This was posted in the old forum, but I found my old write-up and thought I would post it again, Enjoy! ~Arcluna’s Stereopony USA Tour Report~ DAY 1: Wednesday April 4th, 2012 My Stereopony experience started on Wednesday April 4th, 2012. Although my flight was an afternoon flight I didn’t want to be late, so I left for the airport around 9:00 am. There are 3 major airports in the New York/New Jersey Metropolitan area: Newark Liberty Airport, John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK), and LaGuardia Airport. The best airfare for me was through JFK which is a bit far (almost 2 hours driving without traffic) but I had a pleasant drive. I parked my car at long term parking and took the Air Train to the terminal. At the airport I got a salad and a small bottle of water. It cost me over $12.00! Food is REALLY expensive in airports. They know you’re stuck in there and if you want to eat, you have to pay. I must say the Jet Blue terminal at JFK is really nice. It’s pretty new and was pleasant and safe waiting for the plane. The plane ride was very comfortable, departing from New York City at around 1:45pm. Seats are larger and more spaced out compared to other airlines and overall was a nice smooth ride. I sat next to a lady who told me a little about Seattle, and we both had a few common interests. She was an animal lover as well and we both couldn’t put an animal down, thus why we both aren’t veterinarians. I told her why I was flying to Seattle and she actually knew a lot about Japan. It was nice talking to someone you can relate to. On the flight I ate Blue “terra” potato chips, fitting for a Jet Blue flight. They were really good I must say. That plus water was my nourishment for the 6 hour flight. I landed at Seattle SeaTac Airport at 4:50pm. The weather was a bit cloudy but by no means unpleasant. I walked to where they hotel courtesy shuttles were and made my way over to the Red Roof Inn. The hotel was right next to the airport so all I saw were concrete and roads. There was nothing interesting to look at as my first experience of Seattle. The hotel was a bit run down, but clean and comfortable. It had a desk for me to hook up my computer which was all that I needed. For the evening I chatted online with a few of you at Very Good Days and then went out to get dinner. I was looking for cheap eats and didn’t see anything really close to the hotel at first so I went into a gas station market. I looked at the sandwiches and ran away fast… O_O They did not look good at all… I then walked in the other direction and there was a Ramada inn that had a sign for Ginger Palace Pan Asian Cuisine. I walk into the hotel and in the lobby literally in just a corner of the open space is this restaurant. I briefly looked at the menu and was like what the hell, I’ll give it a shot. I had chicken Pad Thai, and it was actually really good. After dinner I returned back to the hotel, chatted online for a little longer and then went to sleep. DAY 2: Thursday April 5th, 2012 Today I would be meeting up with Eddie (Elsuke), Richard (Drahc) and Roderic (RSNiteblaze), of which only RS have I never met before. I thought about waiting for them at the airport, or the hotel. I also knew that there were only 3 flights entering Seattle from Japan that day, and all within the same hour so I thought maybe I could catch a glimpse of Stereopony at the airport. Everyone was arriving late, and the Japan flights all came in around 9:00 am. I was up early, being used to waking up in a time zone 3 hours later. I got to the airport around 7:45 am or so since I had nothing better to do. As I waited in the airport I was unsure how it would look with recent security having a large camera out and ready so I took pictures of the airplanes they had hanging from the ceiling to make sure the camera looked okay. As I waited I met a lady who is a huge Bruce Springsteen fan and follows him around the country. If you didn’t know, Bruce Springsteen is from my hometown…so the lady called where I’m from the holy land. As she continued to talk to me I noticed a large group of people amassing by the baggage claim for the flights from Japan. I excused myself from talking to that lady and noticed AIMI in her pink coat. I didn’t want to bother them from gathering all of their belongings so I kept my distance and took just a few photos on the one side of the baggage carousel. At that time AIMI saw me, smiled and waved at me and I smiled and waved back yet still kept my distance. I took a few more photos from that side and then went around to the other side of the carousel, yet continued to keep my distance. I wanted to make it clear that I didn’t want to bother Stereopony or their entourage, yet I wanted to take the pictures I could. Around that time word of my presence got around and I saw someone whisper to one of the Sony managers, Nadeshiko, of my presence. She then looked in my direction and said “Oh Hi Zack” and waved, and then they took the Twitter picture of the 3 of them inside the airport. I noticed that they were then going to be making their way right past me so I moved closer to the wall as to give them room. (There was plenty of space, but again I really wanted to not interrupt them and be out of the way.) As they walked by AIMI ran over to me, and I think said “Yeah!!!” and gave me a high five. Then Shiho, Nohana and the other people in the group all said a brief hello as they walked by me. The entire group proceeded to go outside the airport and I thought about going out the other way, but I noticed they were congregating again and recording something on video. This peaked my curiosity so I decided to just watch again from a distance outside. It was a nice sunny day too, which was unexpected for rainy Seattle, so I certainly didn’t mind the fresh air. After standing outside for just a few minutes all of a sudden Nadeshiko yelled out my name and told me to come over to her. She asked me to take a picture with Stereopony, which I very was happy to oblige. After I took the picture with them I requested to take a picture of the girls, and they graciously allowed me to do so (albeit I had to be quick because they were immediately heading to a radio station to record an interview). After I parted ways with the band I made my way back inside the airport and immediately uploaded and shared my experience with everyone at Very Good Days. I chatted online until my battery ran out and then made my way to the Seattle Sheraton by ways of the Downtown Airporter Shuttle. The trip to the hotel was short and pleasant. My driver Eric was very friendly, and it was a pleasant ride around a mountainous road. The van takes you down the highway, past the large Boeing airplane factor, and eventually you hit the tall skyline of Seattle. I was one of the first stops so the van took me through just a few streets, all of which were on very steep hills. I walked into the hotel, which had a very fancy lobby and was able to log into a computer for a short period of time and check in on VGD. Around 5:00pm in the evening I went over to the convention center, which was located basically across the street