Delighted Kyonko, Shiho (Hiragana Keyaki) sell out handshake sessions, thank fans

Katou Shiho and Saitou Kyouko have become the first members of Hiragana Keyaki to sell out a solo lane at a handshake event. In their blogs, both express their joy and send gratitude to fans.

Shiho called her blog post "Gratitude":

Good evening. It's Katou Shiho of Hiragana Keyaki!

\ Everybody!!! /

I've got something to announce that I have to thank everybody for!!
My January 15 handshake session for the 3rd single, at Pacifico Yokohama, has sold out!
Really, thank you very much!!!

A friend contacted me and let me know. 
I was so extremely happy that I was jumping all the way home.
I really do have some negativity left: I'm full of all kinds of doubts and fears.
But with everyone's help, about half of them have been blown away!
I'll do my best, in my own way.
Really, thank you very much, everyone o(^o^)o


Saitou Kyouko calls her post "Thank you very much":

My handshake session for the 3rd single at Pacifico Yokohama on January 15 has sold out!!(;_;)
Really, everyone, thank you very much (T ^ T)!!
I'm extremely happy (/ _ ; )!!

The second application period will end Friday 14 October at 2pm ♪
Definitely, please come and meet me \( ¨̮ )/♡
I'll think of something to do there…♡ (lol)

In the rest of the post, she talks about "Zumiko" (Imaizumi Yui) and how they talk and joke together:

Kyonko and Zuumin know each other from having been Sony singing students a couple of years ago. I hate to say it, but Zuumin's high voice and Kyonko's low voice might blend well....

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Handshake events are at the heart of the 48/46 groups' commercial success. Fans buy special versions of a group's releases and get chances in a lottery for tickets to meet them. Once a group becomes popular, fans end up buying numerous extra CDs in order to increase their chances of winning the lottery to meet their favorites. This pumps up a release's sales.

In the case of Keyakizaka46's 3rd single, there will be six dates for these individual handshake events, in various cities over a period of a couple of months. Most members will be doing four handshake sessions, each an hour and a half long, on each date. I'm not sure how many guests they will receive and shake the hand of in each session, but it's well over a hundred. I remember the figure of 300-400 from somewhere. Each guest only gets a few seconds with the idol before he or she is pulled away by attendants.

Those four sessions a day are for Kanji Keyaki members. The newcomers in Hiragana will only do one session at each event. They don't have enough fans yet to justify doing more.

For the second single, Sekai ni wa Ai Shika Nai, none of the Hiraganas have done solo handshake sessions. They have appeared in pairs or trios. For the third single, they will all do solo sessions: so it will be crystal clear which members are most popular.

The first fallout from this is that nine of the Kanjs have not sold out a session, while two of the Hiraganas have. This is not quite as bad for the Kanjis as it seems, since each of them has a total of 20-24 sessions, so their support is spread out further than for the Hiraganas, who only have a total of six each.

This description has been for "individual" handshake events. There are also "national" handshake events, usually in the same location but on the previous day, at which idols tend to appear in pairs, and without the lottery.

I've never been to a handshake event, so this is just info cobbled together from various sources. if anyone has corrections or additions, please pass them along. Remembering how totally ignorant of this stuff I was when I first started following Keyakizaka46, I just thought I'd write some explanations.