Welcoming SDN48 members at Changi Airport (Vol.12)

Have been preparing and working on my Yukarin fan board (photo above) while rushing my revisions for my upcoming examinations. Not very easy, seriously. Especially when it's going to be the last ever wave of examinations before I graduate from Polytechnic, while I am having mixed emotions about the coming concert (later today) as this would be SDN48's Last Stage in Singapore before their mass graduation (disbandment) at the end of next month. I actually wanted to also design one more T-shirt for Yukarin but didn't have the time and the spare cash, unfortunately.

The two collage on the board is made up of 200 photos of Yukarin from magazines, photo books, her blog, etc that were taken from my archive. Almost all of the parts on my board are attached by temporary methods so that they can be easily detached and kept, and the board can be rolled up, so as to be more portable - due to it being very big and would be hard to carry.
(Each of the collage is about A4, so you can gauge the size of the board from there)

Managed to complete the board while at a friend's house, a fellow fan of SDN48, and construct the letter that is to be given to Yukarin in English first before heading to the airport by cab yesterday. Wrote out the letter in proper paper in English and Japanese while waiting at the airport, with help on Japanese from a good old friend, who is also a fellow fan.

The letter is then sealed in an envelope which is attached to a small foam board, on which a rose and a lion plushie are attached.

This small board is attached to my big board (at the top of this post) using three small hooks so that I can easily detach and give it to Yukarin.

When the SDN48 member came out of the check-point and were heading to the luggage belts, initially it was really hard to identify who is who as they were wearing masks and there were three who looks like Yukarin. Luckily one of them looked directly at my very-obvious-board and pointed while appearing to be very happy. Was very sure that's my Yukarin ♥
Oh, and I forgot to mention, I was wearing the custom made Yukarin T-shirt I gave her the previous time she came.

When I gave her the small board, she was so happy while thanking me. Had a lot to say to her but well, as usual, I was stuck. Only managed to say 'コンサート頑張って!' ('All the best to the concert!') in the end with her replying '頑張ります!' ('I will do my best!'). Other than that I was just following her all the way to the van. Why am I always so nervous?? TAT

Well, somewhat mission accomplished. Shall have a good rest now and prepare for my first examination tomorrow... no no, later today! Followed by concert afterwards.

Sending off AKB48 members at Changi Airport (Vol. 11)

Ever since the announcement of Yonechan and Nacchan leaving AKB48, I have been thinking whether Yonechan is still in Singapore, and have been watching the concert backstage, or had she flown back to Japan first.

Camped overnight at Changi Airport to send the AKB48 members off in the morning. This time I decided not to hang any photos on my neck as to prevent the blunder I made during the handshake session yesterday to happen again.

Did not really notice Yonechan the whole time and thought she left early until we watched the video clips fellow fans and I took. Although she is not one of my top favourites but I feel that I would be missing her and I hope she would be back soon.

And before I forget, I have to say that when the members enter the airport, Amina walks in 'like a boss'!! So cool yo. XD

Welcoming AKB48 members at Changi Airport (Vol.11)

Went down to the airport today after school to welcome the AKB48 members arriving for the concert tomorrow. The member list this time doesn't have my top favourite members in it thus did not make any board or prepare any gift. Took videos of their arrival with my phone though.

Would be at a NTU admissions talk so I not sure if I can make it in time for the concert tomorrow. Hmm... =[

Sending off Riichan at Changi Airport

One might ask, 'Riichan? How about the other NMB48 members?'. Well, partly due to my careless mind and partly I wasn't able to camp over night at the airport as I have a test today.

I did took the first train this time but I was given bad news from fellow fans that the NMB48 members have left. They said that when they came over to Changi Airport Terminal 2 at around after 12am, there was a Japanese fan there who told them about half of the NMB48 members, including Sayanee, have already entered the check-point. And that the very moment that I arrived at Terminal 2, slightly before 7am, the remaining NMB48 members, probably including Maachun, are already entering the check-point at Terminal 3. They were simply waiting for a miracle to happen, what ever miracle it can be, thus waiting at Terminal 2 till now. I decided to wait too since it would be still too early if i go to school now and I also feel like trying my luck.

