#JapanExpoMalaysia2019 | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

nagatsukinura119 · 5 years ago

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Japan Expo Malaysia Day 1 (26 July 2019)

Okay, it’s the first day for one of the biggest Japanese events in Malaysia, I originally came here only to attend AKB48’s concert, because my Oshimen, Okada Nana (Naachan) was one of the members who were coming. Since I live in a nearby country, so it was possible for me to come (with my parents) not to mention the ticket prices were considerably cheap. So I was a bit bummed that my mother might not let me go alone to attend the concert, but thankfully from the first day my parents seemed to feel comfortable and confident to let me go to the venue (Kuala Lumpur Pavilion) since it is located near to our hotel (Capitol Hotel). So in the morning I arrived at Pavilion at 11 am and killed some time at Daiso at the top floor and got a sweet black hat with golden Apple logo (if you know me, you’d know why I had a compulsion to buy this hehe). When I came downstairs, they were just opening the expo and the very first performance, a Kyodo (archery) performance was starting and I took the time to rest at the Coffee Bean next to the stage. Afterwards, the first idol group to perform was called KiREI. Now, I’ve never heard of this group before this expo and I didn’t bother checking on them. But we were told that KiREI is a group made up of 3 disbanded idol groups in Tokyo. Their theme is to "Make Everything Beautiful" not just their inner but outer appearances. One of the hosts (Aki) kept telling us audience that they were super cute and I challengingly said, “Sway my heart babe”. So the girls came in; Tanaka Hana, Konatsu Mia and Miyadera Miho. Sure they were cute and beautiful (which idol isn’t, am I right?)

(From the left; Hanapii, Mianyan and Chori-chan)

Nevertheless, I took the chance to take pictures of them with my Nikon camera. I was standing at one side of the stage and since there were some empty seats it was quite easy access for me to take pictures of them. But what I did NOT expect was when one of the members, Hana (nicknamed Hanapii) actually made an eye contact with me and WINKED. My heart MELTED (jokes on me; my heart wasn’t just swayed lololol). Maybe I’m a sucker because this was my very first time attending an idol concert, but gosh darn it I just fell for her on the spot. Aside from that coincidental moment, I realized her face is totally my type among the 3 of them, not to mention she’s also pretty tall (well I’m super short so for some people she could be a medium height). Side note: during their performance the wotage group was doing the Overture chant and I joined them from far away (lol) and it was actually a bit awkward since it seemed like I was the only female who was chanting passionately. Also, another side note, there was this adorable old man who was a huge fan of Harupiii (another idol that performed after KiREI) but I think he’s a fan of idols in general cuz he was also singing along to KiREI’s songs. Back on track, after getting wink attack-ed by Hanapii I was so moved that I paid 150% attention on them. And while I was snapping pics at every second and taking vids, what do you know? She saw me again and made an eye contact again! I realized that she was THE ONE in this group. She’s my KiREI Oshimen.

(Yeah baby!)

Time flew really fast and before I knew it, their slot time was over (most of the idol performances had only 30 to 45 minutes time slot) but thankfully they were having another performance outdoor in the afternoon so I was sure I’d attend it. After KiREI was Harupiii (who is an idol who has performed in this event for 3 years).

Harupiii definitely looked younger than the KiREI members but you know what, that didn’t stop me from staying and watched her performance till the end. What I like about Harupiii is that despite being quite small, looked young, she definitely slayed the performance and I was hooked with her. All the more when she saw me, and finger gunned me (OOF!!) Another hit right on the heart! What’s with these idols making me fall faster than flies lololol!

The wota guys were more hyped this time and so was I and the old man fan ran to the wotage guys and started to enthusiastically chant for her. And you know what, I find it adorable. Especially when one of the guys was carried on other men’s shoulders to the front. I really really like their enthusiasm and I can see why wota life is pretty exciting. I just wished that the awkward atmosphere wasn’t lingering, but YOU KNOW WHAT? SCREW IT, LET’S HAVE FUN!

After the end of Harupiii’s performance I was exhausted so I went back to my parents at Coffee Bean. They told me to get an autograph and picture from KiREI’s members you gotta buy some merch (I mean, that’s how their business works so I knew the procedure). At first I wasn’t sure to go or not but my mother was being encouraging and persuasive made me go for it, and you know what, GG mum! You made the right decision for me! It was worth spending RM80 ($14) to get 2 Cheki tickets (one for autograph and handshake, and another for polaroid photos). I was legit happy since this was my very first time attending a meet-and-greet event with a Japanese idol, and while I used to do translations and subs for some AKB48 stuff, I’m not that confident with my Japanese speaking skills but Hanapii made it so much easier and fun. Albeit she knew limited English, but we managed to communicate successfully. As for the poses I thought we were gonna do the usual heart poses like the guys in front of me did with other members. Well we did just that, but since I bought two tickets so I got to take two photos, and I did not expect that she hugged me (well more like she reached her arms out towards me and leaned in, but close enough, man!) The conversation continued as she was signing the polaroid frames (side note: she asked for the alphabets for my name which was pretty funny considering how easy the pronunciation is, even in Japanese) but at the same time it’s nice how considerate she was. So she asked me if I was a Malaysian and I told her no, I’m a Bruneian which impressed her and I told her that it’s because of this event that I flew over which impressed her even more (I really like how idols tend to give cute reactions when they’re impressed). Then she complimented me for my Japanese and naturally I was like “No no no~ I need to study more” and she was like “Ganbatte~!”. AH SO CUTE! She then asked if I liked idols. If only she knew. But I just told her, “Yes, I love idols”. As much as I loved talking to her I didn’t want to take too long since there was a long line behind me so I told her I was leaving and she was like “We’re gonna perform again outside!” and I responded with an enthusiastic nod, “I will DEFINITELY come!” I was legit happy to the point of shaky hands and happy tears when I came back to our table (Extra note: mum took some pics and video when I was lining up for the merch).

