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.

Just a little reminder...

...that today is the deadline to submit photos of your decorated puzzle pieces.

If you've had a chance to check out our gallery, many of you have already sent in your puzzle piece photos.

Thank you to all those who've sent their photos in! For those who will be sending them in soon, we know you're hard at work on decorating and designing so we'll look forward to your photos.

If, for any reason, you may not be able to submit your photo by EOD today, please don't be shy about reaching out to us.

There have been concerns about not being able to come up with creative ideas with which to design the piece, or their design is not as nice as those in our gallery...please do not let that hinder you. Some of you have already heard us say that the design is only secondary to your message. What's really important is that your message is sincere and honest. A nice design will definitely catch their attention, but it's that genuine message that will surely stir their hearts!

So focus on that message, minna! To quote our beloved Nino in joukamachi, 'Simpuru is besuto!'

Puzzle Gallery

What we have so far...again we're not mailing yet...we just need a picture of your designed piece by Monday, 12/17/07. :)

Thanks so much to all who have submitted pictures of their puzzle pieces. m(_ _)m

Scheduled Update #19

Hi everyone!

We're getting really close with our project. The due date to SUBMIT THE PICTURE your finished puzzle pieces is next week,

December 17, 2007.

REMEMBER: THIS IS NOT A MAILING DATE. We will mail our pieces to Arashi around mid- to end-December. We appreciate everyone's patience.

If you have any questions, please let us know.

Enjoy the rest of the week.

Scheduled Update #18

Hello everyone!


How're you all doing? Hope everyone's doing well.

Thank you to those people who emailed us to confirm that they got their puzzle piece! That is very much appreciated. ^^ And thanks to all those who have already designed their puzzle pieces and sent pictures of their work. Can't wait for the others. We'll try to get the pictures up this week so everyone can see what it looks like.


The due date for submitting your video is November 22. You should have already received a sample video through your emails. If you hadn't, please let us know and we'll send you the link by email. If you are planning to film yourself, you can very well do so however we will need a signed release form along with it. If you need a copy of the release form, let us know as well.

Have a great week ahead.

Scheduled Update #17

Minna, hello!

Did you all have a good Halloween?
In case you're wondering why you're receiving this scheduled update on Tuesday instead of Sunday, I (Joan) caught the flu last Tuesday and my sister's been really tied up. Gomen, ne, minna...

Without further ado, let's proceed to this week's update:

1. Filming with your puzzle piece - as promised in the last update, for those of you will be filming yourselves with your piece, here are some more details. Actually, since actions speak louder than words, we've put together a short demo clip. We'll be sending an email with the demo clip to you all, so please watch out for it!

2. Instructional video - sorry to disappoint...this is not a video that will show you how to imitate Arashi's cool dance moves. It's just another short clip that will show you how to put your piece in the card and close it back up. We're sure you all have figured it out by now, but we were in a video-taping mood so we thought we might as well - in case anyone would need it. Here's the link...

How to close your card back up (and hopefully not crease it too much) XDDDD
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4256262580910364217

That's it for this week! We hope you all are having fun decorating your puzzle pieces and if you run into any challenges or have any questions, feel free to email.

Mata, ne!
Joan and Jean

Scheduled Update #16

Hi, Everyone!

Genki, de? Hope you all are well!
Were any of you able to catch GRA this week? We still haven't been able to see it, but if you have, feel free to share with us what you thought of this week's show. Don't be shy, now!

Or did you get to see Nino's new CM for the New Year's postcards yet? We must say that it's making us think of sending our cards/puzzle pieces in time for New Years XDDD But we'll save that discussion for another update ^^;;;;

Alright, onto to today's update...

1. Confirmation of puzzle kit receipt - Did you each receive you puzzle kit, minna? As we had mentioned in last week's update, the puzzle kits were mailed out last Tuesday, 10/23. If you haven't received your puzzle kit yet, feel free to drop us a note. Some of you had already left comments and sent emails confirming receipt of their puzzle kits. So it looks like they are getting to most of you already...Yay!!! Thanks to those who had let us know their kits arrived, and we hope to hear from more of you soon.

2. I got my puzzle kit...Yay, now what? - Now that you have your puzzle kit, we just wanted to remind you all about a few things:

a. READ THE ENCLOSED INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY!!!
b. Please DO NOT mail your puzzle piece, card, envelope until we give the go ahead! We'll mail them all at the same time.
c. Remember to take pictures of both the front and back of your piece.
d. Do not seal your envelope until you have taken a picture of your piece!

We realize it's hard and we're all excited to send them to our 5 boys, but we ask for your patience and restraint!! Gambatte, minna!

Other than the above, feel free to decorate your piece per the instructions^^ In a separate email we sent some pre-made messages to help you all formulate your message to Arashi. Again, if you were not able to receive this email, please email us and we can send it to you right away. It was brought to our attention that the kana/characters were not appearing for some. As a quick remedy, we will try to save the pre-made messages as an image/photo and resend it. In theory, this should address it, but if we come up with a better way to make it work, we'll surely do that too :)

If we may make one suggestion, should you wish to write on the back of your piece directly, we've found that using glitter pens (silver or gold) work best ^^v

3. Comments - ever wished that you'll be notified when we've responded to your comment? Blogger has a new feature where you can sign-up to be notified when you've left a comment on one of our posts. Read about how to subscribe here.

That's it for this week's update. We anticipate that by next week, all the puzzle kits have arrived. That being said, for the next update, we'll try to provide updated guidelines on filming yourself with you puzzle piece.

