Who is Kakizaki Memi?

Kakizaki Memi was a big hit with the public in her Showroom auditions for Hiragana Keyaki. A cute 14-year-old with loli appeal.

Later sessions have shown her to be a more solid character than that. In her most recent Showroom session she seemed relaxed and opinionated.

Now it turns out that she is the secretary of her school's student council, and head of the school's art club. As well as a fast runner who is drafted onto the relay team every year.

Here is a web interview that accompanies her tame but slightly unsettling photo spread in Japanese Weekly Playboy. 

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2016.08.29

The new star-in-waiting who holds a group's fate in her hands: Kakizaki Memi

Since its debut in April of this year with Silent Majority, idol group Keyakizaka46 has taken off. It quickly conducted a second series of auditions to set in motion a new under-group: "Hiragana Keyaki."

The youngest member of the group, the beautiful Kakizaki Memi, 14, does her first gravure!

-- Kakizaki-san, your given name is unusual. Could you tell us where it comes from? 

Kakizaki: Yes. When a plant grows, the stage between the shoot (me 芽) and the fruit (mi 実) is the flower, right? So my parents said they put shoot and fruit together to mean "flower." It's a paradoxical way of expressing it, isn't it?

-- What an elegant origin. What do the other members call you?

Kakizaki: "Memii" or "Memi-tan..." But "-tan" is kind of embarrassing (blushes). I'd be happy if I was called by some friendly-seeming nickname like "Kakkii."

-- Kakizaki-san comes from Nagano?

Kakizaki: Yes. There are so many people in Tokyo, and they are all rushing around for some reason. It's a bit scary (laughs). And Tokyo Station is huge. I always have trouble there.

-- What kind of area did you grow up in in Nagano?

Kakizaki: I don't think of us as living in a very rural area, but you can see mountains all around us. When I was little, I would rather play with the boys than with the girls, so I was always climbing trees. When I came in from outside, there were sometimes stag beetles on my clothing

-- That really is rural...!  In the photos, there was a scene where you were running along an embankment. Are you a fast runner?

Kakizaki: I guess so. Somehow, this year when we did our physical testing, I came second out of all the girls in the school....

-- That's pretty fast! Are you in the track and field club?

Kakizaki: No, the Art Club (laughs). I don't do a lot of things like running, but in fifth grade I suddenly became fast. Since then, I've been on the relay team every year.

-- I can imagine that. You've just begun activities with Hiragana Keyaki, but what's that group like?

Kakizaki: Keyakizaka46 has a cool, strong image. But in Hiragana Keyaki, the members are all...flighty (laughs). There are especially a lot of flighty girls among the older members. (giggles)

-- Do you enjoy the lessons?

Kakizaki: Yes, they're fun. When we get together to learn dancing, we get all excited doing things like showing each other our old photos and saying "you're fatter" and so on. (laughs) But even though we're like that all the time, we feel we have to catch up to Keyakizaka46 and should be a bit sharper about it.

-- Even though you're the youngest, you're pretty stoic, aren't you?

Kakizaki: No, I don't think I'm particularly stoic. In the past, I thought of myself the type who was easy on herself. (laughs)

-- From here on, I think you'll have to work hard at some things even if you don't enjoy them. I look forward to your growing up! By the way, at school do you do anything like being a class rep?

Kakizaki: Well...I'm head of the Art Club and the Secretary of the Student Council.