I had disappeared off the Internet for the last few months as it was crazy busy at work and I had no time for anything else. In need of a quick getaway to keep my sanity, I wondered where to go.
After my last 2 trips to Japan, I admittedly have been obsessed with 14U and can’t get Hyunwoong them out of my head. I was lucky enough to have bumped into 14U on the streets of Tokyo and I was hoping that I might get lucky and see my Hyunwoong 14U again.
I decided to do some research to see where I might be able to catch my Hyunwoong 14U again. And as fate would have it, I saw that 14U are having some Christmas event in Tokyo and fuelled by work-stress induced insanity, I booked my flight to Tokyo. Even though I don’t have tickets to the event. LOL.
The thing about concerts/showcases in Japan is that there will always be 2 performances in a day and since I’m flying all the way there, I have to try to get myself into all 4 shows over the 23 & 24 December 2017 right?
14U is a group of 14 boys who are divided into 2 subunits, namely L team (Hyunwoong, Sejin, Eunjae, Luha, Woojoo, Rio and Gyeongtae) and X team (Doyuk, Loudi, Doyol, Gohyeon, E.Sol, B.S. and Youngwoong).
During my last trip, the L team caught my attention as they were more expressive and noisy. The X team was a little bit more shy and reserved. However, during this trip, the X team has up their game and are more comfortable and natural on stage now. They have become more spontaneous and entertaining.
14U performed their debut song VVV (which has been on repeat non-stop in my head), Good Girl and covered popular songs from other Kpop groups as well. On top of that, since it was a Christmas themed event, all the 14U boys were all dressed up for the festive mood. The thing I love about Japan is how even the fans will come dressed in festive clothes. I wished I had packed some outfits too.
Every Kpop group has a famous pair of bromance and 14U is no different with Hyunwoong and Sejin. Their interactions never fail to make me smile. Among the many things that happened during the event, I specifically remembered the part where Sejin pretended to unbutton his shirt and dragged Hyunwoong into the act as well. LOL. When Hyunwoong lifted up his shirt, all the fans started screaming like hell and Sejin quickly escaped. Hahaha!! #lastwarning
During one of the performance, the boys took turns to get off stage to hi-five the fans in the seats. The venue was already jam packed and naturally, the fans surged to the edges to stand along the path where the boys would walk through. I decided to get out of the crowd to avoid being squashed but lucky me, I still got to hi-five most of the boys.
Some of the members did walk to the middle are where I was or they stretched out their hands to give me a hi-five. Sadly, my Hyunwoong just walked along the outer perimeter and I didn’t get to hi-five him. Boo!
As always, after the performance, there was a photo taking and autograph signing session. You’ll need to buy the various Christmas packages to get the pass to the fan signs and whatnots. I bought the 10,000 yen package which consists of a 14U calendar, tote bag and 5 photos cards which you can get the boys to sign on.
I decided to get L team to sign on my calendar because of Hyunwoong and Sejin. I can’t remember what really happened with the other members because I was focused on quickly getting to Hyunwoong and Sejin. Honestly, I’m also not sure what some of their names are still as I’m still learning. Sorry. #notsorry
When I finally got my turn with Hyunwoong, he smiled and I died. I did manage to have a conversation mostly in English with him.
Me: Hyunwoong, which super hero do you like? Superman or Batman?
HW: Batman!
Me: This is a Christmas present for you! There’s a Batman inside.
HW: WOAH! Really? Thank you!
He probably has no idea but I died a few times while talking to him. He is so sexy without trying. He just needs to smile. *dies again*
Sejin on the other hand, surprised me by being able to spell my name correctly without any help! Impressed! That fluffy cutie pie was so apologetic the entire time because of his limited English vocabulary.
Me: Sejin, how do I look today?
SJ: (in English) cute cute, so cutie!
Then he switched to Korean to tell me how he wished that he could say more in English but he can’t coz he has reached the limit of his vocabulary.
I didn’t stay for all the hi-touch after the shows as I was really tired from the jetlag.
I want to also share an incident that happened to me on this trip to Japan. I was the third in line and a staff at the door took my ticket and went backstage with it. I was left without a ticket and another staff who took over then denied my entry into the venue. However, I am thankful that the organisers have an English speaking staff and managed to help resolve the situation after I explained what happened. Do not let the staff take away your ticket ever!
If you are in Japan this January (2018), do drop by one of their shows. So worth it! Also, look out for their Korean comeback expected to happen some time in February 2018.