I'm cleaning out my closets/life because I'm moving to Japan at the end of the month. Below are some things that haven't sold on e-bay or whatever that I want to Go Away. None of this is Takarazuka stuff. But I thought I might as well offer it here first, in case someone's interested. *shrug*

You can have anything below for free if you will pay for shipping to wherever you happen to be. I suggest media mail for the books and CDs (magazines can't go media mail, though). Leave a comment here or send me a PM.


CDs

Magic Circle Guruguru Drama CDs. There are two. They are in Japanese. One also has a song on it.

You and I, CD single by Mariko Nagai. It's the 3" kind. Looks like it was an image song on "Yawara"

Too's Magic of Love 3" single. Looks like a Magic Circle Guruguru single of some sort.

MANGA

These are all in Japanese.

My Neighbor Totoro Anime Manga, vol2 (The kind where they make a full-color comic from the anime frames)

Angelique vol 1, by Toshie Kihara

Ayashi no Ceres, vol 1 & 2, by Watase Yuu

Dream Saga Takamagahara, vol 1 &2 - ON HOLD

Here Is Greenwood, vol 1 & 2 - ON HOLD

Marmalade Boy, vol 1

Hana Yori Dango, vol 1


MAGAZINES

They're feminist-y, but the fun, snarky kind. They're NOT new, but thoroughly read.  I just hate throwing them away. Take them, take them and read them.

BUST: Fall 2004 (PJ Harvey), January 07 (Parker Posey), June/July 07 (Chloe Sevigny)

Bitch, No 35 "The Super Issue)

Well, I was feeling pouty that someone else announced it on the com first, but a friend of mine in Japan says *she* only got the info yesterday, so my membership packet is probably still somewhere over the pacific...

Touko's new website is up!

http://www.kei-aran.com

My favorite picture is currently the one on this page!

It looks like Touko actually got two piercings in each ear?? Way to make up for the years without any! Now she can wear twice as many earrings and catch up! *g*

Hmmmm... The official annual dues are at 6,000yen on the website, when the materials I received before said 9,000yen. So either they're gypping those of us who were in the Takarazuka club, or they already had a special "Foreigner" form, but just didn't mark it as such (if so, that sucks for me, as I'm actually going to be living in Japan almost the entire year... :/)

There are already lots of things on her schedule. Including a TV appearance - ah! TODAY in Japan! And one tomorrow! Stupid wrong continent. ;)

The "Members" section isn't up yet...

The FAQ's bit about foreign members is here. It says roughly:

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ETA: Meant to mention about fan letters! The address for fanmail is:
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I originally intended to translate this for karin4 as a mini birthday present, but turns out it's not a very happy thing. :/

It seems that Shizuki Asato put up a new blog a few days ago:

http://zunchannel.exblog.jp/

The post is, er... interesting. :/

Please note that I don't have any context for this announcement and so I just translated the text as best I can from what was in the post. I don't know what magazine it refers to or anything about what office was previously representing her or any of that. The entry has a *lot* of very formal, polite Japanese in it, which I am particularly bad at translating, so I wouldn't take anything I've put below word-for-word. But I think this translation gets the gist of it...

Shizuki Asato, Report and Explanation
6-23-09

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ETA: I looked around a bit, and the magazine she refers to at the beginning seems to be the current issue of the Japanese magazine "FLASH", which was just released on June 23rd. Apparently on page 18 there is an article entitled 元宝塚トップスターが布袋寅泰に＜溺れた夜＞！ "Former Takarazuka Top Star To Hotei Tomayasu: An Overwhelming Evening!"

The poster is now up. It looks like Kouju Tatsuki will also be appearing in it.

The star will be Uchiyama Rina (What, not Asuka??), but Asuka and Tartan both have photos on the front of the poster:



A little more info on ticket sales and such is on the Meiji-za website, if you scroll down. :)

Quick translation of this article I linked to the other day.

From Star Troupe – Aran Kei’s “Destined” Entry to Horipro

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Hadn't linked to these yet.

