9-25-03, Many thanks to our Japanese friend Yo Yo for this special photo
delivery. Tony is in Japan attending Infernal Affairs Premiere. I
hope all is well with people living near by the big quake. (If you
haven't heard already, a magnitude 8.0 earthquake rocked Japan's northern island
of Hokkaido early Friday.)
In addition to the photos, here is a report from Eri, another Japanese Tony
fan. (nice seeing you again!)
I came back from Tokyo late last night and here is the report to share
with the fans in the other parts of the world, the news about Tony in Tokyo;
My friends and I can see the premeire at quite near the stage ( 7th row )
so we could see Tony clearly and I think Tony noticed us. We called Tony's name
several times. Tony spoke a little Japanese like "Konbanwa" which is "Good
evening", and He looked very nice. Before the premeire Tony and Andy were asked
at the press conference that "How do you feel about so many fans waiting for you
at the airport to welcome you ?" (because about 200 Andy's fans are there on
22nd) Andy answered "Thank you, I am very happy", then Tony said "There was only
one for me" and laughed. (hahaha, poor Tony. I would have come to welcome Tony
if I could.) But I know that Andy's fans' club give the info. about arrival time
and departure time in advance so that the fans know when to go to the airport.
On the other hand Tony's case, when I asked Jettone on Monday 22nd, they are
still not sure about if Tony is really coming to Japan or not, so this one
person who was waiting at the airport was just taking a chance, not so sure if
she could see Tony or not. Tony finally arrived in the afternoon on 24th.
There was the press conference which I only read on some newspapaers and
then the premeire on 25th. Perhaps you can read about these from HK newspapaer
site, so I only want to add one episode here;
There was a lottery draw and 5 lucky persons got free trip to HK for the
prize ( 5 in about 5000 people so I wasn't lucky one). When Tony chose one card
and had to pronounce the name in Japanese, he was not confident enough and said
"Kondo san"(the name) with very quiet voice, then asked "Please say it again
with louder voice". Then Tony was a little embarrassed and shyly said with a
little louder voice. At this time, most of Tony's fans there whispered "Oh, Tony
is so CUTE !" "Kawaii".
Anyway, I guessed Tony is leaving on 26th, so I went to the airport to see
him in the morning and found Tony's assistants, so I asked if Tony's coming
later. She let us know that Tony's going to be on the flight at 6:30 in the
evening. We decided to come back to the airport about 4:30 to see Tony and Tony
came with a few other people at around 5 o'clock. We wanted to talk to Tony and
I think Tony was happy to talk to us, however the man from the Japanese
distribution company stoped us and hurried Tony to go through the gate even
though he wasn't really have to hurry and there wasn't any trouble at the time.
( Only about 10 people were there)
I quickly avoid the obstacle (ha ha ha) and handed him the present (Little
Panda with his adapted little girl's name tug) from a person who couldn't make
it there, then he said "Thank you" in Cantonese.
(I didn't give him any present this time because he said he is now short
of space to keep all the present from his fans, but he checked in all the
presents he received in Japan in a big box.)
Tony looked back and smiling and waving to us a lot of times before going
out of our sights. Tony and all his staffs from Hong Kong are very nice, but I
don't like those Japanese company bosses, I wanted to say "Leave us alone for
just a little time" but I didn't because I didn't want to put Tony into trouble.
I just wanted Tony to know that there are lots of Japanese fans support
him and admire him even if it is not so obvious like some other actors' fans. We
know why Tony's fans are like this, because we like Tony. Tony should keep his
own style and we accept it. We don't want Tony to change and act like some other
stars.