Is everyone buckled up? [Yes. I’m always buckled up.] This is big news, you should also put on your helmet. [Alright, I put it on.] You have a helmet? Really? [Umm… no, I was just kidding *takes off helmet*]

Today during Fuji TV’s press conference for Tokyo Idol Project, Tokyo Idol Festival 2015 was announced! [OMG! Good thing I’m buckled up, but I should have kept my helmet on!] Tokyo Idol Project appears to be a cross media venture spanning television, web, and live concerts and events, but no one cares about aaaaany of that because Tokyo Idol Festival 2015 was announced!
TIF 2015 will be held on August 1 and 2 and the lineup currently includes:
Idoling!!!
Up Up Girls
Afilia Saga
Dorothy Little Happy
Negicco
PASSPO
Fudanjuku
Babyraids Japan
LinQ

HKT48 and Dempagumu Inc. were at today’s press conference and it’s logical to assume they will attend again this year. Unfortunately, having been to Tokyo Idol Festival 2012, 2013, and 2014, I’ve realized there is rarely anything logical about TIF.

The past three years, TIF was announced during the first or second week of April, so overseas fans who are interested in attending have an extra two to three weeks to decide. I’m going to try to book my airfare and hotel this week, because my favorite hotel in Odaiba is very popular and I like being able to just walk or somersault to the venue. It would be really convenient if I could see into the future and make sure Doll☆Elements and GEM will be attending. Although if I could see into the future, I probably wouldn’t care about TIF and I’d just try to figure out Runapon’s home address. [How would seeing into the future reveal Runapon’s home address?] I don’t know, I’ll figure that out once I am able to see into the future. And why aren’t you wearing your helmet?

While I contemplate why Negicco still exists, here is my super sloppy, poorly written, and completely unfunny wish list for TIF 2015

1. More iDOL Street please Last year only GEM and a janky Street-sei senbatsu team participated. That is unacceptable and I demand SUPER☆GiRLS return this year. Otherwise, I can’t rename the event Tokyo Reira Festival. [What about Cheeky Parade??] Oh yeah, them. Yes, they can return this year as well. I would also mention Street-sei, but on March 4, iDOL Street’s producer announced Street-sei is disbanding. It’s the end of an era, but considering the downward trajectory of iDOL Street and avex’s legendary cheapness, it’s not surprising. By this summer the fourth group will also have been unveiled and TIF would be a great event for them to debut, considering every single iDOL Street group has attended TIF during their first year. 

2. More Doll☆Elements please Last year they performed both days and four times total. That’s alright, but ten performances would be even better. With bikinis! If they participate again I vow to camp out for every one of their stages. Especially the bikini ones.

3. I forgot what 3 was

4. Please use Zepp Tokyo and Zepp Diver City Using the Mezamashi Live stage is cheap, lame, and embarrassing. It’s chelambarrasing.

5. Can all the Idoling fans please stay at home? I’d like to see Idoling this year, unfortunately there are so many Idoling fans at TIF that it’s impossible unless you camp out. And obviously I’m not camping out for them, so Idoling fans please just stay at home. Don’t worry, there will be plenty of other TIFs and concerts for you guys to see them. It’s not like they’re disbanding.

Tokyo Idol Festival 2014 is cool I guess, but what about Tokyo Reira Festival??

Tokyo Idol Festival 2014 was announced today. I knew there was a reason to wake up this morning. TIF 2014 will take place August 2-3. I’m not positive, but I’m pretty sure that’s when the cherry blossoms bloom.

Although I predicted the TIF 2014 reveal could happen this week, I’m still surprised the announcement came so soon. Most of my predictions have been disastrous – the whole world is still waiting for the 4th iDOL Street group. But then again predia recently announced their major label debut, so maybe my predictions are actually shockingly accurate and awesome. Anyway, since I’m an iDOL Street addict my plan was to wait for confirmations from SUPER☆GiRLS, GEM, Cheeky Parade, and Street-sei, but I just happened to find a perfect place in Odaiba which was way too convenient to pass up. The hotel is just a few minutes walk from Zepp Tokyo, which should be really ideal considering last year it took 45 minutes for me to get into Odaiba from central Tokyo. Now I can casually skedaddle to and from TIF all day without wasting valuable Reira and Sara stalking opportunities… assuming SUPER☆GiRLS and GEM will attend. They will attend right??

