Author Archive
To the entire IntlWota community, both contributors and readers,
I have had a lot on my plate the past few months, both personally and professionally, and felt that I could handle completing two major writing projects this year as well as operating the Pagoda and So Hot She Shits Fire and planning for my wedding in 2010 while also contributing to International Wota.
To make a long story short, I need to lighten my load for awhile. Professionally, my book projects and my own blogs have to come first. Therefore, I am going to take an extended leave of absence as an active contributor to IntlWota to concentrate on those. I’ll still be contributing to the J-Blogosphere via the Pagoda and SHSSF, and I do hope to return to contributing to IW at some point, but my own priorities need to take precedence over everything else.
Much love to everyone on the IW staff and my fellow bloggers, and especially Ray and pengie for their encouragement and support.
I shall return, but I have work to do first. 
CJ Marsicano
CJ Marsicano • May 1st, 2008
Blogs • 2 Comments
Recommended viewing. Son of Gigan has four pro-shot live videos of the all-girl instrument-wielding quartet SCANDAL as evidence for those that haven’t had a chance to check these four rocking schoolgirls out yet.
CJ Marsicano • Apr 29th, 2008
Eyecandy, Pop Idols, Punk, Recommended, Rock • No Comments
Kago Ai Official Blog: Translations 2008.04.25 - 2008.04.27
Hello!Online has the translations of some of Ai Kago’s latest blog posts. While many of her blog entries have bordered on the mundane (her cooking, her diet, her movie viewing habits) since she started blogging, there have been the occasional nugget. This time around, Aibon relates how she met Winona Ryder during her time in Los Angeles, and also promises tales of some other people she met during her California sabbatical.
CJ Marsicano • Apr 27th, 2008
Blogs • No Comments
L’Arc Paris concert to be broadcast live in theaters
From Tokyograph: L’Arc en Ciel’s forthcoming concert debut in Paris is apparently a major milestone for the band, so much so that they’re going to give their home country’s fans a chance to witness the event in select movie theatres as well as buy merchandise from the same concert. The only caveat is that, thanks to the time difference between France and Japan, the theatre simulcast will be occurring at the decidedly un-rock-and-roll hour of 10 AM.
CJ Marsicano • Apr 27th, 2008
Concerts, News, Noteworthy, Rock • No Comments
Perfume announces first Budokan shows in November
From Tokyograph: No sooner does Perfume kick off their first tour since the release of GAME, than they announce that they’ll be performing two shows on their own at Budokan in November, the historic sumo venue that has also been a legendary music venue in Japan since the Beatles performed there in 1964. “On their own”, of course meaning that they’ll be the only act on the bill, not singing acapella.
CJ Marsicano • Apr 27th, 2008
Blogs, News, Noteworthy • No Comments
Pic of the Day “I Will The Night” Edition
Pic of the Day “Caption This” Edition
I haven’t done a new post at SHSSF for a little while (I have more pictures than ideas at this point), but fellow Tanakachii worshipper Langdon picks up the slack in my absence, first unable to resist a pun on Reina’s Engrish shirt from her new Tanakamesen, then challenging readers to think of their own captions for another pic of the Wonkylicious one. Judging from the second picture, I think Reina has her squirt gun loaded with bleach…
CJ Marsicano • Apr 27th, 2008
Blogs, Eyecandy, Hello! Project • No Comments
Best Dream Ever
New Acquisitions (April 25, 2008)
A double delight from Charmy as she settles into her new cyberoffice. She shares a dream about Atsuko Inaba that made her day, then in the Recommended Reading department, she makes a short but well-written case for the virtues of legal downloading, as inspired by her recent aquisition of a new iPod and an iTunes card to help fill it. With more H!P and other J-Pop showing up on US iTunes, it’s worth keeping in mind.
CJ Marsicano • Apr 26th, 2008
Blogs, Hello! Project, Recommended • 3 Comments
Where is facepalm.jpg when you need it?
Gray shares some frustrations with Wikipedia and their half-assed policies, using his attempts to correct Hitomi Yoshizawa’s entry there as a prime example. Speaking from experience, considering how far Wikipedia has been going down the shitter since Jim Wales started getting bad copyright and legal advice from his retainers, this should be no surprise to anyone. Believe me, Gray, there’s a lot of that going around; For me, it’s just a reminder of why I stopped contributing to that site last year.
CJ Marsicano • Apr 26th, 2008
Blogs, Hello! Project, Rants • 4 Comments
At his Mittsi worship blog, Ray shares a streaming clip from the Haromoni@ episode where Aika’s victory during a game caused Li Chun to cry, and theorizes a scenario where Aika could replace Ai Kago as the mischievous bitch of the band. All I know is, after watching this clip, I wanted to give poor JunJun a hug. Aika, stop being cruel to the Pandas!
