Yoshiko Tanaka’s “daughters” say farewell to their TV Mother

Tanaka Yoshiko with Kuninaka Ryoko in Churasan

Tanaka Yoshiko with Kitagawa Keiko in Hitsudan Hostess

With her Seigi No Mikata Family: Shida Mirai, Sano Shiro, Yamada Yu

Was so sweet and touching to see so many of the actresses who played Yoshiko Tanaka’s daughters onscreen come to pay their respects at the recent wake. Yu Yamada and Shida Mirai (and TV Husband Sano Shiro) from Seigi No Mikata, as well as Kitagawa Keiko  (who played Tanaka’s daughter in Hitsudan Hostess) and Kuninaka Ryoko (who played Eri, Tanaka’s daughter in Churasan) were among the many guests gathered to say farewell to the late actress. Listening to their heartfelt memories of Yoshiko Tanaka, you can really tell that she was a caring person that really seemed like friend to them:

Kuninaka,  Kitagawa 

Yamada Yu, Sano Shiro, Shida Mirai

Yamada Yu (26, daughter in the 2008 drama “Seigi no Mikata“) spoke with tears at Tanaka’s wake, “We went out to eat together and talk, and if I was worried or in trouble, she would hold my hand and say ‘It’ll be okay’. I learned of her passing through the news. (I thought) why does it have to be ‘mama’… She always had a smile as bright as the sun, and I still can’t believe it.”

Kitagawa Keiko (24, daughter in the 2000 drama “Hitsudan Hostess“) commented, “(During filming) I never saw her with a dark expression. I wasn’t able to notice (her illness). I remember very vividly when she said ‘I’m happy that I get more children in the entertainment industry like this. It’s very lively.’ I wish I could have spent more time with her.”

Kuninaka Ryoko (31, daughter in the “Churasan” TV series) was called “Eri” by Tanaka, the name of her character in the “Churasan” series. The last time she saw Tanaka was when she visited the hospital on April 16th. With tears in her eyes, Kuninaka commented, “She always took care of me and I wasn’t able to do anything. (On April 16th) it was hard to maintain a conversation, but she knew I had visited and smiled. I remember her calling me ‘Eri’ all the time with a cute voice.”

(from Tokyohive)

Thought it was so sweet that Tanaka continued to think of Ryoko Kuninaka as her daughter "Eri" for the rest of her life. Working together for so long (an entire asadora and three specials), they must have been extremely close.

Also loved the fact that throughout "Seigi No Mikata", whenever Tanaka's mother character would do something cool, Yamada Yu's daughter character would proudly say (with a pumped fist), "Mama, NICE!", and here Yamada still referred to her as her "Mama".
Was nice to see her entire "Seigi No Mikata" family at the service, so touching.

The BOSS is Back

Yuki Amami. Yutaka Takenouchi and Cast

Though I was excited by the news that the crime drama BOSS was going to have a sequel coming out, I was understandably disheartened when I saw that both Erika Toda and Michiko Kichise weren’t going to be part of the regular cast this time around. Watching the first few chapters, it was killing me to see  both of them written out of the show before my very eyes!

Facing Future: Erika Toda in BOSS2

Girls Get Catty! Yuki Amami and Michiko Kichise in BOSS2

But as Maria Von Trapp once said, “When God closes a Door, somewhere he opens a Window”, and though it would be a bit rough watching the show with the absence of Erika and Michiko, several new actresses were introduced to fill in the spots, including Yumiko Shaku as the new forensics agent Numata and Hasegawa Kyoko as quirky bookish type Tadokoro.

But probably the new character for whom I’m MOST excited about is the addition of Riko Narumi as Rika, a rebellious computer hacker. Not only am I a HUGE fan of Riko’s work (loved her in both One Litre of Tears, Hachimitsu No Clover and the terrific Ruri No Shima), but having Riko join the cast of BOSS reunites her with Yuki Amami, with whom she co-starred in the sensational ENKA NO JOOU drama, where they played Himawari and Sadako, two of the most unlucky women in Japan! Was such a  thrill seeing them together again!

Riko Narumi and Yuki Amami in Enka No Joou, 2007

Together again: Riko and Yuki  in BOSS2, 2011

Ah well, the drama’s still airing right now, so maybe there’s a chance that Erika and Michiko may still appear on the show in some capacity, but until then I guess I can say that with these new cast members, it’ll still be interesting enough for me!

Himitsu No Arashi-Chan Unaired VIP Room Clips!

