sleepy john - news, pictures and videos for the jpop, kpop, gravure, racing queen, grid girl and av idol fan!

I’ve got the cure for your Monday morning blue! Kii Kitano (北乃きい) is one of the hottest U-19 idols from Japan. The 17 year old cutie from Kanagawa Prefecture first made her presence known by winning the 2005 Miss Magazine (ミスマガジン) gravure Grand Prix. She then appeared in the 2006 controversial NTV drama “The 14 Year Old Mother” (14才の母), Fuji TV’s 2007 wild drama “Life” (ライフ), as well as starring in the hit movie “Kofuku na Shokutaku” (幸福な食卓) last year.

The pictures are from the spread she did with Japanese gravure magazine Up To Boy at the end of last year.

Enjoy and you bet your ass I’ve got more Kii cuteness for you!

Keihin Tohoku Line (京浜東北線) arrives at Shinbashi Station (新橋駅)

Looking at the new Yodobashi Camera building from the platform at Akihabara Station (秋葉原駅).  I heard some of the restaurants inside are open 24 hours!

Inside Akihabara Station, with Milky Way’s poster in the background. Hang a right to head to the world famous Electric Town.

I was surprised at the new Chuo Line (中央線) train cars. They’ve installed LCD monitors that tell you all the stations up ahead, time required to reach the station and other useful info.

The all too important Chuo Line that runs through central Tokyo arriving at the always hip Kichijoji Station (吉祥寺駅)

Catching the “last train” is quite a phenomenon in Japan. The Japanese will do whatever it takes to make it on that very last train that’ll take them home after a night of drinking. Here we were at the office town of Kayabacho (茅場町駅) trying to catch the last Tozai Line (東西線) express train.

It was pretty crowded, but I had been in worse trains. At least I was able to move my hands and wasn’t accused of being a “chikan” (痴漢) or a train groper!

A funny poster I saw in the station. In recent years there are more young women blatantly applying their makeup while riding the train, which is considered bad manner in Japan. Personally I wouldn’t mind watching some cute girl putting on her makeup (it can be kinda hot), but unfortunately in most cases the offenders are rather unattractive. I guess the pretty ones know better…

The view in front of Shibuya Station. You can see the famous Yamanote Line that loops around central Tokyo whizzing by in the third pic.

A huge part of the Japanese lifestyle revolves around their public transportation system, namely trains and subways. A town is often built around the train station and many subcultures have spawn off the railway. Here are some train / subway photos I took while in Tokyo:

Riding on the Keisei Line (京成線) from Narita International Airport

Tozai Line (東西線), the train that people hate to take during rush hours is a pleasant ride in the early afternoon

Crossing the Old Edogawa River (旧江戸川) into Tokyo

Oedo Line (大江戸線) subway @ Monzennakacho Station (門前仲町)

Tamachi Station (田町駅) looks rather dead right after lunch

Huge and airy Shinagawa Station (品川駅) serves as a major artery and connecting point

Designated smoking area on the platform at Shinbashi Station. You don’t see too many of these left in Tokyo but since Shinbashi is an “oyaji” (old geezer) town they had to leave a couple there.

The iconic plaza on the west side of Shinbashi Station (新橋駅)

Taking the Yurikamome monorail (ゆりかもめ) toward the newly developed Shiodome (汐留) district

I spotted the uber cute and popular TV announcer Aiko Kaito (皆籐愛子) in Akasaka Station (赤坂駅)!

More to come…

Because it’s Friday, I bring you random snapshots:

Sobu Line train platform

“High school girls” style hostess club.  Alcohol + cute girls in school uniform = Win

Random Japanese school girl in sailor uniform with her boyfriend…lucky bastard!

Shoko Nakagawa aka Shokotan on a poster for Japanese karaoke maker DAM

This is how you deliver Domino’s Pizza in Japan. Every 3 wheel scooter has the driver’s name displayed. I bet they’re fun to ride around!

I’ve got plenty more for your viewing pleasure so be sure to stick around.

I get sleepy quite often but my need for a little shut eye pales in comparison to the Japanese. They seem to have this uncanny ability to fall asleep on command, regardless of where they’re at! Here are a few snapshots I took of them sleeping:

At Narita International Airport…check out the stylish pose!