(Polaroid photo with Hanapii! I’m too ugly so I blocked my face lololol)

My parents wanted to go elsewhere, but I told them I was gonna stay there for more performances. So I was finally left on my own (WHOOOOO!). While waiting for KiREI’s next performance I decided to take the time to post things in my social media, and also look for KiREI’s and Hanapii’s Twitter accounts. I love that when I shared my experience with my Discord friends, they were so supportive and happy for me (I love y’all!).

So for the afternoon performance at the outdoor stage I was surprised that 15 minutes before it began the space was rather empty except by shoppers and a handful of fans so I was like shimmying my way to the front because once again, I was self-conscious for being like the only enthusiastic female fan (was I already considered a fan?). There were even some guys nearby who I could hear talking about me, saying, “Look, she’s waiting there, how cute”. It wasn’t anything negative per say, but it just made me more self-conscious lol. So about 10 minutes before starting and the girls were seen strutting towards the backstage and I find it funny yet adorable that they didn’t need some security to cover them. I guess this shows how chill the audience here is. I mean, Mianyan jogged past me and brushed my shoulder a bit, but I just acted chill. I know why one can get excited when their favorite celebrity is around, but for goodness sake some crazy fans need to chill.

Since no one was really taking the front row (this time it was an outdoor stage so there were no seats), I just slipped my way to the left side of the stage. A few more minutes till starting and the girls made their way next to the stage and it’s adorable I could see them doing the chanting thing, where they go “Ganbatte, ikuzo! Ohh~” I was already in my wota mode so I managed to take pictures of them doing that.

Before I attended this concert, I didn’t know why people would kill their money to get front rows, but now I can see why! The reason why I know now is because as I watched their performance right in front, the eye contacts you get from the artists are more direct and you feel like you made more intimate and personal connections with them. I KNOW THIS BECAUSE HANAPII MADE SEVERAL EYE CONTACTS WITH ME THAT I FELT SO OVERWHELMED I HAD TO LOOK AWAY (not all the time). Okay this may sound pretentious, but I honestly think when Hanapii saw me her smile doubled the radiance cuz I could see her smile reaching her eyes during those times. I tried to take pictures and videos of all three girls but you can really tell my bias for Hanapii was evident from the pictures I’m sharing here lololol.

(KiREI performing)

(Chori-chan at the back is literally me on the inside lol)

More, more fun things happened when I went to take pictures with Hanapii for the second time. This time it seemed Mianyan and Chori-chan were familiar with me and they kept looking at me as I interacted with Hanapii. She remembered me so she was like “Ahh~ Nura-chan~ welcome back” and I swear my heart was pierced by that and I just covered my face out of embarrassment and said, “I’m back”, then she responded with the heart throbbing line, “Eh~ I’m so happy! I love you!” which naturally made me embarrassed and hid my face again and she was like “Nande, nande?” GURL YOU DON’T KNOW HOW MUCH POWER YOU HAVE OVER ME EVEN THOUGH I’VE ONLY KNOWN ABOUT YOU FOR 3 HOURS! So we did new poses and while she signed the polaroid frames she started chatting with me like “Where are you staying” and so I told her I was staying at a nearby hotel and she was like “Ah me too! I stay in a hotel” Ah of course you do sweetheart, so cute. And I jokingly asked, “Which hotel?” And she responded, “We’re not supposed to say yet.” AHAHAHA SO CUTE. Then she told me she saw me taking so many pictures (well I did stand at the first row so heheh). I complimented everyone and naturally they thanked me (Ahhh Mianyan and Chori-chan were so cute too). After that I made a mistake to look at Hanapii in the eyes and once again hid my face, but to make things worse (or better) they were all like “Kawaii~~~” GAH THESE GIRLS I SWEAR. And she also patted my head while doing so. I. Was. Dead. So after that she apologized for being sweaty and I was like “No, no, you’re still very cute.” And believe me when I said that she gave this blinding smile and I thought, “Welp, she got me in the palm of her hands.” Once again she apologized for sweating so much and started to talk about the heat. Being the concerned fan that I was, I asked her, “Are you okay? Y’know, with this crazy heat?” I could tell she was trying to ease my worries and said “Yeah! I’m okay, I got used to it.” Once again, I didn’t want to take too much time, so I proceeded to leave but before leaving I told her that I was coming again the next day, to which she thanked me for and said she’ll look forward to it. As I was leaving (while clutching on my new polaroid pictures) I looked at all three girls and said “Ganbatte~” and they all cutely waved while saying their thanks.

(More pics with Hanapi hehehehehe)

Since I was sweating bullets (curse the heat and black clothes lol) so I went back inside for the AC and sat on the stairs leading towards the center stage. What was going on was an AirAsia dance performance by their staff. I gotta say for non-dancers, they did pretty good, especially with the fact they danced in their working uniforms! Then I looked around the shopping mall in search of my parents, only to find out they were elsewhere. So I decided to stay a bit longer. While doing that, a boy band called cosmic!! was performing and for goodness sake were the boys CUTE! Okay, I may be biased, but I really prefer J-pop male idols over K-pop male idols because I can actually distinguish their faces, and not to mention they did not to wear much makeup and to me they still looked handsome and cute. Also based on their facial expressions, they looked they were having so much fun and also interacting with the fans (who were definitely having so much fun too considering how vigorous they were with their glowsticks).

(cosmic!! having fun performing on stage)

To be continued in Day 2!

Bonus picture

(Hanapii be like ‘I’m a goddess’ lmaooo)

#JapanExpoMalaysia2019 #KiREI #Harupiii #cosmic!!

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