I seldom do this because Marichan do answer a lot of questions and I hardly read them because I don’t send them and my Japanese sucked. But I decided to backtrack and read like 100-odd of them today and some are amazing. So I’ve translated a few and sorry that they are some from Summer even though it’s Winter now. 16 translated in total~
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Fan: I’m feeling unwell recently. What do you recommend to eat to get my genki back?
Mariko: Curry（＾ν＾）
But since you’re feeling unwell, super hot curry（＾ν＾）
Fan: Is Mariko genki recently?
Mariko: I am alive （＾ν＾）I had summer heat fatigue and didn’t have time to rest
Fan: When do you feel most happy?
Mariko: When I go on travelling alone(^O^)／
Fan: What does Mariko obsessed about doing now?
Mariko: 1 week Japan tour! I might be able to finish in a few years.
(She means to go on a tour around the prefectures for a week, and maybe in a few years, she can finish going all the 47 cities during her week-long holidays)
Fan: Is there a way Marichan survive summer?
Mariko: It’s so hot I felt like dying everyday！(◎_◎;)
Fan: Do you like summer or winter?
Mariko: EhーーーーAutumn（＾ν＾）
Fan: Do you eat the food you like first or last?
Mariko: First! It’s my way of living where it’s ok whenever I die as I don’t have things to regret about！lol
Fan: What’s your new challenge this summer?
Mariko: Splitting the watermelon（＾ν＾）
Fan: What’s your favorite lipstick color?
Mariko: I dislike lipsticks in general~！(◎_◎;)
I’ll end up licking it off immediately LOL
Chu-lip（＾ν＾）I like that
(TN: Mariko is promoting her Chu-lip endorsement LOL)
Fan: Will there be female-only events for fanclub? As a male, I am worried that I can’t go. MARIKKO is equal right? T-T
Mariko: We don’t want to exclude anyone I believe LOL But I want to have a female-party! I wonder how it’s like. If there’s a female-only event, there will be a male-only event as well （＾ν＾）
Everyone’s equal here *\(^o^)/* The motto is to get along happily here~
Fan: Do you have any dreams lately?
Mariko: I dreamt today that I was waiting at the hospital earnestly waiting for a dream LOL I don’t have dreams lately LOL
Fan: Why is Komechan named as that?
Mariko: It’s white like rice so *\(^o^)/*
(TN: Kome = rice in Japanese)
Fan: Any drunk incidents?
Mariko: En~~~Me and Haruna input the same song into karaoke a few times
Fan: What’s your charm?
Mariko: I’ve no idea what’s my charm too
Fan: Which is the country that you want to have a short trip to now?
Mariko: If it’s a short trip, going overseas can be worrying, but I think the only country that I think it’s ok for me to go for a short trip is to Singapore（＾ν＾）It has a peaceful image
(shhhh it’s because Singapore has me <3)
Talking about memories from Natsu Matsuris, Marichan mentioned about the summer festival she went last year.
She walked past the game booth and saw the shooting game booth had one of her calendars as the gift if she managed to win the game. It was an unofficial calendar for 2014, and seeing it, she said she suddenly reaaaaally want to get it, especially since she had never seen it before. She spent quite a sum on it but she can’t win the game.
The obaachans tending the stall watched her play and was like “Why are you so bent on winning this kid’s calendar?” and Marichan was flustered by the question. She said she just really want it, and so seeing that she can’t win the game, the obaachan was like “Give me 300Yen and I’ll sell it to you instead.” Marichan thought to herself “My calendar is worth only 300Yen” and she laughed. She paid the 300Yen and she said for the whole of last year, she used that calendar. LOL
Hi wen! I know you're exhausted with the shamekai and all, but would you mind sharing how to join mariko's official fanclub for foreign fans? Sorry to bother, and hope you're enjoying your trip!
