한국에 가자: JYJ Fan Event

I went to JYJ's fan event tonight! It's with NII and a charity.
I guess this may seem like it's coming out of nowhere. I have now made this post visible, which explains things. It's also the reason behind this post and this one.

I arrived a few hours early. I was nervous because I thought seating was according to what time you arrived to wait in line, but I didn't have to worry about that after all. There were several lines, and at first I wasn't sure where to go. Then I found the right line to get your stamp and seat. I showed my ticket, a person found my name on the list, my wrist and ticket were stamped, and finally I went up to a box to draw my seat number. Seating is random. I got a pretty good seat!

There was plenty of time to wait around. First, I bought all three NII t-shirts on sale there, so I received JYJ's NII summer 2013 photo cards! There was a table with boxes set up to write notes to JYJ, and another area where you could throw magnetic darts onto a spinning board to win either a JYJ bromide (poster), a JYJ mousepad, or one of two NII shirts.

pictures from outside the auditorium

t-shirt buying tables

my cards for the t-shirts I bought. I had to go to another area to trade in my cards for the shirts. I got two S and one M, but after I changed into an S shirt and realized how big it was, I traded in my M shirt for another S.

write to JYJ!!

the dart throwing game. half were blank, and by hitting the right spot you could win a JYJ poster, a JYJ mousepad, or a NII shirt

I got two tries and won a shirt. There was a green and a gray one I could choose from. I went again later because I had time and didn't have much to do while waiting, but I lost both times.

by buying something here you could contribute to the money that will be given to the charity in JYJ's name

JYJ NII posters

my bags

my stamped wrist again. I'm going to try to avoid washing it ㅋ

boxes for gifts

upon entering the venue. The NII 2013 Summer Making Film was playing before the event started

Then the MCs came out and talked. Then a video about a poor boy and his family in Nepal was shown. Then JYJ came out!!!

They switched up the shirt colors that they were wearing on the banner...

They had nice hair and looked really good ㅠ

Junsu would give a hug to fans who were wearing that blue shirt and shorts or a skirt.

Yoochun would give a hug to fans who were wearing that pink shirt and white pants or a white skirt.

Jaejoong would kiss the hand of fans who were wearing that yellow shirt and blue shoes.

Many fans ran up, but some of their outfits didn't fit the rules. Also, many people took this opportunity to just run up to the stage, even if they didn't have the right combination or weren't wearing any NII shirt.

There were many people for Junsu to hug. Only a handful of people qualified for Jaejoong. They were picky about the color.

I don't really have any pictures from the actual fan event because photographing was not allowed. Actually, I had my camera up to take a better picture, but just then a man from security walked by and brushed my camera and told me it's not allowed. I put my camera away and didn't use it anymore. I had my warning and I didn't want to be caught.

I took a few pictures with my iPod instead, since I thought security would be more lenient if it wasn't an actual camera, but the pictures suck and I was wrong. The Korean woman next me was caught taking pictures with her cell phone. I was sitting on the aisle, and all of a sudden a man from security was leaning over me and telling the woman to delete the photos. They argued for a few minutes while I awkwardly sat in between them. Finally the woman couldn't resist anymore. She ended up handing over her phone, and he deleted everything from inside the fan event. I decided I was done taking crappy photos. It wasn't worth the risk. I saw plenty of photos online upon getting home though. I wonder how they did it. People were walking around watching for cameras. They were very strict.

I decided to use my eyes instead.

Jaejoong was wearing the yellow shirt, white pants, and blue shoes. He had that pink scarf thing tied around his waist, but I guess you can see that in my photo. He often wore sunglasses. He wore a big watch on his left wrist and a silver ring on the ring finger of his left hand (by left I mean his left; the birthmark side). He had two silver rings on the pinky of his right hand and silver bracelets on his right wrist. He wore a thin silver necklace. Out of the 10 or so piercings in both ears, he only had two dark earrings in. One in the left earlobe and one in the middle of his ear on the edge, along the cartilage, in his right ear.

Junsu wore the blue shirt, white pants, and white shoes. He had two bracelets on his left wrist, one white and one black, a thin silver ring on the pointer finger of his right hand, and no earrings.

Yoochun wore the pink shirt, white pants, and white shoes. He wore a simple beaded bracelet on his left wrist and no earrings.

After picking people from the audience based on outfit, they did another game. There was a giant die on the stage. Each member had to throw it up to determine the number of fans who would be called on stage. Fans were picked randomly by choosing seat numbers out of a box. Junsu and Yoochun rolled high numbers, so they had to throw darts to determine which prize the fan would get. Lucky fans who got a bromide would have it signed by the member whose turn it was. Unlucky fans didn't get anything when Junsu's dart hit the blank part. Jaejoong only rolled a two, so the fans automatically got bromides to be signed by him. He threw darts anyway, but failed the first time.

Next, three fans were randomly chosen to come up to the stage to receive signed cards.

There were some talk segments as well, but it was all in Korean. I'm not the only one who didn't understand much. There were many foreigners there. I knew Japanese fans would be there because of the tour, but there were really very many! Somebody guessed about 1/3 of the audience came from Japan. I'm not sure, but there were really a lot when they were all asked to raise their hands.

I met someone right when I arrived at the auditorium. We spent our time waiting together before the event started. We also took the subway together after the event. She's from the Philippines. She's 32 and a lawyer. I'm so jealous because she went to two of JYJ's concerts at Tokyo Dome this month and she's traveled to Indonesia, Hong Kong, and Thailand for JYJ members' events. It's all in Asia so it's close. ㅠㅠ

On the subway, we met a fan from China who had been at the event, as well as two people from Taiwan who sat near my friend from the Philippines.

I knew that at least one other person from the U.S. would be there, and before the event there were people who said they were from Turkey and Canada.

I didn't see any white people. Maybe one, but I'm not certain. Part of the reason I was nervous is because I'm white and have long blonde hair, so I think I stand out more easily, which makes me worry at times. That's why I don't take big risks... Security can see me more easily perhaps and other fans may recognize me. Sometimes I don't want to be seen...

Also, I was among the younger people in the audience. I bet almost everyone was older than me.

This was my first fan meet. I went to a JYJ concert two years ago and was at Junsu's concert in NYC last year. I wasn't really excited or really affected by seeing JYJ... I guess I seemed calm. I thought about how I felt... The best I can come up with is that it was a bit nerve-wracking. On the other hand, it was kind of like watching a video without subtitles, even though I was seeing them with my own eyes.

What else...

On the left side of the auditorium I saw a woman speaking in Japanese to translate. But that only helped a small number of people. Japanese fans were all over the auditorium.

Yoochun did a litte bit of gwiyomi.

At some point the boxes with the questions and letters were brought on stage.

Yoochun saw Iron Man 3 yesterday.

Jaejoong talked about his recent helicopter ride in Japan.

He also mentioned his dog.

Junsu talked about drawing.

Jaejoong talked a lot at the end.

When JYJ left, fans were picked for free items. First, three signed t-shirts were given away. Then came the boards from the question boxes, the huge banners that had been outside, and the big JYJ standee thing for fans who were chosen randomly.

That's it.

The three t-shirts