Author Archives: Henkka

Konya mo Usachan Peace #413 (2014.09.22)

By | November 13, 2014
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konya

Sayu begins by talking about her recent activities with Morning Musume and how they’re starting to remind her of her approaching graduation: she’ll now often realize she’s doing all kinds of work with them for the last time, the recently ended Hello!Con or Naruchika tour as an example. She didn’t feel very aware of it at the time her graduation was announced, but now it’s starting to hit her with all these “lasts.” While it does make her feel lonely, she also doesn’t want to end up having any regrets so she’ll continue having fun talking with the members everyday, and trying to leave the fans with lots of great memories.

And speaking of lasts, Sayu brings up Morning Musume’s 57th single which is the last one featuring her and says tonight’s broadcast of Konya mo Usachan Peace features the first-ever broadcast of “Shabadabadoo.” Her initial reaction to the song title was one of confusion — “Shabadabadoo? What, does it have something to do with Kudo?” But now she actually likes the title and how its similar to the pointlessness of the title of her previous solo song, “Lalala no Pipipi.” She thinks that one, too, doesn’t really have any real meaning, and yet it very accurately represents the image of “Sayumi.”

Commenting on the difficulties Sayu had recording the song, she says her first recording session for it took five hours (usually a single only takes her just an hour or so.) She recorded all the vocals in the song herself, including the whispered and background vocals. Afterwards she received some pointers from Tsunku, so she did another recording session for the song improving some of the parts which took her a further three or four hours. So all in all, she spent eight or nine hours in total recording her vocals for just this one song.

Since she gave it her everything, she hopes the listeners will reciprocate by listening to the song so much that their ears begin hurt — though Sayu adds that since it’s her singing, that might actually only require one listen.

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BZS1422 #114 (2014.09.21)

By | November 12, 2014
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bzs1422

Kumai-san begins by talking about having a cake smeared on her face on her last birthday. It was the first time in her life she’d experienced it and she discovered that having cake all over her face made the task of breathing much harder. It was something she’d wanted to experience at least once in her life, but she can now safely say that it wasn’t very pleasant.

Chii looks back on their Tanabata Live and says she felt a huge sense of accomplishment in pulling it off successfully since Berryz had a larger than usual role in its planning. This among other things made her feel like she’s really grown up some, but adds that on the flip side, she still feels like a complete newbie when it comes to doing BZS1422. Even now she feels really nervous on the days leading up to the recording, and earlier today, she still hadn’t come up with material for a corner on the show even when arriving at the studio to record — luckily, she just found out that they don’t actually have that specific corner on the show today.

September 10th & 11th

Since this is actually the first time they’re recording BZS1422 after Berryz Koubou’s concerts with °C-ute at Budokan on September 10th and 11th, they want to talk about that now. Kumai-san says she had so much fun it felt like the concerts were over in a flash, and Chii says she was probably more nervous on °C-ute no Hi even though Berryz only appeared for a couple of songs, and that her nervousness continued even afterwards when they were just watching °C-ute’s performance backstage.

blog, Kumai Yurina, Natsuyaki Miyabi, Sugaya Risako, Tokunaga Chinami-488564

Kumai-san was watching °C-ute’s dress rehearsal in the audience when she realized that when the performing artists walk on the middle runway stage, they’re actually really, really close to the audience — she could even see Maimi’s sweat! It made Kumai-san feel embarrassed thinking about how she, too, could be seen so up close. Chii says this is the first time in years that she properly watched a full °C-ute concert live, and the first thing that struck her about it was how much movement there was compared to Berryz; °C-ute’s choreographies looked a lot more intense to her.

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Konya mo Usachan Peace #412 (2014.09.15)

By | October 27, 2014
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konya

Continuing from last week’s Hawaii topic, Sayu begins by telling more stories about their recent trip there, this time focused more on the members themselves. Sayu anticipated it would be fun going there with this current lineup and everyone was really excited about it — Harunan alone in the weeks preceding it told Sayu at least on five different occasions how much she was looking forward to it. Sayu says that it was such a fun and happy time, it exceeded all her expectations.

