Sakura by night

Today we had the real hanami - with the food. :P

I'll post pictures later - it was really pretty when the lanterns got turned on (and really hard to take good pictures, so they turned out kind of crappy - but I'm going to post them anyway).

Also, I went out shopping the other day - I bought the art book from Mushishi, one of my favourite anime. It's a real beauty, and the art is inspiring in itself - so I decided to buy it after some consideration. I don't regret it! <3

I also bought Morning Musume's newest album, Platinum 9 Disc. I really like it! There's some really good songs in there, and even solo lines for the pandas! Tsunku, gogo! /Momusu fangirling

Location: Japan
Mood: I think I've caught a cold... again. -.-;;
Listening to: TV

I love Book Off!

Madoka was nice enough to take me to Book Off today - a big store that sells used books, CD's and DVD's at reduced prices.

I didn't manage to find any H!P CD's, but I found half a ton of singles for 105 yen, equaling about 8 NOK! Two of them limited editions: Morning Musume's "Ai Araba It's All Right!", that came with a mini photobook pamphlet. The other was "Joshi Kashimashi Monogatari", complete with a set of photocards! :D Happy! I brought a total of 12 CD's (singles, mostly) to the counter. The lady behind it smiled politely and said "please wait a minute..." while she started beeping in CD after CD of H!P... Haha! XP

Limited first press releases. I'm so happy~ *^^*

The other singles I found included "Suki Sugite Baka Mitai" by H!P's DEF. DIVA, "Sakura Mankai", one of my all-time H!P favourite singles by Morning Musume Sakuragumi, "Lucky Cha Cha Cha!" by Mini Moni and a heap of older Morning Musume singles.

...and I bought Gackt's CD "Moon" and Otsuka Ai's newest release "Love Letter". And the other day I bought two CD's: "7.5 Fuyu Fuyu Morning Musume Mini!" and High King's "C/C Cinderella Complex". (It's really too bad this group will only be releasing one single. I like their sound.) My H!P collection is growing, and I'm terribly pleased. Especially since I'm such a good girl and even bought it at reduced prices. Mom, pet my head! ^^

...Being in Japan is great. XD


Location: Japan!
Mood: content~ (I had dinner, haha!)
Listening to: Morning Musume - various singles... :P

Cover You

Morning Musume's newest album is out - "Cover You"! I bought it today while shopping (mainly) for some warmer clothes. On Hello!Online it says it'll be out tomorrow... but I have it now! XD I feel so cool: It's the limited first-press edition.

The CD's a tribute album to Yu Aku, famous for writing many popular hit songs in the 1970s and 1980s. One of the songs, "Dou ni mo tomaranai" was supposed to be W's 7th single... but it was cancelled when Kago Ai was caught smoking. I wish I could have heard W's version too, but now I guess that'll never happen. *sigh*

On the other hand, Aibon's back and her DVD, "Kago Channel" will be released soon! And then, in 2009, her mini albums! Can't wait for those! It'll be fun to see how she's developed since W.

And then there's photobooks and DVDs... @_@ Little by little. :)

PS: Oh, and I found "Breaking Dawn", the fourth book in the Twilight series! And Gyakuten Saiban manga! I'm happy~!

Location: Japan
Mood: tired
Listening to: Wild World - Cat Stevens :)

H!P is doing what?!

I just took a look at Hello! Online today, to see if there were any news... and I must say I'm kind of shocked. Suddenly, out of the blue.. H!P announces a mass graduation! What?!

"It was announced on the Hello Project website today (October 19th) that as of March 31st, 2009, all of the members of Elder Club will be leaving Hello! Project."
- Hello! Online

Well, I guess I can't say it's totally unexpected. These girls have been on stage since they were teenagers. Some joined H!P when they were still just 12 years old. I think many of them are still stuck with the same image now, maybe because fans remember them a certain way and expect them to behave according to that. It's only natural that these idols would move on after a while. But still, to have so many members graduating (or being fired?) at the same time, and with no previous warning... that took me by surprise.

I'm disappointed too. I'd been eagerly awaiting Tsuji Nozomi's comeback to H!P ever since it was announced that she was pregnant and engaged to actor Taio Sugiura back in May in 2007. She went on maternity leave sometime later, saying she'd return to the entertainment industry when things calmed down after child birth. Apparently, she's planning a comeback in the fall this year. (OK, so apparently she's appeared on stage on stage on "YUKO NAKAZAWA BIRTHDAY LIVE 2008" with a cake for Nakazawa Yuko on 19 June 2008... but I'd hardly call that a comeback! XD) There's still time, but I had hoped she'd stay a part of H!P for a while longer. Still, it'll be interesting to see what she'll chose to do now.

