Joining Arashi (or any other JE’s group) as overseas fans

I joined their fan club right after their hiatus announcement in the hope to secure their concert ticket for the last time. Alas, the pandemic happened, which is actually a good thing in a way they provide online concert viewing so everyone can watch. Even after their hiatus, Arashi still gives a lot of benefits to their fan club members. If you live outside Japan and need help joining a fan club, here we recommend three services that we already tested.

1. Onegai Kaeru

This is the first proxy service that I use until now. Their annual agent fee is quite high (USD100 – 150) and that only covers basic services such as lending an address, helping to sign up for a fan club, and receiving fan club mail. On their website, they stated offering additional services like translating fan club newsletters and balloting for tickets. Well, I asked and they said they don’t do such things. So if you want to ballot for ticket, you have to do it by yourself. If you want to forward your fan club mail, you have to pay USD20 plus the shipping fee. The reason why I still use their service is because of their good customer service and they are very accommodating.

2. SOS Japan

Actually, their service is on par with Onegai Kaeru despite how fishy their website looks. I used their service for Ikuta Toma’s fan club. Just like Onegai Kaeru, they handled all fan club member registration. FYI, for Ikuta Toma, JE doesn’t send fan club mail so it is free to become a fan club member. The annual agent fee for SOS japan is slightly cheaper (8000 yen). Their customer service was also good, they help to claim a refund for Toma’s stage play ticket when the show got canceled due to the pandemic at no cost. They also help me to buy Kanjani8’s 15sai concert ticket from ticket.co.jp. The reason why I stop using their service is that I see no reason to pay for the agent fee when I don’t receive any fan club mail.

3. Blackship

This service is quite new. They are basically a package forwarding service like Tenso. I don’t use Tenso because they can’t forward mail to Indonesia (which is weird because Buyee can do it). They don’t charge annual fee. Their service is only to provide a Japanese address so you can receive package/mail and then forward the mail to you. So when JE finally accept an overseas credit card, I use the address their provided to join Ikuta Toma fan club again. It is definitely a cheaper option than using agents like Onegai Kaeru and SOS Japan.

So that are three options that you can choose from if you decided to join JE’s group fan club.

We’re back!

Hi semuaaaaa…!!!

Setelah dua tahun lebih kami vakum, dengan dibukanya lagi border Jepang, kami bakal posting artikel tentang traveling in Japan dan fangirl post (meski ga tau deh apakah informasinya udah kadaluarsa atau belum, hehe).

Salah satu alasan kami sempat vakum adalah kekhawatiran beberapa pembaca yang mengira Jepang sudah bisa dikunjungi pada saat masa penutupan border. Padahal semua postingan kami biasanya (very very) late post. Alasan lainnya karena kami berdua sedang fokus dengan kehidupan pribadi sehingga fangirl life harus mengalah dulu, hehe. Namun demikian, tentunya kami tidak melewatkan penayangan Record of Memories tahun 2021 silam.

Setelah berdiskusi, kami berdua sepakat untuk mempertahankan blog ini sampai setidaknya Arashi resmi menyatakan bubar. Jadi, nantikan postingan terbaru kami ya. Doakan juga kami bisa mendapatkan kesempatan mengunjungi Jepang lagi mulai tahun ini. Ja mata ne~~

Halal Restaurant: Yoshiya Oku no Niwa, Kyoto

Wow, we can’t believe that after six years blogging, this is the first time we write a post about Kyoto! Kyoto had been in our bucket list especially since we wanted to visit Arashiyama during Sakura season, but only until last December I finally stepped my foot on Kyoto. Not for Sakura viewing (well… obiviously…), but to try a restaurant that offer Halal washoku dish near Arashiyama area.

Yoshiya Kyoto

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Filming Location: Solanin/ソラニン

As requested from Alexis (sorry that we took so long to make this post!), this time we will share the filming location of 2010’s movie: Solanin. Most of the locations are located at the border of Kanagawa and Tokyo. You can start your journey from Izumi-Tamagawa Station which is along Odakyu Line, about 30 minutes train ride from Shibuya Station.

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Ketika Liburan Dibatalkan

Siapa yang sedih karena liburannya batal karena Covid-19 epidemic? *acung tangan sendiri*. Wajar jika sedih, apalagi tidak semua uang yang sudah kita bayarkan bisa kembali.  Hanya saja saat ini memang kita berada di keadaan yang mengharuskan untuk memilih tindakan pencegahan penyebaran virus.

Jujur, saya awalnya tetap berniat melanjutkan perjalanan ke Jepang di pertengahan Maret ini terutama setelah memahami bahwa saya masuk ke dalam kategori low risk menurut CDC. Penyakit ini pun sebenarnya juga tidak terlalu mematikan (terutama bagi yang low risk). Tetapi sebenarnya yang perlu kita waspadai adalah potensi penyebaran virus yang lebih luas.

Nah, jika ada yang liburannya terpaksa dibatalkan baik karena Covid-19 maupun alasan lainnnya (pekerjaan misalnya), supaya uang yang hilang bisa diminimumkan silahkan simak beberapa tips dari kami berikut. Continue reading

Tokyo Cruise: Hotaluna

Fans Arashi di seluruh dunia pasti pada bersorak kegirangan di tanggal 3 November lalu karena adanya YouTube live dengan seabreg pengumuman yang menggembirakan fans seluruh dunia. Selain rencana acara Jet-Storm (yang proses balloting-nya bikin gagal focus kerja), mereka juga mengumumkan pengunggahan PV lagu teranyar yaitu Turning Up.

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