At a bus stop in the Tokyo business district of Nihonbashi

Spotted this salaryman on my way home along a busy street

Even on the mountain…slope side sleeping at its finest!

Look what poster I ran into in the station upon my arrival? It’s Hello!Project’s new unit Milky Way advertising their new single “Anataboshi” (アナタボシ).

Hello!Project is still representing in full effect! Yu Kikkawa (L), Koharu Kusumi (C) and Sayaka Kitahara (R)

Front entrance to the legendary Shibuya 109 building…the center of Japanese fashion

A shot of the historic Nihonbashi at night. The structure above it is the Tokyo Metropolitan Highway, known to racers as “Shutoko” (首都高).

I thought this photo shows the clash of different Japanese cultures really well. On the left is the entrance to a traditional shrine and immediately to the right is a love hotel, where horny Japanese who can’t wait to get home go to do the nasty.

Here’s a few more pictures I took while salivating in the Land of the Rising Son (yes, pun intended)!

One of my favorite ramen joints in Tokyo…it was good to be back!

Okay, so this is not the best example and I was only able to get a few stealth shots of the school girls.  I’m not down with getting arrested for stalking and taking upskirt shots of every single uniform wearing cutie I saw!  But believe me I got my share of creamy thighs & plenty of panty flash!

What else can I say about Japanese school girls except they’re HOT!

Rainbow Bridge, the famous Tokyo landmark that leads to Odaiba

The man-made island of Odaiba (mostly from landfill) hosts various entertainment spots such as Decks Tokyo, Aqua City and Venus Fort in addition to Tokyo Big Sight convention center where all those cosplay anime conventions take place, Ariake Colosseum sports arena and several warehouses and industrial complexes. I have a strong suspicion that most of the trash Tokyo produces end up here as the island keeps expanding.

Fuji TV headquarters, where so many of the Japanese TV shows you’ve come to love is from

Yes fellas, like I previously announced I arrived in the land of milk and honey & rising skirts! Sorry about the unexpected delay…I was busy having too much fun and wiping the drool off my mouth. Here are a couple teasers for your viewing pleasure. I will throw up a lot more pics in the days to come so be sure to check back!

Hachiko Crossing in Shibuya, the mecca of Japanese goodness

The lovely Aki Hoshino was everywhere…here she is pimping body spray on a train

Well, it was inevitable that it would happen.  John is now officially MIA.  He goes off to Japan on a moment’s notice, calls me just to get a ride to the airport,… promises me he’ll bring back something for me from the land of milk and honey,…

And then disappears off the face of the earth.

Lucky bastard.  He’s probably neck deep in silky smooth creamy Japanese girls,…. Or face down next to some bench in Shinjuku from too much sex/sake.

Whatever the case,… he’ll be back soon folks.  Until then, you’ll just have to put up with the lovely images of girls that I find as well as the videos here and there.  I am currently looking at other Korean video sites (sorry, John’s the one that speaks Japanese so I can’t help you if that’s what you’re looking for) but they’re a bit trickier to embed.

Also,… for those of you who do NOT see our little poll there on the right, please do comment and let me know what you’d like to see more of.  Videos, pictures, porn, straight nude,… etc.

Until next time,… hopefully with John sober and somewhat sound!

Jay

First caption says, “What could this be?”
And then it answers with “Baby’s bottom!”
As if you guys couldn’t figure that out,…

One ring to rule them all,… well, not really.  This one’s for all you gent’s getting hooked up.  Be careful,… be veeeerrry careful.

The 2008 Xanavi Team campaigns 2 brand new R35 Nissan GT-R in addition to the Z33 Fairlady Z

The lovely Akari Arimura (有村亜加里) on the left and her partner Mami Matsumoto (松本麻実) on the right

Would you like some marshmallow titties to go with your Monday? As a bonus, I’ve got 2 hot girls who are the finalists of Paradise TV’s “Titty Queen Pageant”…enjoy!  Click on Continue to see the NSFW pictures.

