Kakizaki Memi tells her hometown about Hiragana Keyaki's year of rapid progress

Kakizaki Memi: "Running the whole time" through a year of rapid progress

In the "Nagano Idol Vanguard" column in the Nagano edition of Asahi Shinbun last Saturday, Memi talks about the past year, saying she was "running the whole time" through a year in which the group made quick progress. She adds that she is now working on her singing, hoping to become good enough to get a solo song. To make the group better known, she wants to do a tour of smaller venues around the country, "like a samurai's journey of self-improvement." She didn't mention it, but no doubt she's thinking that Nagano would be one of the venues.

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from Asahi Shinbun, Nagano edition, Saturday 17 March 2018:  

The popular idol group Hiragana Keyakizaka46, to which Kakizaki Memi of Nagano Prefecture belongs, is releasing its first solo album. The group has completed a national tour, which began last March, and is riding the wave of three successful performances at Nippon Budoukan in Tokyo (Jan 30 - Feb 1). We got core member Kakizaki-san's look back at this "year of rapid progress."

"All kinds of things happened during the year. And now it seems over in an instant.... I was running the whole time," says Kakizaki-san with a smile.



On March 21-22 of last year at Zepp Tokyo, the group gave its first live performances since its small introductory concert. The lives were the start of a six-city national tour. This was something that Kanji Keyakizaka46, which had debuted before Hiragana Keyaki, had not done up to then.

"[The tour] was something I had always wanted, and I was thrilled it was coming true," she said. But "I was filled with uneasiness. I thought people wouldn't come, and that we by ourselves could never achieve something like this. I had all kinds of thoughts."

It was with thoughts like these that she came to the Tokyo lives. A big crowd gathered, and it ended in what appeared to be a big success. But for Kakizaki-san and the other members: "It was a live that left many regrets."

"We learned how unready we were. The performances and the talk parts were both bad. I remember having no feeling of accomplishment at all."

For the next performance, in Osaka, "We were determined to make the performance as good as the last one was regrettable." And the members were able to produce a performance they could accept. "In Tokyo, we were just thinking of ourselves. But this time we started thinking of the audience, and of wanting them to enjoy themselves."

After that, they went from Nagoya to Sapporo to Fukuoka, and the final performance was in December at Makuhari Messe in Chiba. Over two days, about 15,000 people came. It ended with a full group including the nine new "second generation" members who had joined during the summer. But Kakizaki-san herself had broken her left wrist during rehearsals and was unable to perform.

"I watched everyone from the wings as they shone so brightly there on stage. It made me happy, but I was really very frustrated, and felt so apologetic about it."

But soon a chance for revenge arrived. It was announced that Hiragana Keyaki would do three days of one-man lives at the Nippon Budoukan starting January 30th. Originally, Kanji Keyaki was going to do the second and third days, but in the end it was Kakizaki-san and Hiragana Keyaki who did all three days.

Nippon Budoukan is a place where famous artists and idols had stood. "It was unbelievable. The idea of doing all three days made me really nervous. But because I had not appeared in the final performances of the tour, due to my injury, I just got the feeling: 'Let's go for it!'"

Over the three days, 30,000 people came, including Kakizaki-san's parents and relatives from Nagano. "My father came to all three days, and in e-mails he said things like 'it was great,' and 'you sing well now.' I thought I might have been able to do a little something to please my parents."

And on the last day of the Budoukan performances, it was announced that a Hiragana Keyaki solo album would be released. "I was surprised, but really happy. We all cried." The album has not yet begun production.

In April, she will become a 2nd-year high-school student. In May comes the second anniversary of Hiragana Keyaki's formation. About the group, Kakizaki-san has the feeling: "We are still barely known."

"I want us to do many lives in small venues, so we can become known by many people. Like a samurai's journey of self-improvement," said Kakizaki-san. And she herself has the goal of individual performance. "I want to improve my singing so I can get a solo song. And I want to become an ambassador of Nagano Prefecture sightseeing," she said, her eyes shining.

Autographed CD Present
Someone will be selected to receive a copy of a CD autographed and with a message from Kakizaki-san.

The autograph will be on the cover of Keyakizaka46's 6th single, Garasu wo Ware! Hiragana Keyakizaka46's song Ima ni Miteiro is on the CD.

Please send a postcard or an e-mail with your address, name, age, telephone number, and your feelings about the article and about Nagano Prefecture idols. Send your message as a postcard to Asahi Shinbun Nagano Office, 989-1 Kurita, 3800921; or as e-mail to nagano@asahi.com. Be sure to mark it clearly: Nagano Idol Vanguard Present.

The winner will be notified by mail.

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This is the first time I have seen Memi talk about working on her singing.  I have liked her voice in the few little bits of it I have heard, but she gets little chance to show it. Maybe she has now got it good enough -- and strong enough -- that she can hope for a solo song, or at least a prominent role in a unit. 

She mentions doing something to please her parents. The word she actually uses is 親孝行 oyakoukou, "filial piety," actions showing respect for parents. My sense from what she has said in the past is that she was never a very hard worker in school, just doing enough to get average marks. Her father's praise of her performance may make her feel that now at last she has accomplished something her parents really appreciate. In her own mind, she only became president of the art club in middle school because everyone else was so shy they couldn't do it. And her elder sister was the real artist who preceded her everywhere she went -- except to Keyakizaka.

Memi has previously thanked Nagano Asahi Shinbun for their coverage of her.

Here are scans of the newspaper piece. Click to enlarge.