"Minna genkii~?" --- the tetsu LJ community

Gocha Maze! 9/1

2008-09-01T15:55:36Z

Gocha is on at the regular scheduled time! and the bird is up to listen!
I had minor technical difficulties though so I may have missed things. Sorry in advance.

Only the girls did the intro (usually Joshima starts it), but it sounds like they were trying to keep the boys from talking at all. Joshima protested loudly, tetsu just let them go for it. He has no problem with the girls taking the spotlight, but does comment on their looks.

Hitomi : You should say these things BEFORE we're on the air!
(Do none of them remember that radio is sound only?)

So anyway, it's September now.
tetsu : With Joshima-san here, we can handle autumn.

They end up taking about ages. It is suggested that they could all wear masks too look the same age. It is also pointed out that -some of them- are old enough to be the father(s?) of another one of them... And another one is just a big sister because Hitomi is definitely NOT old. *ahem*

Joshima recounts a story about a kid he met who was planning to be a star one day, so the kid was thinking up good stage names. Joshima uses his real name but he was wondering if the rest of them all were doing the same, or not.

Hitomi : Yeah, it's my real name.
Haruka/na : Yeah us too.
tetsu : Me too.
All : EH?
tetsu : Yes, I'm really tetsu.
Hitomi : But.. tetsu -what-?
tetsu : Tetsuo! Nah, I'm just tetsu.

tetsu : Back in the day, I thought it would be better to hide it. And I hid my birthday and age too. But now I just have a particular way of witting my. Not just in romaji but even when it's in hiragana or katakana.

Yui was going to use a stage name but her real name got revealed to the media very early in her career so she just went with it.

Hitomi ends up saying that she's happy using her real name, but if she had used a fake then she wouldn't have to worry about what would happen if she got married. She figures her husband can just change his name so she doesn't have to.

Yui says several times that she would like to "do like tetsu", presumably meaning just not having a last name, but the others all make up nicknames for her, mostly based on her actual family name (Horie) instead.

- CM -

Fanletter time

1 - About using computers. This fanboy is in university and uses only the comps in the school labs. He sometimes ends up screaming at the computers when there is a crash or other problem. Do the hosts ever yell at their comps?

It ends up turning into a round of "Nandeyannen~" which I can assure you is definitely something you hear a LOT in a room full of comps and Osaka people. It means basically "wtf" but without the associated vulgarity. Comp lag? Nandeyannen! File gone wrong? Nandeyannen!

tetsu says "nandeyannen~" very well 8D

So anyway they don't yell at their computers much. Yui does yell when she sees bugs, and Hitomi screams when she's embarrassed, or even just remembering embarrassing things. Joshima says he never yells at all (he is whispering as he says this.)

Joshima (whisper) : I never yell at all~
Hitomi : not even when someone makes you mad?
Joshima : I -never- get mad ~ I'm too nice!

2 : It's a question for Yui so I don't really care.

It's about her fear of airplanes and flying, anyway.

tetsu of course has no problems with flying, as he said in his one and only line of this section.

- CM + TOKIO song -

Yui's quiz corner~

What will tetsu solve today~

Q: Swan Lake, the Nutcracker - Who wrote the music for these famous ballets?
tetsu : A foreign person.
Yui : Yes, but more specifically.
tetsu : I know the songs. And there's a lot of spinning. Oh you know I love that part with the dancing~
Yui : Please answer the question!
tetsu : (laughing) Tchaikovsky XDD

Correct, but Yui was getting impatient with him..

Second round

Q: How do you spell "oolong" as in oolong tea, in English? What is the first letter?
tetsu : It's... not "w". Is it? Eh?. Oolong tea...
tetsu : OH I GOT IT! It's "O".

Yay for tetsu he gets everything right~

- CM + NEXUS 4 -

And now it is time for the ending. Joshima is glad he didn't fail too badly and that it's not his turn to bring goodies next week.
They continue to discuss possible answers for one of the quiz questions, which was about high school baseball and not one of tetsu's, so it is actually not relevant 8D

Strangely I have a LOT of energy for late night. Yay?

The END!

Gocha maze! too late couldn't trans

2008-08-25T16:01:47Z

The show is laaaaaaate..Far later than it is supposed to be, and I simply -can't- stay up later to wait for it and still expect to be able to listen to it for an hour.

Sorry to let everyone down. If a recording is posted (or just sent to me) I will write the summary ASAP.

Gocha Maze! 8/18

2008-08-18T16:15:09Z

Had to deal with more static than usual, so sorry if I missed things...

Everyone's in for this crushing hot August show.

The Harisenbon pair (that is, Haruka and Haruna) brought the snacks today. They got croquet and tsukemen from a little yummy noodle shop near the radio studio.

tetsu asked : "So did you have to hide, like wear a disguise or something?"
Haruka : Oh not at all. Well except for the glasses.

Haruka took off her glasses to show the rest of the cast what she looks like without them, and they start talking about the pros and cons of contacts vs glasses. Joshima compares her glasses-less look to a celebrity that the rest of them didn't know, even tetsu who is the same generation as he is.
At one point Yui admits that she normally wears glasses after work, but never at these radio sessions. Once she reveals how far she can see without them, they accuse her of doing it on purpose since she can apparently see tetsu clearly but not Haruna.
"You don't wear your glasses so you don't have to see me! Cheater!"

- CM -

Fan letter section...

1 - This fan looses her appetite in the hot summer and wonders if the same thing happens to the hosts. Especially Haruna, since she doesn't eat much to begin with. What are some good foods to help stay genki in the warm weather?

Haruna does have a lot of problems with this, since her weird dental problems limit what she can eat in the first place. Apparently she gets mail from dentists all the time offering to fix her teeth, but she hasn't done it since it would put her out of commission for 6 - 7 months.
Everyone commiserates with her about not being able to eat tough foods. At one point tetsu goes "OW" but it seems that it wasn't really pain, just pretending not to be able to eat cucumbers.

2 - Adapted from a recent teen survey : If you could be 20 years old again, what celebrities would you like to go to the beach with?

Joshima :So tetsu-san, who would it be? Someone older, or your own age?
tetsu : Hmm ehhh that's hard... Would everyone be 20, or just me?
Joshima : I know I'd pick Hitomi 8D
tetsu : Yes, that's good. I agree.

Eventually tetsu gives a slightly more serious answer "Minamino Youko. I know she's older than me but...", but they laugh at him (I don't know who that is so I dunno why.)

3 - A fan has noticed that the Curry flavoured toothpaste is always sold out. Why could that be?

Ehhh! Hmm Ehh. Ehhhh. tetsu's participation in this discussion is mostly aural punctuation.

They don't have any good reasons, but we learn that there are many flavours of curry toothpaste. The hosts do, at least, think curry is a weird flavour. Why not tea, or lemon toothpaste being sold out? Haruka quite likes pineapple. They look up popular flavours and discover things like cola... and banana... which gets a big HMMM in the background...

- CM -

Quiz time! Again with a highly selective content filter 8D

tetsu's question : Before Bush, who was president of the USA?
tetsu : Ehh... wasn't it.. Clinton?

Correct~

Joshima : Wasn't it Reagan?
Hitomi : What planet are you living on..?

On his turn, Joshima completely fails the question "Where will the summer Olympics be held next?", but tetsu instantly knew that it was London.

Round 2 -

tetsu's question : In an old story, there was a fruit that entranced monkeys. What is that fruit?

tetsu is completely stumped, apparently he doesn't know the old story. They all give him hints, like "the monkey traded a rice ball for it" "it's orange" and "you eat it in autumn". tetsu is still utterly confused. He really has no idea what the story is supposed to be. More due to the hints than anything else, he eventually guesses that it's "persimmon", which is correct.

- CM - NEXUS 4

The ending bit is filled by discussing an upcoming performance of Harisenbon in Nagoya.

teh END.

Gocha Maze! 8/11

2008-08-11T15:52:52Z

Holy crabs Gocha is on time! At the normal time! Wow!

Everyone is in! They start talking about... cleaning.
Yui was cleaning her place when she found an old card she had that has the autograph of.. Hitomi! Apparently Yui was a Hitomi fan some years ago. Of course she insists that she still is. The autograph came from a magazine raffle.

Hitomi's autograph still looks the same as it did back then. She demonstrates her signing method for all of them, and Joshima comments that this is useless on the radio since the audience can't see~

tetsu has advice for how to improve it, but Hitomi dismisses it. "I am not changing it!"

