More 2017.12 - Nino's 'It'
This was an oddly easy one.
Also, might be just me but I love how fiercely proud Nino is about Arashi!
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It {一途}
The rush of promotional interviews for his movie have died down a little; it’s been a while since he’s had quiet days. At times, if he looks back on the path he’s walked, his ever earnest feelings would be there.
Chapter 108
Five similar people
It’s a spacious, green park. Although he says “I’m not fond of outdoor photoshoots”, he seems to be thoroughly enjoying himself. Possibly because nobody is around, or possibly because of the autumn air. We don’t know. The movie ‘Last Recipe’ exceeded expectations most deliciously; it's a work that has left a lasting impression. When I informed him of my thoughts regarding this, he smiled and replied, “Oh, of course. The director, staff and cast were all amazing!”. It was the lead actor Ninomiya Kazunari who was wonderful, though.
“Was I? It’s just, I went into the production wanting to make something where people could simply enjoy the story or the visuals, not hampered by the impression of the ‘Nino will be cooking! How impressive!’. Like, it’d be nice if the fact that the young male protagonist had grown a little by the end came across.”
Ninomiya’s TV personality nature doesn’t want to be in productions that stand out. That’s the one thing he’s constantly been saying.
“No matter what I do, the impression of ‘Arashi’s Nino’ is strong, so you might question whether it makes it hard to see the role’s character. I’m not particularly trying to deny that, and I’m not thinking of forcefully trying to break that stereotype. I can’t control how people view me. But what I can do is look at the work itself, and I just want to do what I can.”
In his younger days, it seems he harboured dreams of being a producer.
“I mean, on a truly great set, everyone’s incredibly tolerant - the actors and the staff are standing on the same level asking each other for their thoughts, and everyone’s morale is boosted. (Ayano) Gō-chan was the only actor who was about the same age; we’re on good enough terms to have meals together in our private time and it’s been a while since we’ve co-starred. So naturally we’d built up that trust; it was fun.”
There are no reasons in emotions, you can’t understand another person’s heart.
That said, in this line of work, it’s ‘once-in-a-lifetime encounters’. “You never experience the same set twice”, Nino has said. Doesn’t it get lonely?
“I don’t know. ‘Once-in-a-lifetime encounters’ are inevitable, I don’t really give that much thought. For starters, they say human emotions are connected by a single thread, right? To say, “It’s over; I’m lonely” - it’s not that simple an emotion. If you could explain it so easily by saying hearts are connected by a thread, then there wouldn’t be any crimes and we’d all be living as we wished. Even if you had that feeling or thought at that moment, there’s no clear reason for it and I don’t think there’s such a thing as absolutely immutable feelings. So it’s not like I analyse every one of my own feelings. I think wanting to know people’s emotions and true feelings is pointless.”
That he doesn’t try to delve into people’s hearts is because he thinks ‘nobody knows you but yourself’.
“Whether it’s family or Arashi members, there are times when they don’t know my true feelings. Personalities, lives; it varies from person to person. Humans can only see things based on their own experiences. It’s natural that someone who hasn’t climbed the same mountain wouldn’t be able to understand the sensations or the emotions of reaching the top.”
Everybody’s unique. We can’t completely comprehend each other. We resign ourselves to that. On the other hand, that’s precisely why we should treasure the intervals between. Sometimes, we can feel people who are similar to us.
“With Arashi members, naturally, there are times when I can feel how similar we are down to the last detail, even without prior discussion. For example, the so-called ‘director’s viewpoint’ - it’s the same for every member. All five are looking at Arashi from a birds’ eye view, and not only that, the viewpoint looks 2-3 years into the future as well. Arashi’s current situation is something we predicted 2-3 years ago. But rather than just executing that, we share the view of ‘right now, let’s prioritise activities that will bring others joy’. Respond to what’s asked of us with all our might and just do a little of what we want to do, that’s our stance. Arashi are all people who think in terms of ‘for someone’s sake’, so I think we can handle that. Way back, when we had our 10th anniversary, it was just a wild idea. There’s not a single person in Arashi who just works for himself. If there was, the atmosphere would be different, you can tell (laughs).”
And there’s no dissatisfaction with that?
“I don’t think so. All of us have things we want to do individually, but the feeling of wanting to repay the people we’re indebted to is far greater. When the performances in Hawaii for our 15th anniversary were decided, there was some debate since there were still places within the country that we hadn’t even been to, and we still hold that sentiment. As long as people support us, we’ve got to keep returning that favour. Arashi are a bunch of people with a very strong sense of duty (laughs).”
You say that so proudly! Incidentally, are there things that Nino personally wants to do?
“A sappy love story or something! Though there may be fans who don’t want to see that and I’m also not great with doing love scenes (laughs). It’s just that I’ve never done one before, so I’d like to surprise people. That’s one way of enjoying things! (laughs)”
- - - - -
Kazunari Ninomiya
Born 17th June 1983 in Tokyo. The movie he stars in, ‘Last Recipe: Memories of the Giraffe’s Tongue’ is scheduled to hit screens 3rd November. “We never worked together on the film set, but I did a magazine discussion with Nishijima (Hidetoshi)-san. It got incredibly lively. We exchanged contact details and even promised to go for a meal together.”
- - - - -
|| Words / Yoshi Rei || Photography / Emori Yasuyuki ||
|| Hair & Makeup / Hattori Yukio || Stylist / Iga Daisuke ||
- - - - -
Also, might be just me but I love how fiercely proud Nino is about Arashi!