Continue Reading »

Japan, land of the rising miniskirt and loose socks wearing school girls

That’s right. The Japan-holic you have come to know and purveyor of all Japanese goodness is headed for The Land of the Rising Sun soon, real soon.

Maybe I’ll run into some of these cosplay loving maids

What spots am I going to hit up?  How will I make my presence felt?  How many hot girls am I going to encounter?  What kind of trouble will I get myself into?

Stay tuned and you shall find out.:)

Some undoubtedly startled person took these pictures at a children’s expo in Japan. What began as innocent supersized replicas of the popular Pokemon character Pikachu for the kids to climb into and jump around has gone terribly wrong! I mean, didn’t anybody notice the placement of the entrance / exit when these blown up Pikachus were made? And apparently the Japanese parents didn’t seem to be bothered by the obvious orifice on Pikachu as the children kept on playing.

Wait a minute, is that what I think it is? I thought Pikachu is a boy?

It’s like the kids are giving Pikachu a pelvic exam!

That is just wrong! Couldn’t they have placed the opening off to the side or even in the back?

Since we’re in Japan we should abide by Japanese law. And the law here says display of genital is prohibited so let’s bring out the good old mosaic…

Fixed!

Well, I don’t know what else to call her. I don’t even want to speculate whether she was really high or simply “expressing” herself. But this is so damn hilarious not to share! I couldn’t stop laughing the whole time!

But I strongly suspect this crazy dancer has a stripping background. Several of her moves came straight out of classic Japanese stripper poses!

There are kids walking around for chrissake!

Some major streets in Tokyo get shut down every Sunday and pedestrians take over. I think the chaotic performance took place on Shinjuku-Dori close to Shinjuku Station.

You can see sexy and hot Japanese girls doing all kinds of lurid deeds 24/7 on Paradise TV!

Take it from me, Japan is truly a paradise on earth for men. The country is filled with all kinds of yummy fun stuff that titillate your senses. They can pop up anytime, anywhere…from seemingly innocent content of prime time TV shows, to late night naughty variety shows, to all those juicy “campaign girls” promoting various products or events and the ubiquitous high school girls in their super hot & ready to rock short miniskirt school uniform.

So knowing that the Japanese people are generally filled with sensory overload how do you top all this? The creative folks at Japanese cable channel Paradise TV has just the answer. Paradise TV is a channel that focuses on adult content and often airs sexy original shows that often border on insanity! Every summer they hold a 24 hour “Sex Shall Save the Earth” charity marathon with live broadcast and viewer participation to raise money to fight AIDS and this past summer was no exception.

The faces of 2007 Paradise TV charity marathon…Ami Natsui (L), Erina Kurosawa (C) and Nana Otone (R)

Erina Kurosawa (黒沢英里奈) as the MC

Ami Natsui ( 夏井亜美) as the announcer

Nana Otone ( 乙音奈々) as the event special guest

Famous Japanese manga artist Go Nagai (永井 豪) designed the charity marathon shirt in 2006, Mikio Yanagisawa (柳沢きみお), another well known Japanese manga artist penned last year’s.

Go Nagai shows off his design with Paradise TV announcer Ami Natsui…lucky bastard!

Here are some highlights from Paradise TV’s erotic festivities:

- Hand job shrine (3 min. limit, from $30)

Have a 巫女 (shrine maiden) show you what a proper hand party ought to be. Paradise TV is confident about their girls…they’re claiming a 80% “success rate” and are aiming for 100 shots on goal.

- Titty Queen pageant (winner gets to represent at the Titty Grab booth)

She’s got some nice huge tits but those knockers wouldn’t be the only things I’d explore with my hands

- Coast to coast phone sex battle (the objective is to “do it” on the phone and via webcam with viewers from every prefecture in Japan)

I’m sure I’d blow my load pretty quickly looking at this face

The girls were able to conquer the entire country with their excellent phone skills…Karin Ohnuki 大貫かりん (L) & Matsuri Hanagiri 花桐まつり (R)

Karin’s spankable ass

Matsuri Hanagiri’s lovely ass

- House call sensual aesthetics for women (from $100)

- Titty grab (5 squeezes, nipple pinching is ok too, from $10)

- Ball massage (open to female viewers, from $100)

- Bath time with Paradise TV announcer (auction)

The winning bidder gets to take a dip in the tube with cutie Yotsuha Wakakusa (若草よつは)

- Golden spring beer garden (you can use your imagination on what is the beverage, from $3)

They even have an “all you can drink” course…to each his own I guess.=P

There you have it, 24 hours of full on debauchery and scandalous fun like that. If you don’t consider that entertaining you need to go to the nearest high rise rooftop or cliff and jump off!

Naked mahjong anyone?

It makes me wonder what this summer’s marathon will bring us…

Perfume has been leading the way for “picopop”, a type of Japanese techno

The latest album from the all girl Japanese techno / pop group Perfume soared to the top on Japan’s Oricon Chart this week. “Game” is the second album released by the trio who hail from Hiroshima and is the first techno album to attain the No.1 position in nearly 25 years!

Kashiyuka (かしゆか), A~chan (あ～ちゃん) and Nocchi (のっち) started performing in their hometown when they were only 12 years old. They were picked up by famous Japanese musician / producer Yasutaka Nakata (中田ヤスタカ) and their music can be categorized as “picopop”.

Perfume shooting for the jacket of their second album “GAME”

Reacting to the revelation that their album has gone to the top of Oricon Chart, the talented and cute girls exclaimed, “This is great! Finally all of our hard work paid off. We’re really glad to have people who have supported, helped and told us not to give up since the beginning. There was a time we were happy just to make it to the top 100. Thank you all so much!”

Perfume: Kashiyuka (L), Nocchi (C) and A~chan (R)

Perfume’s “Game” beat out other popular Japanese artists such as rock band HY from Okinawa, folk duo Yuzu (whose lead singer Yuji Kitagawa is dating the crown jewel of Fuji TV announcer Aya Takashima - see my blog on 3/22), singstress YUI and R&B group Exile.

Ahh, those wacky Japanese famous for pulling off some of the most outrageous things have once again outdone themselves. The fellas from the small fishing town of Susami-cho (すさみ町) in Wakayama Prefecture that faces the Pacific Ocean in western Japan (just south of Osaka) probably smoked a little something-something before they went out and set up a mail box in…under the sea!

The odd location of the mail box also ensured the people of Susami a Guinness Book of World Record for the deepest spot on earth for a mail box. The functional (believe it or not…my Japanese pals just crack me up!) unit is located about 100 meters from the harbor and 14 meters under the water. The tall old school mail box painted in firetruck red weighs about 80 kilograms and was first put in place back in 1999. Local scuba diving shop Noa Susami handles the mail pick up.

Divers from Noa Susami (ノアすさみ) Diving Tour swap out the old mail box

According to the shop manage Kazuyuki Suzuki the mail box has received over 30,000 pieces of mail! You’ve gotta admit Japanese people got a sense of humor. And oh yeah, the town is also famous for bonito tuna and yellowtail amberjack.

What would be the reaction from a cute Japanese girl if she were to accidently walk in on some dude spanking his monkey? I’m sure that is the question we’re all wondering about. Well, thanks to this wonderful Japanese TV show we now know the answer!

The video is self explanatory. Goofy Japanese prankster and comedian Rakkyo Ide pretends to give himself pleasure in the dressing room at a TV studio. His victims include super cute gravure idol Shoko Hamada and Oita Asahi announcer Miwako Nakashima. But when he got to his 3rd subject sexy female doctor / talent Ayako Nishikawa, the bold former Miss Japan wasn’t too impressed, Rakkyo knew he had to make some changes and demanded to let him do things “his way”. His improvisation had quite an impact, as you’ll see on the face of the 4th girl Aya Kiguchi who’s another hot gravure idol.

Aya could only mumble, “The, the, the elephant…”

Some of you Japanese porno aka JAV fans probably have been wondering why there is always that annoying censored “mosaic” blur that covers up the juiciest part of the action. Just like you I wish that cock blocking censor would take off like a high school prom dress! But there’s a reason for that and we actually need to be thankful the blur was put in place…otherwise none of us would be able to enjoy any of the hot action from all these lecherous Japanese girls we’ve come to lust after so much!

