Konya mo Usachan Peace #422 (2014.11.24) *FINAL EPISODE*

So here we are — the final, one-hour special episode of Konya mo Usachan Peace.

Sayu begins by talking again about going through all kinds of various “lasts” as her graduation approaches, and now it’s finally come time to say goodbye to Konusapii after a great run of eight years. “But,” as Sayu says, “if you start thinking too much about everything ending, it’s just going to make you sad.” So instead of doing that, she’d rather just enjoy this final hour to its fullest with everyone.

Sayu hopes the listeners will keep her company until the very end of these 60 minutes.

Song: Michishige Sayumi – Lalala no Pipipi

Sayu no Oobeya
Letters from listeners

For the final episode of the show, Sayu says she’d like to just focus on reading as many fan letters as possible and have everyone hear what she has to say. So let’s get right to it.

Fan mail #1: The listener reports that “Shabadabadoo” and its cuteness have become a hot topic at his workplace and among his friends, and what’s more is that several of those people don’t even really follow MM’14. Many of them were reminded of Ayaya’s “Momoiro Kataomoi” when seeing the music video, and the listener is surprised at how pretty Sayu is, not losing to a 15-year-old Ayaya even at the age of 25. One of the younger females at the listener’s workplace told them to ask Sayu for advice on how to maintain their cuteness.

Sayu says that she really does think it’s important to face the mirror and tell yourself you’re cute: while receiving compliments from other people will of course lead to self-confidence, too, the first person to acknowledge your cuteness should be you yourself.

But really the key to cuteness, Sayu says, is eating and sleeping properly. It really does wonders for your physical condition. Also, while Sayu, too, admits to occasionally eating nothing but cake for some meals and being on net patrol duty in the middle of the night instead of sleeping, she’s noticed how much of a difference it makes when you maintain an established schedule when it comes to eating and sleeping.

Fan mail #2: The listener asks how the photoshoot was for the recent issue of Young Jump magazine that had Sayu, Kudo and Sayashi on its front cover.

Sayu says that the catering at Young Jump photoshoots is always amazing, and that’s the first thing she looks forward to when she’s told she has another photoshoot for them. Kudo actually got her solo shots taken a couple of days prior to Sayu and Sayashi, and the staff had prepared açaí na tigela for her that day. Kudo, knowing that Sayu and Sayashi are also big fans of it, told the staff about it, and thanks to that they’d prepared it for them again for the photoshoot with all three of them. Sayu thought Kudo was such a good girl for doing this.

Sayu loved the outfits, too, and she enjoyed the staff and the cameraman constantly praising her, telling her how cute she was and how there were no duds among any of the photos they’d taken of her. Sayu notes that this was probably her last magazine cover as a member, and she felt she got to finish this type of work on a very pleasant (and delicious) note.

Fan mail #3: The listener reveals that they’re a fortysomething female who’s been a fan of Morning Musume since “Ai no Tane,” and while they were never a big radio listener, they nevertheless listened to Konusapii every week. With just a couple of days to go until Sayu’s graduation, she feels happy to have witnessed such a legendary member of the group as Sayu in real time. She asks Sayu to keep doing her best until the end.

Sayu feels very glad to hear this, but she wants to say that it wasn’t her that did anything special these past 12 years: it was the fans who discovered Sayu and decided to start supporting her that made it all possible. She asks for everyone’s continued support until the very end.

Fan mails #4 & #5: The listener mentions Sayu blogging about Morning Musume’s final rehearsal for the Yokohama Arena concert, and they ask whose idea it was for everyone to have “usachan hair” and wear Michishige T-shirts for the rehearsal. And although they say it might be kind of a rude thing to ask, another listener wants Sayu to honestly tell us which members she thought the usachan hair suited the best, and which members it didn’t look quite as good on.

Sayu seems to remember it being Maa-chan’s idea for everyone to do the usachan hair. One thing Sayu didn’t really get is everyone being so fussy about when they’d do their hair: Sayu suggested everyone just come to work that day with their hair like that, but none of the members liked the idea, saying it was embarrassing. “If it’s embarrassing in your teens, then what about me having that hair at 25?!“, Sayu complains. And sure enough, everyone only set their usachan hair just before rehearsal.

Sayu: Still, hair is hair, and some hairstyles will of course just suit some people better than others. But that’s all subjective, and my opinion of it will naturally just be my personal opinion.