from the rear of the hotel. I found the press room and obtained my press pass, and to my surprise found out there was very little benefit to having a press pass. Anime Boston in comparison allowed you early entry into rooms with a press pass. In contrast I learned the press pass at Sakura-con would only grant you early admittance with the priority wrist band holders, of which were attendees staying in select hotels affiliated with the convention. I then returned back to the Sheraton where eventually I met up with Richard and Eddie. Richard arrived first and had to wait an hour to get his badge. Unfortunately Richard was unable to acquire press credentials, but fortunately having the priority wrist band helped keep him with us throughout the convention. Once Eddie arrived approximately an hour after Richard (around 8:00pm) we went to the suite which would become our base of operations. We had two adjoining rooms. One was our sleeping quarters, and the other was like a large living room, complete with small kitchen and dining table. Roderic arrived shortly after 9:00pm and we then took part on our first activity together as a group… Food! We ate at the cheesecake factory which was right across from our hotel, planned out some of what we would be doing the next few days, and eventually we all went to sleep. Sakura-con and Stereopony would be front and center starting tomorrow. DAY 3: Friday April 6th, 2012 The day began with everyone getting an early start to prepare for Stereopony’s appearance on the Bob River’s show. I left Roderic, Eddie, and Richard in charge of recording the radio show for our records while I waited early to get a good spot in the opening ceremonies. I was able to hear the show live through my phone, which was amazing to hear a Japanese band, let alone OUR band on American radio. The show began with an incredible radio live version of Hitohira no Hanabira. For a band that was jet lagged and immediately had to work, I was floored with how good it came out. Stereopony really is amazing. I thought the radio interview was really well done. The announcers were respectful and their questions were relevant, and maybe a little on the side of silly. All in all I think it was great exposure for Stereopony. While waiting I also met Rick who was also a press pass holder for the convention. We would frequently encounter Rick throughout the various Stereopony events. Eventually Eddie, Richard, and Roderic met me on the line for the opening ceremonies and we were able to get into the first few rows. We each took our strategic locations, with Eddie taking care of the photography while the rest of us recorded video of the ceremonies. You can see the videos of the opening ceremonies posted on youtube. Following opening ceremonies the four of us made our way to the dealer’s room where Harry from http://www.jhouserock.com was at the booth once again. Harry has been selling Stereopony merchandise at all of their events. This year he was being helped by the very kind and gracious Heather. At the booth we found Both Limited Editions of More! More!! More!!! as well as white and black tour T-shirts and US exclusive rubber tour bracelet in blue, pink, green, and purple. The booth was backed by 5 More! More!! More!!! posters, a Tatoeba poster, an Arigatou poster, and a Chiisana Mahou poster. 4 of the posters would be signed and given away as a raffle on Sunday. For every $20 spent you would receive one raffle ticket for the give-away. Heather at the booth allowed us to leave a large stack of VGD business cards on the counter. I was originally just going to inconspicuously leave them in the vicinity of the booth, however Roderic simply asked Heather who placed the cards right on the table. We even received word she was including one with each purchase! The next Stereopony event would be the concert later that evening. To kill some time Roderic, Richard and I explored the Pike Place Market and discovered the first Starbucks location. We initially thought of finding some gifts for Stereopony but frankly we were disappointed with the offerings so we opted to pass. Eddie unfortunately could not join us for our exploration because he had to stay back and finish his work. (I might have forgotten to mention that Eddie works ridiculously hard and didn’t even sleep the night before!) After a short regroup it was time to for the concert. We geared up and headed over to the convention center. Eddie commissioned Tanaka-san (Hirotana) to make an amazing 6 feet x 3 feet (183cm x 91cm) banner for Sakura-con. As we waited we were able to hear through the walls some of the sound check. At this moment, Stereopony super-fan Tony (TonyTonyChoppa) found me. Tony has traveled from California to see every American Stereopony show since Anime Next in 2010. We caught up and then eventually were able to line up for the show. We brought the banner to the concert, and waiting at the front of the line it certainly garnered a lot of attention. It was even filmed by the Stereopony videographer, Pan-kun. Both Richard and I were briefly interviewed by Pan-kun at this time as well. Also before making it to the concert line itself, I was also encountered by a Stereopony fan. What was really cool was he came up to me asking me if I was the person in the picture with Stereopony from the airport! I was surprised I could be recognized in such a way. It was cool! The concert itself was amazing, as expected. The set list is as follows: 1. Introduction 2. Blowin’ in the Wind 3. I am a Hero MC – AIMI (introductions) 4. Hana Hiraku Oka 5. Chiisana Mahou 6. Super Girl SHIHO drum solo 7. effective line 8. It’s a Wild World MC – SHIHO 9. Tsukiakari no Michishirube 10. Hanbunko 11. stand by me 12. Namida no Mukou MC – AIMI 13. I do it 14. Viva La Viva La 15. Hoshikuzu Kantera MC – AIMI 16. Hitohira no Hanabira For the concert Eddie was able to gain access to the press pit and was able to photograph the show in in its entirety. You can easily spot him with the large flash gun on top of his camera! Behind the fenced off area was myself, and in order to the right, Roderic, Richard, and Tony. We were all holding up Hirotana and Eddie’s amazing banner throughout the show! The highlight of the show for me would be hearing the new single “Stand by Me” performed before the single is even released in May, as well as AIMI performing Blowin’ in the Wind without a guitar. I also was thrilled to hear “Hana Hiraku Oka” live as I am infatuated with this track. It was a refreshing to see Stereopony try some new things with AIMI going vocal only, although I’m glad it was just for one song. I was extremely pleased to hear a good number of More! More!! More!!! songs too. My one complaint would be it was unfortunate that Nohana did not have a microphone, and never sang backup vocals or had an MC. Finally I thought Mao did a great job on support, and I was really glad that the performance had minimal pre-recorded backing tracks, if any. This felt like a truly authentic and organic live experience! Immediately following the show was the autograph session, taking place in the adjacent room to concert hall. I was