[TRANS] Potato (May 2021): B L U E .
B L U E .
“BLUE” which has the image of being cool and being a colour of happiness. In a blue world, we asked them questions relating to blue like “paling things” and “youth”.
[T/N: ‘paling’ and ‘youth’ both contain the character for blue (青) in their words]
⟡ What do you think of when you hear the word “blue”?
“Call me” which I was just listening to in the car has a blue image to me. It’s strange because there isn’t any blue in the lyrics, and nor in the staging or outfits for that matter. Maybe it’s the coldness and sadness of the sound. (Matsumura)
Tanaka Juri. I think there are many people with blue as their member colour in Johnnys, but there’s no one else who suits blue better. The blue part is hotter than the orange in a flame, meaning Juri is as hot as a person too. …I’m not sure about that though. (Kyomoto)
My current hair colour. I’ve coloured it pink before, but it’s my first time to try blue so it’s new. It simply turns brownish when the pink fades. But since it turns greenish when blue fades, I like that even more eye-catching aspect. Maybe I’ll try purple next. (Jesse)
Me. Since it’s my member colour. SixTONES’ don’t often wear our member colours in costumes; we actually wear other colours on purpose, so the image [of being blue] hasn’t really settled in (laughs). The one time I realise that “so I’m blue” is when I see the [concert] goods. (Tanaka)
The sea! I love it and often go alone on my days off. Something I want to see is a crystal clear sea where you can see 20, 30 metres into the water. The Okinawan sea that I saw before wasn’t clear to that extent, so I want so see a sea like that overseas one day. (Morimoto)
I love the blue sky. Opening the curtains and watching the sky in the morning is my daily routine, and it lifts my mood when the sky is blue. And especially those clear blue skies that you can see on a sunny day in summer, those are my favourite. On the other hand, my mood drops a ton when I see it raining. (Kouchi)
⟡ What do you think is “still young”?
Being able to play by myself no matter the environment. I can waste my time endlessly, like shredding tissue paper into bits, or stacking anything that comes into my sight (laughs). It’s a little hard to say if that relates to youngness, but it’s a habit that I have since young from being the only child. (Kyomoto)
I still don’t know 4-character idioms and kanji very well. A word that I learnt recently is “gumon [silly question]”. My cousin said “gumon!” in response to a question I asked, and they taught me when I asked what it meant. My cousin’s also mixed-race tho (laughs). (Jesse)
Getting antsy while waiting for my things to arrive from online shopping. I’d be waiting and thinking “is it going to be here soon”, and then opening it immediately when it arrives. Like when my camping chair arrived, I immediately propped it up and sat in it. I’m like a child aren’t I (laughs). (Kouchi)
During radio shows. At “~All Night Nippon”, I’ll say things like “I’m not going to talk that much” before the free talk. But I end up going on and on, and I’d say laughing with Juri about “I just end up talking” is a young thing (laughs). (Matsumura)
Going back to my family home when I don’t feel well. I try to not go back nowadays, but I used to always run back home when I didn’t have an appetite or had a bit of a stomach ache and had congee made for me. If my health drops to 8 out of 10, then it’s family-home time for me (laughs). I tend to rely on my parents. (Tanaka)
Having everything written on my face. I don’t laugh when I’m bored and I’d make a “I dun get it” face if Juri or someone is explaining difficult stuff at a briefing (laughs). That’s terrible as an adult, but I think that frankness is one of my merits as well! (Morimoto)
⟡ When does your mood feel “blue”?
When I give things a go but it doesn’t turn out well. When I get the chance to appear in variety shows, I try to talk and do things to make it fun, but sometimes I come off as annoying or fake instead. I need to reflect on this. (Matsumura)
When my throat or stomach isn’t feeling good. Including humming, I’m always singing, so it makes me restless, or stressed even when I can’t sing freely. I love singing as much as I do food. When I can only eat congee when my stomach’s playing up, I get really depressed. (Kyomoto)
I have a habit to pick at hangnails, and my nails are wrecked since I always pick at them. That alone makes me blue, but since Kouchi cautions me “stop it” when I pick at them, it makes me even more blue (laughs). (Jesse)
I don’t get blue and I’ll forget about it straightaway even if I do. If I mess up a dance move, I would think “ah…”, but one can’t sulk over that forever. I think I made mistakes during the online concert in January, but I forgot about them in a flash (laughs). (Morimoto)
Drinking carbonated water after a bath is my daily routine, but I discovered I was out of carbonated water when I opened my fridge yesterday. I thought “this is the worst!”. I made sure that I wouldn’t run out and yet… I drank normal water since I had no choice, but it was depressing. (Kouchi)
When I have work early in the morning. Work is fun but I’m terrible with mornings, so I just can’t get my mood up. On the other hand, I’m fine no matter how late [a job] gets. The morning = before noon for me, so I’m in my best condition from 1pm onwards (laughs). (Tanaka)
⟡ An episode that “pales” you unknowingly?
