[Translation] Baila 2011.10 - Ohno Satoshi
Well I'm not going to lie, that took me a while to translate, haha. The first time I've translated something that long (I believe?), and the first time I suppose I've read that kind of interview with Ohno. I re-fell in love with him, pitied him, respected him :3 A nice interview, I believe. I hope I did it justice! :D
Thanks to saobang2211 for the scans ^-^
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When Ohno-san arrived at the studio burned to a dark brown, his answer to my “What kind of a burn is that?” was “It’s quite a bit, huh? This sunburn?” (laugh). Even with the slightest remark he is the butt of jokes. This is Arashi’s loveable and easily picked on Ohno-san.
The day of this interview was during the height of their nationwide tour. He smiled happily in answering about the concert, “It’s a festival, right? So of course, it’s a lot of fun!”
“At what point of the concert do I feel happiness? I feel it strongly from the very beginning to the very end. Basically any communication with the audience is really a lot of fun. The venue is really big though, so of course there are a lot of people, which makes it tough. But when I see the things like “do a peace sign” written… I’ll always do it. So gradually it’ll start to be like “Eh? Didn’t I do it towards her just before too?”, so I won’t really get the reason for doing it anymore (laugh). I wonder how far you can see from the seats in the audience? I can see pretty far, so it’s kind of hard (laugh)."
Ohno-san who is currently on tour continued, “Now that the filming for the Kaibutsu-kun film has ended, I have more free time to spend.”
“Lately I’ve been enjoying myself doing things like radio control models with friends and going fishing. Lately I’ve also been interested in dioramas. On a day off recently I went to check out a model railway shop in Akihabara with a friend, only… It wasn’t really what I wanted to do. What I really wanted to do was make a little town and spread tracks across it and then run the model train through it.”
At my time of debuting I was negative like an A blood type (laugh)
[T/N: Before he gets too much into blood types, if blood types in your culture (like mine) don't really mean anything, here's a quick explanation that happened to pop up while I was translating this :P how convenient!]
He was happy in his talk about dioramas, explaining that he’d always liked making things with small details. However when I told him “Today I’d like to hear about your work,” he replied naturally “Oh, work? I haven’t thought about anything, but sure.” He continued, “I don’t think it’s as I’m getting older, but it’s like I’m starting to think less closely about each year that passes. I mean how do you keep up your motivation every busy day? How do you put your best foot forward and face the work at hand? Hmm, I think it’s best not to think so deeply. When I go to work it ends up being fun anyway, and it’s over before I know it.”
He added, “I get tired thinking too much about things, so I haven’t really been troubled by anything lately.” (laugh). “I’m actually an A blood type, but when people hear that they’re always surprised. Sometimes I even doubt it myself and wonder “Am I really not an O type?”... Although at my time of debut I was like a typical A type. I mean I was always worrying and unsure about everything. For example, even doing a stage play I’d always have negative thoughts like Is this okay? or I wonder if doing it this way is alright? There were also a lot of times where I used to worry about how people saw me compared to the other members. Like when we did concerts, it would only be my uchiwas that there were few of (laugh). That’s really like an A-type, right?”
Now it’s almost impossible to imagine this “negative like an A-type” Ohno-san.
“Maybe it was the feeling back then that I was being made to do things. In the beginning, before we debuted as Arashi, I had intended to quit Johhny’s.”
Aren’t there people more deserving to be standing here in my place?
Ohno-san joined Johnny’s Jimusho as a middle school student.
“My mum sent in my application without telling me. I guess right from the beginning there hasn’t really been the feeling of I’m doing this myself.”
He simply went along with what was happening in the world around him. However, when this Ohno-san came across dancing that he was determined to master, he became absorbed in his work.
“For me, I’ve always found myself getting into various habits. Even back in elementary school there was this guy who was really good at doing Dragonball drawings, and being shocked at that, I found myself practising and practising to try and master it myself. Then in middle school it was when I ended up in the badminton club. But then again, the moment I feel I've mastered something and get to feel that sense of accomplishment the interest tends to disappear completely (laugh). Before my debut when I was doing Johnny’s Fantasy Kyo to Kyo in Kyoto, even with the dancing I eventually got to the point where felt that same sense of accomplishment.”