Take care and have a safe Halloween everyone!

Joan and Jean

Puzzle kits are on their way!

Yes, as we mentioned in last Sunday's update the puzzle kits have started their journeys to each of your mailboxes.

We dropped them off today and USPS should have them out to you - hopefully!- in the upcoming days. For our members in Canada, yours were sent out today as well.

Please be on the lookout for them, minna! And feel free to email or comment when your puzzle kit arrives.

Let's keep our fingers crossed that the kits get to each of you all in one piece (pun intended!)
and that they arrive sooner rather than later!

That's it for now! Hope you're as excited as we are^^

Scheduled Update #15

Minna!

Hisashiburi!! Did you all get to catch the first episode of GRA? Or Nino's rendition of Aiba's "Friendship" song on Bay Storm? Better go catch them if you can...especially Bay Storm! We're sure you'll love it like we did.

Ookay, on to today's big update...

On Tuesday, we'll be mailing out the puzzle kits. ^^v

Yes, the moment you've all been waiting for is here. Hopefully, by the next update, you will have your own puzzle kits in hand. Please be on the lookout for them, minna! And if you can email or comment back when you've received it, that'll help us in making sure each puzzle kit arrived safely.

Guidelines on how to personalize your puzzle piece are included in the kit. Kindly read them before personalizing and feel free to contact us with any questions^^

If you are planning to film yourself for the video, we will be giving you further details on when to submit your videos.

That's it for now, everyone...'til next week's update, be well and have a great week ahead!

- Joan and Jean

Scheduled Update #14

Hello everyone. Hisashiburi! Today is the end of September and thus the end of our little "tour" for the project. It was really great meeting up with fans and hopefully we can meet up again soon. ^^

Stay tuned...we hope to have more frequent updates now that we're done traveling.

Have a great week ahead!

Scheduled Update #13

Konnichiwa minna-san! ^^

We're beginning our travels finally! :) See you!

Also...to those who are filming themselves, we will extend your submission date. We'll email you the details. Please email us back if you have any questions.

As a bonus, we'll reveal our picture with Arashi at Carnegie Deli here in New York XD. Can you spot Arashi? Hint: Those familiar with their Nino-less trip to NYC should be able to spot them. ;)



It was chotto hazukashi since there were actually people dining right by that wall where the pictures are XDDD. But the fangirls inside of us prevailed! >< To top it off, when we re-watched the NY Special video again, we realized we sat at the same table as Arashi did ^^v.

A close-up picture of the picture :D.



Arashi is a good enough reason to dine at the Carnegie Deli, but the food is excellent, too. Normally, people line up outside to get seats. In our case we didn't since we went at around 8:30 PM.

All right we still have to get ready for our trip. Ja mata! ^^

Scheduled Update #12

Konnichiwa minna! :)

How's everyone?

We're currently working on the puzzle kits. We really do believe you'll also be blown away at the design of the card. Just a little patience, friends. It'll surely be rewarded. ^^ Please be reminded that those who did not submit the necessary information for the puzzle kit will not have a chance to get their kit anymore.

We are also pretty much set with the video phase of our project. To those we'll be visiting, please watch out for an email from us to confirm that you can meet us on designated dates. For those who are filming themselves, we'll be giving you instructions, as well.

So, that's it for now. We're mecha excited about this project! XD

A short note...

What's up everyone? This isn't an official scheduled update...but just wanted to take this chance to say a couple of things.

So far we had a good turnout for those who wanted the puzzle kits as well as participants in the video. Thank you to everyone who are supporting the project up to this point! It is very much appreciated. m(_ _)m

We still have a couple of puzzle kits left and we have contacted the people who have signed up with us from the beginning. If there are no takers, there is a possibility that some people will get two pieces instead of one.

That's it. We'll keep you posted, as usual. Enjoy the rest of the week everyone!

Scheduled Update #11

Wow.


That's all we can say.

We received the puzzle from the vendor 8/3/07. And it's just...amazing! It's mind boggling. Kyoku-chan, our artist, hontoni arigatou! Nyan-chan, our translator, hontoni arigatou! T_T So far, we're in very good shape. (For an image of how the puzzle looks like, it will be emailed)


So what's next? Well, we just want to remind everyone of the release forms. The due date is on August 6, Monday(that's tomorrow, yo!). If you want to participate in the video, please have your release forms filled out and emailed to us by then.

Also, we'd like to explore adding a new feature for the video phase of our project: filming yourselves. Instead of us going to you, you could simply film yourselves with your own cameras and send us a copy of the video. Please note, you'll still need to sign the release form even if you choose to film yourselves. If there are any takers for this idea, please do email us.

For those of you not participating in the video, please see our emails regarding your postcard puzzle kits for further instructions. We'll be emailing that information to everyone in our mailing list anyway, since it includes an image of the puzzle


We've also bought the envelopes already. v^^v

Here's a preview of how a puzzle piece would look like, back and front.



That's just an example and not my final message design, and I (Jean) will still be working on it later. Can you imagaine how amazing it'll look once they're all next to each other? That's when we got hit by another idea: Once you've finished designing the back of your puzzle piece, why don't you send us a picture of your final piece front and back? That way we can collage them and put them together in one big picture and post it up here in the blog so everyone will see each other's works. Wouldn't that look great? While there will be a few limitations, we encourage everyone to be creative in designing when you get your kit. We can't wait to see how everyone designs their messages! ^^


Well then, that's it. Have a great week ahead of you and we look forward to hearing from you guys soon!