A response and a caveat

As we prepare to mail our puzzle pieces, we know that some of you have some concerns about whether our envelopes will be turned away by those fearful 'gatekeepers' who receive the Johnny's Fan Club Mail.

We understand your concern and are aware of the restrictions. In planning this project (almost a year ago from now) we knew of the risk that our envelopes might get turned away, but we accepted it as an unavoidable risk we have to take. We made no guarantees and still make no guarantees that Johnny's or Arashi will read our puzzle postcards.

We've made it so that our envelopes are a standard card-sized envelope, the puzzle piece is light enough that when the envelope is weighed, it weighs close to any 1st-class mail, and the color of the envelope is not flashy (per their guidelines).

It is our hope that the novelty of our idea and of our puzzle pieces will help give us the benefit of the doubt -- instead of having them dismissed right away. Furthermore, the video that we will email to each Arashi member announcing the pieces will, hopefully, pique their curiosity - or at least someone's curiosity - and make them be on the lookout for them.

As much as we wish we can predict what they will do, their reaction to our video and our puzzle pieces is beyond our control. Especially for myself and my sister since we've put in so much for this project, we want nothing more than to know that our efforts will have not been in vain. As it stands, there is no means for us to do this.

Actually there is one way to know -- and that is to try and send our video and our puzzle pieces. There is no other way around it - we won't know until we try. Yes, in a few weeks we may get our envelopes back, but there is also a 50% chance that they will open up our envelopes. If we don't mail our envelopes/puzzle pieces to them, then we have zero chance of them having it in their hands and opening it.

As I told my sister when we were beginning this project, our goal is to hopefully send a message to Arashi. Even if we were successful or not in achieving that goal, we still would have been able to make some 33 new Arashi friends (and have actually met some very wonderful people along the way)...and that's not so bad now, isn't it?

Should our project actually reach Arashi, it will be a big bonus for us, icing on the proverbial cake... But the memories from this project are something that my sister and I will always cherish -- hopefully you will too.

Steadfastly wishing for your continued support and understanding,
Joan

Reminders before mailing

Okay, we know that like us you all are very excited about finally being able to send our puzzle pieces to Arashi. Here's a helpful checklist for mailing your envelope out:

1. Ensure that your puzzle piece is inside the card.
2. Make sure the card flaps are 'closed' properly to keep the precious cargo inside safe.
3. Seal the envelope.
4. Check that you have the updated Fan Mail Address on your envelope (with the appropriate Arashi member's name on it).
5. Write your name and address on the return address space (top left).
6. Write 'AIRMAIL' close to the mailing/Fan Mail Address.
7. Take a trip to your local post office and ask the (hopefully) nice mail clerk to put international postage on your yellow envelope.
8. Send us an email to let us know that you've mailed the envelope.

That's it! Thank you all in advance for your cooperation and we look forward to hearing from you tomorrow. Our video is also winding down. Our wonderful translator is hard at work and we hope to email it to Arashi in about a week from now. When it's finished we'll definitely share it here ^_^

Mailing Date - Update

Hello, Everyone!

Thank you to all who have already sent us confirmation about making the address change on their envelopes. We encourage those of you who haven't to please let us know if you're ready.

Sadly, we feel we have to let you know not everyone sent in a picture of their finished puzzle pieces. As we are unsure of the status of those puzzle pieces, we presume these members are no longer interested in being a part of the project and will not be sending their envelopes/puzzle pieces to Arashi. Our message hinges on having all the puzzle pieces arrive. It was also meant to show our unity as fans...if we can't count on all puzzle pieces being sent, we must ask those parties to send us back the puzzle pieces. Or, if they still intend on sending the puzzle piece, do let us know right away.

Since we didn't receive any major objections to our proposed mailing date of March 22nd, all systems are go for sending out our envelopes/puzzle pieces tomorrow. Please refer to our subsequent post for some last-minute reminders before sending them.

Make sure you read it, Minna! ^^v

New Address

Hi everyone! Hisashiburi.

One of our project team members was kind enough to let us know that the address we put on the envelopes mailed to you has now changed. We will email you a template with the correct address. You can print out the template, cut out the label, and paste and/or tape it over the old address. If for any reason you aren't able to receive our email with the template (it should be in this week's email), the correct address is as follows:

**INSERT NAME OF ARASHI MEMBER ON YOUR ENVELOPE**
Johnny's Family Club
Miyamasu Tower B1F
1-10-10 Shibuya
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 150-8550

Please use the same envelope we sent you. We're just requesting you to please tape the new address over the old one. :)

Thank you to everyone for your understanding and cooperation.

Also, in the next week we'll be mailing our puzzle pieces to Arashi. Please confirm by emailing us that you changed the address by Thursday, March 20th. If all goes well, we plan on mailing the pieces on the 22nd.

Scheduled Update #22

Hey everyone!

Just some cupcakes we made this morning. Take note of the Arashi colors XD.

Credit: http://www.jmdfoto.com/

So have you all heard about Mr. Ohno's art exhibit this coming February? Very exciting news, right? There's even going to be an art book featuring all his works! So anyone who's making a trip to Japan in February, make sure to check it out. For those of us who can't make it, the book would probably be the next best thing. Let's support him! Who knows? He might make a trip to the States and hold an exhibit here. Of course, that's just wishful thinking by an Arashi fan but anything's possible. :D

We're currently working on the video. It's really nothing too amazing as we have limited software this time around, but we think it's coming along pretty well. Anyone still interested in making a video, it's not too late. We're planning to send the email and send the postcards on the same day, so hopefully when they watch the video the postcards are on their way. Cross your fingers that they actually look out for and receive them. In any case, the puzzle piece pictures have been included in the video so that even if they don't see it, they'll actually know what you wanted to tell them. Thus we've been pressing for the puzzle piece pictures. Thanks to all who have given their pictures already. For those who haven't please do so, that way we can incorporate it into the video.

As much as we would love to have everyone's puzzle piece picture in the video, we also need to move forward with the project. Necessity is pushing us to draw the line. If we do not have your puzzle pictures by Friday, January 18, we can't guarantee that your picture will be included in the video.

We're getting really antsy and probably so are you, but rest assured it's getting there.

Thanks for your ongoing support!

Scheduled Update #21

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Joan's back from her little Asian excursion. She went to Japan for a couple of days and had a blast. Suffice to say, she brought back Arashi stuff which are are really nice. Thank you! :D

By the way, we're still missing a couple of puzzle piece pictures. Please, please, please let us know if you're still going to be part of our project or not. As much as possible, we're trying to integrate everyone's puzzle piece pictures into the video we're sending Arashi.

By the way, thank you to those who responded last week, it is much appreciated. ^^v

Again, hope everyone has a happy and healthy 2008! :D

Scheduled Update #20

Hello everyone!

Took the chance to update today as both of us don't have work today.

So far we have a fair amount of submissions for their puzzle piece design pictures. Thank you very much to all who handed them in. The submitted photos will be part of the video that we'll be sending to Arashi.

On a more serious note, we'd like to know if some of you are still interested in participating in the project. Either way, please let us know ASAP (at most by this weekend). We understand if for any reason you feel you can't go on with the project as this is voluntary. However we're getting to the final stretch of our project and we want to make sure that all the pieces will be mailed and that at least we have a picture of your puzzle piece.

That's it. Hope everyone has a safe and joyful holiday.