ROBOKUCCHI

I'm doing this 'cos I LOVE surveys but so far have not been able to do one because of my present work load at school. I happen to be going, not to Japan, but to France with my french class (yes i'm a total freak - i study both japanese and french not to mention having previously studied maori (the language of the indigenous people of new zealand therefore a compulsory subject up until high school)). Anyway this is my last week end before I go next saturday. Yay for assessment loving teachers. Enough rambling lets get on with it:

1. What was the first Japanese song that you ever listened to? Arashi - WISH 192b

2. Did it inspire you to like that group/singer, or did it turn you away? Inspired me. It helped me through some difficult times ^-^

3. What is the one song that you have been listening to for the longest time? Roman ~MY DEAR BOY~ - Morning Musume. I just never get sick of it!

4. What group/singer have you liked the longest? Probably a tie between Arashi and Morning Musume although I like Morning Musume more but i've been listening to them for about the same amount of  time.

5. What is the song with the most plays on your itunes/media player? Resonant Blue - Morning Musume but i recently reset the play number option.

6. Is that song your favorite? At the moment but not my all time favourite

7. If not, what is? Roman ~MY DEAR BOY~

8. Is there any one group that you can listen to all/most of the songs by? If so, who? Probably GAM or Buono! or aa! or W or Fuijimoto Miki :D

9. What is your favorite agency? Hello Project, me thinks

10. What is your favorite group/singer? This is hard... sometimes its morning musume, sometimes GAM, sometimes W. I would say at the moment based on who i'm listening to the most and who is still active - Morning Musume

WOOT that was fun

Sorry about some of the answers in bold. Vox is being a bitch again.

Yes this post does relate to j-pop. I am a pianist (a rather poor quality one) therefore I am constantly on the look out for j-pop pieces - any that i can get my hands on are great. And with the possibility of some of you being musicians also i have decided to share a few of the one i have. I've already started uploading a few onto photo bucket but if you have any request i'm sure i can do my best to track down a piece for you. I do have several final fantasy sheet music books so if you want them i can put them up however at the moment I won't bother unless there is someone who really wants them.
You can find my uploads here.
Examples:
Distance by Utada Hikaru

First love by Utada Hikaru

Kiss me Goodbye by Angela Aki

Enjoy

Is Yui's next move after Biyuuden what i think it is?....

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Did anyone else notice the curious blog passsage kindly translated by hello! online:

Two Hours with a Cafe Latte.
2008/4/17 13:10

Yesterday, for the first time in a while, I went out with a friend to a nearby cafe for drinks. We talked about work, the future, legends, and all sorts of things. After two hours full of girl talk, the people working there noticed me and said things like, "Good luck. We're supporting you." (^o^) That made me so happy. Thank you so much! After that, we talked even more at home (>_<) Even when I took a bath, I couldn't stop talking... (lol)

In the end, we were talking about food, and I was like, "I'm so hungry!" (lol)

Neither of us had changed much, but we both talked a little more seriously about our futures. Before, I never used to think further than tomorrow, but now, I think more about what's coming next.

It was a really fun time. Crying and laughing together...

Soon, we started talking about going to hot yoga together.

I love hot yoga, so that'll be fun!

I'm happy to have such a good friend. Do you all have good friends too? (^o^)

ai

-----------------

Theres a few things that struck me about this entry. I've put them in bold so you can see too. This friend could really be anyone - i'm not going to lie to myself but it did remind me of a certain someone whom we all presume Kago just had an onstage friendship with. I'm talking about Tsuji Nozomi of course. From the text isn't that atleast remotely possible?

Lets take a look:

"Talking about food"  Yes everyone eats... everyone eventually talks about  food too but aren't Nono and Aibon known for their love of food and all things surrounding that matter? Maybe this was also a personality they put on but they certainly did it well, especially on those memorble Hello! Morning episodes. But its the beginning of the next paragraph that really reinforces it for me; "Neither of us have changed". Again its not strong proof but it does sound a lot like they havent seen each other for a long time and to me it relates back to the fact of talking about food.

Next is random but this stuck out to me "Crying and launghing together". They've both been through a lot of trouble over the past 2 years with all of Kagos scandals and then suddenly Tsuji's relationship with Sugira Taiyo and her pregnancy leading to marriage and maternity leave as well as disapproval from the Hello! Project staff and members (namely Yoshizawa Hitomi who publicly remarked how irresponisble it was). No wonder they would cry together. Laughing is another matter, we know both of them for their great sense of humour and ability as comdians wouldnt you laugh too if you were in a conversation with either of these guys?

