I don't usually answer surveys. But this survey at Bikkuri Project sounded like a lot of fun and I'm not feeling too lazy so I might even answer its questions. Although, I'm sorry, but I just know H!P so I'm not able to answer all of the questions properly. So you can ignore this as an answer to a certain survey and just read it as me answering some funny questions.

1. You have found a magical J-pop genie who will grant you one J-pop related wish (so no wishing for a million dollars or world peace or anything like that). It can be virtually anything as long as it’s directly related to J-pop, and don’t worry, because this is the nice sort of genie, not the kind who will try to find a loop-hole and screw up your wish. So, what do you wish for???

I'd probably wish for Momusu (and H!P) to change their image a bit and after that magically become enormely popular again among the ordinary crowd in Japan.

2. Is there any J-pop artist or group who seriously pisses you off? If yes, who, and why?

No, not really... But note that in the end I don't know much about jpop. I'm only really familiar with H!P, AKB48 and Hikki and then I know all the biggest names but have never really listened to their music.

3. Who do you think is the sexiest japanese singer out there?

I'm sorry... But I really don't know! Not really familiar with the male singers...

4. How about the cutest?

Sayu! / Airi!

5. Best personality?

Yossy!

6. If given the opportunity, would you rather date person 3, person 4, or person 5?

Well, given the fact that I gave no-one for person 3 and girls for persons 4 and 5 I'd date Yossy out of them. But I'd rather date Onew from SHINee although he's Korean so he doesn't count.

7. You work for a Japanese music magazine, and you have the opportunity to interview your favorite artist or group. What are a couple of the questions you want to ask them?

I'd interview Gocchin... And I'd ask how she really feels, what her true intentions are... And why she left H!P in the first place: was it because of his brother's actions, or artistical differences, or a little bit of both? Or was it because of being overworked? Was the graduation planned ahead? If it was, why was her next single already been scheduled to be realeased? Is she happier now, does she wish that she'd left UFA earlier? And how does she want her career to continue from now on - is she really aiming to become one of the biggest or does she want to continue with modest success? How was being an idol like? Does she regret that she came into show business in the first place? Or does she wish that she'd signed up with AVEX or some other company and become a singer like Koda Kumi instead of becoming an idol?

8. What’s the best (J-pop) song to listen to when you are really sad?

I have many... I guess I'm sad a lot :P But the four most frequent would probably be:

I'm sorry but for some stupid reason I can't seem to embed from vox so you'll just have to click them and go to the audio page to listen to these. :( From left to right: Samishii Hi by Morning Musume, Masayume by Aa!, Samidare Koi Uta by W and Koi ING by Morning Musume.

I've already expressed my love for Masayume ("True Dream"), Samidare Koi Uta ("Early Summer Rain Love Song") is the most beautiful song ever (well not really) and I have the impression that everybody loves Koi ING ("Loving"), so I'll just talk about Samishii Hi ("Lonely Days").

IMO, Samishii Hi one of the most beautiful songs of Momusu ever, both music and lyric-wise. Just have a look at the lyrics (taken from Kiwi Musume's jpop lyrics site):

This song makes me cry every time! Why is it that you want to listen to sad songs when your sad, not to happy spirits-lifting songs? H!P makes way too few sad songs!

9. When you’re really happy?

Pretty much to anything, but mostly to HEY! Mirai and Ganbacchae! and Ai Araba IT'S ALL RIGHT and Genki Jirushi no Oomori Song and that kind of songs that tell you "It's okay to be weak and cry sometimes, as long as you try your best you'll be able to do anything!" H!P has a lot of that type of songs, anyone has noticed by chance? :P


10. Do you often sing along to your favorite songs?

All the time! Since Japanese is easy to pronunce for Finnish people, I remember most of the lyrics by heart. I even lipsynch when I'm listening to my iPod in the underground or tram...I must look mad. :D But lipsynching is better than singing aloud in public, isn't it?


11. How about dance?

Well some basic stuff like hand movements... For songs like Gag 100kaibun Aishite Kudasai. Then I have a few songs that I almost know the whole coreography (Tsukiatteru no ni Kataomoi, Waraccahou yo BOYFRIEND and EVERYDAY YEAH! Kataomoi) but I don't actually practice or try to figure them out so they probably have a lot of errors.

I think all H!P fans do this since their dance routines are so catchy. Everybody knows at least the "L"s in LOVE Machine.


