On February 6th, idol group ?-ute held a release event for their 20th single "Kono Machi" at Sunshine City Funsui Hiroba.

As announced previously, "Kono Machi" is a cover of a song by�Moritaka Chisato who belongs to the same agency as them. The leader Yajima Maimi revealed that they received a cheer from Moritaka, and said, "I was nervous when she said 'good luck' directly to us, but it made us feel that we need to do our best." She also mentioned Morning Musume, who recently topped Oricon weekly chart with their latest single, saying, "Seeing Morning Musume-san grabbed no.1 made us motivated to not lose to them. I hope many people listen to this song, and we can top the Oricon chart as well."

At the event, they performed some songs, including their new song, and livened up the audience of 2,000. Member Nakajima Saki said, "I'm happy to see many people here today even to the upper floors, but we can't fill up the Budokan yet, so we need to work hard." Hagiwara Mai also said, "I hope we gain more popularity, so we can be like, 'We have no choice but to hold a live concert at the Budokan.'"

One day before the event on the 5th, Nakajima turned 19 years old. She talked about her ambition, "Since this is my last year as a teen, I just have to enjoy it to the best of my power. I want to go many places and become an outdoor person." Also, the 7th will be Hagiwara's 17th birthday. She commented, "Many people told me how their 17th year shone, so I also want to shine." Yajima, who will be 21 years old on the 7th, said, "I hope 'Kono Machi' will become a hit and leave a good result."

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Source & Image: MANTAN WEB