Oh yeah all you Aibon wotas show some love as I bitch translate and bring you the latest on ex Morning Musume and Hello!Project artist Ai Kago’s 6 part interview from OhmyNews! In today’s interview (<– click to go to original video), Aibon shared yet more shocking revelation with veteran Japanese entertainment beat reporter Masaru Nashimoto.

First of all, Aibon revealed that she first tried to attempt suicide when she was 16. It was mainly due to work related stress as she’s actually pretty weak mentally and didn’t have much confidence about her ability.

It was only after she had slit open her wrist and saw all the blood pouring out that it dawned on her that she had once again done something stupid as her action brought trouble to many people around her. Aibon really thought she had hit rock bottom, but through the support she received from people close to her she realized that she wasn’t alone.

Aibon mentioned that the encouragement she got from her beau Yasuyuki Ishimoto and his family were especially helpful. Although she rarely went to school after joining Morning Musume and was neither good at or liked studying, she began doing a lot of reading since last year and decided to have a fresh start on life from age 20. Aibon said, “when you’re at the bottom the only place you can aim for is up.” She is now determined not to run away from things she didn’t understand like before and instead to face and overcome them. Most of the books she read were on psychology.

Kago-chan also contributed her path to healing to meeting the people she befriended while in LA. She was there from around May to August of last year. She commented that she was able to learn a lot from speaking with these new acquaintances, listening to their stories & thoughts and getting encouragement as well as scolding from them. The former national idol and everyone’s darling strongly believes that those 3 months spent in LA were important and if she hadn’t gone there it wouldn’t have been possible for her to stand back up on her feet today.

Today’s interview portion ended with Masaru teasing us as he asked Aibon about her relationship with Yasuyuki, who is 18 years her senior. The video clip also showed Aibon saying she found out about fan sites dedicated to her after she was let go by Up Front Agency. She couldn’t stop checking them out and she felt very apologetic to those fans.

Maki Goto Jumps Ship

Fixed to appease some of you passionate Maki fans –> This just in from an unconfirmed source! Former super popular Morning Musume and Hello!Project artist Maki Goto has signed with Japanese record giant AVEX. “GoMaki”, as she’s often referred to in Japan was a 3rd generation member of Morning Musume. Her solo career took off after “graduating” from Japan’s most popular all girl group back in 2001. However, Maki had announced that she was leaving Hello!Project (and her handler Up Front Agency) last fall due to differences in the direction for her career she had with Up Front Agency, plus she was entangled in personal trouble over the arrest of both her younger brother (former EE Jump member Yuki Goto) and her boyfriend.

Maki will release her first single under the AVEX Trax sub label “Rhythm Zone” on May 7th titled “Necessary”. I think what’s “necessary” for her is to drop that loser boyfriend of hers immediately! This time the sexy 22 year old Maki has teamed up with well-known Japanese producer AKIRA who’s worked wonders for hit artist BoA. The B-side of her single will be a cover of famous Japanese singer / songwriter Keizo Nakanishi’s “You and I”, which was originally release back in 1993.

Hopefully by switching over to Avex Maki Goto will have more freedom with her music

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Miki Fujimoto To Return

It looks like Japanese idol and former Morning Musume leader Miki Fujimoto aka Mikitty is set to return to the spotlight with the release of a new single as a solo artist on April 23rd. This time Miss Fujimoto will attempt to shed her idol past and do a 180 degree turnaround, debuting as a bona fide adult singer.

We’ll get to hear the beautiful voice of Mikitty again soon!

Mikitty got herself into lots of trouble in the beginning of summer last year when she was caught dating Tomoharu Shoji of the Japanese comedian duo “Shinagawa Shoji” then refused to leave him. This pretty much earned her banishment from Japanese showbiz and career suicide. For more information please check out my blog on 1-9-08.

Miki Fujimoto aka Mikitty is known for being strong-willed

But being the crown jewel of Up Front Agency, Mikitty’s handler knows they can’t let a super cute talent with a beautiful voice go to waste no matter how much she messes up. Since Miki stepped down as the leader of the most popular Japanese all girl group and ceased all activities as a Hello!Project member she’s been relegated to only playing futsal occasionally for the Gatas Brilliantes, an Up Front Agency backed all girl team.

Mikitty in action playing for the Gatas Brilliantes

Miki Fujimoto’s new single is titled “Oki Tegami”. It is composed by Masato Sugimoto (who shot to fame with the single “Waremoko” last year, and got the honor to perform at NHK’s Kohaku Utagassen year-end extravaganza) and lyrics written by Haku Ide. Instead of the typical pop sound, Miki’s new single has a folk song flavor to it.

Miki Fujimoto (L), Masato Sugimoto (C) and Takao Horiuchi (R)

Japanese singer Takao Horiuchi who also belongs to Up Front Agency first received the offer to sing the song last fall as Masato Sugimoto suggested that he should do it in a “chanson” (French cabaret style) fashion. Around the same time Mikitty was looking for the right music to revive her career as a singer. Her manager heard the demo tape and thought the song was perfect for her smooth mezzo-soprano voice. In the end it was decided that both Miki and Takao would release their own version of the single on the same date…how’s that for some inter-agency rivalry?!
The recording was done in the beginning of this month with songwriter Masato Sugimoto present. He remarked that Mikitty had a great voice, better than he imagined for a female in her 20s singing a song about distressed love, and that she carried good aura for the song. Mikitty commented that the song was rather challenging. It was nothing like she’s ever sung before, but Masato gave her some really helpful pointers. For an accomplished singer (Mikitty is not only a pretty face) to humble herself and say something like that, I really look forward to hearing the single!

The soon to be 23 year old Hokkaido native says, “This is a completely different style of singing but I’d like you to support the new Miki Fujimoto.”

I bet Mikitty is still as uber cute as ever