Yukirin To Hold Solo Concert

To celebrate the release of Yukirin’s 2nd PB that’s called ‘Yu Yu Yukirin…’ and is released on April 19th, the powers that be have decided that she will hold her first ever solo concert on July 13th at Nakano Sun Plaza.

Only 2,000 lucky fans who buy her PB and picked by lottery will be invited to the concert. Yukirin herself will have a big hand in the planning of her concert and has said she wants to sing her favourite Hello!Project songs and answer questions from the fans.

For the PB, Yukirin will be showing off her shapely body naturally in a bikini and in an onsen in Kagoshima (her hometown). Other shots included in the PB will show her cooking, doing yoga, having fun in an amusement park, driving and attending events in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The photographer Yanai Michihiko who was responsible for the whole shoot for the PB said he now understands why Yukurin is so popular with people.

When Fans Cross The Line

If there’s one thing as an AKB48 fan that makes me angry, it’s hearing about people using their status as a ‘fan’ to target and abuse (verbally and physically) a member. Unfortunately two AKB48 members have been subjected recently to such abuse. 99% of AKB48 fans are fantastic and respect their idols but a small majority think they have a right to badmouth and pick out something about a member which they don’t like and tell that person about it. AKB48 members have said it time and time again in their blogs how they don’t like being criticised at handshake events but still it continues.

At last weekend’s AKB48 handshake event, poor Amina Sato was subjected to a torrent of abuse about her weight from an irate ‘fan’ who proceeded to throw 40 handshake tickets at her. He was escorted off the premises by security afterwards. Naturally Amina was so upset and shaken by this incident, she left her handshake station and went home. Aki-P called her up to enquire whether she was OK. Amina herself has posted online saying she’s OK. Not only did this idiot spoil Amina’s day but he also spoilt it for the other fans who were waiting in line to talk to her. You only have to look at Amina’s photo above to know she’s perfect just the way she is. Some fans who like to badmouth AKB48 members to their faces probably target those that won’t respond back to them. I really don’t know what I would have done had I been there. Risking being ejected myself from the event, in my anger I might have smacked the guy in the face. Some fans have questioned where OJS48 (who act as security in these type of events) was at the time of this incident. Naturally they can’t be everywhere. There’s not a lot of them and to keep tabs on every member out in a large hall is a difficult task so no blame can be attributed to them. Even the event ‘pusher’ people given to each AKB48 member when a fan’s time is up with them can’t be blamed as this probably happened so quickly. If they had noticed this guy was agitated beforehand I’m sure they would have been prepared for something happening. Such incidents might even give AKB management an excuse to cancel such events in the future and that would be sad for the majority of fans who enjoy interacting with their oshi and make this a pleasurable experience for both fan and member. There has to be a system where fans who do abuse a member are banned from the theater and any AKB48 event.

The 2nd incident happened today at the airport with Yukirin, Aamin and Mikapon heading off to Shanghai to meet the fans there. At Shanghai airport, Yukirin had to go through a gauntlet of fans trying to touch her hair and body and also grabbing at her clothes. Now if this wasn’t bad enough Yukirin tried to get some piece and quiet in a toilet when some fans tried to even take photos of her inside the toilet. That is just too much. Just back off and give the girls some breathing space. Everybody has a right for some privacy especially in the toilet. I haven’t heard any comment as such from Yukirin but I’m sure she wouldn’t have been best pleased at the treatment she got. Again you have to question about the security at the time. I think they were unprepared for the volume of over enthusiastic fans that greeted them and should have cleared a space for their arrival. They were too close to the fans. It was quite a scary feeling for all 3 girls to have to wrestle through the scrum of people that wanted a piece of them.

You can check the video of their crazy arrival at the airport below by clicking on this Youku link below:

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzQxNDUyMjcy.html

AKB48 Top 10 Members (December 2011)

I know it wasn’t that long ago (July 2011) that I did my last top 10 AKB48 members list but things have changed a lot since then which you’ll see below.

10. Yui Yokoyama

I can hear you all saying ‘it wasn’t that long ago you were criticising her’ and you’ll be right on that count but Yui has really grown on me in the past 6 months and she is so funny on Bimyo.

9. Nito Moeno

8. Minami Takahashi

Out of the Top 5 goes Takamina. I still love Takamina to bits but there are more interesting members that rank above her.

7. Rie Kitahara

6. Haruka Nakagawa

5. Yuko Oshima

This is one of the biggest changes on my list – the former no.1 taking a big tumble down to no.5. Something I thought would never happen but I’ve become sort of bored with Yuko lately. She just doesn’t excite me as she used to do before,

4. Mayu Watanabe

Into the Top 5 goes Mayuyu – up 2 places. The more I see and watch Mayu perform the more fantastic I think she is.

3. Yuki Kashiwagi

Yukirin stays in her position at no.3 though it did cross my mind at times to move her up to no.2.

2. Rino Sashihara

Sasshi also stays in her current position. Sasshi completes the cleap sweep of Not yet members in my Top 10!

And at no.1 is……………

1. Ayaka Umeda

In July, Umechan was at no.8 so this is a huge jump from her into the no.1 position. So how has Umechan managed to steer herself into being at the top. I can’t recall any specific moment of seeing her when I thought ‘OMG she’s now my no.1 favorite member’. She’s just completely gained my full attention especially over the Summer. I’ve just been seeing her in many things on Youtube and I just started to really like her a lot. I love her quirky, some say a little eccentric personality and she is just so damn beautiful. Her singing voice is great, she looks like a lot of fun to hang out with and I’m just happy that she’s getting more attention now. I’m kinda peeved that she’s no longer the Tokyo Tower image girl otherwise I would have gone to see her doing her DJ stint on a Friday night there.

