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The story
Former Morning Musume.’15 member Kaede Kaga has started her second dance study trip to Los Angeles, sparking discussion on 5ch’s Hello! Project board. Her first stint was a one-year study abroad, and this marks a return trip following that one. The thread buzzed with stories about her mentor relationships with fellow ’15-generation member Rio Kitagawa (now a TV Tokyo announcer), whom Kaga reportedly coached, as well as current Morning Musume. leader Homare Okamura and ace Ai Yamazaki. Speculation that she might be aiming to become a choreographer or stage director fueled excitement, while opinions were split over the purpose of the trip and what she’ll do next.
What people said
but Kaedi went back for round two.
Maybe she's chasing some seriously high-level goal.
she talked a lot about wanting to be a choreographer, a general director, or a stage manager,
so maybe she's seriously going for that now.
Her '15-generation classmate Marai-chi
and her star pupil Rio-chan, also from '15,
are both doing so well out in the world
that it's gotta be inspiring Kaedi to chase her own dream for real too.
Moulin Rouge is in summer — there's still half a year.
Exactly.
Honestly, even to Japanese eyes, Kaedi is drop-dead gorgeous.
Kaga's fans must be gutted… so bittersweet.
Rio Kitagawa is TV Tokyo's star ace announcer.
Morning Musume.'s current leader Homare Okamura. Its absolute ace Ai Yamazaki.
Kaede Kaga mentored and raised all three of them from early on.
That's an insane labor record (lit. "Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare" — a joking way of saying her training regimen was so intense it's basically a workplace case).
Except the person herself is apparently unemployed.
Surely even Kaedi belongs to something, right?
There's a dime a dozen of dancers out there — it's not gonna work.
Haters really don't know anything.
She retired as a talent, sure,
but she'd talked endlessly about her behind-the-scenes dreams.
Here's her most recent post so far:
@
Once again, to everyone who's been cheering me on —
following the final curtain call of the musical the day before yesterday,
I'm ending my activities.
Thank you so much for everything up until now!
I got to spend such happy times.
Over these two years I came to feel
there's still more I can do, so I won't let up on the effort.
I hope we can meet again somewhere!!
That last line is the same thing she always said back in her Musume days —
she'll definitely come back, just not as a talent.
Coming back as a talent would be fine too, honestly.
Realistically speaking, it'd be a waste not to use her past career,
so I think there's a real chance she comes back in front of the camera.
original choreography, costumes, everything —
that one blew up like crazy.
I've watched it a trillion times myself.
Watching it again now, yeah, it's still amazing.
Forgot to attach the video, oops
https://youtu.be/oNu2WhDP2-M?si=rLE_bFxVsYoHUN6i
Aaaaaaaaaaaaah all three of them are so cute I could die
Whoa… this was exactly 10 years ago…
Background and Talking Points
Kaede Kaga graduated from Morning Musume.’ in 2023 and has since focused mainly on stage work, announcing — as quoted in the thread — that she was ending her activities following the “final curtain call of the musical.” What split opinion in the thread was whether this new LA trip is simply personal self-improvement, or serious training toward the choreographer/stage-director “behind-the-scenes” path she’d talked about openly during her idol days. Supporters pointed to her track record of fully producing a kouhai’s performance, while skeptics doubted a comeback as a dancer was realistic. Discussion of the ’15 generation also tied her to a classmate who became a TV Tokyo announcer and to the group’s current leadership, showing just how differently members of the same generation can be perceived. Her current affiliation or future plans were not confirmed in the thread.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project board) thread “Lady Kaede Kaga ❤ Starts Her Second LA 🇺🇸 Dance Training Trip ❤.”
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