The determination hidden behind his smile (Popolo 2020/01) [Yugo]
This is part of Popolo's "Sutonzu no Solo Page" series, which features one SixTONES member per issue after the debut announcement. Yugo was featured in Vol 3 of the series:
“Rather than for my sake, I want to work hard for my members’ sakes”
It’s finally two months until debut. Hidden underneath Kouchi’s gentle tone was his passionate words as he spoke about his thoughts on betting on SixTONES and his goals after debut.
Because we have experienced a difficult period, we can finally see the things that we need to do more clearly.
To be honest, the moment I started having motivation for this line of work was around the time when SixTONES was formed. Before that, I had the strong feeling that “I was forced to do it”, and I definitely did not have the feeling of betting my life on this line of work (*bitter laugh*). The reason is that I didn't even have the slightest bit of admiration for the entertainment world before I entered Johnnys. I was not the type who watched TV often and I did not have any favourite entertainers. Of course, I practically knew nothing about Johnnys too. But my life was changed the moment my friends submitted my resume to School Kakumei’s Audition. Somehow, it eventually became a situation where I just went with the flow.
When I heard that I was chosen from over 1,300 applicants, I just felt “Ooh~” and did not give much thought about it. I also did not feel like I had won something. But after knowing how tough the Jr activities are, I did bear a grudge on the friends who applied for me (LOL). As I had such feelings, I had thoughts on quitting soon after entering Johnnys but my family told me, “Since you have passed the audition, you should at least continue that.” so I made the promise that “I will continue until the day the variety show ends.” In other words, if School Kakumei had ended, the me in SixTONES would definitely not exist.
After that, I was immediately selected to be in B.I. Shadow, and one month later, I released a CD under the unit Nakayama Yuma w/ B.I. Shadow. As I did not know that it is normally something that one should be happy about, I simply thought “This is something Johnnys do.” I might have been envied by people around me because I was straight away chosen to be in the group, but I think the me back then was protected by my members. They also taught me the “fundamentals” of being a Johnnys. However, I didn’t enjoy those activities back then. As a result, I did not have much motivation to do them too… I couldn’t sing or dance properly and also did not put in any effort. Thinking back now, I was really the worst kind of person.
But even that kind of me became discouraged after B.I. Shadow disappeared. It was my first time experiencing not being in a group as a junior and I finally understood the favourable treatment I had received up till then. When I suddenly started sharing the room with a large number of juniors instead of having a separated one with my group, I finally realised “So (suddenly not having any more jobs) is like that……” From that time until I was selected to be in “Bakareya High School”, I kept thinking about “When should I quit?”
Because of “Bakareya”, I could work together with the current members of SixTONES. At that time, I already somehow felt comfortable with them. It might have been a good thing that we knew each other well through spending a lot of time together during the long period of shooting. We were probably well-received because we were clear about each other’s character and we gained more fans gradually. Eventually, we were able to hold “SUMMARY” as 6. At some point, the feeling of “If the 6 of us do this together……” started budding inside us, but we were separated right after that and the feeling quickly faded. In reality, it was the disbandment of my second group and so I once again started thinking “Well, isn’t this enough?” offhandedly. But the 6 of us discussed and decided to work hard to receive Johnny-san’s recognition. When we arrived at the result of receiving our group name, we were really happy.
At that time, all of us had the resolution “If ‘SixTONES’ fails, we will quit the jimusho.” For me, my friends around me were starting to enter the workforce. The me, who always had light-coloured hair, felt that I was being left behind. Hence, I bet on this chance. Maybe because our resolve had been conveyed to the adults, the tides turned in our favour. Actually, the way we took on jobs changed since that time. For example, even though we used to think “We won’t do things that we don’t want to do.”, we started thinking that this is different in the current condition and situation. Each of us realised that “It’s a shame that we couldn’t even do what we were told to do properly” and so we became “Yes Man” when we were at work. Thinking about it, the period when we were separated gave us the chance to think about what each of us should do, so that separation period may have a really significant meaning.