concerned for the band, having almost no rest and jet lag, and having to deal with an extremely long autograph line. Luckily VGD members had priority access with our press passes and priority bands and were on the first line to go through. We wanted to hide the banner from the attention of the band so it was rolled up as we were on the line. Drahc throughout the entirety of the convention was our master business card promoter and got right to work and passed out lots of cards to the fans around us on the line. Eventually we got to the line and I was able to get my “A Hydrangea Blooms” poster signed. The girls remembered my name and said” Hi Zack” which was very pleasing, I must admit. After we all got through the line once, we opened up the banner on a table at the left side to the girls yet far enough away that they could not see it. We then invited fans to write a message to the band. I also covered the girl’s faces with the business cards so as to prevent people from writing on them. Even some of the Stereopony staff signed the banner including Stereopony’s manager Sakamoto-san! Eventually as the line got to the end I noticed Tony was back at the end of the line again for a second autograph. Not to be outdone I ran over and got ready my MIXBOX KOZA festival CD to get signed. The order on the line was SHIHO, NOHANA, and at the end AIMI. Shiho made a visible gasp when she saw the CD and Nohana did the same as well. They explained to the managers the CD was their “indie” cd and Nohana even briefly started to sing the lyrics to their song on the compilation “Baby”. Nohana sang “Baby Will Dance Dance Music, Baby Music Dance”. During this time AIMI looked over but did not realize what CD I had and then she received it and also gasped and looked through the booklet, laughing at the MIXBOX picture taken inside. It was nice to get a similar reaction to the white demo I presented to the band for an autograph the day before. Speaking of the White demo, both Eddie and RS were able to get theirs signed. As for Richard… well…. he only got a tattoo of the Stereopony’s original logo on his arm. To say the band was not impressed would be a huge understatement. The graphic designer for the band even met Richard and thanked him for such praise. Richard had his arm signed, and photographed, tweeted, and shared across all the world to see multiple times! Post-concert we were all riding on high, thrilled with a successful outing. We dropped our stuff in our room and then headed across the street from our hotel to a restaurant called Gameworks for dinner. The place was really busy and it took us a while to find a seat. At Gameworks we were finally joined by fellow VGD-er Destonus, who we were thrilled to meet in person. We also were joined by Tony and Georgina, aka Gochi of YUI-lover. Here we ate a mediocre meal, but the nights events were enough to keep our heads in the clouds. Concluding dinner we parted ways with Tony and Destonus for the evening, and Gochi joined us in our suite for the remainder of the weekend. Concert night concluded with some chatting on VGD and watching the stream of the concert, reliving and amazing night, and an amazing experience. DAY 4: Saturday April 6th, 2012 Saturday’s activities would begin with the Stereopony Q & A session at noon, and an autograph session at 2:30pm. Our interview was also scheduled for 5:20pm that evening. Eddie and I grabbed breakfast at the hotel from the special restaurant on the floor above ours. Food was complimentary thanks to Eddie getting us into a preferred floor. That also included free Wi-Fi! Three cheers for Eddie and his business status! I usually wouldn’t consider a hardboiled egg, fruits salad, and tomato and mozzarella salad as breakfast food, but it was pretty tasty and satisfying. Eddie and I rejoined the others and we made our way to the Q and A session. Just as we realized the convention center I realized by accident I left our Very Good Days tote bags that we made as a gift for Stereopony back at the hotel and I ran back to retrieve it. Before I found the rest of the guys I thought I would check out the Stereopony booth in the dealers’ room. As it would turn out I would catch the conclusion of Stereopony’s interview on Nico Nico at their booth. I took one quick photo before a security staffer told me I was not allowed. At that same time next to him was the Sakura-con staffer who was right in front of me during the concert (and definitely enjoyed the concert too!). I briefly spoke to her for a minute and the Security personal changed his mind when he realized I was press and was going to let me through to photograph. Unfortunately the interview concluded just at that moment so I decided to make my way up to Eddie, Roderic and Richard for the line for the Q and A. I found the guys along with Tony in a large open hall. They were lined up against the wall, and there were a few other lines in the room as well as in the opposite corner some kind of game or event going on. I believe it was karaoke. We were at the very front of the line and several times we confirmed that the line we were on was for the Stereopony Q and A. After waiting a very long time, and the event was about to start we got a call from Gochi (from inside the Q and A room) asking where we were. We then told the convention staffer who then confirmed it was time to go into the room. When we got there, the room was mostly full! We were not happy… apparently they did not clear the room in-between events. This was really not fair and we all had to split up. Richard and I sat a few rows back in the very middle while Eddie went up close to take photographs. The Q and A was a lot of fun, and you can hear the audio to know what was said. After the Q and A Stereopony exited the room through the side door within the room and we left to the outside hallway. As we exited we were given a ticket allowing us early access to the second autograph session. We were outside the hall when Stereopony was brought back into the room and into the hallway where we were. This is where Drahc’s video where he tells Shiho he’s a “Shiho fanboy” occurs. Stereopony’s staff led them through the hall and we briefly followed them until they were out of sight. The next event following the Q and A was the autograph session, so we made our way directly to the hall and jumped on the line. This time we were very close to the front. Unfortunately there were multiple signings occurring at the same time for several voice actors so we could not set up our banner on a table. Instead Eddie and Georgina setup the banner on the floor and had people on the line sign it. Again Richard was our business card promoter and walked the line. For the autographs this time around I had Stereopony sign the More! More!! More!!! poster as well as the inside cover of the first tour DVD. After Stereopony left and after everyone we finished getting people to sign the banner, we walked to the back of the autograph room where they had setup the Stereopony merchandise table and there we spoke to Heather once again. We convinced Heather to give us the square More! More!! More!!! album cover