Favorite J-Pop Singles: Hirose Kohmi / Romance No Kamisama

As readers of this blog know very well, I am a HUGE fan of artist Hirose Kohmi, and I got an early Christmas present in the form of the 2008 FNS Kayousai Telecast, where Kohmi Hirose was featured singing one of my very favorite songs from her, ROMANCE NO KAMISAMA!

Not only has it been YEARS since I saw my beloved Kohmi Hirose performing anything, but to see her do two classic singles of hers, both Romance no Kamisama AND Dear…Again just made it all the more special! There she was onstage, looking fine, but she wasn't alone!

 The song began with Kohmi  singing the powerful ballad Dear Again along with newcomer R&B style vocallist Thelma Aoyama, and then, suddenly, the music picked up, and  a VERY familiar tune started..."OH MY GOSH! It's Romance No Kamisama!!", I yelled out loud!

Just when it couldn’t get better, they introduced the two cutie trios PERFUME and PABO onstage!

It was so cute watching the girls struggle to sing along with Kohmi’s music, and I even think at one point Perfume's mikes were off! (But, aw, they were havin' FUN-look at those broad smiles on their faces)

THEN, they brought out AYAKA, and she just sealed the performance, laying in with that incredible voice of hers!

Then all of them, Pabo, Perfume, Thelma Aoyama, Ayaka and of course Kohmi herself wrapped up the song with a terrific finish! Ah...A cool and totally unexpected treat for me!

Romance No Kamisama (The Cupid of Romance) was one of the very first songs I ever knew from Ms. Hirose, and for the longest time, I just couldn’t get a copy of the single for myself! I am happy to say now that this was one of the MANY singles I was able to acquire through the mighty OTOKICHI PREMIUM site!!

Original PV:

Tanoshii! Suzanne on Arashi No Shukudaikun

It’s definitely a great time to have PABO on the brain, with lovely ladies Mai Sadota, Suzanne and Yukina Kinoshita appearing all over the place! The gals have even been guesting on several Johnny’s shows- Yukina appeared just the other week on Shin Domoto Kyoudai and  Mai Sadota’s been on both VS Arashi AND Domoto Tsuyoshi no Shojiki Shindoi (at least twice!), but my favorite guest spot has to be last week’s ARASHI NO SHUKUDAIKUN when super cutie Suzanne stopped by! So genki and lovable, she just made the episode!

  First thing they discuss is how she created her nickname, Suzanne (her real name’s Sae Yamamoto), and before you know it, she’s come up with nicknames for all of them, made up right on the spot! She’s quite good at coming up with those vaguely abstract contracted nicknames, and ther reactions of the boys when they’ve heard their new nicknames is PRICELESS!

Kazunari Ninomiya:

Noniramen

Ohno Satoshi(Riida):

Otton

Sakurai Sho:

Sasshon

My personal favorite:

Aiba Masaki:

Banjii

And the nickname that cracked everybody Up:

Matsumoto Jun:

J

Then they get down to the interview about her  real life and how she's percieved by the public. During the interview, Suzanne makes sure she gives props out to her BFF's, the other two girls in Pabo, Mai and Yukina,

Then they decide to perform a Mock Date with her, and it was fun watching the boys jan-ken-po to see who the lucky boyfriend would be, much to the delight of Suzanne!

The lucky winner  ends up being “J”, rather, Matsujun. They perform the skit, but it’s so chattery and wordy,

Nino can’t keep a straight face through it…which ultimately ends the play!

During the food segment, Suzanne got treated to different variations of her beloved sweet potato, and cracked everybody up when she said “Mmmmmmmmm…Mai!” (Umai, delicious)

And speaking of delicious, after this episode, I had to go online and look for pics of her! Umai indeed! (see below)

Ahhhh...Did I Mention how much I was looking forward to Aladdin's performance on the Kouhaku this year? Yes, I Did!

My Vote for Kouhaku Opening Act: Aladdin!

            There has been quite a bit of speculation about which artist is going to be chosen to open this year’s Kouhaku~Red and White Song Fest, but If I had it MY way, I would have the show open with the cute, happy and jangly pop song “Hi wa, Mata Noboru” by six member band ALADDIN!
 The Kouhaku tends to open with a bright low impact pop tune to start the show fresh (witness MIHIMARU GT’s appearance last year), and this song’s got everything the show could want: a happy tune with genki dance moves, and lyrics shouting “GANBARE NIPPON!” as they sing about the virtues of Instant Ramen, Canned Coffee, Mechanical Pencils and Karaoke: This country invented these!!




             Off their album ALADDIN THE SECOND, this single was in the Oricon charts for a while earlier this July, and their resemblance (to me) of AAA struck a chord and made me sit up and take notice of them!


Made up of two groups off the HEXAGON II Quiz show: Shuchishin (Tsuruno Takeshi, Kamiji Yuusuke, and Nokubo Naoki), and Pabo ( Satoda Mai, Suzanne, Kinoshita Yukina), ALADDIN’s got those AAA “Disney High School Musical” vibes down pat!


MY first thoughts upon hearing Hi wa Mata Noboru (The Sun Will Rise Again!) was “Wow, this song sounds like the theme for a Sentai show!”. Then I had a chance to check out the video and WOW again when I saw those girls, Ahahaha!  I’m not saying that I KNOW that this song will be the Kouhaku opener…who knows WHAT song they’ll sing at this point. But It’s the song I WANT them to sing! And I think an opener like this one will TOTALLY set the mood for the whole show! (crosses fingers)


Car, who's not a fan at ALL of Aladdin, said, "This song is TERRIBLE!  If anything, it'll be that mid-show act where all the guests come out and sing, NOT the opening song!" Well, it might be a zany song, but I wouldn't call it TERRIBLE! At best it's a silly little song, and if you can't get silly during a New Year's Celebration, when can you?!