After going through all the ups and downs, I have really deep feelings while preparing for our CD debut now. As expected, I am really glad that we can leave our songs in the form of CDs for our fans. I also feel grateful that we were able to do YouTube activities before our CD debut and debut at this best timing when we have gained more people’s support. Because the hurdle for a debuted group to manage their YouTube Channel is high, I am glad we could experience it before debut. On top of all that, I am also really grateful that we can carry out a Japan tour in this period. We designed our hall tour so that we can enjoy the sense of closeness with the audience. We also included nostalgic songs and significant songs when our group was at a crossroads in our setlist. Hence, this is a stage that we have really put in a lot of thoughts into it.
Forever searching for the meaning of being in a group
To me, SixTONES is more than family. In these few years, we’ve spent a lot of time together. On top of everything, I feel reassured to be beside people who have the same worries as me. We were able to come together regarding both our thoughts on the future of the group, as well as the creation of the setlist for our tour. I am really thankful that I met these comrades who can empathise with each other in various situations.
I think I am still searching for the meaning of what I mean to SixTONES right now. Even though Johnny-san told me “Kouchi is needed in SixTONES”, I still don’t fully understand his meaning. I wonder if I, who have a light aura in this dazzling group called SixTONES, manage to create some sort of link among the other members by existing in the group. But I don’t know what is the correct answer. To find that answer, I think that will be my task forever.
Is starting to learn beatbox one of my ways of finding the answer? Nah, that is totally one of my interests. I just wanted to do it (LOL). I can’t sing like Jesse or Taiga, and I wanted to do something using my mouth and thought of beatboxing. Well, I started with the thought of having fun with it, but now I think that it would be great if I can use it for my group. I basically have always wanted to work hard for SixTONES rather than for myself.
Regarding my ideal kind of individual work, I hope to become someone that could be well-known among casual TV viewers. For example, I want to create something ‘Kouchi-like’, just like how Inohara (Yoshihiko) san or Aiba (Masaki) san can create a certain atmosphere when they are on location shootings.
On the other hand, I hope that no matter how many years have passed, SixTONES will maintain our swagger and continue to have the attitude of attacking with our powerful performances. We will continue to travel along a rail track that no Johnnys has passed before and cover new grounds.
--Popolo January 2020--
“Rather than for my sake, I want to work hard for my members’ sakes”
It’s finally two months until debut. Hidden underneath Kouchi’s gentle tone was his passionate words as he spoke about his thoughts on betting on SixTONES and his goals after debut.
Because we have experienced a difficult period, we can finally see the things that we need to do more clearly.
To be honest, the moment I started having motivation for this line of work was around the time when SixTONES was formed. Before that, I had the strong feeling that “I was forced to do it”, and I definitely did not have the feeling of betting my life on this line of work (*bitter laugh*). The reason is that I didn't even have the slightest bit of admiration for the entertainment world before I entered Johnnys. I was not the type who watched TV often and I did not have any favourite entertainers. Of course, I practically knew nothing about Johnnys too. But my life was changed the moment my friends submitted my resume to School Kakumei’s Audition. Somehow, it eventually became a situation where I just went with the flow.
When I heard that I was chosen from over 1,300 applicants, I just felt “Ooh~” and did not give much thought about it. I also did not feel like I had won something. But after knowing how tough the Jr activities are, I did bear a grudge on the friends who applied for me (LOL). As I had such feelings, I had thoughts on quitting soon after entering Johnnys but my family told me, “Since you have passed the audition, you should at least continue that.” so I made the promise that “I will continue until the day the variety show ends.” In other words, if School Kakumei had ended, the me in SixTONES would definitely not exist.
After that, I was immediately selected to be in B.I. Shadow, and one month later, I released a CD under the unit Nakayama Yuma w/ B.I. Shadow. As I did not know that it is normally something that one should be happy about, I simply thought “This is something Johnnys do.” I might have been envied by people around me because I was straight away chosen to be in the group, but I think the me back then was protected by my members. They also taught me the “fundamentals” of being a Johnnys. However, I didn’t enjoy those activities back then. As a result, I did not have much motivation to do them too… I couldn’t sing or dance properly and also did not put in any effort. Thinking back now, I was really the worst kind of person.