postcard that was being handed out along with the purchase of the CD and talked to her for a few more minutes before heading back to the hotel room. The final Stereopony event for us on this Saturday was the VGD interview! We arrived at the room where the interviews were being conducted about a half an hour before our time. The room was silent and there was no staff members outside the room. Being paranoid as I am, I went over to the press office to confirm we were in the correct location. The press office informed us that the interview before us was cancelled, and there was an interview after us. They told me we could ask to see if we could start our interview slightly early, just in case we could have more time. I went back to our group and found that Eddie had left. I called him and told him we might have a chance to get more time so he needed to get back to us. When Eddie arrived I knocked on the door, and a Sakura con staffer opened the door. She was a lanky blond girl wearing glasses. She whispered very quietly to me. I told her who we were and she pretty much refused to even ask the Stereopony staff if we could go in early. We had no choice but to wait outside. While we waited, we spoke with the person interviewing after us. He was from the O-network. After a few more minutes of waiting we were let into the room. Because Richard was not staff we were a little apprehensive on whether we could get him into the interview, but the four of us walked in without any issue. (Again that’s Roderic, Eddie, Richard and I). The room was much larger in comparison to Anime Boston. It was a long and narrow room that had a long conference table that could seat 15 – 20 people. Stereopony’s staff was in the far left corner from where we were, Stereopony was across from us, 1-2 meters away… a considerable distance compared to Boston where it was a very small table. I found this interview to be less personal. Furthermore, the translator was not Sony’s own Ryu, but rather the same translator as from the Q and A (Dylan Rhoads of Nintendo or America). We conducted the interview, alternating between the four of us asking questions. Unfortunately shortly into the interview NOHANA started to cough, and apparently was choking on water she incorrectly drank. She was escorted out of the room by Nadeshiko and we had to conduct the majority of our interview with only SHIHO and AIMI. NOHANA did return for the last remaining questions, but unfortunately we did not hear much of what she had to say. We tried to get through as many questions as we could before Ryu told us we had only had time for one more question. At the conclusion of our interview we requested a few minutes to present Stereopony our gifts and to record our video message. By now you should all have seen the story we posted on the front page. ( http://www.verygooddays.com/main/features/a-banner-story-and-a-special-surprise/). Stereopony was preparing to record the video message so they were standing next to the wall. Eddie began by talking to them in Japanese reading the message he wrote with Hirotana’s assistance in Japanese. The girls were listening intently and then halfway through the message we unraveled the Banner. Stereopony began to cry as you know and then Eddie concluded reading the message. We then also gave Stereopony the bags and T-Shirts we had made for them. A teary-eyed Stereopony then delivered the video message which all 4 of us recorded on our respective cameras. As we were packing up, I tried to show AIMI that Roderic, Eddie and I all had copies of the black demo…but she looked at me blankly. At one point I was afraid she thought I was giving it to her. Knowing how hard it was for me to get it, I was a little nervous for a minute. Luckily the translator Dylan told her what I was trying to say. As Roderic sums it up…. “Black Demo Fail”. We then wished them well and walked out of the room. Pan-kun the videographer and Nadeshiko, the Sony representative joined us outside to briefly interview us. We made a left out of the room and another left around the corner to the wall on the side. Nadeshiko asked us to look at her for the interview. Some of the questions she asked were “How did the idea for the banner come up” and “One word to describe how we feel about Stereopony”. After the conclusion of our interview the four of us were talking when we were approached by a fellow Stereopony fan fyian. We told he a little bit about what happened during the interview, but wanted to keep most of what occurred a secret J . After speaking to fyian I realized I no longer had my voice recorder, and I must have left it in the interview room. I knocked on the door, and the Sakuracon staffer retrieved it for me. I was quite relieved to get it back. When we got to the room we unloaded our stuff and checked the internet. Through twitter we realized Stereopony was walking through Seattle, and we decided to see if we could track them down. At this point it was Georgina, Roderic, Richard, Eddie, and I. We went all the way down past the original Starbucks and all the way to the Puget Sound. We were continuously checking the pictures posted on twitter and tried to match our location to theirs. Finally Stereopony posted a picture of themselves eating in a restaurant. We asked waiters who were outside their restaurant if they could help us located the place through the picture. They directed us to a famous Seafood restaurant called Ivar’s. We went inside the dimly lit restaurant off the boardwalk, but unfortunately it was not the right place. By this time however we were all hungry, and it was probably too late to locate Stereopony. Eddie recommended we eat at Ivar’s and we did. I tried Salmon Chowder and ordered Fish and Chips for my main entree. Both were exceptional. After eating dinner we made our way back to the Sheraton. Before we reached the hotel we came across the Seattle Fairmont hotel. We are fairly certain this is where Stereopony stayed, and took a few pictures outside. For the remainder of the evening we listened to Stereopony and discussed our plans for tomorrow. Our only regret was in our rush to track Stereopony, we forgot to get Destonus and Tony to join us… DAY 5: Sunday April 7th, 2012 Sunday would be our final day in Sakura-con. The only Stereopony related events would be the photo session and poster raffle, as well as the closing ceremonies. Georgina had mentioned that we should get donuts from a famous Seattle donut shop called Top Pot. We all then decided not only to get donuts for ourselves, but for Stereopony as well. We took what might have been the longest route possible to the donut shop, and bought the donuts. We ate as we walked to the convention hall. Shortly before reaching the convention center Tony snuck up behind us (apparently we passed his hotel just as he was leaving to go to the photo session). We then all proceeded to the dealer’s room to the Stereopony booth where the photos would be taken. The line had already formed by the time we arrived and we were placed up against the wall. I was given the donuts to hold on to, which with all the stuff we had (cameras had to be ready