Post pilgrimage part 1 - Tokushima park, Idol concert, Kouraku park

Well pilgrimage might have stopped bit sooner than expected but that didn't mean I was going to just sit rest of my trip so time to think up something to do. First up I decided to return to Tokushima to see the park and awaodori performance as a minimum plus work out what to do next.

However waking up on friday things got scary start as I had serious stomach issue forcing me periodically go to the toilet. Frankly felt worried if I would make it safely to Tokushima but hotel was already booked up so...After repeated toilet trips(urgh) felt safe enough and left. First toward Kochi and from there to Tokushima.

Well it did work out eventually and toward the evening stomach was feeling bit more steady anyway. Maybe something I had ate recently(not in last lodging as that was no food provided).

Nice Shikoku themed piece. Temple kates, awaodori dancers.

Gazing along from train window feeling bit sad that the walk was over 6 days before planned.

Arriving to Tokushima and having bit time before check in I visited couple book stores to get myself something to read if I end up locked in hotel room.

But approaching 5PM was feeling bit better so went for a light stroll in the central park. Had seen it first time 2 years ago and was interested to see how it looks in spring. Alas time(close to closure time) and stomach worries prevented again going to castle(last time time as I had awa odori festival to watch). Had originally planned to do this stroll on pilgrimage's 5th day but took the mountain route instead as on 2nd thought this would have been too long detour(as fun as it would have been walking in the heart of Tokushima in pilgrim clothing).

Hello Mr. Duck. Or is that Mrs Duck? Miss Duck?

The park was mostly quiet and empty except for bunch of teenagers doing running practices. School kids in school's sports club?

Beautiful spring day.

The big building behind is the hotel I was stayng at.

That's one contend looking cat!

Remembered this bridge quite well.

For comparison shot from my 2015 summer trip.

What kind of a bird that is?

Some old samurai leader?

Think this was first train in Tokushima. Or at least replica of it.

After park tour and with stomach feeling like usual went for dinner at the same place I had been on both times in Tokushima this trip. Next to the hotel so easy to go and good tasty food!

Eventually back to hotel and to read. Then it occurred to me that now that I'm free to travel wider without any specific plans do any of hello project idol groups perform in next few days nearby? As I'll be activating the JR pass anyway going to venue is virtually free. Quick check on home page revealed that one of the newer groups Kobushi Factory that I had seen only as part of combined hello project concert 2 years ago was performing next day on Hiroshima.

Train schedules worked out but of course ticket was not sure but on the morning quick phone call revealed they still had tickets on sale so after quick drop to travel office to start up JR pass I was on my way.

Bit of sudden turn of events but not that I had had any specific plans so good time to wing it.

Had visited Hiroshima first time 4 years ago but not that it really helped much as location was way elsewhere. Luckily had plenty of time to figure where to go as the tram station I needed was bit trickier to find. And venue building was even harder as it was on 10th floor of some building. Luckily there weren't that many buildings that looked like it would have 10 floors so eventually found right one. Securing myself ticket I then looked at what else building has to offer. Tower records! Well this was unexpected but since my favourite band Kalafina had just released new single figured might just as well get it here and save time for having to go to tower records in Tokyo.

Into the world.

As an added bonus while heading to the cashier I spotted "Kimi no na wa" novel! That's the novel I had asked for in book store yesterday but with no luck. Well obviously bought that too.

Still had some time to kill so time for light lunch before concert where I not unsurprisingly was literally last to enter the venue. This being club rather than concert hall there were no seats etc so rather first in gets to select where stands. Pre bought tickets had obviously lower number(ie higher priority) than on the day bought tickets and even among those I was last one that had bought :D

Well on the flip side being live club means it's fairly small area so even from the back you get to see the performers very well. And I wasn't even furthest away as whole bunch of avid fans deliberately went to back to have room for mimicing dance routines that take up space.

One such routine being pretending to hit a baseball. Well one guy had poor aim as he(lightly) hit my shoulder with it :D Well I can take that much without issue and the fact he was also periodically shouting Hama-chan(nickname for Hamaura Ayano) didn't hurt either as that meant we both were fanning same girl!

I had been introduced first time to Hamaura 4 years ago on my first trip to Japan in my first concert trip when she was still(tad short of 13 years old) trainee and was doing backup dancing on couple songs + sang one song along with 2 other trainees. Her smile and general energetic performance had struct on my mind so when she became member of this new group there was never any doubt whom I were going to cheer for.

So frankly this show was one Hamaura show for me except for the two songs out of three that had only couple members each performing.