There was also mention of telephone cards and how no one uses them anymore, therefore none of them have phone card merchandise anymore. tetsu is momentarily confused until he remembers what year it is. He also corrects the younger girls' misconceptions about how to use them. (Basically, it's a card for prepaid public phone time. So 20th century.)

!- SHINE -! + CM

Fanmail corner!

1. About keeping one's room clean. This fan doesn't like to clean, so they are asking for tips to make it easier.

Hitomi commiserates about those places that are annoying to clean. tetsu is of course the expert in cleaning, but even he has problems. His weak spot is throwing stuff out. He has a big collection of magazines and books, about fashion, interior design, and skyscrapers.

Yui:...Skyscrapers?
tetsu : Yeah, I have a fetish for tall buildings.
J : And isn't ken, er, your guitarist ken-san, he's got a dam fetish right?
All : ...
J : I saw it on Tamori club or.. something...
t : Yeah... he's always all about the dams.

Back to the topic at hand, tetsu says that he doesn't like opening the closet in front of other people, because it always looks messy and he doesn't want them to think he doesn't clean it. He DOES clean it.
Joshima has issues with lots of cassette tapes and other stuff that he no longer uses but wants to keep. tetsu agrees; vintage stuff is worth keeping so he never throws out his ancient tapes.

2 - Why are you eternally 17? Why not 18 or 16?
(Apparently this refers toa joke that isn't about tetsu so I don't remember when it was made.... )

17 is the name of a drama, so its appealing.

When tetsu was 17, he was still in high school. Already in a band, and it was his entire world :3
Of course, for him, band trancends age.

3 - What do you wear when relaxing at home? Do you go out to conbinis and stuff in those clothes, or do you change before going out?

Joshima wears shorts int he summer. Pretty much everyone does. Except Hitomi, apparently.

tetsu wears shorts, and t-shorts. In the past, he changed his clothes a lot. Of course, he rarely goes to the combinis at all, and when he did it was usually on the way home, so he didn't go out in his casual clothes.

- CM -

Quiz time~

tetsu's questions only -

Question : What prefecture is the Torishima island part of? It's the southmost island of Japan.
tetsu : I know this. I didn't know the island's name, but I know that the southmost island is actually part of Tokyo.

Correct~ A strange bit of trivia that tet-chan knows, or just banana sense?

They only did one round of questions this week, so that's all.

- CM -

And the week ends with complaints about the summer heat. They hope that next week will be cooler. Except that Hitomi suspects Joshima may do something she doesn't like to beat the heat. We shall see!

Gocha Maze! 8/4

2008-08-04T16:38:25Z

This week the show started late, but not quite as late as last time. It actually matched the time on the website! *shock*

Gocha Maze! 8/4

Started a little late but not as bad as the past weeks.

So it's August! And it's really hot!
They talk about vacations and beaches and summer vacations.

There's a place called Miyakojima in Kyuushuu (tetsu is the one who explained where it was) where the water is very clear. Yui saw fish swimming in the sea for the first time there.

tetsu is asked about his overseas travels and if he's been to the beach while there. He says no, not really. He has been to Santa Monica though, the beach near Los Angeles. Everyone is Ehhhful about the ocean's American side.

And of course, there is no discussing beaches without mentioning Okinawa.

The deal to bring snacks in was remembered, even by tetsu himself. He ordered in some BBQ Eel for everyone! EHH They are all very impressed. There is some discussion of unagi vs anago (both types of eel); tetsu thought he was getting unagi but the others seem sure that its actually anago. Either way, it is delicious "unago".

"Mmm. Unago"
Thank you tetsu-san~

- CM -

Fan letter corner~

1. Its about high school baseball, sports, and playing at or above the normal level for one's age.

tetsu had nothing to say, so let's skip ahead.

2. About movies. This person likes to go to the movies alone, and it seems weird to him to go to movies for dates. He likes to think about the plot without distractions.

Hitomi agrees, especially when it's movies that she personally wants to see. Of course she'll go with friends if its a move her friends like more than her, but never on dates. It's too distracting.

Joshima's complaint about movies is that you can't pause them.

tetsu likes movies alone AND with others. The others remember his story about seeing EVA with L'Arc, but he retells it for the girls who hadn't been there at the time. As we know, L'Arc (and some staffs) went to the theatre after hours and got a private screening of the movie just for them.
Joshima asks if they got it paused for bathroom breaks or anything. tetsu says no way, he wanted to see it properly.

3. From someone who wants to be a manager for celebs like them! So, what's important in terms of skills?

Immediately, tetsu answers "Listening."
Everyone else seems to agree, or at least sympathise.

Also, Joshima has stories of being watched VERY CLOSELY by Johnny's managers.

- CM - TOKIO song

Yui's quiz corner!

Once again I will not bother writing any questions that aren't answered by tetsu.

Q : In Volleyball, what do you call the players whose role is defence?

He is a bit confused since in volleyball the ball goes all over the place, but they ensure him that there are really positions. tetsu reasons that it's probably just like soccer, and there is some discussion, but he eventually guesses and~ his answer is RIGHT! (But I didn't catch it since I don't really know anything about sports and missed it)

Ehhh~ learn something every day. Or don't.

Round 2 Q : How much is the tax on a 5000 yen item?
tetsu : EHHH THAT'S HARD! Ehhh.

Hitomi explains that for tetsu, tax isn't really a concern so he probably doesn't know what it is or how much of the price it uses. Yui explain basic concepts of sales tax so that he could do the math.

tetsu : Oh so it's just 5%? Then it's um... 250yen.

Correct~ Our banana is smart, really he is.

- CM - plus SHINE! (it was slightly shortened; that or I'm VERY tired.)

In the ending bit, they go back to talking about the eel that tetsu brought, which he still insists on calling unago.
tetsu suggests that since it's summer, they should be eating curry. He is joking, we can only hope...

tetsu mentions fireworks and they are all quite eager to go out and play with some. Joshima thinks they should go to karaoke too. Perhaps they'll have some interesting summer stories soon!

Gocha Maze! 7/28

2008-07-28T16:57:45Z

The show was seriously late, even later than the website said it would be. I am very tired. Might be some bad mistakes due to your translator being quite out of it.

Yui was laughing right from the start because tetsu was 8D over a chocolate just as the show began and they were supposed to introduce themselves. Joshima says "well then don't look at him" but she just laughs it off.

Hitomi brought a bag of stuff just for tetsu! It is food~
Rice balls and cheese and so on, just for him. She raided a convenience store for him, practically. Of course the food is shared with the others, and there is much rejoicing.

tetsu is a little bit worried that this is foreshadowing his downfall. Like during the quiz. They just laugh and call him cute, and continue discussing food.

- CM - NEXUS 4

Fan Letters Corner

1 - From someone who works part time in a convenience store, and has noticed how men and women pay differently. Men are more likely to give a bill and coins to get simpler change back, while women tend to just give a bill and get lots of change.

tetsu's answer is "Keep the change". He actually says this in english... the few times he is in convenience stores. Which isn't frequent, it seems.

Someone brings up a chain of shops called Don Quixote, and tetsu has NO idea what it is. "Eh, is it expensive?"
The others have to explain that it is, in fact, a discount shop, everything for 100 yen. He says he's seen it but he didn't know what was inside.

2- About uniforms that people would like to cosplay. The most popular are Flight Attendants and Shrine Maidens. What about the hosts? Guys can answer too~

Most of this discussion ends up being by Yui. All tetsu has to offer is laughs, especially when Hitomi mentions she once dressed as a schoolgirl's teacher for a role she acted.
A few examples of costumes that acrtesses have worn are dropped, but nothing interesting.

3 - About whether Yui would be able to act in the screen as well as she does voices. The question expands to all of them; do they think they would be good actors?

Yui thinks she would suck at memorizing all the lines. tetsu thinks it would be feasible. Yui insists that she just can't imagine real acting, because in voice acting you can always look at the script and the footage. Much ahh and ehh.
For some reason Joshima brings up Dragaonball and an event he went to with the voice actors. He was impressed.

- CM -

Quiz time~

Due to extreme tired, I am going to skip all the questions that tetsu doesn't answer.
It's a genki corner.

tetsu's Q : the three important civic duties are (missed word) Education,
tetsu's answer : Work?

Correct! Labour or work, that's the answer.

tetsu's 2nd Q : How many letters are there in the English alphabet?
answer : Um let me think... 26 right?

Correct!
He could be in a game show. Or something. Except for needing time to think.

