Way back in 2008 or so, I'd written in my old Live Journal account about how cute Aragaki Yui was in an episode of Domoto Tsuyoshi no Shojiki Shindoi, gushing about how madly I was love with her. This followed by a gush about Model/Actress Majyu Ozawa, and by the time I fell in love with Sawajiri Erika in One Litre Of Tears, I said to myself, "Gee, it's like I'm in LOVE with a DIFFERENT GIRL EVERY WEEK!
Crush Of The Day 31-40
By this time I fell in love with Ayase Haruka in Hotaru No Hikari in 2009, I was posting quite regularly on my VOX Blog, and decided it was time to create a permanent running space for my admittedly fickle yearnings there, and thanks to her cute and zany antics as Amemiya Hotaru, Ayase Haruka became my very first official "Crush Of The Day”!
Crush Of The Day 21-30
After I’d posted up a few more “Crush Of The Day” Posts, I went back and transplanted my old Live Journal gush on Sawajiri Erika onto my VOX blog with its original post date, so even though Ayase Haruka’s officially the first Crush, Erika appears before her on the Blog…
Crush Of The Day 11-20
The Aragaki Yui and Ozawa Majyu posts were only a couple of paragraphs long so I didn’t bother transferring them to the VOX blog, but it wasn’t long til Yui became an official Crush a few months later, and was happy to realize that the 50th Crush Of The Day entry was none other than the lovely Ms. Majyu Ozawa!
Crush Of The Day 1-10
Well, it’s now been over two years of continuous CRUSH posts (it even survived the move from VOX to Blogger) and as long as there continues to be gorgeous, cute or captivating women around, it looks like there’ll never be an end in sight! Here’s looking forward to the next 50!
Oh, Majyu, Majyu, Majyu! Who knew you could be such an evil, conniving and ultimately KRAZEE young lady? I certainly wouldn't have believed it! And yet, that’s exactly what I got when I tuned into the wonderfully clichéd and colorful Hostess Club drama JOTEI where she played the proud and envious Reiko against Rosa Kato’s pure and straight arrowed Ayaka.
Arch-Enemies: Reiko (Ozawa) versus Ayaka (Kato)
Ozawa Maju as Reiko in JOTEI a
Ozawa Maju as Reiko in JOTEI b
Ozawa Maju as Reiko in JOTEI c
I first fell in love lust with beautiful model Majyu Ozawa seeing her in, of ALL PLACES, the wacky comedy variety show MECHA MECHA IKETERU~ WHAT A COOL We ARE!!! where that fat guy ‘Yamamoto” in the comedy troupe (that included, among others, Suzuki Sarina, Ninety-Nine, and Hinagata Akiko) tried using every trick in the book (and some OUT of the book, as well) to win the heart of his favorite celebrity, Ozawa Majyu! (more on this episode in the following post)
The Target on Mecha Mecha Iketeru
WOW! Who WAS this gorgeous woman? With her sharp profile and slightly Latin-looking features, she instantly fascinated me, and I remember pausing the video when they showed her name, vainly trying to decipher the kanji...in the end I gave up and had to phonetically figure it out. The next day at work, I gushed to a co-worker who also had NGN, “Did You See That Mecha Mecha Show? That girl, was it…MACHA Ozawa? She was SOOOOOO fricking BEAUTIFUL!”
Pretty Majyu on Mecha Mecha iketeru
My Co-worker nodded, and said, “Yeah, her name’s MaJU Ozawa, she’s really pretty…Say, I have an old Weekly PLAYBOY with her in it, If you like her so much, I can give it to you!” “WHAAAAAAA!!!” How fast can you say O HELL YEAH! I gushed my gratitude, and he laughed. And sure enough, the next day , he presented me with this gorgeous magazine:
Maju in Weekly Playboy
Maju in Weekly Playboy 1
Maju in Weekly Playboy 2
Maju in Weekly Playboy 4
Man, did I love this girl! Since she was featured on the Mech Mecha show, I figured it was only a matter of time before she made her first appearances in dramas and such, but for some reason, the only other time I saw her after that was in yet ANOTHER variety show, this time where the pranksters were waiting in the FUJI TELEVISION lobby and accosting celebs as they came out, demaning to look through their wallets and purses.