Finally got a chance to see Himitsu No Arashi’s VIP Room Special Episode subtitled (thanks Saobang2211!) which was a compilation of various clips that were edited out of the aired show. I remember the last time they had this special; there were lots of cool things left out that we got to see (like Keiko Kitagawa telling them about a director hitting her on the head with a rolled-up magazine), so I was looking forward to this one!

Several of the clips they showed were stuff that you could see why it was cut- stuff like Aiba talking about running around naked and falling down in concert- funny, yes, but not really about the featured VIP Room guest. But there were a few things that were so FUNNY, it would have really been a shame to not SHARE them!

In particular was the one with Ayase Haruka and the one with Aragaki Yui. In the Ayase Haruka one, they showed a clip of Haruka-chan and the Arashi Boys attempting to jump rope 30 times together, and it is HILARIOUS to watch the zany hijinks going on as they struggle to get the feat done!

I'll win a Bicycle if we complete 30 times?

Ganbarou!

Look at that SMILE on Haruka-chan's face!

The other focused on Aragaki Yui’s strange turn-on of seeing muscular arms with veins popping out, and so they had the boys stand behind a board and flex! She then inspected each arm and then judged the best and WORST one! Interesting and al, but I admit that the thing that really made this clip for me was how FRICKING PRETTY Gakky is in this episode. Some guests dress up for the VIP Room and some don’t, and it was HEAVEN to see her dressed in such a classy, feminine and fashionable outfit!

A Gaggle of Arms

And an extremely entertained Gakky!

So much fun watching these, I could watch ‘em forever, and you just KNOW there’s probably tons of stuff they still HAVEN’T shown! That’s the great thing about this show- so much interesting stuff is going on all the time, it’s always edit, edit, edit!

Side Note: One episode in particular seemed primed for the unaired clips show, and that was when luscious Michiko Kichise came on. She had remembered something silly or embarrassing, and couldn’t stop laughing thinking about it. I was waiting for her to tell Arashi what the joke was, but she never said anything about it! Car figured, “Maybe they’re saving that for the unaired clips episode”. I hoped she was right, but sadly, they didn’t have anything from Michiko’s episode, so I guess we’ll never know what she thought was so funny!

Uncontrollable Laughter from Michiko-san!

Side-Side Note: Just glancing over at the collage of female guests they featured in this episode, it strikes me just how many of my favorite “Crush Of The Day” actresses have appeared on VIP Room In that collage alone were Aragaki Yui, Ayase Haruka, Yamada Yu, Koyuki, and Yoshitaka Yuriko! MAN, no WONDER I love this show so much!!!!

The Proposal Brothers

Anne and Sato Ryuta

After watching the first episode of “Propose Kyodai”,  I was a bit worried because at first, it seemed like a pretty fair rehash of Lunch No Joou, with a family running a Western Style Restaurant and the love interest seeking employment after dining there. But by the end I realized that it was only the Eldest Brother’s story set in a restaurant, and the following episode was set in a completely different surrounding!

Teppei Koike and Sasaki Nozomi

The drama is the story of how each of the four brothers meet and eventually propose to their future mates, and with fun guys like Ryuta Sato and Teppei Koike as brothers and girls like Anne and Nozomi Sasaki as future brides-to-be, how can you go wrong?The two episodes I’ve watched so far have been great, and I’ll definitely stick around to watch the rest of the series!(Well how hard can that be with only 4 episodes, ne!)

Yoshiko "Sue" Tanaka 1956-2011

Was extremely saddened to hear that Yoshiko Tanaka passed away from cancer the other day. Ever since discovering the magic of the Candies wonderful Seventies j-pop, she's been my favorite member of the group, and besides her singing, I'd been seeing her every week as Kuninaka Ryoko's mother in Churasan, so the news was quite a shock.  

Funny, out of the two great J-pop girl groups of the 70's, when it comes down to either Pink Lady or Candies, I've always sort of gravitated towards the latter, possibly because watching Ran, Sue and Miki always seemed like the inspiration for 80's trio ribbon! Investigating further, I was amazed by how much great songs they had! So many instantly catchy songs and sweet ballads, they were one of the first early j-pop groups I purchased on CD!

Below: In their Heyday, performing one of their many signature songs, 

Shochuu Omimai Moushiagemasu:

  In recent years as an actress, she's been pretty prolific playing the "loving mother of the young heroine" in many of my favorite dramas; it was such a thrill to see her in shows like Kamisama Sukoshi Dake (as Fukada Kyoko's Mother), Seigi No Mikata (as Yamada Yu and Shida Mirai's mother), Tatta Hitotsu no Koi (as Ayase Haruka's mother), and even Hitsudan Hostess as Kitagawa Keiko's Mom! And of course, I'm still currently watching her as Kuninaka Ryoko's mother in Churasan, and it will be nice to continue seeing her each day!

