Nagahama Neru Oricon interview: the photobook, her past, and leaving Hiragana

from Oricon News (9 December):

Nagahama Neru of Keyakizaka46: Her first swimsuit photos! Her thoughts and confessions about her special entry into the group and the end of her double duty with Hiragana Keyaki.
 

When the formation of Keyakizaka46 was announced, on August 21, 2015, the name of Nagahama Neru (19) was not among those who passed the final audition. On that same morning, her mother, who opposed her joining the group, withdrew her from the audition and took her back to her home in Nagasaki.

About three months later, the then-17-year-old entered the group as a special exception. Amazingly, two years after that she is the subject of a solo photo collection, shot in Nagasaki. The first edition of her photo collection, "From Here" (ここから Koko Kara, published 19 December by Kodansha), is the largest first printing ever of a photobook for a Sakamichi Series group (Nogizaka46 and Keyakizaka46) at 120,000 copies. 

With a nervous Neru, we looked back over the photos she had done so well in, back in her home town, and she told us her true feelings about entering the group as a special exception, and about ending her double duty with Hiragana Keyaki.

I couldn't imagine a photo book of just me alone.

 

-- It has been two years since the November 30, 2015 broadcast of Keyakizaka46's regular program Keyakitte, Kakenai (Sunday nights at 00:35, TV Tokyo), and the shock of your being announced as joining the group. 

Nagahama Neru: It has been a very rich two years. It feels as if five or six years have passed. I've had all kinds of experiences, so that something that happened a month ago seems like something from a long time ago. Looking back over these two years, although on the one hand it seems to have passed quickly, it also feels like a long time.

--  All the members of Keyakizaka46 have done two dramas, and it has been decided that you will appear on Kouhaku two years in a row. These are big events, but now you and Watanabe Rika-san (published December 5th) have become the group's vanguard in putting out solo photo books. Did you ever think you would put out a solo photo book?

Nagahama Neru: I never imagined it at all. When I was told "you're doing a photo book" I was quite astonished. I wasn't that used to having photos taken, and I didn't think I posed very well. I wondered if it would be all right. I couldn't imagine a photo book of just me alone.

When I met people who had been good to me and I hadn't seen in a long time, I couldn't help crying.

-- Was being photographed in your home town of Nagasaki your own wish?

Nagaham Neru: Yes. When I was thinking about where to do it, I thought that in my home at Nagasaki and on the Goto Islands, I would be relaxed and might show my natural self. I love my home and wanted to have it with me in the photos. So I tried expressing this wish.

-- Did you think of taking the opportunity to go overseas?

Nagahama Neru: No, I don't think it suits me (laughs). I love the sea and the scenery of my home, and think it was good that I was able to do the photography in Nagasaki.

-- You were also photographed in the place you lived in as a young child, the Goto Islands

Nagahama Neru:  From age 3 to age 7, I lived in a place called Narao, on Nakadorijima island. We moved to Nagasaki city when I was in second grade. On the island, we had no special goal in mind and just wandered around. But everywhere we went I met people who had been good to me when I was little, but whom I hadn't seen in years, and I ended up crying. Even though I hadn't kept in touch, they remembered me and said "welcome home." It made me very happy. The whole island community is like a family.

-- You've said that for the five days of shooting, you left your smartphone in Tokyo.

Nagahama Neru: I wanted to leave the smartphone and all its pictures behind and just go. I read books, looked at the scenery, talked with people there and with staff, and the photographer took pictures for me. I never once thought it would have been better to take the phone. And even though it wasn't a real visit home, I saw my parents for the first time in a while. I was able to rest my mind and spend a slow and easy five days there.
 

I've never worn a bikini even in private life, so I was embarrassed

-- It was your first time being photographed in a swimsuit. The Keyakizak46 swimsuit ban was lifted.

Nagahama Neru: I've never worn a bikini even in private life, so I was embarrassed. But for the photography in the sea at the Goto islands, the staff were a very reliable team, and I trusted everything to them and just did my best. I thought it would be good to have a photo book that wouldn't fade as the years went by. Whether swimsuits or other outfits, they chose things that were simple and cute, and that I think may suit me.

-- Has there been any reaction from the other members?

Nagahama Neru: Watanabe Rika and I are the first to do swimsuit photos, and the members were embarrassed, too. But I was happy when members who had said they would be too embarrassed even to look at them said the pictures were good.

-- There has been strong reaction to the beautiful wasp-waisted midriff shot that came out as a preview. Leading up to the shooting, did you have to be careful what you ate?

Nagahama Neru: I didn't eat anything in the evening. And I drank a lot of soy milk. With rehearsals for the live piled on top of everything, I can close to breaking. But Rika-chan was going to be doing her photo-shoot at the same time, so we encouraged each other. That Rika-chan was doing her best, too, was heartening.

Making people laugh, liking to talk with people -- I remembered that those were my true self.

-- For fans who are thinking of going on a "pilgrimage to sacred sites," what's the place you would most recommend?

Nagahama Neru: I really recommend taking pictures of sunset from a place called Shinuonomefure Airando on Nakadorijima island. The sea is beautiful there, and the sun sets on the horizon. At night, the moonlight on the ocean is mystical. And the mountains are reflected upside-down in the water. I realized anew that I had actually lived in such a wonderful place as this. It's a little under two hours from Nagasaki by boat, and then 20-30 minutes by car. But it seems there are only three boats a day (laughs). I don't think it's that distant a place. I'd love it if you would feel free to go and take a look.

-- It has been announced that the first edition will be the largest ever for a Sakamichi Series (Nogizaka46, Keyakizaka46) photobook, at 120,000 copies. May I ask how high your level of anticipation is?