When SixTONES was established, I found Shintarou backstage during rehearsals for “The Shounen Club”. When I gave him a big push from behind, it turned out to be Kawai (Fumito)-kun. I apologised immediately and although he said “it’s okay”, I cannot forget those chills running down my spine. (Kyomoto)
The fact that Kouchi is 27 years old gives me the chills (laughs). He doesn’t look it though. He’s azatoi [acts cutesy] after all. He stands like Mickey Mouse and makes a fuss with “I got a cramp in my leg” during rehearsals to get everyone’s attention (laughs). (Jesse)
Lately, I’ve been seeing nothing but scary dreams. Like one where I’m eaten by a shark… Yesterday’s one was about frisbeeing. The frisbee did things like coming back at me and dropping on my foot… it was disaster after disaster and absolutely horrible! (laughs). (Kouchi)
When I rolled over Kimura (Yuuichi)-san’s foot with the wheelie chair during filming for “Red Eyes”. I didn’t mean to and I was really flustered on the inside, but I continued acting since I thought it could bring out the dynamics of the relationship between the group. (Matsumura)
I buy almost everything online, from clothes to everyday necessities, but there, that sense for spending money. Compared to paying in cash, my discretion when paying for things online is dulled, so although “it’s a little more expensive than at the supermarket, but…”, I just add it to my cart. I think I need to be careful about this. (Tanaka)
My knife dropped on the floor when I was in the middle of cooking. It clanged very loudly and gave me a shock. It was fine since I don’t let Shelly in the kitchen, but imagine if she was there… (Morimoto)
⟡ Words that will “cool off” even a love of 100 years?
I heard the girls talking about “my boyfriend wanted me to say this~” back at school. Be it the knowing expression they made or the “I said they words they wanted to hear even though I didn’t mean it” feeling, it was scary (laughs). (Matsumura)
Girls who call themselves by their own name. I can forgive it when they’re in their teens and in that phase, but when they still do it as adults, I’d wonder if someone didn’t point it out to them and hence missing the chance to fix it. (Kyomoto)
I wouldn’t like it if they said “gross” when eating. I’m here enjoying my meal but that would totally ruin it. If they said that in front of me, I think I’d tell them “being able to eat is a blessing itself!”. That’s how I see it. (Jesse)
I might get spooked if they told me “I miss you”. I’m 100% the type to pursue someone, so I want to be the one who always says “I like you” and “I miss you”. If they come at me with the same degree of interest then I think I’d cool off and get disinterested. (Tanaka)
I hate being ignored the most. Say I ask a question but don’t get a reply, there are people who’d continue the conversation casually with “ahh, about that?” when I ask them “are you listening?” right? That pisses me off! (laughs) They were ignoring me so I want them to apologise with “sorry, I wasn’t listening”. (Morimoto)
I don’t want to be told I’m “annoying” when I invite someone or ask them for a favour. If they wanted to decline, I rather they put it like “I don’t feel like it” or “can it wait till later?” instead. Though I myself say “annoying” sometimes (laughs). (Kouchi)
⟡ A “blue” item that you have?
