Popolo 01.2009 Arashi Group Talk +
いっらしゃいませ!
Welcome!
I only translated the Arashi group talk and a tiny column in the January issue of Popolo. I absolutely love the cute and casual photoshoot. Since my old scanner doesn't scan well, I've taken pics of the photoshoot with my camera and added the "scans" toward the bottom of the page in case you're interested in taking a look at them. I might attempt to scanlate the 2 pages before the group talk 'cause there are captions and little blurbs all over those pages. ^^;; Like before, my translation isn't really accurate or word for word, so if you spot any mistakes, please feel free to inform me. Thanks!
Tonight, a talk meeting with 5 people. Talk about the active '08!
"This summer was busy!"
In which case, the very popular Arashi's round-table talk starts! The theme is "the Arashi of '08." While sticking together and smiling, they spoke of "this year" as?
The secret inside story about the floats in the 5 dome tour
Jun: This year was really a surprising year! However, the contents of the separate activites were rich, and I could remember all of them well.
Sho: Above all, my impression of concerts is strong. We had the 5 dome tour, Kokuritsu, and lastly, up to visiting Asia...
Aiba: It was tied all together the whole time. The impression of using balloons for the shows in the 5 dome tour is deep. The view from the balloon which was 30 m above ground was spectacular!
[in this case, the balloons are like hot-air balloons rather than...party balloons. ^^]
Sho: I was scared~ For now, all 10 shows were fine. When I was doing it, I was counting the whole time, like 9 more times, 8 more times... (bitter laugh)
Nino: I didn't know that. It was painful until when? (bitter laugh)
Ohno: I thought you got used to the height in the middle of the tour.
Sho: Though there was the time when I was definitely used to it, there was also the time until the following concert, and the feeling before came back.
[as in sho's fear of height came back each concert...]
Aiba: By the last day, I saw Sho-chan turned round and round (in the air) with composure.
[wait, really? o_o]
Sho: Nah~ That was a bit unreasonable. (bitter laugh)
Ohno: The parade was fun too.
Jun: Do you remember the time when you first saw the floats? The horse's face was super real. (bitter laugh)
Aiba: Yeah, yeah. The nostrils were open, and that was kinda exciting. (laugh)
[how exactly is that exciting, aiba? lol.]
Sho: At first when I saw it at the Osaka venue, I was really surprised. When everyone exchanged glances, we were like, "Horse, scary?"...
(all burst out laughing)
Nino: It was definitely scary. (laugh)
Jun: And then, I wanted the staff to be happier about the horse's face. If I told them, they would fix it properly for the real show.
Aiba: Is that so? It's only us who saw that horse's face. That meaning is precious. (laugh)
[so the horse was fixed before the concert b/c of arashi's reactions? i think i might have translated something wrong there...i find it really funny how they think the horse's face is scary. maybe b'coz the horse is so big that it looks scary?]
Trouble sprang up at the Kokuritsu live?
Jun: Nevertheless, we were really busy until we broke into our Asia tour. After finishing the 5 dome tour, we had meeting for "24 Hour TV" and hosted the show. While boosting up our vigor, we ended with the Kokuritsu live...
Aiba: For Sho-chan after the dome tour, he went straight to Beijing for the Olympics.
Sho: Really, this summer was busy, and for me, it was a break until the Kokuritsu live was finished. However, Kokuritsu was the kick-off for the Asia tour, so thinking it that way, I don't really know when it's good to say we had a break. (bitter laugh)
Nino: Sure. (laugh) But the Kokuritsu live was fun too.
Ohno: The fountain performance was awesome! If you stood in the direction of the wind, you'd be wet.
Jun: I was wet on both days.
Sho: The torch fire was great too. During rehearsal, the wind blew the flames toward Aiba-chan in the center. As it is during the actual concert, it was kinda like, "Wouldn't Aiba-kun's body be covered with flames?" (laugh)
Aiba: I was scared too. (bitter laugh) Because it was a situation where I had to stand still, I had to endure the heat. During the actual concert, with the wind like a friend, it was fine.
Sho: Speaking of that, we also brought the [good] weather. (despite the heavy rain on the 2nd day of the live) Because it was only when we were singing the 3rd song for encore on the 2nd day that it rained.
Jun: Incidentally, it seemed like it thundered when the set of the venue was being put away. What a close call! Mah, we broke like 3 mics though.
Nino: Because we were sliding in the puddles that we broke them!
Sho: Except for Nino, the other 4 people were sliding. (laugh) But I didn't break my mic.
Aiba: I broke 2 of them!
Ohno: I broke 1.
Jun: Another day, it seemed like my mic broke as well...
Nino: Because it wasn't another day!
Sho: Though it was broken, the staff didn't say anything to Matsumoto-san.
(laughing together)
Aiba: Thanks to me and Riida for being scolded.
Jun: Because I was sociable (from the stage)!
Nino: I see. It's that kind of ending. That kind of good luck is the proof of a star!