CJ Marsicano • Apr 23rd, 2008
Blogs, Hello! Project • No Comments
Recommended reading. The lovely miss Vee devotes an article to what is undoubtedly one of Melon Kinenbi’s most popular songs (if not THE most popular MKB song). She presents and dissects four different performances of “This is Unmei” with the attention to detail and love for music that is Vee’s trademark, including a 2005 performance that also involves the entire H!P locker room, and an early live version that is also notable for the crowd surfing that breaks out.
CJ Marsicano • Apr 13th, 2008
Blogs, Eyecandy, Hello! Project, Recommended • No Comments
Recommended reading. At The Best In J-Pop, Rad laments Aika Mitsui’s recent hip injury, and his particular analytical style leads him to wonder if Hello! Project’s onstage presentations are too strenuous. On a side note in the same piece, he wonders if Nozomi Tsuji’s leg injury in 2006 may have led, however indirectly, to the fall of W.
(To answer one of the questions he indirectly poses in the article, Makoto Ogawa had inujured either her hip or her ankle - I forget which - during rehearsals for the 2003 Shuffle Unit performances, as she did at least two live TV appearances sitting on a barstool while the rest of Salt5 did the choreography for “Get Up! Rapper”.)
CJ Marsicano • Apr 9th, 2008
Blogs, Hello! Project, Recommended • 2 Comments
Recommended reading. The news that Avril Lavigne is going to write (or at least be given songwriting credit alongside Butch Walker on) the forthcoming Puffy AmiYumi single “All Because of You”, isn’t sitting well with many Puffy fans, including Jeff at the Puffy blog AmiYumidas. Jeff links several other reactions (including a thread about the single and collaboration at fan site PuffyAmiYumiWorld.com and this editor’s “nasty and NSFW blog post” on the subject) to back up his assertion that Avril isn’t qualified to be involved with anything within a 100-mile radius of Puffy, and also advises Ami and Yumi not to make a big deal out of the collaboration because of Avril’s repeatedly tarnished reputation.
CJ Marsicano • Apr 2nd, 2008
Blogs, Fan Sites, Pop Idols, Punk, Rants, Recommended, Rock, Snark • 10 Comments
Eyecandy: Koha in Gold Outfit
Eyecandy: Aika in Gold Outfit
Recommended ogling. Our patriarch Ray returns to his own MoMusu worship blogs with pics of new gold outfits for the Miracle Beam and Miss Mittsi.
(Hey, how come I didn’t see a pic of Reina in the same outfit to post on So Hot She Shits Fire?)
CJ Marsicano • Mar 30th, 2008
Blogs, Eyecandy, Hello! Project, Recommended • No Comments
Samantha debuts at her new home (another resident at the house of IW) and kicks off version 2.0 of her blog with some suggestions for Morning Musume, C-ute and Berryz Koubou before before devoting her attention to AKB48. While she makes interesting points, her suggestion that one of the most talented vocalists in MoMusu be graduated ASAP in favor of the still-learning Pandas is way far-fetched.
CJ Marsicano • Mar 25th, 2008
Blogs, Hello! Project • No Comments
[Review Pt. 1] Yeah, I Would’ve Kept it a Secret Too
[Review Pt. 2] Yeah, I Would’ve Kept it a Secret Too
Highly recommended reading. The lovely miss Vee lovingly dissects Ayumi Hamasaki’s latest concert DVD at Pink Wota, presenting both detailed analysis, plenty of screencaps, and throwing in some expert comparisons to other recorded live renditions. And these are only the first two parts of this series - a Pt. 3 is already in the works.
CJ Marsicano • Mar 20th, 2008
Avex Trax, Blogs, Eyecandy, Pop Idols, Recommended • No Comments
While the lovely miss Vee readies a new article for Pink Wota (and recovers from a hectic work week), she decides to share with the entire J-Pop Blogosphere a fanvid she created where she recreates the dance to Buono!’s “Honto No Jibun”, a clip she previously shared only with friends on her personal LJ. After I had first seen the clip when she posted it there, it was her dancing, not that of Airi and company that I had forever associated with the song. There’s also a good piece of advice that she shares with us as well:
J-Pop is and Should Be Fun.
A-fuckin’-men.
CJ Marsicano • Mar 9th, 2008
Blogs, Eyecandy, Hello! Project • No Comments
‘Assessing relative contributions of factors influencing singles sales’ or ‘Look! Pretty graphs!”