for the photo) it was rather inconvenient to hold the box of donuts. Luckily Nadeshiko’s daughter walked by and I was able to hand her the box of donuts. She took the donuts over to Nadeshiko who waved and thanked us for them. Unfortunately (as RS pointed out to me) I forgot that Eddie wasn’t with us when I gave the donuts to Nadeshiko… sorry Eddie! As we continued to wait on line (Rick was also on the line with us) I prepared my camera. Unfortunately Richard’s flight was an early flight on Sunday. He went to the very front of the line to get his picture (which he missed in Boston) and the rest of us were in the back. Eddie went up front to grab pictures of people before us. Stereopony eventually came out of a side door into the dealer’s room, and we grabbed a few pictures of them walking in. Stereopony waved to the long line of fans and made their way inside the JHouseRock booth. As the line progressed Eddie went first and was taking photos of fans. I was going to try to take a picture of Eddie when he went, but I couldn’t get around the security guard while waiting on line… once sorry Eddie L ! We all took our pictures with the band, handing our cameras to Ryu as he quickly snapped a photo. After we took our pictures, we got on the other side of the booth and watched as the remaining people took pictures. Nadeshiko was trying to sell more shirts yelling out to people to buy shirts to get a picture. Ultimately the line concluded and it was almost time to start the raffle. Stereopony for some reason was then escorted out of the booth for a few minutes before the raffle started. As we waited we started cheering for people to buy wrist bands. Eddie wowed the crowd by purchasing a full second set. You can see all the fun antics from this time through Roderic’s raffle video posted on YouTube. Posters were then raffled, and included both Tony and Zandrew as winners! Stereopony then left and the photo / raffle session was over. Eddie went ahead to explore the convention and Roderic and I killed time by walking around the dealer’s room, bumping into Tony as we explored around. Finally we decided to leave and find a place to sit. As we left we passed by Dylan Rhoads, the translator. Roderic said we should find out who he is… and I completely agreed. We ran back and asked him for his card. He gladly did so, and mentioned that he was really impressed with the banner along with a few more kind words. We thanked him, and at this point in looking at his card we realized he was from Nintendo… how cool! Roderic and I then killed off time until it was time for the closing ceremonies. We positioned ourselves best we could and then waited. Unfortunately Stereopony’s only presence at the closing ceremonies, unlike Boston, was only a mention along with all the other Japanese guests. They weren’t at the closing ceremonies. Instead they were sightseeing, taking pictures at the space needle and other landmarks. After sitting through a very disappointing closing ceremony we all left to gather our belongings from the hotel. We had earlier in the morning left our bags with the concierge. We got our bags, and RS and I parted ways from Eddie and got into the same Shared Van back to the airport. Ironically, I had the same driver, Eric once again. RS and I separated to go through security and met up after. I also bought the most expensive chapstick on earth (airports are SO expensive!). RS and I got food at a fast food Japanese restaurant called Maki of Japan. We both ate and then separated for our flights home. I tried to get as much sleep as I could on the overnight flight, but I didn’t get much… It was a comfortable flight at least… and I had a window seat which was nice for not being disturbed…. Farewell Seattle. DAY 6: Monday April 8th, 2012 – Early Tuesday April 9th, 2012 I arrived very early Monday at JFK airport. On my plane I noticed two guys who were at Sakura con. It was Van and Tony (different Tony). We greeted each other and talked for a few minutes before parting ways. By the time I got to baggage claim my bag was the only one on the carousel, making it pretty easy to find. I then took the tram to the JFK parking lot and found my car. I then drove home without any problems and relaxed a bit. I was kind of amped from the weekend’s activities and didn’t sleep as I should have. I took a short nap but that did not amount for much. I switched out the items I got signed as to keep them safe at home, and did laundry. I then drove up to school where I had class from 6pm – 9pm (18:00 – 21:00). After class I grabbed dinner from Sarku Japan… my favorite Japanese place close to school. I then drove down to where I work and left my car in the parking lot. My brother, who lives walking distance from where I work, then picked me up and drove me to the airport. It was now about 11:00 pm and my flight was at 6:30 am. I was afraid I would miss my flight, and didn’t want to spend more money leaving my car in the airport parking light so I opted to just spend the night at the airport. I thought I could get through security and hang out inside the terminal. I didn’t realize I couldn’t get through security until 3:30 am.. so I had to spend that time on the outskirts… and this was really scary. I paced through the airport walking back and forth to stay awake. I realized if I kept I constant pace I could walk the length of the terminal in 8 minutes. I started to count how many times I could do that. Finally I decided to sit down. This was fine for the majority of the time until this lady who spoke Spanish started asking me for money. I pretended not to understand her as she clearly had money. I really don’t know why she was bothering me…but there was no way I was taking my wallet out! After waiting on the line I was able to confirm that my bag was not too large to keep as a carryon and went through security without a hitch. I then went to the terminal and found an outlet to plug in my laptop only to find out there was no free Wi-Fi. There was also a man by the outlets who appeared to have the plague… so I Ieft that area. Finally I was able to board the plane… of course noticing that the man who had the plague was also on my flight… but luckily far away from me. I also noticed that the seats were much smaller and closer together making this flight not nearly as comfortable as my initial flight. Luckily the flight was fine, and I was on my way to San Francisco! DAY 7: Tuesday April 9th, 2012 I landed in San Francisco pretty early around 10:00 in the morning. I then hopped onto the Subway (called BART) and took it to a few stops to where the hotel was. I was going to be meeting up with Eddie. After I got off at my stop I of course made a wrong turn outside where it was raining, not realizing that the other exit took you literally to the door of the hotel (I’m not kidding… THE DOOR). I called Eddie and made my way to the room. Eddie was busy working and I didn’t want to bother him too much. After using Google maps on my phone I was able to navigate to the hotel. The hotel was an old but pleasant historic hotel. It was clean and comfortable and had a nice desk for me to inhabit. I