[Full] KAT-TUN FANMEETING 2014 - SHINSHUN KATSUMODE REPORT cr. Hyphenized@twitter ■vol.1■ Beautifully greeting visitors at the entrance to the venue was a huge golden balloon that had “KAT-TUN” written on it, as well as a giant photo of each member wearing hakama. In the vicinity, there were artworks that read “Shinshun Katsumode,” and multicolored New Year’s decorations. The atmosphere was filled with the celebratory spirit of New Year’s. Stepping inside, you were immediately thrown into the world of “Katsumode.” Before the start of the event you could enjoy “Katsumode” games and display items. On the second floor, which welcomed you with a lovely lion dance, there were some interactive booths for you to enjoy. There was the “Katsu Un Lucky Draw,” where winners received a photo of the members, a KAT-TUN version of the Daruma otoshi game called “Katsu Un Daruma Otoshi,” “Katsu Un Superball Scooping,” “Katsu Un Ring Toss,” and the “Katsu Un Shooting Gallery,” where hitting one of the members’ targets meant you lost. There was also the “KAT-TUN and -- Commemorative Photo Corner,” where you could take pictures with a life-sized cutout of KAT-TUN. And, as Taguchi and Nakamaru posted in the J-web group series, “KAT-TUN’S MANUAL,” and personal blog series, “NAKAMARU’S PAGE,” respectively, “Shinshun Katsumode” themed food was available too. It was lots of fun! Also, along the wall of the first floor of the venue, where the stage was located, a KAT-TUN photo gallery and merchandise were on display. The photo gallery was filled with valuable pictures, from when the members were children to the nostalgic era of KAT-TUN’s formation, all the way to the present. There were also displays containing the members’ hand and footprints and some rare, private items that you don’t get to see every day. There was another exhibit of successive tour goods from the “KAT-TUN Okyaku-sama wa Kami-sama - Concert 55 Mannin no Ai no Request ni Kotaete!!” up to the “COUNTDOWN LIVE 2013 KAT-TUN” that was held at the end of last year. In the costume corner, costumes as well as the set list from the incredibly recent “COUNTDOWN LIVE 2013 KAT-TUN” were on display. At the time of admission, ‘ema’ depicting a cute illustration of a horse were given to everyone attending the concert. On them, attendees could write messages to KAT-TUN. The venue was decorated with many of these votive pictures, which everyone had written on in great thoughtfulness. And so, after enjoying the games and displays, starting time came in a flash. Before the start of the event, the screen above the stage showed examples of the “COUNTDOWN LIVE 2013 KAT-TUN” concert rehearsals, the actual performance, and also footage of the members enjoying the booths and displays in “Katsumode” just earlier. What’s more, immediately before the start of the event, there was a live broadcast from the dressing room. From the dressing room the member could also see the seating area, so they were able to communicate with the audience through the screen. The members enjoyed this brief time very much. You could also see how the members played with the audience in this relaxed atmosphere. (LOL) Throughout this video exchange, the feeling of expectation in regards to the fan meeting grew stronger, until it was finally time for the curtain to rise. On the screen, accompanied by rock-like music that added to the anticipation even more, there was a one minute countdown. The moment that “0” appeared, the venue became completely dark, and you could hear the sound of wooden clappers so typical of New Year’s. Once the powerful sound stopped echoing through the venue, the lights came on with a flash, and the members appeared behind the audience seats. The members were split up, each wearing a manly black hakama. Seeing them, the audience immediately erupted into loud cheers. “Happy New Year, everyone!” The first to be heard was Kamenashi’s strong voice. Ueda followed with a self-introduction, “We are KAT-TUN, and this is our first fan meeting!” Taguchi was next, saying, “I respectfully offer you my warmest gratitude for having traveled so far to be here amidst the bustle of New Year’s!” He was followed by Nakamaru, who for some reason adopted the tone of voice of a referee (LOL). “So starting right now, here we are on the grounds of the Yokohama Arena~.” The audience spontaneously burst into laughter. Finally, Nakamaru changed his voice and declared the meeting to be open with a strong shout, “‘KAT-TUN FAN MEETING 2014 Shinshun Katsumode’ is starting!” And at that