31 December 2005 - Masha and Johnny's Countdown

Went to 大森駅 and shopped at Muji and UNIQLO. Then took Rinka line to お台場. First time I took the train. Itwas fast. It took around 10min to reach お台場.

Very cold at お台場! I bought a Burberry Blue Label sling bag at Venus Fort. Expensive! But come to think of it, this is thefirst time I bought such an expensive bag. Well, sometimes, I must pamper myself. Though I am not brand conscious, it is good to buy a branded stuff once in a lifetime.

Went around フジテレビ and shopped at Comme Ca. Then headed for 日本放送 at 有樂町 after dinner. Saw Masha at around 10pm. He alighted from a white caropposite the road where I stood (less than 50 meters). He wore a black long coat, hat and sunglass, and hold a sling bag. I can’t really seehis face clearly. But he got style! He swing his bag,turned back while he just stepped out of the car. Then he walked in quickly, turned to us and waved. The fans shouted his name when they saw him. I did not shout and was not worked up when I saw him. Just feltthat it was great to see him so closely after 5 years.Well, he is the most カツコイイ afterall. Maki said he has a aura around him. Well, he is really a superstar.

Rushed to Tokyo Dome for Johnny countdown concert. Luckily reached just a few minutes before concert started. It started at11pm and broadcast ‘live’ on TV from 11.45pm - 12.30pm. Kinki Kids started the concert by singing ‘Anniversary.” The others then came out. I felt the heat and started screaming too, especially when NEWS came out. It was good to feel the atmosphere.

Nice view as the whole dome was lighted up with pen lights, all ofdifferent color. Every one seemed to enjoy themselves.Luckily I brought the binoculars. Though seated at 3rdlevel, very far, but still managed to see them if they come near to our direction. I was searching for 山P. He highlighted his hair black, very hard to spot him.

I enjoyed dancing the dance moves of songs like “Cherish, 青春アミゴ、 好きやねん、大阪, 夢物語, Venus etc” It was fun to dance the same movements as the singers. Even though I have not seen the dance moves of “好きやねん、大阪 and Venus,” I managed to follow as the dance moves are rather simple and catchy.

Though the screen broadcast the scenes, they don’t always filmed everyone. Soit was interesting to watch the actions of them. 山P stood very straight and he put his hands in front during MCtime. 岡田くん crossed his hands and started to wonder his mind. 赤西仁 put his hand behind and was restless, Uncle 坂本 was always looking around and paying attention to the ones who talked... very interesting to watch this as it was not shown on screen.

I was really surprised when 近籐真彦 (Machi) came out. Oh my gosh, he was so popular when I was young. 2006 is his 25th year in show business. The rest have to be his back-up dancers. This is how Johnny works. Juniors still haveto respect the seniors.

It was good to see the artists from binoculars. 錦戸亮、手越裕也、小山慶一朗、増田貴久、　嵐, 関西ジヤニ, TOKIO，タキ&翼, KAT-TUN .. different from seeing from TV. Oh ya, Perina got so worked up when she saw 赤西仁! Haha. She can’t stopped waving and used the binoculars to spot him.

Almost till the end of concert, the artists spilt into 2groups and walked from the centre of arena back to thestage. Too bad Yama P and V6 walked the other direction. soI got no choice but to help Perina to spot 赤西仁. Haha. Good to see him walking in front of us, at the arena.

The concert only lasted for 2 hrs. Very short! Both of us enjoyedit though. It was eye opening to watch how the program was telecasted ‘live.’ The artists were so serious when they standby for the show. I saw 山P turned back and looked at the big screen when the rest talked and he prepared for his song. When the music started to play, he immediately started dancing. These artists’ showmanships are very good and professional.

While going to train station, we saw groups of girls waited at the exit for them. There was a girl who shout Tacky’s name and ran after a white car. The cars are all in black screen, wonder how the fans spot the artists? We waited for a while and moved to another exit while going to the train station (Tokyo Dome has several exits). Then we saw about 5-6 Johnny juniors (all dressed in black!), don’t even know who they are.. but not that good looking. One of the fans called one Johnny junior’s name and wanted to take photo with him. He just walked away. There was another Johnny junior who came out from the same exit, walked towards Tokyo Dome central area. After a while, he turned back, touching his hair and tried to hide his face. Perhaps he was worried other fans may caught him. He’s not tall, boyish and consider good looking.

By the way, reached hotel around 3am and watched Countdown TV, hoping that w-inds will appear on this ‘live’ show. Saw Ayu Hamasaki, Chemistry etc. Waited till around 4.40pm, was about to sleep when w-inds appeared.I immediately jumped up from the bed! w-inds still look so fresh despite performing at 2 shows earlier, and it wasalmost 5am! They sang new song 約束のカケラand danced.

Oh gosh, Keita’s smile is still so charming. Ryohei, Keita and Ryuichi still looked at each other and smiled when they danced. I really admire their professional attitude!

I hope Masha has countdown concert in 2006! I will definitely comeback to Japan. The New Year here is superb! You can still see many people hanging around even around 2am, 3amor even later! There are still stalls opened at 2am! The atmosphere here is much better than Singapore.. which makes me want to spend my New Year Eveand New Year in Japan again for the third time!