Aida-related intervews that were linked on the Aida site:

http://l-tike.com/special/backnumber/etc/aida/report.html

http://t.pia.jp/interview/stage/musicalaida-01.html

Really like the pink shirt Touko's wearing in the second one.

More later, but a news article where Touko announced that she's signed up to be represented by Horipro:

http://www.sanspo.com/geino/news/090619/gnj0906190505009-n1.htm

It has very cute photos included of Touko in a black and white skirt!

She says she joined them because of the warm atmosphere, the other former Takarazuka stars they represent, and because it will give her the opportunity to appear in a lot of different media, including movies and dramas, which she's very interested in. She also mentioned wanting to do a concert, a dinner show, a CD...

I'll translate properly later, as I have to run out the door.

Her page is already up on Horipro's site:

http://www.horipro.co.jp/talent/file01.html

Since I got this in the mail and I only went to her ochakai, I'm going to assume it's okay to post publicly. :)

Today I received a mailing from Toono Asuka's Takarazuka fanclub. The club will be continuing and keeping the same name: "Asuka Club".

Asuka will appear in "Atsu-hime" at the Meiji-za theater in Tokyo in February. (There was a drama of the same name last year, so I'm guessing there's some relation, at least  to the original historical figure...) More details should be available soon.

Sorry this took me so long. :)

Translated from the 4/26/2009 Sanspo article online at: http://www.sanspo.com/geino/news/090426/gne0904262202000-n1.htm

Star Troupe: Aran Kei Sayonara “I Have No Regrets From My Takarazuka Life!”
2009.4.26 22:01

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Just a heads up for those who don't follow Izumo Aya's blog.

In her latest entry, she has been hanging out with "cute underclassmen" from Flower Troupe, drinking wine and nihonshu. Then they watched the senshuraku recording of Moon Troupe for Skystage.

I am shamelessly hotlinking this photo because it must be seen:



Are there words?

I think not.

Tonight karin4 and I watched the part of the "Aran Kei Energy" DVD set that has her "Elisabeth" shinko lead, so here's a quick review. :)

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Sorry to be so slow with the info - as it turns out "info on May 10th" meant "we will mail materials on May 10th" which, with me being in the USA, meant there was a bit of a delay.

From the materials it's clear that there's a lot of things they're still getting sorted out. For example, there will be an Ochakai for Aida, but they don't yet know how much it'll cost. Ticket forms were included for fanclub seats for both the Tokyo and Osaka runs of Aida, but the deadline is May 20th. So a bit late for some of us. ;) (And 12,000yen - ouch! I thought s-seki were bad!)

The name of the club is "Aran" though in some places the forms say "Aran Corporation." The club seems to be a continuation of the former daigekijou/Takarazuka-city club and has the same mailing address. Fan letters to Touko can be sent to the club address, though they ask that presents not be perishable or be sent express mail/takyuubin (the address is basically a P.O. Box, so there's no one to sign for packages...)

Entry fee for the club is 1,000yen and annual dues are 9,000yen. Benefits include the usual fanclub tickets, fan events like ochakais, birthday and seasonal cards (pictures of Touko on them), original goods, e-mail list, and an official website (I don't have a link  - suspect it's not yet up) with member-restricted access.

The form I received was specific to former members of ARAN'S & KAC, so I can't copy it for folks. I'm not sure if membership is open yet to non-members.

If you want to join the club, please send me a private message that includes your contact info, and I can pass it on to club staff.

Please be aware that this a club in Japan and I haven't yet approached them about Paypal. You may need to pay them by sending a Japanese bank transfer or mailing yen in cash (which may or may not be legal in your country).

I will, of course, pass on more info about the club as I get it. :)

Don't have a lot of time, but link to news article from the Aida press conference.

http://www.sanspo.com/geino/news/090515/gnj0905150501003-n1.htm

Most notably:



Yes, please. I'll take seven. :D

ETA: Accidentally linked to the short version. Here's the longer one:

http://www.sanspo.com/geino/news/090514/gne0905141847000-n1.htm

I've just received an e-mail from Touko's Takarazuka fanclub(s) letting us know that information on her new, post-retirement club should be available after May 10th. They didn't mention whether or not the new club will accept overseas members, but since we were rather common in her zuka club, I have great hopes. *fingers firmly crossed* The only detail they *did* provide is that they are planning to offer club tickets to her upcoming "Aida" musical.

