Curiosity

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Kuma Chang is curious about everything.

When you put some brochures or instruction books around, he'll pick them up to have a look.

Bear paws are indeed an expensive foodstuff, but I should say Kuma Chang's paws would fetch much, much higher prices as his paws really look like fried shrimps, look so good.

Gotta protect him from poachers . . . ! ! !



Completely aside from this, I have a feeling that lately someone has been ding dong ditching my home every once in a while . . . Dang it, which kid is behind this?

I'll catch the kid, next time for sure~!

Gentle-looking person

I think many people are shocked to learn of Sakai Izumi san's death at the moment, and I'm also one of them.

For me ZARD is synonymous with "Good J-POP."

I talk like this, "I think I wanna bring this song to, how can I say, the plain direction that has a feeling of good J-POP, especially this part. I like the feeling of 90's J-POP, like you know, ZARD . . . " when I work in the studio.

Diseases are scary, but the thing is you can never tell when you're involved in a sudden accident.

We've got to watch out for what we could avoid if we do watch out for(like undergoing some tests), then we wanna enjoy life to the fullest, right.

Sakai-san looked very gentle, beautiful. She could have made more good songs in the future. What a pity.

May her soul rest in peace.


I heard Kaji-san of Toshiba EMI read my message dated 27, got worried and called Miyake-san telling "Hikaru wrote something like she won't write new songs any more, is she doing all right?"! (This is what Miyake-san himself told me today, smiling)

No that's not it at all ! ! ! (lol)

That's an extreme-logic story. To put it bluntly, what I really wanted to tell you, was my fairly-harsh inner feelings, which sometimes come out of my thoughts like "Huh? Why is the song like this coming out?" or "How come such a person make a debut?" You know music is everywhere, flooding. I think it could be screened more carefully.

I didn't write that way 'cause people would think something like "Oooh, She's so above herself~" "Sounds so bossy, who does she think she is?" but I don't care anyway, now for it.

That's what I think as a listener.

I say music would naturally be screened, or should I better say "selected" and narrowed down so that you could find some real good ones, if the slow sales of music industry is continuously hovering around in the way it's doing right now.

Also, I'm wondering if I should've made a better explanation on my comment "I wouldn't say I love my own songs very much." How can I say this, you know, those songs are me. Completely me myself.

You may love someone, but you can't be in love with yourself, right?

"I wouldn't say I love my own songs very much," is like the same thing, as the fact that you just can't think "you wanna be with yourself!" or "you wanna see yourself more!" "you love yourself!!" . . .


When I was in my early teens, I really hated to listen to the recorded voice of my own~. It felt kinda strange. (lol) I believe everyone thinks the same way, when you record and listen to your own song. Now I'm not too unhappy about it any more, but still I don't get people saying I have a "good voice." It always makes me think "Are you serious~??"

In my childhood, my friend's father (a famous enka-singer) told me "You have an ear-piercing voice, hard to hear~," which made me all shook up, so I always thought my voice sounded ear-piercing, hard to hear. (lol)

So I'm so happy whenever people tell me they like my voice.

This message got kinda longer than I planned.

Let's go make some coffee.

. . . burying your head in the sheet

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'Hey hey! Come out! Mito Kōmon is on now!'

"Eh   Samurai drama"

You can't hide just by . . .

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BAAAAAANG ! !

"Aw   Awwwww   That's a gunshot   Hikaru-chan   Poachers are coming   Gotta hide gotta hide"

'Don't worry Kuma Chang~. That sound came from the elementary school nearby.'

"Poachers have their eyes on my fur that's why they're here   And because bear paws are an expensive, nutrient-rich foodstuff   Waaaaaaaaah"

'Kuma Chang, you don't mean you're hiding, do you . . . ?'

"(recites Namu Amida Butsu)"

Good song

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Lately I've been listening to The Smashing Pumpkins' "Stand Inside Your Love" endlessly.

Once I start listening, I just can't stop it and a long time passes before I know it.

Sma-Pum's got a lot of good songs but I think this is my most fave one.

The content of the lyrics is a love-song type one, but it's not got a straight way of saying like "I LOVE YOU~!" but more different type of expression.

If I literally translate it, It would be like "Who will refuse to be loved by you" "Who on the earth will refuse to stand inside your love," maybe? That way, the song expresses the value, the specialness of "you."

It's so my kind of song. The type of the songs I make and that of my fave, are not the same. Matter of fact I wouldn't say I love my own songs very much(It's not a matter of love/hate, it's like I just look at them objectively to judge the quality as a work), and I hardly listen to them after I wrap them up.

I can't make the type of song like Stand Inside Your Love~. It's got a band sound first of all, it's sooooooooo Caucasian, it's mannish, and it's rock. But that's what makes it my fave, probably.


Phew~! This song is soooooo good - - - ! Too goo I should say - !

Sometimes I have this feeling that I don't need to make new music myself any more! 'Cause we've got a bunch of good songs in this world already.

I know it's an extreme logic, but anyways I think these days just too many songs are being made.