I’m actually pretty confident they will – GEM and Street-sei should be locks, and SUPER☆GiRLS and Cheeky Parade currently have July and August open. They’re both doing extensive touring this year but *hypothetically* and *theoretically* and *something something-cally* they should be able to fit TIF into their schedules. I’m a huge believer in karma so I’m going to have to be on my best behavior until the next TIF update.

I’ll update more in a bit with my predictions for groups, my new and updated TIF strategies, and the improvements I hope they implement (three words: more stages… and it would be nice if the organizers could try to reverse global warming – I prefer cool temperatures).  One interesting piece of news came out of the TIF website, evidently they’re going to attempt to get more overseas fans to attend. From TIF 2012 and TIF 2013 I noticed maybe 10 foreign fans total. The fact that they even mentioned this is really interesting. I’m not sure what effect this will have on the lineup if any, but if they can make tickets easier for overseas fans to purchase, that would be awesome. Otherwise I’ll just have to resort to my standard methods for getting tickets – begging someone in Japan to buy them for me. 

TIF strategy officially starts… Now!

#TheWorldJustSpontaneouslyTIFgasmed

I don’t know what that means, but TIF is trending all over the place right now. What a nerdy world we live in.

Today was the Tokyo Idol Festival 2013 press conference and predictably they updated the groups that would be performing at this years event.

Let’s just say #TIFUpdate#2Delivered

When I saw the updated list my eyes immediately saw SUPER☆GiRLS, and then I died. Literally. Then I saw negaigoto… Houkago Princess… Takokusekigun… Mano Erina (I started hallucinating  at this point… there are still hundreds of updates remaining #AnythingIsPossible)… predia… PASSPO… Fudanjuku… BiS… POWER SPOT… Cheeky Parade (they misspelled their name initially but looks like they corrected it)… and SUPER☆GiRLS! OMG Tokyo Reira Festival 2013 is going to be the best ever!

I read the list 20 times but either GEM wasn’t announced or they misspelled their name
I just read the list again and I still don’t see GEM. It’s a tricky word to spell. It’s possible (and likely) that they meant to write GEM, but instead wrote PPP! PiXiON by accident. 

Didn’t you predict SUPER☆GiRLS wouldn’t attend. I bet you feel really stupid now.
Yeah I feel stupid. Stupidly awesome. I was obviously reverse-jinxing their attendance. By saying I didn’t think they would be there, I was indirectly manipulating the universe to get them to attend.

Questions
What the f-junk is TAKE OFF? They have one of those inconvenient names that are too generic to google. Sounds like a PASSPO ripoff, but hopefully I’m wrong and it’s just a group of hot girls and their gimmick is taking off their clothes.

Stuff you may have missed
Apparently Zepp Tokyo is being used this year instead of Zepp DiverCity. Zepp Tokyo is a slightly larger venue, but I think it would be cool if both were used so there are two main stages. Competing main stages would be awesome – in theory. Zepp DiverCity could be for the borderline main stage groups and Zepp Tokyo for the obvious main stage groups. 

SUPER☆GiRLS’s performance is on Saturday. Last year they performed on Sunday, so this year I have to be on my game from day 1 (TIF has clearly turned you into a huge nerd). My entire TIF strategy revolves around the SUPER☆GiRLS performance, so this is huge news (sigh, not “TIF strategy” again). Last year I just frolicked around innocently the first day and I missed like two hours of performances, but this time I’ll camp out for SUPER☆GiRLS for ten hours if that is what it takes (coolness redeemed). 

This year there is a lottery for presale tickets which allow you to purchase your wristband directly. Last year you had to exchange your ticket for a wristband the day of the event, but this year they are sending wristbands in the mail. That is awesome, because now you can just directly queue on day 1. But now there is no benefit to having a low numbered ticket, which makes me think fans may show up super early to start lining up at each stage, particularly if a popular group is performing first.