Amazingly, a miracle did happen! Riichan appeared! I was really surprised as I didn't expect any NMB48 members left behind as there's already two batches of flights (1am+ flight and 7am+ flight, which I missed). She was so called totally the miracle to us who missed the first two batches and we greeted Riichan warmly while sending her off. She looked really tired and did not really interact with us much. Understandable though, since they are only able to sleep a little after the tiring concert.

It was slowly did I realize Sayanee and the other NMB48 members are attending school today, thus need to return to Japan as soon as possible after the concert. Should have realized this earlier. It won't change anything actually though since I can't camp over-night. It must be really hard on the NMB48 members. Hope they are okay! (> <) 頑張って!!

My post on the NMB48 concert yesterday here.

Sending off AKB48 members at Changi Airport (Vol. 9)

Unlike at yesterday's concert, today I brought my Maria fan board along to the airport to send Maria and the other AKB48 members off. Another fellow fan was also supporting Maria at the airport.

Changed the words from 'Congratulations...' to 'Happy Birthday...'

However, to our disappointment, not exactly disappointed actually, Maria obviously is shunning us when she enter the Departure Hall, all the way to behind the glass doors! D=
After some recalling I realized she must be shunning us as she don't us to see her face! The members do not put on make up when they are leaving Singapore as due to the standard flight timings, they usually don't have time to do so.
The previous time Maria came, she did not wear mask and her face can be seen when leaving. Her eye bags were really bad then. Maybe due to this, she shy away from us fans this time?
Well, at first was kind of puzzled but over time find it kind of moe~ =w=

Anyways, time for school soon! Can't wait for NMB48 concert next month. My oshimen (favourite), Sayanee (Yamamoto Sayaka) would be coming!!

Sending off SDN48 members at Changi Airport

Woke up early today to catch the first train (caught the second train instead) from my place to Changi Airport. Still wasn't able to come up with a gift to give Yukarin as a souvenir yet so decided to take a look in the 7-Eleven at Changi Airport Terminal 2 Departure Hall. Didn't find anything that is really good to give her as a souvenir so I went ahead with this Merlion.

SDN48 members entering the Departure Hall

Didn't realize I went so close the member next to Yukarin until I saw this photo that my friend took for me. Wanted to pass Yukarin the Merlion. =X
(Yukarin is wearing a cap)

Hope Yukarin likes the gifts I gave her and I hope to see her again. Missing her already. T_T

Post on the SDN48 2nd stage in Singapore here.

Welcoming SDN48 members at Changi Airport

How been anticipating for this for quite some time already. One of my oshi (favourite member from the '48' groups) is coming to Singapore! It would be SDN48's second stage later today and my SDN48 oshi, Sato Yukari, is in the member list. Went down to Changi Airport to welcome the SDN48 members yesterday and most importantly, to give Yukarin the custom made tee that I designed.

I did successfully give the tee to Yukarin but the process of giving to her was rather... Ah well, quite sad.. but well, she got it in the end and know that it was from me, so it's still okay.

While they were still behind the glass doors, collecting their luggage, most of the fans that I know were not able to recognize who is who initially as almost every of the SDN48 members were wearing masks, which is actually not uncommon for Japanese. I managed to identify who is Yukarin after awhile and really hoped that I am right as I don't want to give the tee to the wrong person and create an awkward situation. =X (which actually did happen but in another way)

While they started to walk out, a fan girl was totally screaming out to Yukarin that when by the time she reached near the area of the barricade I am at, she did not notice me calling out to her and trying to give her the tee. Unexpectedly, the SDN48 member behind her thought that the tee was for her and took it while thanking me. I was stunned for a moment and I thought I have identified wrongly but when she looked at the tee, she said 'Yukarin?' then I realized I did identify correctly. I am so sorry to that member and I wasn't able to identify who is she so that I can apologize during the handshake event after the concert later today. Things did not really went out of plan though, she called out to Yukarin and passed her the tee while pointing out that it was from me. I tried to wave to Yukarin while showing the tee I am wearing (the exact same tee I made for her - the tee shown above). She spotted me and waved back while thanking me and say 'I love Singapore!'. Was damn happy and I shouted back 'I love Yukarin!!' <3 >w<

Yukarin holding on to the tee

Details of the concert here.

