Tokyo (dpa) – The young japanese girls yearned for this moment for so long: When the Band, Tokio Hotel, entered the Hall of residence of the German ambassador in Tokyo smiling, a dozen young japanese girls and pupils of the german school in Yokohama started to scream in delight.
читать дальшеAmbassador Volker Stanzel didn’t keep them in suspense for long, now they have the chance to ask the band what they’ve always wanted to ask them: A girl wants to know what impression they had of japanese girls. Actually she wanted to have her question answered by Bill Kaulitz, but he prefers to pass the mic to his twin brother Tom: «There are also some pretty girls here», he says smiling and the girls melt away.
Tokio Hotel in Tokyo for the first time ever. But this visit won’t be the last. «We are amazed that we have so many fans here. We didn’t expect that.», says Bill. Already at the airport the brothers and their two other band members, Georg Listing (Bass) and Gustav Schäfer (Drums), were welcomed with self-made christmas presents like Origami Christmas Cards.
The reactions of their female fans might be similar to the ones of their female fans in Germany…«But, I have to say that the girls here are a bit reserved, a little shy, which I find totally cute», says Bill, his black rimmed eyes twinkling. With his stylish Outfit – a military jacket, a black shirt underneath and an amunition belt strapped diagonally across his chest – he fits perfectly into Tokyo and the youth scene of the capital, according to his japanese Fans.
And despite having the word “Tokio” in their Band name, they know almost nothing about Japan. They chose “Tokio” because it would have been a target which they would always have dreamed about reaching, but «never could have imagined to visit it as a Band», says Tom. «When we started, I didn’t know a thing about Mangas or anything else from Japan», Bill admits. They said that they heard about the japanese Pop-Music, J-Pop, but…«We don’t really have a clue». But this will change. For the start, only a few days in Japan – a performance at the german embassy, followed by a little showcase for advertising purposes in front of invited guests – are planned.
But that’s not all: In the next few months more visits to Japan are planned. «We are currently retreating into our creative time in the studio», says Tom. «The Japan-Trips are the only thing which we’ll be doing besides being in the studio.» A japanese tour will probably take place after the release of a new album. Tokio Hotel just recently released their «Best Of»-Album.
In any case, they already conquered the hearts of their female fans. «Ich liebe Dich», a young japanese girl stutters in german. Another girl, which travelled to Japan from a far away Province in a black Tokio-Hotel-T-Shirt, practices her german before the signing session in the embassy: «Ich möchte Dich heiraten» (“I want to marry you”). And a married 30-year old japanese women asks a german reporter to teach her a sentence she wants to say to Bill and Tom: «Ich wollte, ich hätte Euch zur Welt gebracht». (“I wish I had given birth to you”)
I really need to say this - always take chances. It has never let me down. I didn't really believe the lookalike contest would get me into the showcase, and I didn't really believe going to stand in front of an embassy in the rain would accomplish anything either. But you have to try things anyway, and more often than not, life rewards you.
Signed passport, on the page about the cause of freedom being the cause of humankind, the birthright of humanity. I thought it was fitting. http://tokiohotelamerica.net/forum/showpost.php?p=1031867&postcount=430 "> 1. The wonderful @Mari64Mari shares the time and address of the embassy reception with me.
2. I think to myself, why not go? Maybe they'll sign as they go in, maybe not, either way you might as well not waste the chance.
3. I head over and walk up to the gate.
4. The guard asks if I'm here for Tokio Hotel. I affirm. He asks for my passport.
At this point I should explain that one of my handful of useful skills is the ability to look like I belong in places I really don't. I learned this to my chagrin at another TH show - upon walking up to the House of Blues store in Orlando with bags over my shoulder and inquiring where the venue entrance was, the woman led me over and was hastily unlocking the doors for me when I idiotically informed her I was just a fan. She goes, Oh! I thought you worked for the band! Facepalm supreme.
Since then I have tried to just roll with these things when they happen, although it's always nervewracking. I was very careful not to claim anything or lie about anything. I just stood there, tried to look disinterested, and let things sort themselves out.
5. Upon handing him my passport, he goes to try to find my name on his access list. He can't find it. He goes, oh let me check the other list. I'm just standing there chilling. He finds the other list. Other people are arriving and going in. All of a sudden they find my name on some list and apologize for the wait. This is news to me. In we go.
6. I meet other Japanese fans and see other Japanese contestants from the lookalike contest. Maybe I'm magically in the right place after all. A German journalist comes and interviews fans, asking questions that clearly indicate his disdain for the band and presumption that fans only care about the band's looks.
7. We're herded into the main room where the press conference/reception is about to take place. We take seats.
8. The band shows up. My heart stops and the Japanese fans start squealing adorably. In case we haven't noticed, that's a BANDOLIER slung around Bill's torso, and he looks beyond stunning. His face is almost painful to look at, it's so beautiful.
