translation of the 10,000 world interview from the photo-essay book Arashigoto

I'll be doing this in increments, since I probably won't be able to do an entire interview @ once.



Sakurai Sho- 10,000 Word Interview.
The natural born eldest son type.
How does Arashi look like in his eyes?

I. Zealous Elementary School Period.

Ever since I was little, I was a kid that played a lot. We lived in the city, but there were parks in the neighborhood, and I participated in seminars and stuff too. When I was in kindergarten, at the end of summer break, there'd always be like a tanning contest, so because of that I'd always try play outside as much as I could and get really tanned. When I won and received a medal, I was really happy. But when I think about it now, it's like, "why did I want to win that much again?"

My teacher in kindergarten was Suzuki Sensei. Taiyou Sensei, my character in "Yoiko no Mikata," also had the last name Suzuki, so it felt a little bit like destiny. But my teacher was a woman.

To get to my elementary school, I had to take two buses, but I didn't find that troublesome at all. To me, that was just normal. On the other hand, I didn't really have any friends in my neighborhood, so maybe I felt a little bit isolated in that sense. After school, until my parents got off from work, I went to a day-care center in my neighborhood, but I didn't know anyone there, and I was the only kid in a uniform. If I wanted to go to my school friends' houses, I'd have to take the bus or get my parents to drive me. But I took a lot of lessons, so it's not like I had that much time to play. (A list of lessons that Sho kun took: Piano, kendo, swimming, soccer, oil painting, and also after-school academy.)

I always got to school really early. I think I was there by about 7:30, when I was in the upper grades, to play soccer. J-League started just around the time I was in 5th grade, so I wanted to be a soccer player when I grew up. Before that I wanted to be a doctor, I even read the comic "Black Jack," and everything. But I quickly realized that it'd be impossible for me. (laugh)

For me, school was everything. On top of that, we didn't change classes for the entire 6 years of elementary school, so the class bond was really strong. Each class had its distinct color, and even now it sometimes come out.

I think amongst that, our class was especially close. When we went on class trips, at night we'd discuss like, "this class is rotting!" And debate zealously about it, and say like, "we should put a stop to the bullying!" Those youthful days (laugh). Even then, I was sort of like the intermediary, kinda like the general of the mountain.

Basically, my temper was unstable. Now I'm able to control it and not show it so much, but I used to get in a lot of fights. When I got the nickname "Kewpie Mayonnaise," I really hated that. I must have looked like Kewpie or something... But I remember when kids would come up to me and call me "Kewpie, Kewpie!" I'd get really pissed at that guy. But now, he's like my best friend. And he still mentions it now too, like, "when I called this guy Kewpie once, he got so pissed..."

My elementary school was co-ed, so I have received chocolates on Valentine's Day. The most impressionable time was in 5th grade. I received chocolates from the girl I liked, and it was probably hon-mei chocolate too. {In Japan, on Valentine's Day you can give out a lot of giri chocolates to your friends, teachers, bosses etc, but the hon-mei chocolate is the one you give to the person you like.) So then I wanted to select and return her gift on White Day, but that turned out to be a big failure. I thought about it too much and missed White Day, and in the end I gave her a mug cup from Nagoya's Grampus Eight (a J-league soccer team.) I liked Grampus Eight. But no matter how you think about it, she had no use for a mug cup, huh? I can't remember her reaction.

But to me, my first love was in 7th grade. She was a Hungarian girl, Gabrielle, who came to Japan for an International chorus conference. She was really cute. That was the first time that I liked someone so desperately. The 5 guys in my group, everyone started liking girls then too, and I think that also had some influence. I memorized as much Hungarian as I could and did everything to talk to her. But then she went home after two weeks. It was a romance just not meant to be.

*********************


II. Becoming Johnny's Jr

I sent my picture to JE when I was in 8th grade. My friends and I were just kidding around, and it was really just a joke. All I thought at the time was that if I got called to the audition, it'd be a funny topic to talk about. I never imagined that I'd turn into this.
One day, I got a letter that said, "please come to the audition," and it was like, the day before. I got home from school, and my mom had already opened the envelope and read the contents. She thought it was funny, but my dad said, "don't go!" Nevertheless, he drove me to the audition the next day.

I think there were about 50~60 people at the audition. I could sort of do the dancing, but it felt like it was over with really quickly. Then starting from the next week, I was called to weekly lessons. But it never occured to me that I "passed." I just went because they told me to.

I continued that for a month, without thinking too much about it, and that's when my mother said to me, "there's no point in continuing this half-heartedly. Decide whether or not you want to do it." And I think that's when I realized, that I really wanted to be part of this.

