846 replies to this topic

[ItsudemoAibon]

I got to thinking about this when I pondered someone posting that Reina turning 20 on 11/11/09 meant that the average age of Morning Musume was, exactly on this date, 20 years old. And that this was the first time in Morning Musume's history that their ages averaged as high as 20.

So, I've thought about other weird things that I know about them and thought I'd share them just to see what else anyone else can come up with. Such as this one:

Blood types: To my knowledge, Eri Kamei and Ai Kago are the only two Momusus who have AB blood type, the rarest of the four blood types. If anyone else knows who had AB blood, please share.

Members' origins: I brought this up in the Tsuji thread but to my knowledge, only four of the twenty-five Momusus have come from Tokyo, with the rest spread around Japan fairly evenly.

Here's what I've come up with:

Tokyo:
Asuka Fukuda
Maki Goto
Nozomi Tsuji
Eri Kamei

Kantou area (around Tokyo):
Kei Yasuda (Chiba)
Sayaka Ichii (Chiba)
Mari Yaguchi (Yokohoma)
Hitomi Yoshizawa (Saitama)
Rika Ishikawa (Yokosuka)
Risa Niigaki (Yokohoma)

(That means that 10 out of 25 have come from the Greater Tokyo Area)

Kansai area and western Japan:
Yuko Nakazawa (Kyoto)
Ai Kago (Nara)
(Ai Takahashi could fit right here, Fukui isn't far from Kansai)
Sayumi Michishige (Yamaguchi)
Reina Tanaka (Fukuoka)
Aika Mitsui (Shiga)

Hokkaido:
Kaori Iida
Natsumi Abe
Aya Ishiguro
Asami Konno
Miki Fujimoto

Western Honshu (or, Japanese Momusus who don't fit in the other categories):
Ai Takahashi (Fukui)
Makoto Ogawa (Niigata)
Koharu Kusumi (Niigata)

Outside Japan:
Jun Jun (China)
Lin Lin (China)

That covers THAT!

And while fact-checking members' origins, I realized that, in spite of the hyped claim that all Morning Musume members were rank amateurs when they joinedt, that three of the four members of the 5th Generation actually had some previous experience in show biz, even as amateurs.

Ai Takahashi -- took ballet lessons as a child and appeared on an amateur talent show on TV when she was 12

Risa Niigaki -- from wiki: Niigaki was the runner-up for the 'Kiss Girl Audition' in becoming Tomy image girl before joining Morning Musume. She also appeared with the winner Hasegawa Ai in Tomy Karaoke Machine commercial.

Makoto Ogawa -- from wiki: Before joining Morning Musume, Makoto Ogawa was enrolled at an entertainment school Apple Little Performers (ALP) in Niigata, where she was one of the top students. She even made her CD debut on a cheer song for the J2 soccer team, Albirex Niigata. She has also been a model for magazines and campaign, such as one for automobile safety for the elderly.

Ages: To this date, no Morning Musume member ever reached the age that Yuko Nakazawa was when she joined as a 24-year old in 1997. (Kaorin was 23 when she graduated, Yossie was 22 as was Kemeko and Nacchi) Of course, Aichan is 23 and is still a member so if anyone has a chance of catching Yuko's earliest age in Momusu, it would be her.

To this date, the youngest member to have been 'graduated' with a cermony captured on DVD was Ai Kago at age 16. Aibon is also the youngest member to have joined the group, being just shy of 12 years and 2 months old. The only other 12-year olds to join the group have been Asuka Fukuda (one month shy of 13 when Morning Musume sold their 50,000 copies of Ai no Tane), Risa Niigaki and Koharu Kusumi. Ai Kago was also the youngest person in H!P (and all of Japan, for that matter) to have performed in the Kouhaku Uta Gassen at 12 years old until her record was broken by Mai Hagiwara who was 11 when she first performed.

Names: A handful of members' names have English equivalents,
Mari (Mary)
Kei (Kay)
Rika (Rika)
Risa (Lisa)
Miki (Mickey)
Eri (Ellie)
Jun Jun (June)
Lin Lin (Lynn)

Obviously, I made a few allowances but considering the difference between Japanese and English names, the fact that 1/3 of the members have English name equivalents is pretty amazing. BTW Rika is considered a diminutive of Erika, Mickey as a diminutive of Michaela and Ellie as a diminutive of all El- names including Elizabeth, which is what Eri considers to be the English translation of her name. http://www.hello-onl...tyle_emoticons/hello-online/laugh.gif

Who knows? This may be the first and last post in this thread but maybe somebody has some weird info/trivia to share.