I'll provide more info as it becomes available.

I just got this book while I was in Japan, and it's beautiful.

The photo shoots are lovely and varied, and it has little mini-essays by Asuka, and an interview/talk with two other performers. I had a chance to flip through Tonami's book as well, and it had the same format.

Though they're still not up to par with a top otokoyaku retirement book, these are a big, big improvement on the Tsukikage Hitomi/Dan Rei generation of them, which had lovely photos, but were even smaller and didn't include any text at all.

This definitely falls under the category of self-serving sorts of posts, but I was wondering if anyone happened to have bought any of the Touko items that come with the little star stickers to mail in for a prize, but isn't planning to use them.

I've realized that I will be only two stickers short of getting both prizes (a lot of the things with stickers are re-releases of shows I already own).

Of course, I'm happy to pay for sending the stickers to me and also happy to share chirashi or something else like that that you may want.

The items that come with stickers that have been released so far are the new Bow Hall & Song of Kingdom DVDs (including the ARAN History box set), Aran Kiseki, & Aran Kei: Energy (the shinjin kouen digest DVD set).

The deadline for prize #1 is May 31st, so the upcoming releases of the "Grace" CD set, the Skystage Box set, and the Last Day DVD don't help me much. Though you should still buy them, of course. ;)

Yours selfishly,

Gen

I'm aware most people have already seen these, but I wanted to do a link dump for when I translate later.

(Cross-posted from Yahoo-gumi)

On Sunday, Aran Kei, Toono Asuka, and 8 other performers had their last day as Takarazuka stars.

Some articles with photos:

http://www.sanspo.com/geino/news/090426/gne0904262202000-n1.htm
http://kageki.hankyu.co.jp/news/detail/48da876edc77cb3e69f9ba177b7e5aa8.html

Touko (Aran Kei) promptly announced that she will be starring in a musical of "Aida" this fall. It's a revised version of Takarazuka's "Song of Kingdoms," which was originally performed with Kozuki Wataru as Radames in 2003.

Official Website:

http://www.umegei.com/m2009/aida.html

Announcement Article:

http://www.sanspo.com/geino/news/090427/gne0904270505000-n1.htm

Characteristically, she also wasted no time in sharing her real name and age: Yasuda Touko, and she's 38 (which makes her birthday October 9, 1970).

ETA: Article with slightly different photo:

http://www.chunichi.co.jp/chuspo/article/entertainment/news/CK2009042702000128.html

Article with a *little* info on Asuka, including a brief quote and her age (30):

http://www.nikkansports.com/entertainment/news/p-et-tp0-20090427-487607.html

This one also gives Asuka's real name:

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/osaka/takarazuka/article/news/20090427-OHO1T00093.htm

Sorry it took me so long to get this done. Believe it or not, it was less crippling grief and more completely overwhelming business.

---------------------------------------------------

Original Article at Sanspo

03-09-2009

Star Troupe| “It was Truly a Happy Day” Aran Kei Says Farewell to the Grand Theater

Photo Caption: At the Sayonara Parade, the audience send-off from the inner court; Aran Kei leaves the Grand Theater. On the 9th, at 8:09pm, Takarazuka City, Hyogo Province

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Didn't quite mean to look at these yet, but since I did, thought I'd share them with anyone who might not have seen them all (and can bear to watch them... ;) )

Digest of Senshuuraku New Orleans/A bientot <-- Includes a little bit of Touko's irimachi from the last day (though not the best part)

Digest of the Sayonara Show Itself  <-- Maybe someone can confirm that she's actually singing in Korean there at the 2 minute mark...

Touko comes down the stairs, gets flowers, gives speeches + curtain calls  <-- Doesn't show speeches from other taidansha... :(

Post-show retirement press conference  <-- Be emotionally prepared for handprint. I wasn't.

Asuka & Touko at Demachi <-- I excape being in this video thanks to a well-placed trashcan. :D