Thinking about it, I really liked Hikaru Genji. I used to always wear roller skates and imitate them. But the environment that I was brought up in was the kind that didn't admit that kind of world. So while I really admired it, on the other hand, I always thought, "I can't become one of those people." But in actuality, now that my goal is at a distance where my hands can almost reach it, I couldn't cover up my feelings. My mother wasn't against it, she pretty much told me to do as I wish. My dad was fundamentally against it, but he never said that straight out. but now, he's really behind me.

But even though I made up my mind at the time, my position remained unclear. If someone had said, "you've passed," and I had signed a contract, maybe then I would have had more self-awareness. The thing is that, it was definitely possible that all of a sudden, you don't get called to the lessons. In reality, there were people who started at the same audition as me, who seemed that they'd be "accepted," that gradually disappeared. Ultimately, the only person who is still around that was the same audition group as me is Yonehana (from MA). Sometimes I think that being a Johnny's Jr is just an extended audition. It's a really up-in-the-air existence.

The first time I stood on stage was at "Idol on Stage." The Jrs sang "Sushi Kui Ne," and I was one of the back dancers. I was really nervous; it was my first learned choreography. The costume was really big. I was really little then, so everything was super baggy. I think I taped that episode. But I don't even think I got on camera that much.

*************************************


III. Student or Junior?

But if you asked me if I was a Johnny's Jr or a student, I was definitely a student. A month before exams, I'd always take a hiatus from work. That was something I decided myself. I could have never imagined prioritizing Johnny's Jr over school. To me, being a Junior was an extracurricular that I could continue only if I was attending school and getting good grades. And if I lost my place in the Jrs because of it, then that wasn't something that could be helped.

In reality, it happened too. Around the start of 10th grade, I took an academic break for a month when I was in the magazines every month, and was positioned in the center in the choreography. When I returned, suddenly, I was placed to dance on the edges, and I wasn't asked to be in the magazines anymore either. But I always thought that that was the way things were supposed to be. I didn't really take it personally, it would have been more odd to me if it wasn't that way.

But I really loved dancing. So I did question the situation when guys who didn't even remember the choreography completely were placed in front of me, even though I was the one who worked really hard at practices. I thought then, "if that's how it's going to be...," and started to dance with some guys at school, in like a dance team.

At the time, in the opening of Music Jump, every week, Yaracchi (MA's Yara Tomoyuki) and I got a segment where we got to dance. The two of us used to tell the teachers that we didn't need choreography, and we'd make up the dances ourselves. It was only eight counts, just about ten seconds, but we'd buy all the dance videos we could find, then watch and practice every day. We put everything on doing something that was un-Johnny's-like, and brand new, to see how far we can go. That was the one and only place where we got to express ourselves, because the parts where everyone danced together, we were put in the back.

******************************************


IV. Arashi Debut

At that time, I thought, "When I graduate high school, I'll quit Johnny's Jr." If I was always placed in the center, and had never fallen from that position once, then I probably wouldn't have thought that. But I was back-dancing behind the senpais, at a position where the camera would never even go to, for about a year. It was also time when I thought about the future, and I knew that, "It'd be difficult to be a Johnny's Jr forever."

I really think that if the World Cup was a year later, and Arashi was formed a year later, I would have quit JE and been a regular college student.

June of 12th grade, I got a phone call from Johnny San, asking, "Wanna be the image character for the World Cup?" I was actually on hiatus then, because of exams. At the time, there were a lot of units within the Jrs, so I thought that it was just a seasonal thing, and answered, "okay, I'll do it."

Then the recording and choreography started. At the time, I actually thought about studying abroad the next year, after high school exams ended in January and before college started in April. When I told that to the manager, he said, "that's going to be a little difficult." And that's when I started to think, "something's not right... it might not be just a group that ends when the World Cup ends..." By then, the member selection had already been solidified, and it had already turned into a situation where there was no way out.

Most of the other members were in the same boat. In the beginning, we were totally heterogeneous. The staff told me that I had to organize everyone, and at the interviews, I was often told that I had to work hard to organize or else no one will do it. But I didn't feel any resentment about it, I just thought, "okay, so this is how it'll be." Now, all the members are on even ground, but in the beginning, there was clearly an "older group," and a "younger group," and there was a seniority relationship. Ohno kun is the type of person who, even if he has a thought, won't really say anything. Naturally I thought, "okay, so I've got to do this."

After the debut was announced, things got really stressful. Especially during the World Cup event. If the game was at an away venue, everyone would sleep over but I would return to Tokyo, because I had to go to school the next day. Then after school, I would ride the Shinkansen by myself, get to the venue, and then come back again in the middle of the night. I wouldn't even know where I was sometimes. Like I have very few memories of it.

