Kamenashi's interviews about Koki's withdrawal & messages to fans
On the morning of October 11th, Kamenashi Kazuya appeared in front of the cameras of “ZIP!” (NTV) for the first live appearance of any member of KAT-TUN since they announced their recent formation and then continued the interview on Sukkiri (NTV)
[ZIP]
Click to viewMasu Taichi (Announcer): Kamenashi-san, it has been reported the news about Tanaka Koki-san’s withdrawal from KAT-TUN, and a new beginning for the remaining four people, please share a message to the fans.
Kamenashi: We are really concerned about all the inconvenience and worry we’ve caused to a lot of people. We’re very sorry (bows). As members, this is a very serious matter and we properly faced it as the group that we are, also we’ve thought about our fans who are always there to cheer for us, we would like to continue as one and be able to protect our fans from now on too. Thank you for continue supporting us warmly in the future.
M: We’re looking forward to the new KAT-TUN from now on too.
K: Thank you very much. (bows)
This appearance is part of the PR campaign of Kamenashi’s new drama, “Tokyo Bandwagon”.
[Sukkiri]
**At the beginning, they showed a small intro about the official announcement**
Kamenashi: I’m sorry for causing so much trouble so early in the morning.
Kato: There’s something I’d like to ask to Kamenashi-kun. Could you please express your honest feelings when you heard about the news?
Kamenashi: I think we felt really frustrated. At first we lost one, we thought we could continue as five and do it forever but I guess we feel now that we couldn’t make it, and that’s very frustrating.
Kato: about the decision of terminating his contract, was that decided by the agency and members at once or you thought a lot about it?
Kamenashi: For the members, of course we stumbled upon decisions like lives and singles, a lot of discussions were built around that (N/T: he didn’t say it like they were arguing but more about having different opinions). Around that time, Tanaka’s behavior caught the attention of agency officers. The members gathered and wanted to make suggestions, “You should do this and it will be good”, “I think we should do it that way”, of course because of our ways, we felt like imposing on the others several times. This time it was a lot more difficult. Honestly, I regret not thinking more about what we could’ve done to fix it, maybe I could’ve done more.
Kato: About these talks, did Kamenashi-kun give advises like “You should do this instead?” or did you talk about this subject?
Kamenashi: Of course, we talked about it.
Kato: How did Tanaka-kun reacted during those moments?
Kamenashi: Of course during that time he would say, “I know” and he also talked with us about “reflection”, though I think he was saying this to himself as a way to face his thoughts properly, but there’s always a portion of this that we cannot reach or improve and as a result of that part… Well, truth is we’re not the type who meets all the time in private but we’ve been doing this for more than 10 years, we don’t have that type of relationship where we can say; “Ah, so this was the reason”. I think we were only able to carry a relationship based on trust until some extent.
Kato: Did Kamenashi-kun ever feel like Tanaka-kun wanted to do something different?
Kamenashi: Hmmm…. I’m certain that in the past he was interested in quite a lot of things
Kato: Among Johnny’s, even among KAT-TUN members, he had this amazing heterogeneous feeling, would you say that’s the case?
Kamenashi: But, when we started working in this group our minds were the same, we expected the same and were moving towards the same direction, while doing our group activities, we were like “Oi, Koki….”, because otherwise we wouldn’t have been able to do this job for such a long time.
Kato: Did he feel the amount of pressure in the activities of KAT-TUN? Did he work as hard as any other member of KAT-TUN?
Kamenashi: Yes. The time we spent working in this was because we expected to come together as one and make KAT-TUN our top priority.
Kato: In the press it has been reported that “repeated violations to the rules of the agency” were the reasons. Can we call that speculation? Is it possible for you to answer in that matter?
Kamenashi: It is not necessary for me or any other member to explain the details cause I’m sure they have been described already, since there’s a lot of things attributed to the agency and Tanaka, I’m really sorry but it’s not my place to clearly say, “It was this thing or the other”. Nonetheless, as it has been reported, our agency has rules, even if they’re not stated we can all honestly say, “I think I’ve done a little too much”.
Kato: by “overdoing” it you mean there are things you can’t say or do?
Kamenashi: I’m sure you all know this but things that appeared in the news like the store he has. Things like that and also the fact that it was repeated again and again.
Kato: but these rules have already been stablished for a long time right? Meaning, it’s known that it’s not allowed to own shops or business or doing side jobs.
Kamenashi: Well yes. After all, it is stablished in our contracts, the firm we work for gives us different types of works because they are exclusive, we can’t do some things but there’s some we could if we ask for permission first.
Kato: I think this is a painful situation for Kamenashi-kun, but you plan to continue as 4, am I right?
Kamenashi: That’s right. Really, at any rate, we feel like that’s the only thing we can do, as for how many of us will be left, I think this sort of thing won’t ever happen again, absolutely, for KAT-TUN this is a start point, at any cost we want to protect this KAT-TUN, there’s a lot of fans who had the kindness to keep supporting us, we will treasure them and keep them in our minds, we feel responsible of giving this group a good direction this time, we would like to make more time to talk about details and things we might be overlooking, because we want to express our sincere gratitude… Well, our feelings are very strong but this happened in an unsolicited way and because we’ve been working together for more than 10 years, we’re talking about us but I think Koki also has feelings of guilt, I think this is a very tough situation so I’d like you to look after him warmly, please. Yes.
Kato: That’s right. I think Tanaka-kun wants KAT-TUN to work hard and KAT-TUN wants the same for him, good luck standing as four, I’ll be expecting you!
Terry: As for Tanaka Koki-kun I think he should be proud of his work in KAT-TUN, he will move on with his life not ashamed of his past in KAT-TUN but maybe stay active and work hard to not damage their name.
Kato: In fact, since I have discussed and talked with Tanaka-kun many many times as part of the agency, I think this formation will be perfectly satisfying for both parts. Even for Tanaka-kun himself.
Kamenashi: Yes. We received the report of the agency 2 days after it was decided, so we felt like, “Is that so?” and we weren’t able to comprehend that it was done. I got in touch with Tanaka, “Would you come as a member and meet us all?”. Then he came and all five of us talked for hours. We all said what we thought about KAT-TUN, things we didn’t want to change, we also listened to everything he had to say, we properly addressed each matter until the last moment.
Kato: I’m guessing you also talked about going for a different path.
Kamenashi: Well yes, I think we all thought about pursuing different things but when we formed KAT-TUN more than ten years ago, we wanted to make it a place where members would like to be… treasure it. This time too, we feel like we’ve caused a lot of problems to the staff and all our production team for a second time, we would like to challenge this together as one, at any rate, “I want to make this group bigger and louder”, with this in mind we will chase our future.
Kato: Kamenashi-kun is admirable. Amazing. Because I mean, it would’ve been ok if you didn’t come out at all. It would’ve been ok to appear and not talk. It would’ve been ok if you had said that you didn’t want to answer. But the fact that you accepted to speak so frankly about this. Amazing, and you’re also listening.
Kamenashi: Thank you very much.
Kato: Finally, please send a message to the fans.
Kamenashi: I’ve truly expressed a lot of my thoughts and I’m sorry for that. I’m sorry. In the future, Taguchi Junnosuke, Ueda Tatsuya, Nakamaru Yuichi and Kamenashi Kazuya, this 4 would like to continue progressing firmly with our fans as one, as KAT-TUN. If possible we would like to spend a lot of time with you in our future activities. Thank you always for your warm support.
Source: JE NEWS DAILY