[Fan Account] An Australian eel Jill’s journey for her first JKS, CRI SHOW III Budokan

Credit: Jill Fuller from ECI
Airport Fan account Monday 1 June
Hershey & I arrived at Haneda airport about 2pm. We tried desperately to find where we had to get a number from, but were having no luck. Anita Lau you have so much patience! THANK YOU! Turns out we were on the wrong floor ~ doh!

We found the friendly eels and got our numbers… how this was going to work I had NO idea. This process was completely foreign to me. At home its first in first served and hope for the best. Anyway, we had time to spare so we hung around the airport and rested our feet for a while. We both knew that if we went anywhere we would end up lost and miss seeing him!

At 4pm we all went down to the ground level and out onto the footpath. Okay… now I am really confused.. are we greeting him from here??

Turns out the Japanese eels have a fantastic system! I think I was more awe struck at how they dealt with such large numbers and crowd control. It was simply brilliant!

The number 76 represented the line number and 4 represented the square you stood in. We met more lovely eels, one even from New Zealand!
Makimura- san was there and when it was time, he allowed one group at a time to go up the escalator to the first floor – arrivals. It reminded me of primary school days when we had to line up two by two and hold hands!

As I waited to go, I saw a black van that had been parked outside… was it for him??????? I now wish I had taken a photo of it!
It was our turn to go up to the first floor. The excitement rose…kekeke we were going to see him!
I can tell you it feels really strange being in my 40’s yet feeling like an excited 12 year old!!

One thing that really concerned me was the sitting down. I can not sit on my knees or hips for that matter due to arthritis. I tried for about 5 min but knew I would be in real medical trouble -we still had over an hour to go 🙁 The security guards were wonderful. I explained my situation as basically as I could and they let me stand in the very far left corner. OMG! God is certainly looking after me in this trip.
In one of the photos you can see the left barrier- my hubby estimates me to be about 7m away from the door! One of the guards and Makimura -san joked with the crowd. I do not know what about, but you could tell there was definitely mutual respect.

The atmosphere was surreal. Many bystanders asked what was going on-some recognised the name Jang Keun Suk, others didn’t so we showed them a photo.
His flight had landed! I was so excited in a silly girly way! I saw the door open ever so slightly and someone peeped out! This is it!!!! I could not contain my excitement, but knew that I must. These blue eels are an absolute gem! I am sorry for such a shocking photo!

Then he came out! OMO! So blinding! So fast! I tried to take a photo but thought “blow this I want to see him with my eyes not through a lens”! I am very grateful to those who were able to take photo/videos! He smiled and waved….I cant believe I don’t recall much else! It truly was like being bathed in a golden stream of sunlight 🙂 I do however feel so apologetic for not acknowledging Gunsama and the guards. It cant be helped. It was him and him alone!

The above is for the greeting him at the airport. I will now do CS3.

Jang Keun Suk Cri Show III
Venue : Nippon Budokan, Tokyo
Date : 2/6/15 & 3/6/15
When the first announcement of Cri Show III came out, I was extremely curious as to how the show would be presented. How could he improve on CS2, I kept asking myself. Of course, he did. He is after all~ Jang Keun Suk! Our magical dream maker. Initially I had no intentions of seeing CS3- it was impossible to get tickets, family commitments etc. However, once my cancer treatment had finished I knew I had to go. With or without tickets I would stand outside Nippon Budokan and support him. I had to be able to thank him somehow.

