Seeing Sonim – Part Two

While watching TV about two weeks ago, I saw a commercial for one of the many Golden Week festivities that were to be taking place. And who was to be at said event? None other than everybody’s favorite reason to eat curry rice, sweet Sonim. Once again, the event was going to be taking place at a location an annoying distance away from me—close enough to go, but far enough to be a pain. But also, once again, it was a free event, so I knew I had to go. One chance to see Sonim live before I went back to the States was great—two chances was even better.

The problem with this event was that tickets were to be handed out at 9AM. Which, of course, meant I had to get there by at the latest 8AM, as there was sure to be a line. Which mean I had to be on a train leaving my local station by 6AM. Which meant that I had to set my alarm for 5AM. Now, one of the worst things in the world for me is getting up early. However, I was bound and determined to try to get a good seat, so I swore to myself that it would happen.

From here, we’ll jump past pretty much everything up until the point where I get to the amusement park that the mini-concert is going to be taking place at. Because, as exciting as I know my adventures in train riding is for all of you, you don’t get quality reading material like that for free.

So I get to the station outside of Portopia Land (the venue for the event), and can see from the station that there is already a decent line waiting. Crap! I wanted to get a really good place in the line this time around, so I take my place in line while cursing myself for once again being later than the people ahead of me. Taking a quick headcount, I’m about 90th in the line. Now, your normal person would take the fact that 90th when the concert will be open to 1,000 people as a pretty damn good spot. But not me. If I’m not close enough to the stage, how is Sonim supposed to notice me from the rest of the crowd, realize that I’m the only one for her, and then jump off of the stage and profess her love?! That kind of thing doesn’t happen when you’re more than a few rows back, for God’s sake!

However, there is luck: they are giving out tickets for both the Noon show and the 3PM show at the same time. My hope is that enough people won’t want to wait until the afternoon concert, and will just opt for the early ticket. When it’s finally my turn to receive a ticket, I look down at the stacks; the Noon show is on number #63, the 3PM show at #25. Score. I ask for a 3PM ticket, and walk away smiling as I think about the fact that by my best guess, I should easily score third row center. Not too shabby.

I don’t want to enter the park yet, because once I do, I can’t leave until after the concert, which isn’t for another six hours. So, if there is anything fun around the station to do, I should do it now. I go wandering for a bit, and to my utter surprise soon come to a huge building looming in front of me sporting the Konami logo. A Konami office here?! I didn’t know it was located here, and curse myself for having forgotten my camera. Boy, would that fact come back to bite me in the ass later.

Realizing that there is nothing fun to do around the area, I break down and pay the extra $20 (on top of the $10 to get into the park) for an all-day ride pass. I go in, play some games, get shocked over finding a Dairy Queen, ride some of the rides (including a roller coaster that, while small, was really, really fun), play an amusement game, and win myself a huge blow-up pink Snoopy. While riding the cheesy log ride that goes up and over the stage, I can hear a song I’m familiar with. I look down, and can see Sonim rehearsing. Christ, why am I up here when she’s down there? Once the ride finishes, I go over to a spot where you can make out the stage, and find myself joining a small group of people who have also come over to watch Sonim. A few people try to take pictures with their cellphones, but are stopped—strange considering later events. After she finishes, Sonim looks up and over at us and waves while saying hello, which gets a big reaction from the crowd. She asks us to come see her at Noon, and with another wave, walks off.

That fun over, I walk over to where the lines will be forming, and notice a booth set up to sell Sonim goods. Three posters are hanging from the table, two for Tokyo Midnight Loneliness, and one that I’ve never seen before. Closer look, and it’s a poster for Hana. Crap, I want the poster. I ask about it, but am told that I can only have one of the TML posters, and only if I purchase a copy of the single. I already have two copies, thanks, don’t need a third.

Back to more waiting. The sun is in full force today, and I just know I’m going to be going home with my third sunburn in like a month’s time. I also wonder if I would be brave enough to ride the big wave ride, get soaked, and then go for a trip in the Cold Room.

Which let me stop for a moment here—these big wave rides. You know, you ride in a boat, it goes up a hill, then back down, and you get a big splash. Japanese people are the biggest wimps I’ve ever seen when it comes to this. Now, blame my crazy American way of thinking, but I always believed the point in riding a water ride was to get wet. Everywhere in Japan that I’ve seen such rides, they always sell ponchos to wear while riding it, and 99.9% of the people always buy them. But this place was even worse—not only were the ponchos in full effect, but you could also ride in a boat that had a full enclosure on top of it.