Kago Ai is working hard on her solo career, and has announced that she'll be releasing around four mini-albums consisting of self-written songs. And they'll be released while I'm in Japan! I'm buying those... finally we get to hear Aibon sing again! :D

Other people I'll miss are Yaguchi Mari (Morning Musume, Mini Moni) and Yoshizawa Hitomi (Morning Musume). Elder Club consists mostly of graduated members from Morning Musume - it goes without saying that I'll miss them being a part og H!P. Although some of them (Yaguchi included) apparently will remain part of Up-Front Agency. I could do with more information - it's all pretty confusing.

Yoshizama Hitomi and Ishikawa Rika have just started a new unit too, "Hangry & Angry". (Apparently they're collaborating with a Harajuku fashion store with the same name.) Their debut mini-album will be entitled "Kill Me Kiss Me", the same as their debut single. It is scheduled for release in November 19th. Depending on how I like it, I might buy a copy. Hmmm...

My next post will be more exchange-related and less about H!P. :P I still haven't posted any posts or pictures from my trip to the park with Francesco. And that deserves to be mentioned!

Next time, promise.

Location: Japan

Morning Musume ~Resonant LIVE~

Whoa! I still can't believe I've seen Morning Musume live! I've seen Tanaka Reina and Takahashi Ai on stage! o@(≧▽≦)@o

The 4th of October I went to Kagoshima Cultural Hall to see モーニング娘。コンサートツアー2008 秋　～リゾナント LIVE ～ (Morning Musume Concert Tour 2008 Aki (Fall) ~Resonant LIVE~). I went with my otoosan, because okaasan was still in England at the hospital with Madoka at the time. He was extremely embarrassed by the entire thing "hazukashii!". I can't possibly fathom why the prospect of going to a concert held by a group of girls jumping about and singing (mostly) happy bubblegum J-pop would put him off... but that's just me. ;P *cough, cough*

Still, I had endless fun teasing him for it on the way. I kept telling him how this would make a great memory, and how I should take pictures just to help him remember this special occasion. Lots of laughter ensued.

When we got to the concert hall, the first thing I noticed were the cars. Oh, the cars! On the back of one there was a huge poster saying "TANAKA REINA". On another there was a small picture of Michishige Sayumi in the left corner of the windshield, with "Sayumi Hime" (Sayumi princess) written on the right. Inside, drapes across the seat, was a towel with Sayumi printed on it. Well, what can I say... otoosan and I found that pretty funny.

Kagoshima Culture Hall (picture from the Japanese Wikipedia)

Outside the hall, my eyes popped again. Outside there were guys apparently all around otoosan's age, some trading photos (with me thinking "OMG! They really do! It's not just something I've read on the internet...") and a big Morning Musume poster. Security guys took my camera away from me at the entrance, so regrettably I couldn't take any pictures inside. It was a shame - I'd love to show you all the fans! XD To quote otoosan: "Ojiisan bakkari da yo, ne..." ("There's only old men here, isn't there...") Well, I saw some girls too, but we were sadly outnumbered! XD (Let it just be said, not all of them were that old. Some looked like they were in their twenties.) It was quite funny seeing so many different people attending the concert, though. Although I was quite surprised that these were the guys I shared my taste in music with... XD

What else should I say... It was heaven for any H!P fan. Along the two opposing walls there were tables filled with official H!P goods! Oficcial Morning Musume goods! CD's and DVD's I can always buy at a CD shop, so I headed for the other table. A short while later, I had bought Tanaka Reina's T-shirt, pictures, a Momusu tour T-shirt and a Momusu tour towel. ☆ All the while listening to Morning Musume songs being played over the stereo.

Then we headed in to the main concert hall. It was full of people - mostly men. Many of these men wore clothes in the official colour of their favourite member - for example, one who liked Takahashi Ai would be wearing her yellow T-shirt. The more extreme guys would be wearing a long, yellow coat-like piece of clothing, yellow pants, the yellow Takahashi Ai T-shirt, a yellow headband, yellow wristband and yellow shoes. They'd was also armed with yellow glow sticks and jump up and down and scream whenever her picture was shown, or she was on stage, or spoke... yeah. We even saw one with the animal ears from Haromoni@ (Morning Musume's TV show). It was hard not to laugh at these guys - we hid behind our program and snickered. :P

The concert was a lot of fun - they played some of my favourtie songs - like "Mikan", "Ambitious！Yashinteki de Ii Jyan", "Onna ni Sachi Are" and "Resonant Blue". They also played some songs I hadn't heard a lot before, but found out I really like - and some I didn't know. (But otoosan did, being Japanese and older than me. :P) You can see the concert setlist here. It was great - although I admit I was not jumping up and down. All the crazy jumping people were in front of the stage - we had seats at the back among the non-jumpers. The exception was for one very enthusiastic Sayumi-fan, dressed in pink in the fashion described above. *snicker* Still, I think I'd prefer the back - it was pretty close to the stage, but at the same time it gave me a view of the entire stage so I could see everything.