Don't you find it kinda strange, that loads of new songs come out every single week, even just in Japan only? Or is this what's called the growth of the market . . . ?

Extra

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Here is an extra shot of his sexy back!

I'm glad my doodling & handwriting messages are unexpectedly well received.

I'm very very happy to hear you say my drawings are cute!

I thought I would never be able to draw "cute pictures" since people say "scary" or "dark" whenever I show them my usual drawings or pictures I drew in all seriousness. My big thanks to Kuma Chang

For your information - my secret hobby is to do mirror-writing, and draw the sheet of my bed with a ballpoint pen endlessly

English mirror-writing is quite easy, so I say it would be more fun if you do Japanese! Of course it is fun to write on the paper, but you can close your eyes and write as much as you like in your head when you're getting around or before you go to bed. How correct you can use the stroke order, is an important point.

It's hard to draw something soft with a ballpoint pen because it's more difficult to draw dark/light colorings with it than with a pencil, but you can create an unique texture with a ballpoint pen, which I love. I recommend this to everyone who wants to be out of themselves.

For all my fans

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Thank you for your continuous support


********************
(NOTE by Nuuk)
the words at the top read "Thank you very much;" the word on the right "(bows)."

For studying people

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"Kuma Chang Kuma Chang! 'Abarenbō Shōgun' has come! Up you go!"


********************
(NOTE by Nuuk)
the word at the top reads "FIGHT."

For working people, homemaker people

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And for all the people who are hangin' tough


********************
(NOTE by Nuuk)
the word at the top reads "Good job;" the word on the left "Phew."

For those people with a cold, the sick and injured

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I drew this one too.


********************
(NOTE by Nuuk)
the words at the top reads "Bless you;" the word on the bottle "medicine."

Doodle

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The shape of on the right side went kinda wrong

It just doesn't look like - - - (lol)

And now that I look closer, this is the back of the recording schedule.

On top of that, I forgot to write kusa-kanmuri, the upper-right part of "護." How silly!

Nice things I bought recently 4

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It's plastic accessories - - - ! ! !

Yes - - - ! This is it!

I've patiently waited for "plastic accessories boom" coming!

Utada !LOVE!s plastic-ish accessories, probably because she's been having the same sense of beauty from her childhood until now and still has no interest in jewelry. She's been in !LOVE! with it for 20 years.

Actually it doesn't have to be accessories. I'm a type of person who throws anything out quite easily, but I've still been keeping plastic dice in various colors as my treasure from childhood, which is a rare case for me. (I'll introduce it to you in the meantime)

Anyways, just looking at those plastic beautiful accessories makes me excited. Makes me feel like "I WANNA HAVE IT - - - ! ! ! " (which is a rare case for me, too)

But look nowadays, if you say "plastic accessories" on sale, most of them have the 80's vibe, which makes me weep like "Aww no! You got it wrong! What I love, is more like, childish ones that have nothing to do with times or stuff like that! If possible I wanna have transparent colored ones!"

And finally this year! Plastic accessories are becoming popular! Various types of them are on sale from various vendors, so the city is now a mine of plastic accessories!

Naturally I have trouble visiting shops, but now I don't hesitate to go there! I'm gonna burst into the fashionable shop for young peoples to meet! So the transparent, big ring in the 1st row is the one I bought at FRAPBOIS in Daikanyama yesterday. The inside of it looks like a petit-aquarium.

The other day Murakami-san of my office was in a FRAPBOIS cloth, so looking at the tag I said "It's so slick~! But this shop costs you quite a bit of money, isn't it? Um, let's see . . . FRA, FRA . . . FRAP . . . ", then she returned "FRAPBOIS, it is"

Y, Yes yes that's it FRAPBOIS!





Ha! I've already visited the shop anywayz! Now I'm one of those fashionable, slick people!

My another fave is the blue, heart-shaped round ring. Did I get it at BEAMS? I don't remember much 'cause I bought it on the internet. The black rose ring is the one I wore at a shooting some years ago and got there. The one in a different color, cream, looks cute too. I have no idea which shop has it though.


I'm so happy just looking at them placed on the table

Jewelry weighs kinda heavy and looks glaring, which is scary to me. These guys are cute, seriously.

A Girl Hikaru is in full throttle ! ! !

Nice things I bought recently 3

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It's "Meijin Wa Ayauki Ni Asobu(Experts Play With Danger)" written by Shirasu Masako tan which I've been totally hooked on right now.

(I smiled in a little creepy way. Hehehehe . . . )

The moment I saw the title I thought this is a must-buy, so I took a look at the content and learned this Shirasu Masako san had a quite interesting career. I feel ashamed I didn't know her until now. So she was the wife of Shirasu Jiro.

She was born in Meiji era and you know what, she'd studied in America from the age of 14. Wow. Could be a rare case in that era, for women, couldn't it?

From this essay anthology you can learn a lot about art, beauty, life, society, traditional Japanese culture and whatnot. This book reads like you're listening to your super-well-informed grandma talking about something interesting.

I find some parts of it quite impressive as well, unexpectedly.