Ozawa Maju as Reiko in JOTEI h
As they stopped a cute young thing coming out of the elevators, Car said, Oh, that’s a pretty girl”, and then I went “WHOA! That’s Majyu Ozawa! “ I told her the story of seeing her on the Mecha Mecha show and then realized, “You know, I thought I ‘d have SEEN her by NOW in a drama or something! What’s the holdup?!”
Ozawa Maju as Reiko in JOTEI e
Over time, In my mind I guess I gave up hope of ever seeing her in a show. That’s why I was so THRILLED to see Majyu’s credits listed when I got the JOTEI drama, and knew they’d be utilizing her luscious features tp the utmost with her as a hostess- little did I know they’d be giving her such a, shall we say, dramatic role! No kidding, when the character goes from haughty condescension to simmering jealousy to attempted murder, yelling “YOU MADE ME INSANE!”, You KNEW she was going out with a BANG!!
Ozawa Maju as Reiko in JOTEI f
Ozawa Maju as Reiko in JOTEI g
Going onto AsianMediaWiki, I see that in actuality, Majyu (and yes, I call her MaJYU instead of MaJU, I realize it's probably wrong, but I've called her that for so long it seems to have stuck) has made quite a few appearances in various movies and guest roles in dramas, including LOVE GAME, KUROSAGI, MAID DEKA and even 4 SHIMAI TANTEI, all of which I will be checking out if I can!
in STYLE!
with Yamashita Tomohisa in KUROSAGI
with Kato Natsuki in 4 SHIMAI TANTEI DAN
with Fukuda Saki in MAID DEKA
Right now I've got the 2007 movie XX X-CROSS on my Harddrive waiting to be seen- How's this- I downloaded the movie only because Majyu was listed in it (as a particularly Krazee Samurai-Scissors wielding Psycho, No Less!) , and after I got it, I found out that NAO MATSUSHITA is the main character!
in XX-X-CROSS
How COOL is that!!! Time to check this one out...Hold On, Majyu, I'm Coming! You can get as NUTTY as you want, 'cause no matter what, You'll ALWAYS be that sweet lil' ole thang I first fell in love with on the Mecha Mecha show!
Okamura has a treat in store for Yamamoto on this episode of MECHA MECHA IKETERU~ WHAT A COOL WE ARE!- He rounds up the gang in front of the plaza and engages the group in a stirring Q&A about Yamamoto's loves. "And who does Yamamoto idolize the most?" he dramatically asks. Why, it's none other than gorgeous super-model Majyu Ozawa, whom Yamamoto's calls his "perfect type"!
The Target: Ozawa Majyu!
Yamamoto eyes his Unsuspecting Victim
Then Okamura introduces the gang to a special guest- it's Majyu Ozawa's Manager, who's given these fools permission to go ahead with Okamura's Master Plan: To HOOK UP YAMAMOTO WITH MAJYU!!!! Calling it the" Fall In Love" Quest, Okamura has a Game Plan of attack all set up for Yamamoto, and if he follows them, LOVE is sure to follow as well! Or so you would think, anyway! LOL
Step one involves getting Yamamoto into the meeting of Majyu’s latest CM. Her manager has managed to get him onto the staff and hopefully there he can make connections with Majyu. Okamura decides Yamamoto needs as much help as he can get, and gives his some kind of Lotion called RD to help make him look suave. But when he puts too much on, the results are hilarious, to say the least...
Step Two: They’ve managed to get Yamamoto as Majyu’s partner in the CM photoshoot. Once again, Okamura decides to lend a hand to help with Yamamoto’s progress, this time having him wear these ridiculous jockeys called “Magical Pants” that will make him look more “endowed”…unfortunately, the thing is so big, Yamamoto busts his pants!
