Welcome!

These pages were designed to share the wonderful experience of my Ya-Ya-yah pilgrimage to Tokyo and Yokohama in March 2005 with everyone who cares.

Claiming to be the biggest Ya-Ya-yah fan in Europe I was devastated when in the late Summer of 2004 I learned that Ya-Ya-yah members Yabu Kota, Ayukawa Taiyo and Yaotome Hikaru were about to star in season 7 of the famous Japanese TV Drama 3-nen B-gumi Kinpachi Sensei. There didn't seem to be any way for me to see this as I can't get Japanese TV where I live...

The series started on October 15, 2004. Just about one month later the first episode was uploaded as a bittorrent file on http://www.d-addicts.com/. And all the other episodes followed in the weeks and months to come. After having seen that very first episode I knew that this was the greatest TV series I had ever seen. Kinpachi Sensei is a great show in its own right, but seeing Yabu, Taiyo and Hikaru in it turned it into something even more special to me.

In early 2005 I learned that on Friday, March 25, the final episode of Kinpachi Sensei would air on TBS in Japan and that on the next day, Saturday, March 26, Ya-Ya-yah were about to have their 2nd and 3rd concert at Yokohama Arena. What a great weekend, I thought, and what a waste it would be not to try to make it to Tokyo and be a part of this.

I wanted to see the ending of Kinpachi Sensei in Tokyo, I wanted to see the 2 concerts at Yokohama Arena, and I also wanted to visit Kita Senju in the northeast of Tokyo where many of the scenes of Kinpachi Sensei were filmed. So for three months I worked my ass off, doing 12 to 14 hour shifts a day to pay for this crazy idea. And I did it. I really did what I think was the greatest thing I ever did.

To see my report on the Yokohama Arena concerts click on the Ya-Ya-yah logo below, to see pictures of my visit to Kita Senju click on the Kinpachi Sensei logo.

For questions or comments send a mail to hikachan4ever@yahoo.com.