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Morning Musume 20th Anniversary Official Book Interviews: Tanaka Reina

Posted by Henkka on January 18, 2019
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Tanaka Reina
November 11, 1989 — Fukuoka
2003/01/19 ~ 2013/05/21

Tanaka: “Oh, you’re that girl from last time!” It gave me so much courage when Tsunku♂ said those words to me.

— It’s a well-known story: you first took part in the 5th generation auditions while misrepresenting your age.

Tanaka: I completely ignored the age limit and applied, thinking only about how I wanted to be in Morning Musume. If only I’d gotten into the group at that time, I could’ve stood on-stage with Goto Maki. That’s the one thing I never got to accomplish as a member of Morning Musume.

— So you were aiming for this path because of your admiration for Goto Maki. From what I understand, however, you were quite the “bad girl” back in your hometown.

Tanaka: I didn’t even know what that was supposed to mean. Although I did attend my junior high entrance ceremony with my hair dyed blonde… But still, my hometown was very peaceful. My teachers were helpful and my parents raised me very well. I was rather well-respected, you know.

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Morning Musume 20th Anniversary Official Book Interviews: Sato Masaki

Posted by Henkka on January 5, 2019
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Sato Masaki
May 7, 1999 — Hokkaido
2011/09/29 ~

Sato: Even on the very day I was accepted into the group, they were angry with me. My mom and dad had never gotten angry with me as they raised me, and yet, when I was at the training camp or when I was accepted as a member… the staff were constantly angry with me. I didn’t even understand why — I just thought, “I guess adults all just hate me.“

The Airheaded Girl from Hokkaido

— When you first applied for the auditions, you weren’t even particularly a fan of Morning Musume, were you?

Sato: I didn’t know much about them. There was a leaflet about the audition at my ballet school, so I looked them up and watched “Maji desu ka Ska!” Sayashi Riho’s dancing was incredible, Tanaka Reina’s singing was so pretty, and my parents suggested I give it a shot and see what this world is all about. So I just applied without much thought behind it.

— What with everyone else around you being so serious about it, I would imagine you felt a little out-of-place…

Sato: The auditions lasted for around half a year, and I was just thinking about how long it was taking. They got unbelievably angry with me at the training camp. My mom had sent me off there, telling me to go and have fun. And so even though I was only trying to have some fun, they wouldn’t let me at all.

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Morning Musume 20th Anniversary Official Book Interviews: Sayashi Riho

Posted by Henkka on December 31, 2018
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Sayashi Riho
May 28, 1998 — Hiroshima
2011/01/02 ~ 2015/12/31

Sayashi: Back when I was still a kindergartener and I had no vision for my future whatsoever, I got to dance at the center of the stage at our arts festival to “Go Girl ~Koi no Victory~.” I had a lot of people complimenting me and I had so much fun doing it. It made me feel like I was glowing. That was the moment I decided: “I want to be in Morning Musume!“

— That Morning Musume song is what started it all for you.

Sayashi: I told my parents that I wanted to start dancing, and I’m from a very music-loving family so they immediately agreed and I enrolled in an “actors school” in Hiroshima.

— From the very beginning you were dancing in the center at your arts festival, and you were very active at your actors school as well. It does sound like you had a natural talent for dancing to begin with…

Sayashi: Not at all. But I did get to often be in the center at my actors school as well, so that was a big source of confidence for my young self. I’m someone who’s always quick to get bored of things, but dancing was different — I just couldn’t stop. I became convinced that dancing was my most treasured thing in life.

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Morning Musume 20th Anniversary Official Book Interviews: Iida Kaori

Posted by Henkka on December 13, 2018
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Iida Kaori
August 8, 1981 — Hokkaido
1997/09/14 ~ 2005/01/30

Iida: You know, the “nee, waratte” in “Daite HOLD ON ME!“… That expression on my face was just me doing my best. I’m someone who is usually making no progress despite really trying my best…

— But you doing was something that became another hot topic for followers of the group.

Iida: Wada, our manager at the time, was coming up with all sorts of strategies to boost Morning Musume’s popularity. He would always tell us to talk more so they would show us on TV for longer. So when we were appearing on music programs, that’s what I would always be focused on — talking more. But it wasn’t working… the cameras weren’t pointed at me, so I felt like I was danger. “Oh no! They’re not going to give me any airtime all!” And that’s why I went too far. That’s why I was established as being the “weird one.”

— This time around, though, you giving it your all did produce results.

Iida: It came as a total surprise to me, too. That’s why I decided to throw away my “orthodox idol” image and choose the screen time instead. (laughs) Tsunku♂ apparently felt that I didn’t have to play the role of the comedian if I didn’t want to, but it wasn’t something I was really doing consciously.

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Morning Musume 20th Anniversary Official Book Interviews: Iikubo Haruna

Posted by Henkka on November 24, 2018
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Iikubo Haruna
November 7, 1994 — Tokyo
2011/09/29 ~

Iikubo: Even now I still have no idea why I was accepted. (laughs) Tsunku♂ listed a couple of reasons for picking me. “You have a pure personality, an aura that stands out, and your singing is good.” None of those descriptions feel like they quite fit me… (laughs)

10th Generation’s Eldest Daughter

— He may have gotten that from your gentle way of speaking and that unique atmosphere you have about you.

