H!P Mass Graduation Protests. Fans United.

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| Posted on Monday, October 20, 2008


All members of the Elder Club of Hello! Project will have a massive graduation next March. The announcement shocked almost every hardcore H!P fans around the world. Protests were reported and below are some images of the protests in countries outside Japan.




China

(1) Chinese woman with a photo book.
(2) Crying fans singing Go Girl ~Koi no VICTORY~ - A Morning Musume song.

Tibet

(1) Tibetan monks had their peaceful rally outside their temple

United States

Pictures of 500,000 Hello! Project fans protesting at downtown Los Angeles.

United Kingdom


(1) Nudist fans showing their support for Fujimoto Miki
(2) Fans marching in one of the streets in London
(3) H!P protesters trying to break the police barrier
(4) An elderly Hello! Project fan arrested by the police

Korea


(1) A Korean woman giving salutes to the police in front of the Japanese Embassy .
(2) Mr. Taegukki, a 54-years old Konno Asami's fan showing his dissatisfaction .
(3) A crowd of protesters marching on a street in Seoul.
(4) Protesters with the banner "If H!P die, we will end our lives too!".

Malaysia


(1) Most of the yellow-shirted fans
(2) Fans who were sprayed with chemical-laced water
(3) Police shooting tear gases
(4) A water cannon sprays a Nakazawa Yuko fan

Local newspapers reported no more than 50,000 turned out for the protest in Kuala Lumpur but our reporters reported the numbers reached almost 300,000 people. Police had set up roadblocks a day before so many were not able to join the protest.

11 batallions of Federal Reserve Units were on the scene to handle the protest. Tear gases were shot, chemical-laced water were sprayed to them using water canons for no reason. The fans continued their protest until midnight. KFCs and McDonalds reported increase in their sales octaruple yesterday.

Most of the fans wore yellow shirts, although none of the graduating members have yellow as their member color. It is a color symbol of H!P fans in Malaysia and the unity of fans which came from different races and religion. "Hello! Project unites us! Don't stop. Kami berjanji tak tinggal semayang" the fans shouted.
Al- Jazeera
- gawsh... no wonder it was a massive traffic jam the other day in KL. -mediaposter
- if u were wearing yellow top in Kuala Lumpur on that very day, u will be arrested without question. doesn't matter what u r. -Renaye


Thailand

(1) Protesters dodging the tear gases.
(2) Protesters showing their dissatisfaction.

Indonesia

(1) Indonesian women with their 2 months of fasting protest, starting yesterday.
(2) Youths trying to break into the Japanese Embassy.

In Indonesia, you can't miss every single protest everyday - freedom4651


Afghanistan

(1) Male protesters protesting.
(2) A Yaguchi Mari fan.
(3) More male protesters.

*Note: Although Afghanistan is a warn-torn country, they have internet access equivalent to Japan since a Japanese ISP aids the rebuilding the country by providing free access to the internet in every home. Unfortunately, Afghanistan don't have laws on illegal downloading.

Argentina

(1) An unidentified woman interrupting a photography section of world's ministers conference in Argentina.


We would like to hear the about the protest in your country. Kindly leave the report in the comment.

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The Best Moments of 24Hour TV

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| Posted on Saturday, October 18, 2008



Many of us have watched Morning Musume and Hello! Project artiste performance in 24 Hour TV. Morning Musume performed almost every year since 2001 in the show. The 24 Hour Television, Love Saves the Earth (24時間テレビ　愛は地球を救う, Niju-yojikan Terebi Ai wa Chikyuu wo Sukuu) is an annual program started in 1978 to raise funds for various charities.

Here are some of the best and unforgetable moments of Morning Musume in the show.

Year: 2001. Morning Musume performed Dekkai Uchuu ni Ai ga Aru and I Wish/The Peace Medley.
- Crying Gomaki -

At the start of I Wish song, Goto Maki cried, touched by the condition of one of her fan, the boy on the giant screen. Gomaki visited the boy earlier at his treatment center. The professionalism inside Goto Maki should be applauded for continuing the performance until the end. The boy dyed her hair blonde just because he like Gomaki.