Since tetsu is the only one who got both his questions right, the others complain. Especially about the way Yui reacts when they fail.

- CM -

Ending bit is back to the food that Hitomi brought. Everyone thanks her, and they wonder if maybe SOMEONE (Eehhh?) will do the same next week. They wonder what SOMEONE (hmmm?) might bring them~ Probably something rare and expensive.

See you next week~

Gocha Maze! 7/21

2008-07-21T17:07:08Z

Woot it starts! Late! I had to wait over an hour extra.

Joshima had been filming A PV and they needed rain, but just then real rain started. Good for him. Someone also mentions snow, and tetsu's only reaction is "Eh? yuki?" but of course they are not talking about yukkie.

They talk about L'Arc PV filming, and how they use CG sometimes. There was of course the famous PV where they Didn't Dance but filmed in CG and slow motion so that it would look like they did. The members learned a slow-down version of the dance for it. (tetsu was being vague on this point, but obviously he means STAY AWAY PV)

They talk about food and stuff that they don't get to eat often, and someone suggests that tetsu should bring the snacks next week. Remains to be seen if he will~

Joshima claims that he studied hard for the quiz this week. A challenge to banana?

-CM- - L'Arc~en~Ciel - NEXUS4 - (first time this plays on Gocha! Full length, too.)

Fan Letters!

Letter 1 - About travelling overseas and the most impressive things they've seen abroad.

tetsu has travelled a lot, so of course they push him to answer. He hmm and ehhs, apparently having a hard time thinking of something impressive. Hmm hmm. The others cover by saying that since his travel is for work, he might not really have had the time to think about it. Hmm hmm.

Letter 2 is for the girls so I am not really seeing a need to note it.

Eventually the talk turns to sounds used when recording the voice acting/dubbing for kissing scenes, and Yui explains that it has to be done with the mouth and not the hands. tetsu just teases her saying that the kiss sounds rather like "something else". He is laughing the most of all at her demonstrations.

Letter 3 - do they get to go home right after a recording/filming, or do they go out for dinner, etc, with other talents?

Most of the time it seems they don't go out with other cast members, at least not Hitomi or Joshima. For Haruka/Haruna, they are comedians so it's not quite the same thing. tetsu just mumbles and says "Er it's hard to say..." and the others laugh.

Joshima, Hitomi and tetsu DO occasionally go out together after this show, so they laugh a little but about that. There was one get-together that tetsu hadn't gone to, but he remembers not having been able to go, and Hitomi and Joshima try to convince him that it was his own fault he didn't go because they DID invite him. Of course the other girls are completely confused since this happened well before they joined the show.

- CM -

Quiz time!

Yui leads them all in another quiz~
Like last week, she will ask them each a question in turn, meant to be questions "that everyone knows the answer to".

1st up - Joshima!
(I really didn't understand the question. He got it right, but complained when he didn't get special cooing like tetsu had last week)

2nd - Hitomi
Who is on the 1000yen bill?

She guesses wrong at first but is given a 2nd chance and gets it right. (Didn't catch the answer, google it if you care)

3rd - Haruka
Name the 3rd magazine published by the company that does JJ and Cancan.

It is Bibi (or Vivi). She got it in one try, but not right away.

4th - Haruna
It is about a famous piece of Japanese literature, she has to name what it is quoted from.
It takes her a while, plus with help from the others she doesn't get it.

5th - tetsu
Who is the star of Indiana Jones series?

The others complain that it's way too easy.
tetsu : Oh that guy! I totally know his face. You know, that guy. Obviously.
(they laugh at him as he kills time and hums the Indiana Jones theme)
tetsu : Indiana Jones... Hmm... Eh? Harry?
Hitomi : Harry Potter!
tetsu : Harrison Ford!

Round 2 -

to Joshima - what does LP stand for?
Long Play
He got it right away.

to Hitomi - (Sorry, didn't understand it at all.)

to Haruka - What is "kaba" in English?
Lots of confusion. She eventually thinks it up - Hippopotamus!

to Haruna - What is the fancy sushi term for "soy sauce"?
it is Murasaki!
Yui is not impressed by how she laughed at the question for being "so easy".

to tetsu - What letter is found at the top left corner of the keyboard?
tetsu : EH?
It sounds like he is "typing" on the table to think. The gestures are not helping.
tetsu : Eh you know. that one? What is it?!
the others laugh at him. Hitomi tries to help by telling him it's above the A.
tetsu : Eh... S?
(of course, this is incorrect)
Yui : Aw, it's okay. You're allowed to make mistakes.
tetsu : Aww T.T
Yui : The answer is "Q".
tetsu : Ehhhhh, it is? What kind of hint was that!

Again at the end Yui asks the audience to send in possible questions for next week.

- CM - TOKIO -

In the ending, they comment on how things went rather differently than last week. It is also a very different segment from the one Haruka had before, and Hitomi's before that.

tetsu didn't have much to add so that's all for this week~

Gocha Maze! 7/14

2008-07-14T16:19:11Z

It's summertime, and it is HOT!

The temperature has already surpassed the 30degree mark. Wow. Joshima asks if the others are using their AC yet. Haruka and Haruna both haven't used theirs yet, citing "eco reasons" for persevering without it as long as they can. Upon being teased that it must be awfully hot when boyfriends come over, it is revealed that they both actually still live with their parents!

They are then teased about how it must be difficult to do things, and there is a general discussion about things that are hard to do while still living with parents.
tetsu : "But at least you can invite people for tea."

The pros of this arrangement, of course, include cheap rent and free laundry.

tetsu moved out on his own when he was 19. He lived in Osaka, of course. Pressed for details, he only says that it was "in town".
They ask if he was lonely at all, and he says "yeah, I guess, a little." And even though he did have the freedom to do a lot of things...
"I didn't do anything too weird just in case there were cameras hidden nearby".
He gets laughed at a little bit for this, since of course he wasn't exactly famous just yet, at that age.

The discussion turns toward rent. Osaka is very CHEAP compared to Tokyo. Joshima's first place, in Tokyo in 1994, cost about 75 000 yen a month. A friend of his from Nara paid the same amount for three times as much space.. all Joshima had was a tiny room barely big enough for a futon. Yet he had this friend over anyway.

There are some reminders and 'threats' made concerning last week's missed penalty for the quiz! But much ehh and protesting and laughing leads to still no penalty being forced on anyone.

- CM -

For the fan mail corner, there is a special guest! Okubo Mariko, who has come to show off her just-released photobook.
tetsu : Especially to me, right?
I'm not sure who she is actually, I guess a host from a different night of gocha? They all seem to know her anyway. tetsu comments on how she is rather -flat-. Much ooh and aah over the photobook.

Fan Letter 1 - Describes a vegetable dip made from mayonnaise and Calpis. (The latter being a yogurt-flavoured drink.)
The staff actually bring some of this dip out so the hosts can eat it. Joshima thinks he's had it before, and tetsu finds it strong while others said it was sweet. They all agree that it is genki, because Calpis is genki.

Fan Letter 2 - From a 15 year old boy who doesn't understand why girls in yukatas are supposed to be sexy. He thinks maybe he is too young to understand. "tetsu-san, at what age did you get it?"

Joshima covers this one by claiming that "Surely tetsu was early about these things, just like me!"
Hitomi then talks about a classic dorama with a scene of some girl in a Yukata that supposedly exemplifies the appeal. However neither Joshima or tetsu seem to know it. tetsu doesn't actually answer the question, nor do the other hosts press him to do so. In fact the discussion goes straight into summer festivals, which is where yukatas are worn, and the activities typically found there.

Mariko leaves at the end of the segment, having pimped her photobook over the airwaves.

- CM -

New Corner! Yui's quiz time!

Yui asks each of the other hosts a quiz question, in turn. She challenges Joshima first.

Yui : When will the Beijing Olympics start?
Joshima : August.
Yui : With the date, please.
Joshima : August... er... 11th?
Yui : WRONG!

tetsu : Can I answer now? I know this one.

There is a little deliberation, but Yui lets him see if he knows.

tetsu : August 8th.
Yui : Correct! Way to go tetsu-san~

The next question is directed at Hitomi.
Yui : What is the current Prime Minister's full name?
Hitomi : Fukuda... that's not good enough is it?
Yui : You need the full name.
Hitomi : ....

She guesses something completely off.
tetsu : It's Fukuda Yasuo.
Yui : Correct! Wow, impressive, tetsu-san!

