Category Archives: AS1422

There is a very brief introduction to the show by Meimi and we immediately go right into a song because we have things to do today! Out of all the requests that the 2nd gen members have been supplying to the radio station staff, one of them got her wish! But first, music.

Song: S/mileage – Eighteen Emotion

Tamura Theater: The Lion King Special
Gekidan Tamura, in which Tamura Meimi acts out scripts sent in by the listeners and covers her favorite theater topics

Meimi starts us out with some facts about The Lion King, the musical. I’m sure most of you could guess that it is based on the 1994 Disney film of the same name, but the musical has been in production since 1997, it is the fourth-longest running Broadway show in history and still running, and it is the highest grossing Broadway production of all time. The Japanese adaption has been running since 1998 by Gekidanshiki, Meimi’s beloved theater company. Meimi first saw the musical on a field trip and was impressed by how packed it was even having run so long, and, as a special treat, Meimi got to sit down and talk with the current actor in the role of Simba, Minami Akito! Woo! If The Lion King inside a radio broadcast booth with a Japanese pop idol sounds familiar, there’s a reason.

Anyway, cut to Meimi and Mr. Minami. Meimi takes a minute to fangirl and thank the staff and the actor and Gekidanshiki for letting her sit down and speak with him. She reveals that she has seen The Lion King musical at least 4 times and has seen over 20 different Gekidanshiki productions, to which Minami responds with: “Wow.”

Wow

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Cultured Leader Wada-san

The discussion starts off today with the question, “What is culture?” Kananan responds quickly with, “Japanese food, Japanese clothes, Japanese art… which means Wada-san!” Takechan is incredibly impressed and asks her if she looked this up beforehand. She did, of course, but all of this was just an elaborate segue to talk about everyone’s favorite leader, Dawa. Meimi says that she has made plans with Dawa to share their respective hobbies. They went to see Wicked together (since there are few things Meimi loves more than Wicked) and they’ve been talking about visiting different temples together. Takechan, on the other hand, reports that she made a bet for the winner of a Central Baseball League game and her team lost, although she wants everyone to know it was a very, very close game. As a punishment, she has to make a written report of her thoughts on Dawa’s book, A Maiden’s Guide to Paintings. She has not started yet. Rinapuu says that Dawa recently bought her and Takechan some Harry Potter merchandise since their both such big fans. Meimi begins to pout, “She didn’t get me anything…”  Kananan points out that earlier when Dawa was out with Meimi, though, they met up with Kananan and took purikura without Rinapuu or Takechan, so it evens out.

No Takechan or Rinapuu in sight

Personal Updates

Moving on, Takechan asks if anyone has done anything interesting lately. Meimi immediately chimes in with, “Religious study!” Yes, this is true: Meimi went on her own personal time out to a temple to do a day of training with the monks. Rinapuu thinks this is weird, but Kananan might like to go and try it once. Meimi says it was really intense, as she ran so much she thought her legs would give out and they hiked so far she couldn’t breathe and then she did some waterfall mediation. She was about to give up halfway through but then she realized she might never get the opportunity to do waterfall meditation ever again so she gave it a go. She thinks that if she had stuck with it she really might have considered becoming a monk.

A monk actually took this

While her generation-mates sway her away from the path of a monk, Meimi informs us that she did take away something very important from the experience and that is gratitude. She ate a meal with the monks and said that they spend a long time doing prayers before eating and always make sure to express their thanks for receiving anything. She emphasizes how difficult the waterfall meditation was, though, as it was very chilly and she can’t imagine doing it in February like the monks do. She also notes how very few women ever do the hike up to the waterfall so she feels special for being able to do it. Takechan doesn’t think that first year high school students ever do anything like that, either, and mentions how strange Meimi is.

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Special Guests

It’s Power-up Week for Radio Nippon, which means that this is a special show. It’s special in that hosts Takechan and Rinapuu have invited some special guests to join them in the recording booth today. Who are they? It’s a surprise. Rinapuu gives us a hint that they’re as cute as angels, which means the only answer could possibly Kananan and visual-center of S/mileage Tamura Meimi! Shocking! This leads to a lot of commotion considering Meimi’s opinion of herself on the last show, and so the top 3 beauties edge her out of the conversation. Kananan hopes that her cuteness will adequately be conveyed over the radio and Takechan and Rinapuu thank her for taking time out of her busy schedule to meet with them. Meimi does not get to talk anymore.

Song: S/mileage – Samui, ne.

A Thorough Debate

In this special corner, the members will discuss and debate each other on a given topic, namely, what should S/mileage do to prepare for the coming year. Rinapuu assures us that despite the long into from Takechan for this corner, it’s basically just them talking about whatever they want. Kananan says that now that they have 9 members, an odd number, she can finally take her place as a true center. The other members start to scream over her, especially Takechan, who says that it will definitely be her. Kananan continues to say that it’s strange thinking of themselves as 9 members because she has only ever talked to AiAi at the last Hello!Con but no one else has spoken to any of them. Meimi says it’s weird interacting with the Kenshuusei in general because she never knows who might be in the same group as her later on. It’s a puzzle. The fans probably enjoy it, though. Kananan asks who she thinks will make friends with the new members the fastest. Everyone is pretty sure it will be Kananan, but Kananan thinks that it will probably be Rinapuu. Rinapuu is the type to be the last to actually speak to the new members but will probably make friends with them the fastest. Rinapuu says it’s because she doesn’t know how to talk to new people so she just sits back and watches how other people interact with them, then uses that information to make friends with them.  Continue reading →