Takahashi Ai’s Radio-graphy

(Translator’s note: No Japanese log this time.)

Notes

• 2004-10-06 FM Osaka Official Site pop up inc “HaroPuro123″
• Yaguchi Mari, Kamei Eri, Takahashi Ai

Digest

• Yaguchi, Kamei and Takahashi introduce mails sent to them and answer the questions in the mails
  • first mail: “What do the Morning Musume members do when driving from one place to another? What kind of music have you been listening to lately?” (00′29”)
  • second mail: “Do you know an easy and good diet method?” (03′09”)
  • third mail: “Please try the kazutori game.” (05′04”)
• Song: Morning Musume’s 「Roman ~My Dear Boy~」 (09′41”)

Detailed description

[Please click here to download the whole episode as a mp3-file.]

(Translator’s note: No Japanese log this time.)

Notes

• 2004-10-05 FM Osaka Official Site pop up inc “HaroPuro123″
• Yaguchi Mari, Kamei Eri, Takahashi Ai

Digest

• Yaguchi, Kamei and Takahashi introduce mails sent to them and answer the questions in the mails
  • first mail: “What kind of part-time job would you like to try out?” (00′35”)
  • second mail: “Are there kinds of sports you don’t like? (02′11”)
  • third mail: “Does any of you have a bad sleeping posture? Do you all take a bath together?” (04′00”)
• Song: Morning Musume’s 「Go Girl ~Koi no Victory~」 (06′13”)

Detailed description

[Please click here to download the whole episode as a mp3-file.]

(Translator’s note: No Japanese log this time.)

Notes

• 2004-10-04 FM Osaka Official Site pop up inc “HaroPuro123″
• Yaguchi Mari, Kamei Eri, Takahashi Ai

Digest

• Yaguchi, Kamei and Takahashi talk about Morning Musume’s last year and a half
• Song: Morning Musume’s 「AS FOR ONE DAY」 (04′46”)

Detailed description

[Please click here to download the whole episode as a mp3-file.]