Next, Haruka (called by her last name, which she does not like).
Yui : What does the C in AC stand for?
Haruka : Controller?
Yui : No! Please, think a little bit!
Joshima : I know this! All men know this one! It's Compressor!
Yui : ... No! Wrong!
tetsu : It's Conditioner.
Yui : CORRECT!!

The next one is for a (misnamed) Haruna. It's actually easy, and since its not even funny and she got it right, I won't bother writing it out.

The final question is for tetsu!
Yui : What is the capital of Tochigi prefecture?
tetsu : Didn't we do this on the quiz the other week? Er let me see. Suddenly I can't remember... Er... Ehh.. Utsunomiya.
Yui : that's RIGHT!!

So tetsu got every question he was asked entirely correct. Way to go banana. Yui tells the others to study and do like tetsu next week.
The listeners were asked to send in potential questions by email, but as Yui put it "Please make it something these guys have a chance of knowing."

- CM - DRINK IT DOWN

The ending~ They joke about tetsu being fascinated by the photobook from earlier. The other girls are not impressed with Yui for the quiz segment. Joshima reminds them all to study for next week, though others complain that tetsu got an easy question he is still upheld as the model they should try to imitate.

The deep wisdom of fruits has impressed us all.

Gocha Maze! 7/7

2008-07-07T16:22:39Z

Yay~ It's Tanabata today! But you can barely tell on this show...
More importantly, it is GOCHA DAY 8D

As mentioned it is Tanabata. Hitomi thought they would write wishes on the show, since that's what one does for Tanabata, but they don't.

Joshima tells them about how he wore his Hitomi-made t-shirt to Aoyama to show it off for a friend of his. He says it really ought to be a dark colour because... he spilled wine on it. Hitomi tells him that yeah, the shirt is pretty much doomed since that stain will never come out. Oh well, not her problem!
They ask around if anyone else has worn their shirt, and when tetsu's turn comes he says :

tetsu : Eh? Oh I haven't been wearing clothes, so I didn't wear it anywhere.
Haruna : Yeah right, you just don't like the colour.
tetsu : Yeah so I didn't wear it 8D;; I mean, I just don't want to get mine dirty.

The talk loops around to making fun of Haruna and her embarrassing picture from long ago. She threatens to dig up some old pictures of Joshima to embarrass him in turn, but he is confident that no such pictures exist. She thinks they must and so she'll go through old magazines to prove it. The challenge is thrown down!
(No one bothered to ask tetsu about his embarrassing old pictures. Probably no need to relive the trauma.)

School bells ring, and it is time for this week's Japanese test~ Ooh scary~
tetsu : Eeehhh.

They have until the end of this song/CM break to finish. Go!

- DRINK IT DOWN + CM -

Time's up! They have to hand in their tests now.
The girls complain that it was hard but tetsu just sorta mumbles something like "ehhmmfm."
then he speaks up, in a strange accent : "I can't speak Japanese~ 8D"
In his normal voice he adds : "All I could think about was cake."

Hitomi is loudly complaining that she surely failed, but all tetsu can do is laugh. Joshima says they'll average the score with the results from last week.

Fan letter 1 - From a fan who would like them to do karaoke again, and is curious what songs the newer girls would pick.

Joshima : Oh yeah, that was fun, when we had karaoke in here. But it was more fun when we went out drinking after.
tetsu : Eh? We did?
Hitomi : Yes, we did.
tetsu : OH YEAH That place with darts right? Mmm that was great 8DD

Haruka ends up singing a Dreams Come True song, but not as actual karaoke. She had no accompaniment.

Fan letter 2 - about bathing suits, directed at the girls. Nothing interesting is said by any fruit.

Suddenly there is a VERY SPESHAL MESSAGE from a certain unit that we all know about - VAMPS!
(they are NOT in the studio though, HYDE and K.A.Z. just made a special recording for Gocha.)

HYDE (with occasional "sou desu ne" punctuation by K.A.Z.) : Hello Joshima-san, Hitomi-san, (etc), and especially tetchan <3 Are you having fun in your studio? Lucky you, it's Tanabata and you get to mess around on the radio instead of working with L'Arc~. So as you might know. We just released a single last week called LOVE ADDICT. It is very violent, so please listen to it all summer as loud as you possibly can!

They also mentionned the Osaka tour dates, HYDE concluded with "Gambarre, tetchan~"

- LOVE ADDICT (shortenned version) + CM -

It's time to announce the test results! Oh noes! It was mentioned at this point that Joshima had taken the test too, so there are six scores to announce.
Yui thinks she probably did quite well. Hitomi is still sure she failed, and tetsu is just going "Ehhh nooo."

The test contained a section each on : Proverbs, Kanji reading, Keigo (that is, polite forms of speech), and Composition where they had to make a paragraph with certain pre-selected words.

1st place! - 83% - Yui! Yay for her she did the best after all. tetsu grumbles in the background.
2nd place - 68% - Haruka! (yet more grumbles from tetsu)
3rd place - 67% - Haruna! The two of them rejoice at being not that bad after all.

Before announcing the bottom marks, Joshima goes over some of the mistakes they all made. In particular, one of the kanji readings was "Dolphin", a revelation that made tetsu go "OH!"

4th place - 66% - Joshima!

tetsu : The next scores are going to be atrocious.
Hitomi : You sure you did THAT bad?
tetsu : Yes. I suck at Japanese.
Hitomi : Can you even read kanji?
tetsu : Today I didn't.

5th place - 46% - Hitomi! She's really happy as it's a MASSIVE improvement over her geography result last week.
6th place - 37% - is of course tetsu, the not-genki banana. He just goes "I told you so" when he score is announced.

Given the averaging with last week, Yui ends up in first place overall with Hitomi dead last.
Hitomi : Well obviously. I knew that.

- CM + TOKIO song -

In the end bit, Yui corrects some of the errors that everyone else made on the test.

The end,
Happy Tanabata.

Gocha Maze! 6/30

2008-06-30T16:23:05Z

Already it's the last episode for June! Time flies.

So 2008 is half-over already. Ehhh~ Says the banana.
Haruka and Haruna talk about how the last five years since their pro debut have just flown by. Thinking that it's maybe just being in their 20s that goes fast (they are 28 if I heard right), they ask the guys if it's the same for your 30s.
Joshima : Hmm.
tetsu : Ehhh. 30s go by fast too.
Joshima : Yeah, before you know it you're pushing 40.

Hitomi makes an off-hand comment about how you still have physical energy at 30...
then tetsu speaks up saying that something is different about Hitomi today.

They end up talking about haircuts, and Haruna mentions a salon on Omote-sando that she goes to.
tetsu : EH! You don't need to go to such an expensive area. It's not as good as it seems.
Haruna : But that salon also does all sorts of famous girls~

Then the talk shifts to emails. Apparently Haruka doesn't use emoticons at all! She writes emails like a 50 year old man.
Joshima : Yeah, like me.

But of course we are reminded that tetsu doesn't write emails at all...
Hitomi : Unless you are me. I get mail from him.
tetsu : Oh yeah, I write to you.
Joshima : But I've known you the longest out of the people here...

tetsu ponders that...
tetsu : It must be cause mail didn't really exist when we met. Yeah, that's right, it didn't!
Joshima: But weren't you the first person I knew to get a mobile that could to mail?

This was many years ago, and it cost hundreds of thousands of yen. As much as a mac does now..
Yui : As much as McDonalds?
Joshima : No, a Mac. Computer.
Yui : Oh.

Suddenly a bell rings. It is TEST TIME! Joshima administers a Japanese Geography Common Sense Test. They have the length of the CM and song to write it~

- CM -

Ehh~ Even tetsu is complaining that the test was too hard. Time's up now though so they have to give it in. The girls complain far more than he does, though. Joshima laughs and says it's been 20 years since he had to take any tests. Test talk leads to some job interview discussions... apparently Hitomi was scouted so she didn't have a traditional sort of interview.

Fan letter time!

Letter 1 - A somewhat strange question, but, when bathing, do they wash their hair or body first? This fan washes their body.

All the hosts reply hair first, except for one of the girls (either Haruna or Haruka) who puts in her shampoo and leaves it in while she washed the rest, then rinses everything off at the same time. The other of the pair likes to brush her teeth at the same time...
tetsu : Hey I know people who do that, but still!
Letter 2 - This fan went to the live recording of a comedy show (called Waratte ii tomo) and was surprised by how small the stage and studio actually are.

