Peter's Japan blog

Ayumi Hamasaki: 11th album [Rock'n'Roll Circus] (14/04/2010)

peter — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 19:49:12 +0000

Update March 17th 2010: the updates seem to be flowing in, the track listing has been disclosed! Apparently 15 tracks in stead of the 14 announced earlier. And she really went crazy again, loving Lady Dynamite :D

Update March 14th 2010: ALBUM COVERS ! Really loving those covers! And this explains why we weren't allowed to take any pictures that day :)
I waited for real info to become available to write this post, so here it is. Today the title of Ayumi's 11th studio album was announced, being: Rock'n'Roll Circus (as was the title of this year's concert tour). So even though it seemed like a strange name, it did actually become the album title :)

The Arena Tour 2009 DVD will be released at the same time. In all there will be 4 variations, including a very special limited box with a tea cup and some black tea :) No covers yet though. Let me list all the versions:

TeamAyu tutorial guide

peter — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 01:15:58 +0000

Here is the long-awaited TeamAyu tutorial guide thing that I've made. This is to help people from outside of Japan to enter and enjoy the official Ayumi Hamasaki TeamAyu fanclub.
I just made this in a few hours and it is bound to contain some spelling mistakes and stuff. And I need to clean up the styling a bit more as well, but it's 2am now and I wanted to get it out quickly, so there's bound to be more version to follow ^^. So here it is, enjoy, and feel free to ask questions :-)

TeamAyu Tutorial Guide PDF (version 1.0) (846k)

You may distribute it freely as long as you keep the PDF as a whole and/or link back to this page, as there will be updates following.

Recommended Japanese 3rd-party forwarding services

peter — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:53:57 +0000

After having used (and tried to use) some forwarding services, I can do some recommendations and where to stay away. I will only talk about the ones that I have experience with. (so I don't know for example for Celga)

First you have to see what you want to use it for:

you want to bid on Yahoo Auctions (JapanToDoor, Akibado; Celga also does this, but no experience with)
you want to buy stuff from online shops which don't ship overseas (99.9% don't)
1. You cannot read Japanese, but can find the product page (JapanToDoor, Akibado)
2. You can read some Japanese and can register on the online shop yourself, but you need an address in Japan: Tenso, JapanToDoor
You want to join the official fan club of your favorite artist: Tenso, JapanToDoor

First up, the ones to stay away from:
- Mail Box Japan (www.mailbox1.jp): complete hoax, at least it was for me, tested it with a magazine a year ago, got nothing, no mail of arrival.
- Akibado (www.akibado.com): they used to be good for both online buying and bidding on YAJ (even a real-time automated bidding service), but they were a bit slow, and got slower and slower, and now I've been mailing for more than a year, to have them send my last items which had not been shipped to me yet.

That leaves the last 2 which I have also used and were successful and reliable. Both were advertised on DannyChoo.com, which usually means they are reliable. Both have free registration.

JapanToDoor (www.japantodoor.com):
Rather expensive, they have three different account types with different service fee systems depending on your needs, but they do offer a very complete service, from online shopping, auction bidding and providing an address in Japan to send mail to. But, they are rather expensive... And one downside to the provided address in Japan, you have to inform them within 2 weeks in advance, that a letter or package will arrive at your address, or they won't accept it... Read their website for all service fee systems.
Ideal for: online shopping (without Japanese knowledge), auction bidding
Tenso (tenso.com):
Basicly provides you with an address in Japan and low service fees. They can also consolidate some items. For what I have used them at this time, they charge 490yen per item forwarded, plus shipping to your country of course. They also have a handy tool for copying your japanese address in parts.
Ideal for: online shopping (with ability to use or decipher Japanese websites including YAJ), artist fan club

Both sites accept PayPal, and JapanToDoor also accepts credit cards.

NOTE: I know there are other 3rd-party service provider that are known to be trustable like Celga, fdjp, etc. but I have not used them before, so I cannot say anything about them. These two don't provide you an address in Japan though, just online shopping and bidding.

TeamAyu & P.T.A. fanclub goods

peter — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 20:28:09 +0000

Today I've gotten my first TeamAyu and P.T.A. stuff in the mail!! After I saw other fans in London that also had TeamAyu membership cards, I just had to do it too. I had put it off for too long while all the means were there. And also last year, when I was at the Perfume concert "Disco!Disco!Disco" they sold fanclub-exclusive t-shirts, which I liked much more than the regular t-shirt!
So, when I got back home between the 2 weekends in London, I looked up a good mail forwarding service which was easy, simple, not too expensive and good for receiving mail. There are two that are very good and trusted (tenso.com and japantodoor.com), but JapanToDoor requires you to notify them when something will arrive within 2 weeks prior. Although afterwards, you do get emails when the fan clubs are going to send you something, but tenso.com is easier and cheaper. But I'll go more into detail about that in a later post about actually using them.

Ayumi Hamasaki Arena Tour 2010 A ~Rock'n'Roll Circus~

peter — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:08:36 +0000

The tour was already announced for a few weeks, but today the official title has been released: "Ayumi Hamasaki Arena Tour 2010 A ~Rock'n'Roll Circus~". So we will get a more rock oriented tour? Will this also be the title of the new album? Because the title is usually also the title of the album. But "Rock'n'Roll Circus" sounds weird for an album title, and a new album hasn't even been announced as of yet. So this might mean we will get a new album before or after the tour... Will keep you posted.

Update Feb 20th 2010: logo released!

2 of my videos of Ayu in London!

peter — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:23:29 +0000

Two of the videos I took from Ayu in London. These are the longest ones. Please watch in HD if you can :-)
The first video is quite dark, but you can see her through the flashes. The second video is by daylight and has a very good view of Ayu! <3

First video from Friday evening January 29th:

Second video from Saturday afternoon January 30th:

My stuff signed by Ayu!

peter — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:33:45 +0000

Here are the pictures of my stuff that was signed by Ayu in London, over the course of 2 weekends.

The first two are from the first weekend. My Arena Tour 2007 fan (my first concert tour that I went to) and the CD+DVD version of Days/GREEN. It is a large CD box so it has a large surface which can be easily signed, and it's a cardboard case around the 2 cd cases. So I can just use the cardboard box to frame ;p

The last two are from the second weekend. My Countdown Live banner and a cardboard with a personalized autograph. I consider the banner now to be complete being signed by Ayu herself :-).

And now for the combined photo. Some of these will be framed and hung on the wall of course ^^

Back to London ^^

peter — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:39:17 +0000

Okay, I'm going back to London tomorrow, until Sunday morning. Since it was kind of confirmed that Ayu will be staying until Saturday, maybe Sunday. I will be trying to take more pictures and/or videos. I have a better strategy now and learning from previous mistakes <^-^;>
To other fans in London, see you there!