I don’t really remember how to join it anymore tbh. I don’t really remember it to be too difficult since foreign cards are okay (I’m using a JCB card thou, and AMEX seems to be fine too). Someone told me the registration seems more complicated now and she is facing troubles joining it, so I’m not sure if they did change the process? T_T
2. I went for Minami’s live（＾ν＾）
Since debut at the age of 15, with the goal of a solo debut, on her 24th birthday, she could fulfil the dream and seeing that, naturally the tears can’t be stopped.
Watching over that dream, and, seeing everyone who gave in their best to cheer and support, I feel that that was a very blissful place.
When alone and feeling worried, we could look back and see everyone giving their support, hearing everyone saying “Do your best!”, that’s really a blissful image.
And, I felt really loved and thankful thinking that I’ve everyone’s support here!
warning: long fanaccount~ and it’s a Mushu fanaccount mostly. like you know MUSHU IS SO CUTE TT__TT
The announcement for the fanmeet held on 5th April 2015 was announced in October/November 2014, which gave everyone ample of time to plan their schedules to be here. Not just overseas, fans from all parts of Japan managed to make their ways down for the two fanmeetings (2PM & 6PM).
I’m writing both shows into one fanaccount. When you enter, you’re given a band (4th & 5th photos). Afternoon show is in pink, night show in blue.
The week before, we asked Marichan’s manager how long the fanmeet will be and he said about 2 hours, but both fanmeeting ran for a little over 2.5 hours, and it was packed with craziness. Nontii (Noro Kayo, ex AKB/SDN48) was there as guest, and Mushu was there too!
My seats were okay for the 2 fanmeeting, J rows for afternoon and H for night, which is just one row difference since there’s no I row. Seat 7 in J is more of the left side of the hall, while 20 for H sits me right in the middle. The uncle fan that we always see first at PON, he sits beside me for afternoon and just behind me for night. Crazy how our seats are together, he’s all like what an unbelievable coincidence.
Both shows, Mariko came out to greet the fans at the start, thanking everyone for coming to the fanmeeting. Then she brings out the co-MC, and in the 1st show, everyone’s like NONNNNNTIIIIII~ and she’s like NO ITS NOT!!! LOL “Let’s bring out the co-MC...MUSHU!”
AND THIS LITTLE MUSHU COMES RUNNING OUT FROM BACKSTAGE AND RUNS FROM LEFT TO RIGHT OF THE STAGE A FEW TIMES BEFORE FOLLOWING MARICHAN EVERYWHERE. WHAT IS THIS CUTENESS.
Marichan keeps putting the mic to Mushu’s mouth to make Mushu talk, but little Mushu just stare at Marichan. ‘A’)/ SO CUTE. And Marichan says Mushu is so good with fanservice because she’s just running on the stage really near the edge to look at the fans. T_T I’ve to say that Mushu is so crazily clever. She doesn’t run down the stage and just play around on the stage, following Marichan wherever she walks, and then if Marichan or the (real) co-MC puts the mic to Mushu, she will just stare at the mic and stands still. Mushu doesn’t even bark and wasn’t scared of crowds at all.
The fanmeeting is made so that it is a school setting which Marichan is the teacher. Therefore, once the MC was introduced, Marichan gave the order to stand, attention, bow, and then sit. It’s funny to see everyone, of all ages, some even much older fans (at least 60-odd) to do this. There were a few subjects, Art, Social, History, Cooking.
The fanmeeting starts with a photo-taking session, which later it was revealed that everyone will get the photo for free for memory sake! Each session sees about 800-odd fans so according to Mariko’s twitter, this was what happen after the photo was taken. Crazy indeed.