In the story about her visiting Miyazaki to do some researches, you'll find this place name "西都原," which is called "SAITOBARU." When I first heard the name of Mr. 東国原, the governor of Miyazaki Prefecture, I thought "So it's called HIGASHIKOKUBARU~. Sounds pretty rare," but perhaps there may have always been place-names or personal names like that in Miyazaki, I guess.

Today I just introduced this to you as it's no use if I talk about the content of the book. You can find something unexpected in it, which brings you a fresh experience. I learn a lot from it as an artist too. In terms of Buddhism, you can learn the story from a little more different angle, which is interesting.

I'd rather sit down and read this book than read it through at one go.

Whew~ There's just so many books I wanna read, so there's never enough time~!

Nice things I bought recently 2

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It's a Kuma item - - - - ! ! !

Come on ! ! (mimicked Go Hiromi san, which I've been practicing at home lately, those subtle nuances are unexpectedly difficult though) (But I've been gettin' better) (Oh, sorry just a random thought)


It's Kuma magnets-. Damn cute~!

I found them at DAISO, got pretty excited like "Wooooooot ! ! This looks like soooooo Kuma Chang ! ! !" and rushed straight to buy them! I put them on the most eye-catching place of the fridge at home immediately!

Kudos to DAISO ! ! ! Although their selection of goods is pretty close to sorta chaos! Although it'd be better to check each item before you throw it into your cart 'cause some of them actually cost more than 100 yen! This Kuma Chang magnet is fairly good!

Cuz cuz cuz cuz


He's hiding his groin using a heart, you know?


It's almost breaking rules-! Just too cute-!

Aww his cuteness even kills an old chap like me

It'll be cute enough to kill me if Kuma Chang also hides his groin using a heart like that saying "Aww You don't watch."


Hmm~. I wonder if it's okay to keep saying old-man-ish stuff like this. (suddenly got down to reality)

I didn't know that since I seldom buy fashion mags, but seems like a magazine called JILLE is gettin' popular lately, and when my stylist san started talking like "You know, JILLE is . . . " I asked back like "Huh? What JIRU(juice)?"

"What JIRU?" was a little too dumb reply I say . . . It just can't be as a normal questioning, without any context . . .

I bought a copy of JILLE today, in a gesture of apology.

I'm sorry, JILLE

Nice things I bought recently 1

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Here it is



It's the MicroMemo-san

All you need is just to attach it to an iPod nano.

The thing on the left side is the MIC(you can change it with different ones; line-in recording enabled too), and you can play recorded voice memos by the bottom speaker.

Most of the time when I write a song, I start making stuff like chords or arrangements, then after I develop the music to some extent, with listening to it I feel my way and get fixated on the melodies, but I forget it myself unless I record it on something. "Wow! That phrase was pretty nice!" - the moment I thought, it's already gone.

I used to use MD(MiniDisc) but haven't used it at all for years, and I don't want to have an IC recorder just for this purpose, so I've always wondered if there would be any good thing that was easy to record/play.

I've always managed it with the memo function(only 2 memos can be entered)of my ke-tai whenever I come up with an idea of melody all of a sudden while going out or on the move.

And then, I found this one

No batteries, nothing required and on top of that it's quite easy to handle, so there's no problem even if you're in a hurry, half asleep or drunk(this is the very important point(lmao))


I went to the new Apple Store in Shibuya the other day and it wasn't that crowded, unexpectedly. Wonder if it's hard for the techie-type of shops like that to get popular in Shibuya. Or it just happened to be uncrowded. Maybe it was just me but the store looked kinda out of place in the surrounding atmosphere(lol) But then again it makes me easier to visit there, so I hope that's always the case with there

Say hello if you see me there

Plain bowl

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*weeps*

Woke up at dawn this morning, I don't know why but I headed straight to the kitchen all of a sudden and started washing dishes.

Maybe it was because my gripping power wasn't on full blast yet just after woke up, but when I finished rinsing a rather big bowl and swung it to swish water off, it slip!!!ped out of my hands, fell into the sink and got broken to pieces.

Sometimes it happens to me that things slip out of my hands when I'm doing the washing-up, but I never thought a thick bowl could get broken to pieces like that . . .

Well that made me completely awake after all . . . but I was so surprised. (Do I have a giant's strength?)

By the way this bowl, my friend always asks me why I'm using such a old-fashioned one like this, but I say . . . Don't you think it's good because it's type of the bowl you'd see when you visit your parents' home? That's just the image I have, though. (lol) When you visit your friend's parents' home, his/her mother's or grandma's dishes would be served by the plain-color tablewares like this, you know.

With a little longing I bought the bowl and dish with this pattern at the store that only my neighborhood old women would visit, 'cause I thought maybe I might feel like I'm dining out if I used fancy tablewares.

Well, it's broken now, so maybe it's about time I go buy some fancy ones too~

Charming feature

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If asked "What part of your body is your favorite?"

Or

"What is your most attractive feature?"

Most girls would answer like "My eyes," moderately. Some rising gravure idols may give a funny answer to it . . . (Sorry for my old-man-like perspective(lol))

You ask me what is my answer?

