Kakizaki Memi blog: Red shoes

Precious shoes

Kakizaki Memi
2017.07.12


Good evening,
It's Kakizaki Memi.

Today, I ruined the precious shoes my aunt gave me.
They were sandals with a white ribbon, extremely cute. I liked them a lot.

It makes me sad. So very sad...

Will I ever find sandals I like as much again?

I guess I'll have to buy new shoes.


The children's story I love best is "Red Shoes."
Why I like it, I don't know, but when I was little I read it every day.

I wonder if I should buy red shoes next time...

Bye-bye.

Kakizaki Memi
_____________________________________ written evening 170711, posted by staff 170712  10:26h

It has been 3-4 days since Memi posted, after having posted almost daily before that. A fan tweeted that they were worried. But apparently this is end-of-term exam week, so Memi -- who has said she is not a good student and has to study hard for things -- is probably busy. 

It's strange not to get a post about the weekend handshake event. I wonder if Memi wrote something that was rejected by staff for some reason, and had to quickly come up with this simple but strong replacement.

The fairy tale Red Shoes is a story by the famous Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen. Here's the full story. But the story is strange enough for me to want to summarize it here: 

When her mother died, a poor little girl called called Karen was taken in by a rich lady. She raised her in luxury and Karen became the most beautiful girl in the town. 

When she needed new shoes, she chose a beautiful pair of red shoes. Her stepmother was nearly blind by this time, and didn't realize what colour they were. When she went to church in the red shoes, people were aghast, thinking that red was improper to wear in church. They told her stepmother, who had the shoes put away in a closet. 

Later, the stepmother became very ill, and Karen nursed her. But one day there was a ball, and Karen dearly wanted to go, so she put on her red shoes and went. When she started to dance, somehow she couldn't stop: the red shoes made her dance and dance. They danced her right out of the room. She could not get them off, and was fated to dance forever, through field and town. One day, she danced past her house, and saw her stepmother's coffin being carried out.

She danced out into the countryside to the house of the executioner, and asked him to chop off her feet. The shoes, with the feet still in them, danced away into the distance.

Karen went to the church and asked to be allowed to serve. She humbly served others there for years, until an angel came and told her she was forgiven. "Her heart was so full of sunshine, peace, and joy, that it broke. Her soul flew on the sunshine to God, and there no one asked after the RED SHOES."

Memi's weird. She loves horror stories, so perhaps it should not be surprising that she likes this story in which a girl's feet are cut off. To me, it also has another uncomfortable element: are the red shoes like becoming an idol? Will Memi be forced to dance and dance and never stop?

Memi has not posted about the handshake event, but at least we have this new photo of her with Sarina and Takemoto:

KeyaBINGO will start again late next Monday night. This season will include Hiragana Keyaki, and it appears from some of the publicity that Memi will play a significant role. Here are some photos: