This photo and essay book was written by Moon Troupe Top Star Sena Jun and published during promotions for the 2008 show ME AND MY GIRL, where Top Musumeyaku Ayano Kanami retired. It’s very charming and occasionally emotional.
Some chapters are very short, or contain only pictures, and thus are combined.
The book also featured dual Japanese and English chapter titles, which were not always the same. Where these differ, both are included, with the translation of the Japanese title following in brackets. (For example, Chapter 8 is That time [The era of Asa and Osako])
Content note: This chapter includes discussion of dieting.
012. An Acorn Legend (Legend of the Acorns)
I love to eat.
I love delicious food.
I want to try all the delicious food in the whole country.
So for me, national tour performances are like my dream tour.
It felt like every day, after the end of performances in the national tour of Love Blooms Out On the Murasakino/Les Bijoux Brilliants, we would walk around eating that region’s most delicious food.
I’d go with Ms. Moeki, Ms. Ayano, and also Ms. Oozora, who came up earlier1.
In Utsunomiya we ate amazing gyoza,
And in Hokkaido we stood in line for an hour and a half for ramen…
But out of everything what I liked the most was:
“Morioka cold noodles”.
At first I made fun of it.
Sure, they might call it ‘Morioka cold noodles’, but in the end it’s just cold noodles, right?
Definitely nothing to write home about.
Even though I had my doubts, we went to the famous Pyon-Pyon-Sha.
It was so~ go~od ✨
Our eyes were all sparkling.
So dazzlingly.
But we were stuffing ourselves every day.
Even though we were exerting ourselves so much in performance,
Perhaps we were really eating too much…
After consulting with each other, the next day we decided to give our stomachs a bit of a rest.
We were wandering around a department store next to the Morioka station.
And what caught our eye was a stone dealers’ shop.
They were selling so many ‘power stones’.
And among all of those stones on sale, we found one.
Diet Stone. It will reduce your appetite.
…A miraculous encounter ✨
We bought some instantly.
Near the register there were some unique objects made on an acorn motif, to hang the stones from your neck.
We bought those too.
The four of us hung the stones from our necks at once.
Now we’re fine, no worries!
So…today let’s go to Pyon-Pyon-Sha again!
With those acorns dangling from our necks, we stuffed ourselves with Morioka cold noodles.
What’s the pooooooint!
From that day until the end of the tour, each and every night,
The four of us wore those acorns around our necks and set out into town in search of delicious food.
It’s become a bit of a legend among the four of us.
The fearful Legend of the Acorns…
(end)
1 – See chap. 7