Of course, it's my shapely legs.

Damn you!! You dork!!


I'm just joking. I'm terribly sorry. I have fat feet.


My serious answer is, "The shape of the back of my head"!

Every hair-stylist person tells this to me. It wasn't until I started this job and got to work with hair-stylist people that I realized this, but I've been told this too often so I got to be proud of the back of my head before I knew.

It's so round(lol)

I asked my parents about this, and heard a bit moving untold story. Both my parents have a so-called "cliff-shaped" head, and seems like they vowed not to let my head like theirs when I was born, so they made every effort to lay me on my side, turned me from side to side every couple of hours so as not to slant the shape of my head.

That's fairly a hard work, isn't it. By the way, I heard the underside becomes flat if you forget to turn. (lol)

I haven't thought I benefited from it too often(Maybe my head would look nice when I wear my hear in a bob?), but I remember this story, feel my parents' love and think "Okay, things will get better" when I suffer from relationship with my parents, or when something happens that makes me sigh.

Not only about the back of the head, parents are really taking care of their children with love in various ways even if their children don't know about it - that's what I think. Being alive means someone has taken a great care of you, right. That's really something.


Oh, Kuma Chang . . . now that I look closer . . . you have a cliff-shaped head too? (lol)(lol)

The cliff-shaped head isn't that bad It's cute

Time to look back to the year 2006, with a huge delay

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In the year 2006, I learned various things as a human, a musician and a woman(I believe).

Various, indeed. Yes. (looks away)

The most impressive thing among all those things . . .

. . . was what I learned in the photoshoot site of the jacket for Flavor Of Life, held at Christmas.

Maybe those of you who own the CD would have already seen it, but have you checked out the real hitsuji-san in the jacket photo? That onigiri, that hitsuji-san . . . that jacket is full of "Why?". Matter of fact, I myself have no idea why onigiri is there, why hitsuji-san is there. Please ask Sano-san(the art director).

Whatever the reason, I was so happy to do the photoshoot with the real hitsuji-san! His Kuma-Chang-like cute bottom just killed me! How can I say . . . If you look at him from the rear, his bottom looks longer than his legs. (lol)

Between the photoshoots everyone clustered around hitsuji-san, observed him up close, touched his fluffy wool - the photoshoot site almost turned into the petting zoo. Since the hitsuji-san was a cranky type of sheep who always flashed an annoying expression when touched, I tried to touch and touch and touch him while he was preoccupied with the feed.
*pats pats pats pats pats pats pats pats* *pats pats pats pats*

When I was being impressed like "Wooow~! It's so fluffy~", the handler person said . . .

"I wash him with Acron~"






EHHHHHH ! ! ! ! Are you serious ------ ! ! !

Acron, you mean that Acron, known for that jingle "You can get confident of washing wool with Acron"!

Hē-! Hē-! Hē-! Hē-! Hē-! Hē-! (Tamori-san will give it a max Hē- too)

My excitement just spiked high ! ! ! I learned something uber exciting ! ! Hilarious! That's cool, amazing, So this talent hitsuji-san is washed by Acron! No wonder he turns out this fluffy! He's really fluffy, tender to the touch! Acron is amazing!

You can't learn anything from knowing it - it's the trivia of all trivia. I wonder why it made me so excited like that . . .

I fairly got excited. In the CD jacket photo I'm sitting on the floor with stunned-looking - is it because it was taken right after that excitement . . .? If you add a words balloon to that photo like a manga, it could go something like "So he's washed by Acron . . . "

Seriously, that concluded my whole year 2006.

I mean, isn't it just amazing? It's a see-the-light experience, isn't it???

I thought of talking about this story in the chat section of a song program, but the program production people gave me "No," which was a pity~. They said it's because they might receive claims from the animal protection organizations. Seems like it's tough working at TV stations~.


********************
(NOTE by Nuuk)
the balloon in the photo reads "What do humans know of me".

To cleanse your palate

(a photo is uploaded. please check her official site)

To make up for my consecutive uploads of those creepy photos of the mannequin, which made me excited and had me take loads of pictures for some reason . . .

I'd like to show you this photo of Kuma Chang watching the news at 6 pm

Kuma Chang loves to watch TV.

His favorites are samurai dramas, news and shopping channels.

"Please   move over   Hikaru-chan   Me can't   watch TV"

Horror Horror

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"Te-he-he-he-he" "Te-he-he"

"Te-he-he-he-he-he-he"


They've got such huge eyes ! !

And such a small nose ! ! !

Horror

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Aaaaugghhhhh ! ! ! !


I passed through the place like this on my way to the waiting room, in the building where the KumaT contest took place.

Those mannequins scare me . . . those troops of mannequins emerged in the dim light really scare me . . .

An episode

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The backstage of the event, which was already expected to be busy. The clothes of the backstage staff had been roughly decided in advance, to minimize the confusion.

For example, the staff of Narumiya International san put on a black suit.

And the staff of Utada Hikaru . . .

. . . put on a Kuma Chang T-shrt.    Tada!