Step Three comes when the manager invites Yamamoto to the After-Shoot drinking party, where he will sit right next to Majyu and hopefully strike up a conversation…But once again, Okamura has something to help, this time a “Spanish-Fly” type of liquid to spike her drink called “Hyper Jam”. In such cramped quarters, can he execute the deed?
Finally, it’s the end of the night, and they’ve managed to see that Majyu rides home with Yamamoto. After a bit of small talk, he begins asking her personal questions like what type of guy she likes, before finally asking Majyu for a date. Oh My Gosh, this is a MOST Uncomfortable scene!!!! Poor Majyu! “That would be difficult” she says after a loooooong silence! He surges ahead anyway, asking for her Phone Number and such, til she politely but firmly gives him the brush off! It’s then and only then that the crew deems the GAME OVER, and pulls over the cab to reveal to Majyu that she’s been a part of an elaborate test! Summing things up, they ask her, regarding a relationship with Yamamoto,” Is it Impossible?” To which she firmly replies, “It’s Impossible.” AHAHAHAHA! You GO Girl!
The show ends with a frustrated Yamamoto digging the "Magical Pants" stuffing out of his shorts and angrily throwing them at everyone, including a terrified Majyu who squeaks out a scream when one of the pads gets too close to her! Aw, Poor Sweet Baby!!!
As I’ve recounted many times on this blog, the first time I laid eyes on Ms. Lovely Legs Moritaka Chisato [森高千里] was on the 1995 KOHAKU UTA GASSEN, performing a wonderful song called “Futari Wa Koibito”, which I’d only recently learned off a j-pop cassette mix a friend had made for me. This love led to the purchasing of her latest album, which was, happily enough, a GREATEST HITS of sorts called DO THE BEST.
That love of that incredible Chisato album led to a desire to hear even MORE of her music, which led to MORE Chisato viewing, with either borrowed tapes of past Kohakus and Record Taishos or renting old Music Station and Sound Arena shows. It was then that the j-pop buyer in town brought in the entire back-catalog of Chisato’s concerts, and I have to say that the impressive sight of seeing all those imported VHS tapes lined up in the j-pop section is what made me decide the time was right to start looking into her VIDEO releases!
The interest in purchasing some of those concerts started there, but being a LASERDSIC man rather than a VHS person (gack, VHS, bleh), I opted to wait and special order my own copies of the concerts in Laser, and the first one I chose was the mighty LIVE ROCK ALIVE Concert. And as I’ve written in an earlier blog, that concert ROCKED MY WORLD and made me a MORITAKA CHISATO FAN 4 LIFE!
From there was the rabid fan collecting of all her Albums, Singles and Laserdiscs, both Concert and Video Clips, each one reinforcing my love of Chisato and her music and propelling her to become one of my top five favorite J-pop acts of all time! To this day I still consider Chisato my own personal possession (as MOST rabid fans will) though I’ve shared the excitement of the Chisato experience with many other fans.
At some point a few of us got together and drew up these nifty “Top 40” Lists, and of course one of the artists we just HAD to showcase was Ms. Moritaka herself, and I present it to you now for your perusal, a true “For What It’s Worth” submission. Like the other lists before, this is purely for fun, and as usual, though it is a list of ranking, in the end, the best I can do is give a sort of "general" placement of the songs in the list. By that I mean that a song ranked at, say, #11 isn't necessarily more loved than a song at #13, but probably more beloved than a song at #33 or so…
While we’re on the subject of great 1970’s songs, there’s been this story I’ve been meaning to tell for years now, and finally got around to getting it up!
Back in the 70’s, all our 45’s were scattered around the house like leaves off an autumn tree, and when you wanted to listen to a song, you had to hunt through your room, the cabinets, shelves and boxes til you (hopefully) found it, and even then you had to hope it wasn’t too scratched to play!
My mother made sure that HER music didn’t go through this kind of abuse, and kept all of her 45’s in a shoebox which she would take out when she felt like listening to her music. Among them I remember songs like “Top Of The World” by the Carpenters and “Laughter in the Rain” by Neil Sedaka. There was also this curious single in Japanese that she would play from time to time, and me and my sister just loved it!
