Let's Talk with Kenji: Daisuke Takahashi Interview, Part Two
This is an old interview, but since it's the off-season and I'm pretty much bored, please allow me to make this post. It's pretty funny and I hope you'll enjoy :)
A Japanese magazine titled Figure Skate Days Plus runs an interview series called "Let's Talk with Kenji!" by Team Japan's resident boyfraund choreographer Kenji Miyamoto a.k.a. Miyaken, most famous for creating Daisuke's Olympic SP "Eye". This is the 2nd Daisuke Interview from vol. 10, published Oct. 30, 2010.
(In case you want to read the previous ones : Daisuke interview from vol. 1; Takahiko interview from issue 2010-2011)
Here's a short introduction on Miyamoto: he is a former ice dancer who competed for Japan with Rie Arikawa (1995-2003) and Nakako Tsuzuki (2004-2006). Sadly neither team made it big internationally.
He's a GQMF
and a hunk (well, for a Japanese guy)
He started his career as a choreographer in 2007, and since then made various programs for Japanese top skaters. (I will make a separate post about this.)
That's enough background info for now, so let's get back to the interview...
K: Welcome back.
D: Oh, I'm back, yeah!
K: Yeah! Say something.
D: What?
K: How are you?
D: What? Oh, so so?
K: So so?
D: You're sweating too much under your nose by the way.
K: Don't say that. I'm going for the cool image this year.
D: You ARE cool.
K: Nah, it sounds sarcastic coming from you, Dai-chan, YOU are cool.
D: No, it sounds sarcastic coming from you, Kenji-kun.
K: What is with this backhanded compliment! So...what are we going to talk about?
Editor: Nothing's changed between these two, since the first interview.
K: LOLOL
CHOREO TALK: DARK, FRESH & EROTIC
Editor: Didn't you say you wanted him to choreograph for you in the first interview?
K: Did he say that?
Editor: It was right after the World Championships in Tokyo (Mar. 2007).
D: Ah, I remember.
K: Yeah.
D: Were you just becoming one then?
K: Yes, I was.
D: The first program you choreographed for me was Bachelorette.
K: And then three more. Next one's gonna be Jazz.
D: Jazz...
K: You wouldn't want that?
D: Well, I've done a dark one (Bachelorette), a fresh one (LuvLetter)...
K: And an erotic one (Eye).
D: Erotic gentleman. That one's still ongoing (lol)
K: What the heck is an erotic gentleman anyway? Eros and gentlemen go against each other. Stylish gentleman?
D: Or...sexy? Hmm what have I not done yet?
RAINBOWS. PSYCHOKINESIS AND S#!T
K: Look! Look! A rainbow!
D: There's a faint rainbow in the sky. Look at that cloud, looks like fish bones.
K: Fish after suppertime!
D: Imagination is important, really.
K: Why you so serious suddenly?
D: You know what? I believe that humans can use psychokinesis.
K: Psychokinesis?
D: Like if you go "whoosh!", it comes out like "boom"
K: Can anyone do that?
D: I want to! I wish I can. I know I sound crazy but when I'm all alone, I imagine things might move if I push the air like this.
K: I kind of understand.
D: Do you? Like imagining you had wings and you're flying like a bird?
Like imagining that a person you know is not a human being but actually a space alien?
K: I have those kind of daydreams too.
D: Do you? (looking content)
K: I do. If I could foresee the future...I would...(grins)
D: LOL
K: You're driveling.
D: Hail to the daydreamers!
K: Hell yeah!
GARLIC BREATH ATTACK
K: Oh, the training camp in Korea last month was fun wasn't it?
D: Korea was a lot of fun.
K: On the first day, Dai-chan was stinking of garlic.
D: I didn't stink!
K: Coach Utako was too. So I thought I need to eat garlic as soon as possible to keep up with these people.
D: LOLOLOL
K: I was in the front seat of the cab, remember? and you two were in the back seat.
The smell was coming to me in a surround mode, like from two speakers.
D: LOL we had Yakiniku (Korean BBQ) every day.
K: We did.
D: We were either skating or eating BBQ. Korea is great. You lose weight. If I had that much to eat in Japan...
K: You'd get fat!
D: Scary. But I gradually lost weight even though I ate that much.
K: Yeah, true. I guess your metabolism gets boosted.
D: Capsaicin...
K: Hmm?
D: Capsaicin...?
K: You just wanted to say that word didn't you! Capsaicin is good though, lol.
FASHION TALK (AGAIN)
K: Haven't you been getting lots of interviews recently? What did they ask you?
D: How my condition is preparing for the Olympics. How I was feeling back then. What my new programs are like. Things like that.
K: Then I'll ask you something else. Oh yeah, fashion! Didn't you say you've changed your style?
D: Not yet, it's more like I'm going to change it from now.
When I shop I try to force myself to change from my usual style, but I end up not wearing those kind of clothes. I want to go for the cool look, I want to be like, a denim and t-shirt man...but it doesn't quite suit me.
K: It doesn't quite suit you lol.
D: I thinking of wearing brighter colors.
K: Dai-chan looks good in anything.
D: No I don't.
K: You were going for the Italian look then?
D: From now on I want to look a little pop. Because I always wear something black.
K: How about green?
D: I like green too. The other day I bought something colorful and cute, checkered with yellow and green lines and a little bit of light blue.
K: What was that?
D: A scarf. A flashy one.
K: Dai-chan's gonna turn flashy.
D: I want to keep it simple, and then add a spice to it. Don't want to be dull. If I'm going to make it un-cordinated, I'm going all the way.
K: I see, and how about today?
D: I have no theme today. This is my standard style. Black-white-black. When I'm on TV I tend to wear jeans a lot.
K: Do you wear them usually?
D: No. I only have one pair so I want another one. But since I have big thighs, I'm always looking for a way to hide them.
K: You look fine in this one.
D: Really? I have like five pair of sarouel pants. LOL
K: Nice. If I wore that it would look like regular pants on me.
PUN (NOT) INTENDED
K: By the way is there anything you conquered lately? Like new food?
D: I can eat almost anything. Anything except raisins.
K: You don't like raisins? Why?
D: The taste and the texture. I don't like "hoshi-kudamono" in general.
K: "Hoshi-kudamono"... You mean dried fruits. Do you call that "hoshi-kudamono"?
D: Don't you? lol
K: Dai-chan you're like an old man sometimes. You say the most unexpected things.
D: Hmm, like what? Like calling tissues "chirigami"?
K: Chirigami! You don't say that anymore! They're tissues.
D: My mom calls clothes hangers "emon-gake." Like, hand me that "emon-gake."
K: And calling notebooks "chomen."
D: Do you say "chomen"?
K: I don't but my dad says that. Dai-chan you're like a middle-aged man sometimes.
D: I'm into bad puns recently.
K: Like what?
D: When a person says something, I make a pun out of it.
K: We're having fair weather today.
D: Fair weather... No, the god of puns is not here with me today.
K: LOL
D: We're having fair weather...oh then let's go to the fair together!
K: Well that was funny. That was really funny.
D: Just like that! (blushes) Playing with words.
K: Ah.
D: It's brain training, brain training!
K: Working on your imagination?
D: Yeah, like training on how much you could associate things with other different things. I know this sounds like a middle-aged thing to do. But it's okay. Because I'm young. If I'm still at it after turning 30, it won't be funny anymore...
K: I can't do it then!
D: No you can't. It isn't funny. It'll be too real. lol
K: The other day when I got home, this kid in my neighborhood called to me, "Welcome home ojisan!" (ojisan=middle aged man)
D: Now that's a bummer lol
K: I said, "I'm not middle-aged! I'm still young!" but this kid insisted, "no, you're middle-aged." I was hurt.