We made a round of T-shirts which had the print of grand prize and other prizes winning works of Kuma Chang coloring contest, held at my site some time ago ! !

That turned my surroundings into a healing space. Whenever I enter the waiting room, the mature grown-ups putting on Kuma Chang T-shirt greet me with a smile . . .

You guys are the best



Huh . . .

Could, could my dad . . . ? Could my dad possibly put on a Kuma Chang T-Shirt as well?!

*trembles hard*


. . . It turned out that he put on a suit. N, no wonder.

'Hey look, Kuma Chang, please don't say you don't like T-shirt. This one, is a T-shirt with Kuma Chang dwawings!'

"This is   a very good T-shirt   Hikaru-chan    Me like it very much"

KumaT ChariT

Alright, here it is, the report of "Boku wa Kuma" T-shirt contest!


. . . Awww, all those cute and innocent eyes on me!

Pp, please don't gaze at me with such clear eyes! Don't bully Devil Hikaru in me!
Aaaghh!

Shouting in my mind like that, I took the opportunity and stared and stared and stared at the cute girls.

First of all I went on the stage, said hello to people, then moved to judges' seat, and the moment I took the seat and wore my glasses, all the photographers started like !click! !click click click! !click click!

Because of what?


The last audition was held in a fashion show style with each of the 15 finalists girls. Those girls walking on the stage tensed, in the "Boku wa Kuma" T-shirt designed (colored) by themselves, were just so good that I almost saw them as my family jewels.

I wished I could show it to Kuma Chang, but it was right about keeping him at home so as not to hinder the show progress. Well, either way I'm pretty sure Kuma Chang couldn't see things very well from the judges' seat 'cause he was very nearsighted.

It was a pity that I had to choose only 3 grand prize winners, but also it was very nice to see the prizewinning kids being thrilled! It was very nice too that I could shake hands with all the 15 kids and say "Thank you! You were pretty great!"! All of them had quite tiny, tender hands, and those cuteness almost killed me on the moment.

I found it quite stimulating, as I hardly contact with kids on a daily basis

I'm glad I had this opportunity to make a donation to "Vaccines for the World's Children" with Narumiya International san.

The vaccines were delivered immediately to the kids in Myanmar, and I wondered "Why all these little kids are with makeup, wearing traditional costume-like clothes?" when someone showed me their photo at that time. All of them were in the state of "seven-five-three" festival.

And on this day, I heard Hosokawa-san(Japan's representative of "Vaccines for~") said in her speech that the mothers came over the vaccine supplying place, all dressed up, bringing her kids with her, which made me nearly cry. Well that's true. They were longing for it. The vaccine to save their kids' life.

Also, the photo of the Myanmar kids, wearing a colored KumaT on their formal costume, looked quite surreal and cute! (lol)


So. At the end of the event we took a group photo! The kids' honest impressions, who were faced with a bunch of cameras, made me laugh out loud. "I don't know where to look at~" "Standing makes me tired~" "I've been putting on a smile and now my face started twitching~"

The child (13, 4 years old) next to me stood at almost even height, and I thought "Thank God I wore high-heeled shoes . . . " Really. That was close.


In the pre-meeting I heard "We requested the media people to refrain from questioning during the photo-shoot" from the staff, which made me think "Maybe you don't need to go that far," but come to think of it, it may not be too good if they yelled "divorce this" "divorce that" at me surrounded by the kids. Could've been troublesome as many other companies and organization people were present too.

Well, seems like most of tabloids had the headers like "First time after divorce!", though.
I'm sorry

And I also found a lot of the words "Shapely legs" in the paper.

S, Shapely legs (lol)

Me with shapely legs (lol)(lol)(lol)

Flash report! T-shirt contest

(a photo is uploaded. please check her official site)

This afternoon, in Tokyo, I attended the last audition & awards ceremony of Kuma Chang T-shirt design contest held with pom ponette! (I'm not exactly sure where it was held 'cuz I was taken there by car . . . Could be in the building of Brooks Brothers in Aoyama? or Omotesando)

You know what, I chaired the reviewing board! Gwahahahahahah ! ! Gwahhhahahahahah ! ! Gwa

Ahem.

Today I wanted to write about the contest, but I haven't completed the lyrics yet which I need to wrap up by tomorrow so I'll write about it in a relaxed manner after I finish the lyrics.

Today I keep off Torneko 2 also and concentrate on writing the lyrics. (Wonder if Okita-san is reading here . . .)

I'll play with Kuma Chang moderately.

Huh? Kuma Chang?

"Me   don't   like   T-shirt   Hikaru-chan . . . "

Uh-oh . . .

(a photo is uploaded. please check her official site)

' . . . . '

" . . . . "

KACHIYE

(a photo is uploaded. please check her official site)

'Hooray Kuma Chang! The stylist mick-san gave us a gift! Some things both for Kuma Chang and me are in it!'

"What is this    KACHIYE?"

Not epilode but epilogue

(a photo is uploaded. please check her official site)

So here is the tart. Done.