The song was called “Goodbye My Love", a catchy, VERY 70’s sounding tune with Japanese lyrics alternating with English words. When we would ask her if it was a record from Japan, my mother would say, “this is a girl from “here”singing this! At the time, I took “here” to mean, from HAWAII, so for YEARS I thought it was a curious Japanese song played only in our state, on OUR Radio stations.
Growing up, from time to time I would remember that song, and when I got in Japanese Music in a BIG WAY in the mid-ninties, I really wanted to get my hands on that single! Unfortunately, I couldn’t recall either the artist OR the name of the song, and even worse, when I asked my mother about it, she didn’t recall ANY of the 45’s she had when we were growing up, not even a Japanese one, which you would have thought would have stood out or something. Shimatta!
In the days before the internet, there wasn't a whole lot of places to get information about anything you were interested in. What To Do! I remember I would try and sing it as best I could remember to Yametekudasai, who listened to Japanese music played on the radio growing up in the 70’s, but did not know this one at all, no matter how much I crooned at him. LOL! “I guess it really was some obscure local girl, then”, I sadly concluded.
Years later I get a call from my friend Golden, who was the J-pop Buyer at Tower Records in town, and he asks me, “Can I ask you something? Have you ever heard of a Japanese singer named Ann Lewis?” I said that the name sounded familiar but I didn’t really know of her music. “Listen to this story,” he began with flourish!
Apparently, some old guy had come into the store and looked at the J-pop section before demanding ‘Where’s the ANN LEWIS?!’ When Golden told him he wasn’t familiar with the artist but would be glad to special order anything he wanted, the customer huffed, “WHAT KIND OF JAPANESE RECORD BUYER ARE YOU IF YOU HAVEN’T EVEN HEARD OF ANN LEWIS?!” before storming out.
I laughed hearing the tale and told him sympathetically, “I’m in the same boat as you, dude, I really don’t know her.” But I SHOULD have known... for of course, Ann Lewis was none other than that elusive artist, the girl who SANG “Goodbye My Love”!
I didn’t make the connection at the time. While I became aware that this “Ann Lewis” that the customer was yelling about was a Japanese entertainer from America in the 70’s, it was only through the magic of Youtube that I FINALLY made the discovery of my J-pop loving life, when scrolling through various 70’s clips I came across a videoclip labelled:
“Ann Lewis: Goodbye My Love”.
GOODBYE MY LOVE? As soon as I read it, something clicked in my head, and I suddenly KNEW it was going to be THAT song even before I clicked on the link and heard the song.
WOW! What memories came up listening to that song again after SO MANY YEARS! I think the last time I heard that song was back in 1977 at our old house, SOOOOO NATSUKASHII!
I remember seeing the image of a picture 45 sleeve, and wouldn’t you know it, that picture sleeve was the very one my mother had! I even remember that it was wrapped in plastic, which made it stand out from the other singles. Man, how did I FORGET all of this?
I excitedly played it for Yametekudasai but he still shrugged and said he never heard of it it. Was this some secret song that only my Mom's friends played?? LOL!
At our next family gathering, I grandly told my Mom, “Hey, remember that Japanese Song I was asking you about? It’s called Goodbye My Love!”, to which she dismissively said, “Oh, the Ann Lewis One?” D’OHHH!
Now that we knew what song I was talking about, I asked her how she came to buy a single from a Japanese artist, apparently she got introduced to the song from one of her friends and not the radio at all! What a long strange trip of discovery for the VERY FIRST J-POP SONG I EVER HEARD!
Model and actress Kiritani Mirei will be releasing her first photobook, “Sweet & Bitter“, on July 27th! The ‘photobook’ will be a combination photo album, CD, and DVD set. The CD includes the theme songs for her upcoming movies “Ranhansha” and “Snowflake“. The special feature of the DVD will be a compilation of the making of the photo album and music video for “Snowflake“.
The photo album – titled “MUSIC FASHION X Kiritani Mirei” – features Kiritani in clothes influenced by a variety of music genres such as rock, punk, and mod.
