(Jan, 2011)
Tokio in Tokyo!
Tokio Hotel in Tokyo
The aura of Tokio Hotel is too dazzling that it’s hard to get close.
Tokio Hotel in Omotesando
Finally Tokio Hotel has arrived in Japan! Although they are super stars in Europe, it is their first time to come to Japan. On the first day in Japan, with the support of German embassy Tokio Hotel became to be goodwill ambassadors, in order to commemorate the 150th anniversary of restored diplomatic relation between Germany and Japan and let Japanese know more about German culture. Of course, they were promoting themselves as well. The people in charge of schedule set a devilish tight schedule for them, and he said: “This band wants to have a successful start in Japan. I think there will be no doubt.” So the four members of the band began at 9 o’clock, no complaints at all for 12 hours, they kept working.
From the first day, Dec. 12th, to the interviews with In Rock, their idle time was almost zero. The manager said: “After all the interviews, all the stores had closed. So TH was looking forward to the interview in Harajuku. Although it’s raining, we will be there definitely. But they may go shopping next Japan Trip.” The band was really in a high mood to go promoting.
Could such a band fulfill their keen wish? It began raining since the early morning and became cloudy. Fortunately, it stopped before the shooting . Finally we could go out.
In the hotel lobby, we met two fans that came from France. They followed TH all the way. Eight people including me, set out in two Benz with smokey glass windows prepared for the band. In Europe, Audi sponsors TH, so no matter where they go they have Audi. But Japan is not on the list, so they rode Benz in Japan. However, the Benz matched up with Bill’s luxurious temperament well.
For 5 days, 4 nights trip, Bill and Tom took 7 suitcases filled with clothes. Bill changed his cloth depending on each event. The day before, Bill wore some military look clothes, with a Grenade type hairstyle. Is the theme for today’s interview leisure? Bill never wears fur clothing, because he wants to support PETA. He preferred to wear fake fur clothing with good quality. Though Bill had to change poses for the cameras, he smiled a lot because he was together with his members. His smile could turning to laughs sometimes. Comparing to his serious face for the cameras, at this moment, his eased face was very cute.
Tokio Hotel in Harajuku
We got off the car in front of Louis Vitton in Harajuku and planned to go to Meiji shrine through the Takesita channel. But we didn’t succeed in 3 minutes, until all the people came into a personalized shop named Santa Monica. So was the stylist. Within 20 minutes, Bill tried on and bought two shirts and a stadium jumper. He paid 32000 yen with his Platinum Card (Notes: the membership fee of this card was not public, but it should be tens of thousands of yen). Tom didn’t buy anything and came out early, saying: “Bill is always like this.” with a dry smile. Both of them would enter stores like ロスジャ、メルローズ アウェニュー together. “I would like to go to Shibuya more than here, the Shibuya crossing!” The manager heard about this and caught a glimpse of his watch. We probably didn’t have time to go to Shibuya due to their home returning on 16th. But as long as they wanted to go, we decided to shorten the lunch time and go to Shibuya through Takesita channel. These four people standing in the crossing were busy with taking photos. We could even see their wrought-up expression on their faces. Then a sudden scream reached their ears, because they were recognized by their fans. Bill and Tom have been eager to going to Shibuya for a long time, but this time they might…? How lucky the fans were! Even so, the band noticed it was a little bit late for the schedule. So they got on the Benz with smokey windows immediately. However, the fans were still every excited. After all, fans were most precious!
Zeal!!!
Reports from chief director K Sir!
Tokio Hotel’s soul devoted Japan Trip
Preface:
I didn’t have too much to report before TH came over. More than two years after they planned to come to Japan last time, the live performance has not been confirmed yet. This event was a formal debut for TH in a special country. Three years ago, they had to cancell their first Japan Trip, which made their fans cry sadly. So I felt so stressful because the trip this time was full of TH and fans’ enthusiasm. The album has not been released yet, so all the people put their hands up to deliver their wishes and hoped to buy the album as soon as possible. Taking this opportunity, I would like to thank TH and fans sincerely.
