I'm no good with farewells, I much prefer just a 'See you later'...

Even though we both know that we won't see each other once again...

- I Need You/Buono!

Well, as mentioned a month ago, this is it.

Thank you for following along with this blog through its four years, over what my tags tell me totalled over 700 translations, both short and long.

I've learnt a lot over this four years, and not just in terms of Japanese.
Subtitling, image editing, philosophising on the art of translation...
These probably wouldn't have happened without the time I spent filling up this blog.

My target was at least one decently-sized translation a week.
I think I managed to do pretty well on that.
It was a useful constraint that kept me committed and let me continue improving.

There's still some things left hanging, but I suspect that they'd probably keep on hanging even if I had all the time in the world.
I plan to take some time to hopefully recentre myself, and see how things go on from there.
I'll still hopefully be around, here and there.
And maybe someday I'll be back, perhaps in some different form.
I don't intend to give up being an idol wota any time soon. After all, Momo herself has said that she hopes we keep on supporting idol culture.

But when all's said and done, with all the recent changes in H!P, it feels like a whole different ballgame nowadays.

In some ways, it's barely even the same H!P that I remember from a couple of months ago.
Guess it's now my turn to wave off.
After all, to me, it feels like the H!P that I remember has already waved goodbye...

Thank you again for these four years.

Mata aeru yo ne
(We'll meet again, won't we?) 
- Love Together/Berryz Kobo

Four Years of Translating

My fourth cake day as a translator!

So a couple of days after my previous birthday post, ℃-ute announced that they would be breaking up. As sad as the announcement was, I wasn't going to let anything bring me down for my trip to see Buono! at the Holy Land of Rock, the Nippon Budokan.

It was only later on Country Girls' second anniversary that the bomb dropped - Momochi announced her graduation and retirement. 30th June 2017 had been marked as the end of days.

A lot has happened in between - illnesses, sudden graduations, a reshuffle of Country Girls - but honestly, over this past year, Momochi's graduation was and still is the biggest thing to me. Coupled with increasing pressure from my work life, I came to the decision that it was high time for me to close the curtain on this blog.

In the meantime, I made some more excursions to Japan to catch a ℃-ute concert, Buono!'s Yokohama Arena show, and of course, Momochi's graduation concert.

To cap off the year, Pink Cres. dropped by my neck of the woods a couple of weeks ago. Took the opportunity to have a look, and even got a photo with the girls.

🌹🌹🌹

And as I did last year and the years before, here are some translation highlights over the past year. For obvious reasons, expect this to be heavily Momochi-biased, even more than usual lol

Rival - 12 shoujo no 10-nen monogatari -
Momochi no Kimochi
Both these books are pretty important to me, and while I couldn't finish either completely, I'm glad that I got translations of them out there, as niche as they are. While BeriKyuu may have graduated fully from H!P, BeriKyuu's 10th anniversary book was an interesting insight into the relationships between the girls. While the essays from Momochi no Kimochi of course provide an interesting insight into Momochi. XD

Miyamoto Karin loves 80s idol songs and ballads!!
Had to put in quite a bit of research into translating this, but as tough as it was, it was fun. Karin-chan talking about her obsession over 80s idols was a treat, and I'm glad this seems to have piqued people's interest in Karin-chan as well.

Karin-chan: 'I'm an angel, so I've never seen that (toilet paper)!' pic.twitter.com/BxQtH0xySZ

— IceCream & My Jiggly (@IceJiggly) 2017年4月21日

Concerning Ice Cream & My Jiggly

Thank you very much for your support for Ice Cream & My Jiggly and my translations.

I would like to announce that after the 15th of August 2017 - my 4th cake day as a translator - I will no longer be updating this blog.

With the disbandment of ℃-ute and the graduation-cum-retirement of Tsugunaga Momoko, all of the Hello! Project Kids have left Hello! Project. Given the H!P Kids skew of this blog, this means that the majority of translations on this blog pertain to now-graduated members. With that in mind, it feels like high time to close the book on this blog.

Through Special Generation, Berryz were in a way my entry into the world of J-Pop idols. My budding interest in them and their contemporaries ℃-ute led me to start this idol blog, named after a now decade-old V-u-den song and my favourite Pokemon. Looking for avenues to level up my Japanese, I started posting translations roughly four years ago. Translating has since turned into an immensely enjoyable hobby for me. But still, all good things - like the H!P Kids - come to an end.

Leading up to the 15th of August, I plan to clear out my drafts and hopefully tie up some remaining loose ends.

As for the site, after the 15th of August, it will be left as-is. Ice Cream & My Jiggly was the entirety of my late twenties. To shut it down would feel like the disappearance of something that's important to me. It would be sad. To me, it's something that's irreplaceable. So for as long as Blogger continues to keep on providing free hosting, this blog will be up.

Thank you for all your support.

Sincerely
Skoban

Three Years of Translating

Happy cake day to me~!

No translation today, unless something really big pops up.

Anyhow, today marks three years since I first posted a translation.

Despite the loss of standouts such as RihoRiho, Manakan, and Konitan, I'd personally count this year as a better year than last. Note that it's not hard to top a year which saw the hiatus of Berryz, especially when we also saw the revival of legendary unit Buono!

Had my first non-solo wota trip, going to Taiwan for a Tokyo Joshiryu concert with some fellow wota.

Gave this site a bit of a facelift at the end of last month. Also set up a Twitter and Facebook page. Credit for the awesome new header and icon goes to Archejoiyo.

Seriously, this new icon is awesome

As always, I'd like to highlight some of the translations I did over the past year.

