7 Sophie

Hello Kiwis! Are you looking forward to Christmas yet? I’m still focusing on essays but in two days I will be freeeeeeeee… From essays at least, I still have another week of work before I get to return home! I haven’t made a blog in a while, so here’s an extra-long one about Hyper Japan!

It was so much fun! I spent the weekend staying at Ichigo member Scarlett’s house with our friends Rachel and Charlotte – who just became a Mini Cherry! We had a lot of fun watching Scarlett rehearse for her performance on Friday, and then on Saturday we got to watch all the UK Ichigo members perform from the front row! I did this at Expo too, hahaha I’m a big fan! They sounded incredible though and it made me more excited to get up there on stage with them – even though I definitely need to practice lots to be at their standard! It was even more exciting seeing the reception they got and how many people came to support them. After that we stayed to watch Manager Beckii’s performance, which was brilliant of course. It was a strange experience sitting there and realising I spoke to such talented people on a daily basis.

In the morning looking around the stalls and meeting lots of friends. My best friend Chloe also came to say hello on Saturday, and I got to meet Beckii as well! That was so strange, she’s exactly the same in person as she is online, but she had a cool aura about her. I got star-struck *A*

I also found one of the best pork ramen stalls for lunch! Even thinking about it now makes me hungry…

I spent the rest of the day with Scarlett, Charlotte, Kelsey and Rachel, and we got to see Ninjaman Japan! They were so cool! I didn’t know what to expect but wow, singing ninjas! We started dancing along to their routines as we watched. And the best thing about it? They accidentally played a bit of GAMETIME at the beginning on the sound system in front such a big crowd! We all cheered, hahaha!

Sunday was even better, as we got to meet Ninjaman Japan, I even got their autograph!

I also got to meet the Wa-pop singer Tomoca and her band, which was very cool! We listened to them on Saturday and I really enjoyed their style of music! Next, me, Kelsey and Charlotte watched Scarlett in the Kawaii Street Fashion Show, which was amazing! The girls were all stunning and I managed to catch one of the free bags of sweets they were throwing into the audience! It had Hello Kitty bubblegum inside.

I definitely can’t wait to go the next Hyper Japan, it was so much fun! I have only ever attended London MCM Expo before, which is getting very very big and there’s so much going on it’s hard to have fun when you have so much to think about, but Hyper Japan was relaxing and enjoyable.

I had trouble coming back to university due to heavy flooding here in the UK, but I eventually got home safely. Thank you so much to everyone I met there, you made the weekend for me! I feel so privileged to have friends like you!

Although I must remember not to spend too much time with Kelsey, Rachel and Charlotte, their Northern accent is catching!