proclamation, KAT-TUN headed through the audience towards the stage while wrapped in a sea of cheers and shouting, “Happy New Year!” In the center of the stage, a barrel appeared. Would they ceremonially break open a cask of sake!? “Tatsuya Ueda has arrived on stage!” Ueda said cheerfully and continued in Nakamaru’s direction, “Well then, Nakamaru-san, won’t you give me a wooden mallet?” “Understood. The wooden mallet you dropped, was it this wooden mallet or that wooden mallet?” Nakamaru joked, to which Ueda replied with a grin, “Both of them!” And so the members each picked up a wooden mallet, and on Kamenashi’s signal, “Ready, and-!” they broke apart the sake barrel with gusto! Glittering paper snow came dancing out of the barrel for a brilliant opening! “Well, here it is, KAT-TUN’s Shinshun Katsumode. From here on we are going to do all sorts of things on stage, so enjoy yourselves, everybody!” (Nakamaru), “Please cheer us on!” (Taguchi) First, Nakamaru suggested, “Let’s hear from the members how enthusiastic they are about this event!” To Taguchi he continued, “Starting with a guy with good style!” But then Ueda begain to talk! (LOL) “Alright~,” Ueda said. His perfect timing caused a roar of laughter from the audience! Nakamaru and Kamenashi immediately started teasing Taguchi, with Kamenashi saying, “Did you see how freely Taguchi-kun laughed at that?” Taguchi had indeed shown his indulgence by laughing like “Hahahaha~!” in a high-pitched voice. (LOL) Seeing that, the members all teased him: “You are not trying at all when it comes to that!” (Kamenashi), “He was just born this way!” (Ueda), “That’s it! That’s it!” (Nakamaru) But Taguchi just said, “I really was looking forward to this. Everyone, thank you so much for coming today!” Looking around at the audience, he expressed his enthusiasm, “I would like for us to enjoy ourselves up until the very end and hold no regrets, so everyone, please give us your support today!” Next, “Well then, how about that handsome guy over there!” Nakamaru said to Kamenashi. Or so he thought, but again Ueda started to reply with an, “Alright~.” (LOL) Once more, laughter rose up from the audience at what almost seemed like a well-paced comedy sketch. “It is true that you’re a handsome guy, but...,” Nakamaru admitted with a wry grin but then addressed Kamenashi once more. “Panasonic Beauty, if you please!” Kamenashi responded with, “Hello, I am the Panasonic Beauty.” And he continued, “The curtain has risen on this year as well. So, what do you think I’ll talk about now? I’m not thinking anything at all!” He gave wide grin. “This is a troubling pattern. (LOL)” Nakamaru responded. But with a bright smile Kamenashi forcefully commented, “I hope 2014 will also turn out to be a wonderful year spent together with all of you. I hope you will support us this year as well!” And then it was finally Ueda’s turn. But, Nakamaru changed tactics from before and without hesitation introduced him with, “Ueda-kun, please make a comment!” Ueda looked unsatisfied with that. (LOL) And so, Nakamaru added the phrase, “Guy who looks good with swept back hair, please!” To this, Ueda answered in high spirits, “Well, everyone, it has begun! We are ready. But I want to hear how ready you are! Are you ready?” He initiated a call and response with the audience. “Let me hear you some more. Are you ready? Are you ready!” Urging on the audience, Ueda got a loud response. Ueda looked happy with that reaction and spontaneously shouted, causing Nakamaru to poke fun at him, “This isn’t a boxing match!” But Kamenashi grinned as he piped in to say, “In the red corner!” (LOL) KAT-TUN was flying forward in high spirits. Just by watching them you could tell how much they had been looking forward to this fan meeting. “We have never experienced an event like this before. But actually doing it has made me realize how much closer I feel to everyone compared to at a concert!” Nakamaru said with a smile. “In our future projects we’ll make sure to be very close. The key words are ‘very close’!” explained Nakamaru. “Do you understand? Then repeat after me! ‘very close’!” As if leading a class at school, he repeated the phrase with everyone. (LOL) It felt like the audience naturally unified under this kind of call and response, repeated numerous times. Kamenashi commented with a smile, “If you were a school teacher, you’d probably be delighted to have students who listen so closely to what you say!” ■vol.2■ “Well, now that we’re feeling closer, let’s go on to the next segment! It’s called ‘2014 New Year’s Good Luck Prayer,’ which is our declaration of success!” (Taguchi), “We decided this is what we wanted to work towards this year!” (Nakamaru). Banners with “勝運信念” boldly written with a brush rolled down. Kamenashi explained, “When you write our name, ‘KAT-TUN’ in Chinese characters, it becomes ‘勝運,’ as in the first 2 characters of our declaration. ‘勝運’ means good luck that will help us succeed in any situation. We want to have a strong ‘信念 (faith)’ in everything we do this year, and move forward with it. We also want to have faith in our fans, staff, and members. ‘信念’ has the same sound as ‘新年,’ which means ‘New Year.’ We wanted to link those 2 meanings together.” “We decided on ‘勝運信念’ as our new declaration so that KAT-TUN can start the new year afresh based on the new faith with us 4 members,” explained Kamenashi. Immediately after this, he said “Thank you so much. With that, we’d like to finish...” and tried to wrap up the segment. (LOL) Nakamaru corrected, “No, it’s not done yet!” The audience burst into laughter at their funny conversation again. Kamenashi said, “I feel like you are all relatives because we’ve spent New Year’s Day together!” as he looked around the audience. Ueda joked, “Everyone, please put your New Year’s gifts here!” as he spread his sleeves. As the members joked around, suddenly the sound of wooden clappers could be heard. “Woah woah! Aren’t we getting a bit carried away just because it’s New Year’s Day!? Well, let’s all join together and have a great time today. We all want to have fun with KAT-TUN, right!?” said the “voice from above”. The audience gave a loud cheer as though to say, “Of course!” The members replied with a smile, “We hear you! We hear you!”(Nakamaru) and “Alright!” (Kamenashi). As the excitement built, the “voice from above” announced the next segment: “Let’s all have a great time! It’s time for KAT-TUN’s New Year ‘borrowing race’!” In this game, KAT-TUN members split up into 2 groups, and compete in a “borrowing race.” They had to borrow things from the audience, which had also been divided up into teams. It was a team competition that required the teamwork of both KAT-TUN and the audience. They had to work together and take on the challenge in earnest. Ueda put his hands together and prayed to the heavens for victory, while Nakamaru stamped his feet like a sumo wrestler for some reason. Kamenashi and Taguchi started jumping up and down and stretching in preparation for the game. They all seemed as ready as ever. Taguchi said, “This is our 4th time doing this, but Ueda-kun hasn’t lost once! If he wins this time, he’ll have a perfect score!” It seemed that Ueda had been having a lucky streak since the first fan meeting on 1/2 (Thu). “In other words, I can win if I’m on the same team as Ueda!?” Nakamaru asked. They decided the teams by each member choosing a box with a sash in it from the table, and dividing into teams according to the sash color. They decided to choose in order of age, from oldest to youngest. Nakamaru was first. He sang, “Eeny meeny miney mo!” with a cute expression as he chose his box. Next up was Ueda, who said confidently, “Ohh, I can see it! It’s blue!” The next one up was supposed to be Taguchi (!?) but Kamenashi started to choose. (LOL) Taguchi joked, Wait a minute! I meant to say this before, but stop acting immature!” Despite this, Taguchi added, “(In our last concert) the box that Kame touched was the same color as Ue-pi, so I’ll take this one!” he said, seeming to have learnt from his experience (!?). Then, Kamenashi asked out of the blue, “You know, we’ve known each other for 13-14 years but you still don’t call me by a fixed name?” It seemed that it had been bothering Kamenashi that Taguchi still hadn’t decided what to call him. Taguchi responded with a smile, “Officially it’s ‘Kame’ and in private, it’s ‘Kazuya’.” Nakamaru joked, “Just choose one!” while Kamenashi showed a bit of a shy expression at the straight-forward answer. Once they all finished choosing their boxes, they opened them up after saying, “Ready!” in unison. Taguchi shouted ecstatically, “Yay! Awesome!” Apparently his prediction(!?) was right, and he had gotten the same color as Ueda. They teamed up to form the “passionate team” with their red sashes. Nakamaru and Kamenashi, with their blue sashes, formed the “brainy team.” Regarding the combination, Nakamaru said, “It’s the same as this afternoon!” Apparently they had been teamed up together for the first meeting as well. “We were a tie” (Nakamaru), “We got to the