Stuck In A Pagoda With Motoko Aoyama

Came across this clip almost at random last night while doing a little YouTube surfing; a late 2004 TV appearance by Morning Musume and W. Outside of the presence of “Namida…” and “RoboKiss” in the set list, I can’t peg the clip by anything other than its approximate time of recording and broadcast. Man, how things changed so quickly for many of the participants in this clip:

Nozomi Tsuji became a Morning MILF last month. Kaori Iida will be the next Morning MILF next month. Ai Kago, depending on who you ask, is either exploring the Kama Sutra with that creepy old guy in New York, or planning a post-H!P comeback. Or both, for all we know. Mari Yaguchi left MoMusu a few months after this clip and is way fucking overdue for her solo debut album. Rika Ishikawa left MoMusu right before Mari did to be a full-time Viyuden. Makoto Ogawa went on an educational hiatus in late 2006. Asami Konno went to be a full-time student, but came back to H!P part-time as part of Ongaku Gatas. Hitomi Yoshizawa graduated from the band (and thankfully hasn’t been as musically idle as Marippe, thanks to Ongaku Gatas). Miki Fujimoto is laying low (and getting laid), holding up future GAM and solo releases in the process. Reina Tanaka, Sayumi Michishige, Eri Kamei, and Risa Niigaki all became legal.

It’s things like this that give me more grey hairs than I should have, even at my age. No real complaints though (except for what the fuck was up with those antennae Aibon and Nono were wearing?) - it was real cool to see this clip.