did a little homework and then rested a bit. Eventually it was time to get ready for tonight’s concert at Slim’s! Wearing my Very Good Days! shirt and bringing my book bag in case I could get an autograph Eddie and I walked through a damp San Francisco. This was not the nicest area of San Francisco, but it was not dangerous either. We eventually found Slim’s and were the first to line up. Later I got a call from Tony. He thought the meet and greet session was later in the day, but I was able to tell him to get there earlier. We waited online for a while as close as we could to being under the awning to protect us from the drizzling rain. Outside we saw Harry from J Rock House. While waiting on the line we also encountered some Japanese people looking for people to take a survey by sending it through email. I gave her mine, and when I did eventually receive it I realized she was looking for anime Otaku. The survey seemed a bit demeaning frankly… I don’t think she was going to have a lot of success with people answering it. Especially since it was anime related and we were all there for a music concert. I also met Geofreak, who’s a cool guy. All of us were very much looking forward to the events to come. Finally we were let inside to go to the meet and greet. We were shuffled down a staircase where literally in the corner of a hallway were the girls. We were told to stand in front of them, and had to bend down as to not block them…. This was really awkward…and I’m really short! I feel bad for tall people! We were given almost no time at all and there was no possibility of getting another autograph… and we had to leave. Ryu Takahashi was there translating for Stereopony and so was the tour manager (an American man with a full beard and blond hair wearing a driving cap. Stereopony was very friendly too us. AIMI also by now said “hi Zack” once again… which was really cool knowing by now she had a firm memory of my name. ^__^ I told Ryu I had just flown across the country and back to make it to tonight’s concert. Ryu told the girls and AIMI in English said “tired?” and I responded by saying “hai!”. We were then handed the pre-autographed poster and our VIP badge and escorted down the hallway, up another staircase and back around into the main hall of Slim’s with the stage now to our left. We were now allowed to wait for the concert to start inside. Eddie set up and I distributed business cards to the people waiting. Slim’s layout is a decent size venue. The entrance has the aforementioned awning. Across from the entrance was the bar that spans most of the length of the room. There are tables to the right of the entrance and the stage is all the way to the left. Directly adjacent to the door on the left was the merchandise table. The merchandise table was setup right next to the staircase that led downstairs to the meet and greet. This was on the left of the stage, and the exit from the meet and greet was to the right of the stage. The room was dimly lit People were really excited about Stereopony and I got a really good reaction from everyone in the hall. I even was asked to have my picture taken with some people. One person in particular was a guy named Aaron who gave me his business card. It was a lot of fun meeting people there. I informed people in the front row who we were and kindly asked them to allow Eddie to take photographs. People were really awesome and never had a problem with Eddie or myself. Furthermore, I somehow managed to be right in from of AIMI. The stage was shorter than my shoulders and there was no gate or space between the stage and the audience. Furthermore, the microphone was set up right where I was… I was basically under the microphone. Being able to hang over the stage as it was, if I was actually ON the stage itself, I would have been FARTHER AWAY from the band. I couldn’t believe I was that close. Also the stage had a little lip, which allowed me to keep my bag under me and protected. The opening act was a band called ALL AGES, and they were a punk band. They were energetic and fun. The bass player was super enthusiastic and even went towards the end of the set way into the audience and played on top of the bar counter. Cool guy with a Mohawk though… really friendly. He also managed to have no pants on by the end of the show… Following their set was the short wait for Stereopony. The new Stereopony logo was displayed on a banner behind the stage. Because it’s a small venue, there was no curtain to block the stage, and the girls themselves came out to setup. This was when I really realized how close I was. I couldn’t believe it. After setting up the girls walked off the stage and we waited a short time longer. Eventually the lights dimmed. Setlist: SE Effective Line Sweet Blue MC-1 Hana Hiraku Oka Chiisana Mahou Supergirl Fuzz Never Look Back MC-2 Namida no Mukou Shihou Drum Solo It’s A Wild World Hanbunko MC-3 Stand by Me Tsukiakari no Michishirube MC-4 I Do It Viva La Viva La Hoshikuzu Cantera --Encore / MC Hitohira no Hanabira The concert was great of course. The sound was spectacular, especially compared to Sakura-con which had lots of feedback from Mao’s amp. Besides the occasional disturbance to allow Eddie, Pan-kun, or Stereopony’s photographer to take pictures the concert was just me enjoying the music (and maybe a couple of tweets and pictures.) This was pretty much my routine for all three tour shows. After the concert Shiho came up to us and went to slap our hands. I raised my hand and instead I saw her let go of her towel. It fell directly into my lap, I crouched down and said “mine!” Because of how it landed and how I covered it no one else had a chance to lay a hand on it and I got it uncontested, along with a few jealous looks. We then tried to get picks and what not, but we were eventually shuttled out of the venue. Outside however it was raining and Eddie and I were worried about the cameras and our bags. After chatting with people outside for a few minutes we parted ways and ran to the street corner and caught a taxi back to the venue. We got to the hotel, dropped off our things, first taking a look at the towel, and went across the street to Burger King to grab dinner. Inside we came across Geofreak and his friends again. I also bumped into Pickmex, who I recognized from Sakuracon. It was great seeing how devoted fans were to follow Stereopony! We chatted for a few minutes and then went back across the street to eat dinner. Slim’s was a lot of fun, with better acoustics than Sakura-con, and a much more personal experience. I didn’t think it could get better, but I did have two more concerts ahead. I checked into VGD that night and I on twitter I received a message from two Japanese fans, fans of Stereoponylover who wanted to meet up with VGD members. The message said to “look for two Japanese boys” at Key Club. It was something definitely to look forward to. I then went to sleep not too late wanting to catch my flight to LAX. DAY 8: Wednesday April 10th, 2012 I woke up early for my flight, but Elsuke was already long gone. I gathered all my belongings, made sure I didn’t forget anything any