12. Artistic integrity question!! If someone offered to pay you for blogging, but they were allowed to censor some of your opinions or veto some of your blogging ideas, would you do it?

There's no way that someone would offer me money... But I wouldn't accept it. Unless the amount was really big. Then I would. Blogging is not that important to me and I don't do it that frequently. So it wouldn't be a big deal. I don't have that many visitors anyway (I think, I don't want to put up any data collecting divices). I could just put up another blog where I could talk freely :P




My rule: never a post without a photo!

Morning Musume

Yossy

Yossy

She's starting to look more and more like she looked back then! Since she's the one I'm going to date according to this survey... Some more!

Yossy

Keichan and Yaguchi 10th H!P anniversary? Omedetou～!

Yossy

Yossy

And, since I finally bought her second photobook, my favourite photo form it! Please arrive soon!

Yossy!!!!

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This photo is here just to make me feel a bit better before I start...

SNSD

First af all I need to point out that I'm a total newbie to kpop and thus completely unaware of many facts and things that have happened in the past. If some facts are wrong - feel free to correct me. :) Everything I say is based on information that I've gathered by reading bits here and there so I might lack an overall view. I'm saying this just because the war that has been going on seems pretty cruel and I wish that if anyone that is somehow involved and also better informed than I am happens to read this entry doesn't just start picking on me. This is just my opinion and because I don't know much about everything that has happened my points of view can seem stupid to people who know more.

And BTW if there's a photo in this post that you think should be credited some way (most of them are taken from Soshified) just mention it in the comments and I'll add the credit.

I have been into SNSD (Girls' Generation) a while now. But being their fan is not that easy - especially if you don't want to hide in your own little corner but rather learn more about kpop.

I can't remember how I first got to know about SNSD, it might have been through H!P - Hello Non-Pro Hour but it took long after that post before I really got interested in them. I can't remember what it was that made me go back to them but I know that when I did I eventually fell in love with them. Comparing them to Momusu, I thought they were extremely professional and talented and overall on a completely different level. Don't get me wrong though, I still love Momusu and no matter how bad singers or dancers they are they'll always be the best for me because after all, their charm is somewhere completely different than in talent and skill. But going back to SNSD, I thought that I would finally have one group that other pop (idol) group lovers would take seriously and respect when it comes to singing and dancing. I admit that I have never read anything that really bashes Momusu or H!P but that's just because I've never been reading much other sites, blogs or forums about jpop, only those about H!P and there isn't naturally much hate towards them since those are created by fans. I still have a feeling that there are "serious music lovers" or Johnny's lovers or whatever that are into jpop but hate Momusu a lot and if not hate then at least laugh at it. And I thought that SNSD would be different from Momusu. I thought it would be up to par with other pop groups and respected just as the others are. I thought it would have teenaged girls as fans also in Korea, not just internationally. I thought that when I would watch concerts or TV performances I would hear fangirls screaming instead of low-pitched men voices shouting. (Not like I care about that though - after watching all those H!P concerts I'm so used to men's shouting voices that when I hear fangirls' screams they sound weird to me. :D)

Just how wrong was I.

Being such a newbie to kpop as I am I started looking for kpop news sites and blogs and such things to help me learn more about this entertainment bussiness so similar to but different from jpop. One of the first sites I found was ShenYuePop, a "Korean Entertainment News & Gossip" site. If you take a look at some of the articles concerning SNSD you'll be able to notice that the people writing for ShenYuePop are not positive about them at all. And what am I to say anything about that, people are free to hate anything they want. It just made me feel a bit bad - did I just find another "ridiculous" idol group which being a fan of is just completely stupid?

Well, knowing all that changed nothing: I'm still a huge fan of theirs. But even if I'm a fan I can still understand most of the points that are argued against them and even agree with some of them.

I guess the difference between the SNSD hate and the supposed Momusu hate (as I said I haven't seen anything like it because I'm only involved with other Momusu fans but I'm completely sure that it exists) is that the SNSD hate seems to be everywhere. I've been thinking about it and found some reasons that sound somewhat reasonable to me.

Popularity.

