Author Archives: Skoban

Country Girls no Tadaima Radio Housouchuu!! #49 (2016.03.06)

By Skoban | April 10, 2016

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Yanagawa Nanami and Funaki Musubu start off this broadcast, straight off the heels of AS1422. Funakki asks Yanamin if she’s close to any of the ANGERME members, or if she has any stories to share that involve an ANGERME member.

Yanamin feels close to Kamikokuryo Moe, who joined H!P around the same time that they did. She often sees Musubu and Kamiko-chan talking with one another as well, to which Funakki herself admits that she is quite chummy with Kamiko-chan. They hung out a while back, and even bought matching clothes. Yanamin hopes that the three of them can hang out next time, as she was unable to join them on that day due to a fever.

From her voice, Funakki suspects that the listeners can tell how nervous she is about having to take the lead for the opening of this episode. Yanamin‘s also nervous because it’s just the two of them starting off the radio programme, and while they’re used to working with one another, on radio, they’re only able to convey their thoughts through their voices. But she’d like to do her best.

The two of them had been guests on the show before, but back then, they had their senpai Risa and Ozeki to fall back on. But this time it’s just the two of them, so Funakki’s at maximum nervousness.

The rest of today’s broadcast was actually recorded on the 3rd of March (Thurs) at the special stage of Club 333, in the main observatory of Tokyo Tower, where all seven members made an appearance! But before that, here’s the first number!

♫ Country Girls – Koi ha Magnet ♫

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Trattoria Buono! #72 (2014.08.16)

By Skoban | April 2, 2016

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♪ Buono! – Rottara Rottara ♪

Momoko announces that today, the 16th of August, is Female University Students Day! Established in 1913, it commemorates when 3 girls passed the entrance exams for Tohoku University, making them the first female university students in Japan.

Momoko: Airi~n, how about that, as a university student?
Airi: Wait, Momo, you’re no longer a university student any more, are you?
Momoko: Yes, that’s right. I already graduated a while back. 4 years flew by in the blink of an eye.

Airi‘s currently smack in the middle of the long summer holidays. She’s thinking about joining a research society once classes restart. Summer break is actually one of the toughest times of the university year, as this is the time when university students are working their hardest on studies.

Momoko: Natsuyaki-san, can we have some words of encouragement?
Airi: Natsuyaki-san!
Miyabi: All of you, listen!
Momoko: Oh, this is going to be good!

Miyabi: Everyone… do your best.

Momoko: Thank you very much for your shallow comment. (laughs)

Screenshot 2016-03-26 09.30.20 Continue reading →

Country Girls no Tadaima Radio Housouchuu!! #42 (2016.01.17) (guests: Yanagawa Nanami & Funaki Musubu)

By Skoban | March 6, 2016

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Yamaki thanks Nakanishi-san, Takeuchi-san, and Kamikokuryo-chan for passing on the baton from the AS1422 episode that aired before this show. Talking about Kamiko-chan, the new member with the complicated surname, despite having joined H!P before her, Ozeki thinks of her as being from the same generation as herself, as Kamiko-chan was together with her at the Morning Musume。´14 12ki auditions. Mai was happy to see Kamiko-chan get into ANGERME, and with the Hello! Con rehearsals, has also had opportunities to chat with her backstage: ‘It’s been a while~’ ‘You’ve gotten taller, haven’t you?‘

At the training camp period during the auditions, Yamaki had many opportunities to interact with Kamiko-chan as well. So even though she’s just joined, Yamaki feels that she’s quickly gotten used to her.

The two girls agree that Kamiko-chan’s really tiny and adorable, yet she has this calm atmosphere to her. Looks like another lovely member has joined Hello! Project.

And speaking about new members, the girls introduce their guests for this week: continuing on from last week, they welcome Country Girls’ new members Yanagawa Nanami and Funaki Musubu!