Even though Jin played mythbuster over “Mikan”’s sales figures at HNPH awhile ago, Celestia seems hell-bent on trying to prove Morning Musume is on a decline while Berryz are on a climb, conveniently omitting such factors as “Mikan”’s total sales to date actually being pretty close to other recent releases, and Oricon only counting certain points of sale (Japanese retail chains, CDJapan) and not sales through iTunes Japan (and whatever legal download services are there) and YesAsia. Not to be mean or anything, but does Celestia ever write about the quality of the music?
CJ Marsicano • Mar 1st, 2008
Blogs, Hello! Project • 24 Comments
[Eye Candy] Dschingis Khan Covers
Recommended ogling. Vee has the front covers of both editions of Berryz Koubou’s single posted. Suffice it to say that if you thought the Berryz were getting hotter as they matured, one of the covers will confirm that. As for the other, I’ll let Vee tell it:
If your eyes don’t go immediately to Yurina, something is wrong.
CJ Marsicano • Feb 22nd, 2008
Blogs, Eyecandy, Hello! Project, Pop Idols • No Comments
Fujimoto Miki to star in new stage play (Hello!Online)
Miki Fujimoto stars in first play (Tokyograph)
Miki Fujimoto’s post-MoMusu comeback continues with news that she’ll be making her stage debut in a revival of the play “Hanaka”.
CJ Marsicano • Feb 22nd, 2008
Hello! Project, News, Noteworthy • No Comments
[Review] Cafe Buono is Essentially Love
Recommended reading of some recommended listening. The lovely Ms. Vee has a wonderfully articulate track-by-track review of Buono!’s debut album. And I thought I was the only one who ever dared mention Iggy Pop and Hello! Project in the same breath!
CJ Marsicano • Feb 21st, 2008
Blogs, Hello! Project • 1 Comment
Shuukan Gendai MoMusu love scoop: Eri Kamei’s Old Flame Speaks Out
From the looks of this, Eri wisely chose her career over a relationship, and this fucking scumbag decided to run to one of the Japloids for a few quick yen in “revenge”. One line in this report from Hello! Online says it all:
He added that after dating [Eri] for a little over a year back in high school they haven’t kept in touch with each other. But he hasn’t stopped supporting her. If that’s true, why did he sell her out?
CJ Marsicano • Feb 19th, 2008
Hello! Project, News, Noteworthy • 6 Comments
[Review] Date Kouji Can’t Stop ROCKING
Recommended reading. Vee is hooked on the Date Kouji album Gyakkou so badly that she can’t help but sit down and write a detailed review, throwing in a couple of downloads for the uninitiated.
CJ Marsicano • Feb 17th, 2008
Blogs, Pop Idols • No Comments
Pic of the Day “More Rika Than You Can Shake Your Stick At” Edition
Langdon has preview pics from Rika Ishikawa’s forthcoming photobook Kazahana (via a magazine spread). Apparently the impending breakup of Viyuden won’t mean we won’t get to see Charmy’s titties on the verge of falling out anymore.
CJ Marsicano • Feb 17th, 2008
Blogs, Eyecandy, Hello! Project, Media Site • No Comments
Punk legend Mike Watt (Minutemen, fIREHOSE, Iggy Pop & The Stooges) is in the middle of a two-week tour of Japan with an improvisatory unit called Brother’s Sister’s Daughter - his fourth trip to the country - and he has his first week of tour journals documenting his experiences up on his self-maintained website.
CJ Marsicano • Feb 17th, 2008
Blogs, Official Sites, Punk • No Comments
[Review] Dshcin~! Dschin~! Dschingis Khan!
The lovely Ms. Vee has a nice, long, articulate appraisal and analysis of Berryz Koubou’s already-hot cover of Dschingis Khan’s eponymous hit up at Pink Wota, suggesting that the Berryz may have one-upped C-ute artistically with this release and pointing out the return of veteran H!P arranger Dance*Man to prominence and some 60’s influences weaved into Berryz’ version of the song. Does this mean that Airi and her crew may have to cover “Moskau” to one-up Momoko & Co.?
CJ Marsicano • Feb 17th, 2008
Blogs, Hello! Project • No Comments
Live from Akihabara: Rad has landed
Unable to access either of his blog posting URLs from his capsule hotel for some undetermined reason, Radicalpatriot uses the American Wota forum (as good a place as any) to give a quick update on his arrival in Japan for a weekend of live H!P goodness. Lucky bastard.
CJ Marsicano • Jan 24th, 2008
Forums, Hello! Project • 1 Comment
Ayumi Hamasaki does “Sweet” magazine, Feb 08
Found by Vee. The infamous LiveJournal celeb gossip community Oh No They Didn’t features Ayumi Hamasaki in this post. Fortunately, it’s just her latest magazine cover and the poster just criticizes what they see as a bad Photoshop job on the cover and throws in a couple of recommended video clips to shut up the “haters”.