dropped my key off. I then took entrance to the subway I wish I saw before. The subway ride was fine, but as it was arriving to San Francisco I found the BART train to kind of smell and just seem old. I hopped onto the wrong train in the right direction, so I did have to switch trains for the before the last stop. Once back in the airport I encountered a very long security line that amazingly moved really fast. In no time at all I was through security and with a few hours to spare before my flight. I found the San Francisco airport offered free Wi-Fi and they had these desks where I set up and was able to chat with everyone at VGD up until my flight. The flight back was very short, lasting only a little more than an hour and a half. The flight was mostly empty and I had the entire row of seats to myself. It was nice to spread out and watch the clouds outside the window. Once I arrived at LAX I called Eddie and found out where he camped. He was in the baggage claim on the floor by a random outlet on the wall. Eddie was working and I studied until about 3:00 pm. At that time Tony picked us up at the airport and drove us through LA to the Key Club. We found a place on the street to park and then walked past the venue. We saw the Stereopony vans parked outside and Ryu was standing outside the door. We briefly said hello, and then I noticed to the side of Key Club “two Japanese boys” but I was not sure if it was them, so I didn’t approach them. Tony, Eddie and I then decided to grab some food and we saw a Japanese restaurant called Tenmasa across the street. We decided to eat there. I had chicken teriyaki, and it was truly delicious! The establishment was run by a mother and her son and they treated us very nicely. We also had edamame and they also gave us orange as dessert. A worthy pre-Stereopony concert meal. We then walked back to Tony’s car and decided to park in a parking lot across from the venue. In the parking lot we met Glenn from Scandal Heaven and gathered our belongings. The line already had a considerable number of people. On the line I met many more Scandal Heaven fans including Lale, Matt, Freddy, Jade, Jerry and the tall thundercat BigOeyez. I also met up with Roderic, and his two friends AJ (who we all know now) and Sheng. I also was finally approached by the two Japanese fans I saw before. Their names were Yoshiki and Nishii. Nishii could not speak English, however Yoshiki had a strong enough command of English that were able to figure each other out. Yoshiki had lots of Stereopony merchandise and even his cell phone was signed by Stereopony. He also told informed us that not only was he visible in the Mezamashi performance, but you can also see both him and Nishii in the Smilife music video! After some picture taking and finally getting my ticket from the will call window we all made our way inside for the meet and greet. The Key club had an elaborate interior with large pillars, lining the hall. There was a bar to the right as you walk in and a staircase in the middle of the floor leading to a lower level. This is where the meet and greet occurred. Once again Stereopony was sitting down, this time in folding chairs. This time however we would walk behind them to take the picture. I said hello once again and walked behind the girls for the picture. I grabbed the white tour shirt and held it above me as Eddie took the photo for me. I then took Eddie’s photo, and we thanked the girls and proceeded back upstairs to the venue floor. Inside I continued to speak with the people I met, and AJ was a great help with translating between us and the Japanese fans. We also met Kazu and his sister Yoko. Kazu is a native Japanese speaker and a really nice guy too. He also graciously helped translate between us and the Japanese fans. It was a really pleasant environment, and once again everyone let Eddie and I get into our spots. Once again I ended up directly in front of AIMI and once again it was a low stage with no railing. The opening act was a contestant of a music show in America called “The Voice” named Monique Benabou. She seemed to be wearing closes just a tad too tight and I didn’t care for her style. She tried hard though and was not unpleasant. She performed her set and then once again it was time for Stereopony. This performance strongly mirrored the Slim’s show. It was the exact same set list unfortunately. The fans at Slim’s definitely had a good time, however the fans in the venue were almost over the top with their enthusiasm. In particular, the crowd yelled “hey!” whenever it fit into the music, wherever they could. Tony was jealous that I got the towel from the Slim’s show, so he brought a tour towel of his own and gave it to Shiho during the meet and greet. Shiho at the end of the show tossed the towel back to Tony! Not a bad strategy! The show once again was great! Setlist: SE Effective Line Sweet Blue MC-1 Hana Hiraku Oka Chiisana Mahou Supergirl Fuzz Never Look Back MC-2 Namida no Mukou Shihou Drum Solo It’s A Wild World Hanbunko MC-3 Stand by Me Tsukiakari no Michishirube MC-4 I Do It Viva La Viva La Hoshikuzu Cantera --Encore / MC Hitohira no Hanabira After the girls left the stage the stage crew came out to clear the stage. I politely asked one of the venue stagehands for a pick and he got one for me! I thought that would be it, but then we noticed there was a commotion downstairs. It turned out Stereopony was autographing merchandise! The announced they would only be signing official merchandise, which I think they actually meant tour merchanidise. I whipped out my black demo anyway and when I presented it to Shiho, she looked over to Ryu who gave her the go ahead for her to sign it. I’m lucky to have a good relationship between us and Sony! AIMI also said “special” when that happened ^_^ Sheng did not have any merchandise to sign, so she graciously helped me by getting a tour shirt signed. After we all cleared out into a small hallway next to the signing room and waited for the rest of our group to get there items signed. We then all went outside together. There was a short moment of panic when Nishii was missing and Yoshiki was extremely worried. Luckily Nishii showed up eventually We all walked back to the parking lot along with the Japanese fans and SH members. We took a few pictures and then went our separate ways for the night. Tony drove the Japanese fans to their hotel. Eddie and I joined Sheng and AJ in Roderic’s car and we listened to Stereopony back to Pomona. We dropped off Sheng and AJ and then we grabbed a late night dinner at In and Out Burger. In and Out is a West Coast hamburger chain and I always wanted to try it as it’s very popular. It was a good dinner, but certainly not the healthiest. It was really big and I could barely even touch the fries. I was really glad to finally try it though. I told Roderic I really wanted to try In and Out, and I finally did! We then made our way to Roderic’s suite, and settled in for the night. DAY 9: Thursday April 11th, 2012 The next day I woke up early. As I was getting my thing s together, I got a call from NuClear Sounds. He was outside of RS’s suite so I