The next hobby to pull Ohno-san in after dancing was surely drawing.
“It’s something I’ve always enjoyed doing, but whenever I started drawing in my free time, somehow I wouldn’t be able to make myself stop. I had also gotten to the point where I was content with my dancing, and I decided that once I returned to Tokyo I would join an art school and get into some career involving drawing. However, when I returned to Tokyo and went to tell the company president that I wanted to quit, it was then that he asked “How about going to Hawaii?” And so I thought “And lastly I get to go to Hawaii! Lucky!!”, and with that feeling I went… But there I found the press conference for Arashi’s debut waiting for me (laugh).”
Just as he was ready to quit came the inevitable debut. He looks back honestly at those days, saying that “Much more than happiness, I felt lost.”
“Surely there are far more eager people out there, so is it really okay for someone like myself to be the one standing here? There were also times when that was how I felt. It’s not so bad when there’s some place I’m aspiring to get to, but even that I didn’t have. Am I suited for what I’m doing? Is this okay? I wasn’t able to escape those kinds of thoughts. As a result I really was like an A-type back then (laugh).”
The more you practise diligently, the more you will be able to do, and all insecurities will fade away.
“It’s different when it's work with all five of us, but when I get offers for solo work, even now I can’t help but wonder Why me? So at first I’ll refuse once. Something like “There are better people out there than me” (laugh).”
For Ohno who had been drifting along the same current since his debut, this kind of solo work was his opportunity for change.
“I suppose the first solo work I did was appearing in Shonentai’s stage play. Not only was it my first time to do a play like that, it was also my first time acting under my dai-sempai. I was really nervous (laugh). But it’s because of being anxious that I practise. When I get home I go over what I’ve been taught in practise so I’ll have it ready for the next day… When there’s something you have to do, all you can do is try your best each day. And so I came to realise that as I became able to do more things, my anxieties started to fade away."
As the stage curtain closed, the effects of the experience came to be a huge boost in confidence for Ohno-san.
“Doing that stage play was the first time for me to experience that kind of self-confidence. From then it came to be that I was doing a stage play every year, and my confidence continued to build little by little. Perhaps my newfound confidence played a big part in my change from an A-type to an O-type. After all, if you gain confidence, your insecurities and anxieties will become few. Gradually space grew within myself… and before I knew it I had become an O-type (laugh)”
First I set a goal, and then desperately try and reach it.
Ohno-san doesn’t believe that he’s changed himself, but that “so far it’s the things I’ve been able to do that have changed me”.
“Even if at first I think there’s no way I can do this, there’s no way around it so I’ll give it a go. Then when I try it, I’ll find that I can do it. But there are still times when I feel unsure, and then I’ll look back to find the me that had overcome so many other things I found difficult. Even sometimes now when I have to do things, I’ll somehow still get that feeling of can I really do this?”
He continued that by “somehow completing the sort of equation within myself” he is able to advance forward.
“One of these 'equations' is that if there's something before me that I have to do, the first thing I do is imagine myself in the ideal situation in my head. For a stage play, for example, the first thing I’ll do is picture myself on the closing night. By doing this it will become something I’ll definitely want to happen, and I’ll feel all ready to give it my best. Again, when you can see the goal, you’ll realise that it’s something you can really do. I’m the same. For me, when I’m drawing, I’ll first imagine it in its completion. That way my pen or brush will move naturally towards that image in my head.”
Thinking about nothing. I think this is another way of advancing forwards.
It’s the same with both drawing and plays, but is the mark of his goal in life also in sight? When I asked this, he answered “I don’t think about things as big as that. Mm, I don’t think about anything (laugh).”
It was Ohno-san’s key phrase of “I don’t think about anything” that kept coming up. Though these words seem simple enough, again this is another of the 'equations' found through Ohno-san's journey.
“What is this for? Why am I doing this? If you think about these sorts unnecessary of things, it seems like even the things you love may become things you hate. When you think too much about things, doesn’t it make you feel uneasy? But then again, sometimes I’ll start hesitating, thinking about unnecessary things, and then I'll tell myself Hurry up and start on what's right in front of you. It used to be that I'd think What do I do if I fail?, and I'd end up getting anxious, but now I've realised that it's okay if I'm unsuccessful at something. If I do my best and still fail, the present me can accept that. In order to keep growing, I feel that in those situations I just need to keep thinking Right! Time to move on!”
