mornign musume in time magazine in usa!!!

[~Dan~]

and Ricky Martin came from that group... 

And Tsunku ripped off Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca" for Ayaya's "The Bigaku", so there's another H!P connection!

[kelseyhale]

we should ign a petetion to ufa to bring morning musume to the us i am sick of tunku syaig he want to conquer all of aia b4 the usa puffy amiyumi and utada did it without conqerin

[reyfer]

we should ign a petetion to ufa to bring morning musume to the us i am sick of tunku syaig he want to conquer all of aia b4 the usa puffy amiyumi and utada did it without conqerin

Sorry. Puffy had the theme for a cartoon (Teen Titans) and their own cartoon. Utada sold less in the States that her worst record in Japan, and you call that a success? On the part of Puffy, maybe, but Utada? A success in the states? She was raised in the States, she recorded an album there, that album sold approximately 1,074,000 copies in Japan...but only 30,000 in USA. Is that successful? And Puffy and Utada are something the west can relate to...but Idol groups like MM? There's nothing like it in the west, so before spending LOTS of money on something that MOST PROBABLY won't work YET, Tsunku is spending that money on places he KNOWS will work well (Taiwan, China and Korea). From a business side of the equation, he's doing what he has to do.

[ChiruChaCha]

Actually it's probably not even Tsunku doing it, not just him at least.

About the comparison, yeah they should have just said "Japanese all-girl pop group" or something like that but it's not that much of a deal. And yeah, even if it sounded cheesy, go Junjun!

[Tuffty]

I agree with frblckstr, comparing Momusu to the Spice Girls isn't even possible (you can't compare a Japanese idol to a Western artist/group, for one, in the West they're actually allowed to date), although I can understand that's probably the only way they can give the reader who aren't aware of Momusu's existence an idea of their popularity, etc.

QFT. This is why when, for example, Utada Hikaru was trying to break America she was referred to as the 'Japanese Britney Spears' (ew) or the 'Japanese Madonna'. They don't necessarily compare them musically (if they do, and it's with Hikki, then it's just wrong), just in terms of popularity so you can get some perspective on them and their level of success.

And what a quote from JunJun  

[riyo]

"But I told them, music is universal. It doesn't matter where I sing: China or Japan or outer space."

Atta Girl!! 

Shows how matured she is. But the Japanese version of spice girls was so wrong 

i <3 junjun for that.

well, we are fans so relating spice girls to morning musume looks weird... but the magazine's just giving an example to the ones that don't know them, obviously... besides, if I remember correctly, spice girls did have some kind of audition, and they are both pop girl-groups... if you look at it this way... 

any comparison like that i think is just based on popularity and the fact that it's a girl group; as well as to give the idea for people who don't know them. its nothing that incredibly intense

[Guchi_Jnr]

Love the way some of you guys get on the back foot and all defensive and shit at that comparison.. 

Let's compare..
Groups made up of only girls... Check, check..
Sing, dance and don't play any music instruments... Check, check..
Marketed towards little kids and pervy men... Check, check..

The comparison sounds about right to me.. 

[doinkies]

The Spice Girls comparison is kind of doinky, but I guess they're the closest example of a successful girl group in the West, even if they don't have the same structure as Morning Musume. I don't think there are any girl groups in the West with that structure.

Also, JunJun's quote rocks!   

[Tom Rocket]

Yeah, the Spice Girls comparison is annoying and not very accurate.  The odd thing is that the writer is Toko Sekiguchi, apparently a Time staff reporter living in Tokyo.  Of course the point of the article is that China's educated youth going to Japan to find opportunities and the conflicts, concerns, and changing attitudes they face.  The writer was trying to get across a general idea of what Morning Musume is about to the average reader of Time magazine without getting bogged down in the details.  Who, more than likely, wouldn't know anything about Morning Musume  or anything about the Japanese music scene.

And since we're making comparisons, I'm claiming Ginger Spice as England's Miki Fujimoto. 

[frblckstr1]

Remember the Spice Girls also did a lot of product advertising, movies etc. besides the singing which compares also to what MM is doing.

Aika for Baby Spice??

[kelseyhale]

you took the baby spice workds right out of my mouth

[Gblue]

And since we're making comparisons, I'm claiming Ginger Spice as England's Miki Fujimoto. 

Miki's not a munter, though.

edit: added link to definition for "munter".

[riyo]

then i think yossie as sporty spice? haha these are funny comparisons.

[zoolander]

You tell em Junjun!

[shurastriker]

lol i never like spice girls but if you want to compare the groups about success or the only girls singing stuff then is ok... oh and menudo is no longer a group but a name, they keep re-starting the group since nothing only because the name got history.

i guess the bad part of comparing both groups is that SG are "moms" and MM could be their daughters lol the age difference is huge.

[herachan]

and Ricky Martin came from that group... 

And Tsunku ripped off Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca" for Ayaya's "The Bigaku", so there's another H!P connection!

hahaha now that you've said it! hahaha i cant stop laughing! there is also another song tsunku ripped off, I wish sounds like something else..."yesterday's dream chorus"

[sukeban deka]

She was raised in the States, she recorded an album there, that album sold approximately 1,074,000 copies in Japan...but only 30,000 in USA. Is that successful?

Woah, I didn't know Hikki sold that many. Is it official number?

[alterna]

I'm not surprised JunJun's people told her not to go to Japan because back then, China and Japan were in war. I'm Chinese and my parents still hold a sort of "grudge" against Japan for that.

Yeah, the comparison can only be because they're a girl group and they're popular.
In the same way, a few years ago (before Britney went mad) I saw Ayu described as "the Japanese Britney Spears" which was just as ridiculous and can only have been a comparison of their popularity, because beyond that they're not similar in any way.

Usually, Ayu is rather compared to Madonna and BoA is compared to Britney.

[chokkan 2]

I'm not surprised JunJun's people told her not to go to Japan because back then, China and Japan were in war. I'm Chinese and my parents still hold a sort of "grudge" against Japan for that.

yeah, my grandparents too , but my parents =  


but JunJun IS really brave though ..... especially after so many anti-Japanese .... ummm .... "stuff" happened recently ........... (ok ... not recently, but still kinda "recent" ^_^)

BoA is compared to Britney.

holy shit ....

hope it was from a couple of year ago  LOL

[Saikami]

Usually, Ayu is rather compared to Madonna and BoA is compared to Britney.

I'm sorry, that's just weird.

holy shit ....

hope it was from a couple of year ago  LOL

So true, that'd be scary if BoA shaved her head.