Big Bang event in Tokyo, Japan.

On October 22nd Big Bang's first Japanese album, Number 1, was released. To promote the release, on that same day an event was held at Sunshine City in Tokyo. Sunshine City is a huge complex in Ikebukuro. Among others it contains a shopping mall, restaurants, hotels, an aquarium, planeterium and an observation deck.

The Big Bang event took place on the basement floor, but since it was at an open spot, the show could be watched from five different floors. A large group of fans had already gathered on every floor at 16:30. The event wouldn't start until 18:00. Around 17:30 staff members walked along the crowd of fans, holding up signs and telling them not to take any photos. People who had just come to Sunshie City to shop, were curious and tried to catch a glimpse of what was happening downstairs. Not much could be seen yet though. At the event space a lot of staff members and cameramen were walking around, but nothing interesting was going on.

Around 17:45 a host came on and ater shouting "Konban wa" (Good evening) to the audience, he held a short speech about the album Big Bang released that day. A few more speeches followed, but the crowd didn't seem to really listen and just waited anxiously for their idols to appear. A lot of the fans had brought Big Bang merchandise with them, like scarves and torches. Also, some girls held up signs with Hangul on them.

Suddenly the lights turned off and people started to scream and clap. Unfortunately it was not Big Bang's turn yet, first the host insisted once again that no one could take pictures. A few moments later the lights were turned on again and an intro started. Fans screamed and when the intro had ended the Big Bang members energetically walked into the event area. The audience welcomed G-Dragon, Tae Yang, T.O.P., Dae Sung and Seung Ri by applauding and screaming the bandname.

Big Bang started with their song Number 1. The bandmembers danced and rapped to the song, making the crowd even more enthusiastic. The members were wearing casual urban style clothing and most of them had sunglasses on. Unfortunately, the music was only coming from the basement floor, making the sound quality on the higher floors pretty bad and quiet. At first it was really difficult to hear the band sing from the top two levels. As the song ended, the fans started to scream loudly and clapped enthusiastically.

The members shortly said something in Japanese, thanking their fans. Their Japanese pronunciation was perfect. Afterwards they did another song, Haru Haru. The crowd immediatly recognised the song and started to jump and shout. The band didn't do a very good dance routine during this song. During certain parts the fans were singing the lyrics almost louder than Big Bang. After the song had ended the band waved at the audience on the higher floors and they waved back while screaming.

The band did a short a cappella part, where one of the members beatboxed. Without the music their voices sounded a lot stronger and even the top floors could now clearly hear the talented group. It ended with the group and fans shouting "Big Bang!" together.

A women entered the event space and she tried to say something, but the screams of the crowd were much louder. A short interview with the bandmembers followed. They first introduced themselves and then answered a few questions. Big Bang took a bow and waved at their fans before leaving the event space. The audience applauded happily before turning around and leaving, thinking the event had ended

After about a minute some fans on the basement floor started to scream again and all the fans ran back to the balcony. Big Bang had come back to do a photoshoot with the press. Every now and then they would look up and wave at their fans. After the shoot was done the event had really ended. In total it was about 20 minutes. The great turn-up and enthusiasm of the fans, make Big Bang's future in Japan look very promising!