Weiss Heim

Nobody beats Koha at genki-ness

What is the correct meaning of this word "genki"? Is it "health" or something else?

I remember stories of her running around opening doors.I don't think Masaki is even at that level

What kind of stories?

Twin-fishbone-tailed Koha

Please, can you repost this image?

Do you want to say that the USA pop artists don’t use the lip sync at all?
This is going back in time...

Well, maybe it's true and they don't use the lip sync, but it doesn’t change the main fact, that there are no really interesting artists and performers in USA and other countries all over the world, who can work with a great dedication and record an epic music and songs like in 1950s till the 1990s were recorded. I just want to say, that there are no any bright personality at all. All of them are greedy and look so unnatural as they are just a pictures or artificial mannequins that were made for showing on TV set or taking part in some stupid shows where they laugh like animals and say many stupid things. So, in the end, it doesn’t matter if they use the lip sync or not. They need to work much harder in the studios to record a music material for all time but not just singing some rubbish as they used to do it now. That is my own opinion. I feel the situation like Mick Jagger said some years ago: "The modern musical industry looks like a modern elevator: everything is glittering in it but at the same time is all deafly".

That is why when i heard and saw Koharu at the very first time, and it was her "Chance" and "Balalaika" PVs, i was impressed with her personality and performing skills so much, that in spite that lost her from my sight for several years i remembered about her again after all this time at one cloudy day and start to dig deeper for searching more impressions about her and i found them a lot enough.
 

they can feature on the cover of a magazine even if they don't have that fantastic look

Actually no one have a fantastic look. A fantastic look is a result of makeup artists and stylists fantastic work.
 

She was like the only one who can challenge the popularity of Sayumi ..
If she had stayed .. she could get like legendary status similar to Sayu now in MM history..

Kusumi Koharu was much better than Sayumi, because she was more versatile and plastic in her working possibilities.
 

The thing that always bug me is she graduated too soon ..

That is the same thing that makes me feel frustrated even now, though it's been a long time since i began to listen to her. And even when i am listening or watching the material of Morning Musume with her, i start to feel a lack of Koharu. I want to hear her more, but there are other girls in group as well. It’s all fine about them all but she was much better and better in every aspect.
 

Even now .. she is like still one of the most successful artist after being an idol ..not only for H!P but for every idol ..

Don’t know what to say… Maybe she is successful, but her modern activity does not impress me at all. There are tones of people who do the same things every day better or worth than her. I mean nothing memorable they do at this point, though she has opportunities which she don't want to use for some reasons.
 

For me Koharu is always amazing .. I didn't know that her solo act and that girl in MM is both her and the same person as I was starting out in 2007 ..
I actually selected her solo act as one of the act to follow and also I select another girl Koharu of MM to be my MM fav ..
Then I realise .. it is the same person ..

That’s an amazing story! I like it so much! Sometimes I remember it and smile to myself. Thank you for sharing it with us.
 

lastly .. one thing about us foreign fans is when we get interested and get into the culture of another country .. we should be prepare to know that there will be stuff which will conflict with our own culture..
I think it should be about us learning to accept and understand the culture of another country ..
The best thing to gain being a foreign fan isn't only the entertainment .. but it could make us a better person

Word by word and that is a whole truth! I shake your hand, indeed.
 

We need a Milky Way reunion!

That trio may look and sound just perfect on the modern stage and actually they have a great name "Milky way". The main problem is about to find managers who can gathered them and motivate for making some records and performances. And, of course, the next one is that who is going to write new musical and song material for them for about an hour CD record. I don’t want to see Tsunku at this place though i respect him so much. It will be much better if different people will take part in it like many years ago when Koharu started her solo career. But, I guess, it’s only our dreams and i still wonder why these girls don't want it and nobody from HiP project as well.

You are right, this one was pre-recorded. It isn’t the CD version, but at the same time it is a lip sync. Listen to them very careful and you will find that these two performances of "Balalaika" have the same sound track as you posted.





I think they re-recorded it for her living performances because the original CD version didn’t sound mature enough for her 16 years old appearances.
At the same time the "Chance" and "Happy" versions were always taken from the original CD. The only really live singing of "Happy" that I know I posted above. I guess that after watching at it the management of the group said to themselves: "Well, we don’t want to let it happen again or one day she just faint on the stage in front of her fans". Joke =)) It’s my guess of course. But, nevertheless, I like this performance best of all.