This leads to a round of complaining about small studios of all varieties. Joshima especially complains about recording studios...
tetsu : Is yours so small? Really... ehh....

tetsu then tells them about live houses that L'Arc used to go to in the early (but not indie, so 1994 ish) days.
tetsu : It was the size of an onion field. Like the stage was that size, and the crowd looked like onions. The backstage area was maybe the size of this studio.

Joshima and tetsu both complain about dressing rooms/ready rooms that are so small they can barely sit down. tetsu has a story about dressing rooms the size of a broom closet.

tetsu : I was thinking "hey isn't this a closet?" but the staff were like "No it's your dressing room". That happened so many times.
Joshima: And sometimes it even smells like cleaning products...
tetsu: Yeah! it must have really been a broom closet!

Of course, their stories of misery are from well over 10 years ago now. Things are quite different today, we're assured.

- CM -

A school bell rings again. It's time to announce their results! Oh noes!

Even tetsu thinks this test was too hard to count as a "common sense test" as Joshima called it. The girls are cringing. Hitomi is sure she failed.

The top scorer, achieving 95%, is......
tetsu : YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!! 8DDDDDD

No one is really surprised here, but tetsu is really sounding happy. He still says he wanted a perfect score though.

He seriously pwned everyone else, it's almost embarrassing...
the next highest score is Yui's, at 57%. Somehow she's -happy- with that grade.

Then Haruna got 55%, and Haruka got 50%.

There is a little pause to laugh at some mistakes they made. Apparently Yui miswrote a LOT of prefecture names, with kanji mistakes like putting the wrong "Na" in "Nagoya" (She wrote the Na that goes in Nara instead), and so on.

Finally, the Last Place score, which is of course Hitomi's, is revealed.... 16%!
Dreadful! But she is happy that she managed to get at least those few points.

- CM - DRINK IT DOWN -

The end of June already~
Joshima scared them all by saying next week there will be another test! Of Japanese! Better study~
tetsu : EHHHH.

Hitomi is made to drink something disgusting as punishment for failing so hardcore.

That's all for this week. Ehh...

Gocha Maze! 6/23

2008-06-23T16:48:19Z

Everyone's in today!

Joshima asks them all about work; it seems that one of the other TOKIO members (Yamauchi if I heard right, but it's not like I know who is in that group...) has been busy with recording a part for an anime movie, so they talk about voice acting. Some of the girls have experience with it. Talking about how hard it is, Haruna says something like ..."You need to walk the path of the gei."

All : .... gay?
Haruna : Gei. As in ARTS.
Joshima : Ohh of course~ Path of the gay.
Haruna : That is NOT why I don't have a boyfriend.

Back to the topic. Hitomi tells them about her experience dubbing movies, and then they get around to asking tetsu...

Joshima : How about you, tetsu? Have you ever tried it?
tetsu : ... have I tried gay? Eh?
Joshima : No, have you tried -voice acting-
tetsu : Eh 8D?

The closest to the topic tetsu can get is talk about recording, and the party after the recording is complete. Apparently voice actors have them too so it's all good.
They talk more about actual acting, and one of the girls (I think it was Yui) mentions the difficulty of doing emotional lines when you're in a booth alone. Plus, it feels silly to make panting noises..

As she demonstrates the "pant pant" tetsu pipes up :
tetsu : Ehh? What kind of scene is that? :3
Yui : Running away.
tetsu : Oh.
Joshima : What did you think it was?
tetsu : Eh~ I dunno.

- CM -

Fan Letter 1 - This fan just took a trip to Tokyo and went up Tokyo Tower for the very first time. Have the hosts ever been?

Well of course they have. They talk about the glass floor, which as Hitomi points out is only a little 30cm x 30 cm tile, and about how you can't go to the very top of it.

They ask tetsu if, during his many overseas visits, he has climbed the tallest tower in the world, but alas he has not! The tallest tower he's climbed is in Shanghai.

The talk goes to a new tower that is supposed to be built in Tokyo by 2011, called the skytree. Our resident Ditz got mighty confused at this point, thinking that they were remaking Tokyo Tower or something, so they all had to explain it to her...

Joshima confesses that he never went to Tokyo Tower unless he was showing someone around, like his parents. Same for Tsutenkaku (a landmark here in Osaka), he has only been there twice.

Fan letter 2 - Do you know where Awaji Island is?

The girls have absolutely no idea. tetsu is amazed that they don't know, since it is in Kansai after all and they are here. He and Joshima both know it, so tetsu says it must be because they received the same education. There was more emphasis on national geography back when they were in school.

The boys explain the location of the island to the girls (It's in the inland sea, between Kansai and Shikoku) and they are amazed that they didnt know. Hitomi had assumed an island would be small and hidden. Joshima reminds them that Awaji is famous for onions and they suddenly realize what he is talking about.

Joshima and tetsu quiz the girls on their knowledge of the prefectures, and all the girls fail miserably. One of them barely knows where Tokyo is...

- CM - TOKIO

Instead of Haruka's room, we have TEST TIME!
Joshima gave all the others a fill-in-the-blanks map of Kyushu where they just need to label the prefectures.

The only one to get all the answers right is... tet-chan!
t:"Yes! 8D!"
Hitomi actually did the worst, including such nonsense answers as "Hakata" (its a city, not a prefecture), "Nagano" (a city waaaaaay up north) and "Wakayama" (in Kansai as you should all know!). Her excuse for the last one is that she was thinking of ramen.

- CM -

The actual Haruka's room section is with Yui as a guest, so I didn't listen much. At all.

- CM - DRINK IT DOWN

Ending~
There will be another test next week, so they better study!

Selling

2008-06-22T09:46:48Z

I'm still selling these L'Arc~en~Ciel related items:
- HEART
- Link
- TETSU69: wonderful world/TIGHTROPE
- tetsu: Can't stop believing
- ASIALIVE photobook (rare!)

I really need money right now, so please help me get rid of these. x__x

Check it out yo!

x-posted to some places, sorry :X

Gocha Maze! 6/16

2008-06-16T16:27:14Z

Today's Gocha was an ordinaryly silly cute episode full of fruit.

Today on Gocha, there is something different : An extra plate of snacks on the table! OMG! But, it has Haruna's name on it! Oh noes!

tetsu : Ehh... hmmm...mm... OH we're on the air!

Yes indeed they are. They describe Haruna's snacks (some kind of crackers with a chocolate layer on top), and tetsu says that it is safe to share, especially with Hitomi because she's so thin, chocolate is safe.

Hitomi then remarks something about her clothes, and takes off a layer.. to reveal that she has brought in shirts for ALL of them! 8o

tetsu squees like a kid at xmas.
"Ehhh!! Wow a shirt! Yay! This is nice! Ehhh!!!"

Hitomi made the shirts herself and gave one to each of the other members.
tetsu : "OH! Can mine be L-size? Please tell me it's L-size."
Haruka: "there's no size, its handmade..."
tetsu : "But I wanna be L-size."

Then tetsu gets Hitomi to sign his shirt, which gets many laughs. He is very happy.

tetsu : I know! I'll wear it to a live! Like come out for an encore with it 8D
Haruka : that's a bad idea, all your fans will be upset cause they can't dress the same as you.

- CM - Anna Tsuchiya - Crazy World

Joshima has changed into his Hitomi-shirt during the break, much to the delight of everyone else. tetsu insists that he will wear it to a live just so he can be all "I have one of these too 8DD"
So the Harisenbon pair say they'll wear theirs in public just to see what the media will say about them dressing the same as a member of L'Arc.

Joshima : This is going to start a new trend.

They say something about taking a picture, so hopefully we'll be able to see the shirt on the Gocha BBS or something.

Fan letter 1 - Congratulations to L'Arc for finishing the tour (tetsu says thanks) from a fan who was at the Osaka lives and was wondering if, when tetsu said his banana-quote in all the different languages, people from those countries would have actually understood him?

tetsu : Eh... I guess not, probably not.

The others ask about this whole banana thing, and Yui speaks up to say that she was at the lives too and saw for herself.

tetsu : Eehh!.... you saw my banana?
Yui : Yes, and I saw the peeled one...
Joshima : How big is it??
Yui : About this big.
Joshima : 20 cm? That's quite big... (to tetsu) Yeah riiiight.
tetsu : Hey don't discuss my banana that way.
others : .....
tetsu : Eeeh.. which banana are we talking about, here?

The discussion turns to the aerodynamics of throwing bananas, and how they can go quite far the same way a similarly shaped stick (I guess she meant a boomerang?) can fly.

