Ai Kago will be making her return to Japanese TV this Friday on Fuji TV
Former Morning Musume and super popular Japanese idol Ai Kago (加護亜衣) announced on her blog last Friday that she’s officially back in Japanese showbiz! Affectionately called “Aibon” or “Kago-chan” by her fans, the 20 year old cutie revealed she’ll make her first Japanese TV appearance since her second smoking scandal more than 2 years ago.
“Aibon” is back in the spotlight, this time as a serious actress and talent
Ai Kago is going to be the guest on Japanese showbiz icon Sanma Akashiya’s Fuji TV late night variety show “Sanma no Manma” (さんまのまんま) this Friday. On the show Aibon will talk about her downward spiral, her road to recovery, her succeeding in losing 22 pounds and her current status as a bona fide Japanese actress and “talent”. Aibon has recently returned from Hong Kong after completing her role in “Super Chef” (スーパーシェフ), her first movie since her comeback. The film will be shown in Hong Kong this fall and be in theaters in Japan next April.
If Ai Kago and Maki Goto got together, what would you name the unit?
Ai Kago has also began filming a historic suspense drama with NTV (Nippon TV) in the ancient capitol of Kyoto since returning to Japan. She plays a princess and from the leaked press photos I’ve seen she looked absolutely adorable! Upon her return she was asked about the rumor of her and former Morning Musume member Maki Goto (current AVEX artist) forming a new unit. Aibon responded that it was also the first time for her to hear such speculation but she’d welcome it.
Ai Kago at Narita International Airport last Friday
Former idol and Morning Musume member Ai Kago (加護亜依) aka Aibon has officially kicked off her comeback in a big way after over 2 years of hiatus that stemmed from her “smoking incidents”. The always cute Aibon (あいぼん) left for Hong Kong this past Friday to work on an upcoming Hong Kong blockbuster movie tentatively titled “Kung Fu Chef” or “Super Chef” (功夫厨神). This is Ai’s first major work project since announcing her return to Japanese showbiz as an actress back in April.
Aibon appeared to be in high spirit at her press conference
At a brief press conference held at Narita International Airport before her departure, the 20 year old said, “I’ve finally made a comeback! I’m somewhat nervous but I shall do my best.” Commenting on the scar left from her suicide attempt, Aibon said, “I’ve done the worst possible thing as a human being so I’ll never do that again.” On her blog which has recently received top ranking in hits she wrote, “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to talk much about my projects but forget about that as I bring you the good news! It’s been confirmed I’ll starr in a Hong Kong movie. I didn’t know I’d get offered a job that quickly…I’m so happy!”
Aibon going over the script for Kung Fu Chef before leaving for Hong Kong. She’ll be there until early June.
Miss Kago is indeed very lucky (her new management is obviously fighting very hard for her) to land a role in “Super Chef”. The movie starrs the legendary Hong Kong action superstar Sammo Hung (洪金寶) as the charismatic super chef and former Taiwanese boy band F4 member and Asian heartthrob Vanness Wu (吳建豪) as his disciple. Aibon will play the younger sister of the boss that runs the restaurant. Her character often gets in trouble and she has an acute sense for taste and is skilled in the art of tea and spices.
Random photos from Ai Kago’s popular blog
When reporters asked about her beau, cafe operator Yasuyuki Ishimoto (石本靖幸) who’s 18 years her senior, Ai replied, “He’s more like an older brother than a boyfriend to me. He told me to go and do my job seriously.”
At the press conference the subject of smoking was once again touched on. According to Aibon, she quit smoking by sucking on her favorite milk flavored candy and mint gum.
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:
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
Aibon was pleasantly surprised when she was presented with a scrapbook made by her fans for her recent 20th birthday
I wonder how many people are actually reading the stuff I’ve been putting up about this Aibon exclusive interview with OhmyNews. Is it even remotely interesting to you guys? I know I’m totally late on today’s episode…hope I didn’t make too many of you Aibon wotas antsy!:)
But I do wonder if it’s worth it for me to keep going.
Anyway here comes what’s juicy from Part 4 of Masaru Nashimoto’s interview with former Hello!Project super idol Ai Kago:
When asked about the nature of her relationship with the seemingly sleazy restaurant entrepreneur Yasuyuki Ishimoto, Aibon replied, “I’m very close to him. He’s been helping me out so much. I’d like him to continue to look out for me and be the one I can talk about my problems with. He is like my one man supporter club!”
She added that she hasn’t given much thought about their future (meaning marriage), since she’s the type of person who tends to focus on the present.
The 4th generation Morning Musume said that some of the things she’s learned this past year include being thankful and learning to have confidence to tackle something. She felt that coming from an idol background she was used to being sheltered and lacked the ability to realize something. But now she wants to challenge different things to see herself grow. In other words, just do it! Aibon concluded that the best way to become stronger is to just believe in herself.
Aibon also touched on some of the problems she encountered since joining showbiz (this alone sheds a lot of light on why she did what she did). She explained that when she first joined the popular j-pop all girl group Morning Musume people often commented that she looked older than her age. As years went by it should’ve been natural for Aibon to “grow up”, but instead she became more childish. And it didn’t help that her work surroundings reinforced such image. Even though she was getting older, the majority of her fan’s demographic remained young so she was required to put on the “Kago-chan” act. The grown ups around her all asked that she maintain such kiddish image for the viewers.
As Aibon was constantly pressured to play up that “Kago-chan” act, her work related stress most likely began to accumulate. Now looking back Aibon thinks she didn’t realize at the time that wasn’t the proper way to carry on. And here’s something heavy…she said if she had continued doing what she did, she would’ve turned out really jacked!
“Kago-chan” couldn’t handle constantly having to be a kid in front of the camera, so she acted like a juvenile
To all the fans who have followed and supported her, knowing that she betrayed them twice Aibon once again expressed deep remorse.
The 20 year old Miss Ai Kago revealed that her mother understands her the most and she appreciates her a lot. When Aibon first got sent back to Nara for “home detention” in 2006 then when she was let go by her management Up Front Agency last year, her mother was the most furious at her but also gave her the most encouragement.
By the way Aibon commented that she hadn’t told her mother about this exclusive interview she’s doing and she would probably be surprised when she hears about it.
Stay tuned…I might just bust out Part 5 later today!