I don’t like the word “talented”. More important than that is to just continue.
Everything is just an accumulation of experience. Believing in this, Ohno-san commented “I don’t like that word 'talented'”.
“Before when I used to draw I would be shocked when people would tell me “That’s amazing. Such a special talent!” I mean, when you’re a kid, aren’t everyone’s drawings the same? Like drawing a person, and it’ll be a triangle body with stick arms and legs poking out the sides. If at that time you draw something amazing, maybe then you could say it’s a special talent, but mine was the same triangle drawing as everyone else’s. Only because I like drawing and continued with it did I become good at it. That’s all it was. Everyone keeps telling me “Amazing!”, but I still feel that it’s something anyone can do.”
Ohno continues in saying that everyone starts at the same point, but whatever you decide to continue with can determine what awaits you in the future.
“I guess if you say ‘talent’, I feel that it’s something you have to have from the very beginning. But real talent is something anyone who can continue with something can get. I’m sure everyone has something they can devote themselves to and continue with. I think this is the sort of thing that should be called 'talent'.”
I’m not anyone particularly special. I’m a normal person who started from the same place as everyone else.
He is basically someone who is not good at taking flattery. “The more I’m complimented, the more uncomfortable I get,” he laughs. He continues, “I’m not special or anything. I’m a normal person who started from the same place as everyone else.”
“I guess that feeling has always been there. So when Arashi’s popularity exploded and my world suddenly changed, it felt as though everything around me had lifted up and was staying suspended in the air… It was kind of scary. Every day felt like I was in a dream, wondering if I woke up would I be able to return to reality (laugh).”
The thing Ohno-san felt strongly in these kinds of surroundings was that he needed to keep a steady hold on himself.
“This is something I told myself even when we debuted as Arashi. When I was a Junior the staff were like my friends, but as soon as I debuted it became like “Ohno-san, Ohno-san” and doing everything for me.... I was scared of becoming accustomed to that kind of treatment. I figured that if I started to think of that as normal, I’d probably become a pretty strange person.”
I don’t need unnecessary luggage. It’s better to just grab the important things and go.
When I asked about his recent painting, he answered “During filming for the Kaibutsu-kun movie I did a Kaibutsu-kun painting.”
“I decided I’d paint the whole thing over the duration of the filming, and just in time I finished it three days before filming ended. Somehow it’s like the busier I get, the more I want to paint. I wonder why that is? Maybe I can’t be satisfied with a life of just going to filming, coming home, sleeping, then going to filming again. Perhaps painting has become the trick to picking up my mood.”
Right now I’m working on a painting of a child.
“A new image came to me as soon as I finished the Kaibutsu-kun painting. I decided that next I’d do a painting of a child. I always find that whenever I’m painting the next comes to my mind straight away. So whenever I’m painting I’m thinking I wonder if I could just finish this early... I just want to start on the next one already (laugh)."
Speaking at his own pace and emanating a gentle atmosphere, it would be easy to interpret him as strange or elusive. But really Ohno-san is just a man who holds firmly to his own thoughts and rules.
“I guess it was recently when we were going on tour to Sapporo. I got out a relatively big travel bag and started packing but… three pairs of underwear, I had sandals so I figured I didn’t need socks, the T-shirt I was going in should be fine… then, what else? Isn’t that everything? As I looked at my empty bag I really wondered what on earth people put in those things.”
On tour or travelling, the story of Ohno-san’s light packing is pretty famous. What’s next? Travelling overseas with a single waist pouch? (laugh)
Travelling with the absolute minimum of luggage. This is how I interpret Ohno-san’s way of life. He laughs that “I don’t think about anything. Without even noticing this is how I’d naturally become”. By stripping away the things that trouble him, like negative or overly proud thoughts, it is evident that his way of living is decidedly simple. As that became so, the thing to wonder now is “What is it that Ohno-san packs in his bag for the journey of life?”
