Category Archives: News
“Yajimap” Special Making DVD preorder begins
Preorder has started on the e-LineUP! website for a “Special Making DVD” that serves as companion to Maimi’s recently released book “Yajimap Sweets Sugyou no Tabi”. The book is a compilation of her articles by the same name that were published in UTB and showed Maimi travelling various places and learning about sweets. The “Special Making DVD”, a digest of which has been uploaded to ℃-ute’s YouTube channel, gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the articles. The preorder period will be from May 1st to May 20th at 11:59PM, and the DVD is schedule to ship towards the end of June. For fans living overseas, the DVD can be ordered using Tenso, which is a service I have used a lot and strongly recommend.
New SATOYAMA & SATOUMI videos added
Parts 2 and 3 of Maimi’s, Mari Yaguchi’s, and ANGERME’s Ayaka Wada’s symbolic garden project have been uploaded to the SATOYAMA channel on YouTube. In part 2, the 3 travel with garden designer Kazuyuki Ishihara to his installment at The Westin Tokyo to see an actual symbolic garden. They then head back in part 3 and sketch out their plans for the symbolic garden at the SATOYAMA & SATOUMI event.
A video where Maimi and Hitomi Yoshizawa hop on road bikes and point out places to hit in Yokohama while biking has also been uploaded to the SATOYAMA channel.
℃-ute begins official Ameba blog
It was announced at the evening performance of ℃-ute’s spring tour that ℃-ute will be starting an official Ameba blog, which is already up here. Their GREE blog will continue for the remainder of March.
“SATOYAMA & SATOUMI he ikou 2015 Part 1”
The SATOYAMA channel on YouTube has uploaded the first part of a series where Maimi, ANGERME’s Ayaka Wada, and Morning Musume。 O.G. Mari Yaguchi plan a “symbolic garden” for the SATOYAMA & SATOUMI events on March 28th and 29th. To this end, they meet with garden designer Kazuyuki Ishihara, who askes them what kind of themes they want to incorporate. Maimi says that because there will be a lot of girls there, she wants it to be cute and florid. The video ends with them heading to see another of Mr. Ishihara’s works and a “to be continued…”
Maimi’s profile pictures updated
Maimi’s pictures on her official Hello! Project profile have finally been updated in anticipation of ℃-ute’s April 1st release, “Tsugi no Kado wo Magare/Gamushara LIFE/The Middle Management ~Josei Chuukankanrishoku~”.
“Hello! Station #108”
The latest episode of the weekly YouTube program “Hello! Station” has been uploaded and features no shortage of highlights for Maimi and ℃-ute fans. For starters, the music videos for ℃-ute’s new songs “The Middle Management ~Josei Chuukankanrishoku~” and “Tsugi no Kado wo Magare” debut right at the beginning. Maimi then appears briefly several times during the recap of Berryz Koubou’s final few days. Finally, the episode wraps up with a hair arrangement segment featuring none other than Maimi (around the 40:48 mark).
Maimi’s birthday t-shirt
Video of Maimi showing off her new birthday t-shirt has been uploaded to the UF Goods Land YouTube channel. In the video, Maimi offers an explanation for the design, saying that large picture of her was a regular one she took at home. Because of the size of the picture, Maimi says, she’ll be able to notice her fans wearing it at concerts right away. She also points out the number “23” on the side, which of course represents how old she’ll be turning on February 7th. The shirt will be available starting at January 24th Hello! Project concerts, and available on e-LineUP! on the same day. Those of us living overseas can use Tenso to place our order.
℃-ute Yajima Maimi no Maimi~ Xmas!
Maimi’s Christmas program “℃-ute Yajima Maimi no Maimi~ Xmas!” will be beginning soon (8:00PM JST/6:00AM EST), so tune in to the Maimi Xmas USTREAM channel or watch via the embedded video above. The program will run for 1 hour and features Maimi along with Miyazaki Rio and Yagi Saki from “Lovelys!!!!”.
