Yesterday, I was given the opportunity to attend the “Harry Potter Countdown” event being held in Shinjuku, Tokyo at the Shinjuku Picadeli theater. There were able 100 Japanese Harry Potter fans in attendance and a group came together dressed up as Harry, Ron, Hermione, Luna, Fred (or was it George?), and Snape. There was even a fan wearing Gryffindor Quidditch robes as seen in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. The event last about an hour and a half. Allow me now to share with you all what I heard and saw during this event.

When I arrived at the theater, along with representatives from other Harry Potter fan sites, we were greeted by a Warner Brother’s representative who then escorted us to the screening room. As we walked through the theater to our destination, security was all over and the only people inside were Harry Potter fans.

The event kicked things off at 9:30 am when our MC, Ai Miyahara, came out dressed in Hogwarts school robes. She did a brief introduction in which she asked the audience who had been in elementary school when Harry Potter was first introduced to the world and about half the theater (including myself) raised their hands. She then talked about how those of us who had raised our hands “must feel like we have grown up with Harry” and how “it must be so sad that the journey is coming to an end.”

This then transitioned into a (about) 5 minute review of all the films. The video was a series of clips from all six of the films to some very epic music which I took to be from the Deathly Hallows soundtrack. The final minute of the recap was essentially every single character calling Harry’s name along with some of the more exciting moments of each film. The final voice we heard was Voldemort’s saying “Harry Potter” in a manner that made me shiver a little.

We were then shown a preview of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, but it was the one that has been released world wide (opening with the lake and then Voldemort standing in the forest waiting for Harry to come). We then watched three clips of Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint - on set in Dumbledore's office - greeting the Japanese fans with a very British "konnichiwa," and then all three of them essentially saying something along the lines of “we feel very privileged to have been a part of one of the greatest fantasy franchises for the past 10 years and we have put a lot of effort into making the final film(s) the best that they can be.” All three of them ended their segments with “now please enjoy this new footage.”

Well, here was the moment that myself and the other fan site representatives had been waiting for: new footage. However, the “new footage” was only new to the Japanese . What we watched were several featurettes entitled “The Story,” “On the Run,” and “Forest Run.” For those of you who have not seen these yet, they are more like behind the scenes footage of the final two films.

After this footage was shown, there was a lottery with various goods. 10 people could win the complete DVD set of the first six Harry Potter films. Next up was something that the Japanese call a “fukubukuro” which is a gift bag filled with various Harry Potter merchandise that one person could win. I was able to make out two Deathly Hallows “clear” binders, a golden snitch, and a few key chains and cell phone straps. The final, and probably most important prize, were “special tickets” to the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movie screening – I do not believe that this were tickets to the premier. A total of 10 people won these and among those 10 were two fans dressed as Ron and Snape respectively.

Next, it was time for the countdown to begin. The person dressed as Harry Potter was selected to do the honors as a blue and black painted cardboard sign reading “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ---days --- hours ---minutes ---seconds” written in Japanese. We all counted from 5 to 0 when “Harry” pushed a red button located on a golden box. Instantly, the sign read “99 days 13 hours 58 minutes 30 seconds” and the Harry Potter theme we have all come to know and love played.

We all received post cards with a message from Daniel on the back. It says the following in English and in Japanese:

To the Japanese fans,

On behalf of all the cast members, filmmakers and staff who have worked on the Harry Potter movie series, I’d like to thank every one of you for your great support over the past decade.

I’m excited that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 will be released on November 19th in Japan this year followed by Part 2 in summer of 2011.

We hope you will come see them in cinema and experience the great adventure, action, and emotional journey with us.

Again, thank you so much for your support!

All the best,
Daniel Radcliffe

There is also a bar code for people with Japanese phones to get the countdown on their phone.

We were also given a leaflet for the film that has the official poster on the front and information about the film and pictures on the back. These can be found at any Japanese cinema.

As a final note, the pressed was welcomed to take picture of those of us in attendance. A big white sign was brought out that read 100 days until its release! Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Final Countdown Part 1 November 19 (Friday) / Part 2 summer 2011

There were so many flashes of light that it became hard to see. There was also a film crew from Fuji TV that took a short video of us shouting “Final!” after the MC said “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 iyoiyo (translates roughtly to “finally” or “ready go”)