D: Well that kid is in elementary school right? You're old enough to him.
K: Well, I guess so...
ISLAND GETAWAY FOR TWO
K: When things settle down, I want to go places with you.
D: I want to go to Hawaii. I've never been to Hawaii before.
K: Me neither.
D: But it'll be fun to go to places people don't usually go to.
K: Africa is nice.
D: I can't.
K: North Africa is nice too, like Tunisia. The hotels are beautiful.
D: I want to go to Dubai.
K: Hey, let's go to where the ocean cottages are.
D: In Dubai?
K: Why do you like Dubai so much! No, in the southern seas. "Closest place to heaven."
Editor: New Caledonia?
K: Somewhere like that. It's called...Mahi Mahi? no that's a fish. Tuk Tuk? no that's a cab in Thailand.
D: LOL
K: Moco Moco? Bora Bora! You know, there's an island called Bora Bora! (in Tahiti)
D: No, I've never heard of it.
K: When you wake up you'll see the ocean right in front of you.
D: That's really nice. When I wake up I would want to push you into the ocean!
K: If I'm with you on that vacation I'd say, "Good morning Dai-chan", pick you up and dive into the sea! You'd wake up underwater.
D: I'd die. LOL
K: It'll be fine, if you swim. Can you swim?
D: I can't swim that much, but I can do breast stroke.
K: Oh, okay.
D: I want to go!
K: When you get hungry, you can go...
D: Fishing?
K: Go fishing, and diving. I'll catch something enormously big for you. Enormous as the god of the sea.
D: Really? LOL
K: Something like Poseidon. What.
D: I want to make good memories.
K: Yeah, memories. When things get settled I want to relax and get everything out of my head.
When you think about your vacation, you can push yourself more.
D: Yeah, push myself. A little bit.
K: Yeah.
D: I shouldn't be making excuses like that LOL
K: But "a little bit" is the most difficult and the most amazing thing.
D: You have to judge by the context. LOL
...FIN.
I swear I didn't make up that the throwing-each-other-into-the-ocean part, okay?
A Japanese magazine titled Figure Skate Days Plus runs an interview series called "Let's Talk with Kenji!" by Team Japan's resident boyfraund choreographer Kenji Miyamoto a.k.a. Miyaken, most famous for creating Daisuke's Olympic SP "Eye". This is the 2nd Daisuke Interview from vol. 10, published Oct. 30, 2010.
(In case you want to read the previous ones : Daisuke interview from vol. 1; Takahiko interview from issue 2010-2011)
Here's a short introduction on Miyamoto: he is a former ice dancer who competed for Japan with Rie Arikawa (1995-2003) and Nakako Tsuzuki (2004-2006). Sadly neither team made it big internationally.
He's a GQMF
and a hunk (well, for a Japanese guy)
He started his career as a choreographer in 2007, and since then made various programs for Japanese top skaters. (I will make a separate post about this.)
That's enough background info for now, so let's get back to the interview...
K: Welcome back.
D: Oh, I'm back, yeah!
K: Yeah! Say something.
D: What?
K: How are you?
D: What? Oh, so so?
K: So so?
D: You're sweating too much under your nose by the way.
K: Don't say that. I'm going for the cool image this year.
D: You ARE cool.
K: Nah, it sounds sarcastic coming from you, Dai-chan, YOU are cool.
D: No, it sounds sarcastic coming from you, Kenji-kun.
K: What is with this backhanded compliment! So...what are we going to talk about?
Editor: Nothing's changed between these two, since the first interview.
K: LOLOL
CHOREO TALK: DARK, FRESH & EROTIC
Editor: Didn't you say you wanted him to choreograph for you in the first interview?
K: Did he say that?
Editor: It was right after the World Championships in Tokyo (Mar. 2007).
D: Ah, I remember.
K: Yeah.
D: Were you just becoming one then?
K: Yes, I was.