Fan letter 2 opens with "I WANT TO EAT TETSU'S BANANA" but the actual content is something completely unrelated.

Fan letter 3 is from someone wondering whether it is a good or bad thing to say she walks "Showa-style" (Showa being the previous Japanese imperial year, ending in 1989). They conclude that it's probably bad if the fan is a teen, and then go on to talk about some typically Showa things that certain celebs do, and how the way people do the Peace sign has changed over the years.

- CM - DRINK IT DOWN (full version)

Haruna's corner - guest is Hitomi

They discuss what girls are checking when they look in the mirror (ie: mostly hair), and whether guys do the same thing (Hitomi says : Probably.)

Then, since Haruna has said that she isn't really interested in food, she is asked what the tastiest thing she ate recently was. The answer : Instant Ramen.
Hitomi : Are you serious?
Haruna : Yes. I like salt...

- CM - TOKIO song

Ending bit has them discussing what goods Hitomi should make next.

Hitomi : I'll make a t-shirt. And it will be... black.
others : Black is good.
tetsu :Aw, why not cream?
Hitomi : I'll make a limited-edition cream one just for you. With a serial number and everything.
tetsu : K.
Joshima :.. Black would be great.

She also talks about possibly selling them for cheap, but tetsu says expensive is better.

The end, until next week!

Gocha Maze! MUKIMPO DAY

2008-06-09T17:45:35Z

It is 6/9 and it is therefore MUKIMPO DAY and it is also Monday which means we get to celebrate it with an ep of Gocha! 8D

First of all let me explain that the show was pre-empted by hysus knows what, so it started at ~1:20 am instead of midnight. I had almost given up -_-
ANYWAY when it does start, tetsu is indeed there so my lost hours of sleep are not for nothing.

At first we have the Harisenbon pair being laughed at because one of them had her mouth full when they did the intro. They go from snack foods to food in general to meat vs. fish. The only interesting remark here was Hitomi's, in which she said that she prefers meat when she is hung over.

They talk about the sort of meals they get while working...

Someone : I bet tetsu-san gets to eat great stuff at work.
tetsu : Oh no actually we just get served bento most of the time. (Note: bento = Japanese lunch box)
Joshima : Even when you're on tour?
tetsu : Oh well when there's a live we get catering, yeah.

He goes on to describe the food of the just-concluded tour. In Hong Kong, the food was delicious. Their hotel catered a buffet and they got to eat lots of stuff that tetsu really enjoyed, especially meat dishes. He said there was nothing served that he didn't like. On the other hand, in France, there was hardly anything served that he did like. The food was too buttery and the service was slow, which ruined his mood. (Nani : Yep, that's Paris for you)

The others were a bit shocked by this since French food has such a good reputation around the world.

As for the others, Hitomi often receives food cooked by her staff members, though she often feels sorry for them because the budget can be low so the staff only get to eat leftovers. Joshima then relates a story of his early Drama-acting days, when he had to buy his own meals, and nearly starved except that a nice co-worker bought him lunch.

Changing the subject entirely - Joshima brought in a golden ball. (Lameness alert : Gold = Kin, Ball = Tama, but Kintama = testicles...) There is a lot of goofy laughter and it is revealed he actually brought it for a cup-and-ball game (wiki kendama). One of the harisenbon girls is quite good at this game so she demonstrates some tricks for them, evidently forgetting that this is a RADIO show. tetsu tells her to dance while doing her tricks, but obviously I can't tell you if she did or not.

- CM -

There is another ad for the MBS Miss Personality contest, recruiting women between 15 and 24. After that ad...

Joshima : So tetsu-san, what age works for you?
tetsu : Eh... age doesn't mean anything.
*pause*
tetsu : Oh but 19 is good, right Haruka?
Haruka : WILL YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE ABOUT THAT PICTURE?!

And they resume teasing her about her horrible 19-years-old picture that was mocked last show.

Fan letter corner then comes...

The first one is from a person who is very particular about toilet paper. Hitomi goes on a toilet paper rant since she is apparently some sort of expert. Even when travelling abroad she knows exactly how to change the roll, and she can tell how efficient a place (like a hotel or restaurant) is at changing the toilet paper. She even gives some tips... fascinating... really... *cough*

The second letter is from a fan of Yui's who made up a sample script between her and a fan. They preform it with Yui playing herself and the 5 others all reading the fan's lines together. Bla bla bla...

Much more interestingly and appropriately, this leads to talking about things that they do for their fans. Specifically, what tetsu does for them 8D

tetsu : I take off my pants on stage.
Hitomi : No, you don't.
tetsu : I don't? Sorry, my mistake.

Seriously now...
Everyone knows about the BANANAS, of course, so one of the girls has the brilliance to ask how this banana thing got started in the first place. tetsu then tells us the story of Mukimpo's birth! 8o

It all started because L'Arc's staff leave them snacks backstage, which includes fruit, and so once upon a tour tetsu was about to run out for the encore when he thought it might be fun to grab something, and there just happened to be a banana around. So he took it and hid it down his pants. Then he came on stage and yelled the iconic phrase : "DO YOU WANT TO EAT MY BANANA?"
And of course, the fans said YES!
So he slowly took the banana out of his pants and threw it into the crowd. It is now a tradition.

Joshima : Wow, that beats picks. And hats. And water bottles.
tetsu : Yeah. You know I even did it in 5 different languages, for this tour.
Girl : really? How do you say it in French?
tetsu : I forget. Something like BANANU. (Nani : WTF he said on stage the day before this was recorded... moron XD)

- CM - TOKIO

Haruka's special room~ This week's guest is tetsu~

She sounds a little nervous to be doing a corner alone with him, but it goes fine. He makes lame pun:
tetsu : Haruka as in Haruka Kanata right?
Haruka : No, Haruka as in me. ...
tetsu : Oh I see. 8D

They read a fans postcard which has a question about "What would you do if you weren't a comedian?" to which Haruka repliles that she doesn't know, but back when she finished university, she applied to become a public servant but failed the exam. Then :

Haruka : How about you tetsu-san? What would you do if you hadn't become a musician?
tetsu : Ehhh I don't know. Probably run a shop, like selling accessories or clothes. Or maybe a cafe.
Haruka : A fancy place?
tetsu : Ehh i guess so.

Then Haruka tells a long story about a part-time job she did for the waterworks bureau going around to all sorts of places. The only thing I really heard was tetsu's deep soft voice going "Oooh I see. Yes. Yes. Yes. Go on. Ohh really? Ehh."

...8D

At the end of the segment tetsu asks for parting words.
Haruka : (in a stilted voice) tet-chan, please come play again.

- CM - DRINK IT DOWN (short version)

end segment has nothing interesting, just announcements about stuff and people who don't have bananas in their pants and therefore do not get translated.

tetsu stuffs

2008-06-08T10:40:57Z

So, being as bored as I am today, I raided my hard drive and uploaded every single tetsu song I have onto RapidShare so that I could update my tetsu fan page. And then I came here...
o.O
I know everyone's probably already got at least 99% of these, but I've uploaded the full P'unk discography cause, well, tetsu kinda happens to sing all those songs too.
Go figure.
SO~~
Enjoy!!!!

(Follow the Banana Brick Road)

Update No.3 [first here]

2008-06-05T16:35:32Z

Hello, first time posting in this community. I'm posting up lots of my older works, and I have lots of Laruku/tetsu releated icons. =)
[*note: all tetsu icons are under L'Arc~en~Ciel*]

Icons
Chae Yeon [03]
FT ISLAND [02]
Jang Geun Suk [03]
L'Arc~en~Ciel [20]
Nami Tamaki [07]
Super Junior [03]

Signatures
DBSK [1]
Super Junior [1]

Preview:

( cut here )

Banana is back in town

2008-06-02T16:21:54Z

It's been a long time, but tetsu is back in Japan and BACK ON GOCHA! WOOT!

So this is probably related to how the 3rd Tokyo live is on Tuesday instead of tonight, ne...
By the way I've been awake since 5 am and this show ends at 1 am. Your narrator is just a tiny bit loopy. Forgive incoherence please :3

Yay kya tetsu's back, so it's the first ep with the full cast in a couple months. In case anyone forgot, there are currently 4 girls and 2 guys - Hitomi, the Harisembon duo of Haruka and Haruna, Ichikawa Yui, Joshima, and THE GREAT BANANA.

