Ahem … what I mean to say is that my new AKB48 Family oshi has had her “Japan Coming of Age Day”. OgiYuka will turn twenty (cough, don’t look at me that way), this year!
Look it up! Japan’s “Coming of Age Day” – Seijin no Hi 成人の日 is the Japanese traditional holiday held in order to congratulate and encourage young adults who have reached, or will reach the “age of majority” between April 2 of last year, and April 1 of this year. Yuka’s 20th birthday will be on February 16.
I am going to try and snag some more AKB Family kimono photos as more are available on the Interwebs. Hopefully, I will be able to post more by next week.
Tell it like it is sweetie …
Starlight: Seijin Shiki 2019.
The moment might be a little tained however. I know that there are some bad rumors around now. What with the assault on Maho Yamaguchi and the NGT management firings. I hope that Yuka-chan, was not involved in any way. Yuka and Maho have had a little tiff. I don’t know what is going on. I hope the truth comes out in the next few days.
Meet my new sweetie! Almost all of my favorite members of AKB48 have graduated. Pretty much the whole team from the “golden era” are long gone. I still like the group, but it is hard for a casual fan to keep up with all the new faces. AKS Management makes it hard to be an overseas fan at all, but that is another story for another day. I have a new favorite now! Her name is Yuka.
Yuka Ogino (Ogina Yuka 荻野由佳 ). She is sometimes called “Ogiyuka” as a fan nickname, or even “Ogi” by those who love her. Yuka-chan is a rising star in the AKB48 Family. She is the favorite of about a million fans, ranking at or near the top of most lists of favorite Idols. Technically, she is in NGT48, but is also an AKB48 family member.
Let me share a few photos from the past couple of years, and tell you a little about her story. It was not always so easy for her. Miss Ogino Yuka had a rocky road as an aspiring Idol. She had auditioned for several Idol groups for years, including AKB, but never passed any of them. After failing two recent AKB48 auditions, she was chosen as a “Baito” or temporary member in 2014, and was eventually drafted for NGT48 in 2015. How did she rank in the Senbatsu election you ask? During the 2016 AKB48 General Election, Ogino ranked 95th . In 2017, she rocketed to 5th! She ranked 4th in 2018!!! Many fans believe that she might be elected to #1 in next year’s election.
I know what you are thinking. She does not have that typical “fashion model” look. She is unique looking – I think that is why she is so popular. The young lady is everything an Idol should be.
(Denny mutters under his breath): Maybe everything a girl should be …
OgiYuka is PURE IDOL MAGIC — and she is riding a rocket right now.
There is a very interesting Music/Story video from NGT48 where Yuka plays a young girl who aspires to be an Idol. It is a nice story video, although the song itself is only about average-to-OK. I mainly like it for the acting. Fortunately, it has ENGLISH SUBTITLES. There is great scene with AKB48 members Yuki Kashiwagi and Rie Kitahara. Yuka meets the two older, experienced idols, who warn the young lady that she would have to give up her youth to become an idol.
Ogiyuka actsSO CUTE in this … Oh … Oh … give me a minute will you … oh … I am so happy for her that she has become so popular. There is another YouTube story video from NGT48, which tells the story of a young Russian woman who aspires to become an idol. I like the song a lot more in this one, but the dialog is in Russian, and there are no English subtitles.
* I was a fan for a while when I noticed that Yuka-chan has a mole. I’m just glad that it is not Russian. Ha. There is a little bit of Slavic-Nippon hugging in the video though.
You know that you are in love with an Idol when you look for her in group performances. A good example is here in The AKB48 single “11gatsu no Anklet” (linked here)which is a Mayu Watanabe centered song, and one of the best recent AKB48 singles. (sighs) I have eyes mainly for Yuka’s dance though. Mayu who?
There she is … Oh … (Denny waves his light-sticks) … my sweetie … my sweetie pie … There she is … Oh … Oh … give me another minute OK?
What will 2019 have in store for the this rising star? I hope AKB/NGT uses her in a variety of singing roles. There are going to be a lot more magazine covers and articles in the next few years. I hope she can handle it. I’m sure she can.
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Readers: Would you like to see more galleries of Yuka-chan in 2019?
Bye for now — wish all the nice people a “Merry Christmas” sweetie!
Starlight: Wait, do the math … will January 14, 2019 be Yuka-chan’s Seijin no Hi ?
Likes: Pop Culture, Humor, Japanese Culture, Iwasa Misaki, Hanako Oku, AKB48 History, Kurosawa films, Kimonos, Anime, Lolita fashion, Buddhist philosophy, and finding the perfect nicknames for my Pokemon.
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Denny Sinnoh 
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