2 posts tagged “nakanishi rina”

So this is like the halftime intermission of the trip, which is fine because the rain was coming down is sheets this morning.  Thunder and Lightning too!  I didn't have any concerts to attend for Thursday or Friday.  And I didn't win any tickets for AKB48 those days either.  Actually that's okay.  I have won a ticket to see AKB48 Team K twice over the next three days...Saturday and Monday night.  That means I will get to see Team K's new stage three times while on this vacation.  Pretty cool, eh?  Now if I could only win a ticket to see Team B I will have hit the trifecta, all three teams.  Wouldn't that be cool?

So that means I didn't have to do any rushing around.  Instead I did some leisurely shopping and picked up a few more goods.  By the way, I love the Shinagawa Prince Hotel.  It is centrally located, and it has tons of restaurants in the immediate vicinity to sample.  That also means that it is a major hub for morning and evening commuters.  I had a great time yesterday watching the endless stream of salarymen making their way to their daily jobs...

It is quite a sight to see.  I love sitting in Starbuck's sipping my morning coffee and watching the action.  It's an endless sea of men dressed in dark suits heading in the same direction.  And it seemingly never ends!!!

Whenever I head over to Japan I usually get requests for certain souvenirs from friends, family and co-workers.  This time my good friend Wendy really wanted certain Shiseido products.  So that meant I was off to Ginza, which is another "Rodeo Drive" type of shopping district.  Many of the top fashion designers and brands have stores in this neighborhood.  And I always have fun learning the different train lines in Tokyo.  I needed to take the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line from Shimbashi to get there...

Yes, Prada has a location there, as do Salvatore Farragamo, Tiffany and Co., Coach and I believe this is where Nissan's main office is.  They had a neat storefront at the bottom of an office building right on Chuo Dori!

Nice car!  But not as cool as CK's AKB48mobile.  I wish I was driving that around town.  Anyway, I found Shiseido's two stores and got Wendy her stuff!  I have such a crush on her, but she has expensive taste!!!

There ya go Wendy!

I keep mentioning how much I love the store Trio2 on Nakano Broadway.  I headed back there today with the idea I would pick up the Idoling!!! photobook and perhaps a few more Ohori Megumi photos.  Then maybe I would hit a BookOff or two to see what discoveries I might find there.  But first I stopped for a little lunch...

Isn't that great?  A standing sushi bar, no seats!!!  They serve your food on some sort of banana leaf, and you help yourself to hot tea at no extra charge!  The cost of my lunch which included soup, six pieces of nigiri sushi and one handroll?  Less than six bucks!!!  I told you that food is not expensive here!

I also failed to notice that Trio2 is next to one of the biggest Anime chains in Japan, Mandarake.  And the Nakano location is their main hub!  Now I am not into anime, but I can tell this place has absolutely everything!  They have seperate storefronts for DVD's, figurines, comics...heck they even have a Maid Cafe and a place where people can sell their own stuff!

I finally made it to Trio2, and it was so much nicer to be in that store when there isn't a J-pop concert happening right across the street.  I could actually look at things without fighting for position!  There were a bunch of different items I was interested in.  And some of the posters are great!  sadly I have no use for posters, and have no desire to tote them all the way back to California.  I was ready to pick up the Idoling!!! PB when I discovered...

They had three of the AKB48 graduation photobooks!  And for about 33% off of the retail price!  These are the gravure PB's from the Team A members who graduated last November.  Now most of you know I am a Meetan fan.  But early in my AKB fandom I was partial to Ohe Tomomi and Nakanishi Rina.  And these PB's looked uber-sexy.  There is one shot of Oh-Yay where she is almost naked!  So I picked them up instead, I also grabbed a handful of pics from the 50 yen bin.  Most of them from my favorite Team B member Tanabe Miku!

I think the rain is finally subsiding, and hopefully we will see the sun again starting tomorrow.  Tonight I head back to Akihabara to pick up a cheap copy of the theater version of AKB48's 10nen Zakura from a friend who has too many from all of the handshake events.  And this weekend I have plenty of shows to see, AKB48 twice and Morning Musume once.  And I may try to grab a last ticket to MoMusu's Saturday matinee as well.  That will be a last minute decision.