sudden-death play-off, but lost at that point. So if we have everyones support, we can win it!” (Kamenashi) explained the “brainy team.” It looked like it was going to be a close match again this time. The time limit was 8 minutes. The object of the game was to get more borrowed items than the other team. By pushing the red or blue button on the stage, the screen displayed the items they needed to borrow, and the perimeters of where they could borrow from. Only 1 member from each team could go fetching the item at a time. It was rotating basis so the other member had to wait on stage. In addition, the last 3 minutes was a shuffle-time, where they press the opponent team’s button and borrow from the opponent team’s audience. The score they would get would be double, but because it was the opponent’s team, the key was whether the audience would cooperate or not. In the end, it was up to the audience’s bargain which team would win. There was an embarrassing penalty game awaiting the loser. Kamenashi warned Ueda and Taguchi, “You’ll be sorry if you hurt my girls!” Taguchi looked out at the “brainy team’s” audience, saying sweet lines like “There’s so many beautiful ladies! I can’t wait for 5 minutes to pass!” in response to Kamenashi’s threat. “I really don’t want to do the penalty game, so I need to win this!” said Nakamaru, making an appeal to the audience of “passionate team” saying, “Everyone, if I come to you, please cooperate with me without hesitation!” There was a scream-like cheer from the audience when Ueda tempted, “Come and have a fling with me while Kame is away!” “Let’s play fair, everyone!” smiled Taguchi, but Kamenashi warned, “If you are mean to me...you’ll be really sorry!!” “If you give me something fake, I’ll seriously bite you!” (Ueda) They were not giving the audience any mercy, and seemed to be getting quite serious about the game. (LOL) Prior to commencement, each team gave a message. First was the “passionate team.” Ueda reminded Taguchi, “Don’t you dare think that it’ll be funny if we lose or anything like that! (You were saying) before in the waiting room, ‘If I’m on the same team as Ue-pi, I won’t make an effort to win’!” Taguchi smiled bitterly at this warning, but said with determination, “It’s our last game, so we’ll do our best until we run out of oxygen! Please give us your support so we can win!” Ueda said enthusiastically, “It’s our last day so I’m going to go barefoot! Let’s do this! Let’s do this! Let’s do this!” with overflowing enthusiasm. “Everyone, let’s get ready to do this! Don’t think!”(Ueda) “Just use passion!”(Taguchi) they joined together to call out to the audience! In response to this, Kamenashi said, “Let’s ignore them!” as the “brainy team” maintained a cool expression. (LOL) Kamenashi addressed to the audience, “Blue (Ao) is my lucky color!”, referring to his character name, Ao Hotta, in the drama “東京バンドワゴン (Tokyo Bandwagon).” “We’d like to do our best with all of you, so we hope you will support us. I will give you an equation, so please answer it in a loud voice. Here we go! 1+1 is?” he asked in “brainy team” fashion, and the crowd loudly responded, “2!” Nakamaru continued, “I am Aonuma. I was actually in a drama series,” transforming (!?) into his role in the drama he starred in, “変身インタビュアーの憂鬱 (Henshin Interviewer no Yuutsu).” He said, “We definitely want to win today, so please work with us!” but then he lost his way telling the story, saying, “It’s hard to pretend to be Aonuma because he doesn’t really have a characteristic way of speaking. It’s not that different to my normal way of speaking!” (LOL) The “passionate team” looked on, saying “Although you played him for 3 months...” (Ueda) “We can win this! I’m sure!” (Taguchi) but Nakamaru fought back with a brainy comment, “The likelihood of us winning is 120%!” In response, the “passionate team” went into over-drive (LOL) shouting, “We don’t have time to think with our heads!” (Ueda), “Everyone, feel with your heart!” (Taguchi), “1+1 is 3!!!” (Ueda), “Yay!” (Taguchi). Kamenashi coolly responded, “Come on, 1+1 is definitely 2 (LOL)” in line with his brainy image. Who will win this battle!? ■vol.3■ At last, scavenger hunt began. Both teams quickly began running around the audience seats, raising their voices and borrowing items. There were some difficult items to borrow such as “ketchup” and “mayonnaise,” but these were somehow cleared. The members called out to each other, “Left! Left!” (Kamenashi), “Ok!” (Nakamaru), “Hurry!” (Ueda), “This hakama is heavy~” (Taguchi), showing