Souvenir From Bangkok - Morning Musume 10 Years Anniversary Book
On to the brighter side of things. I went on a company trip to Bangkok, at the end of last month. We explored the shopping district in the heart of the city, including the pride of Bangkok - Siam Paragon. Came across a Kinokuniya chain store, and of course I alone walked in. While it's amusing to see Martha Stewart's cookbook written in Thai, there's only one shelf in the store that caught my attention.
I don't know about the others, but I have never see such a collection of Hello! Project photobooks for sale in the Kinokuniya store in my city. There are some old ones, as you can see. I must say that Tanaka Reina's photobook "Girl" is the most tempting of them all, and it's the last one on the shelf. In the end, I settled for this -> Morning Musume Tanjyou 10 Years Anniversary Book
It is a mook (hybrid of magazine and book) with full illustrated periodical of Morning Musume's works with B.L.T. for the past 10 years. From the early days of debut single Morning Coffee till the latest single Onna ni Sachi Are.
It also contained a collection of interviews of 21 girls of Morning Musume past and present, with lots of off-screen pictures. For the current Morning Musume lineup, each girl have a 2 page interview, except the Pandas Jyun Jyun and Lin Lin who had 1 1/2 page.
As for the OG (Old Girls), they look absolutely fantastic and evergreen, and everyone gets a 2 page interview. Except for 3 girls who are given a 1 page interview - Fujimoto Miki, Tsuji Nozomi, and Ogawa Makoto. Yup, Ogawa is in there too, which makes me wonder when did they begin producing this mook. She has a message in the mook in English - "I expect I'm still singing and dancing in 10 years!!" Judging from her column, I assume that UFA and MM girls are still in touch with her, and I think she'll be coming back soon. ^_^
As for Mikitty and Nono, well, I guess it's understandable. And yes, Kago Ai is NOT in there. :(
One thing though, because I bought this mook before Goto Maki saga began, before Gomaki announced her graduation I was fascinated with Gomaki's interview column. Now it takes on a different meaning. Take this quote from Gomaki for instance:
Ever since my debut (with Morning Musume), all our songs were always at number one spot in the charts, so I didn't know how significant it was to be at number one. I was taking it for granted. But when I reached number one as a solo, I was surprised and so happy. The feeling of reaching that number one spot as Goto Maki was different.
Before, after reading that I thought that maybe Gomaki is still competitive to be at her best and really appreciated the fruits of hard work. Now I feel as if she had given up, or maybe tire of the chase to be the best.
Well anyways... in conclusion, although I'm feeling a bit of regret of not getting Reina's PB (due to money constraints), but I'm still happy with this purchase. A little bit of everyone still makes me happy.
Some snapshots:
a little bit of Eri by my side,
a little bit of Risa is all I need,
a little bit of Reina is what I see.
A little bit of...."
More information on Morning Musume Tanjyou 10 Years Anniversary Book
10 comments:
Risa is the most beautiful thing in H!P right now.
I always liked her, but as the time goes by she get more beautiful and still the same smile, the same sense of humor. She was the reason the I keept in touch with H!P world after Aibon's leaving.
Is Aibon the only Momusu that don't appear in the book?
Thanks for the post! I didn't know they just published this very nice book! I agree Risa (and Nacchi) is the most beautiful in H!P (because Maki left). Am I biased? Yes. :)
hey jin, thanks for reminding me of this beauty, I really wish I had it, as it's something to fill my nostalgic needs.
I really enjoyed the gomaki quote you added too, as I could play around with it for eternity.
also, haha, the Bangkok thing caught my eye too. Went for Business right?
@xacur... glad you stuck around for Momusu as I did. I was devastated with Aibon's case as well... anyways, she's not the only ex-Momusu missing from the mook. Only those who are still with UFA are included. Which means Fukuda Asuka, Ishiguro Aya, Sayaka Ichii and Kago Ai are not in there. I guess it makes sense... (^_^)
@gaki-san2001... That's alright... cos' we Gaki-san fans are always biased. Go Mame~~~~! (^o^)/
@wu-san... ah yes, the accurate term to describe this mook is "nostalgic". Thanks for that~~~ ^_^
Looking back at the covers of Morning Coffee costumes, the summer shuffle units, the defunct sub-units (Tanpopo, PucchiMoni, MiniMoni) gave me the goosebumps... ^_^. And no, it's not a business trip, just a holiday trip sponsored by my company. Of course, none of my colleagues could comprehend/share my interest in H!P stuff... (-_^)
mentioning those shuffle and sub-units really takes me back, I wasnt a mini moni fan, apart from Mari having been in it, but I enjoyed the idea behind Tanpopo and PucchiMoni was pretty good I thought. I'm sure I'd get those goosebumps, too :P
I agree about Jun Jun and the Kawaii pretty thing heheh
ah a holiday, well thats even better then, on holiday and finding something H!P. Ah, so your colleagues are kept in the dark about your life as a H!P fan, or maybe even j-pop fan in general? ;)
Maybe it's just me, but there's something creepy about the photobook concept. While I very much appreciate the music and DVDs of these groups, I'm just not enthusiastic about stockpiling photos on them. Am I missing something?
That looks awesome. To me, H!P's best way of making tons of money now is PBs. Even the H!P kids are making them like crazy. xD
Mick, Barks in Japan spent the day with Musume and has a large interview on it in Japanese .
They review the new single and talk about the day at Haromoni and Aican`s influence on the group and the show`s production.
Barks
http://www.barks.jp/news/?id=1000035544
http://www.barks.jp/news/?id=1000035539
PS-I am a Gaki-san fan as well .
Ack, maybe not the most fitting entry to say this but it's good to have this blog back up on running. I hadn't quite given up on this place yet (it was still on my favourites list!) and it's great to se you back again.
@wu-san... nah, my colleagues knows that i'm a japanoholic alright, but they just did not know how deep my passion runs. (^_^;)
@RadP... think of it as a discography of their past works. even if it is magazine covers... (^_^)
@Anna... Some H!P kids are still left out, Maimai's gotta have one soon. Funny how we still call them "kids" though. Because from the looks of the recently released PBs, they aren't kids anymore... (^o^)b
@Anon... thanks for the links to the articles! (^_^)/ It was very insightful. I haven't watched Haromoni in a while though...
@cookie holiday... thanks! it's good to be back... though I am still a little behind on current events. but i'll be catching up! (^o^)/
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