All of this is just speculation and the fact that there were no tabloid papers to catch these two in the cafe together really blows my opinion. Maybe they were busy that day trying to frame Takahashi Ai or something. However I'm going to hope that I'm somewhat right about this instance.

Just my thoughts.

Morning Musume has been listed for Utaban's next show on the 24th of April to advertise Resonant Blue
. Let's hope this new single sparks interest however I'm not going to fool myself - Takakis so over Hello! Project.
http://www.tbs.co.jp/utaban/

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This is my review of one of the great Hello! Project concerts (well atleast I think so) but I’m going to try give constructive criticism so don’t expect a happy report on each song.

A bit of background info for this concert is that it was recorded on 2002-07-28 at Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Tokyo and released on 2002-10-17 as a DVD and VHS.

The performers are as follows:

Odoru 11

Sexy 8

Happy 7

Ishii Rika

Maeda Yuki

Fujimoto Miki

Matsuura Aya

Coconuts Musume

Country Musume

Melon Kinenbi

Heike Michiyo

Mini Moni

Goto Maki

Morning Musume

Nakazawa Yuuko

Inaba Atsuko

~Shiawase Beam! Suki Suki Beam! - Happy 7~

Unfortunately this performance is a lip sync… not a great way to start off my favourite concert but alas Takahashi (noob that she was at the time) makes it painfully obvious. Its not all bad though – Kago and Ogawa do great justice to the dance and of course Kago makes it thoroughly enjoyable. Mika also does her best to keep the energy up and does a fine job (I just can’t really stand her). I don’t believe they ever did a live voice version of this release anyway but I can understand why; they do bounce around a lot and their hand moves make it hard to hold a proper mic without ruining the movements.

~Shiawase Desu ka? - Sexy 8~

I love the lighting in this song especially when a bird eye view is shown of purple rose like patterns on the stage floor. Unlike Happy 7 I believe this is a live version of the song. I really do love Yossui in this even though its completely opposite to her style she adds her own personality to each line she delivers and I can’t take my eyes off her. Yes this is the period of time where she was a “larger” idol but don’t even start me on that (she was still tiny and…. *rambles off into thin air on how people expect idols to be anorexic*). Yay Yaguchi and Goto working their stuff as per usual.

~Shiawase Kyouryuu Ondou - Odoru 11~

If only they stopped Abe from introducing it… Just kidding – it didn’t ruin it too much. Ahh Tsuji. You’re amazing. Just like Yossui and Kago before you, you steal the sparkle in the group. *Purin purin purin* That dance always reminds me of Tsuji’s Dance Lessons with Ayaka as her victim. Matsuura and Fujimoto do as much as they can with what they were given – which wasn’t much if you ask me. In all a pretty ‘fair’ performance but not great

MC-1 introduces everyone

~Natsu no Omoide – Everyone~

Tsunku was really obsessed with choir like chorus’ around this time so its no surprise to find this piece conducted by Inaba. True it is beautiful and I appreciate how lovely their voices sound but I get enough of this genre from school – I want to watch pop music.

MC-2 Inaba shows Nakazawa how to shake her ass – nuff said

~Tokyo Yoimachigusa - Maeda Yuki~

A rather up beat enka style song. However its much funnier watching everyone in the background who are supposed to be clapping, slapping each other on the back and laughing… oh good times. Let’s do talk about the song though – Maeda is a real singer with great control over her voice making it sound easy to run off some enka type melodies. Isn’t she super terrific

~Tokyo Bijin - Nakazawa Yuko (Matsuura Aya and Fujimoto Miki as backdancers)~

I think Nakazawa does a good job of this song except for her annoying thing of raising her shoulders so that she looks like a turtle (I’m sure Kamei loves her). The stupid scarf which is three times the size of her doesn’t help either. Matsuura and Fujimoto look like their enjoying it though which is nice to see. Although sometimes I catch a hint of boredom crossing their faces.