Nagahama Neru: When they told me that, I felt grateful and undeserving. It didn't feel real. I had a feeling like "what can I do?" But I put out everything my 18-year-old self had, and the book is packed with all the charms of Nagasaki, so for me it became a very satisfying photobook. Up to now, my expression got stiff when I faced the camera. But there I smiled as even I have never seen myself smile before, looking as if I was amazed I could make expressions like that. Joking around, making people laugh, liking to talk with people -- I remembered that those were my true self.

Even though I didn't know if I would be accepted, "I had to do it," "I had to go."

-- Two years have passed since November 30, 2015, when Nagahama-san's entry in Hiragana Keyakizaka46 was announced. It is borne in on me again just how strong-hearted you were, to enter the group late, alone.

Nagahama Neru: Even though I had the strong feeling I might not be accepted, I felt "I have to do it, I have to go." But thinking about it now, even I think it was an amazing thing to do (laughs).

-- Even though you were aware you might not be accepted, you still wanted to join?

Nagahama Neru: Yes. Of course, I was very aware of everyone's feelings. They had just formed, and what they were going to be doing was still unclear, and I was entering all alone. I naturally felt agitated. I understood that they wouldn't feel like saying "welcome" right away. Thinking back over that time now, I think how great it is that I have come to be able to talk about that time with everyone.

-- Are there things about that November 30th that you think about intensely now?

Nagahama Neru: In the past, I have had all kinds of thoughts about August 21st, the day the group was formed. The whole group is congratulated on that day, but I wasn't there then. So on those occasions, I think about myself and that day again. I am made aware again that I did not take the final audition and entered late, and can't remember it with everyone else.

I wondered if my being there was becoming a minus for both

-- You did not take the final audition, but entered Hiragana Keyakizak46 as a special exception. Then, starting from the release of the second single, Sekai ni wa Ai Shika Nai in August 2016, you did double duty as a member of both Kanji Keyakizaka26 and Hiragana Keyaki. Then on the September 25th broadcast of Keyakitte, Kakenai, it was announced that you had been released from double duty and would be with Kanji Keyaki alone.

Nagahama Neru -- I wanted to keep being with both Kanji Keyaki and Hiragana Keyaki if I could.  The photobook photography was done in the middle of July. Recording of Kanji Keyaki's drama (Zankoku no Kankyakutachi, NTV) was just ending. And we were in rehearsal for he outdoor live. And I took part in the Hiragana Keyaki National Tour performance in Nagoya. I wanted to keep doing both with the same amount of enthusiasm, but.... During the first national tour in August, I thought I wasn't doing well in either capacity, and talked a lot with the staff about it. But when it came to the broadcast when the announcement was made, I had no idea it was going to happen. When I heard it, I was quite bewildered.

-- In your blog after that, you said: "I am unendingly grateful to staff for thinking of my physical condition and stopping the double-duty before I was beyond recovery." Those were startling words. Was it really that close-run a thing?

Nagahama Neru: That was too strong a way of putting it. It's just that with the summer's tight schedule, and the national tour starting, the whole group was struggling, and I was worried. There were things to learn both for Kanji Keyaki and for Hiragana Keyai, and I wondered if I was becoming a minus for both.

-- How did you feel you were becoming a minus?

Nagahama Neru: Because of the timing of the rehearsals, I sometimes had to apologize for not being able to get there for one group or the other. Hiragana's morale was high, with a feeling of growing solidarity, but I was sometimes there and sometimes absent, off working with Kanji Keyaki, and I thought I might be weakening the solidarity of the group. And seeing that I was at my limit, staff put a stop to it -- for which I was very grateful. But it really was regrettable and disappointing. I wanted to do my best for both.

-- When you moved completely to Kanji Keyaki, did members say anything that remains with you? 

Nagahama Neru: It really made me happy when Hiiragana Keyaki members said: "We'll always think of you as a member of Hiragana Keyaki." Although they didn't all say it directly, I was happy that they showed such concern for me.

It's okay that I watched Silent Majority from the wings

 -- When you became a member of Kanji Keyaki alone, was there any change in your thinking?

Nagahama Neru: My feelings became calmer. But there were still some things that didn't change. Our debut single, Silent Majority, is a very important song for the group. But even after that, I still watched from the wings. And I think that may be a good thing. I was very happy that fans said they wanted to see a 21-member Silent Majority now, and we did do it with all 21 of us at Kouhaku. Naturally, I still wanted to do it, but during the national tour, etc., they did it with the original members and I watched from the wings, wishing I was with them and could forget the fact that I entered late.

-- Akimoto Atsushi-san wrote on the photo collection's jacket cover "Nagahama Neru is modest," and you really are. He also said "I look forward to what happens from here." [note: koko kara, "from here," is the title of the photo collection.] Now that you are exclusively with Kanji Keyaki, please tell us what kind of member you want to become, "from here on."

Nagahama Neru: In Keyakizaka's third year, and we're no longer newcomers. From here on it's being a group that's important. As for myself, even after becoming exclusively a member of Kanji Keyaki, nothing of my "double duty" self is gone. I want to go forward improving myself, and looking for things that only I can do.

After the interview, I asked the editor responsible for the book -- who had been sitting with us -- the reason why they made the offer to her and what charm they felt through the shooting. Laughing, they said it was embarrassing to be asked, but soon got to the shooting. "People of the same generation would feel close to her, like a member of the same class. People of an older generation would feel the charm of the nostalgia of her natural simplicity... We decided to make the theme 'youth.'" said the editor. "In Tokyo she is reserved and modest, but on the Gotou Islands, the wild child is on full display. On the islands, Nagahama-san gives a feeling of sweetness more than just human kindness. I think she will pierce the hearts of people of a broad range of ages," the editor said with deep confidence.

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Translator's note: I haven't included all the photos from the original piece. You can see them here.