11 posts tagged “arashi”

Awww, Sho-chan you wear denim-printed sweatpants?? XD I didn't even know such thing exists, but Shochan it's plain fug.. sorry to break it to you T_T But if comfortability is what you're going for then... yeah. I guess I'll give this faux-pas a pass. :D

Sho's faux-denim

But don't let that fool you. Because if you try to put your hands in the pocket...

Sho's faux-denim 2

That's what happened.

And just for fun. Shochan showing everyone he's okay with his tacky pants and wore it right there and then.
 Shochan, you're... special. xD

Sho wearing his faux-denim on TV

And by the way, Ninomiya Kazunari. Is that a dress you're wearing???

Nino in a dress... I think

The music performance was great. It's so rare that I actually think their music performance is that good. Well, that and  they did sing "A Day in Our Life" so all is good with me. xD I didn't really care about Kaze no Mukou e before, but I think they did a nice performance of the song here.

Oh and Nakama Yukie is all kinds of gorgeous. That blue dress she was wearing and her black necklace... to die for. Yankumi can work the chic attire just as much as the sweats, apparently!

Isn't she beautiful? (I fail at screencapping. T_T)

Nakama Yukie

Anyway, it was a great appearance. The Sho-chan's bit is still too amusing. xD Oh and I watched "The Grudge" today because it was randomly on Sci-Fi and man, that movie still creeped the living shit out of me.

Neehoo, Yasuko to Kenji was so sweet and heartbreaking this week. I love that dorama.

And Shukudaikun tomorrow. Wonder who the guest will be.

VERY SAD.

Onee-san/NaruseTomoo scene was heartbreaking. And I thought last week's Shiori/Tomoo scene was already saddening, well what did I know. When Onee-san said "I've known all along," I was speechless. I choked. I didn't cry, I don't know why I didn't considering I'm a crybaby to the core (I sobbed hard every episode of Yoiko no Mikata, go figure).

Also, Tomoo's face expression as he saw the picture Sora drew for him. And Tomoo dropping his guard for a little precious moment and embraced Shiori. OMG. Hotter and way sadder than Domyouji/Makino, people.

I'm gonna rewatch (in awe) again here in just a few minutes and I am hoping I'll sob this time. xD Yes I'm weird I know.

And seeing the preview for the next week, with my very little Japanese comprehension, it seems like  Naoto finally figures out "Naruse Ryou".

Oh and Truth in Music Station, o wow. Dark Arashi is so very appealing. The dance is complicated. Very adult like. Me love long time. The boys are smashing in black and red.

Arashi's performance on the latest Music Station was so.. sweet. A lot said it looks very mature, which I completely agree. Again and again it reminds me so much of why I am still their fangirl and they're still my favorite JE group of them all. They stick to their style. Sweet, and very idolesque (I mean it in a harmless way), and prince-charming-ish. And they do it straight to the point, no-nonsense style. They don't try to roughen themselves or anything, they're a boysband and they're proud and they damn right show it. They sell dreams alright. xD  Arashi is professional, and agreeing with Edo Harumi's remark on the latest Shukudaikun, Arashi is "yappari, Nippon ichi no STAR!"

And don't they just look like the perfect grooms you'd want to wait there in the altar for you?? Hahaha. Those suits are gorgeous, and for once I don't mind the whole flower decoration thingies on their chest. This time, I gotta give it to their stylist for having a moment of clarity. Thank the gods.

Even when Arashi is singing a song that's not too bubblegumish, they still stick to their idol style, the one style that makes Johnny's big : the popstar way - they sing and dance and they do it right. Example, Pikanchi. Another good example, A Day in Our Life. And when they do sing a bubblegum song, you know it's good quality. I don't usually expect anything less from Arashi, I expect good and they always deliver. I myself am not a bubblegum pop fan, and definitely not fond of boysband , but Arashi is exception, I guess you can say that. I mean, I do like some other JE group for their innovative and alternative style in music, but as far as the "real popstar idols" go, Arashi is IT. You hear something like "Kitto Daijoubu" and even with the rap on it, it's still very.. sweet. It's their signature, I think, that sweetness, that popstar aura that radiates from every single song they sing, I swear. They don't seem to bother much on striving for images other than that popstar image- like manly images, or funny images, or sexy images, or whatever else that is that other JE groups constantly strive to be. They started as popstars, and they continue being popstars, being idols, slowly but surely, and they do it with confidence. I love that the most in Arashi. The pride they take from being in their jobs, the pride they have in their sophisticated-yet-dorky image.

