Cafe Kamei

Recently I discovered a lovely little niche of a café in town, and the past two days have seen me spend countless hours and pennies seated in a cosy corner indulging in a good read and a good warm cappuccino. Today I even allowed myself to do a little creative writing the old fashioned way which isn’t like me at all, not in this day and age of computers. Whilst I happily let myself slip into these leisurely pursuits of reading and writing, not forgetting the resonance of J-pop that was quietly pumping through my earphones, I found myself at intervals thinking about a certain someone.

So begins my story

Just over a week ago I was hit by tonsillitis, it’s an annual thing I fall foul of perhaps once a year. A problem which doctors are now suggesting to some at least, that having them removed is not the best thing to do. Couple that with the fact that the heating in my room had regularly failed me, I felt somewhat frail. Don’t worry this is all going somewhere, hopefully. Whilst I must have looked like a young child wrapped up tight in my duvet and that swallowing solids gave me a facial expression resembling that of someone being poked in the lower regions with a hot iron, I was able to find some comfort in what I chose to do through all of this.

Without going into a huge modus operandi of lists and exhaustive explanations lets just say I began to pamper myself with some of my favourite Hello! Mornings, Utabans and other related television and DVD spots for the next few days. Was my tonsillitis a blessing in disguise? It certainly gave my friends a welcome break from the typical baloney I often waffle on about but it also gave me the opportunity to really think about and enjoy what Hello! Project has been putting out there all these years. It was something that would have an impact on me soon afterwards.

One day ago

So I’m sitting in my newly adopted second home, the pleasant unearthing of the café I praised at the beginning of this blog. My thoughts begin to give up a lot of time for one individual. It shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that this attention is placed on Eri Kamei, one of the more dynamic and interesting personalities on the current Morning Musume roster. Without delving deeply into my reasons for liking Eri Kamei or trying too hard to persuade you into my line of thought (something which I feel would be somewhat egotistical of me to do so) I’ll let you consolidate for yourselves your own reasons why she is –right for television’.

This is where I should insert at least the slightest hint of an explanation as to why Kamei-chan has filled my recent thoughts; I just can’t bring myself to do it. Why? Because I feel it would be stating the obvious. I don’t want to lay claim to why she is so fantastic because I feel anyone of your answers will be the right ones and quite frankly I’m intimidated by the responsibility. Maybe I’m just making excuses because I feel utterly exhausted and creatively spent at this moment in time. One thing I’m sure of, Eri Kamei is the type of individual that is able to bring a smile to my jaded face and bring laughter to my tired lungs, something that used to come in bucket loads in the past. Whilst I could talk about the state or more accurately harmonise the view that Morning Musume is on a downward spiral, Eri’s individuality for me has helped keep the mother ship of Hello! Project afloat.

Earlier today

Gazing at the empty seat on the other side of the small table I had claimed and since occupied, I couldn’t pull myself away from thinking how great it would be if Eri Kamei was sitting on the other end. Ignore all the pretentious talk that makes for background noise to this and many other cafés alike, I just wanted so much to have a long conversation about anything Eri had to say as I’m sure it would have been quite a banter, and the drinks would have definitely been on me. Although my fandom gives me the right to innocently dream and jokingly play around with the idea, I feel slightly more involved than usual. I don’t want to add to the air of disappointment surrounding the state of Morning Musume but perhaps I’m coming out of my denial on the matter and Eri Kamei is someone I want to put my trust in to keep things alive.