Juice=Juice: The 'Tomoko Kanazawa post' #5

 Though there doesn't seem to be many things have a feeling this is going to be a long post, looking at the clock now and hope I can finish before the CD finishes. Playing is what's above, "First Squeeze", which is so far the only album from Juice=Juice. It's a double album with 23 tunes and if I was ever stuck on a desert island with only one J-Pop CD then this is the one I would bring, rarely does a week go by without it being played.
 Haven't done a JJ post for a long time but will have one coming up but for any solo posts will have a song from the group. With C-ute retired Juice=Juice just may take the mantle as my fave J-Pop group. The album has their first nine singles but the video for today isn't one of them. Instead it's a brand new tune for the album and is easily in my top five songs from them, it's really a huge fave in concert and the title is "Ai No Diving", there's many other versions on YT.

 Those are a couple of outtake pics from the "Budokan" drama, think it was the second episode when the gals were forced to do a pair of gravure photo shoots. May have been a mistake posting them as Tomoko has assured me of another night of tossing and turning, she does that to me way too often.
 Had wanted to do a Tomoko post last week but there weren't that many new happenings, you have to remember Juice=Juice isn't nearly as big as Nogi. Actually Nogi has 39(!) more members so it's kind of easy to post something about them daily. Still aren't new many recent happenings for Tomoko but everything for today is new, bet 100% of the pics are and there are a lot of them. Not all are for new happenings but all are new for here.

 Just viewed that above CD for the first time today, the info about it with plenty of screenshots will end the post off. Bet most fans know the Budokan story but if you don't that was the goal of Juice=Juice to finally headline a concert there, there was even a drama of it. They finally succeeded and after 220 concerts they finally performed there last November.
 The group's still popular as they've been booked to headline the famous concert hall again and the concert will be taking place this November 20th. Juice=Juice also released a concert DVD last week so let me work on a post for them as there may have been an event for it, even if there wasn't know there's other news for them.
 Keep forgetting this is a Tomoko post, how can I ever let her slip my mind? Er, I haven't as she keeps pestering me so will be back after a brief intermission....

 (Two hours later) Gulp, pant, pant, out of breath but finally back and just hope that her question was answered satisfactorily....

 Hmmm, it appears so! Caught up with her H!P cards from 2013-14 and was going to start with the ones from 2015 for this post. Will put them on hold as there were many more than usual for July, main reason could have been because Tomoko turned 22 on the second of July.

 Been noticing that all of the JJ members really do a superb job at doing blog entries and could probably have a whole post devoted to them. All these are within the last few weeks except for the first two as I had never seen this duo together before.

 Not many groups put on as enjoyable show as Juice=Juice does, C-ute is the only one who to me has topped them. There's plenty of live videos on YT for all to enjoy plus the one at top is also from a concert. All five members do as superb job at their performances but to me Tomoko stands out, she's also the most interesting talker in the group and seems to do more of it in concert than any other member. Few pics concert pics here from over the years though the first two are from last week. The bottom ones are from an event back in 2015 for their "First Squeeze" album, will try to have more info and pics in the group's next post.

 Thought this post was going to take longer, only up to song five on disc two which is "Erabarshi Watshitachi" which is another new song that's only on the album.
 It's a bit old but finally got the DVD whose cover is near the top, it's from Tomoko's 21st birthday which took place on July 2, 2016. It has the simple title of 'Birthday' and my only problem with it was that it was only 26 minutes long, at least viewing it was the best 26 minutes of my day!!!!
 Can't say it was the greatest of watches but then again it was actually quite fun and enjoyable. Tomoko is one interesting gal and has a way with words, she seems to be able to ad-lib so well which is why she speaks more than most members in concert. If you look at the screenshots looks like not much money was spent on the set as Tomoko was stuck in a kitchen(?).

 First half she talked about various things, none of it was subbed. Things such as going to the beach and what the future of her and the group will be, my Japanese is very slowly getting there. The second half was much more fun as Tomoko tried to do some magic tricks for us, would suggest she keep her day job. She had a coin on top of a glass and tried to put it inside, think it failed but she was so quick with her hands it may have fooled a few viewers.
 Also attempted was putting two pieces of string together, that seemed to be a failure too but if I was a magician she could still be my assistant any day. Have plenty of screenshots from it here but as mentioned it was way too short of a DVD. Don't know if one was made for this birthday, if so it hasn't been released yet.
 Next post may be devoted to another DVD and that's also for her 21st birthday. Tomoko had two events right after July 2nd which took place in a pair of clubs. Have that DVD now which is quite long, haven't viewed it yet but once that happens expect a post for it and I'm really looking forward to watching it. Top pic before the screenshots is the front cover of the DVD, as a bonus following the pics is a short video from her 19th birthday event which took place in 2014.