So today, July 20, is Friendship Day as “mandated” by the Arashi Senseis with their Friendship Bus going around Tokyo.

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The theme of this year’s Waku Waku/Arashi School was Friendship and if there’s a good example of what friendship is like, it would be these five bakas. Despite their personality differences, they managed to be one solid group celebrating their 15th year now and counting. Read this Waku Waku report by yarukizero to see how they are like. It’s friendship, member ai and family all at the same time.

“Because we were not just coworkers, but also friends, we’ve been able to stay together this long.” – Ohn0

Fandoms do not only give us something to spazz about. It’s also a chance for us to meet new friends. Of course, not everyone we meet we’d click with and depending on our biases, some may even become our enemies. I was lucky that for my first fandom (F4), my fellow fangirls were already my close friends and we did a lot of crazy things together so yes, been there, done that.

Fangirling is more fun when you do it with friends and some of those we meet in our fandoms may end up as real friends beyond the spazzing and the kya-ing. I’ve been lucky to have met a group, that like Arashi, I can always go back to whenever I wander off in the forest of idols. We don’t just talk about Arashi (though of course 80% of the time we do), but about those that can’t-be-named, scandals and life in general. We laugh, we cry, we rant. On LINE. LOL.

Perhaps Arashi’s greatest gift to their fans is not the bus concerts, dramas and their music, but bringing together different people across the world. As Aiba said, the biggest ship is FRIENDSHIP.

So this post is dedicated to @jhingnigami, @ailamarie, @VyLeTtE070111 and @cherylfides, and to everyone who have become friends in the fan world. Because, indeed, fangirling is more fun when you do it with friends.

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