Year 2002: Morning Musume performed I Wish, Souda We're Alive and Do It Now.
- Angel Takahashi (Souda We're Alive) -


In the middle of the performance, half a dozen of wheelchair bound women entered the stage to sing the song together. While trying to reach the front from the back of Morning Musume member, one of the woman hit Takahashi Ai's leg. Takahashi Ai saw the difficultiness the woman had to turn her wheel chair so she just leave her position and helped the woman by pushing her to the front.



Later, Takahashi Ai and Yasuda Kei helped 2 of the women performing their chereography.
Twelve thousand five hundred and fourty-four point nine million points for Takahashi Ai alone.


- Ogawa Action On Fellow Rival (I Wish) -


During the start of the I Wish song, Ogawa stepped on Niigaki Risa's shoe and Risa had a hard time looking and putting back her shoe. Poor Risa.


2004: Morning Musume performed Dekkai Uchuu ni Ai ga Aru.
- FMASGM - The Fujimoto Miki's Armpits Sweat Glands Malfunction -


The stage should be equipped with air-conditioning. Michael Jackson's stage-maker should be consulted for this technology. Looked like somebody forgot to turn off the tap.


2005: Morning Musume performed Dekkai Uchuu ni Ai ga Aru
- Yoshizawa Hitomi's Brain Malfunction -


At the end of the song, while others trying to end the song with a cool chereography, Yoshizawa Hitomi spoiled it. She forgot the steps and performed it correctly after looking at the person next to him.


2006: Aya Matsuura, Nakazawa Yuko and Berryz Koubou performed Dekkai Uchuu ni Ai ga Aru.
- Aya Matsuura's Hearing Problem -

The host was passing the slot to the Hello! Project team to perform but unfortunately Ayaya received instruction earlier and her opening speech were overlapped by the host's. Audience can only hear the last part of her speech ("Hanaka-chan, ganbatte ne!") as the host ended his script. Statistics shown at the very time, 70 million home viewers said "Nani???!!!" (What?), trying to understand what Ayaya just said.

2007: 7 of 9 Morning Musume members performed Dekkai Uchuu ni Ai ga Aru.


Niigaki Risa and Koharu Kusumi did not to attend the performance. A first sign of aging for Niigaki Risa.


2008: Morning Musume, Matsuura Aya and Yaguchi Mari performed Dekkai Uchuu ni Ai ga Aru.
- Koharu, the next Gomaki -



Looks like Koharu Kusumi is currently UFA most favorite member of Morning Musume. In the performance, every Morning Musume members wore almost the same type of shoes except for Koharu who had thicker soles. This made her the tallest member in the performance towering JunJun. Koharu's shoe was custom made by Jimmy Choo, and was paid by UFA with unenclosed amount of 8 digits of Japanese Yen. The purpose was only to make her stand out among the other members.

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Indian Woman Claims To Be Umeda Erika's Mother

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| Posted on Friday, October 03, 2008

Picture of Umeda Erika of C-ute in traditional Indian Saree.

About a week ago, a picture of Umeda Erika wearing traditional Indian clothing, the Saree was posted on the internet. The picture caught attention of many foreign fans especially from India. A lady from India, Mrs. Letchumi claims that Umeda Erika is her long lost daughter, Rubini.

Mrs. Letchumi received the picture from a friend and somehow found out that Umeda Erika is her daughter. She went to a local TV station and had her interview and hopes someone will help her to get to Japan so that she can meet her daughter and hopefully finds the person who took her baby away, or at least get some information from Umeda Erika's parent so that the criminal will be brought to justice.

In this interview, Mrs. Letchumi clearly explained how she raise Erika or Rubini before someone took her baby when Erika was only three years old. After spending years without his daughter, she finally found her, thanks to the internet.

Click below to view the 3 minutes interview of Mrs. Letchumi about his daughter from a local TV show called "Love Finder".


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Reina's Back

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| Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2008

Reina's therapy session in which she had to ride a bicycle to measure her balancing ability with her new eye condition, recorded by Risa Niigaki, fellow Morning Musume member.


