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Anyways, my story of how I got into them is a bit long so prepare your popcorn and just sit down and chill.
Back when I was in elementary school, I used to buy a Japanese magazine made for each grade. When I was in 4th grade, I discovered Hey! Say! JUMP when they just made their debut on the December issue of the 4th grade magazine. When I first saw them, they looked a lot younger(and they were) than other boybands such as KAT-TUN, NEWS, Arashi etc. So when I saw the years they were born in, I was happy to discover that all the members were born in the 90s although they are all a bit older than myself. Back then, I did not know the eras in Japan so I didn't know Heisei is a era. So, I just assumed that they were just a group made of guys born in the 90s.
Before I started to actually try to get to know the names of the members, I just made up names for them. For some reason, I refused to read anything on that magazine. I made up a name for Chinen especially and made up a story in my head about how he was a relative of mine(I am not related to him at all). Eventually I found the courage to read and the first name I remember reading was Chinen Yuuri. I thought he was cute and he looked rather close to my age(I was 10 years old back then). By refusing to read anything and at the time though and I couldn't read much Japanese anyways, I ended up mistaking Yamada and Chinen. Yamada was featured in a different page as well and maybe because of their hairstyles being similar in the pictures, that might've been the reason why I mistook them.
The magazine didn't provide much information so I decided to go on the one site that had quite a bit of information. That site was Wikipedia. Normally people would go on YouTube to look up a singer but back then, I thought Wikipedia was the best source to look up anything. Honestly, I thought looking up people on Wikipedia was this scary thing to do so I tried to look them up secretly. I ended up hiding the fact I was interested in HSJ from my parents which was a really big mistake along with looking them up on Wikipedia. But I was able to learn the names of the members and learn basic information about them which I thought was all the information. I continued this for a almost a year and during the middle of it, I think I got bored of them so I ended up taking an interest in things such as Pokemon and Hannah Montana.
It wasn't until I went to Japan in November 2008 that I realized what I've been doing isn't how you get to know a group. My cousin was a fan of them at the time so what I did was watch her fangirl over them. She would have my aunt buy magazines such as Duet for her, watch the dramas they were in and have pictures of them on her desk. I remember her having pictures of a member which I don't really know who it was but I'm assuming it was Yamada since he was her favorite member. This made me feel stressed because it made me realize everything I've been doing was wrong and I just didn't know how to tell anyone that I've known who they are for a year.
When I got back to the U.S, I decided to finally take a step forward and listen to their songs. Due to the fact I've only looked them on Wikipedia, I never listened to any of their songs nor kept up with their current image(I have no clue why I didn't look them up on google images). What I did is I listened to the karaoke tracks of their songs on a Japanese DS game called Daigasso Band Brothers DX. I kept this up for a few weeks or so. I knew that I didn't know what the group itself sounded like so I decided to ask for their CDs from Santa(Yes, I believed in Santa Claus back then). Was I able to get their CDs on Christmas day? Obviously not. But I was able to get a Miley Cyrus CD. This led me to finally look them up on YouTube. I was extremely nervous just typing out HSJ. But I was eventually able to type it and when I clicked on Mayonaka no Shadow Boy, I just got hooked. I got addicted to the song and the music video. It was just something I've never seen before. After finally being able to listen to one of their songs, I just fell in love.
But while my life on the internet was a paradise, my real life wasn't the most happiest. It was winter break and it was 1-2 weeks longer due to the snow so I had more time. But due to spending all my time on the computer, my mom got mad at me and tried to get me to do activities such as piano and to hang out with friends I barely had. I remember when I was at a Japanese grocery store, my mom was saying that I needed to do something that involved a group of people while my dad was saying I should talk to friends who don't live close on Skype. At that store, they have a Kinonkuniya and on that same day, we went in and they had the CD for Mayonaka no Shadow Boy. I was thinking of buying it but my parents were there so I knew that if I bought it, they would ask me what I bought and maybe figure out I was a fan of HSJ. So I ended up not buying it.
I continued watching music videos, makings and variety shows secretly for a while. But around the beginning of January 2009, I finally decided to tell my mom that I was into HSJ. So what I did was I showed her the music video for Mayonaka no Shadow Boy and just told her that I've been interested in them for over year. What did my mom think? She thought it was a normal thing for a girl around that age to be into these things. So she wasn't mad at all and wasn't even surprised when I told her I was a Yamada fan. I remember her saying that I haven't changed at all when I told her that.
After that, I was finally able to get started on everything. I was able to get the CDs and DVDs from my grandma in Japan, buy magazines at Kinokuniya. However, it wasn't until last year that I went to their concert but I was able to do all the basic things fans do. If I didn't discover Hey! Say! JUMP, my life would've been so much different. I would've not listened to any of the music I listen to now, watch the shows I watch and I just would be doing something that is extremely different. These guys made me who I am today. So again, congratulations on their 10th anniversary and I can't wait to see where the future takes them.
Anyways, listening to how other people got into them, I know my way is a bit unusual. What did you think? And if anyone is willing to share how they got into them, feel free to comment below and share your story.