Momusu is quite a minor act in the Japanese entertainment industry nowadays no matter how much we would want them to be ruling the world or at least Japan. People who think they're a bunch of talentless celebrity-wannabes with a sex-oriented image aiming to rip off every penny from introverted middle-aged Japanese men can easily just pass by them with a shrug of shoulders, do the same for AKB48 and just not care and never think about either of these groups again. Momusu won't be endangering the top position in Oricon charts of their favourite artist's newest single or challenging any of jpop's major acts any other way either. They're just not worth any ultimate hate bacause they're too small to make any difference. I'm sure there are many people who are simply indifferent about them or, especially in Japan, just consider them as something very nostalgic - something they loved when they were children and whose music they still sing in karaoke eveytime they're drunk or having fun with their childhood friends. But something which would now be a bit humiliating to be a fan of now.

Whereas SNSD is probably at their peak - in spite of all the hate they're receiving they have a lot of fans too and their CDs have sold pretty well. They're getting a lot of promotion because they belong to SM Entertainment, the same agency that handles BoA and Super Junior and DBSK (or Tohoshinki or TVXQ or whatever). It's HUGE and has LOADS of money to put in artists they want to promote. One of the things that has irritated SNSD antifans is the fact that they've been promoted through DBSK and SuJu who are already really famous and popular. Such things as making commercials together, appearing on TV shows, being labeled as friends. I find it easy to believe that some of these people really are friends and I don't see anything bad in it. Neither do I see anything bad in SNSD being promoted by using SuJu's or DBSK's popularity. I think this trick has been used before (I've heard that SuJu was also promoted this way - they even made a joint single Show Me Your Love with DBSK back when they debuted. But this is where being a newbie comes in: I couldn't know if there was something that made that situation different from the situation of SNSD today because I wasn't around yet.) But there are people who see this in a different way: they think that SNSD is let go too easily, that they receive all the popularity without having to work hard. And as far as Korea (and Japan also) are concerned, working hard and doing one's best seems to be the most important thing if one wants to be respected.

If someone asks me, I think that they're sincerely doing their best. But how could I know. I never met them. And there are people who say that they sometimes act rude towards their fans and not always as idols should: being grateful and cheerful. Of course I wouldn't want to believe that, but it can be just as true as the sweet image we are offered. What if the sudden rise to stardom really has made some of these girls think too much about themselves? Even if it was (is) so, I wouldn't care. But many people do. Especially in Korea it seems. Being polite is after all just as important (or even more important it seems to me) as in Japan.

(But I do feel funny when international fans feel offended by things that matter in Korean culture but not in their own. I understand that Korean fans get mad when SNSD are not using formal speech when talking to seniors but seriously... Why would someone who lives in Europe or USA feel offended? It still seems that many do. Maybe I just don't take things as personally as other people... And as I said before, people are free to hate whatever they want. So they are also free to feel offended by whatever they feel like.)

A perfect example of "We're so cute and yes our skirts couldn't be much shorter"

Image.

Momusu's current image and SNSD's image are actually very similar. They're marketed as extremely cute but at the same time sexually appealing. When people criticize this kind of image I need to agree with them. It is indeed aimed to attract men (with short skirts and "panties-flashing" and stuff) and at the same time still be pure enough to pull of the "I'm a virgin!" thing (again to attract men) and be appropriate enough to be suitable for children and mass media. To me it seems quite hypocrite and double-standarded.

But in the end, am I not myself the most hypocrite one here? Am I not the one who loves Momusu and SNSD for their cute images? I am. Although I need to defend myself and say that I like the cute image a lot more when there's less sexiness around. Being sexy is nothing wrong (Early Momusu!) but the "cute 'n' sexy" is indeed not a very pretty combination especially when it's used for younger groups like °C-ute. (Yes, this is excatly where I'm being hypocrite, I love °C-ute after all.) But the Golden Era Momusu was actually quite non-sexy and marketed purely as "cute" (if people see sexiness in songs like Happy Summer Wedding, Morning Musume no Hyokkori Hyoutanjima, I WISH or Souda! We're ALIVE it's only in their heads, not in the PVs or whatever) and that's one of my favourite images for Momusu. Still, I love the miniskirts. But I would really like them to wear a bit more especially in concerts and please non-bikini photobooks too!!!

Anyway, although I kinda agree (in spite of still being drawn to the same image I consider as inappropriate) just bashing them for wearing too short skirts and being like "Oops! You saw my panties now! ^o^" is questionable too. After all, it's not like the groups with pure sexy images (although in my opinion all the Asian girl groups I'm familiar with have some cuteness in their image no matter how "pure sexiness" it is) are wearing anything much longer. In some cases they even wear significatly less than SNSD. And honestly I can't see much difference in the image Wonder Girls have in Tell Me and the image SNSD have in Into the New World. Especially SunMi And SoHee, the younger members of Wonder Girls, could easily fit in SNSD.