Call it strange, nonsensical or whatever you like, but the Japanese law stipulates that no reproductive genital or actual act of coitus can be shown in media form. That’s just the way it is, has always been and most likely will be for quite some time. Fortunately Japanese laws also allow for many loopholes. For instance, anus aka “the other vagina” is fair game and can be shown in plain sight and sexual intercourse of different kinds is tolerated as long as effort is made to “cover up”. This led to the existence of those infamous veils of necessary evil we know as “mozaiku” (モザイク)!

But who’s going to set standards and manage the plethora of flesh yumminess DVD the Japanese porn industry pumps out every month? Obviously the Japanese government can’t create a new ministry just to police these stick flicks…that would become a laughingstock of other nations. (But you can be sure I’d be the first one to apply if the Japanese government ever changes its mind!) This is where Biderin ( ビデ倫) comes in. Short for “Nihon Bideo Rinri Kyokai” or Nihon Ethics of Video Association (as in NEVA…now you know what that stands for when you see it in the beginning of every JAV DVD you’ve popped in), it is a self governing body composed of representatives from within the industry to monitor themselves and make sure every single frame that’s got sexual organ receives proper covering via mosaic censor.

An example of the yummy world famous JAV we can’t live without

The Japanese porn producers have been rather kind to lovers of Japanese AV actresses as of late. Within the last 2 years there’s been a trend to employ thinly veiled “digital mosaic” when applying the censor. The mosaic is so fine that even though the blur exists on screen, it pretty much leaves not much to the imagination (hurray!). At times it seems like the “mosaic technician” and Biderin screeners might have gotten a bit too generous if you know what I mean.

Unfortunately someone, somewhere couldn’t let things be and clearly isn’t too happy about the introduction of digital mosaic (personally I think he ought to just walk into any one of Japan’s fine ejaculation specialty shops and get his nuts emptied by a young and willing babyfaced 18 year old hottie…problem solved!). This all led to the office of Biderin being raided by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police last summer and the subsequent arrest of 5 Biderin big cheese earlier last month.

Japanese porn producer h.m.p debuts 3 new girls at once…hawt!

The head of Biderin’s Inspection Division, as well as the president of Tokyo based Japanese AV production company h.m.p were among the arrested. The police claimed that the digital mosaic Biderin passed for inspection still allowed the viewers to “confirm that intercourse took place”…the sound of this is ridiculous I can’t help but laugh!

Well, our friends in Japan might have almost everything, but they can’t have it all.

Do you think the digital mosaic is too revealing?

Ai Takahashi (R), Reina Tanaka (C) and JunJun (L) of Morning Musume pose for their fans at Taoyuan International Airport

Three members of the Japanese idol group Morning Musume arrived in Taiwan’s capitol Taipei this past Wednesday to promote their upcoming and first ever concert in Taiwan. Morning Musume leader Ai Takahashi, along with cutie pie Reina Tanaka and JunJun (who’s actually from China) were greeted by about 100 fans at the airport. Later on during the press conference at the hotel the girls were given Taiwanese sweets such as pineapple cake and tapioca milk tea which they loved.

Morning Musume leader Ai Takahashi

Morning Musume 6th generation member Reina Tanaka

Morning Musume will hold their concert at Nangang Exhibition Hall on May 24th and they plan on performing 36 songs. Those lucky Taiwanese bastards!

Morning Musume about to sample some tasty Taiwanese sweets at the press conference

ZARD’s latest single 翼を広げて (Tsubasa wo Hirogete) will be featured in a Detective Conan movie

A previously unreleased song by Izumi Sakai, lead vocal of the Japanese rock band ZARD will be the theme song for the latest Detective Conan anime movie, “Meitantei Konan Senritsu no Gakufu” (Detective Conan, Score of Horror). Izumi Sakai was the voice and face of the somewhat mysterious unit that was extremely popular in the 90s. She passed away last May under cloudy circumstances while battling cervical cancer.

The poster for 名探偵コナン 戦慄の楽譜 “Detective Conan Score of Horror”

The song “Tsubasa wo Hirogete” (Spread Your Wings) was written by famous Japanese musician Tetsuro Oda and its lyrics penned by Miss Izumi Sakai herself. The animated movie will hit theaters across Japan this Saturday.