After arriving in Tokyo, I was completely overwhelmed by its beauty and the people, so the reality of seeing both days of CS3 did not sink in, even when we collected our tickets! (I had taken my son Matthew with me on this trip). After lunch with some wonderful eels, we walked to Nippon Budokan. I had previously been to other concerts in Australia and I thought I was familiar enough with the process. Oh how I was wrong! Here, there is no such thing as pushing and shoving or jumping queue! For such a large number of people there was such order and consideration. This put me in stunned mode for the whole duration of the ‘waiting to go in’ period. I did however get a little excited when I saw the male eel who was chosen to go up on stage in Beautiful Man Fan Meeting DVD! Day 2 I gathered enough courage to have photo with Zikzin Run mascot! After I blew a kiss to him/her….he blew some back! OMG! I feel like a kid kekeke! 😀

We all lined up in a very orderly fashion and you could feel the excitement rising as we showed them our tickets and were allowed to slowly go in. It still hadn’t hit me yet. We found our seats next to some very friendly eels ~ they spoke little English and we spoke little Japanese! It’s amazing how you can communicate with sign language and just a few basic words!
(map credit http://www.livehis.com/)

Day one we were seated in the southwest and could see the front of the stage as well as the close up screen. I later found this very hard to decide where to look. The close up screen was mesmerising yet seeing him front on meant it was REAL!! Day 2 we were seated in the east side of heaven! We could see him so clearly when he came to our side of the stage. We even saw Makimura-san walk down beside the aisle next to where we were sitting!

The lights dimmed. The show began with a black and white footage of a man picking up an origami boat off the water. We do not see his face. The images focus slowly on the detail of his hands, his shoes, each step taken, the back of him as he is sitting on a wooden bench seat (like the one JKS uses on stage). He gently unfolds the boat and we are shown Japanese characters written on the paper (sorry I have no idea what was written). Every image has a purpose…..to lead us into Jang Keun Suk’s journey of Monochrome.

Then the beginning of Hidamari OMG!!! Thank goodness I was sitting down because the floor disappeared from out under my feet! O_O Here he was sitting in the giant origami boat as it floated from the right upper corner of the stage to the centre stage. Once he got off the boat and headed towards the front of the stage our gorgeous boy caught his foot on something, but thankfully did not fall down (CR3 photo credits: Frau International).

His voice was so sweet and simply magical. Eels sang the chorus with him. I had promised not to embarrass my son ~ much! I could not help singing along, dancing, joining in with other eels to the extent that the Japanese eels next to Matt gave me a fan light to use during the show, bless them ❤ From that very first song, you could not help but sway with him.
I had promised myself that I would not cry. Hmm.. by song #3 I was a mess! :’) Looking back, Day 1 felt like it was mixed emotion day, where as Day 2 I felt like I had all the power of international eels with me! As Day 2 was the last show, I wanted to give it all I had. I am not the person to yell or scream even in dire circumstances, but that night, it was the most natural thing to do! All the dancing, clapping, fan light motions, screaming, yelling “WE LOVE YOU”, as he came to our side of the stage… no need for binoculars he simply radiates! I tried desperately to prevent my fan light from turning off as it was shining for him.

Although JKS music is not my sons taste, he did enjoy CS3. In his words ‘he has talent’. He really appreciated the show and loved his ponytail!!
I can not quite remember the details of what clothes were worn for what songs and what slide screens were used. My thoughts are still so jumbled, so I will add them in point form.

Songs…
1. Hidamari
2. When spring comes
3. Under one umbrella
4. Rain and Bye Bye Bye (medley)
5. Before dawn
6. Fragile like snow
7. In my dream
8. My precious
9. My bus
10. Let me cry
11. Crazy, crazy, crazy
12. Driving to the highway
13. I will promise you
14. Save me
15. Turn off
16. Serenade
17. Wind
~encore=
18. Beautiful change
19. Indian summer
20. Toward sunlight
21. Melody we made together
22. Sweet home
23. Feel the beat

Rain and Bye Bye Bye medley was absolutely beautifully combined.

My precious- I can only describe this part where he played the guitar like a riff. Oh my~ I really felt like Wi Mary (shaky knees).

Driving to the highway ~ He sat on a stool and sang this with a guitar as his accompaniment. On Day 2 it felt it was really personal… almost like a cross between a lullaby and something philosophical. Very hard to describe. “I’m running away from the moment…” Almost felt like there was a deeper message going on. He sang the lyrics, we echoed them: reinforcing our bond with him. We are with you ‘driving to the highway’. We are with you on your journey.