Art sees Marichan drawing fans’ faces on a board and signing it for them. Afternoon show had 5 lucky fans getting that, and night show 4. Marichan gave them weird nicknames spun off from their real name and I’ve to say, even though the drawing is more on the funny side, it really looked alike. Marichan said she liked drawing and stuffs since young, and was nicknamed Fukuoka’s Picasso. LOLOLOL
One of the fans had big ears that stick out, and Marichan was like “Those are Nyannyan ears!!!! Nyannyan ears!!!!” and she said how Nyannyan can’t hear if you call her from behind, so she got behind the fan and started calling him. Marichan asked if he can’t hear, and the fan was like “Yeah, I can’t hear a thing” LOLOLOL Marichan was like ”You totally could hear!!” and of course he could since Marichan called with the mic. LOL Such a sporty fan.
While she was drawing, we were given a questionnaire to fill in. Afternoon show had 20 questions and night show 15. The higher scorers will get something, but it was revealed at the end that they got to eat curry made by Marichan. More on this later.
Social sees Marichan answering a few questions from the management and then answering questions from the fans. She said that the dog trainer actually said Mushu is a really clever dog. Mushu knows what the trainer was saying almost at once, but it’s really her choice to do it or not. Marichan said Mushu only took 3 tries before being able to go to toilet right. Marichan the proud Mushu owner, decides to show everyone how good Mushu is.
“待て” means to wait, and Mushu was suppose to sit on command. But Mushu in the afternoon show, was all like, I’m going to stand >:C Marichan said 待て like 5 times and Mushu just refuses to sit, only standing beside Marichan but not moving. Then Marichan used a sterner tone, and Mushu sat. All the fans were like Marichan’s scary!!! LOL And then “お手” for hand, and Mushu refuses to do that too. In the end, Marichan took Mushu’s paw on her own and was like お手〜〜〜〜 lololol
There’s a question asking Marichan what is the first thing she does in the morning, and what’s the last thing she does before sleeping. Marichan, in a sweet voice, answered that the last thing she does at night is “Everyone, have a good night~” and the first thing in the morning is “Everyone, have a great day. Do your best~~” and everyone in the audience were like, YOU ARE LYING. wwwwwww
Asked what she wants to be in her next life, Marichan said she wants to be born a guy. She said she will be a AKB48 fan as a guy in her next life. She said how it’s probably different looking at the members as a guy, and that it’s those...”Ero feels when guys look” instead of as a girl fan, at the AKB members. And the fans in the audience were like “WE CAN UNDERSTAND THAT” cus they are guys, and Marichan kept laughing. Someone shouted to ask who she will oshi, and she was like “Of course it will be Kojima Haruna.” And the fans were like “WE CAN UNDERSTAND THAT TOO” LOLOLOL I mean, if you want to look at members ero-ly...Nyannyan is top. LOL And Marichan was like “Her photobook, did you guys see it?...YOU PEOPLE ALL SAW IT DIDN’T YOU!?!?!” and the MC was like “what?!?!?” Marichan was spazzing about how the butt on the back page was amazing, and a fan took out the photobook and Marichan was like “LOOOOOOOK AT THATTTTTT!!!!!” They took the book on stage for the camera to zoom in and Marichan was like “All of you should look at the photobook, should get a copy.”
A fan asked Marichan “If you could be a ice cream flavour, what would you be?” and Marichan said “Mint”. Her reasoning is because, everyone wants to be the sweet flavours like strawberry but Mint is more special. It has the spice and leaves a taste in your mouth after eating it.
There was a short break then because according to the MC, Marichan is going to change her outfit. After 5 minutes, Marichan comes out with the same outfit. LOL MariTroll strikes!
Afternoon show she announced there’s a special transfer student from overseas. She was like “This transfer student speaks English. It’s going to be troublesome...” and MC was like “Is there anyone that speaks English!?” And Marichan looks at me. LOL Uncle was like kicking my leg and telling me to say I do but I was like too shy. LOL The transfer student came in a sumo outfit, with a sumo mask, and started dancing funny. Then with the mask off, it was Nontii!
Night show, Nontii came in a shiny outerwear and was imitating some famous Japanese singer/comedian. Nontii appeared from the back of the concert hall, and danced/sang her way down the hall. Marichan decides to jump off the stage and join Nontii at the audience area and runs around, hi-5ing the fans. It was the only time she sang/shout along for the fanmeet.
