Dream Morning Musume Concert Tour 2011 Spring PB Cover Released

The cover for the PB release of Dream Morning Musume’s Concert Tour 2011 Haru no Mai ~Sotsugyousei DE Saikessei~ has been released.

I was a bit surprised to see that the cover for the PB release is a bit similar to the one Momusu will have since apart from the info and the color of the bottom bar they have the exact same layout (most likely because BLT seems to overuse the layout with all of it’s releases): black bar at the top, the color of the letters are the same as the Momusu PB, a bar on the bottom with info about the content, as well as a vertical picture of the concert, but despite that it’s still a great cover.

We get to see all 10 members of Dream Morning Musume posing and singing while in concert, and while the picture could have been a bit better I was impressed with the energy coming from some of the members, mainly Rika, Koha, Yuko, as well as Yaguchi, and while we haven’t seen any previews it seems like this PB will be amazing since the bottom right picture does a good job of showing of the intensity of the event.

We should get previews sometime soon, or if not then there will most likely be a few around the beginning of August, but hopefully fans reserve their copy of the PB since it’s the perfect way to enjoy the concert fully.

The release date is set for 8/3.

BLT Site For Dream Morning Musume’s Concert PB

[Updated] HANGRY&ANGRY, Yaguchi Mari, and Mano Erina May Be Guests At Japan Festa 2011

HANGRY&ANGRY, Yaguchi Mari, and Mano Erina will be guests at this year’s Japan Festa 2011 in Bangkok, Thailand.

There is no confirmation as to whether they will perform.

After the confirmation that HANGRY&ANGRY would appear in Paris this year I didn’t expect to see another overseas appearance so soon, but it seems that there will be 4 members from UFA appearing at this year’s Japan Festa 2011, which is great news since that means fans in Thailand can get to see their favorite idols without having to go to Japan.

There doesn’t seem to be an official confirmation from UFA about their appearance but we will most likely see one in the next few weeks since Japan Festa seems to be a usual event where UFA members usually appear, and since the homepage for the event has a giant banner announcing the news I strongly doubt we will not get a confirmation soon.

So far there hasn’t been an announcement about whether or not each member will perform but I expect to see at least a short performance in some way since it is a great chance to promote.

This hasn’t been confirmed by UFA or H!P but so far it seems like it will most likely be true since Japan Festa has had quite a lot of H!P appearances throughout the past years (such as Fujimoto Miki), but I will update once a confirmation is released.

The event will be from 8/27 ~ 28

Study In Japan Site

EDIT: Thanks to everyone for clarifying the details!

It seems that only one of the three will appear at Japan Festa although the guest won’t be announced until 6/15, it seems that they did the same for Berryz Koubou’s appearance a few months back, so even though only one of them will appear we don’t know who it might be, but we will find out in a few days so I will update once the guest is announced.

Yaguchi Mari Is Getting Married

According to Sports Nippon, Yaguchi Mari and her boyfriend Nakamura Masaya will be registering for marriage tomorrow.

There were some rumors back in December that Yaguchi was going to get married to her boyfriend Nakamura (that she quickly dismissed saying that the plans weren’t finalized) but they made it official today, which is great news since we finally get a confirmation and we can celebrate another marriage.

It has been a while since a UFA member got married (the last time I think it was Saito) so I was really surprised to hear about the news but I am really happy and I wish the best for the couple.

Congratulations to Yaguchi and Nakamura on their marriage and I hope we get to hear their future plans soon.

They will register for marriage tomorrow, May 22.

Congratulations Yaguchi and Nakamura!

Sponichi Article About Yaguchi’s Marriage

EDIT: Here is a quick summary of the content of the article thanks to Tokyograph:

According to Sports Nippon, they had originally planned to register their marriage in mid-March, but due to the Tohoku earthquake, they decided to postpone it until May. Nakamura has been active with his agency’s “WAE Charity Project” and with volunteering, while Yaguchi has been participating in charity events and fundraisers as well.

The newspaper says that the two of them have already privately notified their agencies of their coming marriage. However, neither agency has publicly confirmed this news. If true, more details should be learned in the coming week.

So even though it hasn’t been publicly confirmed it seems that they will get married, but I will update this post once a confirmation by Yaguchi, Nakamura, or their agencies has been released.

