‘Hachama,’ Morning Musume and AX 2009

Kusumi of Morning Musume, background, exhorts Melon Kinenbi, summer 2007.

The term “Hachama” often greets viewers at the start of each Hello! Project concert DVD. The term is shorthand for “Have a Child’s Mind Again,” and that is precisely the core philosophy of this music company.

No matter what the company might admit on this topic, the research on what makes the Japanese music industry tick – most notably the work by Sharon Kinsella in the mid-1990s, right before the birth of Morning Musume in 1997 – lays the foundation for this remarkable phenomenon known as Japanese idol music.

Indeed, there might be even deeper rationale for such creativity:

http://bloggerparty.com/content/why-japan-step-closer-heaven

Chisato fronts °C-ute and the Eggs, 'Resonant Blue,' Wonderful Hearts, January 2009.

Kinsella and other researchers conclude that growing up is something nobody really wants to do in Japan, and that goes for the U.S. and other countries for that matter. Perpetual youth becomes the goal. It’s all over modern non-traditional Japanese culture – anime, music, everything.

Tsunku♂

In short, adulthood sucks. There is no disagreement here. We all know this, whether we admit it or not. In the U.S., we deal with this with rampant consumerism, which leads to further complications such as obesity and drug abuse. In Japan, there's another way, a better way: Music, performed by charming, exceptional young people with the best support, training and technical infrastructrure in the world.

Staying young for as long as possible, therefore, becomes the only option. That has become a defining goal not only for Japanese fans of anime and J-pop but for people the world over. Adulthood is aligned with dark, sad, ever-encroaching evil. Youth is aligned with bright, happy, ultimate good.

Maasa of Berryz Kobo fronts exhuberant wotas, all 'Hachama,' January 2006.

That is the miracle of Morning Musume. Already the world’s top band, Morning Musume is also … perpetual. Tsunku♂’s unique system of “graduating” older members and taking on new young talent – as he did in Korea just this past week, and as he has done in Taiwan last year with Ice Cream Musume, even from China where his two most recent Morning Musume members, LinLin and JunJun, originated – ensures immortality of the Morning Musume legacy as long as Tsunku♂ or those who follow him wish to pursue this line of performing arts.

It is … eternal.

Winter 2003: Miyabi, center, fronts Hello! Kids, with Momoko, left, and Umeda, far right.

So as Anime Expo 2009 unfolds and Morning Musume makes its mark in America, it’s time to celebrate “Hachama.” It’s time to go back to being a child, at least for the period of July 2-5 at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

To sign up for Anime Expo 2009, go to:

http://anime-expo.org

To download Hello! Project songs, including Morning Musume's, latest, check out:

http://japanfiles.com

This is Rad♂ signing off – for now.