Like Aiba-chan said in his Kyocera Dome letter, Arashi didn't try building their way in a flashy way, they just simply be Arashi, be themselves, slow but sure.

Honestly I didn't like "One Love" very much when I first watched the PV. It was just not my cup of tea. But their performance in MS made me change my mind slightly, although not much, about the song. It does in so many ways reflect their emotional growth, that they now are men, not boys anymore, and they're at a level where they're very secure with where they are as far as career goes. Arashi is sophisticated, Arashi is funny, Arashi is kind, Arashi is dorky, and Arashi is Arashi.

...which is why, despite of my easily-bored nature, I still, to this very day, am a proud Arashi fan. Rock on guys!

I'm currently dysfunctional from the cuteness overload. Satoshi and Sho babysat the cutest girl in the world in the last Himitsu no Arashi-chan.

OH.MY.GOD. Please boys try not to get any cuter than this. My sanity can't afford it. ONEGAISHIMASU NE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is like seriously (teenage mode on) the funniest thing I've seen today. Some kids from Boston College did a rendition of A ra shi dance for their Japan Club event. Lovely!! hahaha

And it's not too bad either. Clickety click on this pic below to play it.

Stralighters perform A.ra.shi

It is one of those days when I feel so blessed living in a YouTube generation.

If whatever rumor is spreading about Satoshi in a leading role for a summer drama is true, I will officially die. Or scream around my neighborhood barefoot in the pouring rain. Again and again, and I'll do it very happily.

Heard he's already dyed his hair black. Heard the drama is a rendition of a K-drama.

Won't be putting my hopes high for now (although I'm already for some reasons overjoyed xD)

If it's true.. then I'll have quite a list of shows I'm looking forward to see .. Kagehinata ni Saku, SP special, Hana Kimi special, HYD..hhhhmmpph. The anticipation!!

So please Kamisama.. bless us Satoshi fangirls with a summer drama.... onegai!

Anyway... do you know that listening to Arashi's Happiness can absolutely and positively lift up your mood and spirit???

How I love my boys..!!

I love baking. And I love Arashi. If you wonder if the two can somehow form a collaboration, the answer is yes.

Do you remember a Shukudai episode in which the homework from the guest (her name escapes me, but I remember she works with Ogura-san in his morning show) was to submit different ways of eating kimchee? Among the submission was one suggesting a "kimchee toast". I tried it about a month ago, and it tasted wonderful. My bf loves it and is completely addicted to it, and I have been making it for a lot of times within this one month.

You will need :
toast (I use Texas Toast because it's thick and it bakes well)
Butter
Mayonnaise (I use the Japanese "Kewpie" mayo, available in Asian grocery stores)
Kimchee
Grated cheese (any kind of cheese is good, I usually use Swiss and Colby-Jack)

Arrange the toasts in a baking sheet. Butter the toasts, then layer with mayo. Arrange kimchee on toast as much as you prefer. Finally, sprinkle your favorite cheese on top.

Bake for about 7-9 minutes at 350 F.

It's SO good! And it's so easy to make - and you can't possibly outbake it unless you forget and leave it for too long in the oven from watching too much Arashi stuff! xDDD

Btw, I CANNOT wait to see this week's Gakkou e Ikou!MAX -- Nino guest-appears!! OMG, just seeing the teasers drove me nuts already.

On a completely un-Arashi topic, have you heard of Kubozuka Yosuke? What a TALENT!! Friday night after my bf and I finished watching Kisarazu Cats Eye (yes, I made him watch it, and he loved it), he pulled off a film from his external HD, called Go!. At first I was reluctant to watch, because , well just because. haha. As soon as the film began and the credit appeared on the screen, I had a little fangirl moment (screaming a little too loud xDD) upon finding out that the screenwriter is none other than the genius mastermind behind Kisarazu Cats Eye and Tiger&Dragon.. the fabulous Kudo Kankuro.  It's a wonderful film and apparently has won various awards in 2002 Japan Academy Awards, as well as other award festivals. Turned out that my bf watched it when he was in Japan (he was in the Navy).

So after seeing that film, it's only natural that I became curious about this actor. So I dramawiki-ed him. I just finished watching his J-dorama "Long Love Letter". A little on the scifi side, and quite interesting. I'm about to watch his 2002 film "Laundry", co-starring Koyuki. Reviews to come later.