let him up. NuClear Sounds, aka Philip had lots of professional camera gear… which made for lots of interesting conversation between Eddie and Philip. Roderic had class and left pretty early. Eddie had to work and I did some studying while Philip and his girlfriend chilled in the room. We tried to convince Philip’s girlfriend to join us for the concert, but we were unsuccessful. After Eddie concluded his work, we then made our way to the dollar store, where Philip cleared the store out of their entire stock of large glow sticks. We then went to Target, where Eddie had the idea of making photo albums of some of the pictures he took. It took a very long time, but eventually we chose the pictures, and got the photo albums. As the photos were printing we stuffed the albums, and in the car ride we organized the photos a little more evenly. We were then cutting it close to the start of the meet and greet but we made it to the venue on time. At the venue we came across many of the same people we saw at Key Club, including Tony, the Scandal Heaven Crew, Kazu, and the Japanese fans. This time RS brought his friend’s Patrick and Nicole to the show. Eddie and I had to wait to the side to get our Press passes, and as we waited we found out the Japanese fans were having trouble getting into the meet and greet. They didn’t pre-order the VIP tickets and the venue was not offering them day-of. Luckily Ryu and the tour manager worked their magic and got them in. The other problem was the Yost theater people took Eddie’s ticket to get him the press pass, but there was an issue with the meet and greet. Luckily Eddie somehow managed to get through, but it certainly was difficult. We were at the very end of the meet and greet line which ran up a staircase. We were brought through as usual and this time Stereopony was sitting on a bench with a space open between AIMI and Shiho for each person to set next to the band. Once again we received the usual greetings and I got another “Hi Zack” from the band. Eddie took my picture, with both AIMI and I holding the Stereopony towel Shiho dropped in San Francisco. After I took my photo I was chatting with Ryu towards the back and thanked him for everything throughout the tour. He also thanks all of us for our support. It was really amazing to get along so well with Sony. Eddie then presented Stereopony with the photo albums he made for them and they clearly enjoyed the gift. Eddie also told Ryu he had one for Stereopony’s photographer, and Ryu help arrange the photographer to get the album from Eddie. We then walked down the staircase into the Yost Theater. The main floor was lined by curtains and had ramps to the side. Stereopony’s merchandise was on the right side (if facing the stage) and to the back. The bar was on the direct opposite side to the stage. Following suit to the two nights previous, Eddie and I informed people about our respective roles during the concert. Prior to the concert we took pictures again and prepared ourselves for a fun night. The opening act was a band called Beware of the Darkness. Ironically I was enjoying their show, taking a few pictures and tweeting them to our followers. As I was typing out the tweet I got my head thrown back by the lead singer of Beware of Darkness. He thought I was being rude and was staring me down. I yelled back to him what I was doing and flashed my press pass. He then realized what I was saying and ran up to the microphone and yelled out “I am such an asshole”. He then ran up to me and uncomfortably hugged me. He whispered in my ear, “I am so- sorry. I’ll do anything you want. I’ll give you a blow job.” This of course was not helping the situation so I just was like… “uh, it’s cool man. “ He then asked my name and I told him. He then in the microphone stated, “this show is dedicated to Zack” and gave me a CD of their new EP “Howl”. It was an interesting pre-show. Following that Stereopony once again came out to set, left, and returned once again for the show. Once again it was the same set, and the crowd was full of energy. This time there were less “Hey!” chanting from the crowd, but it was replaced by the glow sticks of Yellow, Blue, and Pink. Stereopony performed a dynamite show, and concluded with AIMI saying “We will be back!” Setlist: SE Effective Line Sweet Blue MC-1 Hana Hiraku Oka Chiisana Mahou Supergirl Fuzz Never Look Back MC-2 Namida no Mukou Shihou Drum Solo It’s A Wild World Hanbunko MC-3 Stand by Me Tsukiakari no Michishirube MC-4 I Do It Viva La Viva La Hoshikuzu Cantera --Encore / MC Hitohira no Hanabira Stereopony eventually came out to autograph. As I was waiting on the line Ryu came over to me and asked that after I should go and find him. Also while waiting the Yost staff, who were pushy and rude moved the autograph session because they wanted to clear the main floor for the next event, which is where the venue becomes a night club. After relocating I was then the first person in line for the next autograph. At the meet and greet they ran out of signed posters and we were supposed to receive replacements at the signing, but that never occurred. Instead I had the remaining shirts I had signed. I said thank you to Stereopony once again and shook each of their hands. Eventually outside I finally met with Ryu. Along with him was Stereopony’s manager. Ryu then says to us, “He wanted to thank you for everything you’ve done during the tour” and then Stereopony’s manager Sakamoto gave all of us a pick. This included Roderic, Eddie, Yoshiki, Nishii, and Lale. This was an extremely moving gesture and quite a special moment for me, especially since he sought us out unsolicited. We then took a few more pictures outside and mingled a bit. We then saw Stereopony loading the tour vans at the side of the building. We all kept our distance but waved and cheered. Eventually Stereopony along with Mao all got into Nadeshiko’s car and drove past us, with all of us waving at each other. This was our farewell to Stereopony. We then parted with Philip and Eddie and I joined Patrick and Nicole in Roderic’s car back to Pomona. We stopped at Denny’s and ate dinner. I tried chicken fried steak for the first time and was certainly satisfied for my first meal of the day. We then went back to RS’s place and packed. I had an early flight the next day and I contemplated not sleeping, but I caught a few hours. Roderic then early in the morning drove Eddie and me to LAX. Eddie, Roderic and I quickly said goodbye and off to my plane I went. Of course I then encountered the scariest most turbulent flight of my life. I actually thought the plane was going to crash at one point because we quickly lost altitude for an extended period of time. Sometimes after a wonderful experience you can say “I can die now”. I started thinking about that… Luckily I made it back home OK, but I remember feeling a little shaken from the flight. The Stereopony tour was nothing less than an amazing experience. It was full of priceless memories shared with many friends. It was a trip filled with no regrets and lots of great memories, and I am forever thankful to have had such a remarkable experience.