Aiba: Is that so~? How could I have my pants ripped on stage and troubles continuing? (bitter laugh)
[poor aiba-chan.]
Surprised by the "24 Hour TV" letter
Sho: This year we also started "Himitsu no Arashi-chan!"
Aiba: That TV show, the preparation before it started was hard. After it started and time passed for a while, it's like the feeling of having a special every time.
Ohno: Speaking of specials, this year again, we did various experiments in "Odoroki no Arashi~!"
Aiba: The underwater experiment that I did for mirror man (becoming an invisible human being) was completely beaten down to late at night. (a not-yet-aired scene shown on "Arashi no Shukudai-kun") (laugh)
[i think the odoroki no arashi that they're talking about is the one earlier in '08 instead of the one at the end of the year coz popolo jan. '09 should be already out by the end of '08.]
Nino: But when he went into the water, he didn't become invisible at all and the mirror turned inside out, so he became completely visible. That wasn't broadcasted during golden time. (laugh)
Sho: The experiment of crossing the sea on a straw boat was hard too~ With no result of hard work, the boat sank down the sea...If we relaxed, we could get to the destination after struggling, right?
Jun: In "24 Hour TV" too, we did various experiments.
Nino: It was fun. For "24 Hour TV," I was happy that we could go to so many locations.
Ohno: Nino's letter (turns toward members) was surprising too.
Aiba: I was surprised too!
Jun: That day suddenly, I was thinking who would be given the cold shoulder (for the letter part). If it was me, I'd be like, "What should I do..."
Nino: But, from the middle of the program, Riida was making figures the whole time at Budoukan.
Ohno: That was a wonder. Even though I was on the show, I somehow felt like I was an audience watching the recording.
(laughing together)
Sho: Is that so? Just in front of the audience at the workshop [or where they filmed "24 Hour TV"], while looking at the stage, you were making [figurines]. Looking at "24 Hour TV," how was it? Was it interesting?
Ohno: Yeah, it was fun. (laugh)
Nino: Incidentally, it was good to be able to watch the other side of the program too. (laugh)
[he probably means the production side of the show.]
Feelings for the 10th year since debut...
Sho: By the way, we broke into our 10th year after debut on November 3 this year. Like Satoshi-kun, he started doing this kind of work 14 years ago!
Ohno: I became a junior at the age of 14. By no means, after that, was I thinking of continuing for 14 years.
Nino: It's amazing how half your life is spent being a Johnny's! But for me, I don't really know whether being in Arashi for 10 years is a short or long time. Since I don't have other things that I've been continuing for 10 years, I can't compare.
Sho: Meanwhile, there was the staff that worked with us 10 years ago. When I was talking with that person that time, I felt ilke it was just the other day. On the contrary, it was quite a while ago. And then at the end, he said, "I wonder if the next time we meet will be 10 years later again." That moment, I kinda shivered at the thought of such a long extent. (laugh)
Nino: Ja, the Sakurai-san 10 years ago, can't dance anymore?
Aiba: One newscaster...?
Sho: No, no. Looking back, it was a blink of time, but I thought around 10 years like that is pretty long. (laugh)
Jun: For now, next year is our 10th anniversary. It'd be great if everyone could do something with pleasure on our debut anniversary!
Issue #200 Playback Column
Hello, people who made their first appearance!
Aiba Masaki (1st appeared on Aug. '97 issue)
I was nervous then, my expression wasn't that good.
[...or his presentation was poor]
That time, I was told that I looked cool, but I couldn't give a good expression myself. It's nostalgic how I felt nervous with the camera only.
Matsumoto Jun (1st appeared on Aug. '97 issue)
I often fought/argued with Toma. (laugh)
Right now we get along well, but back then, I often fought Toma. He broke my game console. Because we were kids, we argued over trivial things. (laugh)
[aww. chibi toma and jun. ♥]
Ninomiya Kazunari (1st appeared on Aug. '97 issue)
It was during my first stageplay.
It's cute, not a mistake. (laugh) I was doing the butai "Stand by Me." It was during summer vacation, so it was hard to perform without a break. (laugh)
Ohno Satoshi (1st appeared on Nov. '97 issue)
The reason of the weird pose (laugh)
This is on the rooftop of the Kyoto theater. [meaning the pic was shot there] I can remember it well. The cameraman told me to move or something, so I did this pose. When I look at it now, it looks really weird!
Sakurai Sho (1st appeared on Aug. '96 issue)
I can remember the happy things. [...or happiness]
I can remember this well. I was happy that my name appeared among a crowd of juniors' names in the magazine. Back then, those were my favorite sneakers, and I still have them at home now.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
These horrible LQ "scans" are simply for reference only. The last pic is a close-up of the column about Arashi members' 1st appearances on Popolo. The colors are off, and the pics are blurry, crooked, and not that big..Click on thumbnails to see slightly larger versions...
Thanks for reading!