Finally, it gets to be 2PM, and an announcement is made that all ticket holders for Sonim’s 3PM show should line up. I do, more waiting, and we’re let in in full proper order according to our numbers. #25 out of 1000, fun time. I go in, race down the walkway, and take my place third row center.

Even more waiting (to the thrilling tunes of one Mr. Phil Collins, no less), and finally the MC lady comes out on stage. Says lots of things about how exciting the amusement park is, how we have to stay for the fireworks later, and of course how you can’t take pictures, video, or cellphone photos. No mention at all of tape recording? Odd. And then she calls out Sonim, and sweet Sonim indeed makes her big entrance.

Sonim mentions how hot it is today, but that she’s about to turn up the heat even more. We fans in the crowd give out a big cheer, and she breaks out into Curry Rice no Onna. No strap mishap this time, and when she finishes, she tosses two guitar picks out into the crowd. Damnit, just like two feet to the left and it would have sailed right into my hands. Grr. She talks about how she (either five years ago, or for five years) lived in Kobe for a while, and asked if it was okay if she broke out some Kansai-ben. Crowd goes crazy, and she indeed goes full “na” and all. She gets some big laughs, and Sonim says that maybe she sounds too strange speaking Kansai-ben. Of course, it was just because we were all surprised to hear her speaking it, not because we thought she sounded weird. She sounded good speaking it, in fact. Screw Tokyo, she needs to be an Osaka girl damnit.

Next up is Natsu ga Konai I believe. To be honest, it could have been Tokyo Midnight Loneliness next, but my best memory says that it was Natsu. She spoke more (can’t remember the exact topic), then TML was up. Finally, her guitar comes back out, which can of course only mean one thing—the song, out of all others, that I wanted to hear her play live. She says the next song is more a cold-weather song, but here it comes—Tsugaru Kaikyou no Onna. I am, without question, in utter bliss.

…and the people around me are taking her stinking picture! What is up with this?! People are just raising up their cellphones, taking shots, and nobody says anything. Before the concert started, the girl next to me was told she couldn’t do as such. But here she is, taking a shot during the concert, and the staff are just looking on and not doing anything. Getting a bit braver, she takes out a full-fledged camera, and gets a shot with no hassle at all.

Why of all days did I forget my damned camera!?! I am in the position to have the absolute perfect Sonim picture, and I forgot my stupid camera. And if I had a decent mic, I could even be getting an awesome live-MD made out of this event. My incompetence at times utterly baffles me.

The concert is over, and MC lady comes out again. Sonim mentions being on Ayu Ready that night. (She is? Why didn’t her website say so?) They then get to talking about Sonim working out, and one of the three big Sonim fans sitting in front of me asks Sonim to show off her arms. She gets a bit embarrassed, but then starts taking her jacket off while the MC girl is saying how lucky we are to be getting such fanservice. Sonim finally gets the jacket off, and flexes her right arm for us, which gets a cheer.

They chat for a while, and then MC lady says that Sonim has a special gift for three fans. Huh? What’s up with this? We are then told that we’ll play a huge game of Janken, and the three final winners get signatures from Sonim. Blaaa! So we all stand up, raise our right hands, and I decided to follow the advice of my ex-roommate: always go with choki (scissors). Sonim picks—scissors as well. And here is where Mollie gets screwed: I didn’t technically lose, but as I didn’t actually beat her, I must go back to sitting down with all of the losers. Man, screw that. The game keeps on being played until finally three winners are left.

One of the winners is one of the three guys in front of me, and you can tell how happy he is to be up there meeting Sonim and getting her signature. The second, as well, was an obvious fan. Then we get to the third guy, though, and the part I thought was total bull. Now, of course, I would have loved to have won. But if I couldn’t, then someone who is a real Sonim fan deserved to win. This third guy had to have been there just for the free concert, as he obviously didn’t care that he was getting her signature. When asked where he was going to put her signature in his house, he just kind of shrugged and said he didn’t know, and when done, he didn’t even attempt to shake her hand until he was directed to. Of course, since it was all just chance, the chance of someone who wasn’t a Sonim fan winning was obviously there. But it was still crappy that it happened.