So Mirei finally enters the dubious world of J-pop singing, as all cute actresses and models aspire to reach/are forced by their company to do...Really curious to hear how her voice sounds! You never know, could be as GREAT as vocals like Sawajiri Erika, mid-range like Ayase Haruka or as cute and tiny as Aragaki Yui!
And one more question:
Is FASHIONxKiritani Mirei really Kiritani Mirei's FIRST Shashinshuu? You woulda thought an adorable girl like her woulda had at least three books under her belt by now! (I would have actually sworn by it!) And what's this other shashinshuu CINEMA x Kiritani Mirei?
CINEMAxKiritani Mirei
Is this a seperate variation of FASHION x Kiritani Mirei? Or is this another book entirely? Seems to offer the same material as the Sweet and Bitter CD/DVD: pics of the Making of Ranhasha and Snowflake. It's a very afforadble 12 Dollars USD, so I wonder how many pages this one is...I guess we'll find out soon enough!
“Sailor Moon” live action drama to be released as a Special Box Set
From Tokyohive:
"For those of you who were big fans of the “Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon” live action series, a special box set will officially be released on September 22nd!
The box set will contain all forty-nine episodes of the television drama that aired in 2003, “Special Act.“, “Act.ZERO Sailor V Tanjou“, and footage from the “Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Kirari Super Live” held in 2004.
218 minutes of extra goodies – such as exclusive interviews with the cast and staff, a fun discussion about the series, and even a special mini drama – are also included for the ultimate “Sailor Moon” DVD set."
I don't suppose this thing is going to be released domestically, is it? Or even more unlikely, Subtitled in English? Because apart from something like that, isn't this almost exactly the same PGSM DVD set they released originally? The Extras and Interviews all seem like the same extras from that original set, unless they somehow got new interviews with all of the girls (including Ms. Kitagawa)...
Oh Well, it's nice to know that they're taking care of all the PGSM Fans that have yet to get this Series on DVD.
When Tokyohive announced "Kitagawa Keiko is Ready For Summer!" I was hoping for some beachy themed pictures so I could catch a glimpse of Keiko in a bikini, but even as i clicked on the link, I knew it wasn't gonna happen. The girl is positively allergicto anything even resemblinga bikini!
Traditional
Sunny Day
Sure enough, there wasn't a thread of a bathing suit to be seen when i got to the site, but the pictures they put up are very nice, indeed. Keiko is spokesperson for the SONY NEX-C3, and they shot several different scenes of Keiko modelling the three different camera variations along with appropriate backdrops, all reflecting summer. A bikini-less summer, but summer nonetheless. Check it Out, Yo!
Girls Party
Rainy Day
PS: When you think about how much people must have visited the Sony NEX-C3 site simply because Keiko's featured in it, they must be treatin' that girl extra special! Heck, they probably even gave her a camera or two! At least, I would have, handing it to her and saying, "Why don't you take that camera with you when you go down to the beach later?"
After that whole Kisarazu Cat’s Eye brouhaha, I was online looking for older live performances of Akiko Wada. Not only did I want to see some videos of her doing “Ano Kane Wo Narasu No Wa Anata”, but I REALLY wanted to see some clips of her doing “Waratte Yurushite”, which in fact was the first song I ever saw the “young” Akiko Wada singing, a very, very KAKKOI song!
Anyway, after watching Akiko for awhile, I began to browse around, and since I was in Akiko’s 1970’s clips, the sidebar featured a whole slew of other 70’s artists, and I spotted a thumbnail of Ayumi Ishida in the options, and thought to myself, “Wow, Now there’s a girl I haven’t watched in a while…”
Now, I love Akiko Wada to death, but MAN, going from watching clips of Akiko Wada to Ayumi Ishida is like eating a New York Steak Dinner and then eating a Strawberry Parfait with cherries on top! From blustery and Powerful to Demure and Refined…
An author I read (can’t remember who, if pressed, however, I’ll go with Tom Robbins) once said (probably half jokingly) that the surest proof that God exists is by looking at the pretty face of a beautiful woman, and O How that quote was running through my head watching these performances! From YouTube:
It’s one thing to be watching Ayumi singing her signature song “Blue Light Yokohama” in 1994 or 1986 or 1977 (and YES I watched them all), but watching her in 1968 is another thing entirely! Ayumi is so achingly beautiful it’s almost hard to watch! ARIGATO, KAMISAMA!
