I My Me Maimi~ #378 (2015.09.25)

♫ ℃-ute – Arigatou Mugen no Yell ♫

September’s theme is ‘I started doing this countless years ago‘. We start with radio name 24-san, who’s been doing samba for 18 years. Back then, 24-san was a student, and they started trying it out in a casual, non-committal way because it looked like fun. Now, it’s become an indispensable part of 24-san’s life. 24-san even came 3rd in the Asakusa samba carnival held once a year at the end of August – though they were just happy enough to finish without a single slip-up.

When they come back to think about it, 24-san wonders why they’ve been continuing on with samba – While samba uses Brazilian music, 24-san isn’t Brazilian, and hasn’t even been to Brazil. Even if you were to ask 24-san what samba’s really about, they don’t think they’d be able to give an answer. But 24-san isn’t going to quit, because there’s this passionate feeling that 24-san can’t experience with other music, only through samba. One of the items on 24-san’s bucket list is to put that indescribable feeling into words.

While 24-san can’t properly explain samba well, they would like to ask Maimi if she can explain what an idol is. To Maimi-chan, what is the definition of an idol?

Maimi thanks 24-san, who she remembers having sent in a letter about samba before. She herself isn’t really familiar with samba, and hasn’t really had opportunities to dance it, although she has watched it before. That said, live performances of ‘That’s the Power’ incorporate samba-ish dance moves, and there was a time when they wore flashy clothes and tried out a bit of samba dancing, but they’ve never done full-blown samba dancing before. Samba is something she can’t really explain well either, but in her mind, it’s something that’s amazing and colourful.

Coming back to 24-san’s question, Maimi thinks for a bit and comes out with the following: For her, idols are people who deliver smiles. When she was small, she remembers watching Morning Musume。 and thinking that they were truly dazzling. She thinks that the work of an idol is to truly shine, lifting the spirits of those watching them, giving them courage. What a wonderful line of work!

She’s recently been trying out the path of Japanese traditions at events, challenging herself to rakugo, recitation, iaido – and it’s thanks to her job as an idol that she receives these sorts of opportunities. She finds it amazing and enjoyable that she’s able to attempt all sorts of things as an idol. Experiencing differing things that excite her is something she enjoys. Being an idol is a fine job, one she doesn’t want to quit.

Maimi thanks 24-san for their letter, and hopes that someday, they’d be able to see 24-san samba performances.

For listener Owaranai Natsuyasumi, it’s been 25 years since they got into coffee. They didn’t drink coffee at first. It started during senior high, when they were hanging out at a friend’s place. Lined up on the bookshelves were many varieties of coffee beans, and every time they would come to hang out, they’d get some coffee. This listener was half-forced to drink it black, but noticed that, depending on the bean, there would be subtle differences in the taste. Plus, the smell of their friend making the coffee was irresistible. They got into coffee before they realised it, and now they’ve been drinking it every day.

Noting that the members of ℃-ute often blog about going to Starbucks, the listener recommends that they try out various flavours of coffee. For example, during the play ‘Sakura no Hanataba’ 2 years ago, Mai-chan and Nacky tried the black coffee that had been readied backstage and liked it. This listener hopes that Maimi will also enjoy the taste of black coffee – it’ll expand her world. Lots of stores are particular about their blends, so it’s fun to go around trying them out. And black coffee will bring out the best of the sweets that Maimi loves so much.

Maimi thinks that people who drink black coffee are grown-ups. In ℃-ute, Airi-chan drinks hers black. Airi loves coffee, isn’t she such a grown-up? When Maimi asked Airi about when she started enjoying her coffee black, it turned out to be the natural result of her father drinking it black as well. Maimi has tried her coffee black before, but found it bitter. Nope, it’s not for her.

Black coffee has this air of maturity to it though, so she’d like to grow up and be the sort of person who can just go ‘thank you’ when she gets her cup and start sipping it. Maimi never really drank coffee in the first place, not even with milk, to say nothing of black. But she found out it wasn’t too bad when she was recommended Starbucks’ Caramel Frappuchino, which led her down the path of drinking coffee with milk in it. She’s planning to  slowly go on the path towards black coffee.

Noting that the listener’s friend sounds like an amazing person, with the rows of coffee at their home, Maimi adds that the youngest Mai-chan also drinks her coffee black. So as a 23-year old grown-up, she’d like to not be beat and will try her best to become able to drink black coffee.

Let’s try

In a recent Haro!Sute, the member colours for Kobushi and Tsubaki Factory were announced. While all the H!P members have their own colours, the groups themselves don’t have any colours assigned to them. So this listener asks Maimi to assign colours to each group, and give the reasoning behind her choice.

Maimi adds that while they may not have assigned group colours, at the twice-a-year Hello! Cons, each group will be given a colour of their own for photo shoots and the like. The colours aren’t set in stone, but ℃-ute often get yellow.

