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Recently I discovered a lovely little niche of a café in town, and the past two days have seen me spend countless hours and pennies seated in a cosy corner indulging in a good read and a good warm cappuccino. Today I even allowed myself to do a little creative writing the old fashioned way which isn’t like me at all, not in this day and age of computers. Whilst I happily let myself slip into these leisurely pursuits of reading and writing, not forgetting the resonance of J-pop that was quietly pumping through my earphones, I found myself at intervals thinking about a certain someone.

So begins my story

Just over a week ago I was hit by tonsillitis, it’s an annual thing I fall foul of perhaps once a year. A problem which doctors are now suggesting to some at least, that having them removed is not the best thing to do. Couple that with the fact that the heating in my room had regularly failed me, I felt somewhat frail. Don’t worry this is all going somewhere, hopefully. Whilst I must have looked like a young child wrapped up tight in my duvet and that swallowing solids gave me a facial expression resembling that of someone being poked in the lower regions with a hot iron, I was able to find some comfort in what I chose to do through all of this.

Without going into a huge modus operandi of lists and exhaustive explanations lets just say I began to pamper myself with some of my favourite Hello! Mornings, Utabans and other related television and DVD spots for the next few days. Was my tonsillitis a blessing in disguise? It certainly gave my friends a welcome break from the typical baloney I often waffle on about but it also gave me the opportunity to really think about and enjoy what Hello! Project has been putting out there all these years. It was something that would have an impact on me soon afterwards.

One day ago

So I’m sitting in my newly adopted second home, the pleasant unearthing of the café I praised at the beginning of this blog. My thoughts begin to give up a lot of time for one individual. It shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that this attention is placed on Eri Kamei, one of the more dynamic and interesting personalities on the current Morning Musume roster. Without delving deeply into my reasons for liking Eri Kamei or trying too hard to persuade you into my line of thought (something which I feel would be somewhat egotistical of me to do so) I’ll let you consolidate for yourselves your own reasons why she is ‘right for television’.

This is where I should insert at least the slightest hint of an explanation as to why Kamei-chan has filled my recent thoughts; I just can’t bring myself to do it. Why? Because I feel it would be stating the obvious. I don’t want to lay claim to why she is so fantastic because I feel anyone of your answers will be the right ones and quite frankly I’m intimidated by the responsibility. Maybe I’m just making excuses because I feel utterly exhausted and creatively spent at this moment in time. One thing I’m sure of, Eri Kamei is the type of individual that is able to bring a smile to my jaded face and bring laughter to my tired lungs, something that used to come in bucket loads in the past. Whilst I could talk about the state or more accurately harmonise the view that Morning Musume is on a downward spiral, Eri’s individuality for me has helped keep the mother ship of Hello! Project afloat.

Earlier today

Gazing at the empty seat on the other side of the small table I had claimed and since occupied, I couldn’t pull myself away from thinking how great it would be if Eri Kamei was sitting on the other end. Ignore all the pretentious talk that makes for background noise to this and many other cafés alike, I just wanted so much to have a long conversation about anything Eri had to say as I’m sure it would have been quite a banter, and the drinks would have definitely been on me. Although my fandom gives me the right to innocently dream and jokingly play around with the idea, I feel slightly more involved than usual. I don’t want to add to the air of disappointment surrounding the state of Morning Musume but perhaps I’m coming out of my denial on the matter and Eri Kamei is someone I want to put my trust in to keep things alive.

…How do you judge yourself as a H!P fan and does it really matter? 

Is there much room for discussion here? A fan is a fan right? And there is nothing more to it. When it comes to Hello! Project however, I’m beginning to see factions existing in something as trivial as ‘what type of fan am I’. I say trivial because it has never been a subject that I have personally felt conscious about and I’m sure it goes the same for you to, or maybe not.

When we think we like something it’s as simple as the fact. Yet I now feel an anxiety within some Hello! Project fans. It’s not a big issue but certainly one that goes some distance to question why ‘we’ like Hello! Project artists and why ‘they’ like Hello! Project artists also.

