“Summer Night Town”: Yuko and Ayappe work the streets and alleyways…

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“Mr. Moonlight”: The romance begins in big band style.

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I started 2007 wanting to review all of Morning Musume’s PVs… and I’m closing 2007 with the same wish. I’m making progress bit by bit, but not enough to post regularly just yet. When I’m ready, you’ll all know.

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We haven’t done this in a while, so why not bring it back? I think it’ll be an interesting way to look back on the world of Japanese music in 2007. Here are the details. The prize is a 3000-yen CD Japan gift certificate.

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Tsuji Nozomi has given birth to a healthy baby girl today at 12:45 AM. Her name is Noa, she weighs 2730 grams - roughly six pounds - and apparently everyone is doing well. Further details can be found at Hello Non-Pro Hour.

This is such great news. Congratulations to Tsuji and Taiyou, I’m sure they’ll make wonderful parents!

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Before you start, it’s best to read the following posts first, since I’m responding to them and their comments:

• Why Puffy AmiYumi, H!P and J-Pop are so beautiful (Radreview)
• [Blogs] Radreview on Puffy Live and That Sony Conspiracy Thing (Again) (Intl Wota)
• Morning Musume In America - Yes, It Would Work. (Stuck in a Pagoda)

I love CJ like a brother, and don’t mind if he considers me one of the “elitist assholes who want to keep their little musical discoveries to themselves rather than share them with the world”. I don’t think I’m an elitist, and I certainly want as many people to listen to H!P as possible.

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Thanks to CJ Marsicano for alerting me to this picture from Japan’s Weekly Playboy. It’s a great shot but there’s something… I don’t know… off about it. It doesn’t seem right.

Maybe make a minor adjustment… along the left side…

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I must admit, a part of me is secretly hoping that the reports have got it wrong and that Gocchin has signed up, not with a new music label, but S1 or Moodyz or even SOD Create. That would provide a nice ironic twist to her recent image makeover…

At any rate, I haven’t been a fan of Goto Maki in a long while - well before she tried to Koda Kumi-fy her image - so I’m not exactly mourning her departure from Hello! Project as a fan. However, she’s been one of the central figures in H!P since her debut with “Love Machine” - most credit her as a key part of that landmark single’s success - so her decision still manages to affect me deeply. So some quick thoughts on the matter…

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Who are we kidding? They could be singing that horrible nose song from Kira Pika and I’d still be praising them to the skies. I’m not saying they’re my current favorite trio - that still goes to Perfume - but this U15 supergroup is like crack for my wota addiction. Super-crack. Laced with PCP and other, um, bad shit I can’t resist.

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Since being an idol is as much about charm and charisma as it is about anything else, I’ll be looking regularly at various idol activities that don’t involve actual singing or dancing, reviewing how well the idols in question project their idol personae. To me, this is often much more interesting than the music and singing and dancing.

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