But maybe this is again because I'm a newbie and I can't see the subtle differences.

(About panties-flashing, I always feel like defending them by "They're not flashing anything! Look! They wearing shorts under their skirts you idiots!" (Photo from Soshistalker)

SNSD

But really, what's the difference? It doesn't matter if they're wearing shorts or not. Because the goal is still trying to make fanboys drool after their short skirts.)

To conclude, I don't think that their image is that different from other girl groups that don't get bashed. But I neither think that their image is all right even though I love it. (Momusu's image goes a lot further after all.)

But what makes this image seen so bad in Korea while in Japan I don't think it's that bad at all? I have no idea. But maybe it's again because SNSD is supposed to be up to par woth other pop groups. Unlike Momusu which is really starting to be an underground act (not really :DD and also that's a stupid term to use but I just mean similar to all those minor idol acts in Akihabara and also to gravure idols). SNSD instead can't just start being all "bikini porn" (like some fellow blogger hilariously described gravure idoling, I'm sorry I cannot remember who). They're supposed to have some dignity (even though most people seem to think they don't have any) so they can't just do anything.

But can anyone put any name of a current Momusu member and digninty in a same phrase? If you can, I'll bow.

Wow I've gone through so many things... But I bet some of you that aren't familiar with this are still wondering... "So why are they hated so much?" I seems that all of it originates from these various reasons I've gone through here. But what really has caught my eye is the supposed rudeness and bad behaviuor of these girls.

Here is one article about Tiffany that really shows all her bad sides. In my opinion it's a whole lot unfair but I don't want to offend the writer. I just find many parts unnecessary but if you write about someone you hate... You certainly won't write nice things.

And then there's the whole thing about this huge boycott towards SNSD they experienced recently in 2008 Dream Concert (a huge (charity?) concert where all the top artists of Korea perform). This article is also very biased. But I think it's very informative for all people who are not familiar with the situation to understand what kind of hate I'm talking about. Just be sure to consider everything you read yourself! There is also another one concerning this issue. After all this stuff about what's going on in Korea the article also lists everything that SNSD have done wrong according to Koreans and other people who have felt offended by their actions.

And in the end, SNSD had to do something - apologise. I say that it's good that they did it. Since so many people thought they did things wrong and felt so bad about them that they even organised that huge boycott I think it's mature to say you're sorry. In personal life too: you have to apologise sometimes when you don't feel like you've done anything wrong. If other people feel bad about your actions, it's not always about yourself but also about other people's feelings.

While I think that SNSD have been treated unfairly at some points, it's good that they're themselves trying to solve the issue rather than ignore everything (as I first thought they would do). They seem to admit now themselves some of the things that they've been accused of and since they're guilty they need to apologise. But there are things that I really wonder (maybe they're unclear to me because I'm so ignorant of Korean culture but still):

1. Aren't people who hurt other people supposed to apologised to them, not just randomly to everyone?
2. How is it possible that the same people who demand respect from SNSD  can be so disrespectful themselves? Are they any better then SNSD? Why can't people just do like my supposed Momusu haters and ignore them if they're so low instead of going down to the same level by acting disrespectfully themselves?

But I really think that a huge issue like this couldn't have just happened without a reason. There must be something behind it, and SNSD can't be totally innocent if they're so hated. But although I know that most of the antis will not accept this apology (and who am I to blame them for that, how could anyone know if this is sincere or not and if it's written by themselves or forced to them by their agency that's trying to defend their image) at least these girls tried. And that's what means to me, as a fan.

One thing that stood out to me in the end of that apology post in ShenYuePop is the fact that they're wanting SNSD fans apologise too. And there are also people who want SNSD to apologise also in behalf of their fans. At first it sounds weird doesn't it? This is about the group, not the fans right? How does fans' actions make the group any worse or disrespectful?

