5 comments on “Morning Musume 20th Anniversary Official Book Interviews: Yaguchi Mari

  1. sooo just to clarify, when they speak of her “withdrawal” is that referring to the HUGE scandal after she was married the first time? Would’ve liked to hear her take on the treatment of Kago (Aibon) in comparioson, but that’s probably too much to reveal in Japanese society…I appreciate her candor, such as it is here. I am one who really liked her and then was disgusted by her behavior, I wrote her off completely. I am willing to give her a second chance now after reading this…

    • No, the “withdrawal” is referring to when she dropped out of the group with no graduation in 2005 after she was found to be dating Oguri Shun.

      Later in the interview, however, when she’s talking about wanting to “be an ally for people who have been wounded,” “when you go what I’ve been through,” “I came so close to rotting to my very core”… It’s fair to say that the implication is that here she’s talking about her 2013 affair scandal.

  2. Everyone do yourselves a favor and listen to I wish instrumental…

    That “yeah! hahaha!” before the chorus from tsunku, I assume, is still spine-tingling after all these years, and the record scratching and beat box noises are too cute. fantastic song.

  3. I’m in shock. Mari (along Aibon and Yoshi) was my favorite. I became a fan of MM because I found Minimoni Telephone Rin Rin first. It was 2001, the internet was slow as hell back then and I lived in Colombia. I had no access to any translations of their interviews and all I could do was guess what they were saying.

    I loved her energy, her noisy character and her overall happy persona, I never thought it was so hard for her. While I watched her being so energetic and fun, I would never thought all the stress and hard work behind the stage.

    I kind of feel sorry for her. It feels like Kaori was quite bitchy. I’ve seen lots of interview in which members said they had problems with Kaori.

    I felt so angry when she was forced to graduate for those stupid scandals, I couldn’t understand the Japanese mentality (and until this day I think dating should be allowed) and I always wanted her to comeback to MM.

    But after reading this interview I realized, Mari was not entirely happy, she considered quitting several times, so who I am to judge?.

    Also the last part was so sweet. Her mistakes in the past regarding her husband, made me feel disappointed, I’m married myself, and I know how important is to be loyal, but now, after reading this interview I feel like I’m finally seeing her as a human and not as an ‘idol’.

    Thanks for sharing.

  4. Watching her on Utaban was always a bit disappointing since the hosts didn’t focus on her. It always seemed she wasn’t very comfortable there.

    For some really great Yaguchi material one need look no further than when she was a guest on Matthew’s Best Hit TV. Being the only guest on Fujii Takashi’s show really made her shine.

    Thanks for this Henkka. Your dedication to this translation project (and the others) is very much appreciated! :)

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