Minami Umezawa: Her slightly belated but magnificent.... Happy 26th Birthday post!

 

 Just two days late which isn't too bad and it's mainly because I forgot all about it! Which isn't a good reason for up until the 2nd had it set in my mind to do this post on the sixth for Minami's birthday, right after I completely forgot about it and what has happened to my memory?! This has become a rarity these days and what I'm referring to are posts for current J-Pop Idols. These days just do them for a pair of Nogi gals and also some for Hina but at the rate they're jumping ship who knows how much longer the posts for them will be continuing? There's no going back in time as sadly things will never be the same as far as me following J-Pop goes, I look at the current gals in Nogi, Hina, Keya, NMB, SKE and think to myself.... who are these members?

 Though so many Idols have been leaving at an unprecedented rate over the last 2-3 years think we won't have to worry about Minami graduating for a while. This February will mark her second anniversary as Nogi's third captain and don't think management would have given her that honor if she had plans on leaving any time soon so bet we'll be seeing her for another two years. Sure hope so as she really is one of my all time favorite Idols and would place her about fifth as far as my all time Nogi members go. But even though Minami will be staying for a while hope her activities get back to what they once were as this is her first post since May! Before that she had been on a nice stretch with seven posts in nine months and I could live with her having that many in 2025. But wonder if you viewers also think that way for I would say Minami is one of the least popular Idols I've ever posted about, her posts from 2018-21 garnered a fair amount of views but since then she's sadly hit rock bottom....

 One post that has received many views was for Minami's first and only photobook to date, that above is is from it. And why shouldn't it be popular here(!) as in my eyes it's the #1 photobook of all time!!!! Birthday posts are really no different than any others but do try to make them a bit larger and that should be the case for today. Will begin off with some recent pics from the Nogi group blog but not nearly as many as usual, the top one is new for her birthday.

 Have a few older birthday pics and most have been posted before though two are new, January 6th was the exact date for birthday #26.

 For a long time Minami was a model for the With magazine, they stopped their print issues three years ago but still have a website. That modeling gig ended in July 2023 after four years but last March she did become a  model for the Classy site/magazine, this batch of super duper pics all came out in December and I really like that first one....

 Sigh, do miss these unbeatable pics with her ex-With modeling mate and after a slight return from her six month hibernation it appears she's returned to her cave....

 Those huge fashion shows are about to start up again, there is a smallish 'Tokyo Girls Collection' show this Saturday though no '46' members will be appearing. Minami is always at those shows and the last one to be held took place on October 19th which was the Autumn 'Girls Award' show. The location was the Makuhari Messe Hall in Chiba, she took her stroll on the Ann Couture stage.

 Ooooh, almost forgot to include this batch which are some Nogi cards from October to June, they've really cut down on the amount of cards that are released plus I think at least one series has been discontinued. Minami was in a recent drama that ended it's run after ten episodes on December 26th, it had the title of "Death Game de Matteru". She had the lead female role in the show which I would like to view but as of now no team has subbed the show and no clue if it'll happen but often series get subbed after they've finished.

 Know it's a bit late for X-Mas pics but why not have a few oldies as it's too early for Valentine's and crossing my fingers that her next post will be two weeks after that day.

 Minami is often the cover girl for the magazines she appears in and has that honor for this new set from the January 22nd issue of Young Magazine. However it's her first spread in seven months and where did she disappear to(?), hoping it's a sign of many more to follow.

 Didn't count the photos but it felt like it did end up being a large post with over a hundred of them. Will end off with some ultra stupendous pics of Minami who I adore to no end 😍, she doesn't have many fans here which is surprising but they have left some terrific comments about her and as mentioned she does have my number one photobook of all time! After the pics is an odd video that was uploaded to YT on December 10th where Minami and another Nogi mate visited the Science Department at Tokyo University and it was filmed by a student. The video is long and sadly not subbed yet you can understand most of what took place which I found interesting, in case you didn't know a few days ago her mate announced her graduation and should I do any more posts for her?