Yeah, yeah, yeah. Another Arashi post.
Just read on tumblr that membership of their official fan club has passed the 1.5 million mark. In May last year, it breached 1 million; it took just less than a year to gain another 500,000. And counting.
All good. As an Arashi fan girl, I’m proud of the boys especially considering those years they were not popular and the attendance to their concerts was poor.
It seems to me that the increase has been largely thanks to fanboys. Arashi members themselves have noticed more and more guys trooping to their concerts to watch, and these are guys who are not accompanying girlfriends, but on their own or in groups.
The increase in FC membership does pose a basic logistics problem. With 1.5 million fangirls AND fanboys competing for the lottery of the concert tickets, what are the chances that all of them would be able to go watch?
I’m a journalist so I’m not good in math but I’ll try anyway.
Let’s say, a Kokuritsu concert.
The capacity of Tokyo’s National Olympic Stadium is 48,000 (seated) and 57,363 otherwise. Let’s go with the latter. With 1.5 million fans jockeying for a ticket to a Kokuritsu concert that can accommodate 57,363, it means Arashi will have to perform 26 nights in Kokuritsu alone in order to accommodate everyone. But that is on the basis that one fan = one ticket. However, as FC rules go, a fan can ballot for a maximum of four tickets and a choice of up to three venues. And of course, that’s the reason why they do a tour around Japan, to accommodate everyone.
(@ailamarie tweeted that Kokuritsu capacity is 75,000; with this ballpark figure, Arashi will still have to perform 20 nights there to make sure all 1.5 million FC members are happy.)
Now, why is FC membership important? Ahhh. There goes the million-dollar question. The FC members (membership fee is 5,000 yen or $62) get first dibs on the tickets. Johnny’s will only do an open sale if there are still available tickets after the FC balloting is done. IF.
Now there are enterprising people who sell their tickets online. A ticket costs 7,000 yen (around $86) for FC members. But when these are sold online, the price can be ridiculous. I have heard of people paying up to $1,000 for a single, bloody ticket. I love Arashi but I am not that crazy. C’est la vie.
More practical information on Arashi FC here.
I haven’t watched a real Arashi concert. I have watched them at the Asia Song Festival in 2006 in Gwangju, South Korea. I have been in Yokohama before when they had a concert but I never attempted to even inquire for a ticket just seeing all the fangirls lined up along the road holding posters that said: “Want to buy Arashi ticket”. They could have very well said “will work for Arashi ticket” or “will exchange body for Arashi ticket”. I sensed the desperation. I come across those panicky posts online when it’s Arashi concert season.
Fangirls have told me that watching Arashi during a live is an entirely different experience. I’m sure it is. But I wonder–with 1.5 million in the official fan club and hundreds of thousands more overseas– will it just remain a dream?
Of course every Arashi fangirl knows this by heart: ♫ Arashi… Arashi… for dream… ♫
Copyright © 2012. theasianpopculturist. All rights reserved.
orange jasmine purple yam 
I always wondered, if they have so many fans, why aren’t they all buying the singles? Numbers in FC membership and cd sales aren’t the same … XD
I would love to see them in concert but yeah, the odds are not in our favour. and plus, I’m in another country. XDD
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hmmm interesting point actually. but shall we call it the live phenomenon? blame it on piracy and content sharing. ultimately, it doesn’t make a difference if the song in my iPod is from an original single/album or downloaded online. BUT it does make a difference–and entitles me to bragging rights–if I am able to watch their concert live. in person. in the flesh. right smack in the middle of excitement and amidst all those colorful balloons and confetti and shiny shimmery costumes hahahaha!
but it’s still sad though that the FC numbers and CD sales do not match. I hope the 500,000 are not from the blackmarket out to scam fangirls! lols
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FC members =/= cd sales. That has been the case not just with JE groups but to other artists aswell.
In case you’re wondering why AKB48’s singles reach 1M, it’s due to how their label market the cd. With revealing photos on cd booklet, and not to mention having 9 or so different limited editions, any akb48 otaku(die-hard/obssessed fan) will surely want to own ALL those editions. Their FC hasn’t even reached the 300K members yet.
Anyway… yay for Arashi reaching 1.5M OFFICIAL FC members! Now IF only Johnny’s Jimusho cares about Guinness World Records.. the world will know who the REAL biggest fanclub in the world is 😀
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oh don’t get me started on AKB48 lols
there’s a similar case in Taiwan wherein this singer always tops the charts coz of the gazillion of versions of his album, even beating Jay Chou and Wang Lee Hom.
Johnny’s does care about Guinness… remember, he was recently recognized as the producer who had created the most idols or something? if the boys make it to Guinness, wow man! but my impression is, they don’t really care about these things and just work hard at everything that they’re given (spoken like a real fangirl lols)
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Haha, this made me laugh: “They could have very well said “will work for Arashi ticket” or “will exchange body for Arashi ticket”. I sensed the desperation. ” You are so right…and I, as an overseas fan who lived for a while in Japan, was even more desperate. So I paid that insane amount of money to see them. But never gonna regret it. Rather than spending those money on other crap, I’m happier seeing Arashi. I know that with those money I’d probably do a lot of other things, but for me personally, those 3 hours watching my favorite band are more precious than anything.
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@Cristina — oh I don’t blame you! and I’m sure it was worth every penny watching those five boys. if their concerts are already awesome on DVD, how much more LIVE. it’s still my dream to watch them live one day XD
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