MC-3 Inaba Atsuko, Abe Natsumi and Tsuji Nozomi, then Iida Kaori, Yasuda Kei and Yoshizawa Hitomi – First Abe looses her phone and nono tries to find it by calling out “keitai… keitai” (cellphone, cellphone) and giving Atsuko a body search then Iida, Yasuda and Yossui come out and Yossui answers her cellphone. Fun

~Iroppoi Onna ~SEXY BABY~ - Country Musume ni Ishikawa Rika~

Damn you Rika Country Musume was doing fine by themselves – atleast they could sing. Mai still looks a bit out of it but she had just joined around 6 months before at the time so we have to give her a bit of a break; most performers take atleast a year to find themselves in the celebrity world.

Murasaki Shikibu - Heike Michiyo

Gosh she’s thin. And not just “idol” thin. She’s super thin. Anyway, it’s a bit of a monotone song isn’t it? She doesn’t show off her voice very well here but she has no choice. Kind of boring really but I can’t help staring at her gigantic, gold, puff skirt. Soooo shiny.

MC-4 Nakazawa Yuko, Michiyo Heike, Matsuura Aya, Country Musume, Coconuts Musume, Melon Kinenbi and Ishii Rika – And what have you been doing recently considering its summer?

~Manatsu no Kousen Hawiian Version - Coconuts Musume (Matsuura Aya, Country Musume, Melon Kinenbi and Ishii Rika as backdancers and chorus)~

Ayaka and Mika have quite weak voices here – I don’t think the range of this song suits them very well. In all it’s a really poor performance and in some places the back ups look like they have no idea what they are doing.

~Sotto Kuchizukete Gyutto Dakishimete - Fujimoto Miki~

I love this song… Mikitty you are awesome! Tsunku did well with this – the quick melodic changes are really something and its really a great composition. Of course it helps that its sung by Miss Fujimoto. She can pull of anything to the best possible outcome. Not only has her voice done well in this song but her dance and attiude looked great. She must have worked hard on performing this one. Yay for being able to double wink ^-^

~Yaruki! It's Easy - Goto Maki (Melon Kinenbi as backdancers and chorus) ~

Come on, now. Goto can do some much better then this song still we cant blame her. She does the best she can with what she was given. Just keep trying to smile Goto. I’m glad you got out of there while you still could!

~Ai~n! Dance no Uta – Minimoni~

It’s Lip-synced but there’s no surprise here. We found out on utaban just how hard and tiring that dance is even for professional idols. I still love their brightness and good performance value. They’re always good to watch and who doesn’t love watching Kago and Tsuji do the “Ai~n”?

MC-5 Nakazawa Yuko and Morning Musume: "Pucchi Jyoho Oshiete no Kona"

~Kamome no Suihei san - Heike Michiyo, Inaba Atsuko, Country Musume, Maeda Yuki, Fujimoto Miki and Ishii Rika

This is honestly quite cute. Singing isn’t bad neither is the dancing but the outfits are cooool! They seem to enjoy it too especially towards the end of the song. Not much else for me to say really except I like it.

~Natsu no Yoru wa Danger! - Melon Kinenbi ~

They don’t handle the breathing in this song at all well. I’m quite disappointed by this because Melon Kinenbi usually come out strongly but this time its not so wonderful. They sound tired and look a bit of a mess most of the time. Often it seems as though they notice themselves how badly they are doing in comparison to their normal performances.

~ Yeah! Meccha Holiday - Matsuura Aya~

Never fear Matsuura is here to fix up the mess. I really do love Ayaya. She whips out Yeah! Meccha Holiday with little effort and strings it into yet another of her awesome performances. Who needs back up dancers? And the crowd loves her of course and join in where ever possible.

~Momoiro Kataomoi - Matsuura Aya ~

This is definitely in my top 10 songs of all time. Its so catchy. She continues this song with the same energy and it becomes yet another great performance.

~Do it! Now - Morning Musume ~

Woohoo. Morning Musume does it now, really well. Everyone sounds fantastic and their acting is especially good in this one. They really pull of the mood of the song.

~ Mr. Moonlight ~Ai no Big Band~ - Morning Musume~

Yossui in the spotlight of course so this song also goes really nicely. Although if I had to change something I’d get Niigaki to have a bit more personality for her solo line at the beginning.

MC-6 Morning Musume

~I Wish - Morning Musume ~

Ahh Kago. Yet again you do your thing. Even though I prefer the original version to any new line up following it this rendition has to be second. Its not too far away from the first version but it does live up to the original mostly because Goto is still there to support everything with her voice.