CJ Marsicano • Jan 23rd, 2008
Avex Trax, Blogs, Eyecandy, Pop Idols, Rants • 2 Comments
News: Happy Birthday Aika!
Eyecandy: Mikan Closeup
Eyecandy: Red and White Aika
Eyecandy: Aika and Friends
Eyecandy: Aika in Swimwear
MoMusu’s Aika Mitsui turned 15 on Saturday, and to commemorate the occasion our patriarch Ray has a shitload of Mittsi eyecandy on display at AikaMitsui.com. If he had been able to find one of Aika in a black outfit instead of a white one, I’d be thinking of a certain Minutemen song right now. I like the presence of Reina Tanaka in the Aika and Friends post, and I’m sure Vee would say the same of the pic featuring Mittsi and Yossi.
CJ Marsicano • Jan 13th, 2008
Eyecandy, Hello! Project • No Comments
Thought For the Day: Other European Songs Berryz Can Cover
In the wake of Berryz Koubou covering Dschinghis Khan’s eponymous hit, our patriarch Ray kicks in some Pagoda-like suggestions as to what other European pop classics Momoko & Company can tackle. Berryz doing Sonic Youth’s arrangement of “Ça Plane Pour Moi”? I’m in, although as far as Einsturzende Neubauten songs, I’d like to hear one of H!P’s groups tackle “Weil Weil Weil” instead.
CJ Marsicano • Jan 4th, 2008
Hello! Project, Pop Idols • No Comments
In response to Broomhead’s claim at True Life Seek that Koha-Pinku is lying about her age (she isn’t), Ray compares the Miracle Beam to Betty Boop.
CJ Marsicano • Dec 27th, 2007
Eyecandy, Fan Sites, Hello! Project, Pop Idols • No Comments
Eyecandy: Aika Christmas Greetings
From AikaMitsui.com, The newest MoMusu’s contribution to this year’s Xmas photos.
CJ Marsicano • Dec 27th, 2007
Eyecandy, Fan Sites, Hello! Project, Pop Idols • No Comments
At Momokolicious, a couple of snaps of Ms. Tsugunaga enjoying a well-deserved powernap.
CJ Marsicano • Dec 27th, 2007
Eyecandy, Fan Sites, Hello! Project, Pop Idols • No Comments
Our patriarch Ray unveils yet another worship blog, this time devoted to the idol that drives his wota-hood. On the debut post, he serves up his favorite Berry with some Buono! seasoning.
CJ Marsicano • Dec 21st, 2007
Blogs, Eyecandy, Hello! Project • No Comments
Just in time for the release of Kohar-Pinku’s second solo album, our own Ray and Julia debut a worship blog devoted to the Miracle Beam. Julia starts off the festivities with some bikini shots that will have Koharu’s fans singing a certain Urge Overkill song.
CJ Marsicano • Dec 21st, 2007
Blogs, Eyecandy, Hello! Project • 1 Comment
What does THIS look like to you?
From his personal MySpace blog (normally not given to spiels on anything J-related), veteran punk musician/writer Tim “Napalm” Stegall is quite bemused by the Japanese phenomenon of Funwari Milk Chan.
CJ Marsicano • Dec 6th, 2007
Blogs • No Comments
Debunking The Myth Of The End Of Morning Musume
At Hello! Non-Pro Hour, Jin explains why the low first-week sales for “Mikan” are only a minor pothole in the career path of Morning Musume.
CJ Marsicano • Nov 29th, 2007
Blogs, Hello! Project • 1 Comment
[Reviews] I Feel Like ‘Mikan’ Love
With the PV for “Mikan” spreading like wildfire, Vee has a screencap-heavy review of the new offering from Morning Musume, including a shot of Her Royal Hotness provided for the edification of this editor. (Thank you, Vee!)
CJ Marsicano • Nov 9th, 2007
Blogs, Eyecandy, Hello! Project • 1 Comment
Celestia goes over the various single covers for Morning Musume’s forthcoming single and declares that there’s not one rotten apple in the bunch, even if LinLin’s outfit on the covers should have her sharing a nickname with the bassist of a certain reunited new wave trio…
CJ Marsicano • Nov 6th, 2007
Blogs, Eyecandy, Hello! Project • No Comments
From Yahoo! News via Reuters: An article on how a chain of love hotels in Japan is trying to attract investors from Europe.
