Author Archives: Skoban

I My Me Maimi~ #374 (2015.08.28)

By Skoban | September 6, 2015

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♫ Suzuki Airi – Zansho Omimai Moushiagemasu ♫

We start with general letters! This month’s theme is ‘It’s summer!‘ The first letter comes from Dance-san, who also requested the previous song.

School starts a week earlier in Hokkaido than it does on the main island, and Dance-san’s younger brothers are getting Dance-san’s help with their homework. Homework reminds Dance-san about their research project in primary school – a papier-mache creation. Following up from that, Dance-san asks Maimi if she still remembers her research projects, and if there were any projects done by her friends that caught her eye.

Maimi once made a papier-mache savings box, but she feels like she probably got a lot of assistance with making it, as she’s pretty bad with that sort of hand-crafting. Moving on to projects that caught her eye, one of her friends used ice-cream sticks to make a savings box in the shape of a house. The roof could be opened by a hinge, giving access to the stored money. The girl who did it was really artistic.

Maimi takes the opportunity to talk about another project done by the same girl. It’s difficult to explain without seeing it, but it involved using papier-mache bricks held together with a steel frame, and a good use of colours – reds and browns. Maimi enjoys looking at that friend’s artwork.

By the time of broadcast, the kids in Hokkaido have probably started schooling. For the Kanto region, school would generally start in September, so Maimi feels that there are likely to be a lot of kids currently rushing to finish their homework. Maimi gives them a friendly reminder to not stay up late, take care of their health, and wishes them good luck.

Maimi hand-crafting: That’s supposed to be a poodle

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Pâtisserie Airi #2 (2015.03.14)

By Skoban | April 12, 2015

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Continuing on from last week, we’re again presented with the special programme ‘Pizza-La presents Pâtisserie Airi’, with Airi reminding us that ‘pâtisserie’ is French for a sweets or cake shop. Again, Airi would like to continue giving a swee~t talk. She had been worried about something last week, as it was her first time doing a radio programme by herself – whether or not the listeners could catch her words. And so, she’ll try her best to make sure the message gets to your ears.

♪ Buono! – You’re My Friend ♪

Solving your bitter worries in a refreshing way
Pâtissière Airi’s sweet recipe

Airi wonders if she’ll be all right, unsure whether she’ll be able to come to a conclusion by herself. Previously, Airi-sensei used to drop by when it used to be the three of them. Airi can’t call on her by herself though, it’d get awkward.

This time, we have a letter from a guy who’s currently in the process of getting his driving licence. His motive – with a car, he can go on dates regardless of the weather, and he doesn’t have to care about missing the last train (Airi: ‘Indeed!’). He’s currently working part time to pay for the fees. However, his girlfriend has gotten a foreign-make sports bicycle, and has been going cycling with people he doesn’t know. He worries that perhaps, even if he got a licence, his girlfriend wouldn’t be that enthusiastic. And so, he asks for advice.

Airi berates this listener for being so timid. If it were a foreign-make sports car, then there might be cause for concern… but it’s a bicycle! A vehicle you operate with your own feet! Even if it were a motorcycle or a moped, Airi would sympathise with his worries. But a bicycle, well, you can argue that they’re difficult to use in certain weather conditions, like rain, wind, or snow. She thinks that a car would definitely be appreciated.

Not something that’ll be stealing Airi’s heart any time soon

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Pâtisserie Airi #1 (2015.03.07)

By Skoban | April 12, 2015

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Airi starts off by explaining that this week and the next, she’ll be hosting the special programme ‘Pizza-La presents Pâtisserie Airi’. In French, a ‘pâtisserie’ is a shop that deals in sweets and cakes. So she’d like to deliver a sweet talk to everyone, as sweet as cake, and she’ll do her best in her own way. It’s the first time she’s doing a radio programme by herself, without anyone else with her in the recording booth. She’s half lonely, and half uneasy over whether or not she’ll speak smoothly. Hopefully her words will get to everyone, as there are no subtitles when it comes to radio programmes.

♪ Buono! – My Alright Sky ♪

Solving your bitter worries in a refreshing way
Pâtissière Airi’s sweet recipe

Airi reads out a letter from a female teacher, who teaches mathematics to 3rd year primary school students at a cram school. She found out that she’s gotten a nickname from the students: Female pro teacher. The reason behind this – she resembles a female pro wrestler. ‘Should I continue just teaching mathematics to the students with this nickname?’

Airi: Yo, female pro teacher.

