[VOL 69] COMMUNICATION
(Zip spread here.)
Raw Scans: inala
Translator: encoded_panties
Photoshop: telopathique
0409
YAMASHITA TOMOHISA
[Vol. 69] Communication
Yamapi, who enjoyed the sense of unity with the NEWS members and the audience during the dome tour. Episodes of his foreign friends, who have a different way of speaking and grew up in a different environment, and also stories on his beloved music as a shared communication tool around the world.
Since it’s been a while since we’ve done a concert as NEWS, I figured even just being backstage would be lively and fun. When doing solo work, you’re all by yourself when you’re backstage too, but when you’re with a group there’s bound to be someone to talk to. Backstage we do nothing but tell really rubbish stories like “Shige’s really like an only child, isn’t he?” Being an only child, he hasn’t experienced having to compete with siblings, so he has a sense of freedom. See, he hasn’t had to fight over television channels or anything. Because I have a little sister, I’ve sat through Sailor Moon, even though I really didn’t want to see it. I really didn’t get what was so interesting about that…
Doing the concerts this time, I had the renewed feeling that it’s important that we ourselves enjoy it. If we didn’t feel that way, nothing would take off, right? In the MC we also play around with Massu’s funny points and so on. Being able to communicate with the audience is the real thrill of concerts. I wonder if it’s because we shared the air of enjoyment with the audience who came to see us, that we got even more enjoyment. This time around we also rode a big balloon gondola to feel closer to the guests high up in the stands. To be honest, I wasn’t told beforehand that we’d be going that high and in the middle of a song I heard a voice in my earphone saying “and now we’ll be rising further”. “Eh!!” I thought, shocked. When I think about it calmly, that height was quite scary. But during concerts I’m less afraid than usual. It must be the rush of adrenalin!!
Rather than calling or mailing my friends, I prefer to talk to them in person. But lately I’m busy with listening to music and haven’t seen them at all. You see, when I listen to music I want to listen to it properly through my headphones. When I listen to it over and over, that alone gives me the feeling that the variety of sounds within me increases. I listen to different kinds of music and the more patterns I recognize, the more I can bring them out when I compose song myself, and when the staff requests it, I can give them a more concrete image. Also, because we’re on the expressive side, we have the feeling that if we don’t know the latest music, we won’t be convincing. First of all, I listen to it until the chorus and decide whether it’s a song that I like. If I don’t like it, I skip it and move on to the next song. Because my way takes time in any case, when I get home or when I take a bath, I’m always listening. Although it’s not waterproof, I take my music player into the bathroom and stuff. One of these days it might stop working because of the humidity. (lol)
In the case of Japanese people, when we’re having a conversation you can anticipate how what the other is saying will end, right. However, when I talk to my foreign friends, they occasionally say things I wasn’t expecting and surprise me. For example, some time ago a friend of mine asked me “Where’s the fridge?”, so I thought he might be thirsty and asked him “What’d you like to drink?” Then he was like “I don’t need anything”. I wonder if he was just interested in the location of the fridge. I was like “Eh?! What’s this all about?!” and didn’t get it at all, but it seems that’s also a cultural difference. Also, when we were going to eat dinner, when I asked “Do you eat meat?”, to confirm, he expressed himself way too directly with, “It’s the best! Isn’t it obvious I eat it? Are there even people who don’t like meat?!” and so forth. Among my Japanese friends there’s no one who would express themselves so straightforwardly. I think it’s because the environment we were raised in was different, that we’re different in these things too. When I’m watching foreign news broadcasts, too, compared to countries where they show emotion fiercely, Japanese people have good manners. I mean, they’re polite. However, when I listen to the stories of Japanese people living in the West, it seems a lot of them find living over there easier. Although there’s the consideration that reading more in the other’s words is a characteristic of Japanese people, they might feel that’s confining.
What I’ve come to feel since I’ve become an adult, is that the hierarchical relations of the senior/junior system are important. When I was young and also doing stuff like karate and baseball, I was scared of all the senior students. When I look at myself from a junior’s point of view, I don’t think I’m that scary. Because I was afraid of seniors when I was in the lower position, I also felt bad for the juniors, but when I think about it now that might have been a bit of a mistake. You can’t only be gentle, sometimes you also have to be strict for the juniors’ sake. After all, children who don’t know the fundamentals of greetings or good manners are no good. That’s true whoever you are facing, but because they’re fellow human beings who grew up in a completely different environment, communication is difficult. I think what’s important is the determination to understand the other, and to open your own heart. If you do that, you’ll feel like you can behave naturally with anyone.
P. Photo: Me in Motion
It's me in motion. Isn't this inadvertantly the first? Me in motion.