Before concert started proper there's always some introductionary notes(don't eat, don't take photos, videos etc). Usually it's some voice over staff member but once in a while like this one of the girls themself do this. Wonder if this is recorded or did they do that on live? Based on how she seemed to be reacting to audience's responses I wouldn't be surprised if it was live. Which brings up question about one part whether that was preplanned or not. It was part about not raising any sign plates after which the girl lowered her voice and more like whisper said "nani kore"(what's that?") barely audible to us. Pre meditated or not that got good laughter out of the crowd.

Concert started with Osu! Kobushi Tamashii which is from single about a year ago.

Embarrassed to say but don't have good recollection of first set of clothing girls had except member colours(pink in case of Hamaura) were heavily involved. They had couple songs with those until came trio of songs where only part of group performed(first 3, then 2 and then 3 including Hamaura) cover songs mostly from Berryz Kobo(another idol group, the one that I ran first into, that stopped activity about 2 years ago). 

Bacchikoi Seishun! From single last summer.

Zukyun LOVE(Minimom cover). Hadn't heard this one.

Mythology ~Ai no Album. Berryz Kobo song. Hamaura was doing this one.

Sekai de Ichiban Taisetsu na Hito (Another Berryz cover)

Yami ni Nukegake(back to non-covers) though think this is fairly recent. Actually I'm not 100% sure WAS this during concert I attended or later.

From last encore song onward group came with new set of clothes that I dubbed "sweden clothes" as it was heavily blue and yellow coloured with some cyan dubbed in. Waist revealing set but exact cut and type varied per member(Hamaura for example had top and bottom be connected at the back for example). Most had simple hair ornaments but Natsumi Taguchi(who would be my 2nd favourite member) had actual hat to wear(something I have noticed her doing often).

MC aka conversation section. Theme being Tokyo vs Osaka. And part of it they split into 2 groups of respective cities and had to invent solution to problem(how to get up next morning for sleepy head). Tokyo group(Hamaura included) went into mental solution(basically willing yourself to sleep) while Osaka(Taguchi included) went for bit more practical solution of line of alarm clocks timed to go on one after other leading into the kitchen for your breakfast. That cracked up the audience.

Isogaba Maware. Song from their first album last autumn.

 Mijuku Hanjuku Torotoro. Another song from the album.

Nen ni wa Nen. Debut song of the group.

 GO TO THE TOP!! Yet another album song.

Zanshin. Ditto.

MC. Don't recall exact contents anymore though.

Then they announced to perform two songs suitable for season and I had suspicion which songs they might be. I was right. Amazuppai Haru ni Sakura Saku(In bittersweet spring cherry trees bloom) came first. Cover song of two idol groups Berryz Kobo and Cute that did this as collaboration single.

 Sakura Night Fever. Cherry tree night fever from last spring single.

 Kenmei Blues. Another album song.

Chotto Guchoku ni! Chototsumoushin. From previous single.

Ramen Daisuki Koizumi-san no Uta. Weird song about high school girl that loves ramen(type of food). Song from their first major single.

This is Unmei(Very old cover song from 2001 by small sub-unit from Hello Project)

Dosukoi! Kenkyo ni Daitan. Song from first major single.

Then it was time for encore. For the encore there was yet another cloth change with simple t-shirt and mini skirt.

Song was another cover of Berryz Kobo song called Yuujou Junjou oh Seishun.

All in all fun little performance. Was bit surprised they didn't perform Kobushi no Hana and surprisingly many cover songs from Berryz Kobo even though they now have enough own songs to do 100% original set list.

After concert there was then as a bonus handshake event. I was in one about 2.5 years which wasn't that good as it felt very rushed and the "handshake" was more like girls briefly touching tip of finger with their own finger tips(and wasn't btw just me as I noticed same thing for people ahead me so no "foreigner effect" there. Just it being done in very speedy fashion) so wasn't having much hopes but it was free deal with the ticket, wasn't in particular hurry and was curious would this time there be ANY reaction from the girls seeing foreigner there. Last time girls had kept same smile thorough but these are different ones and less experienced(albeit 2 years is still decent experience to have).

Before event began you could see the girls coming to their places and some even peeked in and greeted(one actually kept showing her face repeatedly) and peek behind curtains. Audience meanwhile prepared by putting all stuff into plastic bags and making damned sure they have nothing on their hands including watch. Staff are quite strict about this one(last time I had forgotten watch and was put aside from line until I had gotten it off) presumably to ensure there's no sharp corner girls could hurt themselves in even most unlikely scenario. Bag itself was carried by member of staff walking besides you while you were getting handshakes from the girls and hand it back when you got to the end.

And again getting to literally within touching distance structs just how TINY they feel :D Even though some are already 18(I think. Hamaura would be turning 16 in few weeks and she's on the younger half and pretty sure there were 2+ year older members) they all are so short(well japanese...) and being generally super thin just enchances the frail look.