So there you have it. The new Top 10 list. Will it be the same when the next one comes out in May/June?

Yukirin Performs Back At Her Hometown

AKB48 are currently doing their nationwide tour. For Team B’s captain Yukirin it has always been a dream of hers to perform at her hometown of Kagoshima. Yukirin and her mother upped sticks to Tokyo 4 and half years ago so that she could fulfil her dreams of being an idol. But she’s never forgotten her roots and Kagoshima has always been in her thoughts. When the cities visited on AKB48’s national tour was announced, Yukirin was very excited and thought Team B would be able to perform at Kagoshima. However she was disappointed when Team 4 got that honour instead. AKB Management though had a surprise up their sleeve for her and sent Yukirin down to Kagoshima as a special guest. The place erupted when Yukirin came on stage to perform a solo number “Yokaze no Shiwaza”. The cheering became so loud that Yukirin couldn’t even hear her own voice. The experience deeply moved her. I’m happy that Yukirin’s wish to perform at Kagoshima was fulfilled. I’m sure it will stay in her memory for a long time.

Yukirin Celebrates Her 20th Birthday On Hana no Kimi Set

As it happened with Acchan when she had her 20th birthday, the cast and crew of Hana no Kimi celebrated Yukirin’s birthday by having a party on set for her. They sang a birthday song and presented her with a special cake. Acchan congratulated Yukirin and added that they should go out drinking together sometime in the future. With other AKB48 members turning 20 years old this year, there’s bound to be a big drinking spree with all of them soon. Give me a call ladies when you need some company!!

EDIT: Here’s a nice 3 shot of Acchan, Tomochin and Yukirin during a party held for them by other AKB48 members.

Happy 20th Birthday Yukirin

Yet another AKB48 senbatsu member turned into an adult today. Team B’s Captain Fantastic – Yuki Kashiwagi celebrated her 20th birthday today. Congratulations Yukirin and I hope you had a great day.

Yukirin – Oricon’s Most Lovable Weather Caster Poll

In this year’s Oricon’s Top 10 most lovable weather casters in Japan, Yukirin was in 3rd place, a jump of 5 places from last year (strangely enough it matches what’s happened for her in the senbatsu election as well). She was the best placed female forecaster in the Top 10. It’s been a little over 2 years since Yukirin started doing the weather on TBS and it seems that she’s not only popular with AKB48 fans but with the general public as well.

So who exactly beat Yukirin to the top spot? Here’s the Top 10 below:

10 Hirai Noboyuki (NHK)
09 Arisa Sato (NTV)
08 Ayumi Matsumoto (TBS)
07 Morita Masamitsu (TBS)
06 Uga Natsumi (TV Asahi)
05 Misato Nagano (Fuji)
04 Minoru Kihara (NTV)
03 Yuki Kashiwagi (TBS)
02 Yoshizumi Ishihara (Fuji)
01 Takeshi Amatatsu (Fuji)

Check out Yukirin in action below:

Yukirin Joins Acchan in the drama Hana no Kimi

Yukirin has landed herself a plum acting role alongside Acchan in the 2011 remake of the popular drama Hana no Kimi. Acchan has the lead role as Mizuki who disguises herself as a boy in order to enrol in a prestigious male only school just to get closer to somebody she has a major crush there. Acchan’s role was made popular by Maki Horikita a couple of years ago so she has some big shoes to fill.

Yukirin will play Acchan’s rival Juri who comes from a rich family and goes to a female only school. Yukirin has vowed that since this is a drama and not real life she will do her best to challenge Acchan’s character quoting “I will not hesitate to take her on”. Sounds like fighting talk to me!!

The producer of the drama has praised Yukirin as hard working and that as her character she possesses a smile that can poison a person!

Hana no Kimi starts on July 10th. I’m looking forward to watching it.

Yukirin’s Breasts!!

I’m sorry that the title of this post sounds a bit smutty but it’s all to do with the size of Yukirin’s breasts. Some fans have noticed whilst comparing swimsuit photos from last year to this year that Yukirin’s breasts have become bigger …….well she is still young and growing. But that’s not enough to satisfy the fans who have become convinced that she has had plastic surgery to make them bigger. I think it’s totally absurd that they even think she’d had surgery.

They’ve even consulted the office of a well known plastic surgery company called Takasu Clinic whether she’d had surgery or not. The director of the clinic said that he was more or less certain that Yukirin’s breasts are real and have not been enhanced. He can’t be 100% sure as he hasn’t examined her properly. Besides she wouldn’t be considered a candidate for breast surgery as Yukirin is too thin a build he further said. These fans are probably the ones who thought that Tomochin had plastic surgery as well I imagine.

Yukirin Sings Live On Music Fair

Yukirin fans are going to be surprised when they hear her sing on the clip below from this week’s Music Fair. Yukirin was on the show with French Kiss to sing Kimi Nara Daijoubu but also she had a chance to duet with Tokunaga Hideaki for the ballad Ii Hi Tabidachi. I know that Yukirin has a great voice but she’s fantastic here. Never mind about Acchan going solo, Yukirin should be given a shot too. Check it out.