Ari mentioned that my last blog post was a bit scant in how I felt as things were happening. So this time I'm going to take much more time with it! Tell me what you think!
Thank you for waiting!
The 25th of April was tech for most of the show.
First thing in the morning Ari and I headed to find breakfast!
The main street
SEGA game store!
Ki ♡
Ari☆
We ended up going to another coffee shop that we found in what looked like a HUGE office building (?) No one stopped us so we walked right in!
Both times Ari and I went to a cafe, bossa nova music played in the background as opposed to the New York styled jazz or indie music I'm used to hearing at Starbucks.
I liked it!
For some reason, many buildings weren't as well lit as I'm used to seeing in the U.S., especially in the mornings.
At first we weren't even sure the office building was open.
I guess if the windows are big enough you only need the natural light coming in.
Maybe they're saving on electricity?
Ben&Jerry's!! (Food again)
At breakfast Ari and I talked about various things but something amazing came up in conversation. I'll write a separate post about that!! (It's something I think the YouTube community can really benefit from so please look forward to it!)
After breakfast it was straight to Makuhari Messe for tech!
By this day the stage had finally been completely built and everyone would have a chance to rehearse on it.
This was also the first day we met most of the odorite we'd been dreaming of meeting for years!
The first group we recognized was Pupuppi and Tatsuki from ARSMAGNA! 
They weren't in costume but we recognized the dance right away!
They were rehearsing with full lights, the music was booming and I was completely awestruck!!!
I couldn't even imagine what the hall would like like once all 6,000 seats were filled.
Ti☆in! arrived shortly after we did. As soon as they got themselves settled we began to rehearse the choreography for the Opening Act and Tell Your World. By now it was mid afternoon and most of the performers who were scheduled to tech that day had arrived.
Including Guilty Hearts!!!!
I was so excited, I couldn't stop grinning. But eventually it got so noisy that we had to move to the spacious hallway to continue.
As rehearsal went on, it was interesting to notice small things about Fine and Tsurutei that I hadn't expected.
In their dance covers Fine seems to be the person that most viewers' eyes are drawn to. I'm pretty certain he makes the majority of the choreography and so seems to be the leader of the two. In conversation however, Fine was much more reserved than I would have expected.
Tsurutei was definitely more comfortable when talking to us and actually has a very bright personality. And while Fine did make a lot of the decisions for drafting our formations, if he ever hit a block, Tsurutei wouldn't hesitate to make a suggestion which Fine would quickly agree with.
Basically, their roles are much more balanced than I thought they would be.
In the middle of rehearsal something behind us caught Ari's eye. We turned around and Melochin was dancing (flailing) behind us! He's pretty silly!
I freaked out and said, "Uso!" (no way!) which earned a few laughs.
Melochin recognized us from our Happy Synthesizer cover. I was so happy!!!
Ti☆in! and Melochin chatted for a bit, Melochin went off somewhere and we finished rehearsing.
When we returned to the rehearsal room the room, it was completely packed and buzzing. The four of us found an unoccupied table and claimed it by stationing our bags there. We dispersed for a bit and I was left at the table by myself. Having nothing to do I scanned the room for performers I recognized.
Pupuppi and Tatsuki were at a table behind us to the left, Ry☆ (twitter☆) and Miume ( twitter☆) chatted at the furthest table in front of us, Ushi Dorobo members occupied the table to the left of them, MAZDA practiced in the mirrors, Mica found a few musicians to practice Japanese with and I didn't know what to do with myself.
I decided that I had to try and talk to as many people as possible!
I was able to talk to Pupuppi (twitter☆) and Tatsuki (twitter☆) first! Dressed simply in rehearsal wear, Pupuppi were all still quite stunning!!
There manager (?) promised us a picture together on the day that they were all in costume.
She was really nice.
Tatsuki was really sweet and easy to talk to. I remember he always appeared comfortable around us and would acknowledge us every time he saw us during the day!
They were really excited when I told them that Ari and I often watch their videos.
I didn't really know what to do after that....
I saw Ti☆in! greet Guilty Hearts across the room and had an idea!
But I guess Ti☆in! noticed me watching them (by myself....alone) so after greeting Guilty Hearts they headed towards me and sat down.
I told them that I really wanted to meet Guilty Hearts but I was extremely nervous. They surprisingly replied "Us too!"
It was almost evening by the time we finally got on stage to tech some of the encore numbers that all performers would be present for. The stage manager gave us directions pretty quickly but Ti☆in! tried to stay close and make sure we always knew what was going on. (Thanks guys!!!)
This was also around the time we met Mii from Dancing Dolls (twitter☆).
Mica had suddenly called Ari and me over and said "This is Mii! She speaks English!"
Mii's English pronunciation was so good, I was sure she wasn't originally from Japan. I also didn't recognize exactly who she was for the majority of that day....
Mii would occasionally turn to talk to a petite, colorfully dressed, girl who later introduced herself to us as MARiA (twitter☆). Ari had an "Aha!" moment and recognized her from her LAMB (video☆) video with Miume and Kamen Rider 217 aka Niina. (twitter☆)
We all got along right away. First impressions! MARiA has an open, friendly face and loves fashion. Mii is surprisingly mature for her age yet still very cute and enjoys Kpop!
Mii and MARiA really enjoyed my Ben&Jerry's top. They spent quite some time pointing to the different flavors of ice cream on my shirt, asking me to translate it to Japanese. They really wanted to find half-baked for some reason...
At some point while practicing entering and exiting the stage for one of the encore numbers, we ended up near Ry☆ and Miume.
Ti☆in! thankfully took initiative and introduced Mica, Ari and me.
To be honest, I was so shocked I hardly remember that first encounter. Mostly, Ari and I just tried not to completely embarrass ourselves. Miume asked us if we like Guilty Hearts. We said, "of course!" and made the Guilty Hearts sign. It was also pretty hard to to talk to them over the loud music, bright lights and cameras swinging around us. I managed to ask Ry☆ if he was wearing colored contacts. He said, "Yes, they're yellow.". Shortly after we gave up trying.
I don't remember what time we finally got on stage to tech Tell Your World, only that it was several hours after the original designated time and most of the other performers had gone home.
We had only found out the day before that we were going to be the encore performance!
I was shocked. It was more than we could have asked for!
We blocked our entrance, formations and exit once before running it with the Nama band.
It felt absolutely amazing! I remember thinking, " We're all moving really well together! All of our hard work has finally paid off!"
I was a little sad when they said we could leave the stage...
Mii was staying in the same hotel as us so she, Mica, Ari and I walked back together.
She asked us if we we would help her with her English homework. The entire ordeal was pretty hilarious. Japanese English textbooks are surprisingly hard.
Somehow, "argue" "insist" and "claim" all translated to the same word. (?) And we couldn't explain what the function the phrase, "in the first place" was...
I translated a section of Mii's blog where she talks about it here→☆.
We talked and exchanged videos with each other afterwards. It was at this point that I FINALLY (embarrassingly) found out that Mii is a part of Dancing Dolls, a group that I am actually very familiar with.
We hung out until it was a little after midnight and promised to walk around Choukaigi together before calling it a night.
And that concludes our third day in Japan!
Next I'll be talking about Cho Party Day 1 and what Choukaigi was like!!
Please look forward to it!!
Also, if you have any requests on people or events I should talk more about, please let me know!
Any feedback is greatly appreciated!
Ciao ♥
