin with, and you can feel more life in waves than in snow.
Next was the game corner! Two tables would make up a member's team, and it was basically charades where we would have to have our respective member correctly guess what a Hawaiian word meant. The winning team would receive signed radio station bumper stickers. Tables 2+3 were Team TOMOMI, tables 1+6 were Team HARUNA, tables 4+5 were Team RINA, and tables 7+8 were Team MAMI.
The first word up was "wahine" (girl). I'm not sure if they had English and Japanese definitions next to it at the time, but I'm guessing they didn't lol. I knew it meant girl so I was looking at TOMO and pointing to myself haha. I think Mark thought it meant "to swim" so he was doing swimming strokes. TOMO must have seen that because her hand shot up and she said "Haiiiii! Oyogu (to swim)!" haha nope! HARU and MAMI answered but said the wrong ones until RINA said "Josei (girl)." One of the Team TOMOMI players shouted, "Timo, ganbatte!" and she said, "Ganbaru!" while bouncing up and down.
Score:
Team RINA - 1 point
The second word was "makai" (ocean). We tried acting that out by moving our hands straight across to act as the beach and making wave motions with our hands. All of the members seemed to know the answer because all of them were like "Haiiiii!" It had to be settled with jan-ken-pon (rock-paper-scissors). It took 9 rounds before TOMO and MAMI tied, and only one round after that for TOMO to win! Unfortunately, she answered again with "Oyogu!" haha we all were like "Nooooo!" and she was like "Ehhhh?! That's wrong?!" A few tries later she answered again with "Ukiwa (flotation ring)!" and then "Shima (island)!" lol still no! HARU finally got it when she answered "Umi (ocean)!" The rest didn't hear her answer, so she repeated it to them and they were like "Ehhhh?!" TOMO was like "Ehhh, no way! That jan-ken match meant nothing!"
Score:
Team RINA - 1 point
Team HARUNA - 1 point
The third word was "hale" (house). We tried pointing our hands upwards together to simulate the roof of a house. TOMO's hand shot up right away and she said "Haiiii! Yama (mountain)!" Nope. RINA answered next, saying, "Hai hai hai! Ie (house)!" Correct~
Score:
Team RINA - 2 points
Team HARUNA - 1 point
The fourth word was "lealea" (fun). We were going crazy, putting our hands up, and trying to act like we were having the time of our lives. It must have worked because TOMO's hand shot up right away and she said "Haiiii! Tanoshii (fun)!" Correct!! Our tables started to cheer and TOMO looked really surprised and was like "Wahh!!" The DJ asked how she knew that, and TOMO said it was because we looked like we were having a lot of fun. hahah. Glad we were able to correctly convey that!
Score:
Team RINA - 2 points
Team HARUNA - 1 point
Team TOMOMI - 1 point
The fifth and final word was "Waikiki" (spouting water). This question was worth 100 points, meaning that every team had a chance to win, so we had to make sure to get this one! We tried to make spouting water gestures with our hands but TOMO wasn't really getting it at first lol. Then, she suddenly said, "Haiiii! Yashi no ki (palm tree)!" Nope! None of the members were really understanding it so the DJ said that just guessing "wai" (water) would be good enough. A few seconds later TOMO raised her hand again and said "Haiii! Wakimizu (spring water, which basically means the same thing as spouting water)!" 正解！！ YES!! TOMO got all happy, screamed, and jumped up and down haha. Our tables busted out chanting "Timo! Timo! Timo!" while TOMO danced around a bit on stage. She said "I'm glad I got the right answer!" Shortly thereafter Team TOMOMI was given the autographed bumper stickers as our prize.
Some people are saying that Team RINA was cheated a bit, but hey, TOMO really deserved those 100 points after correctly guessing that crazy word!
Score:
Team TOMOMI - 101 pointsTeam RINA - 2 points
Team HARUNA - 1 point
Team TOMOMI 完勝！！
The next up was their acoustic live. Their instruments were brought out and RINA talked a bit about how she would be playing the
cajon live for the first time, and how she practiced on it in order to use it at this live.
Set list:
01. Uchiagehanabi
02. Hikare
03. Departure
"Uchiagehanabi" sounded great live. HARU forgot to sing a few words in the part after the first chorus, and missed saying "Kono mune no" in the line "Kono mune no takanari." After the song HARU commented on how this is a summer-like song, and RINA commented on how she was happy she was able to experience summer in Hawaii before summer in Japan, and how they were glad to have played this song in Hawaii.
Next up was "Hikare." Until TOMO began singing I wasn't completely sure what song it was, haha. It was interesting to see it performed in a different way from how they performed it in the US three years ago at AM2, back when the "LOVE SURVIVE" single wasn't even out yet and it was a brand new song--I think that was only the third time they had played it live. After the song RINA commented on how it had been a while since they played it live, but they really wanted to play it there no matter what, how it was written by them, and how she's been loving the song especially as of lately. MAMI then said how powerful of a song it is. HARU asked the audience how it was, and we all broke out into applause. She further talked about how sitting down and doing a performance like this felt fresh.
The last song was "Departure." Before the song started HARU said that she hoped we would all see each other again at a live somewhere. HARU started off the song singing the entire song and playing the guitar alone, with the rest of the members joining in after the end of the first chorus.
When it was over, the band said their closing comments:
HARU: "Thank you so much to everyone for coming out today. We are so happy that people came from all kinds of places--from far away, came from across the US, took a plane to get here, and spent their time and money coming here to be with us! We'll never forget the time we spent together with everyone here. We'll do our best again from tomorrow, and I hope everyone does the same whether it's for work, or their studies, or such. Thank you so much!"
