A Close-up of a SKY Perfect JSAT Employee's Day Off! - The Debut Event for "Ryugujo" Produced by Avu-chan -

Days off. How do you spend yours?
Eating out with friends, immersing yourself in your favorite games, going to see your favorite artist's live concert, or even just staying tucked in bed the whole time... I think how we spend our days off is packed with the things we love.

Here, we want to uncover the "loves" of our employees by getting a close-up look at a SKY Perfect JSAT employee's day off!

This time, we are introducing Usami-san, who is in her third year at the company. She currently works in the Content Division, handling soccer-related content.
When she was first assigned to the department, she started with no knowledge of soccer, but perhaps due to her otaku nature, she went beyond her assigned duties to watch broadcasts of the German Bundesliga, and on her days off, she started going to stadiums to watch the J.League. The thing that has made her happiest in her work so far was
being able to see Makoto Hasebe at the Bundesliga Japan Tour held last year. Usami-san has been a huge fan of Hasebe-san since she was a little girl. She said it was deeply moving to be able to work with him as an adult.

Although Usami-san currently works in soccer, she was originally a huge music fan.
During her student days, she made music videos in a video production seminar, went to one or two live concerts every month, and her motto is to be "broad and deep" across genres, including Japanese rock, J-POP, Johnny's, and Sakamichi idols.

Usami-san also attended festivals and concerts during this Golden Week.
This time, we followed her on her day off as she attended the debut event for "Ryugujo," a boy group produced by Avu-chan, the vocalist of the rock band "Queen Bee."

■ A day in the life of Usami-san 7:00 AM: Wake up, get ready
10:30 AM: Arrive at the venue
11:00 AM: Merchandise sales start
1:30 PM: "Ryugujo" debut event "Ryugujo no Ryugujo" Part 1 starts!
4:00 PM: Return home

■ 7:00 AM: Wake up Actually, she also attended a music festival the day before. Waking up early when your body is at peak fatigue is quite tough, but...
I want to look my best and enjoy the concert! So, after telling myself repeatedly to "wake up at 7:00," I managed to wake up safely. Support goods are allowed! The designated penlight color was purple, so I prepared a penlight for Nogizaka46, which also has purple as its group color. I'm grateful to my past self for being a Nogizaka otaku.

■ 10:30 AM: Arrive at the venue
I arrived at the Nihonbashi Mitsui Hall three hours before the event to exchange my merchandise numbered ticket for a fan club-exclusive "picture ticket." The merchandise numbered tickets were divided into groups A through C, and the order of purchase was also random. I was lucky enough to draw the first half of Group A!

I couldn't help but snap a photo while waiting in the merchandise line. These are the bibs the members wore during the audition program "0-nen 0-kumi," which led to Ryugujo's debut. The names were faded in places, and as I savored the thought, they really grabbed this after intense practice... I headed to the merchandise counter.

■ 11:00 AM: Merchandise sales start

My merchandise haul included an acrylic stand, a set of two random stickers, and a pack of five random raw photos. I got the school uniform versions of my favorites, ITARU-kun and Yuki Tomita-kun, but there were actually casual versions they wore during the visual test for "0-nen 0-kumi." However, due to the purchase limit on acrylic stands, I had to give up on those this time...

I managed to collect all the members' raw photos. In the end, I'm a fan of the whole group.

Posters signed by each of the seven members were displayed in the hallway outside the venue! This is the poster for the youngest member, 16-year-old Ray-kun (the boy on the right in the third row). He added a hashtag for each member, and I was moved along with the fans around me, thinking, what a loving kid he is.

■ 1:30 PM: "Ryugujo" debut event "Ryugujo no Ryugujo" Part 1 starts!

Part 1 began with the sound of a school bell. The first song was "Mr. FORTUNE," which was both an audition song for "0-nen 0-kumi" and their major debut song. It was their first performance as a seven-member group, and the singing parts and choreography had changed significantly since the audition, so the venue's energy was at its peak right away!
The debut event was content that reminded me of the "0-nen 0-kumi" auditions. The audition was a process where 16 students were gathered in a classroom that doesn't exist anywhere else in the world, called Urajima Music Academy Class 0 of Year 0, and they took on harsh auditions to become the "crazy people" Avu-chan-sensei was looking for and debut. I especially can't forget the moment the classroom froze when three transfer students arrived right after four people were eliminated in the second exam, the Heisei Kayō Group exam... (According to Avu-chan-sensei, she recreated a common situation in the entertainment world where the spots of those who graduated are immediately filled by new people.) I don't think there is any other audition program that confronts you with the harshness of the entertainment world from the very beginning, saying, "The world of expression is hell."
The event proceeded with a setlist of Showa Kayō song exam -> transfer student performance -> Queen Bee song exam -> musical song exam -> pre-debut song "RONDO." I was especially thrilled by "Violence," which was the assigned song for the Queen Bee song exam. During the audition, Avu-chan-sensei asked the students to perform again and again because they weren't giving 100% of their power, an event that was feared and passed down among members and fans as "Endless Violence." That "Endless Violence" was recreated at this debut event, and they performed it a total of three times in Part 1! (It seems they performed it five times in Part 3!)
"RONDO" After the performance ended, no one could even clap until the lights in the venue came on, as we were all immersed in the lingering excitement of the debut event. True to the name "Ryugujo" (Dragon Palace), it was a performance that made you forget the time in the deepest place in this world.

■ Thoughts after finishing the day
I was really happy to be able to witness Part 1 of the debut event (the first opportunity to perform in front of an audience)! Actually, this is the first time I've been hooked on an audition program, and it was a precious day for me as someone who has never followed a boy group! They are a unique group that is different from other groups born from audition programs, so if you are interested, please watch "0-nen 0-kumi" on YouTube or Hulu.
For me personally, going to music concerts is my hobby and a way to relieve stress. If I have music concerts or festivals planned in the future, I can keep my motivation up to do my best until then. Now that cheering out loud has finally been unbanned and I can enjoy myself to the fullest, I want to go to various concerts while balancing it with work!

Groups you've watched since the audition program make you feel like you can watch them grow, which makes you feel affectionate toward them, doesn't it?

It is precisely because you have things you "love" that you can do your best every day.
I felt that for Usami-san, music is not only a favorite pastime but also the driving force for getting through each day.

▼ Click here if you want to fill your day off with music.

#DayOffCloseUp