“I feel like you want some kind of cool answer for that. Ah, this is tricky… Can we just make it my homework until the next time I appear in Baila? (laugh)”
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Ohno = Amazing.
Thanks to saobang2211 for the scans ^-^
---------------------------------------
When Ohno-san arrived at the studio burned to a dark brown, his answer to my “What kind of a burn is that?” was “It’s quite a bit, huh? This sunburn?” (laugh). Even with the slightest remark he is the butt of jokes. This is Arashi’s loveable and easily picked on Ohno-san.
The day of this interview was during the height of their nationwide tour. He smiled happily in answering about the concert, “It’s a festival, right? So of course, it’s a lot of fun!”
“At what point of the concert do I feel happiness? I feel it strongly from the very beginning to the very end. Basically any communication with the audience is really a lot of fun. The venue is really big though, so of course there are a lot of people, which makes it tough. But when I see the things like “do a peace sign” written… I’ll always do it. So gradually it’ll start to be like “Eh? Didn’t I do it towards her just before too?”, so I won’t really get the reason for doing it anymore (laugh). I wonder how far you can see from the seats in the audience? I can see pretty far, so it’s kind of hard (laugh)."
Ohno-san who is currently on tour continued, “Now that the filming for the Kaibutsu-kun film has ended, I have more free time to spend.”
“Lately I’ve been enjoying myself doing things like radio control models with friends and going fishing. Lately I’ve also been interested in dioramas. On a day off recently I went to check out a model railway shop in Akihabara with a friend, only… It wasn’t really what I wanted to do. What I really wanted to do was make a little town and spread tracks across it and then run the model train through it.”
At my time of debuting I was negative like an A blood type (laugh)
[T/N: Before he gets too much into blood types, if blood types in your culture (like mine) don't really mean anything, here's a quick explanation that happened to pop up while I was translating this :P how convenient!]
He was happy in his talk about dioramas, explaining that he’d always liked making things with small details. However when I told him “Today I’d like to hear about your work,” he replied naturally “Oh, work? I haven’t thought about anything, but sure.” He continued, “I don’t think it’s as I’m getting older, but it’s like I’m starting to think less closely about each year that passes. I mean how do you keep up your motivation every busy day? How do you put your best foot forward and face the work at hand? Hmm, I think it’s best not to think so deeply. When I go to work it ends up being fun anyway, and it’s over before I know it.”
He added, “I get tired thinking too much about things, so I haven’t really been troubled by anything lately.” (laugh). “I’m actually an A blood type, but when people hear that they’re always surprised. Sometimes I even doubt it myself and wonder “Am I really not an O type?”... Although at my time of debut I was like a typical A type. I mean I was always worrying and unsure about everything. For example, even doing a stage play I’d always have negative thoughts like Is this okay? or I wonder if doing it this way is alright? There were also a lot of times where I used to worry about how people saw me compared to the other members. Like when we did concerts, it would only be my uchiwas that there were few of (laugh). That’s really like an A-type, right?”
Now it’s almost impossible to imagine this “negative like an A-type” Ohno-san.
“Maybe it was the feeling back then that I was being made to do things. In the beginning, before we debuted as Arashi, I had intended to quit Johhny’s.”
Aren’t there people more deserving to be standing here in my place?
Ohno-san joined Johnny’s Jimusho as a middle school student.
“My mum sent in my application without telling me. I guess right from the beginning there hasn’t really been the feeling of I’m doing this myself.”
He simply went along with what was happening in the world around him. However, when this Ohno-san came across dancing that he was determined to master, he became absorbed in his work.
“For me, I’ve always found myself getting into various habits. Even back in elementary school there was this guy who was really good at doing Dragonball drawings, and being shocked at that, I found myself practising and practising to try and master it myself. Then in middle school it was when I ended up in the badminton club. But then again, the moment I feel I've mastered something and get to feel that sense of accomplishment the interest tends to disappear completely (laugh). Before my debut when I was doing Johnny’s Fantasy Kyo to Kyo in Kyoto, even with the dancing I eventually got to the point where felt that same sense of accomplishment.”
The next hobby to pull Ohno-san in after dancing was surely drawing.
