Keyakizaka46 members show support for university entrance examinees

About half a million Japanese students are taking the national public university entrance exams this weekend, and a number of Keyakizaka members have expressed concern and support for them.

No member has said she herself is taking the exam. This suggests that those who may be starting university in the spring have already secured places in private universities.

After no blog post for a month, Hirate Yurina posted for the second time in two days to express her support for the exam-takers, and her concern for their health during a chilly weekend in Tokyo.

Saitou Kyouko supported students with a hand-made fan bearing the slogan "certain victory."

Sugai Yuuka wishes exam-takers "a million-horsepower effort" in the exams. On this cold weekend, she recommends gloves, hand-warmers, and ginger tea.

Sasaki Kumi tells students to have confidence in themselves and do their best. She apologizes for getting personal, but admits that she herself took the tests, and says that although everyone around you looks so smart, they may not be. Do your best and you can succeed.


Kumi also said that friends like to talk a lot about the exams afterward, but it's okay to keep to yourself for a couple of days. Kumi seems wise, to me.

Nagahama Neru expressed support from her heart, and posted a pic of a little rice cracker sold to exam students. Those little circles are "correct" marks, as check-marks would be in North America:

Takamoto Ayaka says she's praying for everyone to succeed. She says she hasn't taken the exams (even though she's a high school senior) but she took a practice test last year and got almost zero in math, because she didn't figure out the right way to fill in the answers until there were only twenty minutes left.

Harada Aoi is just a first-year in high school but she expressed her support and remembered that for her own exams she ate curry in the morning, to concentrate energy, and had chocolate to eat at breaks, for memory.

Higashimura Mei, who is a high-school senior who seems not to be taking the exams, expressed support and concern and suggested hand-warmers:

Kyonko also showed off boxes of snacks made for exam students, including what looks like a box of the snack Neru showed:

The national tests, known colloquially as "sentaa" (they are given by the National Centre for University Examinations), are multiple-choice, intended to test if you have learned the facts you were taught all through high school.

There is a movement now to reduce their importance in favour of other factors, but those factors might include overseas study and other things that would skew the results in favour of those with money to do them. Just as in Imperial China, these tests are the way someone from a poor family can rise into the upper reaches of society: by going to good university, doing well, making connections, and getting a high-level job.

Of the 500,000 people taking the exams, about 200,000 will have taken them before and be coming back for another try. 

According to Wikipedia and other sources (I have no personal knowledge), the top public universities tend to be the top universities in Japan. These exams are pretty well exclusively for going to public universities: if you get good enough marks in these exams, you are then able to take the exams given by a specific university. Private universities work with their own exams alone.

Keyakizaka members may just be being discreet in not mentioning their own exams, but it seems likely to me that management works with parents to get members into private universities that are able to accommodate students with heavy outside work schedules.

In reading about seiyuu, I have understood that a number have gone through special programs at Waseda, a top private university that is not far from Keyakizaka's management's office. On the other hand, top private universities Keiou and Meiji Gakuin Daigaku (Kumi's school, not so "top" as Keiou) may be closer to one the high schools entertainers tend to attend. It is not known where Keyakizaka members go to school.

Plenty of entertainers have gone to Waseda and Keiou. Miwa and Hitoto You (singers) to Keiou. Tamori (of Music Station) and Yuuki Aoi (seiyuu) to Waseda.

Keyakizaka members graduating from high school this spring are: Mona, Risa, Neru, Zuumin, Oda Nana, Koike, Higashimura Mei, Takase Mana, and Takamoto Ayaka. Neru, Mana and Oda Nana are the three I would most expect to go to a four-year university rather than a two-year college.

Keyakizaka are not the only idols wishing exam-takers well. Nogizaka46 members Saitou Chiharu, Yamazaki Rena (who wrote the exams last year), have also blogged about the exams.