Interview: Fujiyoshi Karin and Morita Hikaru

with Magazine September 2021

 

 

Morita – It feels to me as if all the members do what they do for the sake of the group. 

 

-- The difference between the 1 gens and the 2 gens is…?

Morita: The 2gens get along especially well. The day we were selected, we all went out to dinner together.

Fujiyoshi: Oh! Yes, we did (laughs).

Morita: Right from that time, there has been no feeling of distance between us. No matter who’s with whom, everyone can feel happy and at ease. But when it’s time to be serious, everyone is able to express their own opinion. I think that everyone’s earnestness is very cute.

Fujiyoshi: I thought of saying that we’re like students, but it’s better to say that the atmosphere is like boys of student age. Thinking of it this way makes me smile. The feeling is like naïve and innocent boys. Really very cute.

Morita: I’ve always wanted to work at something I liked doing. Until we became Sakurazaka46, we went through a lot of troubles. It’s hard to put these things in words. But in the process of becoming an idol I realized something: that you can’t achieve anything alone. “We can only achieve things because we’re all together!” This has become the foundation of everything.

Fujiyoshi: I’ve really received a lot of help. Not long after becoming a 2gen, the other 2gens all said to me: “Karin should just relax and do as she pleases.” Starting then, my feeling of wanting to live honestly burst out, and I suddenly became someone who dared to express her own opinion. Before that, I worried about it. I thought this group was created by our seniors, and maybe it wouldn’t be good to interfere too much…. Everyone was so kind to me.

Morita: So Karin-chan can always express her own opinions. But I myself do tend to agree with her opinions.

Fujiyoshi: I think I really am the type who can out forward my own opinions. But usually only Hikaru agrees with me (laughs).

 

Fujiyoshi -- Usually only Hikaru has the same opinion I do (lol).

 

Fujiyoshi Karin's Father: ”Oh, my incredible daughter, thank you!”

Fujiyoshi Karin's father appears to be owner/operator of a shabushabu restaurant in downtown Osaka. I discovered an old web page showing posts from the shop's Instagram where he talks about Karin becoming an idol. 

A nice display of plastic food in the window of the restaurant.

 

The first post was a two-shot of him with his daughter when she was very little. But the photo was no longer there. He goes on:

Time passed, and 16 years later, my daughter came to me and said, with a straight face:
“I want to be Sailor Moon…”

On a midsummer day half a year later: “There’s an idol audition in Tokyo. Come with me.”

“So this is how she’s trying to make Sailor Moon a reality,” I thought as we took the overnight bus to Tokyo. Just before Bon, under a broiling sun, with only the sparrows as companions, I waited for my daughter’s audition to end.

Not long afterward, I learned that my daughter would soon be introduced at Budoukan.

Up to just a few months ago, she was a girl singing in the bath, with no thought of any audience… We never know what can happen in this world.

My child used to make me listen to things that were nothing but dreams and romanticism, but this year I made a big mistake in that way myself, and everyone was criticizing me for it.

Then, as the year ended, this happened, and I began to come alive again.

Oh, my incredible daughter, thank you (smile).

Without dreams and romanticism, we cannot endure through this evanescent life.

But don’t be swept away in the world of appearances.

I guess I really am a guy whom time has passed by ♪

Even when such a daughter is performing, Father will keep the shop open

Akimoto Yasushi explains how he got the idea for Keyakizaka46's debut single "Silent Majority"

report from Yahoo Japan News, 18 March 2021 

Music producer Akimoto Yasushi (62) appeared live on NHK’s Gogonama. He spoke about the idol group Keyakizaka46 (now Sakurazaka46), which he produces, and revealed that he used their un-idol-like appeal to create their debut single Silent Majority. 

Normally, the image of an idol is to be cheerful and communicative. But when members came together for the Keyakizaka46 auditions “you wouldn’t think it was an idol audition. They didn’t smile and didn’t make up to people. They were strange girls.”

This unpredictable charm gave him the idea that when parents and teachers told them things they did not believe themselves, modern young people may wonder if they might not be able to express their own ideas. That was the beginning of the group’s debut song Silent Majority.

“Although there were people at the time who criticized the paradox that it was an adult who had them sing ‘Don’t let adults tell you what to do’,” he explained, “I thought that was the way of doing it which would be most effective.”

He said that unlike a singer-songwriter, he wasn’t putting his own ideas into the lyrics, but making lyrics from the point of view of the singers.

Nagahama Neru interview: how her friends helped her move forward

 Interview in with magazine, March 2021.

Nagahama Neru: “It was myself the words I spoke hurt most.” And how her friends’ words led her to change her way of thinking.

TV personality Nagahama Neru – One step at a time on the road to her ideal

As much as possible, I didn’t want anyone to hate me. I chose work that involved standing in front of other people, so I became someone who took direction from what I saw in other people’s faces.

But after I turned 20, bit by bit I gave up on the ideal me I had drawn for myself. “Oh, well,” I said, I’ll just accept my failings. And from then I have found a solid way to move forward.

Fujiyoshi Karin blog 2021.3.11 -- New TV ads for Smart News

It has been decided that new TV ads for Smart News will be on air nationally starting Tuesday, 9 March.

Thank you very much!





We wore student uniforms for the shooting
My number one recommendation is Matsuda's "That's fantastic"
In the "Dance Practice" ad.


If you search for "smart news" [スマートニュース] on YouTube, it will definitely show up

Fujiyoshi Karin blog 2021.3.03 -- Photos w/Inoue (plus photos and info from the MTV show featuring Karin)

 

We tried taking some instant prints

Fujiyoshi Karin blog 2021.02.26 -- Summoners War

 

We've been appointed official ambassadors for Summoners War

The doll I'm holding [in the picture below] is beside my pillow
Everyone please get one and check it out!

Fujiyoshi Karin blog 2021.2.22 -- Aion Card, Non-No mag, TGC Runway

Somebody's asleep


Starting Friday, December 19th, an original design Aion Card will go on sale

New ad videos have also been released online. I hope you'll check them out

https://www.aeon.co.jp/campaign/lp/sakurazaka46/