[J-Triumf]

According to both the Japanese Wikipedia and the recently-subbed "I Wish" episode of Utaban, Kaori Iida and Natsumi Abe were born in the same hospital two days apart and were kept in the same newborn nursery.

The shortest tenures in Morning Musume happen to be held by the first three to leave the group: Fukuda, Ishiguro, and Ichii.

Anime Expo isn't the first time the group has done work in the continental US: the PV for Tanpopo's "Motto" was filmed in San Francisco more than a decade earlier (the subway scenes are a dead giveaway for anyone familiar with the city), Asayan saw Abe get sent to NYC for dance lessons during the group's early years, and I also believe the girls went to Florida in 2003 for some kind of Cirque du Soleil thing.

[ItsudemoAibon]

I didn't know that Motto was filmed in San Fran. As was Speed's Body & Soul.

I have seen the Nacchi in New York ASAYUAN special but have never seen the Florida trip other than the few clips on YouTube: Aichan shopping, Aichan riding an alligator, Yuko going gaga over a 17-year old, Yuko, Aichan, Yossie and Nacchi hanging out on the beach......

And I knew that Kaorin and Nacchi were both born in the same town two days apart, but I didn't know that they were in the nursury together. It shouldn't surprise anyone, though, I doubt if there was more than one hospital in that city....Muroran?

To add something else to the thread, my understanding is that Rika Ishikawa has been in more groups than any other Morning Musume member. Here's what I could come up with:

Morning Musume
Tanpopo
3-nin Matsuri
Country Musume
Sexy 8
7 Air
Otomogumi
H. P. All-Stars
Ecomoni
v-u-den
DEF. DIVA
Romans
Ongaku Gatas
Hangry & Angry

That's 14 groups! Has there ever been anyone who was in more?

[LunaCherri]

And while fact-checking members' origins, I realized that, in spite of the hyped claim that all Morning Musume members were rank amateurs when they joinedt, that three of the four members of the 5th Generation actually had some previous experience in show biz, even as amateurs.

Ai Takahashi -- took ballet lessons as a child and appeared on an amateur talent show on TV when she was 12

Risa Niigaki -- from wiki: Niigaki was the runner-up for the 'Kiss Girl Audition' in becoming Tomy image girl before joining Morning Musume. She also appeared with the winner Hasegawa Ai in Tomy Karaoke Machine commercial.

Makoto Ogawa -- from wiki: Before joining Morning Musume, Makoto Ogawa was enrolled at an entertainment school Apple Little Performers (ALP) in Niigata, where she was one of the top students. She even made her CD debut on a cheer song for the J2 soccer team, Albirex Niigata. She has also been a model for magazines and campaign, such as one for automobile safety for the elderly.

LinLin was a child actress and host in China since 1999.

JunJun took part in the Super girl contest and made it into the top 50 before joining MoMusu.

JunJun's real name Li Chun is the name name as a Chinese Emperor of the Tang Dynasty

[burnt glitter]

^Didn't Junjun also get like 2nd place in some beauty pageant?

[J-Triumf]

^Junjun also shares the same name with a certain Street Fighter character...but that might be stretching things a bit. I'm honestly surprised at the lack of such jokes/references.

I looked into things more and stand corrected: the Florida trip was in 2002 and involved only a few of the girls. Mat Swadling's website lists it as 2003, though, so I got confused on that.

Besides doing such work in the continental US, the group has actually had some exposure in American mainstream media, although not necessarily focused on them:
- The lizard endurance challenge of the 13-nin Gakkari Xmas Special was shown on the Daily Show and Countown with Keith Olbermann in 2005 (the latter in a not-so-positive light, apparently)
- The Tonight Show explicitly referenced Minimoni in 2006 during a joke focusing on Black History Month (house band drummer Smitty was Photoshopped into what looked like a promotional photo for "Crazy About You")
- The 7th episode of Minimoni Chiccha gained internet infamy in 2007 thanks to a random camera closeup on a prairie dog, leading to numerous parodies and eventually a faithful recreation of the scene in a Weezer music video

Iida holds the distinction of participating in every HP shuffle from 2000 to 2005, and always being placed in the biggest group each year, including 2004 which had one 46-member group and 2005 which had two of its groups tied at four people each. Tsuji, Konno, and Fujimoto (EDIT: my mistake, Mikitty was actually in the smallest group in 2005) were also always in the biggest group each year they participated, while Kago and Ogawa were always placed in the smallest group (not counting 2004). If you include the replacement of departed members for performing 2000 shuffle songs in concerts, Tsuji was still placed in the biggest group as a substitute in Aoiro 7. 2004 and 2005 are the only years that featured former MM members.