Japanese talent Chiriko Sakashita (L) and comedian Ryota Yamasato of Nankai Candies (R) promoting the movie in Tokyo last week

Mikitty was all smile at Tokyo FM’s Spain Zaka Studio

The lovely former Morning Musume leader Miki Fujimoto made an appearance on Monday on the Tokyo FM radio show “Wonderful World” in Shibuya to promote her upcoming single “Oki Tegami” (置き手紙). This is her first release since scandal broke out last summer that led to her stepping down from the popular Japanese idol group (please see blog from 2/15 & 1/9) and also her first solo single in 5 years.

Oki Tegami (Letter Left Behind) will be Miki Fujimoto’s comback single

Mikitty (as she is affectionately called) said she worked hard on this piece because the folk song style which “Oki Tegami” is based on is something she’s previously not familiar with. But she’s not nervous and is enjoying her solo activity. While on the subject of her b-side track “Far Away Lover” (遠い恋人) the radio show host playfully teased by asking, “Is your lover close by?” Slightly embarrassed Mikitty replied, “Yes, he’s close.”

Oki Tegami will hit the shelf next Wednesday alongside with a different version from veteran Japanese singer Takao Horiuchi.

Miki Fujimoto with Takao Horiuchi (L) at the press conference for Oki Tegami last month

Aki Hoshino was crowned “Orange Day Princess”. Previous recipients include Misako Yasuda.

Busty Japanese gravure idol and talent Aki Hoshino was in Tokyo yesterday to promote the “Orange Day” event put on by Sunkist. During the interview the babyfaced sexy model said even though she’s had good relationships before, she hasn’t been able to find any eligible bachelors recently. She added that these days people around her are getting married, so she’s starting to feel anxious.

In the end the 31 year old F-cup cutie proclaimed, “I shall get married before 40, I haven’t turned rotten at all!” while possibly taking a jab at Kumi Koda’s “women’s womb turn rotten after 35″ comment earlier this year.

I hope Aki’s fabulous tits will never go rotten!

I’m bringing you some more Misako Yasuda cuteness because it’s a Monday.=)

Just like I expected all along, the princess of Japan’s dirty pop Kumi Koda kicked off her national concert tour yesterday pretty much as originally planned at Ekoba Arena in Fukuroi, Shizuoka Prefecture (about 2.5 hr southwest of Tokyo). It has been about two and a half months since her off the cuff “rotten womb” radio show comment that landed her in hot water which ended in cancellation of all work related activities and self exile.

Before the show Kumi once again apologized and bowed to the fans. She then exclaimed, “I will give my best!”

According to reports, since the scandal blew up in the beginning of this past February Kumi had been hiding in hotels. And recently Japanese tabloid FLASH sighted the j-pop diva resurfacing, sporting huge sunglasses with her trademark brightly colored hair surrounded by several AVEX staff members while being discreetly shuttled around.

The 25 year old Miss Kumi Koda had reportedly wanted to delay the start of her national tour. But due to several complications decided to stick to the original schedule. The concert tour covers 8 locations and consists of 16 shows in total. The ones in the beginning such as Shizuoka, Kobe and Fukuoka have been completely sold out a long time ago before the rotten womb scandal took place and tickets for her performance in Tokyo which went on sale on the 15th of last month were also gone in an instant.

Although her advertising activities with major companies like Kirin, P&G Japan and Japanese cosmetic Kose are still on halt, I’m sure everything will be back to normal by early summer and you’ll start to see Kumi pimping all kinds of products everywhere you go again.

Things are looking good for Kumi Koda. Her latest DVD “Kumi Koda Live Tour 2007 ~Black Cherry~ Special Final in Tokyo Dome” that was released on the 31st of last month shot up to the No. 1 position for music DVD. As a matter of fact, this is the 4th consecutive number one ranking she’s received for her DVD, beginning with “secret ~First Class Limited Live~” in September of 2005.

Kumi is on track to surpass Hikaru Utada’s sales record of 6 consecutive No. 1 DVD 

This really shows you in Japan it doesn’t matter what kind of trouble you get yourself into,  a tearful apology followed by a short hiatus goes a long way!