Here is another true live singing from her. It is "Futari wa NS" by her own, without Mai. She just stood in one place and singing the song. Some times we can here that she out of breathe a little bit and catch it, especially at the end of the song. Funny comparison, but here the long notes of the song she sang at the same way as the long nots of the Furusato during her Morning Musume audition. I mean she didn't open them in full strength, though almost three years have passed between this recordings and she had a lot of singing lessons. Anyway, she is so adorable and pleasant, so it's just couldn't be bad. Good work!
By the way, her mother looks pretty, beautiful woman, and that is why Koharu as well. At the same time her mother looks a little bit sad here and father apparently proud by his daughter. Such a nice couple ^^,



These versions of Papancake and Hapi Hapi Sunday! are definitely not the original CD versions, but I can’t tell are they were pre-recorded plus the lip sync or it is the really live singing performances. I can’t tell because I can’t find other recordings with the same sound track and at the same time she singing them more than long 3 minutes, during which she made many instances movements. Too smooth singing and it is suspicious. Beside of all I can see sometimes a little bit out of sync between the words and her lips movements or I can be wrong. Maybe they were pre-recorded as well for the sake of different sound rather than CD versions. Milky Way commonly used their original CD versions and lip sync, because they had hard dance performances.

I wish to find "Koi Kana" and "Chance" with a different sound tracks than CD versions, but I still haven't managed to do it.

After all, I really guess, that there were many live performances of her without any lip sync, which were not taping, so we just don’t know about them anything.
 

I detest lip sync for live and in the US it's rather unorthodox.

I also dislike the lip sync but let's not forget, that the Japanese idol industry doesn’t imply the good voice characteristics of their participants on the first place.
Do you want to say that the USA pop artists don’t use the lip sync at all?

I don't know how ANY of the H!P girls do those intense dances AND sing at the same time.

During the intense dances they all use a lip sync. It’s a worldwide common practice. Some artists can pre-recorded the songs for their live performances, so it will sound differs from the original tape, but still the lip sync. When they don’t have the active dance during the song, they usually use the live singing. At least the HiP Project artists usually do that way, as I notice it. But there are always exceptions and it pleases =))
Here is one of those wonderful exceptions. One of the true live singing from Kusumi Koharu during the hard dance. I guess this video was taken from the DVD of Limited Edition format CD+DVD of the "Kirarin Land" album which was released on December 19, 2007. A single ”Happy” itself was released a half year earlier on May 2, 2007. No one from the HiP Project members ever shows something like that. The strength of her personality and charisma here just knocks me down. Koharu made a real breakthru and rules here like the Devil in the Hell, without any objection! That is why I respect her so much. My favorite live performance of her! She was a goddess!



Pay attention to her pink tore style outfit. This one is much better, interesting and stylish than all her modeling shows in CanCam magazine. And more of it, this one we can see in action!

Also, I think that here is the really live singing of "Balalaika" and she was singing it during only one minute without much dancing and active movements. And this singing defers from all others that I heard, which all equal to each other, beside that one.



Sometimes I meet comments that Koharu even has an erratic heart beat, some sort of arrhythmia, a kind of condition that prevented her from singing full force. So, I feel, that it could be one of the real reasons that stopped her from singing, though she said that she just decided to be a model. But, again, she never told something like that herself, though it looks like true. Unfortunately, we’ll never know the whole truth.
 

As for the book that keeps getting mentioned, is there an English translated version somewhere?

Here is the post with links which Libertad left, they are relevant. You can find there the only version of this book in English with some useful and interesting information as well. Just look carefully. Maybe it’s not the unique way of self-expression for the Japanese idols but not the most common as well. You can find in this book some funny moments witch makes me smile, especially the story about the snake skin  
Enjoy it and say many thanks to the man who made the translation of it for us and, first of all, for himself. By the way, on the pages of his site you can find an exiting story about how he met Morning Musume in Los Angeles in 2009 and even got a chance to shake the Koha's hand! The idol's hand! That's just amazing. Well, as they say, arrogance is the second happiness  
I even envy him a little bit, but he definitely deserve such worm memories for his life because of all his careful preparations for this memorable event.
 

At one point, I heard that Koharu was prone to nosebleeds. It seems like there was some other health issue, but it was so long ago, I can't even speculate about it.

Nevertheless, too many circumstances are added to the overall picture of her early leaving from the stage.
 

Sayumi looks like she should be in the Special Olympics . . . she swings her arms from side to side . . . like she doesn't know how to run.