The idea behind this that I've been represented in many places is that "Fans make or break the artists". I think this is a very interesting view to idols and to entertainment industry overall that I haven't been familiar with before. As they probably mentioned somewhere the (Korean) SNSD fans are considered to be quite violent. There are rumours of rapes and beat ups (in the Dream Concert and also before it) and although I firmly believe that most of them are false there might have been some violence and at least the threathens some SNSD fans have left in various places in the net are true. I believe this is actually not very different from the way some antis act (like the infamous event of an antifan girl making U-know of DBSK very sick by giving him a drink mixed with superglue) but violence is always unforgivable. I really think there's something wrong with Korean society when teenagers and a little bit older fans too put so much in their fandoms. I don't believe there are many people in Finland who would ever be violent towards any starts or because of them. I'm not saying that there isn't violence at all in here - just a few weeks ago there was an incident where about 200 teenagers who were hanging out in a park after a huge free concert and suddenly started to throw rocks and glass bottles at the police with no obvious reason. The difference is that nobody accused the artists that performed in that concert for the violence. And also none of those young people involved argued that they were fighting because of some artist.

My point is that violence will never be avoided, it's something that is part of human nature. But why do these fans in Korea get so passionate about their favourite artists (or, in case of antis, their most loathsome artists) that they're ready to perform extreme actions in order to make other people love/hate those artists or punish people who don't agree with them or even hurt the artists themselves? It's almost like football hooliganism! But even creepier because they don't just settle for raging but they also attempt murders and threathen the artists with such things as kicking them in the stomach so long that they won't be able to have babies (although there are so many versions that I don't know anymore who said this and to who)? The same goes for the crazy Johnny's fangirls with blowpipes! And the crazy H!P fanboys (men) burning CDs and photos!

This really leads me thinking if this fucked-up idol culture is worth existing at all...

Anyway, I think that SNSD is only guilty for the things they do themselves, not the horrible things their fans do and should be not hated for those. And only completely mad people do such violent actions without any provocation (although being provoked doesn't by any means make violence more acceptable) so there's some guilt in someone else too. Being guilty of loathing and threathening doesn't go for SNSD fands only, there are fans of every group out there who do such things. So if the the SNSD fans are to apologise so are all the other fans who have acted hatefully too. It's not like there only one quater that has caused all this mess. There are many people to blame.

As for international SNSD fans, they've probably not beaten anyone but there are some that have been extremely rude. But also in here, they are not the only rude ones. SNSD have been bashed a lot and it's no wonder that people who are emotionally attached to them are angry. But just one thing: no matter how offended and angry you feel by something or no matter how much you hate something, if you're a civilized person you don't just go around and start to run down everyone. People who hate SNSD are free to say it aloud and even make a big deal out of it, but they don't have to take to the astronomical hights it is now in. And SNSD fans are not any better if they start acting similarly and bash other people. If you want people to act respectufully towards SNSD the solution is certainly not to act disrespectfully towards the SNSD bashing people.

So in my opinion. It would be the best if EVERYONE (who's done something wrong) would just apologise. After that everyone's free to hate and love anything want, but I just wish people would stay polite in at least some level so that they needn't to have this kind of open war that's going on right now. Another option is that NO-ONE apologises because everybody's guilty and everybody could just decide we're now even and move on.

Just please, the war that's on right now is ridiculous. I'd be insanely happy if it could end and I, as a kpop fan that wants to learn about all the groups instead of taking one side, could peacefully go on and continue expanding my fandom. For the end, I just want to quote soyboy from ShenYuePop who said excellently:

"Hopefully, the Cartel fans’ boycott will be a reminder to all stars and their respective fan clubs, not just SNSD and Soshi, that if you want RESPECT, then you should give it first."

I'm just so glad that jpop is not this full of bashing and craziness (it's not like it's limited just to SNSD, all the groups and artists seem to have their fair share of antifans)!

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Takara no Hako

(Here's something for you to listen to while reading my utterly long post. Am I the only one who loves the pinku-duo? :P After this it'll be no use ever again to claim that in an idol I look for a good singing voice.)

TADADA-A! My birthday present (anybody remember anymore? :)) arrvied actually over a month ago :D but I haven't been able to post about it. So now I shall (it took me ten days to write this :D). Here it is:

My birthday present to myself

Can you guess what it is? I'll give you a hint. The reason why I finally started blogging (I had been planning it for a while) and why I started my blog here in vox is this. A long time ago (okay, it hasn't been such a long time :P) MorningBerryx decided to hold a draw for two great j-pop items, Arashi's concert tour DVD an Morning Musume's "Sweet Morning Box 2002". As a result two lucky persons got a wonderful a Christmas present. I wasn't one of them (:( unlucky me) but to be able to enter the draw I had to create an account here in vox. And this is how my blog was born. :)

Anyway, after that MorningBerryz also made entries about the other "Sweet Morning Box " Momusu Christmas collectibles from years 2003 and 2004. I was immediately drawn to these great collections of interesting and unique Momusu goods. These really are the most complex H!P collectibles I've ever seen! But as MorningBerryz mentions in the other post these were unfortunately released only during the years 2002-2004.