After work they’d do things like run around on the beach while still wearing their outfits from the photo shoot and stare up at the starry night sky — they even pretended like they all saw a shooting star together just because of how lovely the idea of it sounds. Still, Sayu was truly happy, and she says looking at the stars made her think quite deeply about life and how among those many stars Sayu just happened to be born on this one, in a country called Japan, and meet with the other members of the group. It reminded her of the lyrics of “Toki wo Koe Sora wo Koe” and about how in life you end up meeting the people that you’re supposed to meet, and it made her feel like the song is about the concept of Morning Musume itself as a whole.

Seeing the starry sky with the others that night gave Sayu a whole new appreciation for “Toki wo Koe Sora wo Koe,” and she thinks this trip strengthened the bonds between the members even further.

Song: Morning Musume ’14 – Toki wo Koe Sora wo Koe

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BZS1422 #113 (2014.09.14)

By | October 26, 2014
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bzs1422

Like Meimei and Take-chan on SS1422, Chii and Kumai-san begin by talking about the Respect for the Aged Day. Kumai-san says she hasn’t gotten to see her grandparents a lot recently so she’s thinking about shooting them an email on this occasion. She says her grandpa is using a lot of emoticons in his emails as of late, and he tends to pick the really cute ones: it won’t be just a single “♪”, but more like two or three, etc.

Chii visited her grandparents the other day and they treated her to a meal. They have a teppanyaki grill at home and instead of eating themselves, they just kept bringing Chii more and more delicious meat for her to have which once again made her realize just how kind they are. Kumai-san says they must find their granddaughter adorable, and Chii says she is really thankful. As one way of showing her gratitude, Chii always waves to them in their 2nd floor seats when they’ve come over to see Berryz in concert, and her grandma will respond by excitedly waving both her hands at her.

Chii notes that a year ago they were extremely busy doing the “Warera Jeanne” musical — they’d be practicing from 10 in the morning until 9 in the evening. Kumai-san adds that because they were practicing below ground they didn’t even know how it looked outside which made it even tougher. Chii says that they were so busy, she doesn’t have many memories of that time period: it was an endless repetition of sleep, practice, sleep, practice, sleep… with the occasional radio appearance.

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BZS1422 #112 (2014.09.07)

By | October 12, 2014
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bzs1422

Chii asks Kumai-san what the month of September signifies to her, who answers that for her it means the period in which one has to switch gears after the summer vacation, which can definitely lead to a bit of melancholy. Chii notes that September kind of feels like the second May Disease of the year: the seasons are changing, the weather is bad, and the city just kind of feels grey. Overall, it’s a bit of a downer of a month.

Chii appears to remember something, chuckling. She says that on the upside, September also has °C-ute no Hi. The two immediately take back everything they’ve just said and agree that September is a fantastic month.

The two note that this is the first time in five weeks that they’re hosting the show just by the two of them, and agree that doing so feels more laidback somehow.

The studio today is also different from the one they’re usually recording BZS1422 in, and they report that Chii’s microphone was acting up before they started and earlier they even heard some weird sounds coming from the direction of the door. Thus, they’re not really all that happy with this studio. It’s actually where they used to record before moving to their current one. After the move, the two used to say that they preferred the earlier studio; Kumai-san guesses that this must be why the staff brought them back to record here again, but it’s just no good now.

Chii announces that the staff are staring at them in disbelief right now.

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Nakajima Saki no °C-ute na Jikan #141 (2014.09.13)

By | October 10, 2014
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Henkka: This will be the last summary I’m going to do of °C-ute na Jikan for the time being. I’d really hope to pass it on to someone else, so if you think you might like to give a shot at translating this show (or any other show not yet covered on Hello! Pro Radio), please see this page.

cutenajikan

Responding to Maa-chan’s question(?) from Morning Jogakuin (“Nakajima-san. I love yooou! Bye bye!“), Nacky comments that her message didn’t sound very genuine. “If you really say you love me, then show it more properly,” she protests, laughing. Still, her message gave Nacky the relief of knowing that Maa-chan is still the same old Maa-chan.

Commenting on the past few months, Nacky says she had a surprisingly relaxing summer despite all of °C-ute’s events. Her main regret though is spending so many of her days off just sitting at home — she says it might be because she turned 20, but suddenly she dislikes being around large crowds of people. She thought about going to Disneyland, but when she looked up how crowded it was and how long the wait times were, she gave up on the idea. “There is no way I’m waiting three hours to get on a ride,” she says.