Disclaimers out of the way, Sayu says that aside from her, the person she thought the usachan hair looked the best on was Sayashi. She thought she looked even cuter than usual and complimented her on it a lot. Also, despite her ikemen character, Sayu thought it really suited Kudo, too.

As for the other end of the spectrum… Sayu honestly felt like it didn’t suit Fuku-chan very much — she feels that having the ponytails so high up doesn’t really fit her image. She also thought Ikuta didn’t look quite right with this hairstyle.

Song: Morning Musume – One Two Three

Fan mail #6: The listener mentions the “Michishige Camera” corner seen on Morning Musume’s autumn tour that features all kinds of footage of Sayu behind the scenes. The listener asks if this footage was all shot with the intention of showing it on this corner, and what Sayu thinks about the footage that has been shown thus far.

Sayu says that all the footage was indeed taken with the corner in mind, and she remembers that they actually started filming her the day following her graduation announcement.

One piece of footage that was actually Sayu’s idea was the off-shot footage from the making of the “Sbadabadadoo” music video, and seeing it, Sayu says she was literally “scared of her own talent,” thinking she was a genius. Sayu was really proud of this footage, especially with it having been her suggestion. She says she’s glad that the fan response to it seemed to have been very positive, too.

Fan mail #7: The listener saw Sayu’s recent appearance on the TV program “Oshareism.” Them being a longtime fan of Sayu they already knew about her sole childhood friend from Yamaguchi, but they thought it was still great to finally learn more about her. They ask if Sayu, too, was pleased with the contents of the show.

Although Sayu has spoken even on Konusapii about said friend from Yamaguchi on multiple occasions, this is the first time they actually revealed both her name and picture. Her friend — Suetsugu-san — even submitted an old letter from Sayu to the show. When Sayu mailed her about it afterwards, it turns out it was actually her mom that had been keeping all those old letters from back then.

Something funny happened during the recording of the show.

When Sayu pointed out Suetsugu-san from their picture together, the staff there suddenly told Sayu she was wrong, and that it was one of the other girls in the picture. Sayu said “no, this is Suetsugu-san,” but the staff continued to say “no, this is Suetsugu-san — we even interviewed her!” Even the host started teasing her, going “Michishige-san, don’t you even know what your friend looks like?!” But Sayu kept firm and insisted that she was absolutely sure she was pointing at Suetsugu-san — she’d known her for years! The staff finally gave in and seemed to believe her.

But later around a week before the program was set to air, Suetsugu-san mailed Sayu telling her that someone from the Oshareism staff had contacted her, asking “Suetsugu-san, can you confirm that you’re the person on the left in this picture?“

She wasn’t: for some reason they were convinced Suetsugu-san was Nishino-san, another one of Sayu’s friends seen in the picture. Sayu thought it almost felt like they wanted the girl on the left to be Suetsugu-san since she was the cutest of them. Even Suetsugu-san started saying “Well, she’s way cuter than me so whatever, maybe I’ll just tell them that’s me. I’m fine with being Nishino.“

Fan mail #8: The listener attended the most recent Morning Musume concert in Yamaguchi and talks about how great it was. He asks what Sayu herself thought about her final hometown concert.

Sayu says she was so happy and that it was simply the best — she then talks for nearly a minute about how frustrated she is that there aren’t better words in the Japanese language to adequately express just how awesome it actually was.

She thought the “Sayumin saikou” call after the concert would never end, and after she got home and received the video of the day’s concert from her manager, she watched it all over again including the “Sayumin saikou” call in its entirety. In fact, she’s been listening to the “Sayumin saikou” call on repeat, thinking it should even warrant a CD release.

Fan mail #9: This listener, too, attended the Yamaguchi concert. They mention the “incident” that happened during their performance: Sayu kissed Rihoriho! He talks about how even the fans were later saying “finally!” and asks what happened afterwards, especially wanting to know if there was any reaction from Rihoriho or the other members.

Sayu says she’s happy to hear that it became a hot topic among fans, too.

On this tour whenever they’d perform “Kare to Issho ni Omise ga Shitai,” there was a part during it where Sayu would do something with Rihoriho, like hug her or just stare at her intently. Sayu always wanted to try kissing her during this part but she just couldn’t bring herself to do so. There’s nearly a 10-year age difference between them, so Sayu worried that doing something like that could be considered a criminal offense — “I wouldn’t want to get arrested just before my graduation,” she laughs. Besides, Sayu isn’t sure if Rihoriho actually loves her quite as much as Sayu loves her, so lately she’d been trying to show some restraint.

