2000

 

[About Hawaii]

This year is the 100th anniversary of Okinawans moving to Hawaii. To commemorate that, and as a link to the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Okinawans on Hawaii, a concert was held on Oahu at the Waikiki Shell inside Waikiki’s Kapiolani Park starring Okinawa native Amuro Namie.

Also, part of the money from the concert went to the Hawaiian United Okinawan Association. An even was held a day before the concert at the Okinawa Hawaii Center on Oahu where a check was presented to that organization. Too, that same evening, a fan club only AmR Dinner Party, which, of course, was attended by Amuro herself, was held to deepen the friendship between her fans. The following day at 7 p.m.was the actual concert, called Big Wave Honolulu, itself. With powerful staging and dancing, the audience without reservation clapped along and urged her to come back to perform again.

 

[About the Fan Club Dinner Party]

Setting off for the Amuro Namie Big Wave Honolulu concert in Hawaii, lots of people poured in from Japan. 250 people from AmR, her fan club, took part in the tour. the day before the concert, a party was held with Amuro and fan club members, dubbed the AmR Dinner Party.At the hall, fans were seen with photos of the album jacket and and the yellow butterfly uchiwa (a type of Japanese fan) that were familiar sights on her Genius 2000 tour of Japan.

There were also many fans seen wearing yellow butterfly hairpins and accessories as well. Owing to coming from rehearsal, Amuro showed up at the hall late. They had a jankenpon competition, with the winner receiving a signed butterfly golf glove that she used while playing a round in Hawaii. Amid all the excitement, Amuro entered the hall. “Good evening everybody. I’m sorry to have kept you waiting. Thank you for coming all the way to Hawaii to see me. I’ll do my best at the concert tomorrow and please enjoy your time here tonight.”

She received loud supportive yells from the crowd. On the plane on the way over, her fans took part in an “Amuro Cult Quiz,” in advance of the party and the answers were announced on the night of the party. Amuro also took a shot at the quiz questions. Although the staff struggled mightily to put the quiz together, the scores ended up being pretty high. 50 points were possible from the 30 question quiz, with the top score coming in at 48! Surprisingly, five people attained that score, each missing only one question. The best score by a member of her production office or staff was 40 points, which is also what Amuro got when she took it. Out of the 250 fans, 11 scored better than 40 points, outdoing the staff and showing their devotion to the cult. The top ten winners received various prizes and the top slot was decided by a jankenpon competition among the five tied for the top score. The lucky winner got lots of tour goods and a limited edition bag, which was signed by Amuro. The winner had a numb look on their face. Continuing in that vein, to give those that lost another chance, another quiz was held with (apparently) Amuro asking the questions. The winner got to take a picture with Amuro and themselves. Then Amuro went around to the tables and allowed the attendees to take pictures with her. Many of them had children, which ended up on Amuro’s knee while the parents clicked away. It was two hour party that deepened the interaction between Namie and the members of her fan club.

 

[The Concert]

“Konbanwa! Aloha, I’m honored to be participating in this event. Tonight, I’ll work hard during the performance, so please enjoy yourselves.”

Starting with the fans who came from Japan, 6000 Amuro Namie fans gathered to see her perform. Coming out in a black sleeveless top and white pants, the crowd cheered her enthusiastically. From the opening, the stage became a dance (something or other, beats me what it is) and the liberating outdoor atmoshpere turned the audience voltage up full blast. There were also moving instances of her inviting children onstage and hugging them. Bewteen the opening song and the encore, she did 14 songs in all in a 90 minute well received set. Even members of the local Japanese-American community were saying, “that’s some stage show,” and many in the audience yelled for her to perform there again (in the typical hyperbolic style of the Japanese geinou press and p.r. industry, they called these instances “love calls.”)

Amuro posters were splashed all over shopping malls and hotels in Waikiki and in the local Japanese-American press, the Honolulu Times, there were articles about the concert. And tickets to the sold out show went for a premium.