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We start with an introduction from Yanamin. She feels like she’s gotten a bit more used to being on radio after her appearance last week, so she’d like to do her best to be more proactive with talking.

Next is Funakki. She had also been on the show last week, and hopes that she’ll be able to engender a good mood as a member of Country Girls.

Now that the two new girls have gone through the New Year Hello! Con rehearsals with the rest, Yamaki asks if they’ve gotten used to being in Country Girls.

Funakki feels like she’s talking more with the others when they’re in their dressing room. In the past, she’d only give curt greetings such as ‘Good morning’ or ‘Right’, but now she feels that she’s gotten more used to the situation.

At first, Yanamin thought that Country Girls were quiet and peaceful. Yet now, she thinks that they’re a lively bunch, in the best sense of the word. While she was nervous about breaking the atmosphere, they’ve had more opportunities to work together recently through activities like this radio show, so she feels like she’s gotten used to chatting with the Country Girls senpai.

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Morning Musume。 ’16 no Morning Jogakuin ~Houkago Meeting~ #199 (2016.01.23)

By Skoban | February 6, 2016

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This episode of Morning Jogakuin is chaired by Sato Masaki (seat number 7). Fukumura Mizuki (seat number 1) and Suzuki Kanon (seat number 4) are also in attendance, and the girls talk about H!P members they’d like to talk with, songs they’d like to sing, handshakes, and rooming with others at Hello! Cons.

Maachan: Yahhoooooooo~

Fuku-chan & Zukki: Yahhoooo~

Maachan: The next… broadcast… Will the be the 200th?

Fuku-chan: (laughs)

Zukki: The next one, right?

Maachan: Yup, the next one.

Zukki: And so this is the 199th.

Maachan: (in background) Wooooooooo~

Fuku-chan: One more left!

After some promotion for the Osaka Hello! Cons, Maachan asks the others if they noticed something missing. Zukki thinks it’s about seat numbers but ‘STOP KICKING MY FEET!’ Maachan simply laughs as Zukki explains that Maachan’s been kicking her under the table. And with that, they leap into the programme’s title call.

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Nakajima Saki no °C-ute na Jikan #163 (2015.02.14) (guests: Bitter & Sweet)

By Skoban | February 1, 2016

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In the Jogakuin episode that preceded this broadcast, Kudo asked Nacky what her favourite hairstyle was. Kudo’s personal favourite is the bun Nacky did in Bagel ni Ham & Cheese, with Nacky wota Oda-chan enthusiastically agreeing in the background.

Nacky prefers hairstyles that don’t get in the way when she’s dancing, so her current favourite is a half-up do. When she’s dancing wildly, half-ups allow the half that’s let down to go wild, making her dancing look even more intense. On the other hand, when she doing more laid-back dances, her hair doesn’t get in the way of her face. She thinks that it’s wonderful, so she’ll continue to rely on half-up dos from now on.

With Berryz’ hiatus coming up, ℃-ute started thinking from roughly around December that they should do something for Berryz Kobo. They collected photos to make an album, but they didn’t want to just give Berryz Kobo a present, they wanted do something that only ℃-ute could do, to make memories and have a good time together. Berryz’ schedule was hectic at this point, with nary a break. The only free time they had was on the night of 29th January, so ℃-ute contacted Berryz’ manager to book the time. Each member of ℃-ute had their own role to play in arranging the surprise party. The party was held in something like a karaoke room, decorated with Berryz Kobo posters.

Berryz themselves entered the room thinking that they were there for an interview. Then, ℃-ute rushed in with crackers – ‘No more work for you today! It’s time for US!‘ Momo-chan was the most surprised – she cried, overwhelmed by emotion. That caused Airi and Mai and Nacky to start crying as well, so Momoko was asked to stop infecting the rest with her tears.