Happy Arashi day, Happy Monday, and be genki!

Maybe sipping brandy and reading lots of Ohmiya NC-17 fanfic isn't such a great idea afterall.

I so need a freakin cold shower. XDDDD

My boyfriend has finally gotten some sort of hint that right now I'm crazy (and I mean crazy) about my fangirling. I'm guessing it's soon enough before I'll want to start buying their calendars and photobooks and other types of goodies. Good god, it's been years (and I mean YEARS) since the last time I was this fangirl-y over some celebrities. The last time was when I was in highschool, with the infamous Taiwanese boyband F4 (now JVKV). I remembered buying all their stuffs, going to their concert and even dragged my mom along with me. Not that she minds, considering she's a fan herself.

I mean, really, I cant even begun to count how many Arashi files I've downloaded. A big chunk of them I've transferred into our external HD, just because our computer has started to act slow because the memory is almost full.

I read a fan's post about Satoshi's art exhibition in Tokyo. This girl went in line from 4 AM, I think. Wow. I don't know if I would've done the same thing, but I'm guessing.. give me another month or so to become completely addicted . By then if I ever get the chance, I will stand from dawn in cold weather to catch a glimpse of things Satoshi's worked on. Oh geez.

Have I mentioned my love for Juntoshi? Yes, the SM love. Jun being the DoS and Satoshi being the M (In Ousama no Branch interview, he mentioned he's an M). Sometimes I'm so irritated at how mean Jun can be to Satoshi, but I see Satoshi doesn't seem to mind. And it seems like they love each other. It's special how the Juntoshi love isn't as much a show-off as it is Ohmiya love, but they're just equally sweet.

My fangirling is currently a secret unknown to my friends, but I don't think it'll be long before they find out. I'm expecting a lot of awkward smiles and gazes (I've already got that from the boyfriend). But it's alright. If they know Arashi, I think they'll understand. "So, a Japanese boyband huh?" that was my bf's reaction. He said he'd never seen their faces when he lived in Japan before (he was there when he was in the military). I've made him listened to "Love So Sweet", and he cringed. Wasn't a shocker. You don't expect someone who listens to Offspring and Nirvana to be all ooh-ahh over a boyband. Then I've showed him the video of Sho and Aiba crossing the river in the giant paper boat and he liked it. We laughed so hard watching that. Then we watched a couple of funny Shukudai episodes.

Few nights ago we watched Ao No Honoo. At first he was hesitant about watching it, thinking I'd trick him into watching some chickflick. But he sticked around. He ended up LOVING it. YAY!!  He's still not a fan, and I dont think he'll ever be, but I'm happy enough that there are some Arashi stuff we can enjoy together.

I took some pictures of the snowy day. I hope it's the last snow of this winter. I'm just so ready for spring. And for our new house.

I'm a member of Aibakaland, an Arashi fan forum. I don't normally browse around the forum everyday, but when I do, I spend a good amount of time browsing around and reading everyone's thoughts. Yesterday I was reading this thread titled "Reasons to love Arashi" and I came across an interesting, thought provoking post written by member akai-chan

1. Their diversity. I don't know any other JE group that has so much packed into one group: Sho as a newscaster and writing his own rap lyrics; Aiba in a variety show working with, of all things, animals; Ohno's singing and dancing and having his own arts exhibition; Nino and MatsuJun doing lots of dramas and movies. They're very well-rounded and each member stands out, as opposed to many other JE groups where usually only one or two members are extremely popular and the others just kind of fade into the background.

While I pretty much have near zero knowledge about any other JE groups, I agree with her on this point. Everyone in Arashi stands out personally. Everyone is a star of their own, everyone cultivates their own talent and brings out the best in them. When I first got into Arashi, I had almost no knowledge of this fact. One thing I knew though, that this group consists of really gifted people. I just didn't know how gifted they are. Which other JE group has a member artsy enough to have his very own art exhibition? Which other JE group has a member compatible and knowledgeable enough to have been chosen to be a newscaster? And of all things mostly, which other JE group has a member skilled enough to make his very own first Hollywood debut?

That says something, doesn't it? Arashi is special. It's not a shocker to find out that members of this group don't fight, because everyone is mature enough of their own and have their own personalities to develop that they don't fuss about little details and fight. They're all busy in their own world - apart from their day job being idols - whether it be acting, doing individual variety show, making arts, theater work, or doing news research. Everyone is contented with where they are as far as career goes.