~The Peace! - Morning Musume ~

I’m loving the outfits for this - shiny and themed. You could never go wrong with that. I can’t say much about this but its just their usual over done (though not really at the time) version of the peace.

~Renai Revolution 21 - Morning Musume ~

Pretty much the same as above really.

MC-7 Nakazawa Yuko and Inaba Atsuko

~Furusato Medley - Morning Musume, then all ~

Let’s just say everyone sounds great together. All the voices are in harmony and no one sounds out over anyone else. It’s a really nice balance.

~Souda! We're Alive - Morning Musume, then all ~

To end the show we have this funky number which is really fun to see with the original line up. When everyone joins in I think it gives the song a bit more of the umph that it really needs. It should be used more often as a large group song I think.

Though most of that sounds bad now that I go over it I really like this concert mostly because of its variety. The era is also a really important one in the history of H!P with all the members who basically created what we know as H!P at the moment at large and together.

p.s sorry about the poor quality screen caps up the top.

After reading recent articles by my fellow bloggers I decided to put my hands into action in trying to type how I feel モーニング娘 is doing at the moment in the way of popularity in Japan and overseas.

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A friend of my brothers (and consequentially my childhood friend) has recently come back from a 10 month tutorship in a city 2 hours from Oosaka bringing with her an old and loved copy of モーニング娘’s 2001 musical, Love センチュリー。As content as I was with this second hand copy I had to ask her how she came across it presuming that she might have hunted it out for me with care. However I was sad to hear from her that it was one of many discarded モーニング娘 items. (Though some may argue that people often resell anything they own.) I wasn’t surprised to hear from her that when she told her Japanese friends that a girl way back in New Zealand was asking for anything H!P, they exclaimed how “uncool” and “boring” the entire scheme of H!P artists was. Most overseas fans know that there are apparently dwindling H!P fans of not only female origin but slowly Japan’s men as well.

Hello! Project was never as popular as I wish it would have been. Almost immediately after the 4^th generation was brought in, though they were full of personality and zest, the popularity of モーニング娘 and subsequently H!P began to decrease. Tsunku’s many subgroups never really caught on to the general public with exception to few (mini moni and the likes). Over the years I know Tsunku has been desperately trying to build up popularity as he ventured his music into different genres and his artists into different activities such as sport.

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However, though I may try to envision the previous state of H!P affairs I have to admit that current views of H!P may be on the way to a big change. With Kusumi Koharu’s success anything could happen. Tsunku’s most recent resort to invading the anime world is making an impact. Finally, a scheme that works? Some what. Tsunku is having some effect in sales such as previously mentioned Kusumi Koharu but then again to look at Niigaki Risa’s adventure into the role of Athena doesn’t seem to be working as well. How long will the Karenin’s success last? Generations of Karenin viewers are bound to get bored with it sooner or later – as people do with most things.  Will Tanaka Reina’s new sanrio anime take off or will it lie flat? The moderate intakes of previous seasons seem to suggest it will do okay. A steady inflow of yen may be on its way.

I have been reading how some people (including me at times) utterly hate the money making schemes Tsunku so often produces but, since thinking about it further, do you really blame him for wanting money. In any case I don’t like the way I’ve been regarding Tsunku as the source of all evil. No doubt he only owns 20% of the vote for what goes on in H!P land, maybe even less. As others have speculated in the past the heads of Up Front Works are probably mostly to blame for all the suspensions and expulsions of its members. Tsunku can’t control everything by himself. He certainly didn’t set up this entire company by himself. The ventures of this company into the various industries in Japan are merely to rain in as much money as possible. Business is business. These money making devices just happen to be entertainment for us which cause us to buy, buy, buy.

If I were them I would most likely do exactly the same. Rich and famous are the two most popular words in the mouths of the world’s youth at the moment. Recent studies show that when asked, student’s both beginning school and leaving it want to achieve atleast one of those words in their life time. No surprise that I am one of them. My dreams are that of many jpop lovers – I want to become a jpop singer. Not uncommon though to my peers it’s bizarre.

The other day I was travelling with the rest of my high schools prefects in a cramped van down to a Leadership course in our capital city. On the way home I was doing my usual listening to my long playlist of H!P songs when a voice from beside me called out.

“Are you listening to that Japanese pop music?”

“Yeah” I replied.

