Hizumi B-Day Special and Umbrella Mag Vol.64

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それは再び私です!笑

☂☂☂ HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Mr. Rain King! ☂☂☂

I know you guys have been waiting for ages for this update. ^^;

Since it's a special day today I'll reward you with a special gift: A super-duper-long, funny, weird and picspamming post!



So right on to the first part of today's special gift: Umbrella Mail Magazine Vol. 64 was released earlier today. And as expected Hizumi was in a pretty bright and happy mood. :happybounce: Though (as one would have expected) it seemed to be quite a rainy day over in Japan. :giggle:

He basically just announced the dates for his upcoming offline store event, which is going to take place on April, 5th and April, 6th again at Buddy Soundworks in Koenji/Tokyo.

And he mentioned something about a mega launch along with the event. :3 Since he already blurted out something about working on a new design last time, I guess we can expect a cool new design series coming up. <3

So, if you somehow get the chance, don't hesitate and just go! This guy will give you the most relaxing and fun time ever. :excited:




And this actually brings me on to the second part of today's special: Two exclusive reports from last year's offline store events in March and December. :boogie:

I'll start of the report from December 2013, real life experience captured by my dear friend Hikari - enjoy! :iconpandadanceplz:

☂☂☂  After 12 hours of travelling we arrived around lunch time in Tokyo. A good friend of mine picked us up at Narita airport. I was happy to see her, especially after an exhausting flight.

But there was no time to rest. We just made a short stop at our hostel leaving our luggage behind and left to face Koenji or better Hizumi’s offline store.

For a moment we took the wrong way and did not find the shop with the first try but with the second. Outside was the banner, marking the shop. So we went downstairs, crossed the Buddy Soundwork Shop to meet up with Hizumi.




His offline store was located in a small room in the back of the shop. Some Japanese customers were there and we entered shyly. While looking around I talked to my Japanese friend, who went with us. She did not know him, so I explained her who Hizumi is. Not in Japanese though. We also looked through the shop and sadly the things I wanted were already sold out. But the new long-sleeve T-shirt was to my liking and my friend had the same opinion.

We were discussing the size, when I kind of felt uneasy and looked over my shoulder. Hizumi were watching us with a ‘You can ask me, if you need help’-face. Even though I am studying Japanese studies and therefore learn the language I am always nervous and afraid if I have to talk to my idols, too many embarrassing memories. Anyway I took a deep breath and then asked if the flared shirt would be M size or S size. I cannot remember which size it was in the end, but he helped with the decision with telling us that he was wearing the S size. It looked good on him though.

We waited until all the Japanese customers were gone and gave him the presents we had for him. The first one was from a friend. I told him that it is a present from a German fan and gave him the package. He was surprised how heavy it was and looked at it. The second thing he said was ‘Matryoshka’. I smiled a bit, but did not want to say that this is a Russian thing and not German. Well, he took it and then realized by himself that Matryoshkas are not German and laughed. Then we decided to hand over our present. Nothing special though. Hizumi looked into the green bag and happily said ‘Haribo!’ You really could see how happy he was just because of some Haribo. Then a Japanese came and gave him a present too. The presents seemed to pile up so he brought them in a different room and let us alone. Just a few seconds to calm down and then I choose the things I wanted to buy.

My friend was convinced but decided to buy the M, although the S would have been perfect. We looked around because there was so much to see. There were glasses and we were thinking how to ask if we can try them on. My Japanese friend checked our question and my other friend asked then. She was trying on the glasses while I hold her normal ones. They looked good on her, also Hizumi said that, but she was not sure so she said no. Both of us decided on some postcards from him too.

So we got our stuffs and took part at the lottery. I was the first one and got a poem of Yamamoto. Because some days ago were my birthday I told it to Hizumi and also got a Birthday card as well as the New Year’s card. Then it was the time for my friend to get a lottery ticket and surprisingly she got a cheki.

Shocked and taken by surprise she was like ‘No, I don’t want to’, well she said that but in German so hopefully Hizumi did not understand it. My Japanese friend and I were watching them giggling. I wondered how the picture will turn out, since we had a 12 hour travel behind us with almost no sleep. Hizumi signed it immediately and we tried to talk with him. It was difficult because we were pretty nervous, my Japanese friend always tried to cheer us up to talk more, especially because Hizumi seemed to be really talkative. Best thing was, when he complained that it would be hot in the room, but he was wearing a black bobble hat. …

Anyway we left and got some food talking about the meeting and different stuff. My Japanese friend said that Hizumi was a nice person and was wondering how old he is. We answered that he must be around 37 and she was shocked, because she thought he might be around 27.

I was trying to read the poem I got at the lottery, while my friend was wondering if she should have bought the glasses. Again we told her, that they looked good on her and she said she wants to go back to get them as well as apologizing since she thought that she was a bit rude before. Well, we were just too nervous.

After some talks and a plan what we could say, we went back. It was a weird feeling to go there again and also he was surprised to see us again. He greeted us with an “Are?” [Means Huh?] Again we waited for the Japanese customer to leave and my friend explained that she changed her mind, she wants the glasses. I decided to get 2 Swing Glasses. I thought they were cute and the mug was already gone. A friend also asked if I could bring her the mug so decided on giving her one of those swing glasses. So we could participate in the lottery again, we also got another New Years card. This time it was me who won something. Unluckily I did not get what was written on the paper and looked to my Japanese friend, but she said nothing while Hizumi was putting something on his thumbs.