For now Yaguchi has at least already confirmed that they will get married (she hasn’t denied the marriage when the rumor started in December so there are definitely plans for it), but the official date has yet to be confirmed, although we will find out for sure in the coming days.

Tokyograph Article

Oricon Article

EDIT: Confirmed, Yaguchi is already married, she showed off her ring and announced the news to the press yesterday, here is some footage from the event as well as a picture of the happy couple:

Video uploaded by: JIJPRESS

50 cm height difference

CONGRATULATIONS YAGUCHI AND NAKAMURA!

Yaguchi Mari, Yasuda Kei And Nakazawa Yuko To Hold Casual Dinner Shows

Dream Morning Musume members Yaguchi Mari, Yasuda Kei and Nakazawa Yuko will be holding casual dinner shows on both Osaka and Tokyo.

Mari and Yasuda will have their shows held together so fans who will attend will get a chance to hear them sing and seeing them while enjoying a nice meal, while Nakazawa’s event is held a few days later.

The scheduled events are of 4 casual dinner shows for Mari and Yasuda at La Donna (Tokyo) and Flamingo the Arusha (Osaka), which seems interesting since they will have 2 full nights with  consecutive events and dinners to attend in the same area to please fans. On the other hand, Yuko only has 2 casual diners to attend on one night which will take place in Flamingo the Arusha.

Since the events will take place in June, this gives time for all of the fans to prepare their trips if they want to meet their idols, and to note that the price is a little high (15 000 Yen), probably for their presence and the dinner that will be served.

Overall, I’m really happy to see that the members are getting more and more chances to be with their fans on casual shows where they are probably in a more calm atmosphere, and hopefully other members will get this chance too.

The event for Yaguchi Mari and Yasuda Kei are scheduled for 6/4 (Tokyo) and 6/12 (Osaka).

The event for Nakazawa Yuko is scheduled for 6/18 (Osaka).

FC official announcement about Yaguchi and Yasuda event

FC official announcement about Nakazawa event

Dream Morning Musume Announces Fall Concert Currently “Untitled”

Dream Morning Musume announced that they will be holding a Fall concert currently “Untitled“

The news is on their official site and the concerts will start somewhere in September 2011.

Other than that announcement nothing else is known. I’m really surprised to hear that they’ve announced another concert before the 1st one even began! Hearing about another concert I’m also excited because the Fall concert could be used to promote the album, so if there are any new songs we’ll be able to hear it performed live, which I find more better than the studio version.

Pre-sale tickets for the concert is currently available and the concert is planned for 9/2011.

Dream Morning Musume’s Official Site

Dream Morning Musume Announces Album Titled “Dream 1”

Dream Morning Musume announced at a press conference that they will be releasing their 1st album titled “Dream 1“.

There will be two versions, the limited and regular edition. The limited edition comes with a DVD while the regular comes with a postcard.

Hearing that they announced an album I’m really excited to hear what kind of songs they have on it, I’m hoping they’ll release some new songs but it’s also possible that they will be doing covers so we’ll see how that turns out.

Also originally Tsuji Nozomi had been listed as a member but after giving birth and all of course she wouldn’t have been included in the concerts but I’m wondering if she will be participating in the album. As for the recent graduates, they most likely won’t be participating in this album since Junjun and Linlin have returned to China and Kamei will probably still be recovering. But on their official site it says that the line up may change at the concert so it’s possible that they may change who participates on the album.

Overall I’m looking forward to seeing Dream Morning Musume continue their activity and I hope that their concert as well as their album is a success!

The album will be released on 4/20.

Up-Front Link (Blog)

Dream Morning Musume Official Page

Yaguchi Mari Announces Photobook Titled “CECILBOOK”

Yaguchi Mari announced on her blog that the title of her next photobook is called “CECILBOOK“.

The photobook is named after the clothing brand Mari used which is Cecil McBee. Mari also wears the brand as stated in the blog post so not only is she taking pictures for work she’s also wearing clothing from someone she’s familiar with which is a plus. I’m not familiar with the brand but after looking through some Google images I’m looking forward to seeing Mari’s photobook. I like a lot of the outfits and I’m asuming that Mari will be using something similar to what I found.

Here’s a translation of what she announced on her blog:

“CECIL’s a brand that I’ve been wearing for a long time, so I was really happy. They had me change into a bunch of different outfits~ CECILBOOK will be out around February, so I’m a little early, but please go look at it!“

Hopefully all fans support Mari and buy a copy when it’s released.