Alright fellas, here’s the final installment of OhmyNews / Ura Channel’s exclusive interview (<– original video here) with mega popular former Morning Musume and Hello!Project artist Ai Kago aka Aibon. And thanks for your encouraging comments…it’s good to know that the effort I put in is worth while!:)

“Morning Musume aren’t idols”

Aibon started off the final portion of her interview with famous Japanese showbiz reporter Masaru Nashimoto by saying the super popular Japanese girl unit “Morning Musume” wasn’t meant to be an idol group, but was viewed as such. Instead she considers Morning Musume to be a female singing group. Back then she was given the kiddish “Kago-chan” role so she had to play along. But now she’s starting anew and would like to be considered other than an idol.

Masaru proceeded to ask her if she still smokes now that she’s turned 20 and is legally allowed to smoke in Japan. Aibon replied, “Actually I’ve already quit before this. But even though now I can smoke freely I no longer feel like smoking. And nowadays I also feel it’s not so good manner wise to smoke.”

Aibon gave an interesting analogy to the situation. She said, “It’s like when you’re a small child you’re not allowed to go on some of those bigger rollercoaster rides and you really want to ride them. But once you’ve grown and passed that height requirement you don’t really feel like getting on them anymore.”

When the veteran interviewer Masaru Nashimoto mentioned that the reason he doesn’t smoke (honestly I was shocked, I imagine Masaru to be the typical chain smoking, yakitori eating, shochu drinking Japanese old geezer…guess I was wrong) is because when he visited a shrine while on a school trip in high school some people next to him were smoking and it made him feel ill, Aibon told him she felt the same way. She explained that by smoking and being around smoke it made her voice coarse, and added that it’s not okay for underage kids to smoke, even if they don’t get caught. Haha it sure sounded like Aibon was doing an anti-smoking campaign!

Toward the end Masaru quipped that he is more than 40 years Aibon’s senior (he’s 63). Aibon expressed genuine surprise and said she didn’t think he’s that old. When he told her he was born in 1944 Aibon said, “Oh that’s the same year my grandma was born!” which drew a bunch of laughter. Country side people sure have kids young!

Best of luck to the older and wiser Miss Ai Kago…please don’t cut yourself anymore

Today’s portion was rather short and here’s what the former idol and Hello!Project artist Ai Kago shared in the interview with Ura Channel and OhmyNews:

Click here for original video

Veteran Japanese entertainment reporter Masaru Nashimoto asked about her plans for the future. she replied that she doesn’t know exactly what’ll happen but because she has experienced a lot by being in Japanese showbiz since she was 12 years old (which she’s quite proud of), she feels that with her ability to convey different emotions she’d like to give acting a try.

Aibon has been doing some writing on a daily basis. Someday she hopes to get a book published and would be happy if in some way her book can be of help to someone.

She also revealed that she has kept in touch with some Morning Musume and Hello!Project members and they provided her with encouragement. She was touched when some of them asked her, “Hey Aibon how are you doing?” since only her ex fellow members call her by that nickname (calm down you fanboys…I’m sure she meant in her “real” life). To Aibon the Hello!Project girls are her source of inner peace.

When she received text messages from them she felt she wanted to rejoin the group. But she knew it wasn’t possible, so she decided to work hard on her own.

When Masaru brought up Aibon’s former partner in crime Nozomi Tsuji, she responded that she was really surprised to hear about her sudden pregnancy and marriage and she’s seen Taiyo Sugiura’s (Nozomi’s hubby) blog before. But from the sound of her voice I suspect Nozomi isn’t one of the people she is in constant contact with. She was also surprised to hear about the “Mikitty incident” (please check out my blog on 1/9 and 2/15) but believes Miss Miki Fujimoto will make a strong comeback since that is in line with Miki’s personality.

Finally the conversation moved onto Maki Goto, who’s currently on a secret mission in LA. Aibon said she was in touch with her until right before she departed for the States. She explained that she has always liked Maki and feels they share many similarities. She thinks Maki is a strong person so she will surely succeed, and hence she must strive for success herself too.

Both Aibon and GoMaki choose LA as their preferred destination to get away