RINA: (I can't hear her part well, so I'll just write down what I can hear) "This was kind of like a party, wasn't it? I truly want you to live your life the way you want to. Thank you so much for liking SCANDAL!"
MAMI: "We've made the best memories in Hawaii with you guys who came here to see us! Thank you so much!"
TOMO: "Next time we hope to spend a longer time with you guys, so I want everyone to wait until then. Everyone who came from Japan, thank you so much!"
Lastly, it was time for pictures with the band! We went in order of the tables and seat numbers. The first tables to go up, tables 1 & 2, consisted of fans from Japan. Our table 3 was the first table comprised of SH members. Lale was 3-A and the first person to go, so we all cheered and clapped for him when he went up!
I honestly don't remember much when it was Erich's and my turn haha. I do remember you guys cheering and clapping again, so thanks, guys! I think we all said "Aloha!" to each other when we got to them, and since we had to squeeze in between RINA and HARU for both of us to fit, I was basically right against HARU. haha I hope she didn't mind! They took the first picture, and we were about to leave when the staff told us to wait to take a second picture. I'm glad they took 2 because the second one was better.
haha I look like a giant next to them.
As we were leaving I couldn't really think of anything else to say but "Los Angeles ni kite kudasai! (Please come to LA!)" HARU and TOMO both said, "Hai!" so hopefully they'll come here next! haha. We said "Mata ne" to them and left the stage, though I did forget to turn back around to say bye to RINA and MAMI. lol nooo
We got our stuff from the table and went outside to the gift box to get out the Fan Letter Project to add a Polaroid that a Japanese fan had taken of us to our letter. After that we headed back on to the bus where everyone was talking about what just happened and showing each other their pictures with the band.
When mostly everyone was on bus, the band's photographer came on board to take a picture of us. Shortly after that someone from H.I.S. also came to take a picture of us, and then handed out denim bags with "SCANDAL" printed on a Hawaiian-themed background. I don't know why they took so long to give them to us when the Japanese fans got them in Japan before they even left for Hawaii.
The bag, our pictures, and autographed stickers:
As we were on our way back Erich began talking and everyone demanded a speech from him haha. The clip will be included in the giant video. Lale also did a little speech thanking the ones who helped make this happen, and Glenn also did a little speech as well to thank me. Thanks, guysー (´；ω；`)
Once we got back to the Marriott we immediately planned an after party. haha. It was to be at 9 pm at the 3rd floor bar of the hotel, and some Japanese fans were expected to join us as well!
Erich and I headed up to Jerry and Sam's room to chill and relax for a bit. MAMI had just tweeted about the "
meat & greet party" and Erich said that I should reply and correct her haha. I did, saying, "「meat」 means 「niku (meat)」, you know haha. The Fan Meeting Tour was so much fun! Please come back to the US again!"
A few minutes later MAMI replied:
https://twitter.com/scandal_mami/status/473717720962187264
haha she said, "Gyaー! I'm sorryー! haha. It's MEET. Of course!! Wait for us, okay!"
We had to go to pick up the beach chairs, umbrellas, and mats that we had left at Glenn's hotel across the street the day before, so Jerry let us borrow his rental car to pick them up and take them back to our hotel where we had rented the stuff from.
As we rode the elevator down, the elevator stopped two floors down from us. The doors opened and who should we see but MAMI? haha so crazy! When she saw us, she was like, "Oh!" and we waved to each other. She came into elevator and rode it down with us. Erich was holding his CANTA head and she patted it lol. I also thanked her for replying to my tweet a few minutes before. We had to go the second floor to go to the garage while she was going down to the ground floor, so when it was our turn to get off we said "Mata ne!" and waved bye to her.
We then picked up Glenn, went to his hotel, got our stuff, dropped off our stuff, and then went back to the Marriott. We were about an hour late to the party--fashionably late. haha. The party was already pretty crazy; I think there were about 40 people there, with a combo of Japanese fans and us. One of the Japanese fans, Yuki, was pretty drunk. He's a HARU fan and was trying to round up other HARU fans, so at one point he got me and Mark together with him and he started singing the "Na na na" opening part of "Taiyou Scandalous" haha. One of the other Japanese fans said my outfit looked like an AKB48 one. lol noooo way. Yuki, a few other Japanese fans, and I had to correct him and tell him that it was SCANDAL's TaiKimi outfit! haha geez, that guy needs to learn his stuff.
Eddie had gotten quite drunk at that point and kept calling me and shouting "Daigo member!" AKA the fifth member of SCANDAL, in front of the Japanese fans like Yuki. Being pretty drunk himself he joined in and starting shouting the same thing lol.
The party was pretty awesome. The bar closed at 11, though, and it took us around half an hour to get the bill sorted out. When that was done we headed downstairs. I was towards the back of the group so when we got to the first floor I didn't really notice anything was going on until I saw Yuki holding and bouncing someone who looked like Eisuke! That's when I saw SCANDAL standing around looking surprised and laughing and I realized that it was in fact Eisuke. He was totally acting nonchalant when he was being bounced around; he had a neutral, unamused expression on his face and would just occasionally push up the sunglasses he was wearing. The band seemed amused by it so Eisuke seemed okay with everything haha. After he was bounced around, he went and high-fived RINA, for some reason lol. We waved and said bye to the band and headed outside. An odd, yet amusing way to see the band off.
We stopped a little outside of the hotel and started talking about what just happened. We were all pretty confused, to say the least. haha. After that, the people who were left decided to chill on the beach while Erich and I decided to call it a night since we needed to repack our stuff and had a flight to catch the next morning.
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SCANDAL is the Most Powerful Japanese Girl Rock Band 
