The Korean girl unit SNSD who has been preparing for their approaching Japan debut, held and event on the 25th at Ariake Coliseum.

The event started with an opening video and pink colored penlights painted the venue as shrill cheers of “KYAAA!” spread throughout the place. Despite it being a girl unit, the audience was mostly young females.

Sooyoung (20), who has had experience in the Japanese entertainment industry, greeted the crowd in fluent Japanese, “I’m happy that so many people came to our first Japanese live!” Taeyeon (21) said, “We’re nervous, but we prepared very hard for this!” Sunny (21) said with the help of an interpreter, “This is our first time meeting everyone. Today really means a lot. We’ll do our best, so please anticipate it!”

Last, the youngest member Seohyun (19) did a Japanese greeting, the members who were stumped on what to say (in Japanese) followed with things like gestures and it was a charming scene.

The first song they did was the original Korean version of their Japan debut single “Genie”. The music started and from the guest seating everyone collectively yelled “Genie YA!” (Ya = Korean of “Chan” or “Kun”), “SEO NYUH SHI DAE!” (How SNSD is called in Korean), among other fan chants. They followed with their other hit songs “Oh!” “Run Devil Run” and their Korean debut song “Into the world”[sic]. The last song was the song popular in Korea “Gee” and it really got everyone fired up in the venue.

Several people who went to the visited on that day cosplayed SNSD’s costumes. They also brought around fans with the name of their favorite member on them, a fad in Korea. They’re the masters of cheering. When groups of fans were asked, many said they had heard of the girls around a year ago through the internet or word of mouth. They said they learned the methods of cheering for them through fan sites. There were many full out conversations, “Has Sunny lost weight?” “I want to see Sica-sama’s tsundere!” [Note: Sica-sama is Jessica’s nickname in Japan. Tsundere is something like on the surface you’re sarcastic/sharp/ice princess-like but underneath they’re loveable and sweet] “On the DVD Jacket Tiffany looks pigeon-toed!”.

Fans who have had their heart captured by SNSD’s charms said these points about their professionalism, “All of their songs, dances and style are amazing!” and “Listening to their music is becoming an addiction.” [Note: They’re making a play on the Japanese GENIE lyrics “KUSE ni naru wa” – It’s becoming an addiction]

This year many Korean girl groups have advanced to Japan. However, the many fans that came here today are ordinary girls that would normally like “Arashi” and “AKB48”. The “Korean wave” began a few years ago, but the fans then differ from those now. Even those who held resistance before by saying “Korean music is a little….”, may be able to get into these girls’ performances.


Translated by: Kanki@Soshified.com
Source: [LINK]