♫ Pentatonix  – Cheerleader ♫

She had a bit of a hard time with ℃-ute, but she picks black. Her reasoning: They’re the oldest group in terms of the average age of members, and they often wear black, stylish numbers that look cool on promotional goods.

 

 

 

Red for Morning Musume。´15.

Maimi: Don’t they feel red, somehow?

Morning Musume。´15 have also gone on the cool route. In a squadron, they’d be serving as the core. Morning Musume。 have always been there from the start of Hello! Project, and that’s why she feels that they’re red.

Yellow for ANGERME.
ANGERME are really high-spirited. Despite the influx of young blood into H!P, and even though they’re 3rd in group order, Maimi still sees them as being the most high-spirited. And so, since they’re really high-spirited and chirpy, Maimi goes for the lively yellow.

 

 

Continuing on, Maimi picks purple for Juice=Juice.

Maimi: Is it just me?

Purple has this mature image to it, and that’s the route that Juice=Juice have been on from the very start. Their purple image makes a contrast with ANGERME. With Kanazawa Tomoko’s extremely sexy voice, it also spills over to their songs. Is it just Maimi? Well, she’s sticking to purple.

 

Country Girls elicits an almost immediate pink. Playing Manager Momochi is in it, so it’s got to be pink, right? They also have quite a bit of pink-coloured outfits, and Maimi thinks that they’re the cutest group in Hello! Project, so pink it is.

 

 

 

Leader chooses brown for Kobushi Factory. It’s a bit complicated, but it has roots in the ‘fist’ interpretation of ‘Kobushi’. She feels that flesh-coloured would be too pale, and the colour of Kobushi’s fist should be even darker. With them singing ‘Dosukoi!’, she really feels their forcefulness. Even though they’ve just made their début, they already have gravitas, they’ve got guts, and not an ounce of cowardice. With that richness, that power, brown.

 

 

 

 

Finally, white for Tsubaki Factory. She feels that they’re prim and proper. Plus, the first outfits that they wore upon their formation were white. Admittedly, everyone in H!P starts of with white upon formation, including ℃-ute themselves and ANGERME when they started off as S/mileage. Everyone’s gone through their white phase, and so it’s currently Tsubaki Factory’s turn. They still have yet to be painted in a colour.

 

 

By the way, Maimi picks for yellow for the H!P Kenshuusei. As they started off as the Hello! Project Eggs, the yellow of egg yolks came to mind. Plus, with their yellow T-shirts, she can’t imagine any other colour.

 

 

 

Ganbare! Yajima-kakarichou!
Good luck! Section Chief Yajima!

In this corner, associated with ℃-ute’s ‘The Middle Management ~ Josei Chuukankanrishoku~’, Yajima-kakarichou will listen to the problems of her cute cute kouhai (i.e. listeners who sent in letters) and give advice from a boss’ point of view.

Today’s cute little kouhai is Rafael-san. Rafael-san has always been bad when it comes to taking photos, as their face stiffens up. They don’t know how to pose, and they prefer to be at the sides when it comes to group photos. Knowing that they’d be eternally caught on camera makes them nervous. They ask Maimi for advice on how to enjoy taking photos, given that Maimi’s able to put up cute pictures of herself on her blog, while winking or with her eyes closed. Another thing Maimi’s capable of is freely making use of seductive facial expressions, as exemplified in her latest photo book.

In the past when she was small, Maimi also hated with having her photo taken. Even during family trips, she’d run away whenever her family would want to take photos of her. It was only when she entered the entertainment industry that Maimi started learning how to pull off a smile and work with facial expressions, as it’s an industry where you can’t avoid having your picture taken.

It’s definitely better to be relaxed in group photos though, so Rafael probably shouldn’t think too deeply about the moment remaining for a lifetime, as that would lead to nervousness and a troubled looking face. Perhaps Rafael-san should try talking to the person next to them just before the photo’s taken. Someone funny might give Rafael-san a laugh, which would bring out a natural smile.

Practising selfies with no one around is another thing that Rafael-san could do. Set up a folder that no one else can access, take a selfie, erase it, rinse and repeat. Maimi wasn’t good at selfies at first, but she had more opportunities to practise it thanks to her blogging responsibilities, and ended up polishing her selfie skills.

Kouhai Meru-san has picked up some speaking habits from a colleague, slipping into that colleague’s dialect from time to time. It occasionally slips out when they talk with friends, which weirds their friends out.

Meru also calls out Maimi for using ‘choi choi’ – which, according to Maimi, comes from ‘chotto’, roughly meaning ‘a bit’. And thus, Meru would like to know if Maimi picked it up from someone, like Mai or Chisato.

Now, Maimi’s never thought of it as a habit, but looking back, she’s the only person who uses it. Maimi feels that she’s been using the term ‘choi choi’ since way back, since no one else around her uses ‘choi choi’.