And speaking of Tsuji, you forgot to include her in the list of those who joined MM at age 12 (she was a couple months away from 13 when she joined). She is also one of three who initially didn't make it into the group (she was a last minute addition to 4th gen from what I understand), the others being Fujimoto (flat out rejected that same year, came back as a solo act and then added to the 6th gen) and Tanaka (kicked out of 5th gen auditions due to age restrictions, tried again a year later and won).

The 6th generation is the only one not to debut in a single immediately after joining the group, waiting through two singles before finally showing up in "Shabondama". The 8th generation is the only one whose members didn't join the group simultaneously (Junjun and Linlin joined months after Mitsui, yet are considered part of the same generation). If you consider the special cases of Tsuji and Fujimoto, it can be said that the 5th generation is the only one that was meant to have 4 people from the beginning, and even then Konno was included despite not doing so well in the auditions. 3rd and 7th are the solo generations, while the 1st is the biggest with five members.

Of the 16 members to leave the group, five have left the Up Front company. Of those five, two left the agency immediately (and were amongst the shortest tenured members), while the two that stayed the longest eventually left under bad/questionable circumstances (Kago for smoking, Goto due to possible associations with her brother's crimes). Ichii, Goto, and Kago have since returned to showbiz full time, with Ishiguro occasionally making her presence known; Fukuda seems to have disappeared into civilian life completely (except for a short TV interview in 2006 at her father's bar).

Of the three original MM subgroups, Minimoni was the first to feature someone not from Morning Musume, Mika Todd having joined in time for its official debut. It's also the only subgroup to have a foreigner as a leader: Mika took over the original after Yaguchi left, and Linlin fronts the new revived lineup. Petitmoni is the only one of the original subgroups not to have shared members with the other two, as Yaguchi and Kago were splitting time between Tanpopo and Minimoni for a while.

[wyane]

^ I like your thoughts and see your profile you looks really nice i would like to have some talk with you. and will return here again as i get little time. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[Atarimae]

^
^ omfg i dunno why but i feel somewhat awesome by the fact that the evil chipmunk was in fact started by mini moni. what's funny about it is mini moni didn't even notice the evil look at the time. hahaha *watched original video*

doesn't it make you feel cool when your somewhat unknown fandom contributed to something very well known. oh yeaah.

[markRAWR]

Just to clarify the evil Chipmunk is in fact not a Chipmunk, it is a Praire Dog.

[kantutanTayo14]

Of the 16 members to leave the group, five have left the Up Front company. Of those five, two left the agency immediately (and were amongst the shortest tenured members), while the two that stayed the longest eventually left under bad/questionable circumstances (Kago for smoking, Goto due to possible associations with her brother's crimes).

Gomaki left because she didn't agree to the marketing direction the company wanted to pave for her.

[J-Triumf]

I believe that was one of the official reasons, but I'm also under the impression that her brother's troubles were also a factor.

I did do a lot of research under a short amount of time, so if I'm wrong feel free to correct me.

[Azul]

I KNEW it was Mini Moni in the Weezer video! I saw it last year and I was with my friend (also a big H!P fan) and we were watching it on Sky+, and I was like "OMG OMG I JUST SAW MINI MONI, REWIND IT!" and we squeeeeeeeeed the evening away.

[.gina]

^ Well it's actors reincarnating a certain scene but hey it's close enough to being Mini Moni I guess

[Azul]

^

Lol of course, but the fact it was "them" in essence was just

[ItsudemoAibon]

Haha! I've shown a few people the original 'Dramatic Chipmonk' video and it always gets shocked reactions......

All of the Muusmes in order of oldest to youngest, name followed by birthdate:

Yuko Nakazawa, 1973.6.19

Aya Ishiguro, 1978.5.12

Kei Yasuda, 1980.12.6

Kaori Iida, 1981.8.8

Natsumi Abe, 1981.8.10

Mari Yaguchi, 1983.1.20

Sayaka Ichii, 1983.12.31

Asuka Fukuda, 1984.12.17

Rika Ishikawa, 1985.1.19

Miki Fujimoto, 1985.2.26

Hitomi Yoshizawa, 1985.4.12

Maki Goto, 1985.9.23

Aya Matsuura, 1986.6.25

Ai Takahashi, 1986.9.14

Nozomi Tsuji, 1987.6.17

Asami Konno, 1987.5.7

Makoto Ogawa, 1987.10.29

Ai Kago, 1988.2.7

Jun Jun, 1988.2.11

Risa Niigaki, 1988.10.20

Eri Kamei, 1988.12.23

Sayumi Michishige, 1989.7.13

Reina Tanaka, 1989.11.11

Lin Lin, 1991.3.11

Koharu Kusumi, 1992.7.15

Aika Mitsui, 1993.1.12

[krotch]

Blood types: To my knowledge, Eri Kamei and Ai Kago are the only two Momusus who have AB blood type, the rarest of the four blood types. If anyone else knows who had AB blood, please share.