Airi herself doesn’t have a nickname, despite Suzuki being a common name in Japan (second most common, after Satou). It turns out that Airi went over well enough that it stuck. Tsunku♂-san once gave her the nickname ‘Osuzu’, but the Osuzu call never caught on with the fans at concerts.

Airi thinks that having a nickname isn’t a bad thing – It’ll make her memorable to her students. She suggests the listener build up on that nickname in the classroom, and make good memories for her students. Having a nickname should be something she should be happy about.

Airi: You know, like you could go ‘dosukoi, dosukoi’… Wait, that’s sumo.

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Pâtisserie Momochi #2 (2015.03.28)

By Skoban | March 31, 2015

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Continuing on from last week, Momoko will again be presenting the special programme ‘Pâtisserie Momochi’. Sadly, it’ll be ending with this week’s episode. Time really did fly past, and she wonders if it turned out all right.

It’s almost April, which marks the start of the new school year, as well as the time of the year when graduates enter employment. As such, April is usually considered a time of beginnings and a time when people start on a new life.

To those who are exhausted with work or with their private lives, as the pâtissière of Pâtisserie Momochi, Momoko would like to lift your spirits with her sweet and yummy talk.

♪ Buono! – Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! ♪

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Solving your bitter worries in a refreshing way
Pâtissière Momochi’s sweet recipe

This week we hear from a 31-year old office worker, who loves idols and music. He’s long harboured ambitions to be a lyricist. This has led him to fill a notebook with original compositions, aiming to capture the feelings of a teenage girl through his lyrics. However, he misplaced that notebook at the office. Now, he can’t help but get worried about the off-chance that his colleagues would see the contents of the notebook. ‘Please soothe this unpleasant feeling somehow.‘

Momoko wonders if the listener wrote his name on the cover. Well, an office worker probably wouldn’t. If that’s the case, he could just go around asking people at the office, ‘My daughter lost her school music notes, it seems that it got mixed with my office documents, might you have seen it?‘, expecting his colleagues to react on the lines of ‘Huh, it’s your daughter’s!?‘ Although there would still be the risk of them noticing that the contents weren’t written in a girl’s handwriting.

Momoko herself doesn’t think that it’s anything to be embarrassed about. If he’s saying that fully getting into the feelings of a teenage girl is embarrassing, then that would be the same as saying that Tsunku♂-san is embarrassing.

Momoko: That would be rude to Tsunku♂-san! Tsunku♂-san’s amazing, just so you know.

Tsunku♂-san really expresses a girl’s feelings through the lyrics he writes, although Momoko herself doesn’t get it sometimes. Having put himself into the role of a girl, Tsunku♂-san brings his music out to the world, where they become big hits. Momoko thinks of that as something wonderful, so she hopes that the listener has confidence in himself. And if his dreams come true someday and he becomes a renowned lyricist, Momoko would love to perform one of his compositions as well.

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Pâtisserie Momochi #1 (2015.03.21)

By Skoban | March 29, 2015

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For this week and next week, we have the special programme ‘Pâtisserie Momochi’! While this time slot used to host a three-person radio show, this time it’s just Momochi by herself. As to what she thought when she first heard about the programme:

Momoko: At first, I had no idea what ‘Pâtisserie’ meant, I couldn’t hide my confusion.

But she looked it up for those of us who similarly aren’t familiar with French, and she explains that ‘Pâtisserie‘ is French for a sweets or cake shop, a male pastry chef would be a ‘pâtissier‘, while the female equivalent would be a ‘pâtissière‘. Momochi thinks that ‘pâtissière‘ has a nice ring to it.

Momochi also notes that Airi had previously hosted her own solo radio show ‘Pâtisserie Airi’ over the past two weeks, which had gone over well with the listeners and Baron-san. The bar has been raised for Momochi, and expectations are high on her.

♪ Buono! – Last Forever ♪

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Trattoria Buono! #100 (2015.02.28) FINAL EPISODE

By Skoban | March 15, 2015

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♪ Buono! – We Are Buono! ~Buono! no Theme ♪

Momoko announces that today’s broadcast is the 100th! Amazing, isn’t it? Although it’s something to be happy about… today is the show’s last broadcast as well. It may be sad to part, but they’d like to make this broadcast an entertaining one for the listeners.

As per usual, Momoko continues by announcing that today that is ‘Bakayarou no Hi‘ – ‘Bakayarou‘ meaning something like ‘(You) Dumb Fool’. It commemorates the day in 1953 when Prime Minister Yoshida Shigeru replied to another legislator with a ‘bakayarou’, which eventually led to dissolution of the Diet in mid-March. For a commemoration, the girls find it a sad one in all sorts of ways.