“It’s something I’ve always enjoyed doing, but whenever I started drawing in my free time, somehow I wouldn’t be able to make myself stop. I had also gotten to the point where I was content with my dancing, and I decided that once I returned to Tokyo I would join an art school and get into some career involving drawing. However, when I returned to Tokyo and went to tell the company president that I wanted to quit, it was then that he asked “How about going to Hawaii?” And so I thought “And lastly I get to go to Hawaii! Lucky!!”, and with that feeling I went… But there I found the press conference for Arashi’s debut waiting for me (laugh).”
Just as he was ready to quit came the inevitable debut. He looks back honestly at those days, saying that “Much more than happiness, I felt lost.”
“Surely there are far more eager people out there, so is it really okay for someone like myself to be the one standing here? There were also times when that was how I felt. It’s not so bad when there’s some place I’m aspiring to get to, but even that I didn’t have. Am I suited for what I’m doing? Is this okay? I wasn’t able to escape those kinds of thoughts. As a result I really was like an A-type back then (laugh).”
The more you practise diligently, the more you will be able to do, and all insecurities will fade away.
“It’s different when it's work with all five of us, but when I get offers for solo work, even now I can’t help but wonder Why me? So at first I’ll refuse once. Something like “There are better people out there than me” (laugh).”
For Ohno who had been drifting along the same current since his debut, this kind of solo work was his opportunity for change.
“I suppose the first solo work I did was appearing in Shonentai’s stage play. Not only was it my first time to do a play like that, it was also my first time acting under my dai-sempai. I was really nervous (laugh). But it’s because of being anxious that I practise. When I get home I go over what I’ve been taught in practise so I’ll have it ready for the next day… When there’s something you have to do, all you can do is try your best each day. And so I came to realise that as I became able to do more things, my anxieties started to fade away."
As the stage curtain closed, the effects of the experience came to be a huge boost in confidence for Ohno-san.
“Doing that stage play was the first time for me to experience that kind of self-confidence. From then it came to be that I was doing a stage play every year, and my confidence continued to build little by little. Perhaps my newfound confidence played a big part in my change from an A-type to an O-type. After all, if you gain confidence, your insecurities and anxieties will become few. Gradually space grew within myself… and before I knew it I had become an O-type (laugh)”
First I set a goal, and then desperately try and reach it.
Ohno-san doesn’t believe that he’s changed himself, but that “so far it’s the things I’ve been able to do that have changed me”.
“Even if at first I think there’s no way I can do this, there’s no way around it so I’ll give it a go. Then when I try it, I’ll find that I can do it. But there are still times when I feel unsure, and then I’ll look back to find the me that had overcome so many other things I found difficult. Even sometimes now when I have to do things, I’ll somehow still get that feeling of can I really do this?”
He continued that by “somehow completing the sort of equation within myself” he is able to advance forward.
“One of these 'equations' is that if there's something before me that I have to do, the first thing I do is imagine myself in the ideal situation in my head. For a stage play, for example, the first thing I’ll do is picture myself on the closing night. By doing this it will become something I’ll definitely want to happen, and I’ll feel all ready to give it my best. Again, when you can see the goal, you’ll realise that it’s something you can really do. I’m the same. For me, when I’m drawing, I’ll first imagine it in its completion. That way my pen or brush will move naturally towards that image in my head.”
Thinking about nothing. I think this is another way of advancing forwards.
It’s the same with both drawing and plays, but is the mark of his goal in life also in sight? When I asked this, he answered “I don’t think about things as big as that. Mm, I don’t think about anything (laugh).”
It was Ohno-san’s key phrase of “I don’t think about anything” that kept coming up. Though these words seem simple enough, again this is another of the 'equations' found through Ohno-san's journey.
“What is this for? Why am I doing this? If you think about these sorts unnecessary of things, it seems like even the things you love may become things you hate. When you think too much about things, doesn’t it make you feel uneasy? But then again, sometimes I’ll start hesitating, thinking about unnecessary things, and then I'll tell myself Hurry up and start on what's right in front of you. It used to be that I'd think What do I do if I fail?, and I'd end up getting anxious, but now I've realised that it's okay if I'm unsuccessful at something. If I do my best and still fail, the present me can accept that. In order to keep growing, I feel that in those situations I just need to keep thinking Right! Time to move on!”
