Sadly, the fan meet-up in Tokyo ended with a bitter irony. Designed to ignite a stagnant ticket market, the event feels more like a local reunion. Most of those queuing are die-hard fans who had secured their seats months ago.
While selling nearly 200 tickets in a single afternoon is still a leap from the crawling sales in the last week, it remains a drop in the ocean for a mega-event at Yoyogi. To the promoters, it is a modest win. To the keen observer, it smells of desperation.
The next morning, President Fujimoto's luxury sedan glides through the city. He is en route to a high-stakes meeting with a business partner, his mind preoccupied with corporate strategy.
