Ichigo ichie 7/9 - MM's 40th single

By: Zabel

Another day to learn more about the lovely creature called Takahashi Ai.


Ichigo ichie 7/9


Aichan really does like the ocean. It's just that when she was young she almost drowned, so her body reacts against it.

Today she gives her thoughts on Morning Musume's 40th single, Nanchatte Ren'ai. The song includes a rap part in the style of Do it Now! that Junlin get to do. The gist of the lyrics is that love can be painful even when it is fake. She says that there are people who find this song more mature than Shouganai Yumeoibito. The single will be released 8/12.

For the Ainote corner, Aichan talks about Matsutoya Yumi's concert tour 2009 "Transit", which she saw with her manager. It included a disappearing act, a story, travel-like atmosphere, amusing MC segments. Aichan had the chance to talk with her afterwards. It was a learning experience to see such a performance.

Ai talks about her own upcoming H!P concert, about how new units will be announced, and new Eggs introduced. She wants the new members to know the awesomeness of MM, Berryz, and C-ute.

The English lesson is "You can find it in the house". (Useful for when you want to know where otaku can be found)

A listener asks how to improve one's singing. Aichan says listen over and over to a song you like and try to imitate the vocalist. Aichan would try to imitate Tsunku's singing when he taught her.

Another listener is exhausted being in a school club and wants advice on how to get rid of the tiredness. Aichan can relate, having been in a very demanding choir--it was always the last club to go home, and was active even during summer vacation. She would cope by going out to play after the club finished its morning activities each sunday. (she mentions taking print clubs as one of the things she did for fun)　Her strategy these days is to jump in the bathtub. No matter how late she gets home, she must have her bath.

Lastly, Aichan talks about how great Gaki-san is at calming Koharu down XD

Michishige Sayumi is the guest next week!!

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Iiza Ee-Day 7/6

By: Zabel

Aichan returns to her birthplace of Fukui to appear on this recent program, and if appearances can be believed (which they usually can when it comes to Lovely), she has a great time!

Driving up in a 'taxi', as the host calls it, she is introduced in front of Fukui TV and its staff. The host asks her if she recognizes a certain man. It was the man who answered her telephone call when she was seeking information on how to apply for the audition which ultimately got her into Morning Musume, the deadline for which she was barely able to meet. The host also returns to her an engraving set thingie she had used in middle school which her sister had used after her and forgotten at school. Her teacher had been waiting all this time to return it to her.



From there they go around to different places in Fukui sampling food and fun. First stop is to the famous restaurant Yoroppaken where sauce katsudon originated. It's a dish she has been missing since living in Tokyo. When she tries to order katsudon in Tokyo they put eggs in it and she's like, this ain't what I wanted.



The next stop is to Satsukigase where crackers are made. She is given the opportunity to go in the factory, make a few herself, and eat the fruits of her labor. Satsukigase is home of the product 'ai' which we've heard Aichan talk about before. Ai eating ai may sound like self-cannibalism, but she quite likes them. Aichan is surprised to learn that on the day after a concert at which she had introduced ai, the product was all sold out at the Fukui market!



Then she visits a couple who runs a fresh juice vendor to have watermelon juice made. The man upon seeing Aichan says, "Is she the real thing?" (You better believe it, lucky fellow!) She is asked to pick a watermelon that she thinks looks tasty, and does so by banging on it to listen to the sound.



Finally, Aichan is made to enter a room where three old school buddies are waiting to surprise her! Aichan is taken completely by surprise, and looks genuinely ecstatic to see them.

Host: You guys probably know Aichan better than anyone does.
Aichan: They do.
Host: What do you usually call her?
Friends: 'Takahashi'.
Host: So you call her Takahashi! What was Aichan like in elementary and middle school?
Friends: She was cute.
Aichan: You're lying!
Friends: We'd do weird things together.
Host: Let's hear about those weird things.
Friends: Is it okay to say?
Host: For an idol it might be saying too much.



There's more next week!