I admit I panicked. I was afraid of what would happen and he said nothing. That made it even worse. So while I was completely frightened he was calm as hell, getting closer and closer. He looked at me and just said that it would be better to take of my glasses and took them off.

I was more paralyzed than anything else and let him hand them over to me. While I was standing still trying to breathe normally, because he was just some centimetres away, Hizumi was massaging my temples with his thumbs with some peppermint oil. Afterwards he meant it is for relaxing. Yeah, try to relax if you do not know what is happing and he is getting closer and closer. For me it was just impossible and I smelt that peppermint oil for the rest of the day.

We started talking again. My friend apologized for the rudeness earlier, explaining that she was just too nervous. Well, he did not understand it and looked confused so she had to repeat it and then he understood. He kind of made fun out of her pronounciation. I thought it was not that bad, but well if you are nervous you might mumble a bit too much. After that we left.

It was a fun meeting and a day I will never forget. Now I hope I can go and see him at an offline store again then I will be braver and talk more to him! But it was weird to stand in front of him, nothing that is in the way… Normally there is a barrier between you and one of your favourite musicians but there was just nothing. That really was unusual. ☂☂☂




Ok, and the last piece for today is actually my own report from March last year. It's way different and much less spectacular. And unfortunately there was no lucky draw back at that time, but anyway I thought it might be a nice little closure for today's special. Well, enjoy guys! :w00t:

☂☂☂ Anyway, this was all in all a weird experience.O.O; First I fell pretty sick on the night to Saturday, so I hardly couldn't do anything @.@ It felt like destiny is going to prevent me again from seeing him (I already missed 2 Despa shows and a Maifo live cause of stupid bad luck). >.<

But I really couldn't let this once-in-a-lifetime chance to meet Hizumi just pass by, so after seeing a doctor on Sunday I finally went to Koenji. Buddy Soundworks wasn't hard to locate and then...there was the next surprise. I was somehow expecting hell breaking loose or at least some people queueing or at least lingering around the shop. But nope, it was dead empty. The shop clerk was sitting behind his counter browsing dead bored through a magazine. ^^;

And in the very back end corner of the shop, which actually isn't much bigger than a large living room, there was another cash register, about 2 mid size tables displaying Umbrella goods and one mannequin displaying the cropped pants and sold out T-Shirt & Parka. Two cute but shy Japanese girls were browsing through the items displayed, while Hizumi was talking to another lady about his new t-shirt design.

And that's about it. No giggling, screamy crowd, no rock star attitude, no nothing. :giggle: Hizumi was acting and looking like one of the regular staff members in Koenji. Most of the shops are pretty fashionable and laid back, and most of the guys were pretty easy to talk to, even chatting in Engrish. I highly recommend you to go there, when u get the chance to visit Tokyo.



I somehow became very calm (maybe just due to the medication though). But still I'm really way to shy for things like that...I so wished I had somebody else coming along, who knows a little more Japanese and is more outgoing. Geez. -.-

Anyway, Hizumi was...well, super nice and patient. As expected he did not speak any English and I didn't want to trouble him with talking too much in English either, so he patiently waited and watched me stuttering the few Japanese phrases I learnt before. THAT was the most embarassing thing ever.:blush: And I really wished I would have studied some more in the past, so I could at least have asked some sincere questions. DARN! >.<

But...it was awesome to actually hear him talking. His voice really does have such a pleasant & soothing sound. And his eyes were smiling all the time, which was kinda cute. You could barely see his face though. He was dressed in brown & black stuff: Heavy jeans & boots & the notorious metal chains, heavy brownish leather jacket, his hair was dyed back to brown/red/black again and combed into his face. And he was wearing a knit beanie and his glasses, so not much except his beautiful eyes left to be seen.

So, since I can't speak much Japanese I could just ask him about whether he still had that Snake print parka and if he was willing to sell the one on the mannequin. But they ran out of stock and he kinda explained that the one left is just for display and when he noticed, that there was some kind of dirt or pilling on one of the sleeves, he suddenly threw it off the mannequin and dumped it into his bag with some sort of embarrassment. Sorry Hizu! ^^;

He rejected to have a picture taken with utmost Japanese politeness and this gesture of clapping the hands together, like begging for something. But, at least he was ok with signing the tote bag I bought:



And it was rather funny watching him bowing over the cash register machine trying to figure out, how to calculate and return cash...and later carefully wrapping up my stuff. :giggle:

Before leaving I handed him a small gift, telling him that this was a self-made gift by a friend of mine and me (nothing special, just a simple zipper pouch with a drawing in the background). But that gorgeous artwork really has a comforting/relaxing atmosphere, so I wanted to share with him. :3 He took it with surprise, but his eyes were smiling. I don't know though, whether he really looks at stuff like that or just dumps it somewhere.^^;

Well, overall, the whole thing just lasted about 10 minutes or so due to my shyness and lack of language skills. Still, that was one of the most beautiful and exciting moments in my life.  ☂☂☂

Hope you had fun with today's special. :D I really hope we can share more reports from the offline events with you guys in future. So if you got the chance to visit one or if you know somebody who did and if you are willing to drop us a few lines about your experience, let us know. I'm sure all of the fellow Mania here would be delighted to read more funny stories. <3

Ψ(`▽´)Ψ

じゃ また ね.

 
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55cyntha69's avatar
Thank you for the great report! :3