I enjoyed it very much, although I didn't understand everything they said when they were speaking. I did, however, get it when they were talking about their next album: "Cover You". Still, it was great just being there, seeing them all on stage! They hardly ever travel out of Japan to do a concert (the exceptions being Taiwan and Hawaii so far), and it's rare for them to come to Kagoshima. And I've seen them live! Hah! Yes, Kusumi Koharu is just as annoying to me in real life. o@(><)@o Reina and Ai are great, and I think they are among the best singers too. ^^ Oh! And Linlin even sang in Chinese! It was great!

On my way out I bought Ai-chan's T-shirt too, and the photoset of her, being such a loyal fan and all. By our car I caught sight of a man wearing Reina's T-shirt. I decided this was a chance I couldn't pass up - I don't often meet Momusu fans in Norway. XD So I went up to him and spoke with him. "Tanaka Reina ga suki desu yo ne?" ("You like Tanaka Reina, don't you?") "Uh? E-ee..." ("Y-yeah...") "Watashi mo!" ("Me too!") "Ya~y! High five!" I gave him a great big smile, high-fived him and climbed into our car feeling very accomplished. Otoosan was chuckling. :D

For the record: he said he enjoyed the concert too, so there! Hehe! ...and apparently okaasan knows one of the dances to one of the songs. (First performed by the 1976–1981 J-pop duo Pink Lady.) I'll have to get her to teach me that! :D

PS: Guess who else is coming to Kagoshima to perform... Gackt!! I need tickets... (/O3O)/

Location: Kagoshima, Japan!
Mood: Content
Reading: Just finished "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer in four days - am in desperate need of the sequal! I want to kno~w! o(><)o
Eating: Soon, I should think.
Drinking: Water. From the tap. Again. Vikings don't drink from bottles, bwah! :P

Rotary Orientation Camp

The orientation camp was...fantastic!
Francesco and I took the train early to Kagoshima station, where we spent some time shopping. (I bought Tanaka Reina's (member of Morning Musume) photobook "Reina" and W's DVD "Miss Love Tantei".) We also went to take purikura. (Did you know boys are not allowed in alone? On a sign in front there's a sign with a lone blue male crossed over. Male w/pink female is OK, as is lone pink female. Haha!) Then we met up with Mr. Kamikawa and Jessa, the exchange student from Texas, USA, now living in the neighbouring prefecture Miyazaki. I can say we hit it off right from the start - she's the kind of person I find it easy to like. Outgoing and fun, while having a serious side. We discovered we were very much alike, but at the same time quite different - which I think is a great starting point for a friendship. Needless to say, we had a great three days together! I'll try to sum them up short here.

The first thing that happened was that Mr. Kamikawa drove us to an enormous building that I at first thought was our hotel. Kamikawa casualy explained that "No, you're staying someplace nicer. This is where we're eating lunch". My eyes popped! The view from the window was amazing - even though it was cloudy and raining, we could see out over all of Kagoshima City.

After eating we went to Kamikawa English School, where we read the "Rules of the road" paper out loud together. We started laughing when we all read a number differently. Mr. Kamikawa asked us to "please be serious about this, because I put a lot of effort into writing this, and I wrote this to help you". This made us feel bad, and we awkwardly explained that it was our mistake when reading the number, not the rules, that we found funny. He said he understood that, but it still felt kind of weird.

Next we were driven to the hotel we'd be staying at - the Sun Royal Hotel where we had lunch with Mr. Kamikawa's Rotary Club the first time. It. was. fancy! They had an onsen (hot spring) on the 13th floor, with an entrance on the 12th... and really nice rooms! The ones we stayed in were not really big, but clean and cozy. (I've always liked hotels rooms...) We unpacked and went for a quick shopping round at the mall close to the hotel. I bought a Hello Kitty skin for my pink Nintendo DS lite at a 100 yen shop. And of course we took the obligatory purikura:

Ichigo gaijin!

We also took a set that we gave to Mr. Kamikawa and his wife:

The text says "Mr. and Mrs. Kamikawa, thank you!"

