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The story
Morning Musume. OG Ai Takahashi’s comment that she wants the 18th-generation members — who joined after she graduated — to call her “Ai-chan” has become a hot topic on 5ch’s Hello! Project board. The thread dug up an old episode where 9th-gen member Erina Ikuta once called her “Ai-chan” and got scolded by a manager for it, sparking a lively debate over who’s allowed to use the “Ai-chan” nickname and who’s stuck with the more formal “Takahashi-san.”
What people said
Takahashi wants to be called "Ai-chan," but Oda says it feels too presumptuous
Takahashi: "Won't you just call me that once?"
Sato would probably start calling her that right away
but Takahashi's old aura probably doesn't hold much sway over the 18th-gen crowd, so they'd probably just call her "Ai-chan" without thinking twice
Though Oda might be schooling the 18th gen on who Takahashi even is
I mean, a lot of the 18th gen were literally born after Takahashi graduated
Years later they were told to call her that again, so they settled on the compromise "Ai-san"
Was this before or after the Kudo incident?
She's tight with both Nonaka and Kitagawa
Even when you explain the situation, they won't listen and just scold you anyway — that's flat-out power harassment
Her name is Erina Ikuta to begin with
So just make "Ikuta Eri" her stage name already
For some reason, Ai Takahashi and Airi Suzuki are treated as the OG representatives
Talent agency Up-Front donates ¥100 million to Kumamoto earthquake relief — combined with Kumamoto-born Chisato Moritaka's donation, total reaches ¥120 million
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/ea0f6d5e6a9efc2a6ca89b75ea28caa4cb99d2ba
Up-Front represents Hello! Project groups including Morning Musume.'26, ANGERME, Juice=Juice, Tsubaki Factory, BEYOOOOONDS, OCHA NORMA, and Rosy Chronicle, as well as music producer Tsunku♂, OG members like Airi Suzuki and Ai Takahashi, and Shoko Aida, among others.
Do you know what Kudo used to call the 9th gen?
That's why Ikuta will never let it slide with her juniors
All generations, through the years
Another spot-the-difference, huh
Obviously it was before
Just think about it and you'll get it
Mitsui and Junrin call her Takahashi-san, right?
What about Kusumi?
Background and Key Points
Morning Musume. runs on a “generation” (gen) system: since debuting in 1997, new members are recruited in numbered waves, so a 9th-gen member and an 18th-gen member can have a decade or more between their audition dates and may never have performed together. Ai Takahashi was 6th-gen, joined in 2001, served as group leader for years, and graduated in 2013 — meaning several 18th-gen members (who joined in the 2020s) were literally born after she left. In Japanese idol management, this generational gap isn’t just an age difference; agencies like Up-Front actively police how junior members address seniors, with staff correcting members in real time, which is why a manager scolded Erina Ikuta simply for using the nickname a senior member had personally invited her to use.
The thread’s actual disagreement isn’t about whether Takahashi wants the nickname — she clearly does — but about who has the standing to grant permission for it, and whether that permission even overrides management once it’s given. Posters trade specific counterexamples (Mitsui, Kusumi, the “Fuku-chan” hypothetical) to map out an unofficial, contested boundary of who’s “in” and who’s stuck with “Takahashi-san.”
What outside readers likely miss is that this friction is structural, not personal: staff intervene in nickname etiquette because it signals hierarchy to fans and other members, not because of any conflict with Takahashi herself. The thread also drops references — like “the Kudo incident” — as shorthand for an earlier controversy involving 9th-gen member Kudo Haruka’s own use of the nickname, without ever explaining what actually happened, so newcomers are left inferring the backstory rather than being told it.
*This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project) thread “Ai Takahashi: ‘Maybe I’ll Have the 18th Gen Call Me Ai-chan’.”
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