good teamwork and going all out in a serious battle! Everyone in the audience responded to the members’ voices, and if they had something to lend they’d raise it up so the members could see it and call them over, and uniting forces, each team worked as one. The members dashed at full speed and were soon out of breath as they put forth strenuous effort in this furious battle. When the end was signaled, breathing faintly, KAT-TUN gathered on stage. They were in such a state they could barely speak. Ueda was covered in sweat, to the point where he unconsciously borrowed Taguchi’s towel. When Taguchi called him out for this, asking “Isn’t that my towel?” Ueda reflexively flashed a bitter smile, completely exhausted. Nakamaru explained, gasping for breath, “This is a good thing and bad thing about KAT-TUN but when we have game segments, we do them seriously...” The members added, “It’s because everyone went all out lending us their stuff!” (Taguchi), “You gotta answer all-out effort with all-out effort!” (Ueda), communicating their feelings of gratitude to the audience. Then, with the heat reaching extreme levels, Nakamaru realized that the audience was holding fans, and he called out, “Let’s have the fans fan us!” Responding to this request, everyone flapped their fans in the air, and reached Kamenashi, Taguchi and Ueda, with Taguchi shouting, “It’s come! It’s come! The wind has come!” The members took in the comfortable breeze as they took a short break. In response to the audience’s kind gesture, Nakamaru exclaimed, “I’ve recovered!” as KAT-TUN seemed to regain their energy. Immediately, they began examining whether the items they’d borrowed matched or not. “This time is going to be good!” Nakamaru declared with confidence. Ueda, on the other hand, expressed with worry, “We might have failed this time...” again borrowing Taguchi’s towel to wipe off his sweat as he spoke. Reacting spontaneously, Taguchi again called him out, “I’m telling you, isn’t that mine!?” (LOL) The audience reacted with heartfelt laughter to this comedy routine-like dialogue. There were various tactics to be seen, and some furious scenes as well, but after the borrowed items examination ended, the results were finally to be announced! Would Ueda be able to protect his invincible streak! A voice from the heavens announced... Passion Team, “15 points,” Brains Team, “13 points” as the result. In other words, Taguchi and Ueda’s Passion Team had won!! Ueda and Taguchi embraced and were overjoyed! The two members of the Passion Team seemed truly happy. “This is what it means to win with your helmet strap fixed tight, huh. I’m happy I was able to win in the very end. I was with Uepi in today’s first stage too, and really, Ueda-kun is amazing. Everyone, thank you!” Taguchi called out. Ueda added, “Everyone, thank you very much. I think we were able to win thanks to all of you. (The reason we won was) the fans did their very best to help us win, and I think that’s all there is to it. Thank you very much!” he concluded with a smile running across his face. To finish up, Taguchi shouted, “Passion is awesome!!” and the two members struck a victory pose! On the other side, the Brains Team made of Kamenashi and Nakamaru dropped their shoulders in astonishment. Watching the Passion Team, Nakamaru commented, “What are you guys getting riled up about?” Kamenashi added, “It’s a game, a game. Things worked out well. This way, it turned into an interesting game.” Nakamaru then concluded bitterly, “With this kind of game, depending on how the losers lose, the winners stand out more. This time, our loss was beautiful!” (LOL) For the Brains Team, it was confirmed they would have to reenact that embarrassing scene as punishment. Nakamaru repeatedly imitated soccer players hoping to avoid the punishment, but Kamenashi and Nakamaru ended up reenacting the fresh comments that were published in idol magazines back in the day with all their might. After this, the members changed into casual outfits, and moved on to the request performance segment. As Kamenashi and Nakamaru changed, Ueda and Taguchi talked on stage. However, concerning having a two person talk with the joke-happy Taguchi, Ueda confided, “My punishment starts now (LOL),” throwing out a joke of his own. As for Ueda, the day after “Katsumode,” he was to have a rehearsal for “冬眠する熊に添い寝してごらん (Tomin Suru Kuma ni Soine Shite Goran),” and he commented, “When this ends, I have to change my focus to the play, and I’m going to do my best even if it kills me! It takes that much