Dec. 12th Sunny
Tokio Hotel arrived at Narita airport 11 AM. Gustav and Georg arrived early. Almost 30 fans were waiting for them. I bought some drinks for the band members and staff and stood in a slightly far place. I made friends with the fans waiting there, so I also became very nervous. The flight arrived on time. Finally as these two people pushed the carts, they showed up in the crowd. The exclusive secretary followed them closely and broke a path for them to make sure they could get on the prepared car. Gustav was called “little G” by his fans, even at the airport they were not shy to call him in a lovely voice.
After checking the schedule in hotel, I came to Narita airport again to welcome the soul leader – Bill and Tom, the identical twin brothers. The flight from LA was supposed to arrive at 6 PM, fans have gathered at the airport before 5 PM. The amount of the fans was several times more than that of early morning. The long-waited fans became nervous and calm down after they knew Bill and Tom have already arrived 30 minutes early. The secretary of the twin brothers entered the passageway to check their status. Fans standing near the exit started to scream one by one. It took three years for TH to come to Japan. Bill and Tom walked out from the exit and signed their names with their signature pens. All the fans nearly lost their rationality and gathered at the end of the guard bar. Their secretary broke a path for them and I helped to keep order at the very beginning. But we could not move forward at all. Bill and Tom tried their best to be kind to their fans without annoyed looks on their faces. The fans waiting at the parking lot sung “Durch den Monsun” together. At that moment, Bill and Tom smiled happily. As Bill waved his hands, he got on the car. So did Tom. The touching scene just now was incredibly fervent, which must build some unforgettable memories in fans’ mind, I think. (By the way, the cars were sponsored by Mercedes-Benz Germany.) Later on, the band members and the staff went to the hotel and had a rest.
Dec. 13th Rainy
The promotion began from 11 AM to 8.30 PM. Lunch time was about one hour and a half, so they could have a wonderful lunch. The staff got to the hotel room one hour early to prepare, in order to make sure everything was alright during the interview. They prepared all kinds of food, such as water, cola (original, low calorie), red bull, coffee and chocolate cake (not Brownie, but almond chocolate cake). All of food was taken from abroad. The following interviews began as schedule. The band members needed to prepare makeup and clothing two hours early before the first interview, so they had to get up early. After a long interview, TH went to the party that Universal Music held in a Japanese food restaurant in Nishi-Azabu. The vegetarian food had been ordered in advance, so the party was going well. We prepared knives & forks for Bill in case he could not use chopsticks well to pick up potatoes. Gustav and Georg were very happy to eat fried chicken and beef barbecue. The food looked tasty. The most surprising thing is that Bill and Tom ate some fried shrimps. Finally we knew that they sometimes ate some crustacean food. It was quite lucky to see this with my eyes. Although the party time was short, I guessed all the staff and the band members got much closer. At last, the young staff paid the bill and the band had a very satisfied diner. The party was over.
Dec. 14th Rainy to cloudy
All the band members (or Bill only) got up early to get prepared. The band members entered the interview room at 11.45 AM. When we met Bill, we really wanted to say to Bill: “Bill, you are so early!” and he wore gorgeous clothing. The first interviewer was NHK education (in German), but it seemed that they didn’t have many questions. Then TH went to Omotesando in two Benz and service wagon to receive the interview with InRock! I felt thrilled watching Bill walk leisurely in Omotesando. All the band members wanted to go to fashion center and have a look, so they couldn’t help it. We got out of the cars in front of Louis Vittion. Some passengers saw the unusual scene as well. (Please refer to the details about interview in Harajuku above.) After the interview, TH got back to the hotel and had lunch. Their lunch was pasta with tomato sauce.
At 4 PM, the rest part of promotion got started. There were three radio interviews, five interviews including TV, magazines and music magazines. The end time for these interviews was 8.35 PM. Each member showed up in interview room with smiles, no tired look at all. The manager who took charge of the trip asked us to find some skating rinks. He probably heard something about what TH wanted to in Tokyo from someone else. Though we asked the hotel staff to help us, we didn’t have much time. Finally we did not take TH to a skating rink, but we promised that next time we must go there.
