Bikkuri Project

My letter! It was in Risa’s blog!!!!!!!!! She put up a picture of her fan mail and mine was sitting right on the top in the middle of the pile! Maybe that means she thought it was the prettiest! I did try to make the envelope pretty…

I’m so happy I could barely type in my username and password to get to my blog. I got it wrong like 4 times, and I’ve had this blog for over two years.

http://hellosgfans.org/niigaki-risa/from-everyone/

Mine is the envelope covered with little shiny, multi-colored, round stickers (they’re smiley face stickers) that’s totally in the middle of the picture. It says “To Miss Niigaki Risa” in English in the center, but it’s hard to see that in the picture. You can just make out the “Niigaki” part. The inside of the letter was written in Japanese of course.

It really got to her and she really read it, and she put a picture of it in her blog! I’m sure I’m overreacting, but I had a secret fear that the agency picks and chooses which fanmail they want to give them, and mine might not get in. Sort of delirious right now. If she ever posts a picture of herself wearing the necklace I gave her, I might actually die of happiness.

Yipee!

~Celestia~

How do you like your Momusus? Welcome to the Morning Musume edition of Short Hair vs Long Hair!

Iida Kaori

Winner: Long Hair. That’s sort of a no brainer, right? Kaori was known for her long, gorgeous hair. I can understand if she felt like a change, but her post-graduation haircut was so drastic, she became nearly unrecognizable. Not to mention, it just wasn’t flattering on her.

Abe Natsumi

Winner: Short Hair. Nacchi is so cute with short hair! Somehow, it makes her look even younger. Also, her hair seems to be pretty fine, so it looks a little ratty when it’s grown out too long.

Yaguchi Mari

Winner: Short Hair. I’ve seen many Japanese girls try the short blond hair thing, and it looks absolutely terrible on all of them… except for Mari. To be able to pull off that kind of hair is a gift that should not be wasted! Also, she’s such a tiny cute person, her hair should match!

Ishikawa Rika

Winner: Long Hair. Multiple pictures, because Rika’s had a lot of hair variety over the years. Well, it’s not that she doesn’t have the bone structure to pull off short hair, but for her “sex kitten next door” personality, I really think the long hair works better. And as for the 2nd short hair picture… remember how I said I’d seen many Japanese girls try the short blond hair thing and it looked absolutely terrible? Yeah. Case in point.

Yoshizawa Hitomi

Winner: Short Hair. Yossie is another girl with fine hair, and fine hair doesn’t look the best grown out long. But more than that, a short, edgy cut just fits her personality better. Mind you, I said short and edgy, not short and poodley.

Takahashi Ai

Winner: Long Hair. Honestly, she looks lovely either way, and I admit that the short hair makes her look more mature and leader-like, but Ai-chan’s long hair is just so pretty! Also, she probably looks best with her hair in a ponytail, and you can’t do that with short hair.

See? Adorable right?

Niigaki Risa

Winner: Long Hair. I love Risa, but I hate her new haircut. There. I said it. I HATE HER NEW HAIRCUT!!! It makes her look frumpy and mom-ish, and worse, her merchandise sales took a sharp dive from the day she got that haircut. The fans don’t like it either, and anything that hurts my beloved Gaki-san’s popularity within the group is my enemy.

Kamei Eri

Winner: Short-ish Hair. Allow me to explain. When Eri first cut her hair short (circa. 2005) it was too short and slicked down to her head, Almost masculine (3rd picture), but the way she has it cut now (2nd picture)  is just perfect.

Mitsui Aika

Winner: Short Hair with Bangs. Mittsi’s strong jawline is well suited to short hair, but she needs her bangs. It looks like maybe, just maybe, she’s starting to not pull them back so much, so I’m hopeful.

And that’s it! What do you think? Let me know if you agree or disagree with my picks in the comments.

~Celestia~

Well, I’m back. I’m feeling a bit numb right now. Sigh. Well, here are some details from this afternoon’s concert.

-Safely delivered my fan letter/ cute necklace for Risa to the present box. I covered the outside of the envelope in little sparkly stickers, so I guess that was sort of deco? I hope she really reads it! She will, right?

-I was kind of annoyed to discover that 4th row actually means 6th row, because there are 2 rows of “0″ in front of row 1. I could still see everyone really clearly though, so no worries.

-An interesting group of fans wearing Hawaiian shirts had taken over the entire 3rd row center section. They all seemed to be fans of 6th gen, and they brought along lots of props. Bunny ear headbands, giant inflatable hammers, sketch books… Oh, speaking of that, I always heard sketch books listed among the banned items (along with cameras, big uchiwas, etc) but I never knew why. I was thinking, “What? Are they afraid someone is going to try to draw the girls?”. Duh! They were writing messages to the girls on them. I feel dumb. Anyway, these fans were extremely jumpy. Not like nervous, like they jumped a lot. Also, they kept trying to do the AKB chant “tiger, fire, etc.” at the start of every song. Fans of both groups I guess? No one else was doing it though. Maybe they were trying to start a trend.

