The Houston Plan

There are important things happening in Houston on February 26-28. Perhaps most importantly, Houston will be the last chance most of us in the US will have to see Suzuki Kanon as part of orning Musume. Houston will also be our first look at the 12th generation. Should Nonaka Miki feel well enough to travel, we will get to see Morning Musume with an English speaking member. As Hello! Project finds its way into more and more international events, we need to savor our chance to see and meet these extraordinary girls.

On this, the Sunday before Morning Musume ’16’s concert in Houston, I think we need to have a strategy plan. More accurately, I’m gonna type a bunch of things that I plan on doing but will probably not do due to the fluidity of the situation. I’ve even gone and created some visual aids to help us in our plans.

As you can see, there are nine events which list Morning Musume ’16 as a feature. Actually, there are ten events if you include the “press only” Press Conference on Saturday at 11:00 AM. Most of us won’t be able to attend that event so I left it off of the agenda.

Friday begins with the Opening Ceremonies for Anime Matsuri at 3:00 PM. Immediately, we need to choose between attending the ceremonies or

Japan Expo 1: Dempagumi.inc

Short story: Japan Expo, road trip, Dempagumi.inc, an idol encounter, the best hotel tab ever

One week after the fact, I am finally sitting down to recount my experiences at Japan Expo. What took so long? Well, I recently started working again and the extreme heat of Los Angeles lately greatly diminished my desire to sit in front of a computer. Right up front I’ll say that I had a great time at Santa Clara, and the experience has only strengthened my idol hobby (is it really a hobby?). I had an amazing brush with the idol attendees and attended four concerts, three autograph sessions, and two panels. This being the inaugural Japan Expo, attendance was not up to the promoter’s expectations (I’m sure). The only day where I felt like the con was more than sparsely attended was Saturday, but I’m getting ahead of myself here. This, the first of two articles about Japan Expo, will focus on my arrival in Santa Clara and Dempagumi.inc. The second installation will cover Kikkawa You.