Hey.
Yesterday, I asked you guys for your advice: from now on, should Wota in Translation be the place that I post all my Hello! Project translations on (with the exception of radio), or should I do what I have done so far and keep posting all the non-2ch stuff on a separate blog?
Well, the people have spoken.
When it comes to Hello! Project singles, no one has arranged more than Suzuki Daichi Hideyuki. Morning Musume’s “Do it! Now” and “Resonant Blue,” Matsuura Aya’s “The Bigaku” and “Kiseki no Kaoru Dance“… Countless of signature songs have been arranged by him. But what to him constitutes a perfect arrangement?
— What sort of music did you personally like early in your life?
Suzuki: I lived right through that biggest band boom — I loved bands like BOØWY and Blue Hearts and I played in a rock band myself. But I also found myself quite liking idol music along the lines of Tokyo Performance Doll and such. Nakayama Miho, too… I loved all the kayou kyoku type stuff. I played guitar in the band I was in, but I originally started out with programming back in junior high, thanks to the influence of TM NETWORK.
— I can’t imagine there having been too many junior high schoolers playing around with music programming in the late 80’s. (laughs)
Suzuki: Probably not, no. (laughs) I loved computers and I was into computer programming, too, so it was easy to get into music and the hardware side of things through that. So then I went out and bought myself a sequencer. With programming you had to input written music which would then output into actual sound… that’s how I got started. It was only later that I picked up the guitar and started playing in bands.
Beginning with his keyboard contributions on “Ai no Tane,” Kono Shin has since gone on to leave behind a number of notable works, including Morning Musume’s “Manatsu no Kousen” and “I WISH,” Melon Kinenbi’s “Kokuhaku Kinenbi,” and ZYX’s “Iku ZYX! FLY HIGH.” Having worked on a great number of arrangements, he describes his work with Hello! Project in particular as having been “considerably free.” How exactly did these Kono works come to be?
— The first work you did in relation to Hello! Project was playing the keyboards on “Ai no Tane.” How did that happen?
Kono: I was playing in a band called SPANK HAPPY at the time. (Note: the band’s lineup consisted of Hara Midori, Kikuchi Naruyoshi and Kono Shin. They have since disbanded.) Our company at the time was working with this band called COSA NOSTRA (a band led by Sakurai Tetsutarou). Through that connection, I would often play keyboards on Sakurai’s works, so when he was called in to compose and arrange Morning Musume’s “Ai no Tane,” he asked me to play keyboards on it. The musicians who played on “Ai no Tane” were mostly all close acquaintances of his. Another thing is, I had already been a supporting member for Moritaka Chisato so I wasn’t even that far removed from Up-Front. That was a big reason as to why I later became an arranger for Hello! Project.
Immediately after “Ai no Tane” and “Morning Coffee” came the song that really changed Morning Musume’s image: the brilliant “Summer Night Town.” It was followed by a song that earned the group their first Kouhaku appearance, “Daite HOLD ON ME!,” as well as the elegant “Memory Seishun no Hikari.” One man who greatly contributed to the arrangements of this “cool style” of early Morning Musume was Maejima Yasuaki. Having been a member of bands like SPICK & SPAN and Orquesta de la Luz — as well as a long-serving band leader for Moritaka Chisato in the 90’s — what kinds of things surprised this veteran of music in his work with Tsunku♂?
— Could you tell us about how you first came to be involved with Hello! Project?
Maejima: I was very much indebted to Seto Yukio, Moritaka Chisato’s producer. Seto had previously arranged a song or two for Sharan Q, and that’s how he’d gotten acquainted with Tsunku♂ and the rest of the band. Before long, the project for Morning Musume’s debut was underway and Seto called me along.
— I still remember the first time I heard “Summer Night Town” — it was like the perfect night-time kayou kyoku song. Did it already sound that way on Tsunku♂’s original demo?
Maejima: If I remember correctly, I received a very basic, programmed demo of the song. It wasn’t yet quite like how it eventually turned out, but the melody and overall harmonies were already there, meaning I didn’t have to give it a huge makeover or anything. I just stayed faithful to the demo I’d received… I think. I don’t really remember the specifics.
H: These are the highlights (as chosen by me) of Okai’s Q&A event held on October 19th. Please note that her answers were actually, in all likelihood, much more verbose — think of her answers below as just quick, tweet-sized summaries.
— Do you still want to form the unit with Airi that you’ve previously talked about?
It feels like that could lead to fights between the two of us so fast. We’re both kinda stubborn, so it can get a bit heated even just deciding on setlists for our events. But yeah, after °C-ute breaks up, it would be nice to get together to do an event together by the two of us — every now and then.
— Have you been going to karaoke lately?
My doctor has been stopping me from doing so since my throat troubles. Before that, I used to go four times a week. But I like to drink when I go to karaoke, and that apparently makes it even worse for your throat.
— I love you so much, I probably won’t even be able to sleep at night anymore. What should I do?