Above: Another fave song: Aishu No Symphony

A~ah, I'm watching some of my fave Candies video performances right now, and it's making me SO SAD! Such and awesome group, such a fine actress, Yoshiko Tanaka will surely be missed!

Fukakyon Moves On...

Shida Mirai with Yucali and Kyoko looking on...

Gee, it only seems like a few weeks ago I was talking about how reassuring it was to see lovely Fukada Kyoko every week on Shin Domoto Kyodai, and it’s now been announced that Kyonchan (along with Yucali and the hilarious Brother Tom, among others) will be moving along, to be replaced by singer Noriyuki Makihara, Takanori Nishiwaki and AKB48  member Takahashi Minami!

While I'm sure the show will still be as fun and interesting as ever, it will be a shame to have to go back to waiting to see Fukakyon only in Dramas and such. Though I've always been afriaid of her getting overexposed, it was nice to see her there every week, giving her curt and concise remarks to the Domoto Brothers!

Xiaxue so Chio, Lah!

Ever since that famous Peter Coffin fiasco, I've been quite a fan of the brash and candid Xiaxue's blog, especially her hilarious and spontaneous video series "Xiaxue's Guide To Life", where video-cameras follow the sassy Singaporean blogger as she goes about shopping, blinging her accessories or learning new skills. 

Always outspoken, she's made many waves in the online community and her feuds are well known and epic! But her habit of always speaking her mind is what makes her so interesting. Recognized (or targeted) by people for her (infamous) plastic surgery procedures, she's never one to hide the fact, and she even takes the cameras along to document the operations; nose job, eye and eyelid altering, even teeth straightening, they all get captured on video for her blog!


But it's the videos where she's just at home cooking, painting, reviewing her (disliked) iphone or taking Feng Shui lessons that are my faves. Ziaxue (Wendy Cheng) is a really unique and quite charming persona and it's just listening to her chatter on and on with her sharp and witty comments in that lilting singapore dialect that makes me crack up, she is SO fricking funny!

What Did The Five Fingers Say To The Face?

"Clue" meets "Battle Royale" in "The Incite Mill"

Ten Little Indians... The Cast of Incite Mill

 Just finished watching the psychological horror/thriller movie THE INCITE MILL: 7 DAY DEATH GAME, where 10 unwitting subjects are lured to a remote structure miles away from anywhere, placed in a sealed habitat and are observed by electronic eyes as the party’s mistrust and suspicions go haywire when one of the participants turns up murdered.
Like Battle Royale”, each member of the “experiment” is given some kind of secret object that will either aid, protect, or help them kill someone, and like the game “Clue”, the guests must try to figure out who the guilty person is using only the murder weapon to guide their way.

Tatsuya Fujiwara

The film was interesting enough, but what really made the movie for me was the all star cast that included not only Fujiwara Tatsuya (of the aforementioned Battle Royale fame), Abe Tsuyoshi (Hanadan) and the mighty Kitaoji Kinya, but THREE (yes, count them, THREE) of my favorite “Crush Of The Day” Girls:

Ayase Haruka,

Ishihara Satomi

and Hirayama Aya!

Each gal played a certain stereotype: Aya as the giggly kogal Wakana, Haruka as the quiet and introspective Shoko, and Satomi as the scene-stealing morose, dramatic and suicidal Miyu! I have to say that it was their presence that really kept me glued to the computer- Man, I haven’t had a Crush Overdose like this since “Mamiya Brothers” with Kitagawa Keiko and Sawajiri Erika!

Ishihara Satomi as Miya

Say, it looks like Ishihara Satomi is really getting into this new kind of haunted, morbid character persona like the one I first saw in Tobo Bengoshi, and I have to say it fits her well!!! Very sultry and on her way to becoming a true Femme Fatale!

"The Stalker" Revisited

Just been re-watching “Stalker Sasou-Onna”, that old guilty pleasure of mine where Akiko Hinagata plays the psychotic Glenn Close to Takanori Jinnai’s Michael Douglas a la Fatal Attraction.

Ah, does this bring back memories!

It’s a WAY over-the-top thriller that goes from exaggeration to flat out nuttiness, and one reviewer named micahworld likened Takanori’s stuttering shocked expressions to Mr. Bill, that ever suffering clay figure from those old classic Saturday Night Live skits. He summed it up thusly:

"Best "So Bad It's Good" Dorama: Sutouka Sasou Onna (The Stalker). Unintentionally hilarious show about a woman who goes off the deep end. It's worth watching just for Jinnai Takanori's constant "Oh No!" Mr.-Bill expressions, but there's a lot more! By the time you reach the final episode and the ending, you'll be rolling on the floor."