At any rate, let's go back to akai-chan's post.

2. Their friendship. Arashi loves Arashi very much. I remember reading a translation of one of the MCs from a concert where Aiba said that Arashi members have numbers 1-5 for their fanclub and that they played janken to decide who got what number and that he is number 1 and that his love for Arashi won't lose to the fans. XD That was very cute. I also love how everyone loves their captain so much, even though he doesn't really do much for them leader-wise. Everyone's constantly groping him and making sure he doesn't fade into the background by encouraging him to talk or teasing him so the attention turns to him. And Nino, upon reading his Game Nikki, he always seems so happy when all 5 of them get together for concerts and filming and he mentioned that even when he was in America, he watched their variety shows and remarked how Arashi seemed kinda awkward without him and he was glad about that because it meant he had a place to go back to. And MatsuJun calling Sho the mother of the group on Shounen Club Premium and Aiba saying how Sho bound all of them together. And, of course, everyone saying MatsuJun loves Arashi most of all.


Although the five of them are somewhat accomplished in their individual works and naturally this kind of situation can cause members to have certain types of attitude, it always seems to me Arashi is the contrary. When they get together, it always seems like they truly enjoy each other's company. I remember reading Game Nikki when Nino wrote "when the five of us are together.. it's always so enjoyable." They do the silliest things and not afraid that the camera might catch it. The newscaster would let himself being made fun of as the other members rip his shirt to reveal his nipples. The Hollywood debutant would let himself being made fun of as the other members put stocking on his face. The nation's biggest heartthrob would let himself being shot on national TV doing an otaku dance. Come on. If you don't love such humble people, I'd say you lack some sort of compassion.

I read some sort of magazine interview with Jun when he said something along the line of, if it wouldn't have been for the group I wouldn't have done such silly things. But yet when I do it with the group, it feels right, well, why? Because we're Arashi. It's okay because we do that.

And of course let's not forget Aiba's letter in 24 hours TV; which I won't go into rant writing about as I'm sure everyone knows. Anyway just in case : here is the subbed video.

akai-chan's last point :

3. Their naturalness. Arashi always seem to be very natural on tape, like they're talking and just happened to be filmed. They don't even seem to care what they're getting doing on film. They grope and hug and cling to each other as they please; they do the stupidest things on TV without a thought to their idol images. It astounds me every time they do a stupid experiment with such enthusiasm even though common sense dictates that it's going to turn out bad. Like crossing a river on a giant paper boat? SERIOUSLY?! And I'm not even going to comment on Aiba's mirrorman thing. XD Even the usual "cool" MatsuJun gets sucked into doing stupid stuff and he seems to enjoy it too.

I'll be naive if I think that their variety shows aren't scripted. I know they are. Sometimes you can even catch a glimpse that it's scripted. But for the most part it always seems like they truly enjoy being shot and do the silliest things. Their baka-ness is so amazingly entertaining. They're so amusing with their naivety.. when they're doing one of their silly experiments like eating ramen in a place of zero gravity, or like akai-chan has mentioned, when they're trying to cross a river with a giant origami boat. Hahaha. Or the other time when they tried to reach Tokyo Bay from Hokkaido with a big piece of ice floating in the sea. Don't you just have to love these kind of entertainers? I rarely see this kind of silliness in Hollywood; if not ever.

Other than silly, they're also just plain loveable. What kind of well-known stars would take the pain of babysitting little children and making dinner for them? And let me add, the children are almost always a pain in the butt too. What kind of well-known idols are humble enough to go and be someone's grandchild for a day and help them with their daily work, hoping that the overworked elderly who barely see their own grandchildren would have good memories for a day?

Oh Arashi, how I love you. I think if I should summarize the main reason why I love them, it's because they're passionate about what they do. They show compassion and they're not afraid to show it. They love their jobs, they're proud of it, and for that sole reason, I have nothing but the uttermost respect for these boys.

On another note, I've been wanting to write about their personal careers. But I'm also now multitasking : I'm watching the second episode of Mago Mago Arashi as I type. Lol. So I'll save the post for tomorrow.

What weird weather. It was gorgeous spring weather yesterday and it's gloomily raining now. It's even supposed to snow heavily tomorrow. Whack. Just like my mood.