History part is where they shared photos from Mariko childhood. There’re photos of her father, which was the 1st time that it was showed, and her brother. Brother looks ikemen-ish when young, not sure about now. wwww Marichan was such a tall kid, so much taller than she should be. Like there was a photo of her about 12, that looks like someone who’s at least 165cm already.
On and off throughout the two fanmeets, Mushu ran out from backstage to walk around the stage when the fanmeeting was happening. Marichan was like “Mushu is a free spirit dog~” and Mushu helped to do fanservice for the fans wwwwwww
Marichan took up ballet for ... one year, when she’s 12. Photos of her in ballerina wear were amazingly pretty. So gorgeous. Almost all the childhood photo shows Marichan in weird expressions. She said she always do funny faces when she takes photos since young. There’s one where she’s in a one-piece and she’s like 4 years old, and it has まりこ on it. She said her mom sew most of her clothes when she’s young and she likes to sew their names (brother and sister gets it too) on the clothes. I guess that’s where Marichan gets her design genes!
Afternoon show sees the last photo being Nontii’s 1st AKB photo, and night show sees a Nontii on Team K stage photo in between Marichan’s photos. LOL
Cooking sets Nontii versus Marichan. They are suppose to cook pancakes, and 4 fans (2 to taste Marichan’s cooking, 2 for Nontii’s) and 2 fans for afternoon and night show respectively were picked. All the picking of fans were very fair as it involves Marichan/Nontii picking from a Lucky Box that has all our ticket stubs when we entered.
Marichan’s pancake has fruits topping. Marichan was like, strawberries, blueberries, bananas are a must for pancakes right? And Nontii. OMG Nontii. SHE TOPPED THE PANCAKE WITH CHAMPONG. There’s like mushrooms, radish, leeks, soba noodles on the pancake!!!! That’s not all, there was...WHIPPED CREAM with all these. The fans who tasted Nontii’s said that despite the look, it actually tasted good. LOL
Because the fans’ hands were shaking so badly that made him unable to cut the pancake, Marichan cut it for him, and then decided to feed him. T_T The fans are supposed to do a delicious expression after they ate the pancake and the side with loudest claps, get to win. Marichan’s side won for both shows of course. lol The winner got the apron that Marichan was wearing for both shows. Since afternoon had 1 more fan on the tasting side, the 2 fans did a jyanken and the winner gets the apron, the loser gets the towel that Marichan had on her neck.
Marichan also cooked curry in the morning before the fanmeeting. She was filmed cooking it and even cried bc of the onions. LOL When she was dissolving the curry cubes, she was saying it’s chocolate. The high scorers from the questionnaire earlier were treated to the curry. Afternoon had 5 winners, night had 8. 3 of the 5 winners for afternoon show were my friends and they came from Taiwan. wwww One of them doesn’t speak any Japanese, and the other friend had to do translations on stage, so it was funny. Marichan talked to them more while the MC was interviewing the other fans. The curry rice was shaped to Mushu face ;A;)/ So Marichan was like “YOU ARE EATING MUSHU’s EAR!!!” ;A;
The ending of the fanmeeting sees a massive massive giveaway by Marichan. Both shows have autographed posters from the CMs that Marichan did, as well as lots of her personal goods. She said in fanclub that when she was in Fukuoka for the baseball game, she went home looking for gifts. Some of the noteable gifts are the humidifier as seen in the photo, huge Maripanda, Marichan’s adidas pants which she wore notably for Tokyo Dome rehearsals, Marichan’s all-in-one that she mentioned that she wore it too many times...