However, after looking around in Yahoo Auctions Japan I found out that the first "Sweet Morning Box" was actually released in 1999 with the LOVE Machine line-up available only to Fan Club members. Shortly after that the person from whom I usually buy H!P stuff in eBay put up this thing. I was able to win it at only 15.50 dollars! (The fact that the box wasn't sealed and that the shipping fee was huge didn't bother me at all. :)) So this is what I ended up with: "Morning Musume. Sweet Morning box 2000"! ★☆★

Morning Musume Sweet Morning Box 2000

Although it's a million times more simple than the later releases MorningBerryz has got I'm extremely happy with it and it's justifiably the shining jewel of my H!P collection! Because I love all of it I'll start with the cover of the box.

covers

This box is beautifully designed right from the beginning: once you remove the red cover another, green one appears. The picture is very cute: Momusu choir with Yuuko as the conductor! Can you recognise them all? :D Remeber that this is from th year 2000 - the 4th gen had just joined the same year.

Why is Yuuko by herself? Is she too scary?

Ahh, that's why... She's conducting the choir.

It's not too hard is it? :) I think Gocchin's the cutest one here. For some odd reason Nacchi's not cute at all even though in real life she's as sweet as sugar! But let's open this "takara no hako" of mine :). ♪♪

My treasure box...

Looks good doesn't it? :)

...and all its contents!

As you might have already noticed the cover of the box tells us everything there is inside it. All in all it makes seven different items:

1. X'mas Message Video
2. Special Trading Card x3
3. Deck of Playing Cards
4. Year Plate 2000
5. Special Mini X'mas Tree
6. Ornament x10
7. Message Card

Isn't it great? ♪

I will review these items in this given order. First up is the "X'mas Message Video". BTW, although this box was open when I bought it all the goods inside were sealed and so was this VHS too. However I couldn't resist opening and watching it. ☆ As you all probably know VHS aren't very hard-wearing so I'm thinking of taking it to one of these places were they'll transfer it to DVD. My parents are going to do so with some of our old VHS and I think maybe they will be kind enough to take this at the same time. :)

I have no knowledge of how to rip a VHS myself and put it in computer so unfortunately I don't have the chance to upload this video anywhere. I can't even share screencaps as much as I'd like to. :( I can only tell about the content of this video and show scans of the case.

X'mas Message Video (front)

Aibon's wearing some amazing hair extensions isn't she? :O I wonder why they aren't smiling properly, Christmas is supposed to be a happy event isn't it? I can imagine a similar shot with the current Momusu... It would probably be something more like this.

Morning Musume

Flashing peace signs and looking ridiculously happy. :) Now, that's what idols are supposed to look like! I couldn't deny though that the Morning Musume of 2000 is just as cute as the current one even if it's a lot more serious. :)

The video is basically a making of. I don't know what the running time is because I didn't count when I watched this and it isn't written anywhere but it was more than an hour. First we're treated with some footage from a photoshoot (all the girls look incredibly cute!). The photoshoot is the same one where these case photos (and the trading cards which I will show you next) are from. (The next photo is even cuter than the last one! I love their clothes. :) So 90's :P)

X'mas Message Video (back)

X'mas Message Video (side)

After the short photoshoot footage there are individual interviews from all these girls. I don't understand Japanese so I can't tell what they're saying. :/ From my VERY limited understanding I can say that the questions asked are something like "What was the highlight of the year 2000?" and so on. In the end of their interviews eveyone gives a short message to the viewer (who supposedly is a fan club member as this is a fan club release). I have to say it once more: they are all extremely cute! I had to scan the other side of this VHS too because they're incredibly cute!!!

I just got an idea: I promise that from now on, on my every birthday I will buy myself one of these "Sweet Morning Boxes" as a birthday present and eventually, after five years, when I turn 23 I will own them all. Isn't that a great idea? ♥ I'm loving it already. :P

Shall I move onto the trading cards now? I'm having trouble of finding something to say about the video because I can't share any of it. So maybe I'll just move on. :)

Special Trading Card x3

Here are the next great items included with the box! I'm a trading card girl; I always collect the photocards that come with limited editions and first presses and I even have two trading card albums for Momusu trading cards I've bought via Internet: one for normal trading cards and one for bromides (that one's extremely fullt though. So I absolutely love these. I scanned them too in order for you to see better. :) First the front sides and then the back sides.