Looking ahead, Nacky says she’d like to take the opportunity this autumn to do a lot of cooking with seasonal ingredients — her autumnal cooking repertoire is a bit lacking at the moment. She also wants to make lots of sweets: it’s been about two years since she and Maimi promised to make mont blanc cakes together, a promise they have yet to fulfill.

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Morning Musume ’14 no Morning Jogakuin ~Houkago Meeting~ #128 (2014.09.13)

By | October 10, 2014
4 comments

Henkka: This will be the last summary I’m going to do of Morning Jogakuin for the time being. I’d really hope to pass it on to someone else, so if you think you might like to give a shot at translating this show (or any other show not yet covered on Hello! Pro Radio), please see this page.

jogakuin

Maa-chan, Ikuta and Harunan begin by talking about how Oda-chan has now been a member of the group for two years. Maa-chan notes how much Oda-chan has grown, and the other two laugh because Maa-chan is in no position to say that about anyone. Harunan points out that there’s something even more significant about this day: Morning Musume itself is now going into its 18th year as a group (Tsunku chose their name on ASAYAN exactly on September 14, 1997).

Opening Question
“Your favorite memory of the past summer?”

Ikuta says that her favorite memory was going to her first summer festival after coming to Tokyo, whereas for Harunan, she says that not only was the group’s trip to Hawaii one of her favorite memories of the summer, it was one of the best times of her entire life thus far.

Maa-chan‘s favorite memory was going to the beach. The beach Maa-chan visited was actually the same one her mom and dad used to frequent when they were just around 12 years old or so — her parents have known each other since they were in elementary school, but as they were still just kids back then, Maa-chan’s dad used to think of her mom as basically Godzilla (as Maa-chan puts it). The two finally started dating in around junior high school or so.

Maa-chan’s explanation about the beach takes an even more interesting turn. She says that in her mind since the sea has “known” and looked over her parents for so long, it now also helps Maa-chan with her work troubles and such. She doesn’t mean that figuratively: when she goes into the sea and dives really deep, she can literally hear the sea talking to her.

Ikuta suggests that it’s just the buzzing in Maa-chan’s ears. While Maa-chan can’t deny this possibility, she nevertheless explains that when she just dived in, stayed below water for about five seconds and meditated with her eyes closed, the sea suddenly became very “energetic.” Maa-chan claims this must be because it got to meet her and her mom again after such a long while.

Harunan: Me, I’m just surprised you even know the word “meditate.”
Maa-chan: Why?
Harunan: That’s a pretty difficult word. I don’t think someone like Ayumin would know it.
Maa-chan: Ahh. Well yeah, but Ayumin is stupid.
Harunan& Ikuta: (laughs)

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Nakajima Saki no °C-ute na Jikan #140 (2014.09.06)

By | October 9, 2014
2 comments

cutenajikan

Commenting on Ikuta’s question from Morning Jogakuin (“You and me don’t really talk all that much, right? Or is it just me?“), Nacky says she actually felt a bit sad hearing this. She says that to Ikuta it might feel like they don’t talk much, but to Nacky (what with her extreme shyness), Ikuta is definitely one of the juniors she talks with the most. Nacky asks that Ikuta recognize that she’s giving it her best, and adds that she wishes for Ikuta to approach her more and more.

Looking back on the recently ended Hello!Con, Nacky’s highlights of it include the performance by the H!P Dance Club during the KOREZO pattern of concerts. She appreciated how everyone was so serious about it, and it really helped her find the bad habits she had as far as her own dancing goes.

Nacky also talks about being really embarrassed over how she nearly forgot to get on stage during her song in the KOREZO medley. She was just getting her makeup done and talking with the makeup artist without a care in the world, but at the last minute she realized she was supposed to already be on standby and managed to get on stage in time.

Song: Tanpopo – BE HAPPY Koi no Yajirobee

aiko

Nacky says she has something she absolutely has to talk about this week: she announces that she finally managed to make the time to see one of aiko’s recent concerts in Tokyo. Nacky’s love of aiko is well-known and she has mentioned it on the show many times in the past. It was an absolutely amazing show, she says, and this is why she must talk about it.

This was the first time Nacky had attended a concert of anyone outside of H!P, and Buono! was pretty much the only experience she’d had of seeing a band in live performance.

First, she praises how great aiko’s singing carried over the microphone, down to the sounds of her breathing. She also liked how aiko was moving around and dancing so much even if it was probably all freely improvised. It made Nacky smile throughout the whole concert.

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