The other 5 fill in tetsu on the highlights of what they did while he was touring, and they also express dismay that he didn't come back with souvenirs for them.

- What, didn't you BUY anything in France?
t - of course I did! I bought myself some underwear, cause I kinda lost the ones I packed.

The highlights of the last months seem to come down to an impersonation contest and underwear comparing. Hitomi had judged the other girl's undies to make sure they didn't cheat when describing them. ... ok I missed an interesting episode there. o.o

In the impersonations contest, which they gleefully recreate, a winner was imitating Joshima via the line "I am a potato". No, I don't have a clue what's going on... tetsu laughed a lot so yay 8D

The only contact tetsu had with the other Gocha-hosts was emailing Hitomi. Once. She forwarded the message to Joshima. Wow tetsu, you are certainly the master of global communications...

Also in the other-host's news is that one of the girls (Haruna I THINK) got a BF.

tetsu : Oh yeah I totally heard about that. It was big news in France. In fact the reason I came today is so I could meet him and check him out.
Haruna : Ah er... ...really?
tetsu : Yeah... well ok No, not really. Still I wanna inspect him.
Haruna : Well I'm sorry I'm dating him without your approval...
tetsu : *laughs* Nah don't worry... um, it IS a guy you're dating right?
Haruna : Oh, uh, yes, it's a guy.
tetsu : OK just checking.

- CM -

There is an ad for a radio "miss personality" contest open to women between 16 and 24. YOU could be on Gocha Maze!... OR not.

Fan letter 1 - about snacking, and this person has the habit of eating an entire package of something even when she opened it with the intention of only having one bite. The most interesting tip was to snack on rice, like onigiri and stuff, because it's healthier than sugar and it fills you up so you stop snacking.

The conversation ends up degenerating into proper snack manners while recording this show. They can't really go "excuse me pass the chips" on air, so they have to reach for stuff themselves, and evidently the etiquette here is somewhat unclear. tetsu mostly just went "yeah yeah!" and laughed.

Letter 2 is about people who use "doesu" instead of "desu". It immediately makes them laugh because Haruna has the tendency to do this. Therefore, they make fun of her!
Evidently Hitomi got her hands on a picture of Haruna's Adult's Day ceremony (go wiki it) and it is rather embarrassing for the poor girl 8D The picture is shown to tetsu, and he goes "Eeeeeeh! Were you really 20?!" because apparently she looks not her age at all.
tetsu asked why she allowed that embarrassing picture out in the first place - the reply is that she was bringing it to a get-together with old friends, for some reminiscing.
They also briefly touch on renting kimono - the one she wore is her mother's since rentals can cost 100 000 yen and up. (tetsu - quietly : Oh that's all?)

They eventually get back to the topic - apparently the reason "doesu" is funny is that since it's a rare way of speaking, it almost always sounds like she's trying to imitate someone else when she slips into it.

- CM - DRINK IT DOWN

Haruka's corner - one one one with guest : Joshima!

They chat a little and read a fan letter, this one is about impulse buys at the cash register of convenience stores. Then they do another one that is about her name, Haruna, and how it is more popular lately. In the closing of her corner, she goes "I AM A POTATO TOO!".
- CM -

The ending~

Hitomi got the autographs of Haruna and Haruka for a friend of hers who is a fan. tetsu comments on their handwriting and the way they do a certain kanji.
There is also a last word about Haruna's BF- she says she intends to "fish around" some more so it's really not going to be a serious relationship, so don't worry for her.

Useless genki fruitness IS BACK BABEH 8D

Icons

2008-05-25T08:38:53Z

I made some icons of our lovely tetsu :D

teasers

see them all @ my lj
Over here babies!

Mukimpo Goods~

2008-05-24T17:09:28Z

Hi, I'm taking orders for L'Arc~en~Ciel's fanclub, Mukimpo goods here if anyone is interested~ Please note that the deadline for which I can place order for the fanclub goods is by 26th May 2008 though. ><

Also, if anyone else wants anything pertaining to tetsu e.g. past magazines, books that he has released etc. please feel free to drop a comment there as well, and I will try my best to help you search. ^_^

P.S: I apologise if this post is not allowed...I read the rules and all but it didn't say, so please feel free to remove this if it isn't allowed.

minna_genki @ 2008-05-05T23:59:00

2008-05-06T07:00:15Z

I have 2 tetsu69 singles for sale over here
Please have a look!

Suite november for bid

2008-05-02T16:45:27Z

I'm sorry to "advertise", but I have tetsu's Suite November album for bid (along with a Laruku photobook). If you're interested, check it out!

(( Click for more info! ))

minna_genki @ 2008-04-27T14:50:00

2008-04-27T07:15:42Z

Preview:

Click on the banner for more icons. ^_^

No Gocha

2008-04-21T15:02:21Z

Obviously, tetsu is in Shanghai right now, so no Gocha. Hitomi was in though.

No banana, no summary. Don't expect an episode posted until the tour is over.

Stay genki!

Gocha Maze! 4/14

2008-04-14T16:43:06Z

Banana is still there! I was thinking he might have been away for tour rehearsals or something, but nope, he's in town and on the radio. Yay~

Like last week, we have Joshima, tetsu, and the three girls. I think I've about got the hang of telling which girl's voice is which. If not, it should become clear soon so please bear with me and point it out if you can.

Joshima apologizes to Hitomi's fans because Hitomi still isn't around. Absent but not forgotten though!

It is suggested that they should all get to know each other a little better, since last week they were mostly playing games instead of really talking to each other. So they go through some obvious questions.

Birthdays : Haruka's is Feb 23, Haruna's is Jan 1st (She said it's hard to get friends to come party on the day), Yui's is Sept 20th. tetsu, of course, is Oct 3rd, and Joshima's birthday is an unspecified date in November.

Blood types : Haruka - A, Haruna - B, tetsu - bear, Yui - A, Joshima - O.
It occurs to them that tetsu answered nonsense, so they press him for the real answer, which we already know is type A.

Hobbies : Haruka is a fan of manga. She reads a lot of shojo manga, as well as long-running series like One Piece. Haruna also reads manga, but her real hobby is collecting mini-cars. Especially work vehicles. She is aware that this is a very tomboyish thing to be in to; in fact her mother refused to be her these toys when she was a kid, so she buys them for herself now that she's an adult. Her favourite is the vacuum car, which seems to get tetsu's interest. "That's intense," he comments.

As for tetsu's hobby, he claims not to have one. "Eh... nothing. Hmm... Yeah, nope. None."
Joshima : But you do like drinking, right?
tetsu : Oh, yeah, once in a while.
Joshima : Hitomi would be yelling at you if she were here.
According to Joshima, Hitomi often drags tetsu off to go drinking after the show.

Lastly, Joshima also says he hasn't got a hobby. On days off, he goes grocery shopping. He likes wine and food. But wait, isn't that a hobby? According to the girls, it is. So his hobby is food.

The discussion veers in the direction of possibly producing Gocha Maze goods! What would be a good thing to make? Naturally, they ask the expert of unique goods to tell them about some of L'Arc's special items.

t : Well there's L'Arcream... You know. It's cream... but it's shaped like... uhmm.. well it's -cream- you know, and the shape is like...
He must be describing it with his hands because confusion turns into giggles rather rapidly.

t : Yeah but it's cream. And it comes out the tip.
J : The tip.. oh I see. That's great.
a girl : Wait you mean you ACTUALLY SELL THIS?
t : Oh yes.
girl : The fans buy that sort of thing?
t : Yep. They love it.

Joshima also mentions L'Arc bags that he sees people going around with. They look nice and high quality. Very impressive.

Back to possible Gocha goods, the most popular suggestion is a multi-coloured pen, the idea being that each member can pick out a custom colour. tetsu sounds intrigued.

- CM - DRINK IT DOWN

Fanletter time

First question : From someone who has recently observed how whenever an athlete is interviewed at the end of a match, they ALWAYS start out by saying "Sou desu ne" (equivalent to "Well..." or some other filler word).

All the hosts start laughing as they catch themselves saying it. It leads them into talking about speech habits. tetsu hasn't got much to contribute here, even though they asked him. He took too long to think.

Second : From someone who caused herself some social awkwardness by sending an email to the wrong person. She asks if that ever happens to the hosts?

tetsu : Hmm... no, I've never messed up like that.
Joshima : That's because you don't email anyone in the first place.
tetsu : That's true.
Girls : Ehhh?
tetsu : I answer maybe one email in three. Mostly so my friends don't think I'm cutting them off.
Girls : Well that's the natural reaction. It's weird if someone never answers mails!