After more than a week in Tokyo Eye Specialist Hospital, Reina finally checked out last night. The operation on her right eye was unsuccessful to correct the position of the eye. In fact the operation made her eye condition worsen as the doctors failed to put the eye correctly in the socket.

The doctors apologized to Reina, her family and fans for the operation and will provide another operation to correct her eye but they will need time so that they will make a correct calculation to put the eye. Five scientists from the Large Hadron Collider Project were summoned to give correct calculation.

Reina was happy to see her family and fellow Morning Musume members after being a stuck for a week in a "boring hell" as she calls the place. She said that she will sue the doctors that operates her for unenclosed amount of Japanese Yen. "Maki Goto can reimplant her breasts 16,500 times with the amount of money" she claims.

Regarding the videos of her accident and her therapy session recorded by Risa Niigaki, she said that an idol is a normal human being and she has no power to prevent accidents.


Reina with Sayumi Michishige at a restaurant.

In the mean time, Reina hopes friends and fans will accept her as she is. Up-Front Agency in the meantime have decided to release a new photobook of Reina early next month with the current Reina's condition. Fans already claim that the photobook is an early experiment of Reina's popularity. If the sales are horrible, then UFA might graduate her from the group and the company itself.

Let us keep an eye on this situation.

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Reina's Accident Video, Strabismus Surgery.

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| Posted on Friday, September 19, 2008


The video of Reina's unfortunate accident, which leads to her eye surgery to correct her strabismus, taken by Risa Niigaki.

Tanaka Reina of Morning Musume haw been admitted to Tokyo Eye Specialist Hospital for a surgery to correct the position of her right eye. Reina decided to undergo the surgery after she had an accident while playing with fellow group member, Niigaki Risa.

In the incident, she was trying to run into the net of the goal post but with her strabismus condition, she hit the goal post instead. Being diagnosed after the the tragedy, there was no damage to the brain. But doctor advised her to go for the surgery to avoid future accidents.


Doctors from the eye specialist hospital were quite impressed with Reina for living for 18 years with the condition and managed to perform on stage without any problem.

Strabismus is a condition in which the eyes are not properly aligned with each other. It typically involves a lack of coordination between the extraocular muscles that prevents bringing the gaze of each eye to the same point in space and preventing proper binocular vision, which may adversely affect depth perception. Strabismus can be either a disorder of the brain coordinating the eyes or a disorder of one or more muscles, as in any process that causes a dysfunction of the usual direction and power of the muscle or muscles.


Reina Tanaka with her strabismus condition.



Normal Vision. (Red bar as the point of focus).


What Reina sees.

Reina's eyes have attracted thousands of Morning Musume fans and she hopes after the surgery, fans will still like her. "I hope they love me for my heart and talent, not my eyes.", said Reina.

The surgery will be supported by Up-Front Agency (UFA). UFA have been known for supporting some of Hello! Project artiste such as Sugaya Risako for dental surgery, Mitsui Aika's lingual bracers, Sudou Maasa weight loss program and Goto Maki's breast implant.

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Man Killed by Ogawa Makotos (sic)

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| Posted on Wednesday, September 17, 2008


Ogawa Makoto

A man believed to be in the middle of twenties was found dead by his 80 years old neighbor. He is believed to be dead for 127 hours before being found. The neighbor said she felt something wrong when she smell something bad from the house and heard that her neighbor did not turn off his television for days.

Police spokesman said they have arrested Ogawa Makoto for suspected murder. She pleaded not guilty but the chances that she will be freed from the prosecution is slim. She said that she was not even in Tokyo during the past one week. However the evidences were very clear that Ogawa Makoto killed the man. "It may not be her that killed the man but the connection was very strong", said the spokesman. Ogawa Makoto was a member of Morning Musume before she graduated from the group in 2006.

Fans were outraged by the accusation. They started to camp outside police stations all over Japan. They were not satisfied but they started to leave and some even cried when police released an official crime scene photo. One fan said he was shocked after seeing the picture and said only the gods can save Ogawa.

Click below the official photo


Official crime scene photo released by police.