9. The band answer questions from fans and press, pose with the ambassador, then go into the room next door for private interviews. We mill out into the foyer. Natalie appears and then disappears (let's just be real, that woman is GORGEOUS, seriously.) We mill for quite some time. Bill's bodyguard comes out, crosses the room, and comes back. I catch his eye as he passes, and sidle over towards the closed doors where he's standing. I ask him quietly, "Sag mal, sind sie sehr glücklich darüber - dass sie endlich hier sind?" (Say, are they really happy, that they're finally here?) He smiles and says something like "Natürlich, ja..." (Naturally, yes.)
10. I idle around on the edge of the crowd nearest the bodyguard. He's talking to a German embassy guy in a suit who I'd talked to earlier. All of a sudden the two notice that I'm holding my passport and a sharpie, and suit guy is like, Dein Pass?!? I say, "Ich dachte, wenn sie mal rauskommen..." (I thought, if they come out...) The two immediately try to dissuade me, they're like Nein, kriegste ganz viel Ärger... (No, you'll have a lot of problems...) "Mit den Behörden?" (With the authorities?) Ja, beim Flughafen... (Yes, at the airport...) We chat a little more and I retreat again. No risk, no reward. Them signing my passport would be a perfect symbol of all the travel and life experiences I've had because of them. If the airports don't like it I'll get a new passport.
11. I wander to the other side of the room and spot the German journalist who was so obviously prejudiced earlier. I catch his eye and ask, "Na, wie ist dein Interview gelaufen?" (Well, how'd your interview go?) And that was the starting point for an amazing chat that revealed he'd been startled and impressed by how "zugänglich" (accessible), polite and nice the boys were, then we talked about his career, my studies and where I was from, how the music had changed my life, how they were still stuck with this teenie band image in Germany, but had grown into adults, how it's always mind-boggling to have to juggle languages (for him as a German journalist to do an interview in English with Japanese politicians, or for me as a native English speaker to switch on and off between German and Japanese), and various other things. He ends up being so incredibly nice and cool, and has obviously changed his mind somewhat about the band. One of the high points of the experience. We swap contact info, shake hands, and I go back to the fans.
12. They bring the fans back into the press conference room, the band enters, and it becomes clear this is going to be, essentially, a full-fledged meet and greet. We line up and arrange ourselves. The band starts signing. They're taking more time than they sometimes do, Bill asking questions to clarify what people want signed, remarking on hand-made T-shirts, etc. I'm trying to do these mental exercises for relaxation and composure that I learned from a friend into naturopathic medicine. Then he's in front of me and I just go for it, like he's not the center of my universe, my idol, the person I worship more than anything and barely trust myself to exist in front of. "Weißt du, eure Musik hat mein Leben verändert - jetzt studiere ich Deutsch in Berlin, wegen euch. Ihr seid wirklich großartig..." (You know, your (plural) music changed my life - I'm studying German in Berlin now, because of you guys. You're really amazing..." He looks me in the eyes - "Oh, vielen Dank!" I couldn't process why he was even saying thank you to me, he should have been saying something like, Oh, you're welcome that we showed you how to live and be free, we ARE fantastic, aren't we, little minion. xD Ah, it was amazing. The one thing - you can't fully absorb his glory and act normal at the same time. I was going for acting normal, which means, his unspeakably beautiful eyes were locked with mine, but my brain's processing power was tied up keeping my heart going and my mouth speaking in a foreign language, and couldn't really just melt on the spot and stare and appreciate them like instinct dictates.
13. They gather us into groups and start doing group pictures with the band. They take three. (Hopefully to be uploaded to TH Japan's Facebook soon? we'll see) As we're leaving, many fans are shaking Bill's hand, and I think about it, but I'm kinda like (a) at this point he doesn't have a choice, he's doing it for everyone who asks, and out of respect, let's not, and (b) I can't go and fulfill all my TH-related dreams in one day, otherwise I'll be really depressed and have to go climb Everest or something, so let's stack "handshake" on the list of things to maybe happen in the future. I settle on smiling and saying "bis Mittwoch!" (till Wednesday!) as I leave, and he says "Bis dann!" (till then!) back.
14. I mill with fans and freak out together. They see my tattoo, recognize me from the contest, and get excited and take some pictures of it. We chat in broken Japanese and broken English. Eventually we leave the embassy and there are a group of European fans outside the gate, including two girls I know through Facebook. I chat with them a bit, then take a taxi back. To top everything off, the taxi driver gets incredibly lost, despite the fact that I've handed him the hotel's address in Japanese and a map to the place, and decides upon finally arriving to make the taxi ride free.
I am totally exuberant but drained. So much emotion, so much, I am speechless. I cannot believe I finally was able to say those words to him. I don't even know, it's going to take time to absorb.
I filmed the whole press conference, I'll upload the vid in two parts to Youtube, it'll take a while but I'll post it here when it's finished.