Sending off SKE48 Team KII members at Changi Airport

Took a very early train down to Changi Airport (around 6am+) and not long the van which the SKE48 members took arrived. Can say unluckily before they entered the glass doors, one of my magazine dropped out from my file and as I tried to slot it back in, Shiorin had already walked past and reached the check-in counter.

I thus rushed over to the final glass door which leads to the gates to wait for them to come over.
This time, when Team KII started to enter the glass door, I walked towards Shiorin and called out to her while showing her my 'board'. She waved back at me as usual with the very happy face. >w< which also made me very happy~XD

From about around 0:22, Shiorin can be seen waving to me! >w<
(Video taken by a friend of mine)

I bet I am going to miss Shiorin a lot after so much interaction between me and her! >w<

Yosh! Shall rest for awhile before I start working on my Sashihara Rino board for her visit tomorrow! (More information of Sasshi's special visit in my previous post here)

Welcoming SKE48 Team KII members at Changi Airport

According to the application on my iPod Touch I used to track flights, there would be two flights that would be touching down yesterday, one at after 5pm and another near midnight. Thought that it most probably would be the 5pm one and went down to the airport without checking the Team KII members' blogs beforehand, only to realize there are no barriers set up at the arrival hall and the Team KII members just blogged that they are preparing to set off soon. Which means, they would be reaching Singapore near midnight. Went back home for dinner before going down to the airport again at around after 11pm. Was rather concerned whether anyone did a board for Shiorin (Ogiso Shiori - 小木曽汐莉) as she is one of my favourites in SKE48 and I don't want her to arrive without a board that is supporting her. Used a A4 paper and some markers to make a last minute 'board' when I found out that no one did a board for her.

(Above photo added on the 4th September. The advanced birthday greeting was added in before the concert on the 4th)

I'm not sure if she saw my 'board' before exiting the gate but I am sure she saw it after exiting the gate and started walking towards the van waiting outside. She waved to me with such a happy face and even the way she wave shows that she was really happy! >w<

She spotted me while in the van and waved to me!! >w<

Only Churi (Takayanagi Akane - 高柳 明音) have not arrived to Singapore as she was busy and unable to take the same flight as the rest of the team. She would arrive most probably today evening. I missed the last train home and didn't really bother to check on the last bus so I camped overnight at Terminal 2's McDonald's yesterday.

Welcoming AKB48 members at Changi Airport

Have been pondering very long whether to make the Abe Maria board as I am very sure she would remember the Paruru board (with awesome load of 'stalker' photos) that I made last time when she arrive with Paruru and Miyumiyu for the Official Cafe launch. However, I can still remember that time no one did a Maria board and most of the support and love from the fans went to Paruru and Miyumiyu. She looks kind of sad that time and walked real fast. She already reached the van outside when Paruru and Miyumiyu are still walking slowly together, with a massive amount of fans following. Maria only had a couple of fans following her that time if I remember correctly.

After the Vol. 4 concert, I find her not bad and started following her, and starting to like her. =p Decided to make a board for her partly due to my my slowly growing interest for her and partly fearing that history happened again and that there's no board to support her. I want her to be happy when arriving in Singapore =[

After all the pondering and stuff, I only had two hours to plan & design, scavenge for materials, and make the board out itself. Wrote a small message which means 'Congratulations on promotion to Team 4!'

with a photo of her slot in in the custom-made-photo-holder I fitted on the board...

and with LEDs turned on!

Some not that good photos I took while fanboying at the airport:

ahh... Maria... the photo is blurred! I can't see Maria clearly!! >_<

Maria's back...

Ah... Objective accomplished! She looks so much happier this time! =D

Didn't go down to *Scape after that, where the AKB48 members would be having their private event - meal in the cafe, followed by going down to the warehouse, to familiarize with the concert stage I guess. Had to tidy my room plus I would be having an exam on Monday. Have to study... eh wait, why aren't I studying now... o_o Shall start studying soon!