That is until Fuku-chan revealed in an MC at the concert that Rihoriho had apparently been feeling a bit sad about Sayu not “going at her” as aggressively as before as of late. Sayu wondered why Fuku-chan hadn’t told her this sooner — she’d suddenly realized there had been no point in trying to control her urges. But then Sayu realized it may have actually been a good thing: it’d worked out for her just like in all the manga and TV dramas where the man eases off on the woman, and then the woman starts missing all the attention she’d previously gotten. “So even Rihoriho’s only human,” Sayu laughs.

Sayu realized her chance had come, and she went ahead and kissed her. But the problem is that Sayu had a singing part right after that so she couldn’t see Rihoriho’s reaction right away, so she had to wait until she got back home and replay the footage of the concert.

In it, she saw Rihoriho running to Suzuki, jumping up and down all excited and going “I got kissed!!!” Sayu couldn’t have been happier to see this reaction: she figures since Rihoriho did that out of her sight, it must mean she really was that glad about it.

Sayu says she’s gotten too excited talking about this, so it’s time for a music break in order for her to calm down.

Song: Morning Musume – Happy Daisakusen

Fan mail #10: The listener says they’re a third grade junior high school girl, and they ask Sayu for advice as to what sort of hairstyles she could try out at school at her age (14-15).

The hairstyle Sayu herself used for school most often was the double ponytail — they had a rule at their school in Yamaguchi that if your hair was long enough to extend beyond your shoulders, you had to tie it up. Looking back, it’s now obvious to Sayu that she loved herself even back then: they had a three-sided mirror at home, and Sayu would always admire herself on it from all angles. She isn’t sure if she has a hair partition fetish or something, but she’d always love looking at how her hair was parted in the back when she had double ponytails.

Sayu would thus recommend the double ponytail for junior high girls. Not the usachan hair type of double ponytail, though, but one with the ponytails tied in a lower position.

Fan mail #11: Looking back on the history of the show, the listener highlights a certain happening they remember from when the show had just started. Sayu had to do a penalty game that involved her eating an assortment of mango — something Sayu really hated at the time. The listener didn’t think Sayu’s reaction was something you could broadcast on radio, so it left a big impression on them. If possible, they ask for the staff to replay even just a small segment of Sayu’s reaction back then.

Sayu does does remember having to eat that mango. Nowadays she loves it, and she reveals that even back then she was kind of gradually coming to like it, but because it was a penalty game she had to give a reaction like she absolutely hated it. So she can now say that there was a bit of acting involved in her reaction at the time.

Thus, she says that if you listen to it now you can hear a bit of a more “wicked Sayumi as compared to the pure Sayumi of today.” They don’t have the audio of it handy, though, so Sayu tells listeners to somehow seek out the audio themselves. Luckily you have me to save you the trouble.

From the 2006.12.21 episode of Konya mo Usachan Peace, Sayu’s reaction upon hearing what she was going to have to eat:

…and then actually having some:

Fan mail #12: November 7th was the birthday of both Iikubo Haruna as well as Sayu’s big sister. The listener asks what she got the two of them as presents.

Sayu heard Harunan is doing her best at practicing cooking as of late, so Sayu got her a cute pink/light blue apron as well as two cups and some cookies. She hasn’t given a present to her big sister as she hasn’t found anything nice yet, but she hopes to get her something soon.

Fan mail #13: The listener attended Sayu’s fanclub event on November 10th. What with video messages from Ogura Yuko and Natsu-sensei, as well as Sugai-sensei (voice instructor during 6th gen auditions) coming on stage and making Sayu and the fans do voice training together among other things, they wished the event would’ve never ended. They ask what Sayu thought about it.

Sayu, too, had lots and lots of fun at this event. She had a sore throat on the day before, however, and it was only made worse when she cried at the end of her individual handshake event that day. She went to the hospital afterwards, but on the morning of the event it had gotten so bad that Sayu wasn’t even able to speak. She even did the rehearsal for it with no voice at all coming out, but miraculously when the event finally started, her voice suddenly returned. Sayu really thinks that was nothing short of a miracle, and says it was all thanks to the power of her fans.

Song: Morning Musume – Zero Kara Hajimaru Seishun

Fan mail #14: The listener notes how on this tour Sayu has been singing the chorus of “Lalala no Pipipi” a cappella during the second encore of concerts where the song wasn’t included in the setlist. But the problem with this is that the a cappella version hasn’t been recorded anywhere but the fans’ memories, so the listener thus asks Sayu to sing it right here and now so fans can keep it permanently preserved.

