Being a creature of habit, especially as a newlywed, I tend to leave my BlackBerry on overnight while it charges, albeit with the ringer set to “Phone calls only” in case of any family emergencies. This is especially good, because I have a couple of close friends’ Twitter accounts as well as some music and news sites’ Twitters set to send their tweets to my text message – the better to get any breaking news. Had I failed to turn off my ringer for the evening, my wife probably would have clobbered me for the flurry of SMS messages that came up in the middle of the night, especially from Hello! Online and my blogging/writing BFF Vee.

All of which related to this big announcement from Tsunku that came up while I slept:

Big announcement from the Morning Musume camp:

About the graduation of Eri Kamei, 6th generation member:

Eri Kamei came to me several times regarding her health condition. One time, she said to me : “I would like to find the time to cure the atopic dermatitis that I’m suffering from”.

Since the time she joined the Morning Musume, it looks like she was dealing with symptoms like itching and slight skin color changes. She took medication to calm the symptoms down and she also used make-up to cover it but during live concerts, there is a lot of sweat and many outfits to put on, which made her recovery very difficult.
Some may say it is “just a skin problem” but according to doctors, an external problem like skin problem may move to an internal level. It may as well have an impact on her spirit, her mental level. Also, for her, it is a serious thing so she decided to focus on her recovery instead of letting it continue.

Eri Kamei will graduate from Morning Musume and the Hello! Project on the last day of the Morning Musume?Autumn 2010 concert tour. As for her activities after that, I intend to discuss with her after her full recovery.

About the graduation of Jun Jun and Lin Lin, 8th generation members (foreign students)

In May 2005, both of them joined the Morning Musume as foreign students and today, while being skilled singers and entertainers, they also greatly improved their Japanese proficiency and they are now grown-up women. This is why I took the decision to graduate both of them at the same time as Eri Kamei on the last day of the Morning Musume?Autumn 2010 concert tour.
After graduation, they will enter a period of preparation before focusing on their singing and entertaining career in China.

August 8th 2010
Morning Musume? Producer
Tsunku?

Followed, as always, by statements from the band members themselves:

Eri Kamei: As Tsunku? said, I will graduate on the last day of the Autumn 2010 Tour from the Morning Musume? to focus on my health. It is my decision but let me reassure you, my condition is not that serious. I just wanted to focus on my recovery for a while because lately, I was thinking a lot about how I could become a pretty woman. I took this decision with that in mind.

But I really love to do concerts so today and until the Autumn Tour, I am counting on you to sing, dance and have fun with me.

Thank you for your continued support.

Jun Jun: Since I came to Japan, I did and I learned so many things. Thank you so much.
But what really made me happy was to meet all of you, I am so thankful for this.
With this emotion in my heart, I want to make more and more happy memories with you.

Until my graduation at the end of Morning Musume? Autumn Tour, I intend to sing with all my heart.

Thank you for your support until the very last day. Thank you all.

Lin Lin: Since I first joined the Hello! Project Egg and then the Morning Musume?, I was so happy every single day. Of course, I sometimes missed my home but thanks to everyone around me and all of your support, I now feel that Japan and the Hello! Project is like my home.

During the Autumn Tour, I intend to sing with everything I got so I count on your support and I hope to see you there.

Wo Ai Ni.

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So far, Tsunku’s plans for a new Mini Moni lineup are taking a more interesting shape. This morning, he announced who the leader of the third-gen lineup of the revived band is going to be:

Qian Lin, better known to us all as 8th-gen Morning Musume member LinLin. (If anyone has noticed, I’ve more often than not referred to Lin and her fellow “Panda Musume” Li Chun [JunJun] by their real names here and at Stuck In A Pagoda.) Throwing Lin into the mix is a good choice – she fills both the senior MoMusu member role held in the original lineup by Mari Yaguchi and the “international presence” role held throughout the band’s original existence by Mika Todd. And, by nice coincidence, LinLin also plays guitar – something Mika Todd also knew very well:

In a more personal yet somewhat related note, writing has been rather sporadic for me, period, the last few days (this blog post is the first thing I’ve seriously written since Friday night!), and most of my energy has been directed at completing the novel that the original MiniMoni itself inspired. I intend to make up for that big time this month. Thanks for hanging in there, friends.