But truthfully, I started to think that Arashi was a good group around the Arashi 1st concert the next spring. It took an entire 6 months. Just because we were put in a group, didn't mean that instantaneously, the distance between everyone shrank. Aiba chan and I hadn't even spoken before Arashi. During the concert rehearsal too, I don't think the wheels of the five people were really in sync.

And then at the end of the concert, the five of us linked hands and said, "we're Arashi!" Although we were saying it to the audience, it was also something like we were saying it to ourselves. In me at least, everytime we yelled that on stage, the feeling that the five of us are Arashi became stronger.

At that time, I did my solo using the song, "Can't take my eyes off of you." When the song got to the climax, the rest of the members would come out and dance too, that really left an impression on me, even now. I wonder why?

Another thing was my feeling towards the fans became clearer at this time. It had always been a dilemma for me. I always thought to myself, "do these people like Sakurai Sho? Or do they like me because I'm part of Johnny's Jr? Which is it?" And like, "if I wasn't a Jr and we met, would they like me still?" Stuff like that. I couldn't keep up with everyone fussing over me. But when I saw all the fans at our first concert, I realized, that maybe it wasn't necessary to worry about things like that. From then on, I thought of myself as a person including all those options, I accepted the fact that all those aspects were a part of Sakurai Sho.

******************************************************


V. Chance for Change

I think all the other members think this too, but the "Here We Go! Tour" had really deep meaning.

This was the first time the five of us talked about stuff together: what we wanted to do with Arashi; in order to accomplish that, what can we do; and the bottom line, who were we? Things like that. We had these talks after every show, everyday, until the next morning.

I think we were uneasy, nervous. Until then, we just did everything by momentum, but we finally reached a point where we were able to look at ourselves objectively. And when we did, it was like, "wait, what?" We kind of saw our history in a realistic view, "We didn't really leave behind any laudable results..."

That year, we got our own label, and Pikanchi opened in the fall. I appeared in "Kisarazu Cat's Eye," MatsuJun appeared in "Gokusen," as Arashi, it was a time when Arashi was finally riding on a upwards wave.

Speaking of "wave," though, those of us riding on it, actually have more realization than the people around us might have thought. For example, you can just tell by one glance @ the schedule sheet, if it's filled, or if it's white. Like if mine was white, but another member's was filled. Judging by that, around this time, things started going really well.

However, the most important thing, our mind sets weren't able to keep up with that. Each of us were all searching, I think, and none of us had the spare energy to think of Arashi as a whole. But at the same time, we knew that it couldn't continue like that, thus we were all uneasy, and that gave us a chance to naturally open up to each other.

Maybe I'm overstating a little, but to me, that tour was probably the first time that Arashi became Arashi-like. The emotions of all five of us were in the same direction, moreover, that direction was facing up. It felt like we were able to become one.

That same year was when our opinions were taken into consideration when we produced our album. When a song was finished, we'd be asked, "this is the final version, what do you think?" It may have been because we changed to J-storm, but I think more importantly, it was also because we started to form an image within ourselves of what we wanted to do. The feeling of "finally! We've gotten this far." was also present.

Regarding rapping, there were a lot of adjustments. I thought about it a lot. When I heard that in our debut song, "A.RA.SHI," I'd have a solo rap, I actually thought, "lucky!" I was naive. When it came to the real performance, it was so lame. I was pretty upset. I didn't even like watching the performance on TV. The way I rapped, the way I moved, my voice, nothing was complete. I think it also showed on screen, like I was just doing what I was told.

From then on, I listened to a lot of different artists' raps, and watched a lot of videos. I also started meeting with people who were involved with rap, like M-Flo's Verbal, and received a lot of their advice. That's when a lot of people told me, "if you're going to do the rap portions, wouldn't it be nice if you could write your own lyrics?"

Then I did express that I wanted to write lyrics. Little by little, they let me write some of my own stuff, like the mid-song portion of the solo at the 1st concert, the mid-portion of "Typhoon Generation," little by little. The intro of "A Day in Our Life," was completely just something that I did, and they used it as it was. And eventually, we arrived at now, where we've settled down at the style that "I'll write the Arashi rap lyrics." But to get to this point, I had to subtlely repeatedly express that desire.

Also I think my rap performance matured finally around "How's It Going?" Up until then, I just aimed for "rapper-like," but at some point, I accepted that "Sho-like," was fine. I realized that the kind of rap that rappers do, and the kind of rap that Arashi does are two different kinds of genres. For example, the kind of husky rap in Pikanchi. Rappers develop a style and stick with it... if they rap with husky voices, they'll always use that as their signature sound, if they rap with high voices, they stick with that style. But we, Arashi, sing some songs that are rock, some songs that are pops, and some that are ballads. In each type of song, the kind of rap that matches with it is different. I realized that I had to be able to change my voice to match the song type. I thought that, that was what was being asked of me, and that was what Arashi needed.