CJ Marsicano • Nov 4th, 2007
News • No Comments
Morning Musume’s All Singles Complete double-CD compilation on US iTunes!
What are you waiting for? Lay down your $19.98 and prove to Apple that you’d rather buy this instead of Carrie Underwood or Hurricane Chris.
CJ Marsicano • Oct 23rd, 2007
Hello! Project, Media Site • No Comments
Recommended downloading. Not content with just hosting her own weekly pop/rock radio show, Reina Tanaka, along with fellow “Rokkie” (MoMusu 6th gen member) Eri Kamei, made a guest appearance on bayFM GROOVE on Sunday, and Drifoy has the radio rip up at 100% Wonkyfied (or The Tanakachii Mosque for you non-infidels…). As a bonus, there’s a sneak preview of a new T-shirt representing the Wonkylicious Sex Bomb.
CJ Marsicano • Oct 22nd, 2007
Hello! Project, Pop Idols, Radio • No Comments
Pocket Morning Weekly Q&A (week of 10/14)
A surprisingly professional question asked of the various MoMusu, with some not so surprising answers from certain members.
CJ Marsicano • Oct 18th, 2007
Hello! Project, Pop Idols • 1 Comment
Doraibuchuu Mo Ara?! - H!P Stars In Cars
Just in time for version 2.0 of her blog, The Princess of Snark puts her crown back on straight and looks at newbie driver Natsumi Abe’s little fender-bender.
CJ Marsicano • Oct 12th, 2007
Hello! Project, Rants, Snark • No Comments
Abe Natusmi involved in traffic accident
From Hello! Online, a brief post (complete with three-minute news clip) on newbie driver Nacchi’s traffic accident… complete with a bit of irony.
CJ Marsicano • Oct 10th, 2007
Hello! Project, News • No Comments
Those Precious Moments - Part 7
From Kakko-ii.com, a joint collaboration between Wu & Zush reveals two things they seem to share with this writer: A dream of seeing Hello! Project members pick up guitars and make like Ron Asheton or Robert Fripp, and an appreciation for the talents of ex-Whiteberry bassist Yukari Hasegawa. Throw in a dream-team of J-Pop All-Stars (I concur with a lot of the selections, although I think Ami and Yumi should share lead vocals with Yuki Maeda) and a fan image of Miyabi from Berryz Koubou working a black Fender Precision Bass and you get a different view of J-Pop not normally seen on the J-Pop Blogosphere.
CJ Marsicano • Oct 4th, 2007
Hello! Project, Pop Idols, Punk, Rock • No Comments
Pocket Morning Weekly Q&A (week ending 9/30)
From Hello!Online, this week’s PMWQ&A has the individual MoMusus debating a minor yet crucial piece of on stage etiquette.
CJ Marsicano • Oct 2nd, 2007
Hello! Project • No Comments
Tanaka Reina 5th Solo PB - Girl: The Dress Code
Drifoy not only has more (watermarked) screencaps from the Wonkylicious One’s new PB’s making-of DVD, he’s categorized them… This publication cannot come to my PO Box soon enough.
CJ Marsicano • Sep 28th, 2007
Blogs, Eyecandy, Fan Sites, Hello! Project • No Comments
Tanaka Reina 5th Solo PB - Girl
Drifoy at the Tanakachii Mosque (aka 100% Wonkyfied) has gotten ahold of a few snaps from the Wonky-Eyed Sex Bomb’s new photobook Girl. Suffice it to say that the book’s title brings to mind the Beatles’ classic Rubber Soul track (with its’ heavy sighs and “tit-tit-tit” backing chorus) the photobook shares its title with, while the photos bring up both Urge Overkill’s rendition of a certain Neil Diamond tune and the usual Stooges lyric from the first verse of “Trollin’” that has been coming to mind every time I’ve seen a new picture of Her Royal Hotness over the past several months…
CJ Marsicano • Sep 26th, 2007
Blogs, Eyecandy, Fan Sites, Hello! Project • No Comments
Maki Goto’s How To Use Sexy on iTunes.
Maki’s latest studio album has apparently (and quietly) turned up on US iTunes, as did random singles by GAM, MoMusu 10nen and Aya Matsuura in recent weeks. (If you don’t have iTunes (I am presuming that 99% of you readers do), the link will invite you to download the program first.)
CJ Marsicano • Sep 25th, 2007
Hello! Project, Media Site, Pop Idols • No Comments
Pic of the Day “Spread Love Its The Sayummy Way” Edition
Magnificent bastard Langdon Alger may have uncovered a deep dark secret about his sweet sweet Sayumi…
CJ Marsicano • Sep 21st, 2007
Blogs, Eyecandy, Hello! Project • No Comments