It turned out to be fairly tasty, after many twists and turns. The good thing about making it yourself is that you can adjust the sweetness to suit your tastes!

Maybe this tart would've looked better if I'd put some peach jam or white powder onto the surface, but it was plain just as it was, which was good! (= I didn't have any jam!)

But this time I thought that I might be suited to making desserts, unexpectedly. When I was making dough, cream and such, my nervousness exploded and I measured things strictly with stern expression. It was the moment that my kitchen almost turned to laboratory. Maybe it would be fun if I made desserts in a white coat! (I'm pretty serious!)

The procedure of stretching dough over the pan was like working with clay, which was pretty fun~

Oh, this is just an aside, but it wasn't until the tart was ready and to be taken out of the pan that I realized I didn't have any large plates . . . (Yes yes I know that can't be true) I rushed into putting saran wrap on the round plate of the microwave, then arranged the tart on it.

"That can't be, that can't be" - seemed like my friend wasn't so happy with that, but for me it was fairly a good idea. I admit it doesn't look good though. Ha ha ha ha. (Now who said she's a nervous time of person?)


The End

Chapter 3

(a photo is uploaded. please check her official site)

My friend: "G, GREEEEEEEEEAT!!!!"

Me: "Hehe, I tried very hard"

I almost scooped out the inside! (It's cuts of white peach, by the way) So, I tried to pry the can open a little more. Seemed like my friend was worrying about me, since the cut edge of the can was sharp. I proceeded carefully.

Alight! This will do! Now all I gotta do is turn the can upside down and shake it against the basket ! ! Shake shake ! !

Yah!

*thud*


Aaaaaghh!!! Something thudded out! One piece came out!

. . . I have a bad feeling about this. But there's no alternative way. I have no choice but stick it to the end, with this method.

Yah!

*thud*

Yah! Yah!

*thud* *thud* *thud thud*


The two of them felt greatly fulfilled when the can went empty.


Then they went straight into the photo session of the empty can ! ! ! "This is ART!" "Wow this is great ma'am! Look at this wild cut edge!" - they kept taking the pictures of it praising themselves. Wasn't it what's called trash . . .

They were completely in the state of natural high. They felt a bunch of chemicals in the brain like adrenaline, dopamine, and whatnot coming out.

I wonder what this is all about.

This type of pleasure, that you feel when you achieve a goal in an inconvenient way, not through conventional methods.

The strange sense of superiority that you feel when you pick up something with your toe, even though it is at your arm's length if you change your position.

That's the fun of innovations. The joy of expanding your possibilities. The spirit in adversity to overcome self-imposed restriction and pull off a victory.

So this is how humanity has evolved . . .

(Although my idea and action were that of chimpanzee)


(T O T) Mom I made it! I managed to open the can without the can opener! I won! I beat the can!



What of the tart.

Chapter 2

As ill luck would have it, this canned peach was the old type one, which couldn't be opened without a can opener.

"Maybe we need to go to the 100-yen shop in some distance to get one, and that shop is the closest to here. We can't be bothered."

"Hmm . . . I hate to say it, but shall we give it up for today?"

At this time, my friend got an important phone call. My friend came on line in the living room. Canned peach and I were left in the kitchen.

( . . . Can't we make it with the tools in my house ? . . . )

Hikaru eventually took out a pair of kitchen scissors. (adds the tastes of sub-vocals in Tuesday Suspense Theater) *crack* *crack* *crack* I hit the scissors against the can a little harder, which made a dent on the surface of the can. Hikaru's eye expression changed.

( . . . Yes I can make it . . . ! )

Hikaru rose the scissors up. *pound* . . . *pound* . . .

"! ! ! Snorts ! ! !"

*! ! ! zunk ! ! !*

( I brought it down . . . ! )

Hikaru put the scissors into the pierced hole and made cuts in the can with all her might.

"Hmmmm! Yah! Yah! *pant* *pant* . . . This is hard to do, really. My hand aches . . . Dammit! Just a little more ! ! *!snorts!* *!snorts!* Hiyahhh ! ! ! Take that ! ! !"

Then, at this moment my friend hung up and returned back to the kitchen.

And what she saw was . . .


To be continued

Chapter 1

(Continued from yesterday)

On this day, we took on the challenge of making a pear tart.

You may think "What?! So you did try to overcome such a high hurdle from the start??", but I heard my friend had made it once, and also we've made a steamed banana cake together in the past. Let's work it out with the recipe book! We're gonna make sweets, which all girls love!

First of all let's go food shopping! Two girls, shopping cheerfully in the supermarket with a memo in their hand . . . Yes yes yes, this is exactly the girly behavior that I was desperately looking for . . .

Oops ! ! We haven't got canned pears, the key item for our cooking!


" . . . Maybe canned peaches would be OK, right?"

"Yeah."


Is it really OK ----? ! ! (lol)

We should stop fussing over trivial things like peach or pear or whatever, to accomplish a big thing! The essence! We gotta keep sight of the essence of things!

So, we finished food shopping and got home. Now we go on to make a *peach tart* :squeals:

Let's see, first of all . . .

