As you are all no doubt aware, Morning Musume announced that they will be Guests of Honour at the Japan Expo in Paris during July.

The actual announcement was made by Sayumi during the opening MC at the two final Pika Pika concerts in Nakano, Tokyo and as I was in Japan at the time – and would be for another week and a half – it resulted in me flapping about for the following week in an attempt to get all the information I needed about the expo, time off of work and the required tickets for me to attend it. After 4 international phone calls (my friend is ace), rushed PM’s to La’aKea on H!O, a drive in to work whilst I was still technically on holiday (I was back in the UK by this point) and 3 more phone calls to my boss I’ve managed to secure my place at Morning Musume and Hello! Projects first event in Europe! Phew (>_<)

None of this would’ve been possible without the awesomeness that is La’aKea so all the credit needs to go to her. I know she keeps telling me not to worry but seriously, there’s not many people I know who would be willing to spend €164 of their own money securing a ticket and expo pass for someone they’ve never met . So thanks to her I’m lucky enough to have one of the Morning Musume Premium packs and a 4 day convention pass. For anyone who doesn’t know the pack contains:

♥ A Poster
♥ A T-Shirt
♥ 10 Badges
♥ A Set of 3 Collector CD’s
♥ A Priority Ticket for the Concert

I will be in Paris between the 30th June and 5th July as I’m hoping to both greet Morning Musume at the airport when they arrive and wave goodbye to them at the airport when they leave. At the moment I only have a place to stay between the 1st and 3rd of July (also thanks to La’aKea and her friend) so I really need to find cheap accommodation for the nights of the 30th June and 4th July. If anyone reading this is staying near the Charles de Gaulle airport and has a spare bed and wants to put me up for either of those nights (or both) let me know. Once again, La’aKea has helped me out with this. I’m seriously in her debt!!!

As I’m not really interested anything that the Expo has to offer outside of Morning Musume I’ll probably be looking to do some sightseeing around the Paris area whilst I’m there. So far a few of us have our hearts set on Disneyland (a must as a Risa fan) and I’ll probably try to check out the smaller, non orange version of Tokyo Tower. So what else is there to do / see? France has never really been on my list of ‘places to visit’ so I don’t have any real clue as to what’s there apart from what I’ve seen in films. I still have plenty of time to make some firm decisions but if any of my readers are also attending this event and would like to meet up, give me a shout and we’ll sort something out. I’ll no doubt be incredibly generous and bring some Hello! Project items with me to give away as freebies – yes, that is the type of person I am – so if you’re not sure whether you really want to meet me or not, that could prove to be an incentive. As for how to spot me? Well I’m thinking about getting an OMAME.CO.UK t-shirts made up as a bit of self promotion so look out for that. Oh…and I’ll also be wearing a Stitch costume (^_^)

6 weeks before this happens. COME ON!!!

See ya all there!