 Momochi's Spotlight interview - Biased I may be, but if I had to recommend just one translation done over the past year, it'd be this one. While Momochi-as-teacher has been garnering attention throughout her tenure as Playing Manager, I love how the interview really gets into the nitty-gritty of how she applies what she learnt into educating the other members in her role as PM.

Miyamoto Karin: Tsudzuiteiku STORY - This would be my second must-read recommendation. Karin-chan shares the trials and tribulations she underwent to get to where she is now. While her ascent to Juice=Juice centre may have seemed inevitable in hindsight, it was far from the case back when she was a Kenshuusei, stuck in a rut of failing auditions.

Tanaka Reina: Earnestness - I'm not a big Reina fan, but it was a fun read. From the same magazine as the previous Karin-chan interview, it's Reina being Reina. What else do I have to say?

From (#21) UP-FRONT CHANNEL Recommend:

Momochi wat r u teaching the kids lol pic.twitter.com/qQtzRvDLiG

— Skoban (@realskoban) 2015年9月12日

Two Years of Translating

If you're looking for a translation, there isn't one today. However, in celebration, over the next week, I'll be finishing up the Berryz Kobo Last Maruwakari Special from the Winter 2015 Maruwakari book over the next week. 

And having said that:

Today marks my second birthday as a translator! Time to break out the cake!

I'll be quickly listing some of the events that occurred over the last year, then I'll be looking back over translations I've done. Did something like this last year as well.

A Year of Translating

A year ago, I saw a fan-drawn comic that piqued my interest. Having just gone through the main part of Tae Kim's grammar guide, I thought, 'Hey, I might be able to understand that'. That would end up being my first translation on this blog. I like to think of the day I posted that up as the day I was born as a translator.

With that said, that means I've turned a year old as a translator! Time to break out the cake!

I'd like to give a shout-out to the various people who leave comments, especially messages of thanks. I have to give my apologies for hardly ever responding to those. My general policy when it comes dealing with comments is to respond if there's a need to clarify a translation or if there's an error.
But with messages of thanks, I don't know what to add. To be honest, I get a bit red in the face.

Roughly how flustered I get when I get comments of thanks

As a translator, let me say that your comments of thanks help nourish the soul.

Especially after going through 2ch. That place can get pretty toxic.

If you're doing it, please continue being awesome and keep it up : )

Below the cut, join me for a bit of a trip down memory lane. I'll write about my history as a translator, as well as a list of some translations of mine with some of my thoughts. Warning - the list gets quite long.

Even if it what comes after doesn't sound like your cup of tea and you're stopping here, if you've read this far, thanks a bunch.

- Skoban

Post 250!

Literally, Ice Cream and My Jiggly

Just a quick milestone post. Have also passed the 750 post mark for blog!project, at 797 posts at time of writing.

I'm on a two-week study leave, so if I'm unusually productive in translating, you'll know that I'm procrastinating from my studies.

If you're still reading, thank you for visiting this blog. I hope you got to know your favourite idols a bit deeper :)

Skoban out.

March gets!

• Berryz Kobo Special Best vol 2 + bonus file
• Babymetal's self-titled album... Regular edition since they had run out of the Limited edition by the time I got around to ordering o_O
• TGS - Partition Love

Over an hour's worth of DVD with the Berryz and while it doesn't mention on Partition Love, am looking forward to the short movie...
Looks like my weekend's going to be full up (^^)

Achievement unlocked! 500 posts~

I've hit a personal milestone - 500 posts! Yay!
Not at this blog though - not yet ;)

As you may or may not know, I've been translating H!P member blog posts at blog! project for about half a year.
I just noticed that I've gone past 500 posts - with the 500th post being this Airi one.
Well, here's to more channelling of my inner Tsunku♂ and sounding like a teenage girl. XD

With that, I'll leave you a screenshot of one of my favourite Airi performances.

What I did over my Chinese New Year break

An an an... Tottemo Daisuki

Doraemon

Gets!

Seeing ManoEri on the shelves, her eyes pleading me to take her away...

Yeah, willpower broken. Insta-grab.

And you know how it is, once you make a purchase, you make a ton of purchases XD

So also scored a Kyoko Fukada and a relatively cheap Hashimoto Kanna.

Managed to refrain from Yoshiki Risa's Dream Wedding, which would have increased the cost by 50%...

The spoils:

• UTB Feb 2014 - ManoEri cover
• Kyoko Fukada - Blue Moon
• anan - Hashimoto Kanna on cover, but an idol issue. Cover says 'Secretly researching idol'

Have they stopped making those trading cards for UTB though? What I got was a poster - MM 10ki though, can't complain.

Ichion Nyuukon

Was listening to a translation of Babymetal's interview about their live in Singapore (which I didn't get to go to due to family commitments) when I stumbled upon the picture above.

Now Moa's known to be an Airi fan, so I wonder if it's more than a coincidence that the aspiration she wrote - Ichiion Nyuukon, put your soul into each and every note - happens to be Airi's motto (see question 5).

Post #100!

Noticed that I was at 98 posts, so thought that I might make a commemorative 100 posts post once I finished up my impressions on TGS' Partition Love.
It's kinda turned out into a retrospective of 2013, given the time of the year.
Since it's pretty rambly, I'll cut it here :)

Lovely gets!

• YOU 21
• Morning Musume 15th Anniversary Photobook ZERO
• AKB48 Sousenkyo! Mizugi Surprise Happyou

Just... couldn't... resist... Kikka...

Birthday Gets!

• Acchan
• Yuko no Arienai Nichijou
• Paruru no Komaru

Yeah, a bit late to the party on the first two, but I've been on the lookout for them since I know they're top class. Tbh, Paruru's was partly due to a 30% off discount.