“Can I listen to it?”

“Umm yeah sure… you might not like it though.”

I wasn’t really sure what song I had just opened up but as I handed it over I glanced down – “Buono! – Café Buono”. I wonder what they will think, I contemplated as she bobbed up and down next to me.

The verdict: “It’s cool…” Great! That’s better then expected. “Sounds like chipmunks.” I  cracked up. Now I can’t listen to Buono! Without laughing my head off. But there’s more to come. After she was satisfied the others were intrigued. One by one 5 of the 9 other students had a listen.

Their reactions were varied: “Hmmm…” (She didn’t really know how to describe it), “Wow I kind of like it” (bonus – the head of humanities and music enjoyed it), “umm, it’s different” followed by the next few girls giggling. One of the girls inquired into just how I got into jpop. I explained how my brother had shown me the video for Roman ~my dear boy~ by モーニング娘 some years ago but it wasn’t until I started learning Japanese myself that I really got into Japanese culture which started with borrowing my brothers anime and building up my own manga collection. Then I got sucked into Arashi which lead to モーニング娘 in around 2005. But I’m sure I’m just repeating myself to you guys. The point is they were just plain interested. Most of them said they’d be keen to hear more.

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Tsunku’s next adventure? Selling in New Zealand.

Hmmm, maybe not.

In the end I unofficially predict and increase in H!P popularity if things continue to buzz on as they currently  are doing. I would love to see not only H!P moving overseas but my other beloved Avex, Sony and other such companies pushing their acts overseas. It’s a risk I want them to be willing to take.

Enough of my rambling. Thanks for reading. Kucchi

P.S. "Morning Musume" is written in katakana/kanji because i prefer it that way. I'm a japanese student so i often write things in Japanese because to me they look better/the way they should look though i have no problem with it written in romaji/english. Please excuse such things ^-^

GAHHHHHHHHH TSUNKU NO! NOT THAT SONG... why will he never listen to me.

 
Well let's just say it's an improvement for me to the original 80s like ballad version. With more drumming and less sparkly sound effects (though still present in places); it's much nicer to hear the voices coming out OVER the music rather then being suffocated in a fairy parade. Even though i can hardly stand Rika's nasal voice it comes out well in this song. The piano and violin give great support to the modern version, which is also slightly more upbeat then that other version. I find the held notes at the end of each phrase much easier to listen to and the "woahs" a whole lot better then the original notes they were on. I still can't handle those "yeah yeah"s dumped in the middle of the chorus like that... its just not right!
All in it this should call for an emotional graduation anyway. I hope the b-side is a lot more exciting.... but no promises.

Try to ignore the do it now clip at the beginning of this opv. (although it may be surprisingly more appreciated once nanni mo iwazu ni begins to sparkle its way into you ears)

What the...?
Resonant blue aye?
I can see tsunku now when he was decided what to do with the pv with a bunch of art designers:
"So what are our ideas?"
"Well we all thought that the most creative and effective way to pull off this song best is to put them in a blacked out warehouse with hardly any light and place Reina, Koharu and Ai in front of everyone else."
"Perhaps we could put all the others in to full black outfits so they fade into the background."
"Better make sure R, K and A in some white so we can see them better."
"Great idea."

Maybe their budget was low on this one.

In any case it's obvious to everyone that Tanaka Reina, Kusumi Koharu and Takahashi Ai are in full view for this pv. In fact its as though they are the only singers (Kamei and Niigaki occasionally are pictured shouting out "baby baby" etc). They are bluntly the only ones with colours other then white which cause them to stand out from the blacked out room they are in. Not to mention the numerous close ups of them even when they arent involved in the lyrics.

My major problem though is much worse. Koharus dancing. We already knew she was awkward so why make her semi-improvise inbetween verses. My eyes burn from the very sight of her wide stanced bobbing. Why tsunku, why?

Why is it only dancing? No drama; not even shots of them as little kids or sitting on boxes or even singing together at a campfire. No. Its one scene, a dance scene.

Not that the dance is bad. I really quite like it... honestly i do. I just wish we saw more of Kamei and her awsome dancing skills to prove what quality choreography it is. Don't let me mention Koharu here again.

I don't know what else to say other then how disappointed i am. Maybe a miracle will happen. Maybe the general public of Japan will really like this kind of thing... who knows. I still want mm to do well out of this single.