Let’s stereotype the Japanese fan base as middle aged straight and narrow salary men, or the growing power of the otaku. On simple assumption alone some criticism or cynicism can be easily placed here, or that these stereotypes are easily targeted because of who they are. Though it’s true that the image of a middle aged man supporting young girls with a burning passion, maybe even obsession fails to look good or morally agreeable we just have to accept it and hope that their love for the artist(s) are formed on innocent principles. Maybe a naïve passion (certainly applies to the otaku or younger fan). Who are we to judge? They have their reasons and we have ours. But it’s the portrayal and our own moral values that sometimes make us look down on these ‘fanboys’. Maybe you’re a fanboy reading this? The phrase holds a lot of negative connotations and we all have our own opinion of what makes a fanboy.

The Myth uncovered

But maybe being a fanboy isn’t such a bad thing or that it shouldn’t have to be. Is it a myth fashioned because of a few bad grapes? A false representation of the masses? Though I would like to believe; and do believe that some of the Hello! Project fan base that fit into this group are genuinely nice people, it has to be said that their zealous enthusiasm for the Idols comes off as obsessive. And although I believe there is nothing wrong with being healthily obsessed (if there is such a thing) with something you love, it’s more why they are obsessed than anything else.

The one fundamental motivation that rises above any other factor has to be their infatuation with the Idols themselves. Yet we shouldn’t really blame the fan for creating close material ties to the Idol. The way Hello! Project and certainly Morning Musume is angled to us we’re invited to learn, laugh, smile, cry and grow up with them. And when consumed with good intentions I think it’s a fantastic material bond to have, and certainly from a marketing standpoint simple genius.

The problem is…

The term, or the adopted term for fanboy isn’t looked upon with distasteful eyes for nothing. Whether it’s a few members on certain forums, a portion of fans perceived through media output or just word of mouth stereotyping it’s these already mentioned ‘bad grapes’ that worry the male perspective fan base. It worries them because they feel as though they need to judge and value why they like Hello! Project to separate them from the fanboys.

Who are these people then? They’re whoever you make them out to be. But I would say they include the following attributes, feel free to add your own ideas here: – Overly obsessive, overly infatuated with the Idol(s) that they’re the only people in their lives, viewing the Idol(s) merely as sexual objects, and so on. I’ll admit I’m a proud and dedicated fan of Hello! Project and J-pop in general but like Ray Mescallado excelently put it in his blog round up just under two weeks ago on American Wota “True fans aren’t mindless slaves to their idols, loving everything the idol does without thinking for themselves”. If you are one of these mindless slaves, I think you have to start to question whether or not you’re too overly dependant on these Idols.

Don’t worry about it 

It clearly bothers ‘boys who are fans’ people I like to call who don’t fit onto the fanboy charter. But they really shouldn’t worry about it because it just makes it a big issue and I don’t think it is. As long as you know that you’re a good fan and like them for the right reasons, if we can all agree on what the right reasons are then that’s all that should matter. And as for the urban legend that girl fans don’t exist, well if you look past the representation of who attends the concerts and who gets onto the live audiences on the related shows you’ll find that they do exist and there are plenty of them.

Call me a loyalist, or just call me old (if we’re going by Morning Musume timelines) but is it just me, or has some of the ‘magic’ been exhausted from the quality of their music or perhaps a change in the sound of J-pop in general?

Not that change is a bad thing; the music industry by and large has always been good at evolving with the times. Would we have it any other way? After all, who wants carbon copies? I believe Morning Musume have always done well at sounding ‘In fashion’ at the right times within the mainstream consensus. But recently their latest material hasn’t really sat that well with me.

Good old days. Where were you?

Though I can’t admit that ‘I was there’ in 1997 to support the band’s conception, it’s the early years and certainly the middle ages of Musume history (4th and 5th generations especially) that I feel closer ties to. Maybe it’s because I’m 20 and I just instinctively feel more of a connection with the ‘then’ current members. But I know this much; a big factor was my fondness for the songs. You could argue that vocally, the group’s debut album was cast wrongly i.e. the members at the time sang the wrong parts. Or perhaps you take the view that the band was rushed together to record and were still yet to master how to sing with each other or find their ideal range.