CK in Tokyo

To say I was shocked when I awoke Sunday morning to the news of five members of AKB48's Team A graduating is an understatement.  I kept checking the posts over at Stage 48 hoping that the news would somehow be proven false.  But the report I was hoping for would never come to pass.  So now 2 of my favorite 3 members are graduating, and the third one (Ohori Megumi) has her head on the proverbial chopping block as we speak.

 

Nakanishi Rina was my original favorite member.  It seemed as if she was one of the main girls in AKB, until recently.  I have noticed that the producers have begun to favor other girls over Rinatin (and Narita Risa for that matter).  Rina has such an angelically beautiful face, it is hard to believe she is 20 years old.  The first time I noticed her was in the PV for Aitakatta!  And I thought she was amazing in Chocolove's Ashita wa Ashita no Kimi ga Umareru.

I highly doubt this is the last we will hear of Rinatin.  She is signed with another agency, and is too pretty and talented to simply disappear!

 

Ohe Tomomi:  Oh, crazy Oh-yay!  I wonder why she never got a chance to be in the forefront of any PV's.  Was she not popular enough?  I know that some fans didn't find her good looking, but I thought she was adorable.  And that crazy personality!  But I never really saw her show it off on any TV show.  Instead she always seemed awkward among the group.  But alone in her room with her dog Joy and her "cat" Nyanta, she was all laughs.  I fell in love with her after seeing her private video.  I will miss her the most.

 

As for the other three, they may not have been among my favorites.  But they were all recognizable girls in the unit.  I've always thought Komatani Hitomi was cute, especially after Cat posted that amazing picture of her on a recent Aitakatta! post.  Along with Narita Risa and Tojima Hana, I will miss them all...Ganbare!

So it's a new era, and I've just realized I need to find some new favorite members, stat!!!!  So I have quickly run over to Ray's American Wota "distractions"  Of course Meetan is still my favorite for the time being, but now I have six new girls to drool over, two from each team...

 

6. Maeda Atsuko (Team A)  I know she is an obvious pick, and I know she is the girl everyone loves to hate.  But much of that is merely backlash because she is so popular.  She is amazingly cute.  And as popular as she is, she still has an innocent vulnerability to her.  When I show non-fans AKB48 PV's, she is usually the girl my friends select as their favorite.

 

5. Sato Yukari (Team A)  I needed to pick a second person from team A (I omitted Team K's Noro Kayo for her)  What got me was the commentary between songs on the Shibuya-AX DVD.  She is always giggling, and the other girls all try to make her laugh.  She is one of the underdog girls in Team A, so I'll route for her to take a bigger role now that so many other members are leaving.

 

4. Oshima Yuko  (Team K)  I love Yuko for two reasons.  1) She has the most gravelly voice in AKB48.  The first time I heard her talk I thought "This girl can sing?" and 2) She was a U-15 idol before she ever joined AKB48.  Now that's hot!  She is extremely outgoing, the type of personality that could make a weekly television show entertaining.

 

3. Hirajima Natsumi  (Team B)  I've fallen under Julia's spell for this selection.  I don't know much about Natsumi except that she is very cute and a member of Team B, which I always think of as the "little team that could".  they were so energetic at Shibuya-AX, and Julia has given Team B's 2nd and 3rd stages a ringing endorsement.  I can't wait to hear them!

 

2. Noguchi Reina  (Team B)  Cuteness is the biggest factor when I pick idols to like, and Reina has it in spades.  I recently purchased an AKB48 photobook that came with three random pull-out 5x8's.  And Reina was my "B" photo.  I have nothing else to go on, so I'll route for her as my favorite member of team B.

 

 1. Sato Natsuki (Team K)  She always stands out when she is on stage.  Why?  That adorably goofy smile of hers, and she is always smiling!  I am such a sucker for bucktoothed girls.  The girl simply catches my attention, and her bubbly personality is infectuous.

 

It's another day, and life goes on.  AKB48 will live on and hopefully be a bigger success than ever.  And to the girls that are leaving, I sincerely hope that they realize all of their dreams.  I am sure they know they are still loved by their fans and will be sorely missed.

CK in California

(thanks to the various pic sources, including Cat's Aitakatta Blog)