- Morning Musume’s 37th single is “Pepper Keibu”.
Takahashi Ai: It’s a cover of the debut song of the band Pink Lady that everyone knows. I think it’s a great honor to be able to cover a song which is so famous that you can dance and sing it even though you weren’t even born at the time it was released. Even though it’s a cover, we want to keep on loving it as much as our own songs.
Kusumi Koharu: The two Pink Lady members are idols who made history. Covering a song of such a band is something amazing, so we’ll try to sing it as well as possible in order to meet the expectations.
Niigaki Risa: Without breaking the image of Pink Lady’s “Pepper Keibu”, we perform “Pepper Keibu” in a fresh and cheerful way that’s typical for Morning Musume. We hope you’ll enjoy the mix of nostalgy and freshness.
- What’s the connection between Morning Musume and Pink Lady?
Takahashi: We once performed together on “Music Fair”. We got to sing “Nagisa no Sindbad”, “UFO” and other songs together and they danced together with us in “The Peace”.
Kamei Eri: When I think about it now, it was like a dream…
Takahashi: That’s why, I think it was fate. Arbitrarily. (lol)
- What are the characteristics of Morning Musume’s “Pepper Keibu”?
Michishige Sayumi: There’s no interlude in the original, but there’s one in Morning Musume’s version and it’s quite intense.
Tanaka Reina: When I was thinking that since it’s a cover, the dance will be probably the same and we won’t dance much, a Morning Musume part was added there.
Mitsui Aika: It caught us off guard. (lol)
Junjun: It’s very powerful and Morning Musume-like.
Linlin: The costumes are different too. Pink Lady had pink, we have green ones. So we’re “Green Girls”. (lol)
- The b-side “Romance” is a cover of Iwasaki Hiromi-san’s song.
Kamei: I love that song. My mom often sings it, so I had heard it many times already. But when I listened to Iwasaki-san’s original, I noticed that my mom was singing it totally wrong. (lol)
Mitsui: I think the lyrics are good e.g. ♪Iki ga kakaru hodo soba ni itte hoshii♪. They’re cute and sexy at the same time.
- “Pink Lady” makes you think of the Shouwa era. Since Shouwa = nostalgic, what kind of things made you feel nostalgic lately?
Takahashi: Since I’m from Fukui prefecture, I feel nostalgic when I meet other people from Fukui. I get happy talking about the town I’m from and get into a nostalgic mood.
Niigaki: The other day I went to a festival with Papa and Mama after a long while. When I heard the shouts of the old men during the Bon Festival dance, I felt very nostalgic.
Mitsui: When I was tidying up my room the other day, I found a lot of photos and presents from the time when I lived in Shiga. When I opened my datebook, there were many names of my friends written in it. It was very nostalgic.
Junjun: I watched an old DVD the other day. The DVD contained the first dance that was filmed of Linlin, Mitsui and me. Our dance was very bad and our faces were swollen too. We looked like dancing meat buns. (lol) I really think we’ve grown since then.
Linlin: I feel nostalgic when I eat Chinese meat buns. It makes me think of how I used to eat them for breakfast everyday in China.
Kamei: I used to have ballet lessons and I had the habit of always drinking a certain carbonated drink after them. But since I quit ballet, I haven’t been able to find that drink anywhere else, but they were selling it in the vending machine of this studio! The bottle was changed into aluminium, but it still had that extremely nostalgic taste. It made me remember my way home from ballet when I was in elementary school.
Michishige: I love eating pikes. But since summer is not the season for them, pikes cost a lot, right? They’ve become cheap only recently when autumn arrived and I could finally eat pikes. When I eat them I think “This taste is the best after all~” and remember the previous year. (lol)
Kusumi: As for me, I often feel nostalgic. It’s like everything in the past feels nostalgic to me. (lol)
Tanaka: I host a radio show (InterFM “FIVE STARS”) where I get to choose which songs to play. Lately I’ve been playing many nostalgic songs and while listening to them, I remember the time when I used to listen to that song. Memories get wrapped up in songs, right? It made me think that music is a good thing.
- “Morning Musume” makes you think of the Heisei era. Since Heisei = new, what kind of things made you feel that way lately?
Takahashi: Since recently, we can make banana juice at home. I thought that you can easily make it yourself if you have a mixer and it was another new discovery for me.
Kamei: I’ve always thought that I can’t eat macaron. An aversion without even trying. But when I did try it recently, I could eat it. A new discovery for me.
Tanaka: There are cards called Micro SD, right? I used to think that you read it like “Maikuro”, but a friend told me that you read it like “Mikuro” and I thought that it’s “Mikuro” all the time. But then I heard someone say it like “Maikuro SD card” and said “That’s Mikuro, you know?”, but I was totally wrong. (lol) Another thing I learned is that you say “Oh no! Fukitsu na yokan!” instead of “fuketsu na yokan“. (lol)
Kamei: And you even asked me “Eri, do you know this saying?” so full of confidence, that we all fell down when you said it wrong. (lol) We were shocked.
Linlin: I learned a new Japanese word. “zekku“. I want to use it a lot.
Mitsui: I’ll be raising a dog on my own. It’s a toy poodle and I chose it myself, signed the pet contract myself and bought a pet insurance myself. I did all that for the first time.
Michishige: I keep a diary everyday and recently started my 7th one.
Everyone: Amazing!
Michishige: It doesn’t get old writing in it at all. Everyday is fun.
Junjun: I’ve noticed that time seems to pass very quickly lately. When “Cinderella the musical” ended in August, I couldn’t believe how quickly the 3 weeks had passed. During the filming of the promotion video, I was surprised because it was evening before I even noticed it. The Beijing Olympic Games too, when I thought of watching it, it was already over. (lol)
Kusumi: I recently noticed that I’ve become taller again. Now I’m about 164cm tall. My goal is to reach 172cm, so I hope I’ll grow even more.
Niigaki: In “Cinderella the musical” I got to play the role of a gentleman-like prince for the first time and I had to wear 15cm high boots for that. The view from 15cm higher than usual was new for me. I normally have to look up to most members, but when we formed a ring during the musical, I was happy because I was sticking out. (lol) Since I’ve always wanted to become taller, it was like one of my dreams came true.

From a Takarazuka Musume to a Morning Musume

Takahashi Ai - She took the audition because of her competitive spirit rather than her dream

In the nationwide popular group Morning Musume, Takahashi Ai (17) is already one of the members who have top class popularity. This summer will be her third summer since joining Morning Musume. She originally wished to become a different kind of Musume, a Musumeyaku i.e. an actress who plays female roles in Takarazuka. The classic ballet lessons she had since the age of 8 endowed her with a flexible body and an honest, pure heart.

[Her dialect has disappeared!?]

