Introduction to Morning Musume

Morning Musume (モーニング娘。), or Momusu, is the flagship Hello! Project group formed in 1997, currently running in its 12th year.  The meaning of musume in this context is "girl".  The group does not have a stable lineup of members.  Every year or so, some members leave the group (officially called a graduation) and to compensate new members are also added, typically through auditions.  Each such addition (which usually involves multiple new members) is called a generation.  Currently, Momusu is in it's 8th generation.

None of the original (generation 1) members are still in the group.  The most senior members are from 5th generation.  All in all, 25 girls have been members of Momusu.  The current lineup consists of 9 girls, ranging in age from 22 to 16.  They are:

• 5th gen:
  Takahashi Ai (leader) - quiet, short, oldest
  Niigaki Risa (sub-leader) - always happy, smiling, genki
• 6th gen:
  Kamei Eri - very quiet, extremely funny (or not), joker
  Michishige Sayumi - the pretty one, doll
  Tanaka Reina - kitty, yanki
• 7th gen:
  Kusumi Koharu - genki, borderline insane!, also soloist
• 8th gen:
  Mitsui Aika - youngest, brat, smiling
  Junjun - older panda, bananas!, still learning japanese
  Linlin - younger panda, very funny

Junjun and Linlin are chinese, lovingly called "pandas", and have been added to the 8th generation as "exchange students".

In terms of songs, Momusu is now on its 38th single and 9th album.  Overall, the group has sold over 11 million singles making it the best single selling female group in Japan.  The popularity of the group has decreased over the last few years showing a decrease in sales.  With a changing member lineup and changing times as well, it is difficult to compare the group it is now with what it once was at its peak time.  I will not try to do that in this blog - I will take the group as it is now and comment on it in terms of shorter spans of time.  

Additionally to their released music, Momusu is involved in several concerts a year which are always packed with excited fans.  The japanese idol fandom is a bit different from what we experience in north america.  Hard core fans of female idols (such as the girls in Momusu) are called wota.  Some wotas are very much obsessed with their favourite idols.  Concerts are usually filled with screaming wotas (large majority male).  The group also has a large following outside of japan (as can be seen with this blog :P).  While the international wotas might not be as occupied with the lives of their favourite idols, we definitely are interested in them.

That is it for an introduction to Morning Musume.  I leave you with a recent picture from the newest (38th) single entitled Naichau Kamo:

Top row: Linlin, Eri, Koharu, Risa, Junjun

Bottom row: Aika, Reina, Ai, Sayumi