More 2016.12 - Nino's 'It'
It’s been a while, but nepheliads, in honour of your birthday, here’s another translation featuring our favourite gamer!
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It {一途}
Despite his aloof manner, the way he works shows how wholehearted he is. What about his private life and relationships, then? What remains to be done on this path he’s followed so far…?
Chapter 96
To cast aside
He shows up dressed in a familiar t-shirt, holding a paper bag containing a hamburger. The backpack slung on his shoulder contains a game he’ll enjoy in the green room. His personal effects are sparse, if not small. This isn’t just limited to when he’s out and about - he’s a man of surprisingly few possessions.
“I have barely anything at home. It’s not so much that I’m not materialistic - I just don’t want much. I’m especially scarce in the clothing department. I only have clothes that I actively wear in my closet. I don’t know exactly how many t-shirts I have, but I only have one good shirt and one suit. Not only that, the suit is from ten years ago when I was going to America for the ‘Letters From Iwo Jima’ film, when someone from the agency bought me a suit to congratulate me (laughs). My room’s basically empty, and the only thing I have more of than most people would be TV monitors for gaming with friends, I guess? (laughs)”
“Living without stuff is easy-peasy,” he says with a laugh. And so he doesn’t really accumulate things. On the other hand, he’s good at keeping hold of things. Be it t-shirts or electrical appliances, he tends to use most things for a good number of years.
“I won’t hesitate to throw away things I don’t use, but for things that I do, I’ll keep using them until I get holes in them. I don’t actually repair them, though (laughs)”
The fact that I don’t worry about anything is pretty apathetic of me, huh?
The same thing applies to his relationships. He rarely makes new friends. Still, while he doesn’t have many of them, there are people he’s kept company with for a long time.
“I don’t want new friends. As a rule, I like being alone. If I had a lot of friends, I’d have to keep making time to go out and see them every day of the week. So even if I get to know someone, our interactions tend to naturally cease. The only ones I do stay in touch with are my gaming buddies. It’s fun to play against them and talk to them about new games via my screens at home. I barely have any celebrity friends and I don’t go for drinks or anything. The only one I meet periodically is Kacchan (Takahashi Katsumi-san), I guess? Ever since I co-starred with him at the age of 17, we’ve been like family friends. He’s basically no longer a celebrity or anything like that (laughs). That’s not counting seniors or juniors from my agency. There are people I occasionally go for a meal with.”
Like how TOKIO’s Yamaguchi Tatsuya just invited him to dinner recently.
“I heard many rare stories from both his work and personal life. I’m just glad when seniors think of me when they want to have a drink and a chat with someone. Personally, no matter who I’m with, I don’t really talk about myself. For one, I don’t have any worries. Even when problems arise, I don’t really worry about them anymore. That’s… pretty apathetic of me, I suppose (laughs). But I know that worrying or getting depressed won’t solve anything. I just have a job to do, at a set time.”
He’s a self-confessed realist. Still, it’s a little surprising that he distinctly describes himself as ‘apathetic’.
“I mean, that’s apathetic, right? (laughs) With a personality like this, it’d be absolutely impossible for me to make new friends and live it up hanging out with them. I don’t even think I even have close friends.”
And your long-time acquaintance Katsumi-san isn’t a close friend?
“Nah, he’s not a close friend (laughs). In that case, Aiba (Masaki)-kun probably comes close to being a close friend, I guess? We’ve known each other for longer, and we’re closer. Although lately, I don’t really meet up with him or go to his house unless there’s a specific reason to do so. Either way, I’m happy with the relationship we have, be it as friends or colleagues.”
Nino lives a simple life, a minimalist both in possessions and relationships. On the other hand, his work schedule is always packed. Doesn’t he want to spring clean and cast some away sometimes?
“That’s never crossed my mind. From the very beginning, I’ve always been of the stance of doing whatever work is given to me. And I don’t wish for jobs that don’t come to me. I don’t know if this is the right way to go about it, but it does naturally make you value the work that comes your way, doesn’t it?”
After saying all that, he pauses for a moment before continuing. “I believe that at the end of the day, whether it’s with things or people or work, it’s all fate.”
“Be it objects or people, if they’re always with you, then that’s fate. For example, even if you lose an object or if you fight and break up with a friend, as long as you believe it’s fate, you’ll be able to accept it without any regrets. If it’s fate, then you’ll find the object, or you’ll reconcile with your friend. Instead of deciding matters based on your likes or dislikes, you’ll find a much simpler and more satisfying answer if you take it as fate.”
- - - - -
Kazunari Ninomiya
Born 17th June 1983 in Tokyo. Arashi’s 15th album ‘Are You Happy?’ is currently on sale, and Nino’s tastes in food never change. But just when you think the burger he happens to be eating would be the standard type, he unexpectedly quips, “I like things like adding fried eggs or eating a croquette burger too (laughs)”
|| Words / Yoshi Rei ||| Photography / Emori Yasuyuki ||
|| Hair & Makeup / Hattori Yukio ||| Stylist / Iga Daisuke (band) ||
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Scans from here.