Please, don’t say that way =)) It sounds funny, but at the same time a little bit cruel which she does not deserve at all. Sayumi always looks very feminine and she runs like a woman, that’s OK. The way she runs looks very cute, because she is a real woman.
But if there was man on her place, than, with such style of running, his place would in the Special Olympics, of course 
 
Look at her... I don't mind the way she is running at all =))

 
Damn it! I don't understand even a word which this angel said about this awesome single
 
At the same time Koharu grew up in the village, where she was a very popular girl, so that's no surprise about her athletic abilities. In the village your popularity mostly based on your sports achievements. Her win here looks great!
Sayumi and Koharu were always at the opposite poles and roles. That is why being in Morning Musume they perfectly complemented to each other like anyone else, though they never were the closest friends. And that is why, I think, the "Rainbow Pink" group looks so gorgeous. Tsunku could develop it into something more, but he wouldn’t for some unknown reasons.
 

Anyway, Koharu's athleticism is one more reason to admire her.

Sure, you are completely right!
Oh, now I wish to see her running 200 meters at nowadays and something tells me that it will be a completely different Koharu and results of dash =))
 

Getting more easily tired is part of being anemic.

That's the fact. Sadly...
At modern days her life style is very smooth and almost never involves complex stressful situations, so she lives on the waves of health now. I wish that with all my heart.

I'll tell you this. That's not her Twitter. She doesn't have a FB and Twitter, ok.

Well, I don't mind at all =))
 

I am thinking it may be mostly coming from Eri, given her skin problems and all.

Do you mean that Eri could do something to infect Koharu?
If a person has a strong immune system, it doesn't not easy to infect him or her by some common disease. Many hard working performers start to have problems with their health if it’s appeared hard to stop for them for a little while to take some rest and prepare for a new goals. Sometimes, for some performers even it could be a reason to stop their stage activity for a long time or just leave it for the sake of their own health. Participation in Morning Musume doesn’t imply the possibility for the long rest at all. They work like the bees.
 

May I ask what her health issues were/are ?

During a long time Koharu was one of the most hard working member of the HiP Project, doing so many things at the same time and participating in many projects of that agency and we must remember, that she was only a child than and teenager. So it was really hard for her, but as we can see, in spite of all, she did her best, to show the perfect result. I think that mostly her health problems were as a result of stress, which she got permanently during her work, when her immune system was unstable or even weak. Also, in addition to what Libertad said, I heard that Koharu was known for being unable to catch her breath and dance at the same time. She starts even to losing her breathe. It is impossible dances and sings at the same time without being tired or loses breath, but for her it was a critical moment and she did some gasping. But when she just stand and sing, without dancing, there was no noticeable problems. So, I suppose that there were also some health issues about her voice, but now it’s only my guess based on some rumors and videos that I saw. Don’t tell anyone about it as indisputable fact, because it isn’t. But definitely something went wrong about it, so she started to think, that the singing is not for her. She stops too late and it was not the result of simple ideas that appeared in her head at that time.
 

Koha is not being funny (or maybe she is trying to be funny) during that radio program.

During all her career, and based on what I saw and heard from her, I can’t say that she is a serious person. Maybe she could be at that way in her real life, but I didn’t meet something like that from her during some public appearances or videos. Of course she is not a university professor or some educated musician like Roger Woters, for example. She made a lot, but not enough, to be called as a serious public person. The serious person would not play a fake role in the show like the First Kiss, Last Kiss or something =)) Actually, there are so little of them, serious people, among that public persons, especially at present days, when their main goal is to sell themselves for the money. All that she said and shown in the past, as well as in the present, just a funny story which was hard to perform in the past and much easier in the present. I know it was really hard, especially when you try to show your best, that is why I respect her as a performer of the past time. If you used to do something when you were a child and teenager, it will be hard to fix, when you are became an adult. So I don't think that the way of third person talking which she had shown than, was just an accident. After all, it’s not bad at all.
 

Japanese celebrities use Ameba commonly, and HP! or J-pro affiliated artists and idols use Ameba. That's the common one used by celebs in Japan.

Yeah, that is an interesting situation, that Asian performers in main aspects of their style just copy the western type of music and shows, and they often use the English words or even the whole sentences in their lyrics, but at the same time they ignore the global ways of self-representation and use their own, where mostly nobody from the west can understand them. They take the best from the whole world, but stay aside from it. There are only two progressive countries in the world by the present days. The first one is USA and the second one is Japan. No one other country could compare with them in technical and cultural development and improvement. I want to say, that even Japanese musical entertainment industry much more intersteng and cleaner than European at nowdays.