Higashimura Mei (MeiMei) / 1st Generation

Happy birthday, Meimei!

 

A day late but better late than never, happy birthday to the sweetest girl in the world!

 

mei and kahorin in Nara park


if the video does not show watch the video here

 

This girl is magnetic. I've oshihened back to her in just a matter of days. Whatever she does she brings a smile to my face, and no one else in 48G or Sakamichi series has ever done that

 

@SunlitZelkova Deshou?

 

A video has just been released to announce this year's Sasuke line up - Meimei is competing yet again (1:28):


if the video does not show watch the video here

 

Third time, is THE time... Ganbatte pretty cat...!

 

I was looking at a BLT magazine I bought in 2019 in Japan last night. Although I picked up the issue with the wonderful KAWADA-san solo, I missed the issue with Mei, Nibu, Miku, and KAWADA. But there was still a section previewing the next month's issue with them.

A few short comments from Mei were listed. She said "Recently I have been able to go out on my own. Before I had a hard time going out by myself."

My how our cat has grown since then

She also said "People say it is surprising, but I am a very positive person. I don't really have worries. Whatever bad happens, I sleep and forget it."

She said this in the Hinata Self-Documentary too, which came out shortly after this magazine was released. I hope the growth of her abilities as an idol have come with a new tendency to worry. I hope the growth of her abilities as an idol HAVE NOT come with a new tendency to worry.

But from what it seems though she still remains a very... and I say this in a positive way... child-like person. She is smiley and happy all the time, really embodying the image of Hinatazaka more so than anyone else. When sad things do happen she cries as she did in the olden days, but can move on in an instant and not dwell on it.

As an example, when it was revealed Hinata would not take part in Kouhaku this year, everyone else made a solemn blog post remarking how unfortunate it was and promising to do better. I actually got scared the first time I saw one of these posts, because it said "おひさまのみんなさんへ" which is often the title of a blog announcing graduation or hiatus!

But Mei used a sun emoji for the title (keeping with her tradition of using a single emoji for the title) and actually talked about how fun the recent Real Meet & Greet was before mentioning how they couldn't get in. She also kept it short a simple, in line with the style of her blogs which often consist of very simple sentences and subjects.

While this simplicity could be seen as her being frank and direct, or even airheaded, I think it creates an aura of mystery around her. It contrasts heavily with when she first joined. I reread this thread a week ago or so and was surprised to see she stated she wanted to attend college in the beginning. Is Mei the ditz who only auditioned for Hiragana Keyaki because her sister suggested it, or is there more to her?

I find this nature of hers very relatable. I've been delving into the subjects of philosophy and theology deeply over the past six months, but if you ask me what I want to do as a career after university I'd probably give a response similar to Mei when she said "Without thinking about it, I just wanted to be a dentist" about what she would have done if she hadn't become an idol during the self interview. I actually only applied for a university in Hiroshima last month because my dad suggested it. But (I shall say somewhat immodestly) beneath this tekito surface, there is something very thoughtful.

The other members often say Mei is incredibly talkative in private. I wonder what she speaks about. I'd like to think that beneath the facade of the girl who can only speak a few quiet sentences on TV and giggles all the time as she does, there is a very intellectual and insightful mind.

However she is and whatever she does, she is an absolute angel. I don't feel like I need say something like "I wish she never changes", because even though she has grown immensely since I first began oshi-ing her in 2018, she is still as innocent and adorable as the first time I began to take note of her five years ago

Sorry for the wall of text but sometimes I just need to put my emotions towards this girl out there somewhere.

 

Thank you for the wall of text... I'm not exposed to this kind of intricate information about the girls so all this info about my beloved 1st gen oshi is making me love and admire her even more... Although most of it has been dictated to me, secretly like a whisper in my mind, from my intuition and observing her whenever I have the chance to watch her... Yet it's still so fascinating to know...

 

Oh my God! I just realized I wrote “I hope her abilities as an idol come with new worries.”

I meant DO NOT come with, of course.

 

No worries... At least I, read it the way you meant it to be.

 

Sasuke Training


if the video does not show watch the video here

 

Okay, here’s another amazing example of how our cat has grown.

In her blog post about Sarina’s grad concert (https://www.hinatazaka46.com/s/official/diary/detail/53839?ima=0000&cd=member) she says she wants to send off Naccho with a smile.

I still remember reading her blog post when Memi graduated, and how she talked about how the tears couldn’t stop.

I feel like while most idols mainly grow as performers, Mei truly grows as a person right before our eyes

 

She and Den made it to the new area , but both failed
at time of posting, the Kyoto university guy became the first guy to clear this

 

That's too bad.

Here's a video from the Hina YouTube channel of her doing training for the event.


if the video does not show watch the video here

 

When I'm scrolling Twitter, it's mostly just stuff from the official Hinatazaka and Sakurazaka accounts. Something I notice is that Mei doesn't seem to have a lot of solo work. Kumi, Mirei, Kyoko, and others are constantly showing up with a notification about being in a magazine or TV show, but Mei rarely does alone.

I hope she can get more work this year. She worked as a model before entering the group so it is really weird she hasn't been picked up to be a regular with a magazine.

 

Congratulations to Mei on getting into Hinatazaka’s first ever senbatsu! I hope management recognizes what a first class beauty and excellent dancer she is and continues to put her there for a long time.