18 comments on “Morning Musume 20th Anniversary Official Book Interviews: Nakazawa Yuko

  1. And that’s the last of ’em!
    I hope you found this book as enjoyable and insightful as I did. Thanks for reading.

  2. Masterful book and translations, Henkka. Thank you.

    Will you be around for the next one, I wonder, or will I finally learn Japanese by then…

  3. Yuko entering MM at that time and being leader was perfectly in sync with the times. Being outspoken and aggressive when it came to following your dream was perfectly acceptable, even if we cringe at it today. ASAYAN footage didn’t show her in any light manner and she did have her icy moments – when Goto joined and she gave her the cold shoulder, but that was just weeks after MM was told they had lost miserably to Suzuki Ami and it was all on camera. An idol like her wouldn’t survive a day in today’s industry with how critical and nitpicky the public is now, just as any current MM member might not have cut it during MM’s early years when it was aggressive, which works perfectly with how she said everything fell into place at exactly the right time. Goes to show how special and wonderful this group is.

  4. This is curious:

    Question: Even after you had all graduated, you got together to an excited reception from big audiences.
    Nakazawa: For me, Abe Natsumi is such a huge presence. She’s both my generation-mate as well as my rival. She’s not my family nor my friend. But she is a person with so much love. Even among all these many bonds, the one I have with her specifically is something special.

    This is interesting partly because her answer isn’t really relevant to the question. But even more, the oddity of saying “She’s not … my friend.” But then saying “[the bond] I have with her specifically is something special.”

    Any ideas what she means by this? Why would Naachi be “such a huge presence”? I have a theory, but I’ll save it until I hear from others.

    • I think she’s just being honest? Why is she going to pretend Nacchi is her BFF if it isn’t true? She’s mature enough to realize that they are bonded by something special like Morning Musume but that there is still a distance between. I actually find that refreshing, it’s not like family members get along all the time either.

      • But she would have that same bond with everyone that she was in MM with, right? why does she say that her bond with Naachi “specifically” is something special.

    • Does Japanese have an equivalent phrase for “good evening/afternoon/day?” Maybe that’s why? Maybe they think “konnichiwa” as an opening greeting is too casual.

    • Apparently it’s a custom that crept into the entertainment industry over from kabuki theather way back during the early days of cinema, when many traditional kabuki actors started appearing in movies. It just stuck until today despite having not much practical meaning.
      There’s a reason why it is used in the kabuki theather, but it’s not all that meaningful and boils down to “theatre people are particular about hierarchy, deference and manners”.

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