Yugo's Yokohama Walker #Epilogue
Looking back at “Yokohama’s YOUGO!”
Yokohama Walker will be ending after this publication. The well-received SixTONES’ Kouchi Yugo series will also end for now. We present a special message sending gratitude with the thought of “Thank you for reading with pleasure”.
This series started exactly 1 year ago. It was around the time when SixTONES announced our CD debut. It was a solo series, that too a work related to my hometown Yokohama, and that really made me happy... I started by declaring the goal of “Conquering all the 18 wards in Yokohama City”. Although I have only visited 13 wards up till now, there were many places that the me who confidently say “Leave Yokohama up to me” didn’t know among these wards. When I went to collect materials to write for my series, it felt more like private outings and I enjoyed myself thoroughly (LOL). I did stuff like guiding the driver when I was on the bus heading to the location shoot, choosing which shop we should have lunch at, etc. Unfortunately, the series will end after this for now although we haven’t gone to 5 districts, such as Hodogaya, Tsuzuki, etc… I wanted to show you the school I graduated from and the nearby ramen shops~ Someday if Yokohama Walker restarts its publication, I would like to do a special edition for my series!
Azatoi? Natural?
Various expressions were recorded
The main photo that I am pleased with is the one I took when I went strawberry hunting at TOKYO STRAWBERRY PARK. It was taken in a period when SixTONES would tease me by saying ‘Kouchi is azatoi’ during our concerts so I was being asked, “Isn’t it azatoi?” when I posed for the camera while eating the strawberry (LOL).
But I took it in the most idol-like way, right? During the location shoot, I borrowed the DSLM and took pictures of things that attracted me when I was walking around. I have developed an interest in photography because of this series, and I want to buy a good camera someday and try taking cool photos at the Yokohama Firework Festival.
Tasting food while collecting materials for my series, eating while walking, etc. Reaffirming “Delicious Yokohama”!
While I was collecting materials for my series, I had the chances to eat strawberries, handmade sausages, self-harvested vegetables, etc. During my 11th trip where I went to ‘Sato Plantation’, I bought rare sunroots and ate them after cooking them myself.
The white mold salami at Stadt Schinken became something that my family frequently eat. [T/N: Stadt Schinken is a butcher shop] Aiwa Bread’s curry was also delicious… All the staff also shopped a lot during the trip and I teased them, saying “Everyone, we are in the midst of working right?” (LOL). But it also made me feel proud as I thought “Yokohama has lots of delicious stuff, right?”
My favourite memories are the interaction I had with the Yokohama locals
The theme of my series is ‘Together with a smile’ so I treat each interaction with the people I met while collecting materials for my series with utmost importance. I am originally someone who enjoys talking to people, so it was fun interacting with people from my hometown… As expected, Yokohama citizens have a sense of rivalry against Tokyo in a good way so they spoke about Yokohama’s appeal with great fervour (LOL). Nakayama Ichirou san from the sausage manufacturing workplace and the staff at Yokohama Art Museum taught me with great patience and care. I feel that I received a lot of help from various people every time. To those who helped me with the collection of materials for my series, thank you, thank you!
Diligently job shadowing while collecting materials for his series! The top 3 most tiring ones are?
The one that is the most tiring was when I went to Yokohama Stadium and tried being the equipment manager for Yokohama DeNA Bay Stars. I had to take out the new balls, line them up (Plus there were a lot of them!!), and take them to the outfield.
It was tough and I was completely exhausted… The next one was probably when I experienced dosing a fire at the Konan Fire Department. I had to wear a heavy compressed gas cylinder on my back and carry a hose and I experienced how tiring a fireman’s job is. I thought to myself, “I can’t do it!” (LOL).
I also realised how heavy ice is when I experienced the job of ice resurfacing at Yokohama Skating Rink. Looking back like this makes me realize that I really did a lot~.
A special message ‘filled with love’ from Kouchi:
After the state of emergency was declared in April, many changes were made to our jobs but it seems that things are gradually restarting. Our second single, NAVIGATOR, is a cool and upbeat song. I did the lower harmony for the hook (of the song) at an octave lower while thinking “Is my voice that low?” when I was recording it (LOL). It adds thickness to the harmony so please definitely listen to it. We did remote appearances from home on ‘SixTONES ANN Saturday Special’ and I am glad that I can have ‘live talks’ even during the voluntary stay home period. The readers definitely also must have times when they can’t smile so during those times try to imagine what you want to do next. For me, I think it’s good to count the things I look forward to, such as ‘I want to go to the delicious Yakiniku shop~’. I pray that everyone will be able to do those things that they are looking forward to do. I will part with this. Let’s meet again someday, somewhere!
Part 1, 2, 3, Epilogue
-- Yokohama Walker June/July 2020--