Whoa the Momusu choir makes another surprise appearance! Now you should at least be able to recognise every memeber from the drawn pictures. You even have a parallel in the other side of the card. :) They are standing in the same order except for Yuuko Santa who's in her sleigh. Plese bring me lots of gifts next Christmas Yuuko Santa!

BTW, all these girls look as adorable as ever. Have I mentioned it yet? I love the third card best because of its great backside. Yossy, Marippe and Gocchin have great poses! The first one is great too again because of the back. The photos have a kind of home photo album feel to them which makes them special. The setting behind is the same where the interviews were shot.

I wonder if these cards where the same in all boxes? I guess so, but just what makes them "trading cards" if everyone has the same cards...?

Next maybe my second favourite thing in the whole box... Douzo!

Deck of Playing Cards

A deck of Momusu playing cards! Isn't the case hilarious? :) I really don't get that snowman. Unless it's Makoto of course. :) (You know which Makoto I'm talking about. Alhough I think he wasn't MCing H!P concerts yet at this point.)

This case is something I've never seen. It has the most unique way of opening. It's genius though, it prevents the case from being damaged when opening. Sometimes I think I'd like them to have something like this in the CD slip cases too, they always tend to fold when I open them...

Unique, isn't it?

Can you see how it opens? I think it's great! The folds are there already so the case remains decent-looking.  No you can see the contens already can't you? :) Here it comes (I scanned the hearts because the pictures are the same in all the suits and hearts are the cutest ♥):

Cards back

It's the choir again!

Cards 1

Aibon is given the position of Ace as the cards feature the members from the youngest to the oldest. Isn't Nono cute? It's always hard to realise that Gocchin was actually the third youngest in the group at this time...

Cards 2

Then it's everybody's beloved Yossy, Charmy and Marippe. For some reason Rikachan's looking very young throughout all these goods. Maybe it's just because she really was very young. :P

Cards 3

Nacchi looks incredibly sweet... And Yuuko continues to stand out with that blond hair of hers. :) She's so funny.

Now I have the court cards left. They feature different girls in different suits so I scanned them all. :) Please pay attention to details - you may find some little things that are different from the rest. :)

Cards 4

Cards 5

Did you notice something missing...?

I THOUGHT SO. SO DID I and I was still surprised. :DD BANG!!!

Cards 6

BANG!!!

Cards 7

Which one is scarier? :DD I might vote for Kaorin - Yuuko looks just plain disgusted. XD

These playing cards are just great. However, I'm never going to use them. Who would like to have a deck of dirty, torn cards? Not me at least.

Now to my biggest favourite! You can see the package (it's the choir again) in the photo of all the goods from this box. The white cardboard case contains something that's really precious to me...

Year Plate 2000

Tada-a! It was extremely hard to take a photo without any reflects but I did my best... At least I got a photo where all the drawings are well visible. Isn't it lovely? I really, REALLY like it! All the girls are really good at drawing, but some of my favourites are Marippe's incredibly cute angel choir, Aibon's peach head that reminds me of Momo's drawings (they have a very similar style don't they?) and Yossy's little Father Christmas. :) Gocchin's Santa is quite hilarious and Nono's little creatures - well, weird. :P I don't get what their doing. But I must announce that the winner is

YUUKO WTF? I don't get her drawing at all! XD Maybe it helped if I understood the text. As for now, to me it looks like a chibi-Yuuko crying out for help for getting married. ;P

I just have to say again that this particular piece is just incredible. You may enjoy the photo - I'm certainly not giving this to anybody! :D

Next up is the Special Mini X'mas Tree. I have to say that this was maybe the one to impress me the most. As you all may know today's Japan is full of plastic stuff - everything just seems to be made of plastic. There are a lot of throwaway things. So, I was very pleased to see this:

Special Mini X'mas Tree

It even contains real cones! The tree itself is plastic, of course, but in a non-annoyning way that really pleases me. And the stand is real wood. I just love this and I'll be sure to use it next Christmas to decorate my room! It's so pretty!

Well, nothing more to say - and this post is already unforgettably long - so I'll move on! Ladies and Gentlemen: Ornament x10!