My friend: "AAAAAAHHHHH ! ! ! ! !"

Me: "What! What's wrong!"

My friend: "Hikaru . . . I'm wondering if you have a can opener. Do you?"

Me: " . . . No I don't"


Does our challenge end here, this quickly ? ! ! !


To be continued

Prologue

(a photo is uploaded. please check her official site)

I bought a set of cooking tools for some reason when I moved from my house last year.

My cooking experience is close to zero. I guess those of you who saw my unique knife skill felt so nervous when I appeared in the cooking show of "Utaban" last time. (lol)

But a friend of mine (♀) told me it would be much fun if we did cooking together, which ignited my cooking soul! Two girls, cooking happily together . . . ! How girly! How cute! I just gotta do it ! ! !

In girls' school I had "A" grades in cooking of home economics, though I may not look it! (I don't know the reason why)
I have a knack for breaking an egg open one-handed! (Actually, I can't break it two-handed . . . I'm often told that's strange)

So, being taught what to do from my friend, I've done cooking together with her at my home several times up till now, eaten the results, enjoyed praising ourselves like "Oh this is so yummy-!" "We're some of genius!" "Maybe this could be fit for sale, couldn't it?!"

To be continued

*My updates go on even though GW holidays are over*

(a photo is uploaded. please check her official site)

Today I vacuumed the floor for the first time in a long while.


did you hear that?ma'amoh no


Wh, wait a minute! It's not that I've been blowing off cleaning! Actually I love cleaning!

I clean up my home with Quickle Wiper and Colocolo almost everyday to avoid vacuuming as much as possible, you know. I spend every spare moment with Quickle Wiper. Actually I've got a little blister at the base of both ring fingers. I don't think you can beat it, ha ! ! ! (Maybe I've gone too far)

I almost never use a vacuum cleaner because I've always disliked it . . .

Its sound scares me

ROARRRR--- ! ! WHIRRRR--- ! ! - those sounds scare me and that's why I'm not good at it. It sounds kinda angry to me . . .

The metallic sound of dentist's drill isn't a big deal to me and there are not so much sounds in my daily life that I'm not good at, but for some reason I never get used to a vacuum cleaner. I enjoy using Quickle Wiper and Colocolo as they don't make sounds.

Have you just said, that the hugeness of the vacuum cleaner is to blame?

Well indeed, I wonder why I'm using such a heavy one like this . . . I've been using this one without meaning anything 'cause It's been at my home for a long time . . . C, come to think of it . . . this strong-looking, mechanical design could suit Kiriya-kun's taste very much . . .

Oh boy

Now I get it! (lol)

No wonder I find it hard to use this one! (lol)

Look this one is really big and heavy. I know there exist handy type ones and rechargeable smaller ones too. Maybe I'll go see them at the electric appliance store~.

But no matter how quiet the one I find will be, I'll keep Quickle Wiper and Colocolo in the starting member and the vacuum cleaner will warm the bench-kun~.

Quickle Handy is also nice, but its touch somewhat reminds me of Kuma Chang's hands, and I don't use it very often because it makes me sad to watch it getting dirty used for cleaning . . .

I LOVE Kuma Chang

Staple

(a photo is uploaded. please check her official site)

"Wow   Yeah   Hikaru-chan   Me feel kinda tickles on my forehead"

'You do~? So you feel something strange, but I'm not touching you.'

"Aww   Me feel tickles   Me feel itchy"

Tobiuo-san, sorry and thank you

(a photo is uploaded. please check her official site)

This is Tobikko, which I loved so much when I was a kid ! ! ! (I'll write it as "Tobiko" from here since it seems like "Tobikko" is a registered trademark, but in my mind I still call it "Tobikko")

I've never had a chance to eat it over the past dozen years or so although I loved it best among all the sushi items. I haven't seen it in sushi restaurants; couldn't find its name on the menus either. Sometimes I asked "You wouldn't happen to have Tobiko, would you . . . "(asks timidly) but always got this answer: "No, ma'am."

Has Tobiko been a rare fish? Has the number of sushi restaurants having Tobiko been getting fewer lately ? I feel like I've eaten it a lot when I was a child . . . I thought about things like that, and then . . .

My friend: "Huh? Tobiko?? So you like Tobiko?? Then why don't you just go visit sushi-go-round restaurants?"







Wwwhhhaaattt ! ! ! ! ! !
Are you serious ! ! ! ! !

"Oh, but I say a little slicker sushi-go-round restaurants may not have it"

Huh? What does it mean?

"I bet you can't have it in those higher-priced sushi restaurants. 'Cause it's considered as a bit different type of fish. It's somewhat off the standard sushi items, just like Tuna-and-Mayonase if I name it?"

EEEhhhhh ! ! ! ! ! Why ! How come! Tobiko tastes good! I mean, it's not off the standard!
That can't be true . . . Oh My God!

Although my mind was still in confusion by the astounding revelation, I went out straight to a sushi-go-round restaurant since my body was honest(what?)!