Got this photo from a friend at the airport...

Rikako's Senbatsu Elections poster photo

And before I headed down to the airport, I grabbed my letter from the mail box and opened it while at the airport, and I got this! ^^

Yuko and Mayuyu 7-11 exclusive photo
Won it as part of my 'happy bidding' on eBay =p

Before I go to revise on my exam, I would like to post the little, but rather long and interesting history of my board, or rather, the scrapbook I used to make my board.

Welcoming SKE48 members & Cafe Private Event

Managed to rush my board half way done but still rather presentable. As my printer at home ran out of ink, I printed the pictures of all the SKE48 members that would be performing (refer to my previous post for the member list) in school yesterday. The school printer have not had a maintenance for some time already I guess, there were some minor color distortions at certain areas and there were blue dots here and there at certain areas. They are not very too obvious though luckily.

I stapled black paper on a wooden-framed cork-board, and pasted the photos onto the black paper. This way I can actually not only no need to worry too much of the board being badly damaged by bumping here and there while traveling as wood is stronger than those paper boards, cardboard or corrugated boards, I can also reduce waste if I reuse the cork-board by simply taking down the black paper pasted with photos and staple up a new layer of black paper!

Positioned and not pasted yet. Some of the photos are repositioned later on and the gray cardboard actually only act like a template as to where I would be placing the 'SKE48' sign and how big it would be.

Went to school today morning, and I did not bring my board along as I intended to go home after school to get it and go down to Changi Airport late in the night to camp over night. Initially, it was assumed that the SKE48 members would arrive on Wednesday morning so I did not expect the sudden news that they would be touching down after 5pm today. The announcement of a private event by AKB48 Singapore on their Facebook page was one of the tip-off.

Rushed back home (yes, I ran out of the classroom when my 'Power Distribution & Electric Servies' Tutorial ended, even though I still have 'Distributed Generation & Grid Interfacing' Tutorial which would start soon) to get the board and as I have not even started on the LEDs and there is not enough time already, I pasted a black piece of paper over the gray cardboard and along with it and the board, I grabbed double-sided tape (the foam type), some stationery, and a gold paint marker. On the way to the airport, I wrote 'SKE48' and drew a few hearts on the black-paper-covered-cardboard. I pasted it on the board in the place of where the LED panel should have been.

Most of the people, in fact I think almost all of the fans thought that only three of the members would arrive first for the special visit at the official cafe and the remaining would arrive tomorrow morning. To our surprise, all of them came in one shot.

Did not have much photos and the shots are of real poor quality as I was mainly waving to the SKE48 members, waving my board and calling out to them

Went down to *Scape straight after that to attempt to catch them there before the private event. Met with some friends just outside the cafe and I decided to start with my LED panel while waiting for the members to arrive. Surprise surprise, they were already in the cafe for some time while we were pre-occupied outside. o_o I guess they entered the cafe through the cafe back door again.

After some random waving of my board, and finished with positioning the LEDs on a black-painted foam board (spray-painted it on Monday), I decided to go home before the private event end and I was caught in a epic situation. I went to the toilet before going home, which is located just outside the *Scape Warehouse - the venue of the stage for the concert - and the moment I came out, the girls just came down and were starting to enter the warehouse. Can say in other words almost walking towards my direction right in front of me and past me at very close range!

As usual, as an airhead, I got stunned and went blank for a moment, managed to wave and call out to Haruka when I saw her. Sadly only a few waved back and Haruka did not turn her head to even look at me! T_T Can't blame her though, she was busy talking to other members. I wonder if I shouted loud enough as I was still in a stun state. The best thing is, I DID NOT TAKE OUT MY CAMERA!! T_T OMG...

Camp Overnight at Airport & AKB48 Official Cafe launch

It was a really incredible experience for me from yesterday to today. At around late night yesterday, I went down to Changi Airport in hope that I can catch Paruru (Shimazaki Haruka) if she were to arrive in the morning. Have been worrying who would be gracing the cafe launch this afternoon as it was not announced on AKB48 Singapore's Facebook, nor the official site.

