Ichigo ichie 7/23 - More on L.A.

By: Zabel

Ahoy, Strawberry Mates. Here's another installment of Takahashi Ai's Ichigo ichie.


Ichigo ichie 7/23

Rehearsing for the Hello! Project concert, what strikes Aichan is how much stuff there is! Bags, jerseys, shoes, and belongings of the entire membership of H!P. She gets to observe relationships between Musume and other H!P members that she hadn't known about. For instance, she learned that Mitsui Aika and Hagiwara Mai are friends.

Aichan is very happy to see Minimoni revived, having lots of memories of having been a Minimoni herself. Linlin, a small girl in any other environment, appears huge when lined up together with the even smaller girls who comprise the new Minimoni.

For the Ainote recommendation Ai talks about Juno, a story about a pregnant 16-year-old. Aichan tries to explain how the lead character was very cute without being very cute.

Aichan has more to tell about her trip to Los Angeles. She wishes she had brought more than one parka because it was colder than she imagined. Her schedule was not super-busy, and there was some time for shopping, although not as much as she would prefer. Any time alone she had was spent in her hotel room and all the rest of the time she was with the other members. It was surprising to hear her own group's songs playing on the Anime Expo TV channel! She also watched the Disney channel some.

Although she loves them both, Aichan feels more familiarity with Los Angeles than with New York. If she had to say which, L.A. is more like Fukui and New York is more like Tokyo.

Next time she would like to be able to speak English with more people. She spoke a little with the coordinators and learned a lot. She would like for herself and for the other members to be able to speak and understand slightly more difficult English than what they can now. Notwithstanding Koharu having said, "I sort of got the hang of English this time." That was only a first step, Aichan says. Then she teaches listeners the phrase "I'm sorry. I'm not sure."

Tettekete corner... Aichan gives advice on how to talk to a person with a very different personality than yourself. Try telling them directly that you want to talk with them more.

Lastly, a listener who studied abroad in England has for Aichan what he says is the perfect English present--the English phrase "Take it easy." Aichan has heard the phrase used in Final Fantasy but hadn't known what it meant.

Next week is a public recording of Ichigo ichie.