Higuma 0 Posted September 28, 2002 Share Posted September 28, 2002 Last night was another first here in Japan for me.. An amazing cultural experience... My wife dragged me off to the "SMAP" concert at the Sapporo Dome with her friends.... Oh my god.. Words escape how exactly to describle this interesting piece of Japanese Culture.. Cultural Phenomenon #1 - We were all surprized to find out our tickets were stage right 3rd row - right in front of a moving stage that comes out about 10 times for a band member to get within 1/2 meter of the audience and about 2 meters from our seats. Apparently - in the Sapporo Dome at least - all tickets are the same price and your seat is simply a "luck of the draw"... so you never know where you will sit until your tickets arrive and even then the system for numbering floor seats defies reason or desciption... Cultural Phenomenon #2 - SMAP is like Male strippers are to the chicks in the West... You know - Mild mannered secretary by day / lusty, crude, sex starved animal during Ladies night at the strip club... Man, chicks dig these guys... Cultural Phenomenon #3 - Japanese concerts are WAY too organized to breed the Chaos that I'm used to at a concert... When the concert was over everybody sat in their seats until their section was called and then, in the most orderly of manners, they exit.. No Chaos, no punch ups...... ( of course this was the drawback to being in the 3rd row as we didn't get out of the Dome until 1h 20mins after the the show was over - Smap guys were halfway back to Tokyo I'm sure by the time I saw fresh air ) Overall Impression... I had a hoot... wasn't exactly Pink Floyd Division Bell in Vancouver - dating myself here - but I think it was a bucket of entainment for the money... I didn't know how I would like it but I got home last night and felt close to the same way I do after a GOOD day on the slopes... Weary, broken, sore, poorer.. but smiling and wanting more... A+++ Japanese Cultural Experience - whether you like the band or not PS: Men really have to love Sapporo at this time of year.... Warm enough that all the ladies are still wearing their shortest skirts and cold enough that most are now wearing those knee high leather boots too.... Link to post Share on other sites
jenna 0 Posted September 28, 2002 Share Posted September 28, 2002 SMAP Concert! Wow, you rebel! Link to post Share on other sites
Yuki's Passion 1 Posted September 28, 2002 Share Posted September 28, 2002 You might wanna try Fuji Rock - might be a little bit more your style. Finally decided to check it out this year and it was pretty cool. Lots of Japanese hippies there. If you feel like paying 15,000 for a one day tix. Link to post Share on other sites
woywoy 0 Posted September 28, 2002 Share Posted September 28, 2002 Higuma... you have to love women in short skirts and boots. I dont know what it is about them but they drive me wild! Even in the strongest snowstorm in winter these chicks will be in their short skirts and boots! Very very hardcore indeed. Link to post Share on other sites
talisker 0 Posted September 29, 2002 Share Posted September 29, 2002 Higuma - Im in the Sapporo area and work at a ski field - we should meet for a Rad brothers nomihodai ......drop me a line.... Link to post Share on other sites
oo 1 Posted September 29, 2002 Share Posted September 29, 2002 Higuma, what was their singing like? Can they actually sing at all?? And were there any other blokes there at all? Link to post Share on other sites
Higuma 0 Posted September 29, 2002 Author Share Posted September 29, 2002 I have to admit that only one of them sings well - the married guy from the TV dramas - then Shingo sings OK but the rest are so-so at best... What I can say is that they are quite amazing entertainers... I went thinking that these guys were a bunch of spoiled playboy Pratts but I was impressed that they appeared to be quite sincere, fun loving and MAN they worked there butts off for 3 1/2 hours.. that in itself was real impressive.. I'll bet they burnt off about 5,000 calories each... As far as other blokes.. I was up front and so my feild of vision was backward only... but there was a family of 5 behind us including papa and 1 son... other than that I couldn't see any other men in my visual range... To geuss I would say 1% males @ maximum... Now lets see bachelors ~ 54,400 women and 600 guys - - > > Sounds like Nirvana.... Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted September 29, 2002 Share Posted September 29, 2002 ...... sounds like teen spirit! A while back i saw marilyn manson in tokyo. Talk about lame- no fights, no aggression, no smokin in tha main hall, no drinking in tha main hall..... kind of like tha vicar had come around for some tea and biscuts!!! Link to post Share on other sites
scouser 4 Posted September 30, 2002 Share Posted September 30, 2002 Is there a "jealous" smiley anywhere?! You went to see SMAP? Interesting, those guys have really stuck around haven't they -must have been going for nearly 10 years now... Link to post Share on other sites
Higuma 0 Posted September 30, 2002 Author Share Posted September 30, 2002 It was very strange to see the reaction on other Japanese friends faces.. they had that exact reaction " You went to see SMAP?"... They seemed incredilous that a man would go.. let alone a gaijin guy... But almost anybody Japanese I have spoke to has been jealous... My wife says that Smap has been around since some of the members were like 15 yrs old.... and now the oldest is 30 so... between 10 and 15 years or so.. That's some pretty amazing staying power for "boy band" pop stars... Link to post Share on other sites
sachiko 0 Posted September 30, 2002 Share Posted September 30, 2002 Cool! I used to really like Kimutaku, not the music (it's all same anyway, isn't it?!) Link to post Share on other sites
oo 1 Posted October 1, 2002 Share Posted October 1, 2002 It sure is Sachiko. SOunds like you had a great experience there Higuma > you'll be checking out SmapSmap every Monday night from now on then. Link to post Share on other sites
rajeem 0 Posted October 3, 2002 Share Posted October 3, 2002 I know some 30something Japanese ladies that are still well into SMAP. Link to post Share on other sites
Higuma 0 Posted October 3, 2002 Author Share Posted October 3, 2002 30 somethings... Ha.. I would say that the "average" age was 30 or so... there was a large contingent of very attractive ladies in their late thirties / early 40's there... And yes, I was already a fan of Smap/Smap on Mondays.. the cooking portion - Bistro Smap - is quite good I think.... Link to post Share on other sites
echineko 1 Posted October 4, 2002 Share Posted October 4, 2002 Kimutaku was sexy guy, but recently I don't think so as much at all. Link to post Share on other sites
rach 1 Posted October 7, 2002 Share Posted October 7, 2002 Did he go off, echineko? or what? Link to post Share on other sites
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