Once we were done shopping, we went back to the hotel and hung out in Jessa's room before we headed to the onsen. It was lovely! Jessa and I spent ages talking and relaxing (it even had a steam bath!). From the large windows by the onsen we looked out over the city lights of Kagoshima City sparkling in the darkness. It was so beautiful! And it was really quiet and peaceful at the onsen too. I want to go back just thinking about it. *sigh* We finished soaking, got dressed in our yukatas and went back to Jessa's room where we crashed for the night. It was really late before we went to sleep.

The second day we (naturally) overslept, and scuffed down our breakfast in about 5 minutes before dashing to the waiting taxi that took us to Kamikawa English Shcool. We read the rules again for a representative from Ijuin Rotary, and he held a speech in Japanese (later translated by Kamikawa) about his hosting experience 20 years ago. It was very interesting, and to my surprise I understood most of what he said!

Later that day we had a radio interview too - a nice lady interviewed us a bit before we headed in to the studio to do the recording. It turned out to be a lot of fun, although I messed up on my age when asked, haha!

Radio lady: "How old are you?"

Helene: "I'm sevent... I've turned eighteen!" XD

It was all in Japanese, but she and her male co-worker (he's gone to Josei, haha!) were really conciderate and spoke clearly, explaining when it was needed. I understood almost everything that was being said, though, and felt pretty cool. v(^_^) It was a new experience for me, and it felt a bit celebrity-ish, actually. It was really fun! I recognized the artists and songs they played too! Utada Hikaru, "First Love", Ootsuka Ai, "Sakuranbo" and... I got to pick and introduce the last song: "I WISH" by Morning Musume!
I've always liked this song, and it was also sung on Nono and Aibon's graduation form Morning Musume. It's one of my Momusu all-time favourites. <3

The rest of the day was spent having dinner (tonkatsu, yum!) and shopping a bit again. I bought some "diamond" cross-shaped earrings that I've been searching for a while. They're reminiscent of those worn by Tanaka Reina and Nozomi Tsuji in some photos. ...yes, I know, H!P again... *cough* Once back in the hotel, Jessa and I went to the onsen again before going to sleep in my room.

Me outside an official Sanrio shop. (The guys responsible for Hello Kitty.) I actually managed not to buy the entire shop - I bought most of Kuromi, actually, which you can't find in Norway. And, OK... I admit it: a thing to make Hello Kitty-shaped rice! XD

The third day we got up and packed before eating breakfast... which lasted 15 minutes. We were late again, haha! Then we were picked up by Kamikawa, who took us to a newspaper interview. (Tight schedule, check! Interviews, check! Celebrity... oh, whatever... check!) I didn't understand this guy, though. He almost mumbeled in fast keigo, and I had to get translations from Kamikawa. Oh well.

Next we dragged Mr. Kamikawa to take purikura with us. We went in to the pinkest, most sparkling purikura machine we could find! (And I can totally see all the Rotary members going in there with their suits and ties, haha!) Decorating those was a lot of fun - I put a maid hairband on him, and the other two put him in a wig. We made Mr. Kamikawa decorate one too. Oh, the seriousness! XD It was wonderful!

After finishing the purikura, we met up with Jessa's councelor and had dinner (we chose Italian sphagetti, making a big point out of showing it to Francesco, haha!). Once we'd finished eating it was sadly time to say goodbye to Jessa. At first we bowed to each other. This was followed by a scilence during which we were both standing there, looking at each other before I blurted out "Oh, screw this!!" and we gave each other a big hug. The gaijinness provails!

Kamikawa brought Francesco and me back to Kagoshima station, where we (okay, I) bought some CD's: Utada Hikaru, Morning Musume (all singles complete) and Onitsuka Chihiro. This was followed by more purikura. At last we decided to take the train home, both of us exhausted. I, for one, did not feel like going back to school and bake cakes the next day. XD But I survived that too, of course!

Jessa and me being exhausted in the hotel's corridor.

Jessa and me looking terrible in a nice hotel - it was raining, and we couldn't resist the fun of running through the rain with closed umbrellas. *ahehm*

Location: Japan!
Mood: Tired
Listening to: the sound of the TV
Reading: "Twilight" (the first book in the "Twilight" series). Can't... put... it... down! Vampires~ <3!

Long time no update...

The reason is quite simple: Ryotaro is sick, he's sleeping in the room where there's internet access, and I don't really want to disturb him too much. He needs his rest, and I take quite a while to write blog entries. (There's a lot to write now, too. Rotary orientation meeting and the Morning Musume concert! (which was really fun!)) So I'll save it for when I'm back home.

Until then - please bear with me! Gomen! m(_ _)m

Location: Japan <3
Mood: Happy
Watching: "The mask of Zorro" with Japanese subtitles together with Ryotaro

It's official...