- - - - -
It {一途}
Despite his aloof manner, the way he works shows how wholehearted he is. What about his private life and relationships, then? What remains to be done on this path he’s followed so far…?
Chapter 96
To cast aside
He shows up dressed in a familiar t-shirt, holding a paper bag containing a hamburger. The backpack slung on his shoulder contains a game he’ll enjoy in the green room. His personal effects are sparse, if not small. This isn’t just limited to when he’s out and about - he’s a man of surprisingly few possessions.
“I have barely anything at home. It’s not so much that I’m not materialistic - I just don’t want much. I’m especially scarce in the clothing department. I only have clothes that I actively wear in my closet. I don’t know exactly how many t-shirts I have, but I only have one good shirt and one suit. Not only that, the suit is from ten years ago when I was going to America for the ‘Letters From Iwo Jima’ film, when someone from the agency bought me a suit to congratulate me (laughs). My room’s basically empty, and the only thing I have more of than most people would be TV monitors for gaming with friends, I guess? (laughs)”
“Living without stuff is easy-peasy,” he says with a laugh. And so he doesn’t really accumulate things. On the other hand, he’s good at keeping hold of things. Be it t-shirts or electrical appliances, he tends to use most things for a good number of years.
“I won’t hesitate to throw away things I don’t use, but for things that I do, I’ll keep using them until I get holes in them. I don’t actually repair them, though (laughs)”
The fact that I don’t worry about anything is pretty apathetic of me, huh?
The same thing applies to his relationships. He rarely makes new friends. Still, while he doesn’t have many of them, there are people he’s kept company with for a long time.
“I don’t want new friends. As a rule, I like being alone. If I had a lot of friends, I’d have to keep making time to go out and see them every day of the week. So even if I get to know someone, our interactions tend to naturally cease. The only ones I do stay in touch with are my gaming buddies. It’s fun to play against them and talk to them about new games via my screens at home. I barely have any celebrity friends and I don’t go for drinks or anything. The only one I meet periodically is Kacchan (Takahashi Katsumi-san), I guess? Ever since I co-starred with him at the age of 17, we’ve been like family friends. He’s basically no longer a celebrity or anything like that (laughs). That’s not counting seniors or juniors from my agency. There are people I occasionally go for a meal with.”
Like how TOKIO’s Yamaguchi Tatsuya just invited him to dinner recently.
“I heard many rare stories from both his work and personal life. I’m just glad when seniors think of me when they want to have a drink and a chat with someone. Personally, no matter who I’m with, I don’t really talk about myself. For one, I don’t have any worries. Even when problems arise, I don’t really worry about them anymore. That’s… pretty apathetic of me, I suppose (laughs). But I know that worrying or getting depressed won’t solve anything. I just have a job to do, at a set time.”
He’s a self-confessed realist. Still, it’s a little surprising that he distinctly describes himself as ‘apathetic’.
“I mean, that’s apathetic, right? (laughs) With a personality like this, it’d be absolutely impossible for me to make new friends and live it up hanging out with them. I don’t even think I even have close friends.”
And your long-time acquaintance Katsumi-san isn’t a close friend?
“Nah, he’s not a close friend (laughs). In that case, Aiba (Masaki)-kun probably comes close to being a close friend, I guess? We’ve known each other for longer, and we’re closer. Although lately, I don’t really meet up with him or go to his house unless there’s a specific reason to do so. Either way, I’m happy with the relationship we have, be it as friends or colleagues.”
Nino lives a simple life, a minimalist both in possessions and relationships. On the other hand, his work schedule is always packed. Doesn’t he want to spring clean and cast some away sometimes?
“That’s never crossed my mind. From the very beginning, I’ve always been of the stance of doing whatever work is given to me. And I don’t wish for jobs that don’t come to me. I don’t know if this is the right way to go about it, but it does naturally make you value the work that comes your way, doesn’t it?”
After saying all that, he pauses for a moment before continuing. “I believe that at the end of the day, whether it’s with things or people or work, it’s all fate.”
“Be it objects or people, if they’re always with you, then that’s fate. For example, even if you lose an object or if you fight and break up with a friend, as long as you believe it’s fate, you’ll be able to accept it without any regrets. If it’s fate, then you’ll find the object, or you’ll reconcile with your friend. Instead of deciding matters based on your likes or dislikes, you’ll find a much simpler and more satisfying answer if you take it as fate.”
- - - - -
Kazunari Ninomiya
Born 17th June 1983 in Tokyo. Arashi’s 15th album ‘Are You Happy?’ is currently on sale, and Nino’s tastes in food never change. But just when you think the burger he happens to be eating would be the standard type, he unexpectedly quips, “I like things like adding fried eggs or eating a croquette burger too (laughs)”
|| Words / Yoshi Rei ||| Photography / Emori Yasuyuki ||
|| Hair & Makeup / Hattori Yukio ||| Stylist / Iga Daisuke (band) ||
- - - - -
Scans from here.