Yeah, I can see right through people like this. This person is in reality obviously an Airi fan.
Henkka: This thread is a bit more meta than what I usually cover on here, but please bear with me. The thread is in regards to the closing of one of the bigger H!P matome sites, Hello Pro Canvas — my personal favorite since I first discovered it. It leads to a wider discussion about why the site may have closed: was it just lack of motivation or financial gain? Or does it instead have more to do with the supposed decline in the quality of the H!P board of 2ch, or 2ch in general?
The reason I’m translating this thread is to give you an idea as to why updates on this site have become scarce as of late. Longtime readers are probably aware of my personal feelings towards post-Tsunku♂ Hello! Project… that is to say, a near-complete lack of interest. But really, that has nothing to do with my recent inactivity on this site.
Yes, when I “shut down” the site last year, I said it was because of my dwindling interest in H!P without Tsunku♂. When I came back a couple of months later, it wasn’t because I’d suddenly returned to the fandom. I came back because I realized: translating 2ch is still a joy to me. It’s just such a great deal of fun, even if I’m not a fan any more. Case in point: I don’t care very much about Tsubaki Factory. I listened to their songs once or twice just to give them a chance. Nothing about them caught my interest, so that’s that. But when I did those three Tsubaki threads, I did it because it was fun. It’s just fun to find out what the Japanese fans think, and it’s fun to try and translate their thoughts. It’s, quite literally, “Wota in Translation.” If it was up to me, I’d be banging out threads about Feelings, Tyrants, Metalheads, Turtles, Beethoven and the Universe every day.
The reason I don’t is because the material for me to translate just isn’t there. In my opinion, fun or interesting threads simply don’t seem to be appearing with the regularity they used to. Why not? Well, that’s what this thread is about. Since its inception, people on the H!P board of 2ch have always talked about how it was going to die “any day now.” So far, it obviously hasn’t. But this time, some of its users feel that it’s definitely changing for the worse.
This post is not me saying I’m quitting Wota in Translation — the last time I tried that, I was back at it after a couple of months. I’m not going to repeat the mistake, but I also don’t see an increase in activity coming anytime soon. So this is just me saying: the next time you wonder why you haven’t heard from me on here in a while, try to remember this thread. Cheers.
1: 名無し募集中。。。 2016/10/03(月) 10:58:35.49 0.net
The declining population of this place made it so that Hello Pro Canvas couldn’t keep up the quality of his posts anymore.
@helloprocanvas
[Announcement] There will be no more updates after today. Additionally, I’m deleting the site on October 31st. Thank you up until now.
1: 名無し募集中。。。 2016/09/29(木) 12:03:03.29 0.net
After a 15-minute drive from the Honolulu airport towards Waikiki, you arrive at downtown Hawaii with its many government administration offices. One person who has in recent times been spotted around this area increasingly often is Tsunku♂ (47).
“Tsunku♂ and his family received their visas in June after which he bought a house in the downtown area and emigrated there at the end of July with his wife, soon-to-be 8-year-old twins, and 5-year-old daughter. Their children are already attending a local school. After losing his vocal cords to laryngeal cancer in 2014, Tsunku♂ decided to take the plunge with the hopes of doing more work overseas, as well as raising his children to be global people. He currently splits his time between Japan and Hawaii.” (Tsunku♂’s acquaintance)
Prior to their emigration, Tsunku♂’s children were attending an international school in Tokyo, meaning they were already accustomed to being around the English language as well as non-Japanese people.
※ Josei Seven, 2016/10/13 edition
http://zasshi.news.yahoo.co.jp/article?a=20160929-00000012-pseven-ent
18: 名無し募集中。。。 2016/09/29(木) 12:11:00.45 0.net
Alo-Hello at Tsunku’s house!
It was Pour Lui‘s admiration for Morning Musume and Takahashi Ai that made her decide she wanted to form an idol group of her own, and she then went on to become the leader and “naughty” member of BiS. Meanwhile, singer-songwriter Oomori Seiko has been performing her H!P covers at Hello! Shops, conveying her love of Hello! Project and Michishige Sayumi in particular. Admitting to being greatly influenced by Platinum Era Morning Musume especially, these two talked to us about what in Hello! Project music appeals to them, as well as what makes them so partial to Morning Musume.
— To start off, could you tell us how you first came in contact with Hello! Project?
Pour: I’m 23 years old which means I’m just the age where I was in elementary school when Morning Musume became huge.
Oomori: Same here. I’m the same age as Tsuji and Kago. I remember seeing Morning Musume on TV when I was 13 or 14 years old and being moved upon learning how those two were the same age as me and yet being such hard workers. That’s when I became a fan.
— What about them caught your interest?
Pour: For me, it was purely admiration and love.
Oomori: I’m very interested in girls — I had this “habit” of looking inside bags of girls I liked, trying to find their gym suits and stuff… all kinds of male virgin loser stuff like that. Morning Musume was the perfect target to focus my curiosity on simply because no one would get angry at me. (laughs)
