Stuck In A Pagoda With Motoko Aoyama

From Ai Kago’s blog entry for 6.10.08, translated by Hello-Online.org:

Sammo Hung smoked cigars, which made him seem even more like a father. After eating, I’d be offered cigars or cigarrettes, and it was hard for me as the youngest one… I did smoke a little. But I just couldn’t handle a cigar… I’m sorry, everybody. I smoked. When I left Japan, I was adamant I wouldn’t. Really, that wasn’t cool of me. I kind of hate myself for that (;_;)

Dear Aibon,

Excuse the angry tone this starts off with, but what in the flying motherfucking fuck were you doing smoking a cigarette again?!? It pissed me off back in 2006 when you did that the first time, and it pissed me off all over again when I heard about it today. The fact that you’re legally old enough to smoke a cigarette now still doesn’t make it right.

Suffice it to say, as one of your fans, I am extremely disappointed. I’m sorry if I come off so hardcore straight-edge, but professional singers shouldn’t be smoking anything if they expect to have a long enough career in the music industry… not because of what their management and agency would do as punishment, but because of the damage to their larynx and their lungs that regular tobacco consumption can cause.

Contrary to what Frank Zappa said once, a cigarette is NOT food. Please wise the fuck up before this song starts to ring true in your case:

Sincerely,
CJ Marsicano

She’s back… again.

I really shouldn’t hold my hopes up too much, considering that happened last year about this time, but Ai Kago has given her first interview in two years to the Japanese online magazine OhMyNews, which is going to be posted in six parts over the course of this week. Hello!Online has the translation of the first part here, and Nikkan Sports also reports that Aibon is looking to return to showbiz as an actress.

I don’t know what kind of questions were asked of Aibon in this interview that haven’t been seen yet (as of the time of this blog post’s writing around 10 PM EST on 4.6.08), but I have a few that I’ve been meaning to ask her for the past couple of years:
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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.