I don’t like the word “talented”. More important than that is to just continue.
Everything is just an accumulation of experience. Believing in this, Ohno-san commented “I don’t like that word 'talented'”.
“Before when I used to draw I would be shocked when people would tell me “That’s amazing. Such a special talent!” I mean, when you’re a kid, aren’t everyone’s drawings the same? Like drawing a person, and it’ll be a triangle body with stick arms and legs poking out the sides. If at that time you draw something amazing, maybe then you could say it’s a special talent, but mine was the same triangle drawing as everyone else’s. Only because I like drawing and continued with it did I become good at it. That’s all it was. Everyone keeps telling me “Amazing!”, but I still feel that it’s something anyone can do.”
Ohno continues in saying that everyone starts at the same point, but whatever you decide to continue with can determine what awaits you in the future.
“I guess if you say ‘talent’, I feel that it’s something you have to have from the very beginning. But real talent is something anyone who can continue with something can get. I’m sure everyone has something they can devote themselves to and continue with. I think this is the sort of thing that should be called 'talent'.”
I’m not anyone particularly special. I’m a normal person who started from the same place as everyone else.
He is basically someone who is not good at taking flattery. “The more I’m complimented, the more uncomfortable I get,” he laughs. He continues, “I’m not special or anything. I’m a normal person who started from the same place as everyone else.”
“I guess that feeling has always been there. So when Arashi’s popularity exploded and my world suddenly changed, it felt as though everything around me had lifted up and was staying suspended in the air… It was kind of scary. Every day felt like I was in a dream, wondering if I woke up would I be able to return to reality (laugh).”
The thing Ohno-san felt strongly in these kinds of surroundings was that he needed to keep a steady hold on himself.
“This is something I told myself even when we debuted as Arashi. When I was a Junior the staff were like my friends, but as soon as I debuted it became like “Ohno-san, Ohno-san” and doing everything for me.... I was scared of becoming accustomed to that kind of treatment. I figured that if I started to think of that as normal, I’d probably become a pretty strange person.”
I don’t need unnecessary luggage. It’s better to just grab the important things and go.
When I asked about his recent painting, he answered “During filming for the Kaibutsu-kun movie I did a Kaibutsu-kun painting.”
“I decided I’d paint the whole thing over the duration of the filming, and just in time I finished it three days before filming ended. Somehow it’s like the busier I get, the more I want to paint. I wonder why that is? Maybe I can’t be satisfied with a life of just going to filming, coming home, sleeping, then going to filming again. Perhaps painting has become the trick to picking up my mood.”
Right now I’m working on a painting of a child.
“A new image came to me as soon as I finished the Kaibutsu-kun painting. I decided that next I’d do a painting of a child. I always find that whenever I’m painting the next comes to my mind straight away. So whenever I’m painting I’m thinking I wonder if I could just finish this early... I just want to start on the next one already (laugh)."
Speaking at his own pace and emanating a gentle atmosphere, it would be easy to interpret him as strange or elusive. But really Ohno-san is just a man who holds firmly to his own thoughts and rules.
“I guess it was recently when we were going on tour to Sapporo. I got out a relatively big travel bag and started packing but… three pairs of underwear, I had sandals so I figured I didn’t need socks, the T-shirt I was going in should be fine… then, what else? Isn’t that everything? As I looked at my empty bag I really wondered what on earth people put in those things.”
On tour or travelling, the story of Ohno-san’s light packing is pretty famous. What’s next? Travelling overseas with a single waist pouch? (laugh)
Travelling with the absolute minimum of luggage. This is how I interpret Ohno-san’s way of life. He laughs that “I don’t think about anything. Without even noticing this is how I’d naturally become”. By stripping away the things that trouble him, like negative or overly proud thoughts, it is evident that his way of living is decidedly simple. As that became so, the thing to wonder now is “What is it that Ohno-san packs in his bag for the journey of life?”
“I feel like you want some kind of cool answer for that. Ah, this is tricky… Can we just make it my homework until the next time I appear in Baila? (laugh)”
---------------------------------------
Ohno = Amazing.