On January 10th HY announced their plans to hold a special street live in Okinawa at their old stomping grounds, Chatan Mihama Carnival Park. The date was set for February 10th, which gave Kumo and myself just one month to decide whether we could, should, and would make the trip. Being the total HY fanatics that we are, both of us naturally had hopes of visiting Okinawa someday and it seemed if ever there was a good time and reason to go, this was it. So it was that we added the next, most insane chapter to our HY pilgrimage!

When asked later, of course we both would agree that it was well worth all the hassle, but that doesn't change the fact that it was pure hell adding an extra flight and airport scene after the long trip over the Pacific. We arrived late on the 7th, giving us two days in Okinawa before the day the of the street live, one for each of the locations we wanted to see. The first was of course the Carnival Park area. Not only would the street live be taking place here, but it's rich in HY history with their 2006 Christmas Eve street live, Street Story PV, Saa Yukou PV, and of course the fact that they modeled their Watta Shinker tour stage after this place (all of these can bee seen on their DVD releases).

Spotting the ferris wheel was an exciting moment

Ah, the famous steps and statue

Neither Kumo nor I were very interested in the area beyond the appeal it held for us as HY fans. Across the street was the American Depot, used in the Saa Yukou promotional video, and all sorts of other familiar sights were scattered around. When we went to ride the famous ferris wheel we found that within Carnival Park (where you buy the tickets) there were several HY displays including several of their promo posters (with signatures to go with Departure's). There were also TV screens around the place that were showing the Itta Somun and Watta Shinker tours. We got to sit and eat ice cream while watching Song for... and Street Story!

Shun's passageway from the Saa Yukou PV

HY display within Carnival Park itself

We did also like the small beach which is very nearby, and we added our own HY touches there as we saw fit. ;)

Kumo's Masterpiece

HY ROCKS! - It was over 30 feet long

I fell ill on the second morning which took a big chunk of the day, and when I finally felt well enough to go out we were met with terrible weather (contrary to the forecast) after a two hour bus ride to Higashi Yakena, HY's hometown. It was cool to be there, but the wind and rain made it impossible to enjoy ourselves.

Exhausting steps lead up to the observation deck

Yakena Straits is a beautiful little spot

Finally the 10th arrived! The entire success of the street live hinged on the weather, which had been pretty bad the whole time. If it was to rain, the performance would be moved indoors and only so many people would be able to attend. Like a miracle though, blue sky began to appear as soon as we reached Carnival Park that morning! What's more, we found everything was already well on its way to being set up.

Beautiful HY flags blowing in the breeze!

A shot from above, the stage is on the right

We took our place in the forming line for a five hour wait, during which time it seemed the amount of people ahead of us quadrupled as friends came to join their friends who had been holding their place. Such is life.

The line, it increases...

Was cool to see HY fans decked out

It was really cool to see just about everyone in line wearing HY gear of varying degrees. Some people were totally decked out with shirts, hoodies, wristbands, and towels. We were definitely standing right in the core of HY fandom. We even recognized some of the people from HY's DVDs. Among them was of course...

The Insidious Fan!

Kumo captures a great shot on the sly

Yes of course, the Insidious Fan was guaranteed to be there. Remarkably, we were in line long before him and kept our eyes open for him, but he ended up in front of us as one of the people who had a friend come early for them. Low, low. Oh, and we also saw Daniel Morgan walk by, so we knew we'd be getting some choir action.

Our long wait was broken up momentarily when the call came for everyone to head to the merchandise stands. On the way we got to sign the flag, and after I had bought my loot one of the photographers recognized me and asked if I was at Philadelphia (see the khYber report). That made me so happy, Kumo was really disappointed to have missed out on that moment.

One hour before the performance was to start we were allowed to enter the main area and take our places. There weren't any seats to judge by, but we sort of ended up in the "5th row" on Yuhei's side. I heard HY's usual pre-concert shout, as did many others and the screams of excitement started up. Finally it began!

No picture taking allowed...

...these are from other sites.