TIF strategy officially starts…. now.

5.17 Update
Since TIF strategy officially started, I booked my flight and hotel this morning, and submitted a request for a TIF pre-sale ticket. I’ll know in June if I am able to get the wristband sent directly to me, otherwise I’ll just purchase the ticket the normal way and exchange for a wristband the day of the event. I think the next TIF update will be in early June.

That’s when GEM will be announced!

5.20 Update
GEM will be at TIF!! I totally called it! (No, you wrote they would be announced in the June update). That’s a lie and you know it! Anyway, GEM is scheduled to attend both days!! Tokyo Sararan Festival 2013 is going to be the best ever! This deserves it own entry, but it’s 3 AM so a mini-update™ should be ok. Well, that’s the good news. The bad news is they are still teasing a “final lineup”… as if they are still considering making changes. The group has been together for six months now (thats like 50 in walrus years), and I think they are past the point where they can make a change. Unless it’s to add more members (super controversial!). I know, I’m crazy! If they do add members, Rihona please. And Saya. And the girl that used to be in Station (Narumi Kinjo). I’m kind of joking, but it would be crazy if Narumi somehow made it. I actually want her to, she’s really cute and she is already 18 so she doesn’t have the luxury of waiting around for a 4th iDOL Street group. It’s three weeks until the SUPER☆GiRLS Budokan 3rd Anniversary concert and I have this weird feeling (female intuition) that the producers want to do something unexpected/controversial with the GEM announcement. I hope they don’t. Just let all the girls make it. I’ll write up my “official” prediction  on 6.10, the day before the concert. Sararan has to be in the final lineup. My fragile world will crumble to dust if she isn’t.

5.29 Update
Afilia Saga, 9nine, Erena Ono, Shizukaze & Kizuna, and a bunch of indie groups were added to the TIF lineup. I predicted Erena would be there, but I also thought another former – – -48 member would get announced, Yui Matsushita, since she just released a single this week. I’ll write more about her if she gets added later. Speaking of Erena, if this was four years ago, I would have been a lot more excited. During the time I was an AKB fan, she was probably my 6th or 7th favorite member. But then she graduated, disappeared for a couple years, and when she came back she was a lot less cute. (No offense!) It’s still interesting that she’ll be there… although I don’t know anything about her solo career (haven’t watched her music videos or listened to her music, I wasn’t even sure if she was still an “idol”). Anyway, for some reason this update didn’t really do anything for me. I keep checking the website thinking there had to have been something that I missed. I think it’s because Afilia Saga, 9nine, and Shizukaze & Kizuna are the type of group that could have been announced during the 2nd update, so I already assumed they would be there. So if you take them out, it was basically Erena Ono and indie groups. The 2nd update was also so perfect that it may have increased my expectations to an unrealistic level. Speaking of unrealistic, my “official” prediction for “surprise” guest is Nogizaka46 (Mano Erina was the “surprise” of TIF 2011 and SKE48 of 2012). There are two reasons why I think they’ll be there:  1) the hotel I am staying at is in Nogizaka. That’s totally fate! It’s literally a 3 minute walk to the Sony Music building, and 2) female intuition.

Edit: They have a handshake event on 7/27, so their participation is extremely unlikely. So ignore everything I just wrote. I’ll have to think of a different “surprise” group to predict. There aren’t that many groups that qualify though and it can’t be H.P.-related since all of their groups will be in Osaka that weekend (which means theoretically if Mano Erina hadn’t graduated, she probably would have been there also. That would have been really annoying having to momentarily leave TIF to head down to Osaka to see her and then go back to Tokyo. Jk, I couldn’t do that, but that would have been frustrating if that was the case). For the record, I care about a “surprise” group only because it creates a lot of buzz for TIF. It’s fun when more groups are added, regardless if you are personally interested in them. Nine of my top ten groups are already scheduled, so everything else at this point is gravy. Idol gravy. (that sounds gross, please delete that). No. Idol gravy idol gravy idol gravy.