Picked-up habits of the other ℃-ute members include: Airi inadvertently using Kansai-ben, having picked it up from a friend in university. Mai-chan is also quick to pick up in-vogue words, which end up spreading to the members. Wrapping up, Maimi recommends that everyone start using ‘choi choi’ as well.

♫ ℃-ute – The Middle Management ~Josei Chuukan Kanrishoku~ ♫

Today’s theme is ‘Eh-heh, I’d expect no less from myself!’
I got my diving licence this summer.
In the edition of Gekkan Diver released on 10th of this month, ℃-ute no Hi, it was announced that the front cover of the next edition would feature my senpai Yoshizawa Hitomi-san and myself.
The first time I dived after getting my licence was with Yoshizawa-san at Okinawa.
I was a bit nervous, but Yoshizawa-san led me as my diving senpai.
I still hadn’t got used to the ocean, so I was a bit fearful of it, but Yoshizawa swam elegantly, unhindered. That’s Yoshizawa-san for you.
She’s always told me, ‘I want Yajima-chan to understand the joy of diving‘.
Those words piqued my interest in diving.
To allow me to enjoy the sea even more, she lent me her own underwater camera.
Holding a camera, with living beings right in front of my eyes, my persistence came to light.
Previously in Hawaii, I’d chased around a mongoose for twenty, thirty minutes.
This time around, the victim was a little dragonfish.
The moment I found a little dragonfish at the bottom of the ocean, I continued to chase after that little dragonfish.
I’m sorry for being so persistent.
But, I took a lot of good photos.

♫ ℃-ute – Attakai Ude wo Kunde ♫

Placekick-san isn’t allowed to have a washing machine in their apartment, so they have to use a laundromat. This ends up with Placekick letting their laundry pile up, in the interest of saving money. They’ll probably be moving next year, which is when they plan to purchase a washing machine. Anyway, Placekick would like to know: What sort of housework does Maimi-chan dislike?

Maimi dislikes cleaning up hair that accumulates at the bath. The hairstyles they do at concerts tend to lead to their hair clumping, and the task of getting rid of what fell off after rinsing her hair is a task she finds unpleasant. On a similar note, another kind of housework that Maimi dislikes is getting rid of the food waste that accumulates after you’re done with the washing the dishes. Because of the stink.

While she dislikes those kinds of housework, the alternative of just allowing the place to remain filthy is a scenario she finds unpleasant as well. This preference for cleanliness led to her enjoying doing the cleaning when she was in primary school.

Turning the question on its head, her favourite sort of housework is doing the dishes, because she feels that her hands get clean as well. It’s still a pain, but amongst the houseworks that involve cleaning, that’s what she enjoys the most.

Negeration-san tried out what Maimi recommended in the Let’s Try corner of her 4th September broadcast – they placed a photo of Maimi under their pillow, recited ‘imiaM amijaY’ 3 times, and played a recording of I My Me ♥ Maimi~ on repeat while they went to sleep. And the result? Ultraman appeared in their dreams. That concludes Negeration-san’s report.

Maimi: Why did Ultraman appear? (laughs)

It must have been a pleasant dream if Ultraman appeared, and Maimi’s curious about what Ultraman did in Negeration’s dream. Why didn’t she appear in Negeration-san’s dream? Perhaps 3 recitations of ‘imiaM amijaY’ might not have been enough, so maybe Negeration-san might try doing the same thing, but reciting it 10 times?

Also, she suggests that they also raise the sound of the recording so that it gets to their ears. Because she finds that if she falls asleep while watching the telly, her dreams get influenced by what’s being shown on-screen. Not too loud though – you wouldn’t want to bother the neighbourhood at night, would you?

Akkyaman-san is a regular listener who tried out the walnut dipping sauce recipe that Maimi talked about on her blog. Finding ingredients was hard, and grinding the walnuts into a paste was a tiring task. They don’t know how the taste is actually supposed to be like, but they enjoyed the result of their work. Akkyaman thanks her for the recipe, and takes the opportunity to ask if she’s made anything new recently.

Hearing this makes Maimi really happy since she put in quite some effort to write up the recipe, only to receive comments that people didn’t feel like making it since it seemed tough.

Walnut sauce is a common food item at the home town of Maimi’s grandmother, and Maimi made it by copying what her grandmother did.

Maimi also agrees that grinding the walnuts is a pain – when she made it, she had muscle pains the day after.

Coming back to the question, something she made recently was chiffon cake. It’s one of the lower calorie confections, so it’s good for girls. Another thing that she’d like to make would be doria, as she loves the melting cheese. She’s talked about making doria with the members, who told her that she should give it a try. It isn’t too hard to make, but she still hasn’t given it a try.

She does find it a bit sad that it feels like such a waste to eat the walnut sauce after having put in so much effort to make it. All that effort, gone in a couple of mouthfuls.

♫ ℃-ute – Arashi wo Okosunda Exciting Fight ♫