Avid fans of all-girl pop act AKB48 braved a persistent drizzle outside Aichi Sky Expo on a recent Saturday morning, forming a long queue as they waited for a "handshaking" session with the group's idols to kick off.
Some had traveled long distances for the meet-and-greet at the facility that is just a 30-minute train ride from Nagoya, even booking nearby hotel rooms so they could attend the second day of the same event.
"I think I'll have some downtime between handshaking sessions tomorrow, so I'm thinking of touring the prefecture a little bit using my car," said AKB48 fan Hagiwara, a 19-year-old university student from Hyogo Prefecture, who drove five hours to attend the event. He would only give his last name.