It depends on what blood groups you look at. Bombay is the rarest amongst the rare. If we are only looking at ABO, yes, AB is the most rare. If we add in the +-, then AB- is the rarest, while AB+ is not as rare as O-, A-, and B-.

Personally, I'd rather not share the same bloodtype as the girls. I'm O. I can transfer my blood to all the H!P girls.

[J-Triumf]

^
^Minor corrections to your birthday list: Takahashi was born in 1986, and Sayumi's birthday is on July 13.

Interesting how Goto is the youngest of the '85ers but was the first to show up.

[ItsudemoAibon]

The Sayumi entry was a typo, I meant the 13th. Aichan's date was just a misreading of the data......I wasn't really convinced she was the same age as Gochin, Yossie, Mikitty and Charmy. I've made the corrections.

[Ereiriyu]

well, the list of the Most selling H!P singles was really, Unexpected, because some Songs Are not Really Popular To The World Of 'internet' while Some song are popular at 'True World' but am i right?

#01 Morning Musume – Resonant Blue (2008-04-16) (57,964)
#02 MilkyWay – Anataboshi (2008-04-30) (49,492)
#03 Morning Musume – Pepper Keibu (2008-09-24) (46,067)
#04 Berryz Koubou – Dschinghis Khan (2008-03-12) (37,096)
#05 Buono! – Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! (2008-05-14) (36,196)
#06 C-ute – Edo no Temari Uta II (2008-07-30) (35,789)
#07 Buono! – Renai Rider (2008-02-06) (35,254)
#08 C-ute – Namida no Iro (2008-04-23) (33,422)
#09 Berryz Koubou - Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance (2008-07-09) (33,017)
#10 High-King – C/C (Cinderella Complex) (2008-06-11) (31,693)
#11 C-ute - LALALA Shiawase no Uta (2008-02-27) (31,650)
#12 Buono! – Gachinko de Ikou! (2008-08-20) (31,005)
#13 C-ute – FOREVER LOVE (2008-11-26) (29,144) (Still Charting)
#14 Buono! – Rottara Rottara (2008-11-12) (27,104)
#15 MilkyWay – TANTANTAAN! (2008-10-19) (25,794)
#16 Berryz Koubou – MADAYADE (2008-11-05) (25,469)
#17 Fujimoto Miki – Okitegami (2008-04-23) (24,746)
#18 Kusumi Koharu – Papancake (2008-07-16) (20,595)
#19 v-u-den – Nanni mo Iwazu ni I LOVE YOU (2008-04-23) (15,949)
#20 Abe Natsumi & Yajima Maimi – 16sai no Koi Nante (2008-01-16) (14,538)
#21 Shugo-Chara Egg! – Minna no Tamago (2008-12-10) (14,347) (Still Charting)
#22 Ongaku Gatas – Come Together (2008-09-10) (12,004)
#23 Matsuura Aya – Kizuna (2008-05-21) (7,623)
#24 Abe Natsumi – Screen (2008-12-03) (6,474) (Still Charting)
#25 Athena & Robikerottsu – Seishun! LOVE Lunch (2008-02-14) (6,371)
#26 Berryz Koubou – Dschinghis Khan Tartar Mix (2008-09-17) (3,829)
#27 Melon Kinenbi – Charisma, Kirei (2008-03-19) (2,180)
#28 Mano Erina - Lalala-Sososo (2008-12-23) (600) (Indies)

Best Selling Group: C-ute
Best Selling Soloist: Fujimoto Miki

Then Morning Musume's Koi no Dance Site sells over 400,000 Copies, and Happy Summer Wedding sells over 990,950 copies sold
And Kaori Iida's Graduation Audiences Was Really Many, than Yoshizawa's Graduation,

[Marida]

I do have one trivia... Did you know there's a language called Mari? It's related to Finnish, but spoken by very very few people these days... Mari is also a common name in Finland