They started out with Sanpo ni Ikou, one of the new songs from their upcoming album HeartY! It was so amazing to not only be seeing HY live again after so long, but on the street in Okinawa as they performed new material! Here was the full set list:

There weren't as many new songs played as we had expected but we didn't mind either way, everything sounded great new and old alike. Although this was the big moment, it's hard to know what to say about it in particular. HY's live performances are always incredible, so it doesn't do much good to go on and on raving about their performance. Simply fantastic! There are a few personal remarks and highlights I can comment on. Poker Face was great to see live, as it was the song Kumo and I had each watched (the 2006 Christmas Eve Live version) many times to get ourselves psyched up about going to Okinawa. It was really cool to see the whole crowd twirling their fingers, too.

When Konoko-tachi no Tame ni came up, both Kumo's and my excitment levels were doubled. We had heard a clip of the awesome chorus of this song on HY's site New Years Day and were really hoping they'd perform it here! After that, White Beach was extra powerful, and jumping up and down in a tight crowd like that is really something. I'm not sure whose fault it was, but my arm collided with the head of the girl in front of me. Gomenasai! AM11:00 was also really great to see live, non-English style.

By the way, The Insidious Fan was "3rd row" and even more off to the side than us, but that changed throughout the concert as he gradually worked his way leftward almost to the center. Low, low. He was really something to see though. He has a whole bag of homemade HY items which he switches around. He might be wearing a black cap with white HY letters sewn on it during one song, gloves with an H on one hand and a Y on the other during the next, and waving a white fan with HY drawn on it for the following. He's also always moving, clapping, whatever even when the rest of the audience is still. Of course, during Street Story he was waving his "Insidious Flag," as seen on HY's documentary tour.

Guitars!

Final pose with the audience

After it was all over, I knew I had to seek the Insidious Fan out and shake hands, regardless of any ill will. He didn't speak English, so he was a little confused at first as to why we'd come up to him, but with broken Japanese we let him know we'd seen him on all of HY's DVDs and then he shook our hands again before heading off. We'd see him again soon though, smiling and waving to us as we passed him by to get in the line for the handshake event. Yes, HANDSHAKE!

What a precious little item

The tent after the event

When buying our merchandise, Kumo and I also received tickets to meet and shake hands with HY! The line started at and stretched back in the same place as before, but this time we took a left at the end and HY was right there in a row within a little tent. Yuhei was first, and the photographers also in the tent started snapping pictures like crazy as soon as I shook his hand. Next was Izumi, who seemed to instantly recognize me but was trying to figure out from where. She looked back and with the help of the photographers, Philadelphia popped up and I nodded. She opened her arms and gave me a hug, then another on the other side and a kiss on the cheek! The crowd of people around exploded with various reactions. Izumi shouted "America!" and Kumo got the same treatment after me.

Third in line was Shinsuke, who looked really excited to see us. Fourth was Hideyuki. "Tanoshikatta?" he asked, which I would have actually understood but I didn't catch it right away so he said "Enjoy?" Kumo and I had ended up moving to each member together by this point and we both let him know we enjoyed it very much. Finally came Shun, who instantly asked, "Philadelphia?" and gave us each a hug. I told him that my parents had become big HY fans and he seemed really surprised and delighted by it. He was also handing out little Valentine's candies to everyone, a precious momento.

When our turns were up, we headed around to join the crowd of others who had already shaken hands and were watching as the rest of the line went on. The Insidious Fan gave us another smile and wave, apparently having witnessed the whole scene. We stood and watched for another 25 minutes or so until the line came to an end and HY headed for their van. What an incredible day...

Ferris Wheel after the event

Scene of the crime sublime

The next being our final day, we headed back to Higashi Yakena under infinitely better weather conditions and spent a pleasant afternoon there. We weren't the only HY fans in the neighborhood though.

Let's go everybody

Fangirls

We spotted one group with HY towels (the ones only available at the previous day's live) checking the area out, and another group of four girls who passed us by twice in a car just happened to be the very same ones who had been right in front of us in the line. Remarkable coincidence.

HY logo painted on a building

In the obsevation deck, someone else's mark

It was a fantastic four days, and I hope it makes for interesting reading.


-Report by MoCo
-Pictures by Kumo & MoCo