Iikubo: I used to not really understand what people meant when they said things like that about me. But looking back on our old footage now, I suppose it is quite rare to come across a 2nd grade high schooler from Tokyo who’s that naive. Maybe that’s what he meant by “pure.”

— Was that due to the environment you were raised in?

Iikubo: No. I believe I received a perfectly normal upbringing, and I did have those gyaru-types around me, too. We had a strict curfew in my household… but that’s pretty much it.

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Morning Musume 20th Anniversary Official Book Interviews: Niigaki Risa

Posted by Henkka on November 18, 2018
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Niigaki Risa
October 20, 1988 — Kanagawa
2001/08/26 ~ 2012/05/18

Niigaki: Some time ago I was doing a shoot for a TV program where they had pictures from the times of our respective debuts lined up, and I realized how the members in them all looked different depending on the era. I don’t just mean our makeup and our hairstyles, but the whole “feel” of the pictures themselves.

20 years… It really is a piece of history. I was a member of the group for half of that — 10 years. The beginning was so incredibly difficult for me, but I think if I had to choose, it was the latter half of my time as a member that left the bigger impression on me. This was when we were the seniors; when our seniors had all left and it was up to just me and Ai-chan to take responsibility of Morning Musume. That was the era of my Morning Musume life that to me felt the most profound.

— You joined the group in 2001. “The☆Peace!” was a hit and the group was smack in the middle of its Golden Era.

Niigaki: I loved Morning Musume. My first impression of them was that it was this group of older girls singing really cool, mature songs, and then when the 4th generation joined I came to like them even more since they were around the same age as me. That’s when I first started going to their concerts, too. You couldn’t apply to their auditions until you were in junior high school, so I just waited patiently until that day and I let my parents know I wanted to apply.

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Tsunku♂ Love Theory: “Afterword”

Posted by Henkka on October 29, 2018
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Afterword

For those of you who have made it this far into the book, I’m sure you’re by now well aware of just how much I love women and how much I think about them. But was I also able to convey to you my even greater passion for this thing called “music”?

Well, in any case. I feel like I still haven’t said all I have to say. That’s why I’m now writing this afterword.

To be honest with you, when I first took on the job of producing Morning Musume I never expected society to accept the group to the extent that they now have. Getting to appear on Kouhaku, creating new units using the members of Morning Musume… to say nothing of getting to write this very book. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine these things to happen. Ha ha ha.

Why did people take such an interest in Morning Musume and Taiyou to Ciscomoon? When I think about it now, it must’ve been because of the individual charms of each and every member.

When they’d only just debuted, me and the staff around me would be giving them all sorts of advice in an attempt to draw out those charms. When the cameraman said he was going to take close-up shots, some members would take that as a sign that they themselves needed to physically walk closer to the camera — that was the extent to which they knew nothing at all. Other members, we’d literally have to teach them how to hold a microphone. But now that they’re popular and they’ve become confident, they’ve also become better performers than I could’ve ever imagined.

This might sound weird, but I feel like a father who is looking at his daughters and thinking, “you’ve gotten so big…” It’s almost to the extent where it makes me tear up just thinking about it. (Man, have I gotten old…)

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Tsunku♂ Love Theory: “The Self-Conscious Woman”

Posted by Henkka on October 25, 2018
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The gradual appeal of a highly self-conscious woman

You probably know this already, but I happen to like women who are exceptional.

Even when I was in kindergarten, I would spare no effort in trying to attract the attention of girls around me. I would be challenging all types of different girls. But even for someone like me there’s one type of girl who I’m not very good at dealing with, and that’s someone who comes across as being highly self-conscious. That’s not to say I dislike girls like that; it’s simply that I’ll find myself arbitrarily deciding, “someone like her probably wants nothing to do with someone like me.“

I feel that Abe is most likely that type of a girl.

What sorts of things would make me think that a girl was highly self-conscious? First of all, one characteristic of girls like that is that most of the time they’re very serious in nature. Even when they’re with their male friends they never get too crazy — they never forget to remain at least somewhat graceful and mild-mannered.

Also, they have an air about them that makes it feel like it wouldn’t be okay to lightly whack them on the head if they were being silly. If the members were all just ordinary friends of mine, I could easily picture myself giving a head whack to girls like Yaguchi or Iida for example. But with Abe, I just don’t think I could. Someone like Moritaka Chisato is like that, too — no matter which way you look at it, doesn’t it just feel strange to even think about giving a whack to someone like Moritaka Chisato? To give another example: I could see myself whacking Utada Hikaru’s head, but the bar would be set much higher with Amuro Namie’s head. I could probably give Hamasaki Ayumi a poke — not an especially strong one, just something to convey that she was being silly.

I wonder where these individual differences between girls come from?

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