D: The first program you choreographed for me was Bachelorette.
K: And then three more. Next one's gonna be Jazz.
D: Jazz...
K: You wouldn't want that?
D: Well, I've done a dark one (Bachelorette), a fresh one (LuvLetter)...
K: And an erotic one (Eye).
D: Erotic gentleman. That one's still ongoing (lol)
K: What the heck is an erotic gentleman anyway? Eros and gentlemen go against each other. Stylish gentleman?
D: Or...sexy? Hmm what have I not done yet?
RAINBOWS. PSYCHOKINESIS AND S#!T
K: Look! Look! A rainbow!
D: There's a faint rainbow in the sky. Look at that cloud, looks like fish bones.
K: Fish after suppertime!
D: Imagination is important, really.
K: Why you so serious suddenly?
D: You know what? I believe that humans can use psychokinesis.
K: Psychokinesis?
D: Like if you go "whoosh!", it comes out like "boom"
K: Can anyone do that?
D: I want to! I wish I can. I know I sound crazy but when I'm all alone, I imagine things might move if I push the air like this.
K: I kind of understand.
D: Do you? Like imagining you had wings and you're flying like a bird?
Like imagining that a person you know is not a human being but actually a space alien?
K: I have those kind of daydreams too.
D: Do you? (looking content)
K: I do. If I could foresee the future...I would...(grins)
D: LOL
K: You're driveling.
D: Hail to the daydreamers!
K: Hell yeah!
GARLIC BREATH ATTACK
K: Oh, the training camp in Korea last month was fun wasn't it?
D: Korea was a lot of fun.
K: On the first day, Dai-chan was stinking of garlic.
D: I didn't stink!
K: Coach Utako was too. So I thought I need to eat garlic as soon as possible to keep up with these people.
D: LOLOLOL
K: I was in the front seat of the cab, remember? and you two were in the back seat.
The smell was coming to me in a surround mode, like from two speakers.
D: LOL we had Yakiniku (Korean BBQ) every day.
K: We did.
D: We were either skating or eating BBQ. Korea is great. You lose weight. If I had that much to eat in Japan...
K: You'd get fat!
D: Scary. But I gradually lost weight even though I ate that much.
K: Yeah, true. I guess your metabolism gets boosted.
D: Capsaicin...
K: Hmm?
D: Capsaicin...?
K: You just wanted to say that word didn't you! Capsaicin is good though, lol.
FASHION TALK (AGAIN)
K: Haven't you been getting lots of interviews recently? What did they ask you?
D: How my condition is preparing for the Olympics. How I was feeling back then. What my new programs are like. Things like that.
K: Then I'll ask you something else. Oh yeah, fashion! Didn't you say you've changed your style?
D: Not yet, it's more like I'm going to change it from now.
When I shop I try to force myself to change from my usual style, but I end up not wearing those kind of clothes. I want to go for the cool look, I want to be like, a denim and t-shirt man...but it doesn't quite suit me.
K: It doesn't quite suit you lol.
D: I thinking of wearing brighter colors.
K: Dai-chan looks good in anything.
D: No I don't.
K: You were going for the Italian look then?
D: From now on I want to look a little pop. Because I always wear something black.
K: How about green?
D: I like green too. The other day I bought something colorful and cute, checkered with yellow and green lines and a little bit of light blue.
K: What was that?
D: A scarf. A flashy one.
K: Dai-chan's gonna turn flashy.
D: I want to keep it simple, and then add a spice to it. Don't want to be dull. If I'm going to make it un-cordinated, I'm going all the way.
K: I see, and how about today?
D: I have no theme today. This is my standard style. Black-white-black. When I'm on TV I tend to wear jeans a lot.
K: Do you wear them usually?
D: No. I only have one pair so I want another one. But since I have big thighs, I'm always looking for a way to hide them.
K: You look fine in this one.
D: Really? I have like five pair of sarouel pants. LOL
K: Nice. If I wore that it would look like regular pants on me.