“Message” goods available
The goods for Maimi’s premium casual dinner show “Message” are now open for order on e-LineUP!. Here’s a summary of what’s available:
2L-sized 4 photocard set – 1,000 yen
A5 wide-sized 2 photocard set – 1,000 yen
Microfiber handtowel – 2,700 yen (The message on the towel reads “I hope you’re always smiling… I hope you’re always happy…”)
Letter set (clearfile included) – 1,800 yen
Pen case – 1,200 yen
Card case – 2,500 yen (The message on the inside reads “Do your best at work today♥”)
L-sized 4 photocard set – 600 yen (online exclusive)
If you’d like to place an order for any of these items, I’d recommend using the TENSO service. Also, it appears that both the pen case and the card case are already unfortunately sold out.
Maimi’s premium casual dinner show goods
The e-LineUP! website has released a preview of the goods for Maimi’s upcoming premium casual dinner show “Message”. The goods not marked “venue-exclusive” (会場限定) will be available on e-LineUP! starting December 5th at 3:00PM Japan time. As with all goods on e-LineUP!, overseas fans can use TENSO to place their order, and I’ve translated the descriptions for the items that will be available in the above image.
Maimi’s “Ways” available at CDJapan
For fans overseas who don’t want to jump through the hoops of ordering through a forwarding service, CDJapan is offering a very limited preorder of Maimi’s upcoming Blu-ray “Ways”. As of this writing, only 10 copies remain available, and while it’ll end up costing you less to order through CDJapan when fees for buying/forwarding services from other websites are factored in, the CDJapan listing mentions nothing about the bonus photo card with a hand-written message.
If you’re interested in getting the bonus as well, the deadline for preorder at e-LineUP! is right around the corner. The preorder period ends November 19th at 11:59PM Japan time (9:59AM Eastern Standard Time) and you can place an order using a service like Tenso, which I have used several times in the past and again for this order.
And if for some reason you need a last-minute push to place an order, here again is the digest:
Maimi to host “Maimi~ Xmas!”
Following in the tradition of Erina Mano’s “Xmas ga Machikirenai” in 2012 and S/mileage’s “Christmas Dokuban Yattemo ee ka?” in 2013, Maimi will be hosting a Christmas special titled “℃-ute Yajima Maimi no Maimi~ Xmas!” for CRK Radio Kansai. The special will be recorded on December 15th and will broadcast on Christmas Eve from 8PM to 9PM JST on USTREAM.
Maimi Blu-ray title, cover
The listing for Maimi’s Blu-ray release on the e-LineUP! website has been updated with the cover (pictured above) and the title, “Ways”. The deadline for orders is Wednesday, November 19th at 11:59PM Japan time. Overseas fans can place their order via Tenso, which I myself used for this release as well. And if you somehow missed it, here’s the digest for “Ways”:
Maimi’s profile pictures updated, “Hello! Station #92”
Maimi’s profile at the Hello! Project website has been updated to reflect the outfits for “I miss you”, one half of ℃-ute’s double A-side single releasing on November 19th, “I miss you/THE FUTURE”.
Maimi appears in the latest episode of Hello! Station, where she visits practice for the Hatagumi play “Kuru Kuru to Shi to Shitto”. The segment starts at 29:13 in, and also features Maimi talking with Yuu Kikkawa and the Hello! Project trainees appearing in the play.
Maimi’s Blu-ray digest and pre-order
The digest for Maimi’s next video release, still untitled, has been uploaded to ℃-ute’s YouTube channel and the pre-order has started on the e-LineUP! website. Pre-orders will be open until November 19th and will ship in the latter half of December. Overseas fans can use services like Tenso and FROM JAPAN.
Surprisingly, this release will only be available as a Blu-ray, which is a first for e-LineUP. In her comments at the end of the digest, Maimi said that she feels a little embarassed since Blu-rays have such clear images. In addition, she mentioned that filming started as soon as she landed in Okinawa, so it has a documentary feel. Lastly, as the Blu-rays will be shipping out around Christmas, everyone who orders a copy will also receive a photocard with a handwritten message from Maimi herself.
MaimiLog 