They discuss mail etiquette for a bit, and then...

Girl : so tetsu-san, what if we don't reply to your emails?
tetsu : ... so what?

tetsu complains that emailing back and forth never ends, so he is right to cut it off. The girls accuse him of being bad at communication, which he does not deny. He hates phones, too, not just email.

Third : About buying things from TV infomercials. Have they ever done it?

Joshima : Yeah, it sure is tempting to buy random things in the middle of the night...

tetsu says he watched a lot of late-night TV, and sometimes he sees people he knows in the infomercials.

Yui somehow ends up saying she is 17, which gets everyone laughing. Quite obviously it's not her real age, but she is in the habit of claiming to be 17 on orders from her management. tetsu goes "Hey we're the same age~" to her fail.

- CM -

Crazy game time!

In this game they need to take turns naming a ward of Tokyo. They have 90 seconds to name all 23. If they don't make it in time, they will SUFFER. No penalty for naming a double, though.

tetsu is guilty of the first double, and of the worst delay, but in the end it is Haruka's turn that goes over the buzzer. THEY SUFFER!

The penalty this time is a stinky Australian item called "vegemite". It really smells like shit, according to them. Doesn't seem to taste as bad as it smells, though, based on the reactions.

- CM - TOKIO

In the last segment, someone comments on how tetsu's clothing is always interesting. One never gets bored looking at him. However, his hair and his outfit do not match, today.

The end~

Gocha Maze! 04/07

2008-04-07T16:54:47Z

Back to the roots with a new cast! Fear not, Banana is still among us!

As promised last week, there are some lineup changes at Gocha Maze! Daisuke and the two ditzes are GONE. Hitomi is not in today, but Joshima assures us that she is simply taking the day off; Hitomi is still a regular cast member. Replacing Daisuke and the Ditzes are three new girls :

Yui, a soft spoken cute seeming girl of as-yet-unidentified job (maybe an actress?), along with two girls who form the comedy duo Harisenbon. These two are unfortunately named very similarly : Haruka and Haruna. One has a very genki voice and the other sounds more normal, but I was not always able to keep track of which is which, so the rest of these notes may be a little bit wrong because of that. Overall the three girls seem pretty cool to me.

Obviously the first thing Joshima does is ask the newbies what they think. Haruka (or possibly Haruna) says that she is very nervous because, well, she's sitting in a little radio studio with THE tetsu of L'Arc~en~Ciel. It's kind of strange for her, she explains, because she remembers being in junior high and seeing her classmates make cover bands of L'Arc. (Since she gave her age as 25, junior high would be 10-12 years ago).

Haruka and Haruna think that cover L'Arc bands are scary. Mainly because of the vocals : It is very hard for junior high boys to sing like hyde and not sound freaky. The key is hard to reach.

Joshima : I agree. It's hard to sing L'Arc in karaoke.
girls : You sing their songs too??
Joshima : Oh yes. And it's hard.
tetsu : Mmhmm. It is.

In order to make things a little bit clearer, Joshima asks the girls to tell their nicknames. Near as I can figure, the genki-voiced one is Haruka, the soft-spoken one is Haruna (aka Mina-chan?) and Yui (Ho-chan, from her last name Horikawa) is the normal-ish one. Next week I'll try and figure out if I'm right.

During the nickname discussion they get sidetracked into making puns about yakiniku. Some names for cuts/styles of meat sound like certain people's nicknames, including tet-chan.

tetsu : I could be karubi.
(tet-chan = cow intestines; karubi = ribs)

The girls end up doing something or other (I spaced out)... eventually Joshima has to wake up tetsu :

Joshima : tetsu-san!
tetsu : EH!
Joshima : You never said what your nickname actually is.
tetsu : Sometimes at work, they call me Go.

And somewhere here there is a break.

-CM- DRINK IT DOWN

During the break, they had a cake. It is commented that Hitomi is really missing out. We hear tetsu make "mmm" and "oh" sounds of tastyness.Apparently Haruna eats very very slowly. It can take her 40 minutes to eat a single pastry. Strange girl.

Fanletter time!

From someone who recently went through job interviews. The strangest question she (?) had to answer was "List three things you are lacking". She asks if the hosts have had to do such weird interview questions, and also what their answers are to this particular one. She also gives examples of answers, like "Sex appeal, friendliness, money,".

First off Joshima explains that he actually has done job interviews before. Right after he finished high school, he applied to a real estate office and made it in, but he quit not much later and moved to Tokyo (presumably to become a Johnnys member). Anyway, he has interview experience.

Back to the actual question, Harun/ka answers : "Outgoingness, coordination, and love." About outgoingness, it seems she is really a stay-at-home type, never even going on trips of her own initiative. In fact the farthest she's been away from home is Okinawa, which isn't even outside Japan.

When it is tetsu's turn to answer, he says : "Ehhh." Joshima then tries to help tetsu think. He summarises some things tetsu has told him before, about how he can go to Harajuku and not find anything he wants to buy. This, understandably, elicits some disbelief from the girls. So tetsu thinks about non-material things he is lacking.

tetsu : Hmmm... Experience? I've never done anything besides music.
Girl : Oh... always focused on just one thing?
tetsu : I never -wanted- to do anything else, but still. I don't know anything but that. So yeah.. training.
Joshima : How about material things? Anything you want! If there is anything.
tetsu : Of COURSE there's stuff I want. I want a BUILDING!
Someone : So buy one.
tetsu : I can't!
Joshima : Hey tetsu-san..
tetsu : Buildings aren't something you can just shop for...
Joshima : tetsu-san! I want a building too.

After a giggle pause, Joshima asks what tetsu has bought recently. The answer is "Hmm... clothes." It seems that tetsu used to go clothes shopping alllll the time but these days he hasn't got the time, nor has he been in the mood for it, so it's gotten rarer for him to go buy clothes.

Harun/ka : I want clothes. That's what I'm lacking. I don't have any clothes.
Joshima : ...but you're wearing clothes right now?
Her : I don't have any clothes I like. I need stuff that suits my style.

They give her fashion recommendations (and by "they" I mean the guys as well as the other girls) until the next CM.

CM - Utada Hikaru

New corner! EVERYBODY PLAYS A GAME !

It's just like the original eps of Gocha! Random games with a penalty attached! They are playing shirtori. Restrictions : The words must be at least 3 kana (small tsu counts), no repeating words, 90-second time limit. If, between the five of them, they can reach 30 words without failing, they pass. If they cannot accomplish this, they will SUFFER an unspecified penalty.

One innocent girl : 90 seconds each? That's so easy!

How little does she know.

They will start with the "letter" TSU!

Yui : Tsu... tsumiki!
tetsu : Ki... .... ... ARGH!! Ki...
Haruna : Hurry!!
tetsu : Ki... ki ki ki... *singing*
Haruka : YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING!!! It's only the second turn!
tetsu : ki~ ki~ ki~... Kiraku! (lighthearted)

Haruna : Kujira! (Whale)
Haruka : Rappa (rapper)
Joshima : Pantsu (underpants)
Yui : Tsurugi (sword)
tetsu : Gi... girutsu (?)
Haruna : Tsuika (add)
Haruka : Kamera (camera)
Joshima : Rajio (radio)
Yui : Okane! (money)
tetsu : Netto (Internet)
Haruna : toufu
Haruka : Fukuro (gloves)
Joshima : Rooba (rover)
Yui : Baketsu (bucket)
tetsu : tsumiki *BZZZ* (for repeating) tsu... tsubura (round)
Haruna : Raibu! (Live/concert)
Haruka : Baketsu (bucket) *BOOOOOOM*

She had repeated a word so they FAIL.

The penalty will seem awfully familiar to anyone who read the summaries from back when this show started. They all have to ~~DRINK IT DOWN~~ drink a very bitter health drink.

The one who fail starts. She complains. Loudly. And suffers. Hilariously. Sounds of kgfhdksghdsghreo!! tastebud agony ensue for several minutes. She then starts talking like her tongue is broken from the gross. The other girls suffer almost as funnily. Lastly, Joshima and tetsu make a very manly "kampai" before drinking their part.

tetsu : *cough*

- CM - TOKIO

In the end segment, the girls are asked how they liked the show. The verdict by Haruka is "It's great, except for having to drink that bitter stuff."

Hitomi should be in next week! But will tetsu, I wonder? He didn't say anything but since the tour is coming up... who knows...