author: Caitleen

The phenomenon called Johnny's Entertainment has recently started to gain more popularity outside Japan, too. What is it that makes girls (and boys) squee over these admittedly beautiful, talented young men? Is it just the pretty faces or is there more to it than that? As a non-believer, I decided to go undercover and see for myself. Especially as the perfect opportunity had just appeared in the form of the TegoMass event in Stockholm, promoting the release of their first single Miso Soup, in Sweden. The actual members of TegoMass, Yuya Tegoshi and Takashi Masuda - best known as members of the famous Johnny's group NewS - were also supposed to make an appearance. It seemed a bit too good to be true, but in any case well worth a try.

We arrived in Stockholm early in the morning, deciding to find the Spy Bar where the event was scheduled to take place later that day. When our little group of representatives from Finland met up at the front of the place at around 9 AM there was only one person there before us; we laughed that if the event was taking place in Finland then there would of been people queueing with tents two days before.

The queue grew slowly but surely as more and more people gathered to wait for the doors to open. It was rather cold, but people found ways of spending the time and keeping warm; singing together, reading Japanese magazines and even running around the block. Random people came to ask us what we were doing there. "Waiting for some Japanese musicians." "Oh, Japanese.." People with cameras interviewed some people for Swedish TV. A member of the staff came and pulled a fence to the sidewalk to guide the line, which managed to break up the line a bit. Things got heated a couple of times as new people came and tried to cut in front of people that had been standing there for hours. Otherwise there was pure excitement in the air. About an hour and a half before the event a minibus pulled over at the front of the main doors. Could it be..?

Yes.

First, some members of the staff came out soon followed by the two members of TegoMass. People started screaming. Tegoshi and Massu, obviously surprised by the amount of people and their excitement waved at the crowd who waved frantically back. Soon after they proceeded inside the building. The excitement kept on growing as nobody really knew what was going to happen. Finally, at around half past three, we were let in and lead upstairs. There was a small desk where you could buy the new TegoMass single Miso Soup and the earlier Shuji to Akira single Seishun Amigo, 25kr each (about 2,75e). Quite a bargain. Then we were lead further in, to a small hall with walls full of mirrors and a small stage at the back wall. Certainly an intimate setting.

We were first shown some live NewS footage with Tegoshi and Massu from the NewS Spring Concert Tour 2006, material that has not yet been officially released. According to a friend, the songs were Sayaendou, with funny old school graphics, Akaku Moyuru Taiyou, Tegoshi's solo YOU -world is yours-, then Massu's Akatsuki and finally Sunadokei was sung as a duet. Some people tried to keep the rest of the crowd quiet by frequently "shhhhhh!"-ing us to concentrate on what was shown to us, with rather good results, until they played the Seishun Amigo PV. People started screaming immediately when realizing what they were about to see, then the whole crowd proceeded to sing the whole song by heart. It was a magical moment, the feeling of unity among the audience was really intense.

Soon we were told TegoMass was first going to perform two songs and take a few pictures with the crowd, after which everyone that bought the single would get a chance to shake hands with the boys. Everyone became even more anxious than before, chanting "Tegomass, Tegomass, Tegomass". After what seemed like forever, everyone turned to stare back at the entrance of the room, as Tego and Massu were escorted to the small stage through the crowd by a few security guards protecting them.

"Jag heter Yuya Tegoshi!" "Jag heter Takahisa Masuda!" Excited cheers answered their Swedish introductions. Looking at those two it was strikingly apparent why they are such big stars in Japan. The charisma, for whatever reason, was something unbelievable. People went into hysterics just by looking at them standing there, I later heard that one girl fainted at the first row before they even started singing. First was the new single Miso Soup, which, even if it sounds rather bland on the CD, sounded really good as a live performance. Tegoshi's and Massu's voices complemented each other in perfect harmony. They were both seemingly surprised at the excited reactions, but started to enjoy themselves pretty fast, flirting with the audience by waving their hands and sending kisses to us. Between the songs they also showed off their language skills with many thanks in English, Japanese and Swedish and sentences like "Everyone here bery bery pretty!" and "bery bery interesting!" That made the audience flip, and the screams were ear-breaking. Nobody recognized the second song, but according to some people, it's called Hajimete no Asa, the B-side-to-be of the Japanese version of Miso Soup. A nice song in any case. They continued the seemingly innocent flirting, making everyone swoon even more.

After the song was over, they took some pictures with the crowd on the background. Everyone was showing peace signs and waving to the camera. Some of the people in the front row apparently got to touch them, which resulted in a loud "Oh my god!" from one of the girls closest to them. Everyone burst out laughing. Soon after the photographer was done with the pictures and Tegoshi and Massu were escorted out of the room the same way they came in. We were told to go and queue for the handshaking.

The queue moved surprisingly fast. People were giving them presents, thanking them for coming to Sweden and congratulating Tegoshi whose birthday was four days before the event. They seemed sincerely surprised and thankful yet unsure of how to react to their gifts or the fact people were actually talking to them in Japanese. Again, they used the few Swedish phrases they knew, mainly "tack", thank you. I gave them my gifts, thanked them, shook their hands and finally left the room feeling I had just touched the most perfect beings in the whole world. If that's how I, a mere passer-by felt, I wonder what went through the minds of the actual fans.

It was a strange experience. The whole thing lasted only about 40 minutes, yet it felt more like a couple of hours. As a newbie to the whole Johnny's subculture, the depth of the impact those two young men had on the crowd - and me - took me by surprise. Both of them seemed really down-to-earth, yet too perfect to be true and it still amazes me I actually got to meet them in person. It was just a glimpse of the glittering world of Johnny's, but I think I now understand what it is that makes millions of fans adore those boys so much.

It is the fact they are so unreal, something out of this world.