Watching these episodes all over again, in regards to Mr, Bill, I have to say that it’s SO TRUE!

Ohhhhh Noooooooo!

Ohhhhh Nooooooooo!

AHAHAHAHAHA! Too Funny!

The "19 Dreams" Corner

Back when I was living in Mililani, there was this grove of trees at a street corner that I walked past every day that would remind me of the inside sleeve of one of Nishida Hikaru’s albums. It could be simply that at the time, Hikaru Nishida was my favorite artist and so perhaps I simply had “Hikaru on the Brain”, nonetheless, I thought of the album every time I saw the corner, and in fact, subsequently, several songs on the album REMIND ME OF THAT CORNER now!

The album in question was 19 Dreams, Hikaru’s wonderful fifth Pony Canyon release, featuring such fave songs as Happy Dream, Meguriai, Hohoemi Ni Yakusoku, and one of my very VERY fave songs from her, Ikiterutte Subarashii, so you can bet I listened to that album a LOT back then.

Recently, I was listening to the CD, and of course the music took me back, and I began reminiscing about that old corner. Just HOW MUCH did it actually look like the picture in the booklet? To satisfy my curiosity, I drove out there the past weekend, and visited that corner to see for myself!

First, the actual Booklet picture:

And “The Corner”…

AHAHAHA The Verdict? Well, I don’t know if the tress and shrubs/foliage grew or changed a lot since the 15 years when I lived there, but MAN that corner wouldn’t remind ANYONE of the Hikaru album, would it? AHAHAHA, at least, anyone except a Hikaru-obsessed fan! LOL!

Well, OK, squinting my eyes and focusing purely on the trees in the background, I can sort of see what probably made my brain think “Ah! 19 Dreams!”, but it’s not close enough to make it worthy to blog about, for chrissakes (whoops, too late…gomen)

Kanno Miho eating a Natto Roll

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Shakalabbits / Monster Tree

Just last week, my Youtube Account got suspended for uploading Shakalabbits' "Monster Tree" PV, and in a strange coincidence, just today I see that Shakalabbits is due to release two live DVDs, and the live video clip they're releasing to promote it is none other than Monster Tree itself!!! HAHAHA

Even more fun is the fact that "Monster Tree" is the only song I've ever tried to sing at Karaoke (went with Yametekudasai and Masa from Otokichi Premium, and while I sang, both of their faces were like O_O) so it's the one song I know all the lyrics by heart- and here we have Uki getting the crowd amped for a rousing "Monster Tree" singalong! DAMN, I coulda TOTALLY joined in on that one!!!!!!

I've loved the music of Shakalabbits since they released their wonderful single "Dazzling Soup" and subsequent single "Monologue", and from there jumped right into their entire back catalogue. My favorite video from them was always Monster Tree, and it was in fact one of the very first things I ever posted about in my long-dead VOX blog, one of the first thing I felt "passionate" enough to WANT to blog about!

And Yeah, so I uploaded the PV to my Youtube account so I could link it to my blog entry. And now my account is killed!  Ah well, admittedly, they DID warn me three times about it, I've learned my lesson- from now on, if I have to link to a video, I'll just find someone ELSE who has it up and link to THEIR video! Cause it sure is funny that they singled out MY account when there are at LEAST four other accounts with the same video up! AHAHAHA

Keep the SHAKALABBITS Love Alive!

Hiwa Mata Noboru!!!

In anticipation of a Karaoke Event later this month, I’ve been brushing up on some of the songs I wanted to try tackling, and one of the songs, Aladdin’s “Hi Wa Mata Noboru” (The Sun Will Rise Again!) , with it’s encouraging chorus of “Ganbare, Nippon- Sugoizo Nippon! Tachiagare Ima De Nippon!”(Do Your Best Japan- You’re Amazing, Japan! Stand Up Tall, it's Now, Japan!), struck me as a highly appropriate song in light of the events that have been happening over there.

I was talking over the weekend and it occurred how relevant the message of the song was to the current situation. And I just had to applaud reading the latest news from the Tokyohive site and saw that they’d put up on the Tokyo Tower platform the illuminated words GANBARO NIPPON! Not exactly Aladdin, but truly words to live by!

Adventures in Cuteness: Honoka Miki

Don't Let that innocent smile fool you

While we're on the subject of Clone Baby and the awesomeness that is Taki Yukari, on the other end of the spectrum, we have super-adorable Honoka Miki playing Kanako Aoyagi, the precocious little sister of main character Masamune.