Then the party got started. Midway through, as they were having fun chatting, ℃-ute announced that they had another surprise for Berryz! ℃-ute had compiled comments about Berryz Kobo from the various people who had worked with them, which had been edited into a video by Airi. They had issues with getting the video to play on the screen, so they ended up enlisting the help of their manager. In that way, the success of the party wasn’t just due to the efforts of ℃-ute, but was also thanks to the help they received from the staff and everyone else.

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Japan Hello! Pro Network #1 (2015.04.01)

By Skoban | January 14, 2016

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Our MC for today’s inaugural episode is Morning Musume。´15 leader Fukumura Mizuki, who gives us a quick introduction to the show. Also appearing together with her are ℃-ute and H!P leader Yajima Maimi and Country Girls’ Playing Manager Tsugunaga Momoko.

With Mizuki as the MC, Momoko hopes to get something yummy to work with. Mizuki was actually really nervous to be in the MC position – so nervous that she couldn’t sleep the night before.

This first broadcast is a meeting of leaders, so the girls will be talking about the charms of Hello! Project from a leader’s point of view. Momoko is grateful to be invited for this, since she’s technically not a leader – she’s usually only called when the circumstances are convenient. As she always gets left out despite wanting to join, she’s really happy for the opportunity to participate in the discussions this time around.

♫ Morning Musume。´15 – Seishun Kozou ga Naiteiru ♫

Momoko: For still being so cute today… ‘Gomennasai ne~’
Mizuki: Eh, Tsugunaga-san, have you quit with your ‘Yurushite-nyan’?
Momoko: Nope, I haven’t.

Momoko was just promoting Country Girls’ newly released song, Itooshikutte Gomen ne. Anyway, they start with a very brief outline of the history of Hello! Project: H!P started in 1998 with the debut of Heike Michiyo and Morning Musume。, and after 17 years, Hello! Project is now a bastion of various groups. Continue reading →

I My Me Maimi~ #378 (2015.09.25)

By Skoban | December 25, 2015

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♫ ℃-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.

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I My Me Maimi~ #300 (2014.03.28)

By Skoban | November 29, 2015

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Maimi’s photo book ‘Pure Eyes’ had just come out the day before the broadcast. She was still 21 when the shooting was done in Hawaii, yet she still enjoyed herself innocently despite being a grown-up.

♫ ℃-ute – Love Take it All ♫

This is the first time Deru-san’s sending a message to the show. Deru-san came to like ℃-ute through Maimi. Also by association, they came to like Maimi’s good friend, Tokunaga Chinami of Berryz Kobo. Their question: what led to Maimi-chan becoming really good friends with Chinami?

Maimi explains that she’s been friends with Chinami from the very start, from the day of the live broadcast when they would announce the results of the H!P Kids audition. There, shy little Maimi was quietly sitting on a chair, having no one to talk with. Right after her in line was Chinami, who went ‘This is nerve-wracking, isn’t it~?‘. They struck up a conversation and immediately became fast friends. Maimi was uneasy and looking for reassurance at the time, so finding out that she could get on well with Chinami untangled her nerves.

The first job they had was the movie ‘Koinu Dan no Monogatari’. The shooting took place at a distant location, so they spent a long time travelling on buses. Chinami, who was seated next to Maimi throughout the journey, offered Maimi crispy plums, and they chatted about all sorts of things while munching on them.

Then they were split into Berryz Kobo and ℃-ute, so they couldn’t always be together like before. Yet whenever they would meet, they’d always be together. The two of them had even gone for a meal recently, after they had wrapped up some work they had together. They had initially intended to go back home, but got to talking on the way back, and ended up going for a meal.

Chii really understands Maimi’s personality. Maimi’s bad with crowds, and they had gone to eat at Shibuya. For those unfamiliar with Shibuya station, it’s a labyrinth that’s packed with people, but Chinami helped guide Maimi – which platform to go to, which train line to get on. Maimi feels that Chii’s like her guardian.

Maimi enjoys her time with Chii, and finds Chii to be a really delightful girl.

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