But even that kind of me became discouraged after B.I. Shadow disappeared. It was my first time experiencing not being in a group as a junior and I finally understood the favourable treatment I had received up till then. When I suddenly started sharing the room with a large number of juniors instead of having a separated one with my group, I finally realised “So (suddenly not having any more jobs) is like that……” From that time until I was selected to be in “Bakareya High School”, I kept thinking about “When should I quit?”
Because of “Bakareya”, I could work together with the current members of SixTONES. At that time, I already somehow felt comfortable with them. It might have been a good thing that we knew each other well through spending a lot of time together during the long period of shooting. We were probably well-received because we were clear about each other’s character and we gained more fans gradually. Eventually, we were able to hold “SUMMARY” as 6. At some point, the feeling of “If the 6 of us do this together……” started budding inside us, but we were separated right after that and the feeling quickly faded. In reality, it was the disbandment of my second group and so I once again started thinking “Well, isn’t this enough?” offhandedly. But the 6 of us discussed and decided to work hard to receive Johnny-san’s recognition. When we arrived at the result of receiving our group name, we were really happy.
At that time, all of us had the resolution “If ‘SixTONES’ fails, we will quit the jimusho.” For me, my friends around me were starting to enter the workforce. The me, who always had light-coloured hair, felt that I was being left behind. Hence, I bet on this chance. Maybe because our resolve had been conveyed to the adults, the tides turned in our favour. Actually, the way we took on jobs changed since that time. For example, even though we used to think “We won’t do things that we don’t want to do.”, we started thinking that this is different in the current condition and situation. Each of us realised that “It’s a shame that we couldn’t even do what we were told to do properly” and so we became “Yes Man” when we were at work. Thinking about it, the period when we were separated gave us the chance to think about what each of us should do, so that separation period may have a really significant meaning.
After going through all the ups and downs, I have really deep feelings while preparing for our CD debut now. As expected, I am really glad that we can leave our songs in the form of CDs for our fans. I also feel grateful that we were able to do YouTube activities before our CD debut and debut at this best timing when we have gained more people’s support. Because the hurdle for a debuted group to manage their YouTube Channel is high, I am glad we could experience it before debut. On top of all that, I am also really grateful that we can carry out a Japan tour in this period. We designed our hall tour so that we can enjoy the sense of closeness with the audience. We also included nostalgic songs and significant songs when our group was at a crossroads in our setlist. Hence, this is a stage that we have really put in a lot of thoughts into it.
Forever searching for the meaning of being in a group
To me, SixTONES is more than family. In these few years, we’ve spent a lot of time together. On top of everything, I feel reassured to be beside people who have the same worries as me. We were able to come together regarding both our thoughts on the future of the group, as well as the creation of the setlist for our tour. I am really thankful that I met these comrades who can empathise with each other in various situations.
I think I am still searching for the meaning of what I mean to SixTONES right now. Even though Johnny-san told me “Kouchi is needed in SixTONES”, I still don’t fully understand his meaning. I wonder if I, who have a light aura in this dazzling group called SixTONES, manage to create some sort of link among the other members by existing in the group. But I don’t know what is the correct answer. To find that answer, I think that will be my task forever.
Is starting to learn beatbox one of my ways of finding the answer? Nah, that is totally one of my interests. I just wanted to do it (LOL). I can’t sing like Jesse or Taiga, and I wanted to do something using my mouth and thought of beatboxing. Well, I started with the thought of having fun with it, but now I think that it would be great if I can use it for my group. I basically have always wanted to work hard for SixTONES rather than for myself.
Regarding my ideal kind of individual work, I hope to become someone that could be well-known among casual TV viewers. For example, I want to create something ‘Kouchi-like’, just like how Inohara (Yoshihiko) san or Aiba (Masaki) san can create a certain atmosphere when they are on location shootings.
On the other hand, I hope that no matter how many years have passed, SixTONES will maintain our swagger and continue to have the attitude of attacking with our powerful performances. We will continue to travel along a rail track that no Johnnys has passed before and cover new grounds.
--Popolo January 2020--