The release date is somewhere during February.

Yaguchi Mari’s Blog

 

Morning Musume OG Concert Tour 2011 Announced

A concert tour for Morning Musume OG titled Dream Morning Musume Concert Tour 2011 Haru no Mai ~Sotsugyousei DE Saikessei~ has been announced.

Acording to the announcement Nakazawa Yuko, Iida Kaori, Abe Natsumi, Yasuda Kei, Yaguchi Mari, Ishikawa Rika, Yoshizawa Hitomi, Tsuji Nozomi, Ogawa Makoto, Fujimoto Miki, and Kusumi Koharu will be participating in the concert tour (basically everyone except Konno Asami).

I’m glad to see that they decided to do a Morning Musume OG tour since it has been a while since we last saw them perform together, and while Konno won’t be able to perform (most likely because she is busy at training for her TV Tokyo announcer job) it will most likely be a great tour for all OG fans since we will be able to see most of OG performing H!P classics.

We don’t know what the setlist may contain but it will most likely have many solo songs from each one of the solo artists (Nakazawa, Iida, Abe, Yaguchi, and Fujimoto) as well as some group performances, which should be very interesting to see since we will get a chance to hear many great songs being performed by OG members.

For now we don’t know what to expect from the tour, but hopefully OG fans buy their tickets to enjoy this unique and impressing concert tour when it starts in April.

The concert will feature the following dates:

Date	Venue	Concert starts
04/23	Chuukyou Daigaku Bunka Shimin Kaikan Aurora Hall	15:00 / 18:30
05/01	Amagasaki Shi Sougou Bunka Sentaru Kaikkunoru	14:30 / 18:00
05/04	Nakano Sun Plaza	15:00 / 18:30
05/05	Nakano Sun Plaza	14:00 / 18:00
05/07	NHK Osaka Hall	15:00 / 18:30
05/15	Yokosu ka Geijutsu Gekijou	15:00 / 18:30
05/21	Hiroshima ALSOK Hall	13:30 / 17:00
05/29	Beishia Bunka Hall (Gunba Kenmin Kaikan) Dai Hall	15:00 / 18:30

Official UFA Page For Momusu OG Concert Tour

New Promotional Unit “Afternoon Musume” Announced

A new promotional unit for Georgia coffee drinks titled Afternoon Musume δ has been announced.

They will sing an original song titled Gouhoubi no Afternoon Coffee. The unit consists of:

• Nakazawa Yuko
• Iida Kaori
• Abe Natsumi
• Yasuda Kei
• Yaguchi Mari
• Fujimoto Miki
• Ogawa Makoto

I’m glad to see that there are more promotional units being made within UFA for various popular products and since this one consists of OG members it is a bit more special since we haven’t seen them work together as a group in quite some time.

Since the promotion is for one of the most popular drinks in Japan (according to Wikipedia) it is without a doubt a great chance for them to promote themselves and their personalities to the public as a group.

The CM features Afternoon Musume members in a slightly old fashioned building where they provide Georgia Coffee drinks to some actors who are resting, and I have to admit that I liked it since it was calm and made me want to try some (which is the point of the CM).

As for the song it is basically just Morning Coffee in a slower Enka style (which might be the reason why the unit is called Afternoon Musume), and even though that may be the case I like how it sounds since it matches the theme of the CM.

Hopefully the promotional group releases the song in some way (either digitally or single) and even if they don’t I still love how the CM looks since all of the members fit right in with the theme.

Official Georgia Coffee Drink Site

Georgia Coffee CM

Georgia Coffee Special Video With Comments From OG Members

Yaguchi Mari And S/mileage To Appear On Downtown DX

Yaguchi Mari and S/mileage will appear on Downtown DX.

With the amount of shows that S/mileage are in lately it comes as no surprise that they will go to Downtown DX, and I’m glad to see that they will since it means good promotion for their 3rd single as well as a chance to promote their group to everyone.

I’m somewhat surprised to see that Yaguchi will be attending but I look forward to seeing how she interacts with S/mileage and what her reaction is to their song.

Hopefully we see a preview or something similar although we will most likely have to wait since it will air in a few days.

The show will air on 9/9 at 22:00 (JST).

Downtown DX Site About Upcoming Show