Come to think of it, it was the second time in my life that I went in the sushi-go-round restaurant; first time in 17 years. Did I succeed in grasping the Tobiko dish in my hand, after overcoming the too long 17 years absence? Gotta be cautious. Went through a warm-up first with Natto roll. *munch munch*

Say, I see no Tobiko dishes coming up ! ! (lol)
Seems like no one's ordered it! (lol)

I had no choice but order it myself, "Er, excuse me! I'll have one Engawa and . . . one Tobiko!" For some reason I needed to repeat only Tobiko order. Why . . .

Some moments later Engawa came along. Which was for my friend. I could see nothing but Tobiko right now. Is my Tobiko ready yet?

I waited and waited but Tobiko didn't come along ! ! (lol)
It's completely forgotten. My Tobiko . . . What a poor thing!

I had no choice but re-order it: "Er, excuse me ! I'll have one Hamachi, and . . . I ordered Tobiko some time ago and I'm still waiting for it . . . " For some reason I again needed to repeat only Tobiko order. Why . . .

Some moments later Hamachi came along.

Then, at last ! Tobiko came along ----- ! ! ! !

Yummy! *munch munch* It's so yummy~! It tastes granular~! I finally realized my longstanding hope! I regret nothing in my life for now! Ooohh! Ariel-! (T 0 T )

By the way this restaurant's menu was a well-organized one, listing same sort of items in the same rows, but as my friend said, Tobiko was in the same row with Tuna-and-Mayonase roll, thingamajig salad roll and all those a little strange ones. Why~.

Ikura? Is it because of Ikura??? Is it because of the resemblance to Ikura? Oh yeah, you just can't beat Ikura~. It's got large pearls, bright colors, and in high favor among both children and adults. Tobiko, beaten more than needs because of its resemblance to the powerful enemy, A poor Tobiko . . .

Tobiko, like garnets existing quietly behind rubies . . . Tobiko, like a male idol group that finds it hard to be active in the frontlines of show business behind popular groups of Johnny's . . .

Utada Hikaru supports Tobiko!

Maybe I'll go to eat it again soon

Once a Hikaru . . .

The other day, I showed you a photo of around 3-year-old me mimicking an old man holding a stick . . .

. . . Come to think of it, for some reason I was proudly showing off an old-man like fake beard in the photo in the very first post of this year("A happy new year, with a huge delay!") . . . ! ! !


Seems like I haven't grown up enough~

About 20 years after?

(a photo is uploaded. please check her official site)

Look she's grown up a lot~.

I took this one in the best-lighted area of my home since people always point out that my images are very dark.

It does look quite well-lit. Maybe too bright? Aww I have no idea. What's the standard~. But at least now I realized how dark my past own pictures looked !! I'll be more careful from now on !

Well then. Please draw your attention to this DVD~!! It's Disney-san's The Little Mermaid!

It was released in 1989 in America, and it seems like the 6-year-old me thought "This is it ! ! !" and got hooked on the little mermaid in sleep or wake for a while. As I have this habit of keeping drawing exactly the same thing for a couple of months when I go nuts over something, and at this time I drew heaps of pictures of Ariel sitting on a rock~. (Before that one I drew Nippontsuru. Maybe I loved its having a red part only on the top of its head.)

What thrilled me much was the sense of color rather than the story, and on top of that, I really really really really loved the title tune "A Part Of Your World" more than anything else ! !

When I hum a tune this is the song that comes up even now. I had a huge huge crush on its melody, lyrics and everything. So this is what's called "yearning" - I don't if I thought that way, but anyway it was such an eureka moment to me.

A while ago I found this DVD at a convenience store, which brought back my memories, so I bought it, went back home and watched it while taking a bath. I dropped tears into the bathtub at the scene that Ariel sang the title tune ! I was in the state of "OMG my eyes are watering so I can't see the tiny screen of my waterproof DVD player well !".

And you know, after that, no matter how many times I watch the DVD I always start crying in that scene. I guess her way of singing would be pretty good. Her skill to control waves of vocal inflection is just amazing. I mimicked and practiced her singing thousand times. Oh, I just remembered I have the sheet music also.

I watched the Japanese-dubbed version for the first time and got shocked to find that the singing was fairly plain. I have no idea if it is because of the interpretation of either voice actor san or staff people, but anyways I'm disappointed with it a bit since I cannot feel the vibe of building up excitement which the original version has ! I'd say it is quite rare I review someone else's song, but please allow me to comment on this single one ! I'm just an another snappy fan !

It's the song of my soul . . . I thought back to the lyrics of this song when I became famous and unable to go out casually. The part of the lyrics that Ariel shows longing for walking on the ground. Ooohh! Ariel - ! ! !   (T 0 T )


I'm not good with seawater, by the way . . .

Around 3 years old?

(a photo is uploaded. please check her official site)

I found this picture of myself as a child.

. . . in old-man-style, I don't know why.

Now that I look closer, I find the shirt saying HIKARU . . .

Still I'm in old-man-style, and I have no idea about it.

What was I doing . . . There should've been some prettier poses or more cute face expressions suitable for being photographed, I guess?
This doesn't make any sense to me