-Sayu tried to kiss attack Ai-chan at least 4 times. She got her on the cheek once, but Ai-chan is getting pretty good at dodging. Aika tried it once too.

-Aika did the short MC/PV thing. Oosaka Koi no Uta. The crazy fans in front of me started doing the wota dance to the PV, but gave up because the tempo was too fast. Except for one guy who kept going through the whole song, despite his friend whacking him on the head with an inflatable hammer the whole time.

-Ai-chan bounced too close to the edge of the stage and almost fell off during Mikan. Gaki and Reina, who were nearby, rushed over to pull her back. Be careful Ai-chan! We can’t have you breaking your ankle or something.

So, over the last almost 2 years, I have been to 10 Morning Musume concerts, four different tours, plus several H!p concerts. I’m still a bit disappointed that, of the four, my last concert tour has my least favorite set-list (9 Smile was my favorite), but that doesn’t mean I haven’t thoroughly enjoyed every last Momusu show I’ve been to. After every concert, I start looking forward to the next one. Except for this time, because this concert was my last. Suddenly, I feel like an important reason for my being in Japan is gone. During that last song, I tried my best to imprint each girls face in my mind, so I would never forget them. Not that I could. Morning Musume has brought me so much joy, even if I lose interest in them someday, I’ll always be grateful for that.

~Celestia~

Before the main post, a bit of news.

1: I finished my letter to Risa. I ended up rewriting it about 5 times though, since every time I thought a kanji didn’t look neat and pretty enough, I’d end up starting that page over. Who knew I was such a perfectionist?

2: Was debating about going to two concerts at the Sun Plaza or getting really a good ticket for one. Went for the second option. I’ve got 4th row, center. The center part was mostly just luck since you only know a range for where your ticket might be before you buy it. Well, I’m sure my last Momusu concert is going to be an amazing experience! I’ll probably cry.

And now on to today’s topic…

There seems to be a recent epidemic of H!p girls chopping their hair short. Well, there have been a bunch recently, but the sudden “cut off all my hair” makeover is hardly a new concept for h!p or the idol world. In fact, I theorize they have some kind of rule that at least one member each of Berryz and Cute and at least two members of Momusu must have their hair short at all times. That means that when one of the girls with short hair grows it out, another girl has to cut hers. Morning Musume had an imbalance when Ai-chan grew her hair back out and Aika was the only short haired member, so it was Gaki-san’s turn to cut hers. Chisato grew out her hair, so Maimi had to cut hers. It all makes sense.

But clearly, some girls can pull off the short hair thing much better than others. As a broad generalization, girls with sharper, more angular features look better with shorter hair than girls with softer, rounder features. So here is a comparison with some girls who have had their hair both ways and my opinion on which looks better. Feel free to share where you agree or disagree in the comments.

S/Mileage

Ogawa Saki

Winner: Short Hair. She’s adorable with her new haircut! And as the youngest member of the group, I think it gives her a bit more maturity.

Fukuda Kanon

Winner: Long Hair. By a mile. This is absolutely the WORST haircut catastrophe I’ve ever seen from h!p. The way it’s all slicked back like that….. It’s a man’s haircut, done by a half-blind barber. Kanon is so cute. She just doesn’t deserve this. Besides, S/mileage only has 4 members. Isn’t Saki having short hair enough to meet the quota? My conspiracy theory is that management was afraid that Kanon could overshadow Yuuka as “the prettiest one” so they took action.

C-ute

Okai Chisato

Winner: Long Hair. I have heard it said before that Chisato looks like a little boy. A cute little boy, but still. Now that she’s growing her hair out, suddenly she’s starting to look like a young lady.

Yajima Maimi

Winner: Long Hair. Maimi had such such pretty hair. It just pains me to see her cut it off. What a waste! Her short hair is looking better lately than when she first got it cut, but I still miss the way it used to be.

Berryz

Natsuyaki Miyabi

Winner: Short Hair. Miyabi is one of those girls with strong angular features (see above) who can really work a short haircut. I think it gave her a more “rock” edge that was great for Buono. Her extensions are just too much. It’s like they’re trying to take over her head.

Tokunaga Chinami

Winner: Long Hair. Chinami is the opposite of Miyabi in that she has a rather round face, so in her case, long hair is much more flattering.

Part 2 will be Morning Musume, past and present, but I’m sure my final Morning Musume concert review will be coming before that.

~Celestia~