I have one single blue towel. It’s a blue that screams “blue!”, so it’s really attention-grabbing even just on the shelves. My other towels are white and pink. I go “this will do” and buy them at the general store, so the colours are mismatched (laughs). (Jesse)
I like blue. The down jacket I bought 2 years ago was blue, and the pouch that carries my throat-care goods and makeup tools is blue too. The pouch is Conan’s jacket pattern. Which means that Jesse, who has blue hair at the moment, is also my belonging (laughs). (Kyomoto)
I don’t… (starts rummaging through his bag). Ah, my portable toothbrush’s case is blue (laughs). This is a coincidence. I wear blue in my clothes on the regular. Jeans are blue and I have blue t-shirts and jumpers too, so I might actually quite like blue? (laughs). (Matsumura)
I have quite a lot of denim clothes. My favourite one lately is the denim two-piece. The top’s a jean jacket and the bottom’s a slim denim pant. I’m planning to wear it when I go out on my bike when it gets a little warmer. (Kouchi)
I have overalls. It’s like jersey material. I really like it, but since I prefer wearing a single item instead of layering things, I don’t have the chance to wear it often. I’ve only wore it once for a radio recording (laughs). (Morimoto)
The body-towel that I use to wash my body is blue. The colours available were orange, pink and blue, so I chose blue without a doubt. It doesn’t happen now, but I think there was the image that boys were blue and girls were pink or red in the past. Maybe it’s because of that. (Tanaka)
⟡ “Youth is about xxx”. What goes in xxx?
Letting go or not. No matter how old you become, youth is right in front of you if you believe it, and yet there are many people who talk about it in the past tense like “in my teens” or “club activities are youth”. I’m still in the prime of my youth at the moment. (Kyomoto)
“Riding on the same bike”. Back in high school, I was jealous of boys that would get hugged from behind by a girl (laughs). Talking about bikes, it was trendy to put a tennis ball in the tyres and I did it too. I want to ride a bike again! (Jesse)
“Chuunibyou” [eighth-grader syndrome]. In middle school, I thought doing slightly bad things was cool. My curfew was 6pm, but I broke it often. I would skip cram school and go to the arcade centre. It’s so uncool when I think about it now! (laughs). (Kouchi)
“Buying and eating snacks”. Where and what you eat is telling of “your degree of youth”. The snacks that cost a few dollars from the snack shop in elementary school, and then the snacks from fast food shops when you grow up a little more, and then eventually getting a full meal from fast food shops. (Matsumura).
“In a flash”. Youth-like things such as running on the river bank only suits those 6 years when you’re in middle and high school. If I were to run on the river bank now, people would ask “what’s wrong?”. Ahh, I want to go back to being a highschooler! (laughs). (Morimoto)
“Stinking of sweat”. Adults tend to avoid sweating when it gets hot, and they’ve got lots of tricks to avoid it too. But when you’re a student, you can go at full power sweating away when playing with your friends or cycling furiously for the girl you like. (Tanaka)
● RECENT TALK
A few days ago, I had just so much time that I challenged myself to see how many types of pasta I could make from scratch. Arrabbiata, pepperoncino, mentai [cod roe] cream, wafu [Japanese style], prosciutto with lemon & olive oil… I gave up after 5 varieties. They were all delicious, but the first one I made had dried by the time I got to eat it, so I learnt that timing was important. (Kyomoto)
My arms have gotten really thick from working out. I sent the picture that I took at the gym to my members in the group chat, but no one responded… (laughs). My tummy’s still squishy and I get tired after doing 12 reps of ab work, so that’s something I need to work on. By the way I see Miyachika (Kaito) and (Matsuda) Genta at the gym sometimes. I think they must be bulking up too. (Jesse)
I wanted to clean my phone’s memory and when I was organising my contacts list, there was this mysterious “white phone” entry. I’m usually the type to save contacts with their full name, so I have no idea how I saved that entry… I seriously started freaking out and wondered “who is it?!” (laughs). I stopped going through my contacts in the end and deleted apps and videos. (Kouchi)
At the drama filming, Kamenashi Kazuya-kun, Matsushita Nao-san and Kimura-san’s birthdays were coming up, so we celebrated that. But then one day, Kimura-san said “it’s lonely isn’t it that Hokkun’s the only one in June”, and suddenly gave me a present. They were cute socks from an expensive brand. Kimura-san really takes care of me like a child and is truly kind. (Matsumura)
It was delicious when I ate “tako shabu” [octopus shabu shabu] at a variety show filming. I love it and make it myself sometimes, but it’s been a while so I want to make it again. It’s great with mizuna [Japanese mustard greens] and hakusai [Chinese cabbage]. It looks like there’s delicious octopus in Hokkaido, so I plan to order some from there soon. (Morimoto)
I went shopping with Shoppi (Watanabe Shouta) because there was something that I wanted. I went to pick him up at his place and quickly got the shopping over and done with, and got fast food takeout to eat in the car before sending him back home… It was a very minimalist shop, but it was quite a trip for someone like me who rarely steps out of home. (Tanaka)