ARASHI has successfully concluded a whirlwind four-city press tour this 10th and 11th November 2019, titled “JET STORM”.
The band departed from Haneda Airport late evening on the 9th to visit four cities, Jakarta, Singapore, Bangkok, and Taipei - logging a total of 12,982 kilometers in mileage and 39 hours in flight time.
The press tour highlighted previous announcements made on 3rd November about the opening of five official social media accounts (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Weibo) and the worldwide digital release of their new single "Turning Up", as well as updates on their upcoming concerts. The band took the opportunity to personally thank their fans in Asia for their support since their debut in 1999.
Even with such a jam-packed schedule, moments of the press tour were captured and shared via social media. The band posted up-to-the-minute news about the press conferences via Twitter. They shared selfie videos of themselves getting off the plane and videos of themselves being welcomed by fans on Instagram.
The ARASHI members were delighted with the response and said, "We have received comments from the fans such as "it felt like we were on tour together with the members" or comments that were thanking us, and it made us feel very happy".
It has been thirteen years since the last "JET STORM" held in 2006. Jakarta and Singapore were grouped together for the first time. They stayed for three to four hours in each city.
Fans who were content with catching just a glimpse of the band passionately welcomed
ARASHI as they came into view, in a way that was unimaginable even for ARASHI members.
At around 6:00 PM local time in Jakarta over 700 fans rushed into the hotel where the press conference was held as the five members of ARASHI arrived; there were also 1,000 fans in Singapore, 2,000 in Bangkok, and 1,500 in Taipei -- accompanied by singing and chants for ARASHI.
ARASHI practiced hard in order to express their appreciation to the fans in their local languages (Bahasa Indonesia, English, Thai, and Chinese), which were wildly cheered by fans.
Meanwhile, the fans responded in their best Japanese, saying "Thank you very much".
With ARASHI greatly touched by their worldwide fans, they returned home feeling the glow of their support.
Ohno
We've never had the opportunity to visit before, but I'm delighted that this time I was able to meet everyone in this way! Let's do a lot of fun stuff through social media! Thank you very much, everyone!
Sakurai
In every city we visited, we received messages saying, "Congratulations on the 20th anniversary of ARASHI," and "Thanks for coming"! Some people had goods from previous Asian tours.
Other people had goods from the tour we are currently doing. Since we have been active mainly within Japan, I was so unbelievably happy that we have been receiving so much support from overseas.
By starting to use social media, I think overseas fans will feel closer to us more than ever.
Although in distance we are far apart, we would like to provide various contents so that fans can feel that we are connected even across the sea. So please do follow us. Thank you to all the ARASHI fans!
Aiba
I felt moved that so many people are supporting us. It would make me so happy if we can continue to have fun via social media and by meeting face-to-face! We are counting on your support. Thank you very much, always!
Ninomiya
Thank you so much to all the fans from the four cities that we have visited this time! From now on, you can connect to us via social media, and it would make me so happy if you all feel closer to us. We will continue to do our best so that everyone can have fun!
Matsumoto
We are so happy that so many fans came to welcome us. Thank you very much, everyone! Thanks to you, we were able to reach our 20th year. Starting now, I think we can be closer to everyone through social media and digital releases! We look forward to your continued support!