******************************************************


VI. 5th Anniversary

2004 was the 5th anniversary of Arashi. To me, even though it was the 5th anniversary, I didn't really have any special emotions attached to it. The 4th year, was actually more memorable. World Cup was held again, and NewS was being promoted on TV, and when I saw that I thought, "wow, 4 years have gone by..."

But then on the magazines, there were "Arashi 5th Anniversary Special Projects," being planned, the staff from when we were under Pony Canyon sent me "Congratulations on your 5th Anniversary!" mail... And slowly, I became to think of 2004 as a special year.

If you think about it, five years may not be a long time, but the five years that we lived was definitely not short. We met a lot of people, we worked on a lot of project, and we experienced a lot of changes.

The summer of that year, Arashi did 24 Hours TV. During those 24 hours, the staff of D no Arashi followed each of us. In the midst of numerous staff who we were unfamiliar with, to have a staff who we've worked with for such a long time by our sides was really relieving. I was happy that I felt that way, but at the end of 24 Hours TV, Aiba chan read that letter that he wrote to us, right? Apparently, the staff of D of Arashi all cried while they listened to that on the side. When I asked them why, they answered, "because it calls back memories from the first episode of C no Arashi!" That made me so happy. To have this kind of relationship, it's something that you slowly accumulate, one by one. Even if you took away one piece of that, our five years was in no way briefly spent.

Truthfully, when I initially heard that we were doing 24 Hours TV, I was really nervous. I had though that one day, I'd like to have the chance to do it, but I figured that it'd be further into the future. I thought that, the five of us now, doing the show, might make the show seem small-scale, and I didn't like that. But when we actually hosted the show, it really helped our confidence. You could even say that it might have been the first time that I had this much confidence in Arashi.

During the concert MC that year, I felt it too. The roles of each member had become really clear. Until then, it had always been a task to think of concert MC material. Before the concert, as I showered, I'd always be thinking of how to progress the conversation so that there'd be a punchline at the end. It was good that I didn't have to do that anymore. No matter what we talked about, Aiba chan or Ohno kun would drop the comedy touch at the end. It became really fun, to just talk amongst the 5 of us.

About a year after we had debuted, there was this time when we did this special with Nishikiori San. At the time, the people from the Jimusho got really mad at us. They said, "even when the camera is running, you guys don't get excited, there's no appeal." But really, at the beginning, that's how we were. During music programs, when the camera would start aiming for up-shots, we'd start to divert our eyes and stuff. It was ridiculous, now that I think about it. I think that aspect has really changed a lot. I wish that we could get another chance to do a special program with Nishikiori San. I'd like to make up for how at the time, we made him carry the entire program alone, in some different form.

********************************************************************


VII. College Graduation

2004 was also the year that I graduated from college. From the autumn of 2002, at school, there were a lot of career fairs from corporations. My friends would ask me like, "you're not going?" And I would get mail like, "I heard you were getting a job, really?" I would answer, "I got a position decided at Johnny's Jimusho." I didn't have any second thoughts about staying in this world.

But because I don't have any friends around my town, school was the only place I got to see my friends. Even if I was busy with work, if I went to school, I could see my friends. But when I saw all my friends wearing suits, and going to career fairs, I realized that, this time would soon end, and it did feel rather lonely.

Once it became 2004, until graduation was like the last spurt. After work, everyday, I would call my friends and when we got a lot of people together, there'd be 6-7 people, and we'd talk until the morning. About the days in elementary school, or about work stuff. Until then, I didn't talk about work with my friends at all, but from April, everyone would all become working people, and we'd all be standing at the same line. So I thought, since I had started working before everyone, maybe some of my experiences can be of help to them in the future. We'd talk about a lot of stuff every night.

In the midst of that, my 22nd birthday arrived. My friends made me a video letter. The BGM was Dreams Come True, and they put in all these snap shots of different pictures. After that, all my friends came out and one by one, they said a message to me. They even got our teacher from elementary school, which really surprised me. And there was one guy that said, "But ultimately, my favorite was your debut song, "News Nippon."" It's like, "that's NewS' debut song!" But I had no idea that they were making me a video, even though I saw everyone everyday. But I was really happy.

And just on the side, I had put the video in my room, and then my mom came in and labeled it. "Birthday Video from Dear Friends." That surprised me too. It's like, "when did this happen?!"

I went on a graduation trip with those guys too. We were going to go to Korea, but then everyone's passports were expired... so in the end, we went skiing, four guys. I took my video camera and filmed the entire trip, like a father. It was the first time that I went on a trip with my friends, it was a lot of fun.
**********************************************************

that's all for today!
sorry for the long hiatus... but it's been busy with K8 birthdays and school >_<;; But I haven't fogotten this project! So please check back once in a while ^_^v~