energy for the play, and when I’m done, I’ll be sweating as heavily as when I was done with the scavenger hunt. It’s going to be an energetic performance, so I hope you look forward to it!” he concluded, smiling. When Kamenashi and Nakamaru got on stage as well, Taguchi declared, “Let’s move on to the next segment! New Year’s request performance!” Before the start of the show, the audience members had been asked to fill in request cards, and the three songs written down the most were to be performed. But before this, KAT-TUN answered some questions that had been pooled at the same time. In a casual talk session, they answered the questions, “If the four of you were to make a movie together, what kind of role would each of you like to have?” “If you could use magic just once, what would you do?” “Out of all the live merchandise up to now, what are your favorite ones?” and “If you know a song that gives you energy when you run, please tell me!” After this, Taguchi expressed, “We’d like for you to relax as you listen to these songs,” and matching the requests, the members performed “僕なりの恋 (Boku Nari no Koi),” “歩道橋 (Hodoukyou)” and “PRECIOUS ONE” with gentle voices that seemed to seep in one’s heart. Next, Taguchi explained, “To finish, we’d like to sing “4U” off the mini-album “楔-kusabi-,” and we hope you sing along with us.” KAT-TUN then sung the number as they came down into the audience seats and communicated in various ways with the audience. The venue was wrapped in a warm and homely atmosphere. This was KAT-TUN’s first fan meeting. The fun time was over in a moment, and as the ending time regretfully closed in, the members gave out messages one by one. ★Ueda Everyone, thank you very much for today. This was our first fan meeting, and I’m really happy I got to spend New Year’s with all of you. My goal this year is, to focus more and more on KAT-TUN as a group, whether it’s through television or hopefully through tours. I want to perform lots in front of you all and show you a new KAT-TUN. So, to make sure you catch up and I hope all of you follow us! ★Nakamaru I got a real sense of having a fan meeting with all of you so close, and I thought to myself that fan meetings are also important. It was really fun. In 2014, I plan on doing my best and having fun. I really think there are a lot of good guys among you Hyphen... I’m acting a little highly, aren’t I? Sorry about that. (LOL) I felt here that KAT-TUN exists because of all of you supporting us. Thank you very much for today. ★Kamenashi The reason that we always work with our heads held high, no matter what the job is or no matter where we stand, is because of the presence of all you. That’s what I felt very strongly during this New Year’s season. I hope we will active in the future, appearing on lots of different stages and showing you as many things as we can. And, I hope to continue to build stronger bonds with you all and move forward with our heads held high. I hope you will continue to faithfully move forward alongside us. Let’s make 2014 an amazing year with all of you and us together! ★Taguchi I’m relieved to have completed this three day performance safely. This was our first time doing something like this, so we thought and thought in our own way about what would make you all happy and what would interest you. The result is this “Shinshun Katsumode.” Everyone, did you have fun? Getting to see all of your smiles like this is something we look forward to. KAT-TUN has gotten off to a good start for 2014. We’ll be working harder and harder going forward, so I hope you follow us along. Last, Taguchi called out, “To pray for the health and great happiness of all of those who came to “KAT-TUN FAN MEETING 2014 Shinshun Katsumode” and for the success of KAT-TUN in 2014, everyone, let’s put our hands together!” Everyone clapped three times and the event came to a close! The members concluded, “I’ll be praying for 2014 to be an amazing year for all of you. Let’s make it a good year!” (Nakamaru), “We’ll definitely be reading all of the votive pictures we got from you all. All of your feelings are really reaching us!” (Taguchi), “Let’s meet again!” (Kamenashi), “Bye bye!” (Ueda) as they went through the audience seats, brushing with the crowd as they left the venue. KAT-TUN was able to take off on a good start to 2014, spending a fun time with all of you who always cheer them on. We hope you look forward to their future activities!
Posted on: Sun, 19 Jan 2014 03:12:11 +0000
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