- - - - -
It {一途}
The rush of promotional interviews for his movie have died down a little; it’s been a while since he’s had quiet days. At times, if he looks back on the path he’s walked, his ever earnest feelings would be there.
Chapter 108
Five similar people
It’s a spacious, green park. Although he says “I’m not fond of outdoor photoshoots”, he seems to be thoroughly enjoying himself. Possibly because nobody is around, or possibly because of the autumn air. We don’t know. The movie ‘Last Recipe’ exceeded expectations most deliciously; it's a work that has left a lasting impression. When I informed him of my thoughts regarding this, he smiled and replied, “Oh, of course. The director, staff and cast were all amazing!”. It was the lead actor Ninomiya Kazunari who was wonderful, though.
“Was I? It’s just, I went into the production wanting to make something where people could simply enjoy the story or the visuals, not hampered by the impression of the ‘Nino will be cooking! How impressive!’. Like, it’d be nice if the fact that the young male protagonist had grown a little by the end came across.”
Ninomiya’s TV personality nature doesn’t want to be in productions that stand out. That’s the one thing he’s constantly been saying.
“No matter what I do, the impression of ‘Arashi’s Nino’ is strong, so you might question whether it makes it hard to see the role’s character. I’m not particularly trying to deny that, and I’m not thinking of forcefully trying to break that stereotype. I can’t control how people view me. But what I can do is look at the work itself, and I just want to do what I can.”
In his younger days, it seems he harboured dreams of being a producer.
“I mean, on a truly great set, everyone’s incredibly tolerant - the actors and the staff are standing on the same level asking each other for their thoughts, and everyone’s morale is boosted. (Ayano) Gō-chan was the only actor who was about the same age; we’re on good enough terms to have meals together in our private time and it’s been a while since we’ve co-starred. So naturally we’d built up that trust; it was fun.”
There are no reasons in emotions, you can’t understand another person’s heart.
That said, in this line of work, it’s ‘once-in-a-lifetime encounters’. “You never experience the same set twice”, Nino has said. Doesn’t it get lonely?
“I don’t know. ‘Once-in-a-lifetime encounters’ are inevitable, I don’t really give that much thought. For starters, they say human emotions are connected by a single thread, right? To say, “It’s over; I’m lonely” - it’s not that simple an emotion. If you could explain it so easily by saying hearts are connected by a thread, then there wouldn’t be any crimes and we’d all be living as we wished. Even if you had that feeling or thought at that moment, there’s no clear reason for it and I don’t think there’s such a thing as absolutely immutable feelings. So it’s not like I analyse every one of my own feelings. I think wanting to know people’s emotions and true feelings is pointless.”
That he doesn’t try to delve into people’s hearts is because he thinks ‘nobody knows you but yourself’.
“Whether it’s family or Arashi members, there are times when they don’t know my true feelings. Personalities, lives; it varies from person to person. Humans can only see things based on their own experiences. It’s natural that someone who hasn’t climbed the same mountain wouldn’t be able to understand the sensations or the emotions of reaching the top.”
Everybody’s unique. We can’t completely comprehend each other. We resign ourselves to that. On the other hand, that’s precisely why we should treasure the intervals between. Sometimes, we can feel people who are similar to us.
“With Arashi members, naturally, there are times when I can feel how similar we are down to the last detail, even without prior discussion. For example, the so-called ‘director’s viewpoint’ - it’s the same for every member. All five are looking at Arashi from a birds’ eye view, and not only that, the viewpoint looks 2-3 years into the future as well. Arashi’s current situation is something we predicted 2-3 years ago. But rather than just executing that, we share the view of ‘right now, let’s prioritise activities that will bring others joy’. Respond to what’s asked of us with all our might and just do a little of what we want to do, that’s our stance. Arashi are all people who think in terms of ‘for someone’s sake’, so I think we can handle that. Way back, when we had our 10th anniversary, it was just a wild idea. There’s not a single person in Arashi who just works for himself. If there was, the atmosphere would be different, you can tell (laughs).”
And there’s no dissatisfaction with that?
“I don’t think so. All of us have things we want to do individually, but the feeling of wanting to repay the people we’re indebted to is far greater. When the performances in Hawaii for our 15th anniversary were decided, there was some debate since there were still places within the country that we hadn’t even been to, and we still hold that sentiment. As long as people support us, we’ve got to keep returning that favour. Arashi are a bunch of people with a very strong sense of duty (laughs).”
You say that so proudly! Incidentally, are there things that Nino personally wants to do?
“A sappy love story or something! Though there may be fans who don’t want to see that and I’m also not great with doing love scenes (laughs). It’s just that I’ve never done one before, so I’d like to surprise people. That’s one way of enjoying things! (laughs)”
- - - - -
Kazunari Ninomiya
Born 17th June 1983 in Tokyo. The movie he stars in, ‘Last Recipe: Memories of the Giraffe’s Tongue’ is scheduled to hit screens 3rd November. “We never worked together on the film set, but I did a magazine discussion with Nishijima (Hidetoshi)-san. It got incredibly lively. We exchanged contact details and even promised to go for a meal together.”
- - - - -
|| Words / Yoshi Rei || Photography / Emori Yasuyuki ||
|| Hair & Makeup / Hattori Yukio || Stylist / Iga Daisuke ||
- - - - -