Akimoto Sayaka (Sayaka) / 2nd Generation

I wouldn't be surprised if the changes in the setlist is Yuko's decision, it seems she has a lot of influence nowadays.
Not very surprised also that they decided to remove "Sougen no kiseki", it's one of those song which is very linked to Sayaka her sotsugyo is too close to abruptly replace her, and it's KFC promotion time anyway.
Her powerfull vocal rendering made the intro really unique. Though Mocchi can do it for sure

 

I got an email back from mailbox1.jp below:

Thank you for your email
Yes you will have own your street address (not PO box number) in Japan, and storage space 1x1x1m. seems that enough space for kind of letter (from membership fan club) T-Shirt etc

Best regards

 

Thank you for the links to the mailing services....
another problem: how could I pay the fee of the fanclub? Is there a easy way for us foreign people or do I really need a credit card (mastercard, visa....)? I don't have one, so I don't know how i could pay.

 

You can get a pre-paid Credit Card (double check if you can use it international I haven't used one for out of country yet but im sure that will work). doesn't look liek they accept paypal which is weird to be honest. Keep in mind some pre-paid cards like gift visa cards can expire at the end of the year (unless visa changed policy on this) .
Search Google : Visa reloadable prepaid or MasterCard reloadable prepaid or AMEX reloadable prepaid

 

Yes , but it will cost a annual fee to have this card ........if i want to join sayakas fc, i really have to pay much money at the end >////< ...i think i can't afford the extra costs of this credit cards....even if they are prepaid cards. I asked my bank, they just said i need to pay 25 euros (about 33 Dollar) per year for a mastercard prepaid ....Q.Q ..
Paypal would be perfect and easy for this, but paypal isn't very popular in japan?

 

hmm if it costs a fee for the prepaid card can u just a credit card that doesn't have annual fee? cause I have credit card with no annual fee. hmmm.

 

American Express prepaid card isn't avaiable for Germany. So I only have Visa and Mastercard for choice and both of them want me to pay a annual fee :/


I hope there will be more options in future on her fanclub.


AND i have to say something.....i really adore the new pictures of her.....the new twitter-picture is sooooo

 

So sweet.
I watched the akbwrapup video of KFC and i saw some Sayaka oshis.
I think some post in the thread (Hana & Buddy Sokarijo).
Sorry if it's not you
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJKhH73xJzk[/yt]

I didn't see yet pics from the Girls awards runaway so i can't wait to see them.

 

Just some quick updates:

Mujack 130830. Continuation of Takamina-Sayaka talk from last week. Just a short segment that starts at 13:35.

[youku]http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNjAzNDU5NTEy.html[/youku]

Nemousu TV Season 13 Ep# 1 "Fumin Taikyuu Race ～2013 Natsu no Jin～ 1"

[youku]http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNjAzNzc5NjQ0.html[/youku]

Kitarie's blog translated by zonham
KK's blog

Tsuyosa to Yowasa no Aidade - English Translation by 48-family.

Between Strength and Weakness


Surely I am strong.

Left alone by the people around me,

though I had many things that hurt me and made me cry.

It can’t be helped if I am sad.

Always standing up and running towards your dream alone.

Your back is beautiful.

Let me say one last thing.

"I wasn’t alone".

Mutually looking out for each other and forging our bonds.

Now I understand.

Why I was here.

Separating from the herd and the time to step towards the future…

has come.

I wonder how many times I held you.

How many times you held me.

More than any words, the tears that fell made it all come true.

Doing what I loved,

I was so grateful for those happy days.

Though there will be days where things don’t go your way.

Tomorrow will surely be a better day.

Let me say one last thing,

"I have no regrets"

Let’s say goodbye with smiles to the destined friends.

I will remember forever the reason we got this far

Was because there was someone there, gritting their teeth as we moved together.

Let me say one last thing,

"I wasn’t alone"

Mutually looking out for each other and forging our bonds with

my friends for the rest of time.

 

Haha awesome cover by Sae!

 

Her gorilla costume performance and her banana giveaways... Does it mean that Sayaka is already comfortable with her gorilla image?

She mentioned in her blog that she was thin-skinned at first but after maturing in AKB, she isn't like that anymore.

 

There are some people who take slurs, especially racial slurs, and turn them around into labels, to show pride in their identity.

 

Compared to when she was younger she looked more Japanese compared to now I can see the filipino side in her now. btw, i think shes gorgeous!

 

I'm not sure about her being comfortable with the gorilla image. I think it's more of just accepting it as a go-to gag for her in AKB. I believe she mentioned this is an interview a couple of years ago.

And yeah, instead of getting sensitive about it and viewing it as an insult, she decided to turn the tables and embrace the gorilla image after awhile. Considering how self-conscious she is, it must have been extremely tough for her.

But yeah, outside of AKB there's really no connection between the two.

In other news, Sayaka tweeted that she's in the Philippines right now with her Mom. Rumor has it that she's in Cebu.

soul.assassin, aren't you from Cebu?

 

[Akimoto Sayaka] I've graduated from AKB48.
Original Entry
2013-08-31 18:34:55

I’ve finished up my graduation performance.