Momoko asks if there’s anything that made them so mad that they’d utter ‘bakayarou‘, even if it doesn’t feel like an appropriate discussion for the final broadcast. She starts bringing up her absence from last week, which immediately has the others calling her a bakayarou. This means that the only member with perfect attendance for the show is Airi, since there was a point when Miyabi was absent.

Momoko: Airi-chan, give a comment as the winner of the perfect attendance prize.

Airi: Bakayarou!

Momoko & Miyabi: Eh?

Momoko and Miyabi again apologise for their absences, but thankfully they’re all together for the final broadcast.

Given that today is Bakayarou no Hi, as well as the final episode of this programme, they’re going back to their starting point with Buono!’s debut single, Honto no Jibun.

Bakayarou!

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Trattoria Buono! #99 (2015.02.21)

By Skoban | March 9, 2015

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♪ Buono! – Bravo☆Bravo ♪

Momoko‘s down with the flu, so we only have Airi and Miyabi in the studio today, which is a first. The girls wish her a speedy recovery and hope that the listeners take care as well.

Back to the usual, Miyabi announces that the day after the broadcast, 22nd of February, would be ‘Neko no Hi‘ – ‘Cat Day’. It’s Japanese wordplay again – the twos can be read as ‘nyan’, which is the Japanese equivalent of ‘meow’. Similarly to Inu no Hi, when you put it together, the 22nd day of February gets you ‘Nyan nyan nyan‘.

Airi: The Yurushite-nyan person isn’t around for this broadcast though.

Miyabi loves cats, while Airi is allergic to them. Miyabi adds that while she’s allergic to cats too, she still likes them (Airi: ‘That’s heartbreaking‘). Allergies don’t stop Miyabi from looking at them though, albeit against glass displays. Airi mentions that ℃-ute leader Yajima Maimi also likes cats, and has amassed a collection of cat photos. However, she’s got dogs at home, which aren’t getting replaced any time soon. Miyabi finds cats soothing, and would probably have cats if it wasn’t for her allergies. Airi herself wouldn’t, but notes that Momoko, even if she does go ‘Yurushite-nyan’, doesn’t like cats.

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Berryz Kobo Kiritsu! Rei! Chakuseki! 11-nen no kiseki – Part II (2015.02.18)

By Skoban | February 23, 2015

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Kiritsu! Rei! Chakuseki! (Rise! Bow! Return to your seats!) was Berryz Kobo’s first radio show which ran for 5 years, from March 2004 until March 2009. In March 2014, they reunited for a 10 year special broadcast. Now, for the final time, the girls get together again for a special broadcast, ‘Berryz Kobo Kiritsu! Rei! Chakuseki! 11-nen no kiseki’ (11 years of miracles).

In the previous, first part of the summary, the girls looked back on their 11 years of activities. They also received several messages from concerned parties.
In this second part of the summary, one-by-one, the girls convey their messages to the fans.

Since they’ve gone through all this trouble to hold this special programme, the members, one-by-one, will deliver their messages to the fans. While they’re sure that they’ll have parting words at their final Budokan concert, with all the goings-on at the concert, they’d be at an emotional peak at that point in time. With this opportunity, while they’re still composed, they’d like to convey what they would like to say.

Everyone’s nervous, so Momochi volunteers to be the first to give her message. She doesn’t like solemn atmospheres, so she’ll just go at it with the mood as-is.

Momoko’s message

To all the listeners, to all the fans, thank you for the tons and tons of love you’ve showered us with throughout these 11 years.

Just as you can hear even from today’s radio broadcast, I may seem inconsiderate. Yet even someone like me gets told ‘You’re cute, you’re cute‘. I truly do receive a lot of love from you. Thank you so very much.

The memories of Berryz Kobo really warm me up from within. Of course, I believe that it’ll always remain in my heart. I wish that it would continue in the fans’ hearts as well. I’d like it if Berryz Kobo would continue to be rooted in your hearts forever. Please be prepared for it.

For these 11 years, thank you very much.

Berryz being Berryz, the members teasingly comment about Momo becoming all serious.

Chinami: When you mentioned the part about being rooted in their hearts, it was a serious comment that you wouldn’t expect to come from Momochi.

Momoko: So would it have been better if I went ‘For these 11 years, thank you very much-nya~n?’

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