Sayu says she’s fine with this idea, but there’s a good chance the staff will say it isn’t suitable for broadcast.

Sayu: Oh well. Since it’s the last episode, I’ll make them air it no matter what. (laughs)

Sayu says she always goes off-key during the second “pi pi pi pi” when singing it a cappella, but she explains that this song isn’t about whether the singing is in tune or not: what makes it good is the fact that it’s Sayu singing it.

Surprise!

The staff suddenly tells Sayu they have a letter for her from a certain someone. A music box version of “Toki wo Koe Sora wo Koe” begins to play and Sayu starts reading aloud the letter handed to her.

Michishige, you’ve really worked hard on hosting this show for the past 8 years, haven’t you?

Now that your graduation is approaching, you’ve been appearing on all kinds of different shows lately, which I think have let you experience lots of new things.

Originally just a complete newbie country girl who didn’t know left from right… you really worked hard to be where you are now — or maybe it was exactly because you were a country girl that enabled you to work so hard. But while Reina’s Hakata dialect was always very prominent, I would’ve liked to hear some more of your Yamaguchi dialect over the years.

25 years old — indeed, I, too, think it’s good timing. If you surprise everyone and get yourself huge amounts of PR with a sudden marriage announcement right after your graduation, I don’t think I’d have any choice but to admit you’re a better producer than I. Well, I don’t think you’ll do that, though, but who knows? Maybe there’ll be a prince on a white horse coming along to see you at Yokohama? (laughs) (note: a reference to the lyrics of “Lalala no Pipipi”)

Please enjoy your freedom to the fullest after your graduation. Just do your own thing, and try not to worry about anything at all. Don’t fret about troubling anyone else, and put your heart into everything you want to do. If you do that, I think that’s the first time you’ll be able to see yourself for who you really are.

Shoot me an email at some point to let me know how you’re doing after your graduation, okay?

Thank you for all your hard work.

Finally, allow me to say this. You were truly a perfect pro, Michishige. I want to sincerely congratulate you on your graduation.

Congratulations.

 

PS. Please forgive me for not being able to praise your vocals even at the very end. (laughs)

Tsunku♂

Sayu is really happy about the letter. She repeats here what she said in an earlier episode about how even though she doesn’t talk with him as much as some other members do, she really feels how Tsunku lovingly watches over the girls as if they were all his own daughters.

Sayu says that one amazing thing about Tsunku is how even now she always feels nervous meeting him, regardless of the many years they’ve known each other at this point. Sayu says that sometimes she’ll forget how amazing even someone like Sanma is when they’re working together and he’ll just seem like an ordinary person, but with Tsunku that never happens, no matter how many times they meet and no matter how many emails they exchange. She figures it must be because of the aura he has around him, and because of the gratitude she feels towards him for everything.

Sayu thanks Tsunku for taking the time out of his busy day to write her such a heartfelt letter.

Song: Michishige Sayumi – Shabadabadoo

Tottemo Moechau Mousou Sexy Word
Sayu recites innocent words in a sexy way

Sexy word of the week: “Kedamono” (“beast”)

Sayu scolds the staff for making her say a word like this at the very end of her radio show.

Ending

With that, the final episode of Konya mo Usachan Peace is just about over.

Sayu says she had fun recording every single episode. She feels the timing when she received this show at 17 years old was nothing short of fate, and it helped her become much more confident. Above all, she really felt like she managed to build a real connection between her and the fans through this show.

And just as she finishes saying that, with two minutes of the show left, she begins to cry.

Sayu thanks everyone for their messages these past eight years, and for making the time to listen to her show week after week instead of relaxing and watching the TV or something after a long day at work. She says this made her really happy.

There were things that made her glad. Things that were fun. Things that were sad. Things that were frustrating. She says she sometimes spoke about trivial things, things that must’ve been completely boring for anyone. But the fans listened to everything she had to say, and for that, she’s grateful. She hosted this radio show alone, and yet she never felt like she was alone. “That’s how close I was to everyone who listened,” Sayu explains.

She thanks the staff for this final one-hour special, and for always having fun making the show with her. But most of all, she wants to sincerely thank all the listeners, thanks to whom this show got to go on for eight years.

Next week it’ll be Suzuki Kanon bringing smiles to listeners’ faces, so Sayu asks everyone to keep supporting both her as well as Morning Musume.

And then there’s only one more thing Michishige Sayumi of Morning Musume needs to say.

Sayu: Oyasayumin ♪