Saito Asuka (Ashurin) / 1st Gen

Is it me or did Asuka start acting more cutesy lately? Lately I’ve noticed she has a cute bounce like during the prank show when she saw the sushi and got excited also when yamashita gave her the picture from the photobook. I really like seeing this side of her.

 

Yes. Yes she's acting more cutesy lately. I think it's because of the responsibility of becoming Nogi's ace that she's decided to cut loose a bit. She still gets to be by herself in behind the scenes, but she's now accepting of being center. I think I've said it before that this side of her is great. So fun when she leans into it.

BTW, how can she be so cute and so hot at the same time? ManaHara putting the neko ears on her during this past Sunday's NogiChu... *chef's kiss*

 

Ashu usually acting cute/spoiled child when she's with her oneesans or the ones she close. But yeah I'm also glad that she's more comfortable now when she's with kouhais
About her partner, I think we will find out soon haha

 

Did you mean this one

 

Anyone knows where can I watch the full episode of this?

if the video does not show watch the video here

 

You can download it here :

https://www.extmatrix.com/files/P7AIXFAB/200103Uwa-46.rar.html

 

where is the onslaught of asuka mag covers? 2019 was a quiet year for her for mags and grav come on mgmt. 2nd photobook 2020!

 

Asuka’s 1/31 blog post, her first post since 4/15 last year.
Asuka is known for writing long titles for her blog posts.

Spoiler: Blog translation

That person who heralded the coming of winter was wrapped in blue. That proud face that tore through even the frigid mass of open air, was always reassuring to somebody. But one time, when that person was raising the temperature around him as he walked, I realized something. That person was walking in time with the sun. This unbelievable story suddenly appeared as mundane, yet somehow the reason I realized it was because my warm milk got stuck from getting burned this morning. Right, right, speaking of unbelievable, there is one thing I must tell everyone. Ah, but right now I’m talking about him, aren’t I. Then, after him

It’s been a while, good evening.

Recently, you know
Somehow or another, every day has been overflowing with sounds.

It’s nice to live a life full of sound, I think.
I feel like I want to take in a~ll the overflowing sounds. Leaving not a single one out.

In the past, I heard somewhere that music and memory are deeply linked.
That that’s the way the brain is structured.

I, regrettably, incessantly forget things, so I forget just about everything. I’m truly a regrettable person.
But I’m always using music and relying on my listening ability to remember.
I also memorize massive amounts of lines based on sound.

Yes, I’m talking about Eizouken.

A few days ago
finally, the movie “Eizouken ni Te wo Dasu na”
wrapped up shooting with no issues.

Thank you very much, thank you very much.

I feel like it was a peculiar experience, playing Miss Asakusa for 3 months.

Even though I’ve become 22, I’ve noticed that my way of living and thinking are really influenced a lot by other people.
I’m a bit pleased with myself because, even though I’m 22, that childlike flexibility just won’t disappear!
Through these 3 months, I proved that even though I’m 22, I can go back to being 5.

Sorry, I might be 21 right now.

I always end up counting 1 higher. I learned it from my mother. My mother has always done it that way.
Everyone in Myanmar does it like that, right? I don’t really know though.

Anyway,
There were lots of lines, lots of terms I didn’t know, and I kept being told during shooting that Asakusa was steadily shrinking from being hunched over…

What is that supposed to mean?
I’d be in trouble if my back was shrinking.

Wait, that’s not what I want to say.
It was far and away, much, much more fun than I imagined…!

Somehow, I had Asakusa's energy on set, and everyone’s way of treating me when I was Asakusa was also different than usual.

Anyway, a set full of good people.

Director Hanabusa-san, Nagano-san, and everyone on the crew,
and also our Nogizaka46 management staff,
were a~ll so incredibly kind.

It troubles me.
When people are kind to me, my own shortcomings stand out, they stand out.

...is what I’ve said, but! It wasn’t like that this time.

I’m not a kid, so it’s no good at all to feel pained when someone’s kind to me.

Miss Asakusa is extremely bad at dealing with people, but she can distinguish virtue from hypocrisy and she’ll definitely never do things like reject them. I will learn from Miss Asakusa’s example.

I was learning things like that during those days.
I will talk a little more about that, somewhere, when it’s released…
I’m too shy to write it out in the blog, so…

Ume-san, Yama-san, “50% Creation 50% Marketing”! *
Let’s try hard again together soon. Thank you!
[*「作って半分、売って半分」"Half is making, half is selling." It’s a quote by some movie producer saying that besides just creating it, half of a successful movie is getting audiences to watch it by considering what people want to see. Ume-san, Yama-san = co-stars Umezawa, Yamashita.]

[image]
My head from back then. ~Asakusa version~
Please verify.

[image]
This is a photo of a cow.
I’m always grateful.

Recently, you know, I was granted trips to many different places for work, so I’ve continuously been playing Pokemon Go.

I was able to appear in their commercial last year, right?
Actually, since then, I’ve continuously been playing it. Steadily.