I will promise you hehe when we sang ‘Jang Geun Suk’ on both days we could not sing it loud enough!
Save me ~ so beautiful hearing eels singing with him.
Serenade ~ on Day 2 it really felt like he was singing just for/to me.
Wind ~ soft curtain came down while he sat on the wooden bench seat. The curtain was such that it allowed pictures to be shown on it, like a projector screen.
Beautiful change gave us an insight to Team H shows!
Indian summer on Day 2 really felt like the music video oh wow!
Melody we made together had an up tempo beat and very catchy. On both days it would appear as though this song ended…only to start up again and JKS would be bouncing along the rails in the first row, or visiting each wing of the stage.
Sweet home ~ this song seemed to go on forever and I wish it had never ended. OMG Eels you are simply beautiful. You sang like angels and it’s no wonder he loves to year you sing. To have so many people singing in unison and in tune. It gave me goosebumps. We sang our hearts out to him. (photo cr Frau International)

I don’t know what was said during the times he talked to us. I could only pick up on some words but that didn’t matter. His body language, his tone, playfulness was surreal.

It was like he had physically opened up his heart and all the arena basked in his radiance. I know he loves his eels…but HE REALLY DOES LOVE HIS EELS. The arena was filled with his aura, a golden aura suspending us in time.

being in a country so far way from Asia and having so few eels in my country, I sometimes feel rather isolated and like an outsider. On Day 2, JKS made it clear. No matter where you are, from which part of the world~ he loves us all.

what especially stood out was the intimacy between JKS and eels. I don’t know how he did it, but it felt like it was just he and I in the arena. Singing together, dancing together, and talking like two friends having a deep and meaning conversation. As well as being on the personal level, JKS interacted with us as a whole. It felt like a ‘mother hen spreading out her wings to protect her chicks’ it was like his arms were wrapped around the whole arena holding us.

the eels. However many eels in one place, singing in unison, in tune, moving our lights in the same motion, the power and volume of the second day came full force like a hurricane, as if we had to give the performance of our life…. the sheer friendliness and generosity of eels.

the ambiance between Jang Keun Suk and eels ~no words to describe it. It’s like a golden chain linking each eels heart to JKS heart. Between each eel this chain is like a spiders web, linking us to each other. We each go our own path but ultimately we are anchored together by our love for JKS.

when he went down the sides of the stage, I could see him so close. Oh wow! I could not stop screaming like the other eels. Yes he is drop dead gorgeous! If he goes down the sides he knows we’ll go crazy and we do. But it felt like the louder we screamed it were as if it was a gesture of thanks.

ROFL ~ in between ‘interval’ breaks could see eels running up the stairs. Initially I wondered what the excitement was about…..toilet break!!!!!

The ending credits begin with the same man but this time he was folding the origami boat, then placing it delicately on the water. We are shown the image of the paper boat gently rocking on the ripples of water….as if signifying a new adventure, a new beginning……..Oh we are so here with you JKS!

Day 1, I didn’t get a chance to wave him off. Day 2, I got to see the top of the black van. Even though I was waving to a car… I was happy. It was a perfect end.

I thought Day 1 was simply brilliant. Day 2 ~ there are no English words to express how I feel. Each song was sung perfectly. His voice was so strong and he hit those high notes with precision. If you have a chance to buy CS3 DVD arena please do.

To say he is so beautiful is an understatement. The aura he emits is so full of warmth, of love, of purity. To completely describe Jang Keun Suk, I believe requires a the talent of a poet. One of which I am not. I am still completely speechless as to finding the right words. What I will say is this: I have never felt so humbled, so honoured, so blessed to have been witness and apart of such a perfect night. I am so very very proud to be one of Jang Keun Suk eels ❤