One of the wackier dramas I’ve ever seen, KISARAZU CAT’S EYE is nonetheless sentimental at heart, and emotional scenes would turn up right where you least expected it! Case in point is this wonderful scene involving a Father named Kosuke (played by Kohinata Fumiyo) and his son Bussan (played by Okada Junichi).
The two of them have a strained relationship where they have a hard time talking to each other and instead spend most of the time arguing with each other. Bussan’s a tough street-wise kid and looks disdainfully at his Father’s boring life as a barber, and gets on him to "grow up" when he finds he’s been spending his nights taking Monomane (impression) Claases at the town Rec Center.
True, Kosuke isn’t much of Dad, and in fact, Bussan doesn’t even call him “father”, instead opting to call him by his first name! Things are awkward enough between them on a day-to-day basis, so when Bussan finds out that he may be dying of cancer, the last thing he wants is for his father to know.
While talking to his friend Ani (Tsukamoto Takashi) in his room one night, Kosuke asks if they’d like to see the latest Monomane act he’s learned, to which Ani excitedly accepts.
As Kosuke gets ready, Bussan finds out that Ani has unwittingly told his father of his cancer at some earlier point, and goes off! Before he can wonder what repercussions this knowledge will have on the two of them, Kosuke bursts into the room…dressed as AKIKO WADA!!! LOL!
Kosuke sees how irritated Bussan is, and says maybe he should do it some other time, but Bussan is too mixed up to think, and tells him to just do it and get it over with. Without mentioning any knowledge of Bussan’s sickness, Kosuke turns on the Tape Recorder and begins gamely singing the song, Akiko Wada’s classic Ano Kane wo Narasu no wa Anata (You’re The One That Rings The Bell)…
Anata ni aete yokatta
I’m So Glad that I’ve Met You
Anata ni wa kibou no nioi ga suru
You have the smell of Hope
Tsumaduite kizutsuite naki saken demo
Even if you Fail, Get Hurt and Cry Your Heart Out
Sawayaka na kibou no nioi ga suru
You Still have the fresh smell of hope
Machi wa ima nemuri no naka
The City’s Asleep
Ano kane wo narasu no wa anata
You Are The One That Rings The Bell
Hito wa mina nayami no naka
Everyone’s In Confusion
Ano kane wo narasu no wa anata
You Are The One That Rings The Bell
Hito wa mina nayami no naka
Everyone’s In Confusion
Ano kane wo narasu no wa anata
You Are The One That Rings The Bell
With Kohinata dressed up as Akiko Wada, complete with Rhinestone Red Dress and Wig, and his warbly, out-of-tune singing, this should have been downright hilarious (and it was) but MAN…something about this scene really broke my heart, It was SO TOUCHING! When Kohinata sings the final note “Narasu no wa A-NA-TAAAAAAA!”, he looks upon Bussan with a bittersweet smile, because he‘s expressed his feelings to Bussan in his own way- that he’s devastated by the news but wants him to know he’s always been the shining light of his life. SO SAD!
I dunno, maybe it’s because, despite knowing the song so well (after hearing Wada sing it so many times on the Kohaku), until I saw the lyrics translated for the drama, I never knew what the song was saying, and to see it sung by a father to his dying son, it really got me right there!
And while we’re on the subject of it, I have to say that the seriousness of dying hardly belongs in a wacky comedy like Kizarazu Cats Eye, but the death scene in the final episode is so DAMN FUNNY that it’s easily one of the most ORIGINAL passages I’ve ever seen in a Japanese drama! Okada’s on his deathbed, but we can hear him thinking as he’s slipping away, and as everyone is gathered around the bed, they’re all talking and eulogizing and as they exaggerate and lie about things, you can her Bussan getting pissed off at them and wanting them to shut up, HAHAHAHAHA so FUNNY!
