Well, I got to finish this story, which I started 2 month ago... sorry for a HUGE delay.
After the exciting luncheon and a short walk, we arrived at the Tokyo Dome gate. It was still raining lightly. We were a bit nervous because we did not know whether we could sit together in the Dome at all.
So we had enough number of "tickets" which RinRin obtained from somewhere. As mentioned before, she never told us how she got them, but I noticed that they were marked as "Yokohama Tire", the biggest sponsor for the movie in Japan. Anyway, they were not exactly the tickets, with seat assignments. They were coupons to be exchanged with two tickets at the gate. And since we were not sure about the procedure, we did not know if we can exchange the bundle of coupons to a block of seats, for about 20 of us altogether.
Luckily, we could. At the ticket counter, set under the tent in front of the Dome gate, three of the team members held all the coupons and exchanged them for a block of seats. It was on 2nd floor, not very close to the stage, but almost right in the center, the perfect place to watch the screen in the middle.
There was still some time until the starting time, so we split up for the moment. Taiwanese team and some others who traveled long went back to their hotel, others on day trip took a refugee from the rain in coffee shops. I was sipping lemon soda with RinRin, Akira and some other members in a coffee shop in a nearby hotel.
A little before the event started, we were all back at the Tokyo Dome gate. People have started to shuffle in. Then, out of blue, someone came to talked to RinRin. It was one of the Rain fans. I am not even sure whether RinRin knew her before or not, but anyway, this Rain fan gave RinRin 3 "arena" coupons, saying that some of her friends could not make it and she did not want to waste them.
Then we realized that the "good" tickets had probably systematically distributed to Rain fans through a secret channel. But it was already official that Rain was not coming to the event, and appearantly lots of fans did not show up because of that. It was not fair...
So anyway we at least had 6 seats in the arena, where you could have a direct access to the stars on the show floor. RinRin offered them first to Taiwanese fans, but they did not want to take the offer, saying that they would rather sit with the rest of us, as it was more fun. Most of other Japanese fans felt the same way.
But DITA wanted to take the offer, as she was a new fan and had never seen him in person, so she did not want to let this opportunity go. Most of the other fans are long time fans and had seen him in person before in one way or another.
We also decided to send "Brother Chikuwabu" down to the arena together with DITA. The event officials checked our bags and confiscated all the cameras, so we could not take the pictures. But Brother Chikuwabu had a secret weapon, which would not get noticed by the officials (but I am not telling you what!! ;-), so we asked him to get close to him and "shoot" him with his secret weapon.
So now Brother Chikuwabu transformed into the Agent Chikuwabu, and off went to the arena floor with DITA. We all went in to look for our own seats.
Tokyo Dome is the home franchise of Tokyo Giants, the most popular pro baseball team in Japan, and is on one of the biggest baseball stadium in Japan. The top dome was closed, so the stadium looked like a huge circus. In the front, HUMONGOUS screen was set up, and HUMONGOUS black projector was towering up in the middle of the floor, just like Darth Vador. Behind the projector, "Mach 5" race car was displayed, and the surrounding area was marked as the stage. The front part of the arena were covered with folding chairs facing the screen. Mach 5 looked so small from the second floor. Some people were walking around on the arena floor, and the 1st/2nd floor regular seats were getting eventually filled. We searched for our secret agents on the arena floor.
Our team identification was "fans" with Mr. Musha's photo on one side and a kanji character "SHIN" (真), the first letter of "Sanada" and means "truth". We confirmed that our agents waved the ID fans down there, and we started our business on the sky deck.
Sakura made a sign that said "Sanada" to be held by two people, and Akira made the "KEEP ON RUNNING" sign, each letter separately - both REALLY elaborate and beautiful!! So we distributed all these signs to our members, and decided on what to yell when Sanada-san appeared at what sign and at what moment. We were all anxious, because we were SO far away from the floor, and was wondering whether he could hear us, even though we were a bunch of screaming ladies.
On time, the event started. The light wend off, the spot light was lit towards Mach 5. Unfortunately for us, a loud music started to be played, further diminishing our hope that Hiro could hear us. The master of ceremony introduced different celebrities, such as the singer of the theme song, a famous Japanese car race driver, Kano sisters (Japanese version of "Paris Hilton" - I don't know what they do, but they are celebs for some reason), etc. Further into the show, it was about time...
And finally, it was time! Emile Hirsch was introduced first, and he walked in. Then Sanada-san was called in. Just about when he entered onto the floor, we started screaming, "Sanada-saaan!!" as we decided on.
But the music was so loud and our voice was not going through at all. In addition, our seats were right above the entrance to the floor, so he was facing back from us when he was walking towards the show floor. So heck, in "fire at will!" manner, we kept screaming, raising up our "KEEP ON RUNNING" signs and waving ID fans at the same time.
He reached to Mach 5 stage, and Emile and him were answering the interview by the master of ceremony. We silenced for a moment to listen to him. He talked about his excitement to be in the movie, as its original animation series was his childhood memory, and that he had a "chill" ("musha-burui" in Japanese, the word play with his role "Mr. Musha"). The stadium was in laughter.
A few minutes of appearance, but was memorable. I was imagining DITA was almost DYING instantly on the floor!
So both stars started to waking towards the gate = us. Again, we started screaming in unison, with KEEP ON RUNNING and fans. After a few tries, and right before he went into the darkness of the floor gate, finally our voice was heard and he looked up on us!!!
He sent us a HUGE wave with both arms. We all JUMPED from the seat, screaming even more loudly, "He heard us!! He heard us!!"
So we tried again, and this time, he waved us again, with a deep bow. Then he disappeared out from our sight.
For a few moments, we were totally stunned. Akira and RinRin were both crying, so were some others. Taiwanese fans were almost dancing around. It was a perfect ending!!
I am not sure if he noticed "KEEP ON RUNNING" sign, or he realized the meaning of the sign if he DID notice it. But at least we had a VERY brief exchange with Sanada-san, and we all did it in international team! It was a great moment.
There were a few more minutes till the "Speed Racer" screening started. Emily, Neko and Yuko left before the movie, because they had already seen the film in Taiwan and had something else to do. We exchanged the greetings, and then they left.
Rest of us stayed on to watch the movie. After the movie is over, we united with our secret agents again near the gate. Agent Chikuwabu showed us the secret photo of Sanada-san in front of Mach 5, and DITA was totally intoxicated by Sanada-san and was dream-walking. We reconstructed "KEEP ON RUNNING" sign and took some photos before we split up. Then we all exchanged "SAYONARA" for the night. Some was to stay overnight and travel back to their home the next day, others were heading to one subway station, yet some others were walking to another train station.
Thank you, Emily, Neko and Yuko for coming all the way from Taiwan. Thank you, RinRin to organize the event and secretly getting hold of all the tickets. Thank you, Akira for making "KEEP ON RUNNING" sign. Thank you everyone for coming all the way. Thank you, Agent Chikuwabu, for taking a risk (?) of our important mission.
And most of all, THANK YOU, HIRO, for the great movie and for coming all the way to Japan. As you repeatedly say, even at the fan level, we are forming little bridges here and there, crossing the national borders. And many of us have discovered, for the first time, that it is so much fun to walk over these little bridges.
It was a good, good memory of one summer night dream.
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