Dec. 15th Sunny
Today TH will have their show case in Japan. Tokio Hotel refused some interviews, because they wanted to focus on the show case.
TH finished the interview in the company just after 12 o’clock. They were a little bit late, but it was all for meeting with In Rock selected fans. Then they went to the Akasaka Blitz where the show case was held. After rehearsal, they had a late lunch at 4 PM, including pizza, pasta, ordinary vegetable sushi (prepared for Bill and Tom). They all ate their favorite food before the show case. Gustav looked like that he loved pizza very much. Till one hour before the show case started, the door of Gustav and Georg’s room was open all the time, just having a look, we found that they were doing hair brushing. And then we understood that on the stage their fresh hair was done like this. In the end, the show case was over. Although the show case was a small one, they absolutely demonstrated their talent for piano. In the show case, they played 9 songs for the audiences. The clothes Bill wore in the performance were sponsored by Italian brand – Dsquared2 (The brand was created by two Canadian twin designers). It was said that TH did not take their LED equipments this time, because the equipments were too heavy. But they promised that they would play them next time for Japanese fans. Our company gave TH Geta as presents. They said they had never received presents like this, they were very happy. TH did not go out the last night. As usual, they went back to the hotel and got ready to leave the next day. Accidentally some fans found the place where TH lived in Japan and they came over. Some of them wanted to give them presents, some of them wanted to take photos with them. However, TH did not feel annoyed about this sudden event. In the contrast, they treated them kindly and claimed that their fans were the most fabulous in the whole world.
Dec. 16th Sunny
As most of fans knew, Bill and Tom’s second home is in LA. Because in Europe there were some crazy fans like stalkers, they could not live a normal life. But Gustav and Georg would go back to Germany.
Postscript:
As the people in charge of TH’s project, many people wanted to meet TH or many people wanted to watch their performance, they all asked me for help. I made projects for such a band, so sometimes I was afraid I could not do it well. But in fact the project has just begun. From now on, I wanted to make many good projects to let fans know how attractive Tokio Hotel is and let the people unfamiliar with Tokio Hotel get to know more about them. Tokio Hotel’s project was “we have just begun”! Hey everybody, we have just begun!
Tokio Hotel’s show case in Akasaka Blitz – Live reports
Reporter: YUKO KATO
“Tokio Hotel will demonstrate their real value in the live performance.”, the editorial staff heard from someone. And then they went to the site with hope. As for our magazine’s invitation, Tokio Hotel got to the top one in nearly 10 years. We came to our seats among the audiences. Someone said: “Tokio Hotel is not the type that performs in such a place, but they will put on a show to make new history.”. They were exactly right. It was said that almost 80000 audiences attended the show in Mexico. Gustav, Georg and Tom came out 10 minutes later than schedule. Suddenly a guy shouted to Gustav, what the hell is that?! Later on Bill in dazzling cloth showed up. He was so gorgeous, but the shape of his ass and his face was unexpectedly diminutive, just like a lady. The costume was all black and sparkling accessories hung from head to foot. After Bill sung “Noise”, he took off his tops while he wore a simple T-shirt inside. Then his style was completely changed. Their songs were much more powerful than we imagined before, and the rhythm was also strong. Gustav and Georg gave lots of support to Bill and Tom who appealed the audiences. The balance was good. Like his gorgeous appearance, Bill’s voice was also very attractive. This kind of way of singing was too sweet in Rock music, which was exactly the feature of Tokio Hotel. The impact was obviously huge. Looking at Bill’s slim figure, all the audiences were lighted up. However, the most impressive one was Tom. He wore a knitted cap, playing his guitar. The audiences were so excited and crazy about Tom like this. The Rock music was never beautiful like this before in my mind. The show case was proceeding for about one hour. Tokio Hotel played “Durch den Monsun” again, which was most popular and gained lots of awards. Bill also put much effort into it. According to audience’s enthusiasm, we can predict that Tokio Hotel’s future must be bright and nice.