[caption id="attachment_117218" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Tsunku Discusses Decisions Behind 9th Generation"][/caption]

As we previously reported, on January 2nd, the winners of the 9th Generation auditions for Morning Musume were revealed live at the Hello! Project 2011 Winter Matsuri concert. On this week's Bijo Gaku, aired January 6th, more details were revealed about this process, including words from Tsunku on how he came to his decisions.

The episode showed the audition winners, Suzuki Kanon, Ikuta Erina, and Sayashi Riho meeting Tsunku after learning they had passed. They each first learnt that the other two had also passed during that meeting.

Tsunku discussed his impressions and reasons for choosing each of the three:

Kanon: "Suzuki has... pluck, I guess you call it. She's got good guts. She absolutely won't show fear or nervousness on her face, and that never-say-die spirit is very important for Morning Musume."

Ikuta: "Most importantly, she has an unending brilliance to her smile. This is an obvious weapon for Morning Musume. When she encounters things she can't do, she first thinks 'let me try it and see,' and she will do as much as she is capable."

Sayashi: "Right now, she's probably #1 at dancing and her expression as a singer is also excellent. In a sense, you could say she's already ready for battle."

The three then visited a shrine for New Year's to pray for their success in 2011. �Ikuta and Sayashi both wished that they would be able to attend this year's Kouhaku, while Suzuki prayed that she would be able to do her best at acclimating to the group.

The girls were then shown going to the concert on January 2nd, where they waited in a separate room until Tsunku called them to stage to announce their addition to the group, where they then met the other members for the first time and expressed their enthusiasm.

Tsunku surprised all present by calling Fukumura Mizuki from the Hello! Project Eggs as the 4th member of the 9th generation. Fukumura had been dropped during the 3rd round of the auditions, but Tsunku said, "From the start, Morning Musume really had a sad, 'wet' part to the group's sound. Fukumura has a latent sadness within her that will create a good kind of 'unbalanced balance' in the group."

The nine members and Tsunku met each other to establish their goals for this year, and afterwards met the other Hello! Project members, including former Musume leader, Yoshizawa Hitomi, who encouraged them to "do [their] best to catch up to the older members and eventually overtake them."