Ornament x10

Ornament x10

I don't have much to say about these... only that I wish I that these actually contained actual photos of the girls themselves, not these choir girls again... They're cute nevertheless but I won't use them. :) I'll include bigger photos just in case you want to take a closer look.

There are they. And now for the last one: Message Card!

Message Card

Do you know what this is? Obviously a Message Card, right, but what does it do?

The choir gets its fair share again, because this thing sings. Well of course it doesn't actually sing, it plays. No more and no less than We Wish You a Merry Christmas in a very annoying whiny sound that sounds like a ringtone. Well I bet you all know how singing cards sound like.

I was having a hard time trying to get good photos of its inside without opening it too much because I didn't want it to play, but evetually I had to open it completely. To my great pleasure, although, it played the tune only once and then remained silent. So I was able to get good photos of it after all.

Message Card inside

All your hand are belong to Andla@. :P Anyway, this is how it looks like

Message Card greetings

and here what they said. Again no idea but I like Kei's lips. :P

And a little closer look to the already famous choir which is singing with its whiny ringtone voice.

Message Card choir

But wow! This time it really is them! :O

You know, that was it. ☆ See you next time (I have time to write anything. I have a job now, you know, so that I could afford to buy H!P stuff :P.) 

Because it's already full of photos nobbody's gonna care if I put one more. I support you Gocchin, through the hard times with your family! I hope you'll be able to start working soon!

Gocchin's blog's banner

Beautiful Gocchin

Gocchin's totally badass banner and wait! I accidentally put two pictures. ♥

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So today is a major day for me. Yossy's birthday, Airi's birthday, Gomaki Ganbare! Day and the last part of Aibon's interview (excuse me for still calling her that. For me she'll forever be Aibon no matter who much she changes). So to all my four beloved idols something is happening today.

I had planned to do a long post about them. But let's put all that aside. Why? Because

1. I've got a shitload of schoolwork again and no time for blogging
2. I'm stunned. And I'm A WAY MORE stunned that I was with Namida no Iro.

Just... how great is this? And (I NEVER swear!) why the fuck didn't they have this as the main version? May I ask? Just what is the logic behind this? I know that everyone else is thinking the same. But I still cannot understand...

Aichan

Aichan looks genuinely lonely. This scene... the way she gulps... She really made me almost cry. Gaki and Reina were great (can you say that in this case?) too. Actually... I don't think I'll be able to write anything smart now. So I'll leave that for the good writers.

Just... When will they learn to do stuff in widescreen?

I feel bad for not featuring any of those for I mentioned first. I love you all! You're my top four, can you hear?! (Though Aichan... you might be number five now...) I'll put one of my favourite photos of each one. ♪

Happy Birthday Yossy!

Happy Birthday Airichan!

I love you Aibon!

Gomaki Ganbare!

Wow, Gocchin was a hard one since I don't have any favourite photos of her. Probably because she's always gorgeous :P (though so are all of these girls!). In the end I decided to put a funny one because I love those jeans to death.

Actually, these photos tell quite well the images I have of each of these girls. Unfortunately I'll have to change my image of Aibon since that's what she wants... But since a picture tells more than a thousand words, I'm convinced not to try to say anything more but to read my love for these girls in the photos.

PS. People at Hello!Online translated Aibon's blog entries. I love them! ♥♥

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18 ～My Happy Birthday Comes～

W

Yay, I turned 18 yesterday... And I had so much school work I couldn't do the post I was intending to do... But at least I get to post this great song now, a day too late. If I only could find a translation...

But let's put that aside, I got myself a great birthday present! :) I won't be revealing what it is just yet (something to do with H!P? Of course you baka) but when it arrives I will be examinating it closely. It's great. ♥ Also I got a lot of money and on the "what-to-get-first"-list there are Buono!'s singles and Gocchin's, Ongaku Gatas' and Momusu's latest albums. (Yeah, I haven't got SEXY 8 BEAT yet. Lame, isn't it?). And of course Resonant Blue, which will be the first thing ever I'll buy as soon as it's released. Or even preorder as soon as it's revealed what the bonus DVDs will include.

I haven't been writing much lately and so I actually have a lot to catch up with. Just when I find time I will post of many things. Now I just don't have the time.

But now I'm waiting for my birthday present (oh, it will take weeks) and crying for happiness and WAITING FOR TOMORROW when we'll at last now what she's up to.

I love you Gottsuan.

Gocchin