It’s been 3 years since she moved to Tokyo. I’m very surprised when she tells me that she has already lost her Fukui dialect which used to be one of her charmpoints(?). “It just happened naturally when I kept talking to people in Tokyo. When I’m talking with my friends in Fukui on the phone I tell them that ‘Ahh, I’m already speaking standard Japanese, ya know? But the people here in Tokyo understand what I’m saying if I talk like this too. Though some still say I haven’t lost my dialect yet.’.”
Wearing casual jeans and a black cardigan on top, she shows me her specialty, classic ballet moves, while facing the mirror. It’s beautiful to watch and you get the impression that she looks more mature like this.
When I tell her that she looks pretty, she says “No! I’m not. I’m definitely not. No one has ever told me that I’m pretty!” with a bright red face. She seems so embarrassed that she hides her face with both hands, so I ask her “Someone at school probably told you the same thing and confessed his love to you, right?”. She becomes angry and denies many times saying “Ain’t nobody telling me that. Ain’t nobody telling me that!”. When she realizes that she spoke with her dialect in agitation, she corrects herself saying “Ah! Nobody tells me that!” one more time. Very lovely.
“Once there was a letter in my shoe box at school… But, but, I thought it was a downright lie. It’s true!” she says, trying very hard to explain to me what she means while blushing. She has an honest character and a very expressive face.

[But she loves Fukui]

Then I bring up Sauce Katsudon, the specialty of Fukui and tell her my impression that “It wasn’t very delicious…”. She brusquely counters with “That’s only because you went to a bad place!”. She’s surprisingly strong-willed.
This girl, Takahashi, has been dreaming of becoming a Musumeyaku of the Takarazuka Revue since she was in elementary school. “If I didn’t have this dream, I think I wouldn’t have continued ballet and wouldn’t be able to do my best now either.” she says.

Relieving stress with Takarazuka

Her best method of relieving stress is as expected… “Takarazuka”. “I buy their videos and I still go watch their plays. I don’t mind watching while standing either. Then it costs 1500 yen. I collect the cards too. Even if something bad happens, Takarazuka blows my gloominess away and I feel like I can do my best again.”.

The type of man she likes: the exact opposite of her father

Talking about the type of man she likes: “I’d like someone who does the talking. Even though I’m an idol, I usually don’t talk much.”. She respects her father, but someone like him couldn’t be her lover. “I wouldn’t like someone like dad who always goes to pachinko parlors on off-days. I feel like ‘Why do you even try if you already know you’ll only lose?’.”

[Her father was against it]

She took up classic ballet when she was in third year of elementary school. After that she got interested in Takarazuka and started watching their TV shows. “Mom and I both became fans of Takarazuka. The first troupe I watched was the Flower Troupe. I still remember it.”.
Her first favorite Takarazienne was Takahashi Fubuki who was a top star of the Snow Troupe at that time. “I put up posters of her in my room. When friends came over, they said “Ehhh! Scary!” though.”.
Because of her lack in height, her goal was to become a “Musumeyaku” and she would continue practicing ballet even if a toenail came off. In middle school she joined the chorus club. She even took part in a national tournament. The reason she took the Morning Musume audition wasn’t because it was her “dream”, but rather because… “I was watching it on TV and got envious of the people who passed it. I didn’t take the audition to become an idol, I rather took it because I wanted to pass it. I thought I can’t lose to them.”.
Her father(38) was against her joining Morning Musume. He asked her “You wanted to join Takarazuka, didn’t you? Is it ok to give that up?”. Hearing that from her reticent father was “tough” she says.
“Now dad puts up posters of me and copies sites on a computer he never used before. But it seems like he doesn’t want me to think that he’s accepted it, so all he does is telling me to do my best from time to time. He’s reticent as usual.”.
The person she respects is her father. “He works in an express home delivery company. Even if he gets home very late, he still puts his all into his job. I know it’s only natural. I know that, but that’s what I like about him. Earlier, I often went to wave hands at my dad when his truck passed by the station.”.

[In the new song, she’s already…]

Once her goal was to become a “Musumeyaku”, but now she’s doing her best as a Morning Musume. The dream of this pure hearted girl now is to become an adult. “When I’m feeling down or when I’m worn out, Abe (Natsumi)-san or Gotou (Maki)-san would talk to me or write me a letter to cheer me up. I want to become someone who can listen to others and has an own opinion about everything.”.
In the cover of the new song “Joshi Kashimashi”, she’s boldly sitting in the center. This girl will soon reach her “Musumezakari“.

Captions of the pics:
[Aichan’s signed illustration where she drew strangely long eyes.]

[As might be expected from someone who dreamed of becoming a Musumeyaku of Takarazuka, she was very good at classic ballet she took up in third year of elementary school. Left pic: Aichan when she was 3 years old. She’s easily recognizeable because of the big and beautiful eyes.]

[Takahashi Ai giving the interview with Fukui dialect mixed in and a smile on her face]

[Full name: Takahashi Ai
Date of birth: September 14th, 1986
Origin: Fukui prefecture
Pet names: Aichan, Tettekete
Her favorite thing: Red towel. (She’s used it since she was small and can’t sleep without it.)]