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Morning Musume is a Titanic

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| Posted on Saturday, September 13, 2008



One of the Malaysian opposition leader, Lim Kit Siang made a comment on Morning Musume status at the recent parliament meeting. Kit Siang, was a hardcore fan of Morning Musume until they started to "sink" as he defined. His remark was booed by the government MPs and they made a police report for trying to mess up with the unity of the citizens by making that statement. They demanded that Kit Siang to make a public apology to Up-Front Agency and Hello! Project, Morning Musume in particular.


"It's a Titanic that will sink", the statement that made the government MPs, most of them Morning Musume fans uneasy. One of them asked him to shut up and proceed with more important issues.

When asked about it, Kit Siang said it is an important issue since that is something that he have in common with other MPs. He is quite sad with the current releases from Morning Musume where they have lost their "golden touch". He admitted still listens to their older songs.

"I have stopped buying their singles and stuff since Ogawa graduated but I still collects Koharu and Aika stuff". When asked whether he downloads illegal material from the internet, he responded, "Hey, everyone does that!".

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AkiPhileas

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| Posted on Friday, September 05, 2008



Looks like Akimoto Yasushi, also known as Akipi within AKB48 continues to amaze his group's and his group's rival with his action.

Akimoto Yasushi, the producer of the legendary superidol group, the Onyanko Club and currently the producer of two superidol groups, AKB48 and SKE48. He is also the producer of many Japanese TV shows, author, songwriter, lyricist, better known as the jack of all trades in the Japanese entertainment scene.

After the creation of the first generation SKE48 in August which consisted of 23 members possibly will be called as Team S as AKB48 have Team A, Team K and Team B with 51 members all together and almost 90 members with the two groups combined including the Research Students from AKB48, Mr. Akimoto saw that he needs something very practical and useful for the groups. So he went to The Netherlands and brought back something very nice.


There you go. The Phileas Bus. The bus that can easily transports both groups together. Developed by Samenwerkingsverband Regio Eindhoven (SRE), Dutch for the Cooperation Foundation Eindhoven Region, along with some other companies, is an advanced guided bus. The driver will not have to steer the bus as it is controlled by computers, without the need of railway or overhead lines.

There are only a few of The Phileas were built and there are two versions, the 24 meters and 18 meters in length. By making this purchase, the company had to build another 24 meters model and it will be the first to be used outside The Netherlands. As seen in the video below, the newly built Phileas making its way out of the factory heading to the next stop, Japan.


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It Cost-a Rika

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| Posted on Wednesday, September 03, 2008


Ishikawa Rika

After Arihara Kanna from C-ute and Natsuyaki Miyabi from Berryz Koubou escaped from Up-Front Agency punishment for having boyfriend and their pictures leaked, another picture of a senior Hello! Project member was posted in the internet.

Picture of ex-Morning Musume 4th Generation member, Ishikawa Rika, smiling and posing on a futon (a type of mattress that makes up Japanese bed), believed was taken in the house of one of his male fan which she is said to have a relationship with. The picture of Ishikawa Rika who potrayed the cute, sexy and charming member of Morning Musume was quite unexpected, releasing mixed reactions from his fans.


A fan, Mr. Sukasuki stated that he is quite upset after seeing Rika having a relationship with a man, although he admitted he do not care if she is having a relationship with someone if it is beyond his knowledge. He was traumatized after seeing the picture but managed to recover after days trying to forget her and choosing another 4th generation member, Yoshizawa Hitomi as his number one favorite.

Mr. Sarraunmoto, another Rika's fan have a different view for the case. A relationship with a fan is something that is unusual for them. It will somehow make the fans to dream to be loved by their idol. He also stated that he is quite jealous, but somehow proud with Rika's boyfriend which was his fellow classmate. He added that he is also quite upset with the picture.

The identity of Rika's boyfriend is still unknown but according to Mr. Sarraunmoto, Rika visited her boyfriend's house frequently before the picture leaked. When asked the boyfriend what they did, he usually said they played Nintendo Wii, watch dvds or just having fun chatting.

The picture however proved that their relationship was something more than that. "Sleeping together in the same futon will always make someone thinks that they did something that make her fans hurt", Mr. Sarraunmoto added.


The leaked picture.

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