Author Archives: Henkka

SEPTEMBER
This week’s opening topic

“September reminds me of barbecues,” Kame says. While it’s a month that pretty much falls outside the scope of summer, Kame says she counts it as a part of the season anyway. On the recent Hello! Project tour, Kame was talking about how she wanted to do an all-girls barbecue this summer, so Gaki-san asks her if she managed to do so. Kame did not: she explains this as having been due to her personality that’s quick to get excited about the prospect of doing something… but also just as quick to lose said excitement.

Gaki-san recommends that if listeners have been wanting to get a bit of barbecuing done, they should simply do so instead of following Kame’s example and letting the opportunity go to waste.

Continue reading →

MUSIC
This week’s opening topic

For Gaki-san, the first thing that the word “music” brings to mind is the recently-ended Hello! Project concert tour. “They’re all so young…,” Kame thinks of the other groups. Gaki-san says she’s most hooked on S/mileage at the moment: she finds songs like “Ganbaranakutemo ee nende!!” irresistibly cute. “When I see them performing that song, I just think to myself… ‘those are some true idols.'”

As for other music, Kame is currently hooked on the High School Musical soundtrack. Meanwhile, Gaki-san’s little sister has recently introduced her to the Japanese group Aqua Timez. Gaki-san talks about how they themselves have often listened to music and felt emotions like heartache or courage, but now they have fans who tell them about how they’ve felt those things when listening to the songs of Morning Musume. “Music really is something great,” the hosts agree.

Continue reading →

COOL
This week’s opening topic

The word “COOL” reminds Gaki-san of a recent Disneyland date she had with her little sister. While they did have lots of fun, they were at one point hit by something almost resembling a typhoon. That rain and the wind made for a very “cool” experience, in one sense of the word.

Kame is curious to know how it was going to Disneyland with one’s littler sister. The hosts share something in common in that they both have little sisters who are four years younger than them, which makes them both third year high schoolers. But curiously, Kame only recently learned that her little sister is, indeed, in her third year of high school. “While we might live together, there are still lots of things we have yet to know about one another!,” Kame says.

Gaki-san: What about you? What’s your “COOL” episode?
Kame: Me.
Gaki-san: What?
Kame: I was just thinking about how cool I am.

Afterwards, while Gaki-san is reading out loud the show’s email address, Kame intentionally breathes nasally directly into her microphone and claims she was doing it as fan service for the show’s listeners.

Gaki-san calls her co-host disgusting.

Continue reading →

Kame had an announcement to make at yesterday’s Hello! Project concert performance: she, along with Junjun and Linlin, will be graduating from Morning Musume at the end of their upcoming autumn tour. Kame takes this opportunity to talk about her feelings in regards to this announcement.

Kame starts to audibly hold back the tears almost before she even gets started. She says that she wishes to improve her health: being as busy as she is has made her health — namely the condition of her skin — worsen over time. While she has endured her illness for these past eight years, she now feels that it’s come time to give her skin a rest. She reached her decision with such forward-looking thoughts about her future and so while she does feel lonely, it’s something she decided on her own. She wants to believe in herself and have fun while working hard until the very end.

Kame: I want to treasure every single remaining episode of this show.
Gaki-san: Yes!
Kame: (starts wailing loudly, if somewhat playfully)
Gaki-san: (laughs while crying) Don’t cry! You fool! What is it?!
Kame: Even turtles sometimes cry.

Continue reading →

FAVORITE
This week’s opening topic

Gaki-san’s recent favorite snack is the edamame flavor of Pretz. Meanwhile, Kame lists her favorite things at the moment: squid somen, herring roe, and doing scribblings. Gaki-san says she is not a fan of her co-host’s scribblings. Kame admits that they do, indeed, make her feel sorry for the wasted ink.

Song: Morning Musume – Seishun Collection

Fan mail #1: “Who is the member with the stiffest shoulders?”

While it’s debatable if she is the one who actually has the stiffest shoulders, Gaki-san is certain that Kame is at least the member who most often gets her juniors to give her shoulder rubs. Some time ago when the group were doing their Fashionable stageplay, Sayu was sleeping backstage on the sofa and Gaki-Kame were simply waiting for her to wake up. When she did, Gaki-san thought Sayu’s shoulders looked a little stiff so she gave her a bit of an impromptu shoulder rub. When Kame saw this, she complained how “you never do that kind of thing for me, yet you have no problem doing so for Sayu…“

Continue reading →

CHALLENGE
This week’s opening topic

“I don’t have much of a challenger’s spirit,” Kame says. “I prefer stability.” Kame explains that she doesn’t really enjoy trying out new things, including something like new menu items at her favorite restaurants. The problem with new menu items in particular, as Kame sees it, is that even though they usually seem pretty good initially, the restaurants always seem to ruin them by adding in some strange, unnecessary ingredient at the end — something like orange peels or wasabi soy sauce.

“That’s just an issue of you being too much of a child,” Gaki-san explains. Gaki-san herself is someone who is always eager to challenge new menu items. Kame thinks that her own need for stability stems from her love of home. Just yesterday, she came home feeling super exhausted after a full 13 hours of rehearsals with Morning Musume. When she did, her mother immediately welcomed her back home and this alone made her feel so glad. “That’s why I don’t want to challenge new things,” Kame says, meaning that she prefers to feel like she’s always at home.

Gaki-san: five-nk@interfm.jp
Kame: “Eri, which do you want to have first? A bath?”
Gaki-san: five-nk@interfm.jp
Kame: “… Or your mother?”
Gaki-san: Ewww! (laughs)
Kame: I so don’t want to be asked that. (laughs)

Continue reading →

HOT
This week’s opening topic

“Do you have anything hot to talk about?,” Gaki-san asks her co-host. Kame points out the obvious: it’s very hot outside at the moment, and Kame thinks it’s not very eco-friendly because now everyone has to be constantly using air conditioners.

Another current hot topic for our hosts is natto — they both just had some for breakfast today. When discussing their favorite types of natto, Kame says she has a strong preference for the “normal” kind. In fact, this extends beyond just natto for her:

Kame: Like, I can’t stand the kind of soy sauce that comes in jelly form.
Gaki-san: Why not?
Kame: Because! Think about how soy sauce looks in its normal state. Now think about how the soy sauce must feel, being changed into that jelly form!
Gaki-san: Soy sauce doesn’t have any feelings.
Kame: You have to put yourself in their shoes!!!
Gaki-san: Soy sauce isn’t a person!!!
Kame: Oh.

Continue reading →

RAIN
This week’s opening topic

Kame feels like it always rains when she has a day off. Furthermore, she says that when it does rain, her head always starts to hurt and she gets sleepy. The hosts reminisce how they would always wear rain boots and raincoats when they were little, but now that they’re adults they’ve obviously switched to umbrellas — which they both hate. Gaki-san sums up their feelings on rain: “rain is important for life, but… I still wish it didn’t rain so much.“

Song: Morning Musume – Seishun Collection

Fan mail #1: From pen name Tuna-kun. “Eririn, Gaki-san: allow me to say something to you: I love you! Also, the no. 1 thing that I most love in this world is… bread crust. So with that, my best regards!“

Kame: I think this person is like Linlin in that he also loves canned tuna. I bet he puts it on his bread crust.

The hosts think they’d like to do their best to somehow make the listener feel that they actually love Gaki-Kame better than bread crust.

Continue reading →