AFA X — Anime Festival Asia 2010, was held last weekend on the 13th and 4th of November 2010, at the Suntec City Convention Centre in Singapore. Aside from the convention, AFA X also plays host to two major J-pop events: the I Love Anisong concert series, and the Cool Japan summit. Prior to the weekend’s events, an invitational preview was organized for media personnel and affiliates — myself included, to introduce to them AFA X’s special guests and performers.

During the preview, I also had the privilege of sitting down to do a group interview with several members of AKB48 as well as the five members of JAM Project. AKB48 answered questions fielded to them by local press, mostly about being part of the biggest girl group (literally and figuratively) in Japan. Meanwhile, JAM Project talked about their tenth anniversary as a singing unit, as well as future plans for the group.

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JAM Project: Three Questions

Congratulations on your ten years together; how did you celebrate the group’s Tenth Anniversary?

[JAM Project] held a huge concert at the Nippon Budoukan (one of Japan’s largest and most prestigious performance halls) to celebrate the group’s tenth anniversary. The concert was entitled “Reunion”, and we had several former members — including our Aniki Mizuki Ichirou and Sakamoto Eizo one of our “graduates”, take part in the concert alongside the current members.

How do you see yourselves in another ten years?

Well — it’s really hard to say; ten years is a long time. But we hope that although we might not have exactly the same line-up of members, JAM Project is still around bringing anisong to people who love them.

Do you have any message for your fans from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand who could not make it to Singapore to see you this year?

We’re so thankful that so many people from South East Asia support us. We hope that maybe — sometime soon, we will be able to go on tour and meet them in person.

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AKB48: Three Questions

How do you feel about being sent abroad to do a concert? Do you feel bad for the other members left behind in Japan?

We think that our managers are after our best interests, so even if some of us are not picked to go abroad this time around, sooner or later their chance will come and it will be turn to go overseas. We also do not feel bad if we’re not picked to go overseas and have to stay in Japan for local events — our fellow members are so wonderful and they bring home gifts and souvenirs so we feel like we’re with them on their trips.

Have you encountered any problems related to your fans?

Absolutely not! Our fans are such nice and wonderful people that we never had any problems with them ever!

How about problems with each other — you are such a big group, do problems occur often?

I think the biggest problem with being part of a girl group made up of 48 members is that we can never fit into a single elevator! We usually fill up one or two elevators or take two or more trips on the same elevator just to get everyone there in one place.

Another problem is that — well, we’re such a big group and we are mostly teenagers, so food is always a problem. We’re always running out of snacks! So if you’re really hungry, you have to move fast and scoop up as much food as you can, otherwise the other girls will eat it all!

Continued in Day 1.

Thanks to everyone at AFA X, SOZO, and Asia PR Werkz for the invites to the media preview.