(Usually there are two flights from ANA each day to Changi Airport Terminal 2. One at around 5am plus while the other at around 5 - 6pm. The girls from AKB48, according to the pattern, takes ANA from Narita or Haneda International airport. They may take Singapore Airlines, if they were delayed by some reasons and were unable to catch the ANA flight. So normally, when there's an event in the afternoon, the girls would arrive at around end of 5am, if not delayed, and for the concert, they would arrive in the evening on the day before.)

Intended to study but in the end... It's not easy to concentrate there plus when I am supposed to be sleeping. Spent most of the time talking. =X

Initially they were to land at 5:55am on the NH151...

My board for ぱるる (Paruru) ^^

Some final touches

...The girls seemed to missed the ANA flight thus arrived later (6:30am) on the SQ633

They are fnally here! Takeuchi Miyu, Shimazaki Haruka, Maria Abe accordingly.

Paruru is so cute! Her fist have been on her lips for quite some time already while still behind the glass doors. Maybe shocked? surprised? =D

Ah! She spotted me! (camera angle different as this photo is taken by my friend, Vannyssa) She looks happy ^^

Paruru: -waves-

Me: -waves back- >//<

Coming out...

...and walking towards...

...towards...

...me! She walked towards me the moment she came out of the Arrival Hall glass door!! (again, as the photo is taken by my friend, the angle different. My camera was out of luck, so no photos for me at the airport ToT she was so close to me, thanked me for the board, gave a high-five and waved to me yet I wasn't able to take a single photo!! TAT)

 She's such a cutie! >//< So much cuter in person!

 Miyu is a real cutie too, but I am more of a fan of Paruru ^^"

 taking photo~ (according to the direction, seems to be my board! =D)

 She looks happy! ^^ I am happy too!

Me: -waves board and goes closer-
Paruru: -spotted me saying hi, while waving the board and taking photo with my phone-

Taking photo of each other o(>w<)o

Me and my friend's boards

Went home for a short while before heading down to *Scape for the Official Cafe opening (Recently blogged about the official cafe opening here). There was already quite a handful of people queuing outside *Scape when I reached at around 10am. Somehow they still have the last queue number of the unofficial queue numbers for the sales of photo sets and my friend gave it to me. Kind of surprise to me as I thought I would confirm miss it since I did not queue early and there are already many people in queue. I did not want to get the photo set anyways, as for the last queue number the most probable set left would be Team K. I am not aiming for Team K as I have more favourites in Team A.So I decided to help someone buy a Team K after I bought what I want from the shop, the 見逃した 君たちへ」～AKB48グループ全公演～(Minogashita Kimitachi e, AKB48 Group Zenkouen - For you who missed it, AKB48 Group Complete Performance), which would include a photo. Received Love-tan (Ota Aika), which I used to trade over a Akicha photo from the AKB48 Singapore May photo set.

The AKB48 Singapore Official Cafe at *Scape Level 3

Promoting the AKB48 Ice Cream Set, which really did work. I went to get it when I entered =X

This one should be Maria's autograph...

erm... whose? Doesn't look like Paruru's...

This should be Miyu's

The menu! Was stunned when I first see the prices! (The AKB48 circular sticker seems to be blocking something...)

Member photos according to their teams...

There were also photos around to cafe to add on to the atmosphere

Blocked words revealed. 'Prices are subjected to 10% service charge and prevailing taxes'

-claps claps claps-

AKB48 Ice Cream Set - Tea break menu
Frankly speaking... it tastes great!! Pricing wise similar to Swensen's, taste is also on par too... I would it's totally worth it! Considering that in addition there's the AKB48 atmosphere in here with PVs playing on big screens... Great experience! Would love to pop by again, if wallet allows XD

There was a lucky draw as an opening special... but well, no luck. Did not win =[

I think I forgot to mention. They do provide free lime water! (but of course you wouldn't go in just for the water hahax! XD)

It was a totally great experience for me from yesterday night and the whole of today I would say! ^^