There are people who like Pokemon even among the hair and makeup artists who are always taking care of me, so if I open Pokemon Go while getting my makeup done, we get excited while talking about Pokemon.

Going to Okinawa was nostalgic!
Even though it was for work, going to Okinawa just to enjoy Pokemon Go is very very wonderful, isn’t it. lol

I want to go again, on a Pokemon Go trip (^^)
[image]
[image]
You know, I want to become someone who can fully show her individuality. I’m thinking that kind of moment might be necessary for me now.
Like Billie Eilish-san.

Jumping on the bandwagon? But, her originality is strong, after all.
Incidentally, I’m really looking forward to her coming to Japan.

I wonder if I should also try living with my individuality on full blast this year.
From the start of 2020 until now, there’ve been many more smiles than I anticipated.
[image]
I especially loathe my face when I smile, but, well, I guess that’s okay!

It's okay enough that I’ve become able to allow it to be published on the blog.
Very, very magnanimously. With an open heart, calmly (^^)

Right, let’s hurry up and go to sleep.

Everyone, please also eat lots, sleep lots, and take care of your body.

It’s a winter with painfully piercing cold, but when you’re surrounded by such a winter, the people within it may take on a more soft and mellow character.

Incidentally, the motif for the title was Konno Yoshio-san. A belated happy birthday.
Konno-san and Sayu’s birthdays make me aware of the coming of winter each year.
And today when I’m writing about that, it’s Chima’s birthday, isn’t it. Congratulations, Chima-sama.

Well then, good night.

 

^ I really really wonder what kind of concept she would go for if she wasn't a Nogi member
(one thing's for sure, it ain't going to be ordinary!)

 

Saturday was a asukas 200th episode of Harry's English class. Congrats, I've been listening since episode 1 and theyve all been great and very entertaining. Here's hoping there's at least 200 more.

 

How's her English now?

 

The radio show has really helped her open up, you can tell she likes working with Harry. My favorite episode last year was probably the one on 11/30 with the “I see”’s and “That’s great”’s, because they’re basically just goofing off the whole show. And then there was that episode where Asuka was learning the difference between “a” and “the,” and she gave the example sentence, “I need the scotch.”

It’s hard to tell sometimes because the show is like 98% Japanese. But I’ve noticed she doesn’t seem to have a good grasp on English basics, i.e. certain basic vocab or stuff like verb conjugation. That means she can’t improve much since she’s not building on a solid foundation. If I had to guess… Eiken level 3? With some random vocab like "scotch" and maybe better listening ability. That's just an estimate based on other members' levels, I'm not familiar with what's on the Eiken test.

 

Can't believe that it has been more than a month since this thread is updated...

 

I've always wondered why the title has "English Class" in it when Harry only teaches her little tidbits during the whole show. Does he perhaps teach her behind the scenes? Well, probably not. I also wonder who's the best at it in the whole group, not counting the members who grew up in the U.S.. I thought Shiraishi would be good at it because IIRC she said she studied it? But after the Hawaii episode with Matsumura, I was wrong (no offense intended). Although she might actually be faking it, which I'm assuming a lot of idols and other celebrities do to incite laughter from the audience. Can't say for sure but I do know that Japanese is much harder compared to English and they probably just don't have the time at all to study seriously.

IKR. I want translations for recent interviews or something and know more about my oshimen.

 

Yeah I was surprised how weak both Maiyan and Matsun's english there. I don't think they were faking it for show. It wasn't supposed to be a funny show. They were clearly having issues understanding and communicating. Their pronounciation is unintelligible. Although Matsun seems to be braver when it comes to talking, while Maiyan seems scared to try.
As for who in Nogi have the better english, it's gotta be Ikuchan. And she definitely has the best pronounciation, listen to her singing Whistle down the wind, almost perfect.

 

Well, the second half of the show (and sometimes the first half) is actually about English. The issue is the explanation is all Japanese. But that’s normal for a lesson where students can’t follow an all-English conversation. There's not much you can do with like 5 mins once per week.

Eiken level qualifications:
1 = Yuri
Pre-1 = Rei
2 = Ikuta, Rena
Pre-2 = Sayaka

This seems roughly accurate with their actual abilities too. Although I’ve never heard Rena use English besides her Charlie Chaplin speech; she just wrote in her blog on 1/26/17 that she has Eiken 2. Also, this is speculation, but I think Ikuta and Sayaka could easily be about the same level if Ikuta hasn’t been practicing much, while Sayaka’s fresh out of school. You can watch Iku-chan’s English on old Nogieigo episodes.

 

Kaki seems like she's good at English.

 

Saito Asuka will be the cover girl of Japanese magazine OVERTURE 022, the magazine will be released on 26 March 2020.

 

I have a question! Not sure if this is 100 correct but..why does bananaman only uses first name basis on asuka and not on other members? I notice them using "asuka-chan" on her but shiraishi, ikuta on others