What a rascally character this is! When not badly attempting to blackmail her teacher at school, she's at home teasing her brother or trying to befriend troublemaking online hackers!

 Little does she know that there is a sinister connection between all three of the above, and the truth may be more than she can handle! Aww, but she's really all bark and no bite, and you just GOTTA love her as she unwittingly gets herself into more and more trouble!

Crush Of The Day: Taki Yukari

 For those keeping track, the latest crush of the day here is pretty Taki Yukari, a cutie with an eternally sunny disposition whom I first saw watching the strange and totally bizarre drama CLONE BABY as the very feminine and girly Katsushika Marika.

 When she appeared as the girl friend of main character Masamune (played by Ichikawa Tomohiro), I was struck by her beauty, and after seeing her in a few more episodes, I knew I HAD to find out more about her, and was surprised to find she didn’t have a dramawiki entry! Reaching a dead end there, I was able to find info on her at the Asian Media Wiki site, where I found not only her drama listing but also a link to her agency VISION FACTORY, which in turn led me to a link to her Official Homepage, where I was THRILLED to find that she’d released a Shashinshuu and DVD while spending time as a very cute and curvy gravure idol!

Well, I naturally HAD to get my hands on THOSE treasures, and I have to say seeing her in a gravure video is a LOT more refreshing than watching her getting chased and kidnapped by rogue killer clones, LOL!, Watching her DVD “Thank You”, Yukari made the move from “Passing Fancy” to “Crush” in a matter on minutes! WOW, so saucy and very, very Cute, (or did I say that already?) I’m hoping to see more of her in situations like this!

Ah well, for the moment, it looks like that one gravure DVD is all she’s made, so I suppose to get my fill of Yukari goodness, I’ll have to get back to watching more episodes of Clone Baby! Not quite as fun and sexy as her gravure videos, but hey, you take what you can get!

The Pixie Next Door

Arashi: Mannequin Five Outfits

One of the most entertaining “corners” of the awesome HIMITSU NO ARASHI-CHAN show is the fun MANNEQUIN FIVE segment, where the boys are given a theme (like “Winter Date” or “Goukon Meeting”) and have to put together an ensemble to be voted on (or “bought”) by judges. Since none of them are professional designers, some of the outfits they’ve come up with have been hilarious indeed, and several of them (like Sho’s “Double Parka”) have gone down in ARASHI infamy!

Every once in a while, they’ll have Special Edition versions of the Mannequin Five segment, and they’ll take the boys down to some shopping mall and give them three hours to roam the stores and create an outfit. Then, their creations are displayed in a glass case at the mall, where shoppers can vote on their favorite choices! After a week or so, the votes are tallied, and the announcement of whose outfits are favorites and which ones were disliked are revealed!

So in this latest venture, the boys in Arashi were going to go to a Shopping Mall (in some huge freaking building), to create outfits for a “Spring Date” theme, but  THIS time, not only would their outfits be on display at the mall to vote on, but you could check them out ONLINE, as well!

Car called me up and told me to check out the outfits, adding, “Well, you can pretty much tell who did what.” Well, I HAD to see that, and got onto  a blog where they’d pasted up pics of the outfits (the voting had long been over with), and I finally got to see the ARASHI Spring Creations!

Well, I took a look at those outfits and told Car, “You Have GOT to be kidding Me- Aside from the SUPER CRAZY one which MUST be Aiba’s, I can’t for the life of me guess who chose it.” Well, after looking over the outfits  and talking about it for awhile, we decided to play a game with ourselves:

Try and guess which Arashi Member created each Ensemble!

Sounds easy enough, I suppose, if you know what style each member tends to go for…but there are so many different reasons for why one member may or may not choose a certain style, the more you thought about it, ANY ONE of those could be attributed to ANY MEMBER! Sho might decide to dress his mannequin “to look like Aiba did it” or Ohno would go against any personal style and simply buy an already-made ensemble right off a dummy, MAN, these were scenarios we would have no knowledge of!

In any case,after much hemming and hawing, the Arashi member that we matched to each outfit was as follows:

Special note should be made that within minutes of choosing her picks, Car said she changed her mind, and by the next day, told me to “Throw her guesses out the window”. Apparently she'd over-analysed each outfit so as to have NO CLUE who did what! I laughed but told her she was stuck with her original choices!

Well, that special ARASHI Mannequin Five event aired just the other day, and HOLY TOLEDO were we OFF! As predicted, there was NO WAY to figure out what was on the guys’ minds as they went about their shopping, and in the end, I’m not sure we got ANY of them correct! AHAHAHA…

Oh well, it was a fun game while it lasted, eh? LOL