I was happy over these 7½ years.

Thanks to all of the people who supported me, I am now the Akimoto Sayaka I am today.


I am grateful from the bottom of my heart.


To all of the committee members who moved about, the staff, and the members.


Thank you so much for your cooperation.



My Tokyo Dome ceremony and my graduation performance in Akihabara.


For me, both of those places are treasures to me and incomparable.



I was able to do everything that I wanted to do.



I’m glad I joined AKB.
I’m happy I was in Team K.


From now on, I want to take what I’ve learned in AKB and begin taking a new step down a different road.





!sayaka.a!

==

translated by: kanki@stage48/everyday48

 

Oh cool. I'm goin to the philippines next year for my bro's wedding. Gonna stop through Japan as well I might stay a couple of days in Tokyo if I have time as well (and hopefully i can speak Japanese by then haha...still in beginner stage).

Is Sayaka only doing movies or a mix of tv series and movies?

 

Thanks again for the translation Kanki! I hope that's not her last public blog outside of her FC.

@twod: It looks like a mixed bag of movies, stage plays, TV appearances, and modeling gigs. The only confirmed appearances so far are at Girls Award 2013 Autumn/Winter and one more Nemousu TV episode. There's probably more updates available in Sayaka's FC (like her picture with Jollibee ).

Back to the gorilla stuff, here's a great entry by Liz regarding the topic. She summarized and translated the first paragraph of this Oricon Style article:

Even though she gave out bananas to staff and members as mementos at her graduation, when the press brought up the subject, she asked them to stop and said that she wants to erase her gorilla image as best she can.

And my babble about this: Sayaka’s gorilla image in AKB didn’t come out of nowhere, and it didn’t start when she joined. It was revealed on a TV show that as a kid, a boy she thought liked her wrote “Akimoto is seriously a gorilla” on the swings. It became an ongoing joke during her time in AKB, but even as recently as a couple of years ago, she made it obvious that it was still something hurtful for her. (Sayaka v. Tomochin shoujiki shougi, the very last question, from 18:00 on.)

The fact that she was able to make jokes out of saying things like “uho” and doing gorilla impressions doesn’t mean that it was something she liked or was okay with being called, it means that she was strong enough to turn something painful around and laugh about it as best she could, which is extremely admirable. Even though UHHO UHHOHO is gorilla-themed, the lyrics are about taking sad and painful things and blowing them away, which I think Aki-P very purposefully used for a Sayaka-centered song, having the understanding he did about her. It’s not uncommon for mixed race kids like Sayaka to be bullied growing up in Japan for looking and being different, and she was obviously not exempt from this. Sayaka is how she is now because of what she dealt with growing up. She knows exactly what it’s like to be treated poorly because you’re different, which is why she’s so outspoken in her support for folks who are LGBT, disabled, from other countries, or in any other way different. She’s said that she can’t stand prejudice, and can’t understanding hating someone for something they can’t help.

For people who are different, sometimes it’s all you can do to take words used against you and do their best to reclaim them and laugh about them. I’ve long had the feeling that’s how the “gorilla” thing was for Sayaka, and it’s always made me pretty uncomfy to see people calling her that, especially fans of hers;;; I know not everybody might get the whole history of the gorilla thing, so I hope this post helps explain it a little better.

Even if Sayaka’s gorilla jokes and UHO’s and bananas were funny for the time she was in AKB, let’s do what she’s asking and leave them behind as she moves on in her career, yeah? ♡
---------------------------------------------------

So yeah, that about answers the question hehe.

 

@Ender Wiggin: Yea thx for the info. Also, I saw that post about 才加 on some random post when i was lookin for her google+ and realized akb48 deleted. Sayaka should create a new one or a fb page, and it would be cool if she had her on youtube page as well.

Yea I always wondered how that gorilla thing came about, at times I thought, was this like something racist or xenophobia ? At least at her time with AKB she seemed to play it off and went with the flow, or at least I didn't think it was a known problem how she felt about it to the public. If she got teased (bullied even, meaning being called gorilla alot to the point it was hurtful) about it just shows how childish some people can be. learn to grow up!

I dunno if you guys heard of this new indie movie called "HAFU". Its about how half-Japanese people's life growing up in Japan. This movie had a pre-release Yesterday in the Mexican Embassy in Japan. Hiko Saemon (you may know him as well known gaijin blogger in Japan), posted a review of the movie in Japanese. Tomorrow he is to release an English version of it. I want to see this movie it seems interesting, and I would really think Sayaka would be really interested in watching this as well. Below is Hiko's Japanese review of the moive, part of it has the trailer in it as well. Maybe I should tweet this trailer to her .
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mlm4zUEaY1k[/yt]

 

Short update:

If you've seen the picture of Sayaka posing with the Jollibee mascot, this picture might look familiar:

Spoiler

That's NAIA 2. So she flew in on Philippine Airlines and is not in Cebu as initially reported.

And it looks like Sayaka was finally able to satisfy her craving for some Jollibee spaghetti.

 

Where is the photo with her posing w/ jollibee? i havent had jollibee since i was like 10yrs old lol.