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Ichigo ichie 7/2 - Junjun guest appearance

By: Zabel

Ichigo ichie 7/2


What the hell fukui speak did Aichan just open with? Don't ask me.

Well, Junjun is today's guest. Aichan reads a letter from a listener asking which member she thinks has grown the most. Aichan says she can't answer when the member in question is right in front of her! So it's Junjun and Linlin, of course; their Japanese has really improved. Junjun says she still speaks weird Japanese, and Aichan doesn't argue with that. Junjun gets embarrassed seeing early footage of herself as a musume. She appears to herself like a nikuman bouncing around on stage. But at last she has become a human.

Nanchatte Ren'ai is to be released 8/12. Junjun likes the intricate dance moves, and how the word 'nanchatte' itself shows up in the lyrics.

Aichan, Aika, and Linlin saw Ogawa Makoto perform in Komorebi no naka de 2009 (こもれびの中で２００９), today's recommendation in the 'Ainote' corner. Jun heard from Lin that it's a tearjerker, and Aichan tells that she cried from beginning to end. Jun: "But you always seem to be crying." Ai: "Hey!" Both Ogawa's strong efforts and the content of the story itself were the cause. Although she tried to hide it by letting the tears roll down to her chin before wiping them, Aika found her out.

Lovely has an anecdote to tell about her 5th gen buddy. One night well before the performance, she was staying over at Makoto's house and Makoto showed her video of the dances she would be doing. Makoto was worried about the difficulty of the material, but when Aichan saw the actual performance, Makoto did an impressive job.

Junjun's recommendation is the Korean film A Moment to Remember. An interested Aichan asks to borrow the DVD from her. Junjun, it turns out, is something of a movie junkie who used to go to the theater every sunday.

Next week is the Tanabata festival (Aichan mispronounces the word), which Junjun says is also celebrated in China. That makes today the "Pre-Tanabata Special", Aichan announces. Which amounts to the two of them each stating a small wish and a big wish. Aichan's "small" wish is to grow taller. Jun insists that such a wish is impossible, that she should wish for something that has even a remote possibility of coming true. Way to stomp all over a girl's dreams, Jun! But good-hearted Jun offers up as her small wish the hope that Aichan's impossible wish can come a little bit true.

Jun's big wish is that everyone around her can live healthily. Aichan's big wish is that she can be healthy every day. Their answers are very similar. "After all, we're both in our twenties", explains Jun XD. Then Aichan has them both at the same time state a wish for Morning Musume. Aichan's wish, "世界進出", is for the world to know of Morning Musume. Junjun's wish is simply "everybody". "Everybody what?", asks Aichan. "That everybody can live healthily every day." The exact same thing as before, but by framing it in terms of being a necessary condition for Aichan's wish, Jun is able to tie the two wishes of theirs together, thus facilitating the return of the joke from earlier: "It's similar! After all, we're in our twenties!"

In the Tettekete corner, the first question comes from a person who has trouble saying what he is feeling to people. Specifically, he got nervous and didn't say what he intended to when he met Aichan at a handshake event recently. Aichan can relate. She cried and was unable to speak when she met a Takaraduka star she was a big fan of back in grade school. That you can express yourself through your face and emotions becomes their advice to the listener.

The second listener asks for advice on how to learn dances quckly. Jun, according to herself, is neither fast nor slow but 中途半端 -- 'half-hearted' (or 'half-assed'). I am not sure this is the word she was looking for. They both think Tanaka and Kamei learn dance quickly. Junjun thinks Aichan is fast too, but Aichan denies it, insisting that she was always the slowest among the gokkies. But she would go home and learn the moves on her own and the next day she would have it all down. Jun has heard Gakisan relate the same tale about Aichan. Ai: "Oh, Gakisan talked about me!" (yep, all the time ^^) As they channel this into advice they can present to the listener, Aichan and Jun find themselves saying similar things. Once again: "After all, we're in our twenties!"

The English phrase we are taught today is "I'm looking forward to see you." At Aichan's request Jun teaches us a Chinese phrase. She picks the equivalent of "I love Morning Musume".

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