For example ‘Morning Coffee’ in parts sounded slightly off, or small tonality issues could be found here and there but this is just knit-picking. The fact is the big songs on that record were well written and composed. ‘Ai No Tane’ sounded perfect and for me managed to capture both the warm traditions of mainstream J-pop and Japan in general at that time. Standout tracks such as ‘Morning Coffee’, ‘Ai no Tane’, ‘Usotsuki Anta’ and ‘Yume no Naka’ gave a good composition of what the band could do and what they were capable of.

Good old days. . . continued

For me though it wasn’t until ‘Love Machine’ hit our television screens that Morning Musume really felt comfortable as a J-pop group. A real sense of confidence was born and could be seen through the energy of not only their songs, but also the PV’s to match. . . PV’s which were finally able to become high priority resulting in a big injection in production values.

And when I watched the PV for ‘The Peace’ it was then I realised Morning Musume weren’t making songs anymore, they were making events. Their music videos had a positive and infectious energy (the amount of dance routine Imitations I’ve seen for ‘Renai Revolution’). Choruses hooked us like crazy too. I personally found myself singing ‘As for One day’ out loud in my shower many times. It was this combination that made their sound feel invincible.

Recent Musume

Then I remember listening to the ‘Rainbow 7’ album and I have to say, I was a little disappointed. Not that it’s bad or my opinion counts to some of you (when discussing we all get subjective don’t we?) but it felt like something was missing. The energy was still there, ‘Iroppoi Jirettai’ still managed to sound exciting and the build up to the chorus and the chorus itself is certainly contagious. However it was like all their energy had nowhere to go on the album, no real definite direction. ‘Rainbow 7’ sounded very busy but ultimately non-productive.

Saying that, some of the songs around that time still caught my attention. ‘Namida ga Tomarani Houkago’ was a good song staying faithful to the ancestry of classic J-pop. I remember allowing the single to run into the instrumental version. You can’t help but feel the quality of the mid-80’s to mid-90’s era of Japanese music playing in your head, and I think that’s a good quality to have. ‘Ai Araba IT’S ALRIGHT’ was also another single that I really enjoyed. A few good B-sides to singles such as ‘Watashi ga Tsuuiteru’ from ‘Ambitious! Yashinteki de Ii Jan’ and ‘Nebou Desu. Dante na no ni’ from Namida ga Tomarani Houkago’ were good enough to be A-sides to.I also can’t help but feel Morning Musume loosing their Japanese roots just a little, though their sound is still Japanese something certainly feels more westernised. And I think that this goes for J-pop in general, though I’m being very broad, J-pop is still individual and native to its origins.

Is it because Morning Musume is a continuous musical unit, that it’s created a generation gap? Maybe this is a factor. It’s not that I hate present day Morning Musume music, definitely not. I just don’t find their records as memorable as they used to be. This could be because of the nature that Morning Musume catalyses. Since the group is an ongoing unit their core fan base will extend with them. To put this into practice my younger sister may decide to like Morning Musume tomorrow and therefore have little interest or as much interest in the period of Morning Musume that I grew up with or prefer as it has already come and gone. We may attach different sets of values to what we consider to be a good Morning Musume song. It begs the question: Am I getting old? Or is the band getting younger? And perhaps I simply need to move on. XP

Maybe I just like getting high from the nostalgia of old and maybe that’s why I’ve been writing in past tense a lot. But I’m just waiting for Morning Musume to release a single that will blow my socks off again. This feeling I’m starting to miss. And although Hello! Project is just as much about the people singing the songs as the songs themselves I’m still waiting for that ‘something’ records like ‘Renai Revolution’ and ‘Ai no Tane’  used to generate. Though I have to say, the Hello! Project release of ‘All for one and one for all’ in 2005 still has me hooked. Now, that’s what I call a musical event.