I've got two tickets to the Morning Musume concert in Kagoshima on the 4th of October! *squeals of joy*

They started selling them last month, so I was really worried that there might not be any left... then we found out that there were - and I even got seats! I'm so happy!

I paid close to 700 kr for two tickets (340 for each), but I don't think concerts are the worst thing to spend money on.

Also, getting to se Morning Musume live is a rare event if you live in the west - they never seem to leave Asia, and even if you decide to go to Japan to see them, you have to get someone in Japan to buy the tickets for you. It's a hassle.

Here's proof (edited the receipt):

The text highlighted in pink reads "Morning Musume"

Location: Japan!
Mood: Joy!!

Morning Musume to Kagoshima!?

I've been baking cakes all day at school today, which was really boring because I didn't understand what the teacher was talking about for hours and let's face it, cooking was never my favourite subject. What made them give us a whole day of cake baking and three days containing cooking a week? Just wondering. O__o And I have one art lesson a week. One. I want to do nail art, cut hair and make yukatas! Please?

That being said, the rest of our schedule is pretty awesome, and I'll try to ask my homeroom teacher if it's possible to try some of these other things too. Besides, this is the first week after school. It'll probably get better.
/rant

Now on to something completely different (the larch!): Morning Musume is coming to Kagoshima! And they're holding a concert! It's called モーニング娘。コンサートツアー2008 秋　～リゾナント LIVE or Morning Musume Concert Tour 2008 Aki ~Resonant LIVE. It's being held on the 4th of October at Kagoshima Cultural Hall. And it's a Saturday, which means no school and maybe time to go and see it...? Oh, that would be so fun! \(>.<)/ How often do you get a chance to do that anyway? I want to go see Morning Musume live! I asked my friends in class and they said they thought it might be like 6000 yen, which would make it about 300 kr. Not too bad, is it?
Edit: I checked their Japanese schedule. It's correct.

I wonder if I could drag Madoka with me if I could somehow get a hold of tickets...? Where would you do that anyway? I need to do some research.

...I want to go!

Hello! Kago Ai

Okay, so I was going to write this, like, totally cool post about how I got to see the opening of the new opera house yesterday. I was going to tell you all how I got to see the opening ceremony before even the king did, because my dad's made of awesome. But I, like, failed.
/Ini Miney

Soo... I thought I'd share with you all the news I found on the internet that made me so fangirlishly happy! Kago Ai is planning a comeback! You hear me!? Aibon is back! Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!! ><

Kago Ai (加護 亜依),

Profile:
Name: Kago Ai (Kago being her family name)
Nickname: Aibon
Age: 20 (1988-02-07)
Birth place: Nara-ken, Japan
Blood type: AB
Height: 155 cm
Hello! Project groups:
Morning Musume (2000 - 2004)
W (2004 - 2006)
Subgroups:
Tanpopo (2000 - 2002)
MiniMoni (2000 - 2004)
Morning Musume Sakura Gumi (2003 - 2004)
Shuffle Units:
2000: Kiiro 5 (Second Generation)
2001: 3nin Matsuri
2002: Happy 7
2003: SLAT5
2004: H.P. All Stars


Ai Kago is a former member of the Japanese all-girl pop group Morning Musume, part of the Hello! Project. She auditioned for Morning Musume at the age of twelve, and was accepted along with Tsuji Nozomi as 4th generation members in 2000. After graduating from Morning Musume in 2004, Kago and Tsuji went on to form a group of their own, called W.

After the gossip magazine Friday published pictures of Kago smoking while underage, she was suspended from Hello! Project for a year, and went back to her hometown of Nara to live with her family. In January 2007 she returned to Tokyo and began working as a receptionist in the Up-Front Agency's office while the details of her comeback were decided.

24 March 2007, Weekly Gandai (also a gossip magazine) published photos showing Kago holding hands and visiting a hot springs resort with Ishimoto Yasuyuki, a man many years her senior and the owner of the popular SOMA café. There were also pictures showing her smoking in his car. Two days later Up-Front Agency confirmed the story and terminated Kago's contract, thus disbanding W. (Nozomi Tsuji became a member of a new group called Gyaruru, but 2 weeks after she joined it announced that she was pregnant and engaged. She's now on maternal leave.)

But Aibon is back, and it's all sunshine, roses and fluffy pink clouds! Although she's not coming back to Hello! Project, I'm glad to hear from her again. Hisashiburi, Aibon!


It's time for me to stop fangirling now. I need to work on my history assignment. ><

PS: If you want more information about Aibon, go here. It's my source for most things J-pop/J-rock. =P