@ JAM – I watched JKT48’s performance in Japan!

JKT48 31 Aug 2014　Yokohama Arena (C) @JAM

In the largest-size national idol summer festival, “@JAM EXPO 2014”, (31 Aug, Yokohama Arena) held for the first time this year, the Jakarta (Indonesia) based JKT48 performed live on the main stage. I heard before that they were active in Jakarta, but what kind of performance did they show? We asked a female writer to report for us. (Editorial Department)

It was 2011 when the media reported “The AKB48 will be created abroad too”. Auditions were held in Shanghai (SHN48) and Jakarta (JKT48), gathering members locally in both locations. 3 years have passed until then. The JKT48 would have performed live at @JAM　EXPO　2014 (31 Aug – Yokohama Arena), so I went straight to watch them. This should be the first time for them to stand before Japanese fans and perform live outside 48 Group events.

Jakarta? Where’s that? Some might start from here. Needless to say, the capital of Indonesia. What comes to mind saying the word Indonesia? Some might answer “Tribal dances” . Dancers with showy accessories dangling from their heads……. Maybe such a trite image. By the way, I once went to the Indonesia Festival in Yoyogi Park. On the stage there, other than tribal dancing, a singer performed a pop-style song. I just remembered. “Oh, so there are songs like this too” I thought. If we don’t go out of our way to look up information about foreign countries, there are so many things that we just would never know…I felt that almost painfully.

Can Japanese-style idols be accepted in Jakarta? I tried looking it up, and it seemed the JKT48 are already close to be national idols. They appear in many local commercials.
During the opening of their act, a video of their live in Jakarta was played. The burning, excited atmosphere was palpable. After that, “Flying Get”’s intro resounded through the hall, and the members appeared on stage.

The JKT48 performing “Flying Get” 31 Aug 2014 Yokohama Arena (C) @JAM

They were singing in Indonesian, of course. Maybe because I was used to the song, the lyrics mysteriously turned into Japanese in my head. The 2nd song, “River” is a strong dance number. The 3rd, “Heavy Rotation”, was sung in Japanese, and the audience grew even more excited. The slightly stiff pronunciation made it even more lovely!

The members’ moves were sharp, their performance not inferior at all to AKB48. By the way, the JKT48 have already released 6 [sic] singles in Indonesia, all covers of AKB48 songs.

After the 3rd song, a MC session started. First, Jakarta’s whereabouts were explained, then an Indonesian lesson started, led by the Japanese-speaking members. I like this kind of style! Only a couple words were taught, but by talking in the same language as the members I felt as if we had an exchange, and was happy.

“Konnichiwa (Selamat siang)”
“Ogenki desu ka (Apa kabar)”
“Genki desu (Baik)”

But Indonesian…it’s obvious, but I can’t just catch what they say…!

JKT48’s center is Melody Nurramdhani Laksani. Melody! What a splendid idol-like name!!!

JKT48’s center, Melody (center)　31 Aug 2014　Yokohama Arena　(C) @JAM

White-skinned, big round eyes, very cute. In Jakarta’s elections, she stood proud at 1st position. The member(s) transferred from AKB48 did their best too. Chikano Rina with her slender style stood out very much, and you could feel a charismatic aura from Nakagawa Haruka’s performance.

Nakagawa’s presence in commercials seems to exceed even Melody’s. She learned the local language and proactively has exchanges with the fans during her everyday activities. When I previously saw a movie she acted in she just looked like a quiet HS student, but she grew up in a very Oriental-style young woman. I was surprised. It might be good to aim at the top in Japan, among heavy competition… but to take the big step of going abroad and test one’s possibilities too is a quite dramatic story, and before you know it you feel like cheering for her. I suppose she can stimulate young people aiming at going abroad. I really hope she will become a star capable of representing Japan (worldwide).

The conclusion was with “Kokoro no Placard”. It seems it’s already been released in Indonesia too. Not waiting some time before covering the song like before. It’s almost moving that so many things are going on at the same time…now they might be covering mainly AKB48 songs, but I thought that I would like to listen to an original JKT48 song one day. And that one day I want to go to Jakarta!!

The JKT48 will surely keep showing us many more dreams. Flap your wings wider and wider, girls!!

(Writer : Sugi Takumi)

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