I got extremely lucky and managed to win Asakura Momo’s (hereby refer to as ‘Mocho’) sign event for her photobook “Pleasant”. We get to have our “Pleasant” photobook signed by Mocho during the event!!!

Honestly I wasn’t expecting to win at all as I only bought 1 book. I was originally going to give the code away since I already made plans with friends for that day, but I thought why not just try it. I can adjust my plans if needed.

When I received the winning mail, I actually thought it was a questionnaire sheet (since I forgot that I applied). Imagine how surprised and happy I was when I realized what happened.

This is an event only about 90-100 people were able to participate as it is 3 sessions with around 30 people each. I won the 3rd and last session. (I learned these information when I went to the event.)

Before the Event Started

The event check in was at 16:50 and the event was to start at 17:10. The check in was really strict as it requires both a photo ID as well as an ID which confirms your address. After the confirmation, we were asked to write our name on a piece of paper they provided. You can include both your first and last name, last name only, or first name only. I’m not quite sure if you are allowed to put your nickname but I assume not. Since I use my first name as my nickname for fan mails, etc… it didn’t really matter to me at all. This paper will be shown to Mocho so she can write our name on the photobook.

We were sent to the entrance to the seating area after writing our name down. At the entrance, we draw numbers from a box to determine where we sit and our signing order. I manage to draw #1. Crap…

This is actually the event which you wanna draw the highest number, as you can see Mocho for longer since you are asked to leave after she signed your book.

Oh well, nothing I can do about it, front row seat and also the first up. I guess it has it’s merits :p

MC Segment before Mocho came on

Before the event started, we were asked to take off the plastic cover of the photobook so Mocho won’t have a hard time dealing with it.

The event start time got delayed for a bit, but around 5 minutes later, the MC came on stage. Since the event room is small, mic was not needed.

MC: “Can people in the back row hear me?”

Audience: “Daijoubu desu!”

MC: “Oh wait, if you can’t hear me, I shouldn’t hear any response from you guys.”

The audience chuckled.

I’m liking this MC already.

He then talked about the general rules. No photos, video, recording, etc…. He told us to feel free to ask her anything, interact with her etc… but we are not allowed to ask her to do character voice stating that Mocho is here as “Asakura Momo”, not as a character. Haha

Before the MC called up Mocho from behind the curtain, he wanted help us feel less nervous.

MC: “You guys are probably nervous, and we don’t wanna trouble Mocho by talking too quietly. Let’s do a small exercise before we call her on. Repeat what I say.”

The MC out of nowhere shouted:

“MOCHO!!!!”

Audience followed it up beautifully:

“MOCHO!!!!”

The audience was laughing at this point.

MC continued: “KAWAII!!!!!”

Audience: “KAWAII!!!!!”

MC: “We will need to give her a warm welcome with our claps, let’s practice that too.”

We did the same thing with the claps. Then after the clapping practice…

MC: “Let’s practice again!”

“MOCHO!!!!”

Audience:

“MOCHO!!!!!!”

MC: “KAWAII!!!!!!”

Audience: “KAWAII!!!!!!”

This MC is a beast.

MC: “And without further ado, let’s welcome Asakura Momo!!!”

The audience roared with applause.

Asakura Momo! MC Segment!

Mocho walked up from behind the curtain to the right side of the stage and we cheered. She waved at us with both hands in front of her chest. She was wearing a white sweater like shirt and a pink/ red flowery dress that is up to just above her knee

Mocho: “I heard you guys~~~” (referring to our practice)

She then did a short introduction for her name, event name and thanked us for coming.

Mocho: “Is there anyone here that is seeing for me for the first time?”

One person raised their hand.

Mocho: “Ohhhhhhhhh, there is!!”

Mocho went on to talk a bit more in detail about the photobook. She talked about one of the shots in the book which she is walking on rocks. She told us that shot was just a random shot that wasn’t planned initially. She said you can feel the Guam wind from looking at the picture. Haha. (No scanner so sorry for shitty quality)

Since the photos were taken in Guam, she then asked if anyone has been to Guam before.

About 3-4 people rose their hand.

Mocho: “You know, I always thought Guam was a really far place from Japan. I thought it would take around 8 hours by plane to get there, but it turns out it only too about 3-4 hours!! A lot closer than I thought!”

Then Mocho moved on to talk about the front cover.

“Oh by the way, I’m really bad with heat, that’s why my face like this.” (referring to the front cover)

The back cover of the photobook has a short story too, and it was fairly interesting.

Mocho: “I was just posing for shots, and my manager took a look and said that this photo as the back cover shot will not disappoint for sure so I just gave him/her the ‘ummmm….. Ok?, douzo’ (please go ahead with taking the picture).”

And that’s the story of how the back cover shot was shot and selected.

All in all, the photo selection for the photobook took around 6 hours in total.

It was a super short MC segment by her. Only about 5 minutes.

We then moved on to the signing event.

I was the first up since I drew #1.

The Signing

(Sorry, I couldn’t type up the whole conversation with her in detail as some of it was personal information)

Mocho: “Konichiwa!”

Me: “Konichiwa!”

Her smile was super bright and her eyes were glittering. I can’t believe I’m an arm’s length from her and talking to her!! I handed her the photobook and she start to sign it.

Me: “I came from Canada!”

Mocho: “Oh!! Thank you for coming! When are you going back?”

I explained that I’m studying here and not planning to go back for a while.

Mocho: “Sugoi! Your Japanese is really good!”

Me: “Thank you, but I still need to work on it!”

Mocho: “How long and where did you study Japanese?”

Me: “I started studying back when I was still in Canada. I came to Japan and study another year. Now I’m studying XXXX.”

Mocho: “Sugoi!!”

She really loves “sugoi” haha. Her eyes lit up every time she said it. Super cute >W<

At this point, she was pretty much done with signing, which is my signal to head out the door. There are still a lot of things I wanted to ask her but I didn’t want to over stay my welcome. Also Mocho just kept following up with questions after I answered it (probably had training for this so they don’t run out of things to say), so I couldn’t really throw up a question myself in time. Didn’t help that I was also going blank at the same time haha. I did prep more than enough things to say, but I just couldn’t bare myself to cut off her sentences while she was still talking.

FYI, the talk was about 45 seconds- 1minute. The conversation didn’t flow as fast as you read this as there were pauses and speaking time (Obviously the conversation is not typed out word for word).

She handed me back my photobook and I accidentally touched one of her finger briefly (Her hands were under the photobook so I accidentally touched her finger when I took my photobook back. ) Oops.

She thanked me for coming and I thanked her for signing.

I stepped away from the table and to my surprise, Mocho waved at me and said, “Bye bye” in a super cute Mocho voice!

I waved back at her and said “bye bye” to her as well.

And that was the end of the signkai with Mocho.

If I had drawn a lower number, maybe there could have been more to the event to write about. ):

My Final Thoughts

Although the chat I had with Mocho may just seem short and boring, I had a great time. Sure I may not have asked what I wanted, but I got a chance to meet, speak, and get a signature from Mocho herself an arm’s length from her. That’s more than I can ever ask for. I am super grateful for this chance and will treasure the book forever!!

Oh, I asked other people that came out after how it went and most of them said they could really only get a question in before the signing is over so I guess that made me feel a bit better about my conversation. People also told me I had the most pressure since I was going up first. That made me feel a bit more better haha.

This is the end result:

Before I end this report, I was able to take a shot of the signkai poster at the end when I went out so I thought I would share it as well.

Thank you for reading!

Until next time~~

Salo

Disclaimer: Everything I wrote down is based on my memory. I may not have remembered everything correctly!