PUN (NOT) INTENDED
K: By the way is there anything you conquered lately? Like new food?
D: I can eat almost anything. Anything except raisins.
K: You don't like raisins? Why?
D: The taste and the texture. I don't like "hoshi-kudamono" in general.
K: "Hoshi-kudamono"... You mean dried fruits. Do you call that "hoshi-kudamono"?
D: Don't you? lol
K: Dai-chan you're like an old man sometimes. You say the most unexpected things.
D: Hmm, like what? Like calling tissues "chirigami"?
K: Chirigami! You don't say that anymore! They're tissues.
D: My mom calls clothes hangers "emon-gake." Like, hand me that "emon-gake."
K: And calling notebooks "chomen."
D: Do you say "chomen"?
K: I don't but my dad says that. Dai-chan you're like a middle-aged man sometimes.
D: I'm into bad puns recently.
K: Like what?
D: When a person says something, I make a pun out of it.
K: We're having fair weather today.
D: Fair weather... No, the god of puns is not here with me today.
K: LOL
D: We're having fair weather...oh then let's go to the fair together!
K: Well that was funny. That was really funny.
D: Just like that! (blushes) Playing with words.
K: Ah.
D: It's brain training, brain training!
K: Working on your imagination?
D: Yeah, like training on how much you could associate things with other different things. I know this sounds like a middle-aged thing to do. But it's okay. Because I'm young. If I'm still at it after turning 30, it won't be funny anymore...
K: I can't do it then!
D: No you can't. It isn't funny. It'll be too real. lol
K: The other day when I got home, this kid in my neighborhood called to me, "Welcome home ojisan!" (ojisan=middle aged man)
D: Now that's a bummer lol
K: I said, "I'm not middle-aged! I'm still young!" but this kid insisted, "no, you're middle-aged." I was hurt.
D: Well that kid is in elementary school right? You're old enough to him.
K: Well, I guess so...
ISLAND GETAWAY FOR TWO
K: When things settle down, I want to go places with you.
D: I want to go to Hawaii. I've never been to Hawaii before.
K: Me neither.
D: But it'll be fun to go to places people don't usually go to.
K: Africa is nice.
D: I can't.
K: North Africa is nice too, like Tunisia. The hotels are beautiful.
D: I want to go to Dubai.
K: Hey, let's go to where the ocean cottages are.
D: In Dubai?
K: Why do you like Dubai so much! No, in the southern seas. "Closest place to heaven."
Editor: New Caledonia?
K: Somewhere like that. It's called...Mahi Mahi? no that's a fish. Tuk Tuk? no that's a cab in Thailand.
D: LOL
K: Moco Moco? Bora Bora! You know, there's an island called Bora Bora! (in Tahiti)
D: No, I've never heard of it.
K: When you wake up you'll see the ocean right in front of you.
D: That's really nice. When I wake up I would want to push you into the ocean!
K: If I'm with you on that vacation I'd say, "Good morning Dai-chan", pick you up and dive into the sea! You'd wake up underwater.
D: I'd die. LOL
K: It'll be fine, if you swim. Can you swim?
D: I can't swim that much, but I can do breast stroke.
K: Oh, okay.
D: I want to go!
K: When you get hungry, you can go...
D: Fishing?
K: Go fishing, and diving. I'll catch something enormously big for you. Enormous as the god of the sea.
D: Really? LOL
K: Something like Poseidon. What.
D: I want to make good memories.
K: Yeah, memories. When things get settled I want to relax and get everything out of my head.
When you think about your vacation, you can push yourself more.
D: Yeah, push myself. A little bit.
K: Yeah.
D: I shouldn't be making excuses like that LOL
K: But "a little bit" is the most difficult and the most amazing thing.
D: You have to judge by the context. LOL
...FIN.
I swear I didn't make up that the throwing-each-other-into-the-ocean part, okay?