Also I suspect lack of bones in waist/hip area MUST be requirement for being idol based on some dance moves they make. That or women just don't have bones there period!

And SUCCESS! While some didn't react noticably(including Hamaura) some of the girls had definite surprised reaction when they noticed me :D That amused me. All were still thanking me as they did to all(most in Japanese but 2 switched to english).

One does feel bit sorry for them though. Doing handshake and thanking like 200 times in short time after performance isn't probably as easy as it might sound.

After this it was time to wrap it up and head to Tokushima. Came to hotel and was quite exhausted as it had been a long day(and had woken up way too early. Still in Pilgrimage body clock mode it seems)

Also couple songs done by Hamaura only(part of musical group did where Hamaura was the lead).

All solo lines by her.

Fully by her.

The girl starting it is her.

Sunday. I had originally planned to check out today but with concert and having bought some books and meeting with person I have been talking with skype before and not wanting to carry all that luggage there I had paid for another night at the hotel thus saving trouble of carrying all my luggage to the meeting. So around 10AM I hopped to the train that would take me to Okayama, again. This train is becoming rather familiar :D I got to the station and after some confusion(my fault. I used term "gate" for what he calls "exit". He calls the ticket gates as gate :D Logical enough! Anyway eventually he spotted me(I had no idea of his looks. I meanwhile had provided him what I wore and had with me and being one of the rare foreigners made me easy to spot).

Walking around this HUGE shopping centre(funny note. He kept going how Okayama is really a small place. Yeah. Just 700,000 inhabitants. More than Finland's capital. I get good laugh at times of Japan's scale!) we ran into stand that sold this honey juice he bought me a bottle. Small bottle but taste was pretty good. Usually I'm not much into honey but this one it worked with.

We didn't have tons of time since he would be having self defence practice later but for 2 hours or so we talked and had lunch of ramen. Always interesting to talk with people face to face so getting this chance was nice. I wasn't sure if we would get chance to meet due to pilgrimage leaving tight schedule but since I had to quit that ahead time had now more than enough time to meet with people.

After he needed to head for his practice I decided to head to Korakuen park that is one of the top 3 ranked parks in Japan. Since it was like 1km walk from here felt like crime to not visit it especially on this beautiful sunny day :D Had went there first time 4 years ago but that was mid march with less greenery. Now there were still some cherry trees blooming though losing leaves quickly.

Pretty sure this statue represent Momotaro from old folk tale of of a boy that came into the world inside peach. Later he rescued his town from marauding ogres/daemons with help of animal friends he had made while heading to ogre/daemon camp. This story is very common around here I think so kinda makes sense for statue to be so visible!

But not only statue. Lots of those here in Okayama. More than in many other places I have been to in Japan.

Eventually though I arrived to the outskirt of the town. Park on the left side of that bridge, castle on the right side. Won't be going to the castle this time though. Doubtful it has changed since last time. Park has however with new season.

Was interesting to see the differences between 2 seasons. Or okay same season but more further gone.

Lot more people here than last time as well I think.

Beautiful.

Love the sight from this hill.

For comparison here's more or less same view from 2013 when I first time visited this place mid march over mid april now.

Panorama shot.

Turtles! Real ones. Not statue. Just look for video below if you don't believe.

Got to go over those stepping stones! Too tempting ;)

The Okayama castle. Nice castle.

Even birds were taking it easy in this beautiful spring day.

Alas my camera ran out of battery just as I got into the bird cage section which limited good photos I could take. Phone's zoom SUCKS. BTW those birds sure are used to humans. One staff member went into cage to clean things up and bird just glanced and then went back to own business not even looking at the staff member. Very tame.

And heading back toward the station.

Later on the evening at Tokushima I decided to head for a combined laundry/dinner trip.

First up into restaurant where I ordered up sashimi meal. With beer!

Also some tempura.

After this I started heading toward hotel but on route spotted another shop that said "Gyoza king". Well I'll be damned. I love gyoza and hadn't eaten them yet. Time for a second going!

Mmm.

Why this photo you might wonder? Well reason is actually quite simple. When I stumbled across this place I immediately remembered this place from two years ago when I saw here this:

On this exact spot I had been watching people doing the Awaodori dance performance. Hit with a very strong flashback moment. Hopefully I get a chance to see the performance tomorrow again.

After getting into hotel I booked up 2 nights from hotel in an Osaka. Curiously that hotel is using airbnb to get visitors from where I spotted it and had selected mostly by price and because it was close to Osaka station which I thought would be useful. How wrong that would be...