There were about 25 gifts at least per show, with about 5-8 signed posters, and one of each type of her signed fanclub calendar (for sale on the fanmeeting day). There’s also the Mariko Peach jet that was autographed and can’t be bought anymore. Maripanda was amazing because it was a sample so apparently the eyes were stuck on by glue (lol) and it was the one and only big Maripanda! She also gave away the baseball used for the Fukuoka pitch, with the date stamp on it. The winner of the baseball was unfortunately a basketball fan. LOL She also gave the pair of sneakers she wore for the pitch and a girl got it.
Then...there was the lottery for the all-in-one that Marichan wore. When the photo of the outfit came up, everyone was like EHHHHHHH. Everyone was saying that Marichan is crazy to give that because it’s something she always wear. Marichan was saying how she kept wearing this and it’s like one of her favourite outfits ever, wearing it overseas, to PON, and outside as well.
Nontii was saying how it would be good if a girl wins it, but they were like, what if guys won this?! Almost all of the goods before were won by guys, so they were like, maybe they will just keep it if they win this. LOL And Marichan picked the stub.
J lane.
Me: /looks at uncle/ It’s our lane! wwwww
7th seat.
Uncle: /kicks me/
Me: You?
Uncle: YOU.
Me: /Looks at chair in front for seat number/ O____________O
OH. OH. ME? ME???????????????
Marichan was looking at both of us, so amused. Probably thinking which one of us got it. LOL The gifts before were taken from the stage to pass to staff in audience area to be given to the winners but for this, they told me to get on the stage.
GET ON THE STAGE???????????????????
Marichan went to the edge of the stage and waited for me to get there. I thought she was just going to pass it to me, but no, I had to get on the stage.
Then MC then came over and asked what I’ve to say and I said Thank you in English. All spoken in Japanese.
MC: EHHH??? FOREIGNER??
Me: /nods/
Marichan: EHHHH???
MC: Where are you from?
Me: Singapore
MC: WOOOOW SO AMAZING
Marichan: WOW FROM SINGAPORE!!!!
Me: /awkward/ thinking: “Am I suppose to act like I never seen you before”
Nontii: (English) It’s not be fitting... [I think she meant to say, it’s not going to fit]
Me: wwwww
Marichan: Don’t be mean to her!
Me: wwwww (without the mic to Marichan) it’s not going to fit
Marichan: wwww (without mic) Thank you for coming all the way from Singapore.
Me: Thank you /leaving stage/
Marichan: Shake hands!
Me: ehhhhh /shakes/ wwwww
Marichan: See you~
Later on, there’s 5 lucky winners from afternoon and night show to take a 3-shot with Marichan and Mushu. That’s the one I want because Mushu )): Uncle got it from afternoon show. I’m so happy for him since he’s probably the most dedicated fan ever. T_T Marichan also said that Rohto, the one behind her lip balm/sunscreen endorsements will be giving lip balms to everyone. Ends up we get both sunscreen and chu lip! ‘A’))
Night show had an additional part where after Marichan said thank you and goodbye, the lights dim immediately and we have Birthday surprise for her. When the lights dimmed, Marichan was like “Eh? What’s happening?”. And we started singing Happy Birthday to her, and after we are done, she cried. T_T She started thanking everyone for coming to the fanmeeting, for still being supportive of her and what she do even after AKB. Says that the 1-odd year after she graduates, everyone still gives her really supportive comments on her SNS and how she can continue only because of everyone’s support. T_T She couldn’t stop crying T_T
After the show, Marichan personally gives out the cookies to every fan. She baked a total of 1600-odd cookies. She said the recipe came from Jurina’s mama, who is really good in baking. The recipe becomes one that all the AKB members uses, and hence the taste is what the members eat always. We get the photo from a staff, then Marichan’s cookies, then Rohto goods.
Afternoon show:
Marichan: Congratulations on the win wwwww
Me: LOL Of all things...
Marichan: That’s luck~~y~~~~~!!!!
Night show:
Marichan: (sees me) (English) Thank you~~
Me: I’ll go to POn next week
Marichan: I’ll wait for you~~~ (English) Thank you for coming!
