Fresh from seeing my favorite man in Taipei has made me realize that I was never able to share my first meeting with him last October! I have written everything about this momentous time of my fangirling life on Twitter but I have more thoughts shared if you want to read more!

Bonus content: Answered some FAQs!

I am recalling everything like it all just happened yesterday. In case you did not know or you just happen to be bored lurking around here, Jerry is my number 1 love in drama land. You would not actually consider me his longtime fan, I was just a fan for a little over 4 years when this fan meeting took place. He stole my Vic Zhou’s Hua Ze Lei-loving heart then the rest was history.

My heart would always explode of happiness whenever I would see him on the screen and even when I would just hear his voice. Needless to say, he has become a source of my happiness that he could easily turn my day brighter. So what should a fangirl like me do in order to make herself even happier? If your answer is to meet the love of her life then good, we are on the same page haha!

I will not dilly-dally anymore and would like to share you the turn of events chronologically (trust me, it gets exciting!).

THE GOLDEN TICKET:

Contrary to what people say online, you can actually join the fan meeting even if you are not a Milky Way member (Jerry’s official Japanese fan club). Stupid me thought that I had to, so I paid their membership fee which was quite pricey. The good thing about this until now is that I am always up-to-date with Jerry’s happenings so no regrets!

Purchasing the ticket was not a walk in the park. I was so worried about not having a Japanese name but thank God for online name generators! It gave me new knowledge too after seeing that my 2nd name is actually a Japanese word/name. Thanks to Google Translate too, it has made my life easier!

The most stressful part for me was even after purchasing the ticket online. They said that I had to print out the ticket via FamilyMart Japan’s kiosks (*panic attacks*). Some machines had English options but I could not access the ticket portal. Then there was my awesome Japanese friend whom I caught up with after 3 years! He was heaven sent and it was easy for him to help out even when he had no idea who Jerry was lol.

BEFORE THE EVENT:

When I am anxious about anything, I tend to skip meals or end up eating a little when I normally eat like a monster… So on the day of his fan meeting, my hot ramen just turned cold and left almost uneaten. I said my goodbyes to my aunt and mom and walked to the venue.

Funny how the psychology behind lines works. I did not know why they were falling in line but I still followed and ended up buying a fan (a fan bought a fan… Kbye) and his photocards as seen in the photo with my ticket above. Buying the merch was quite time-pressured so I just pointed at whatever I could haha!

Then it was time to go to the venue…

THE HIGHLIGHT: JERRY!!!

So I actually thought I was going to get a good seat but I ended up on the 2nd floor. The seats on the first floor were exclusively reserved for Milky Way members (but aren’t you one, Marian? Yes, but I bought the ticket but not as a member).

I was lucky enough to be seated next to a Chinese fan named, Wei Wei, who has been Jerry’s fan for 12 years. Thanks to my basic conversational Mandarin skills and Google Translate, we got to bond with our common ground of loving Jerry and not being able to understand Nihonggo. She and her friend got lucky and saw him at the airport and also prior to the event. Where the heck was I?!! She also told me that there was a possibility of him coming up *hyperventilates*.

It was then his time to appear and my eyes just could not tearing up. So that was how it felt seeing your dreams flashed in front of you! The fan meeting was like in a variety show format where there were interview questions and games. They started by showing his “Shake It Up” performance and he looked cute watching himself dance! There were many games with fans who were drawn via raffle. I was honestly anxious that my ticket number was going to be called that I was even rehearsing what I would say in Mandarin as I had zero knowledge of Nihonggo. But who was I kidding, they only got the numbers of the ones on the first floor!

Flash-forward to my favorite part of the show: He had a mini-concert where he sang all of his hit songs. I just freaked out when he sang “Wo Hui Hen Ai Ni” which is my ultimate favorite song of his! Too bad he sang it in Nihonggo so I had no idea how to sing along haha! Next song did not disappoint which was “Di Xin Yin Li”, another favorite of mine! His most hit song, “Wo Shi Zhen De Zhen De Hen Ai Ni”, just could not afford to be missed. “Yi Gong Chi” had all the lights closed and spotlight on him. Those gave me goosebumps! His recent Japanese track, “Oh My Little Girl”, did not miss an appearance too.

I thought that was his last song already until he went down to serenade the fans seated on the first floor. He serenaded them with none other than F4’s “Meteor Rain” and that was when my tears could not stop falling. WAY TOO MUCH FEELS.

He then said his farewell which he personally wrote for his fans. Of course, I did not understand anything but I could feel his genuine sincerity while reading it. Overall, I thought the event was satisfying for a fan like me. Everyone was dispersing and my Chinese friend was rushing to say bye while I was just going with the flow.

A LIFE-CHANGING MEETING:

My Chinese friend came back after a few minutes and she told me that the guard would not let her pass. She kept asking me to ask the guard why we could not leave the venue.

We just ended up waiting for everyone to leave while I was already contacting my mom that I was on my way back to the mall. It was now our turn to go down and I really did not know what was happening as I was just staying in a line. It was definitely not my first time in a fan meeting, but it was surely my first one in Japan! I did not expect that they would actually make you meet your idol. My heart started screaming “OMG” repeatedly when I heard his voice from afar. ASDFGHJKL.

I never prepared for this kind of close encounter. I HAD NO IDEA THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN. Then it was my turn to receive his autograph (photo below)…

Jerry: “Arigato!” with a slight bow and smile while holding the card with both hands.

Me: “From Philippines!”

Jerry: Came closer to listen to me and said “Ohh…”

Me: “Wo ai ni!”

Jerry: …

It does not definitely look much especially that he did not reply to my love confession. However, it was the unspoken words that meant a lot to me! I swear, I was not deluding when I say that he was just looking and smiling at me even when my turn was over. I should know because I was walking backwards and if only I could capture that precious moment, I would replay it endlessly. He was even tapped by a staff to proceed to the next fan. HELP.

To be fair, I really think that he had that reaction because he was thinking of what Filipino greeting he could tell me. The fan who came before me was from Thailand and he easily greeted her with “Sawadee ka”. So I am pretty sure that he had to dig up a lot in his brain before he could get to the greeting that he was trying to remember haha!

AFTER THE MEETING:

SO MANY EMOTIONS THAT I CRIED LIKE A BABY RIGHT AFTER GOING DOWN THE STEPS (when he already went to the next fan!). I continued crying until I got back to the mall. Everything was just unbelievable. Call me overacting but during that week, I would automatically tear up every time I would replay that moment of meeting him, and especially that gaze that almost never left!

Jerry will probably never know how much that simple encounter meant a lot to me. I just want him to always remember that he has so many fans who adore him even after years.

Let me end this post with a poem that I wrote aligned with a theme of how it feels to be alone (part of a creative club in our office) right after meeting him:

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Frequently Asked Questions:

1. How does Jerry look like in person?

HE LOOKS LIKE WHAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF. He looked flawless with his expressive eyes and let’s not forget my favorite part of his face: the nose! This is obviously a biased opinion but really… I have seen my other favorite stars up close like Van Ness Wu and Mario Maurer and I could confidently say that they looked the same in person and on screen.

2. Are you still alive?

This was just my soul writing ever since October… HAHA!

Pretty sure those questions were not the only ones that I got! Please let me know through comments below if you have more, tweet me, or send them via Curious Cat.

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I hope this long article of mine did not bore you. I wrote it to spread love for Jerry and also to inspire fans like me that nothing is impossible! I would also be more than happy if you could join me next time in my upcoming fangirling adventures.

Don’t forget to support Jerry! Until the next adventure!