210: translation: popolo, feb 2015, part 1

[sociologique.livejournal.com]

I wanted to have this up yesterday but I just couldn't make a couple of the sentences at the end sound right. I think they're better now, so here we are. I'll have the little blurbs about them done probably tomorrow. For now, enjoy! ♥

Playback Talk: A Talk Full of Nostalgia : Tonisen's 20 Year Playback Round-Table Discussion

Remembering their painful years in a lower social strata, and their uneasiness after debuting ... a discussion about how they really feel, which they can only say now.

"I said, 'we'll get popular.'"

Inohara: We're now looking back on our 20 years, but I sort of randomly remembered Sakamoto-kun and I being in the W-cast for "PLAYZONE '95 KING & JOKER" and I wanted to talk about that.

Nagano: I was in that, too.

Sakamoto: That was when I was doing two plays at the same time.

Inohara: When Nagano and I went said we were going back to Tokyo after the final day of the show, the staff said to us "please wait in the dressing room," and they seriously never called for us.

Nagano: I remember that (laughs). We thought they'd totally left us behind.

Inohara: So, we didn't know if we should get in touch with someone, so we called Sakamoto who was doing another play and were like "they left us behind."

Sakamoto: And so since I had time, I was like, let's go get something to eat.

Nagano: We all went to eat soba around the Shin-Osaka station.

Inohara: And when Sakamoto said he'd treat us to some soba, I honestly ended up crying.

Sakamoto: But, I was honestly missing my friends then, too, since I hadn't seen them in a while, so I was really happy. When you two left, I was back by myself doing my play again.

Inohara: And when we got on the shinkansen back, it was full of Shonentai fans.

Nagano: We were like "what the heck?"

Inohara: Then, TOKIO were on their way back from doing a concert and passed by us and went, "what the hell are you doing?" and disappeared back into the green car¹ (laughs).

Nagano: We were Juniors, so we couldn't ride in the green cars.

Inohara: Then I said to Nagano, "Nagano-kun, we'll get to be popular."

Nagano: Right, right (laughs).

Sakamoto: And then two months after that, they announced our debut.

Inohara: We started doing "V6 Next Generation" the spring after that, and I think it's amazing we're still doing it.

Nagano: It's a part of V6's history.

Sakamoto: But before that, Kamisen were the ones in charge of the radio shows.

Inohara: That's right. We got all excited when they at first told us "we've decided to do a show with all 6 of you," but then right before recording, they said, "it's just gonna be Kamisen," and it felt like we got thrown under the bus (laughs).

Sakamoto: I thought that sort of thing ended with our Junior days, so it was like "ugh, again?" (laughs)

Nagano: We'd debuted, but it was seriously like "this again?"

Inohara: We were uneasy before our debut, so this was like the day when we had a whole new uneasiness spring up, like, "I see where this is going."

Sakamoto: We were like "if we didn't have Kamisen..." so moving forward got to be scary (laughs).

Inohara: Kamisen were popular, so it felt like they were told to be in front of us.

Nagano: More than just feeling like they were being told to be in front of us, it felt like they were actually already in front of us (laughs).

When we began doing solo work, we became a group.

Inohara: We were so shocked by jacket for our debut song, "MUSIC FOR THE PEOPLE" (laughs).

Nagano: Kamisen were in front and Tonisen were in back, but it was really all perspective.

Sakamoto: Because we were so tiny (laughs).

Inohara: But even then, when we did the shoot for our second single, "MADE IN JAPAN," they told us, "Tonisen, go more toward the back!

Sakamoto: We'd gotten so used to it, it was just like "okay, okay."

Inohara: But, by our third single, we were on the same level as Kamisen.

Nagano: That was about a year after we'd debuted (laughs). I seem to remember us wearing stuff like you'd wear when you go cycling for the shoot.

Inohara: But you know, if you left it up to us, we would probably even do that to ourselves now (laughs).

Sakamoto & Nagano: (bursts out laughing)

Sakamoto: But hey, did we ever... have a job where we just exploded?

Inohara: We didn't.

Nagano: That's why, when we did our first concert, we were like, "huh? The second floor is empty, so are the fans not coming back?" and it was just so shocking (laughs).

Sakamoto: And it wasn't even that big of a venue, so when the you'd be able to see the audience, it was surprising to see that the seats in the back weren't filled (laughs).

Nagano: And it's something we can laugh about now. Which is good.

Inohara: For us, even in our last play, "ON THE TOWN," it seems like a lot of people came to see us. And by that I mean, Sakamoto has been doing musicals, and it surprisingly drew out a lot of V6 and Tonisen fans.

Nagano: It's a thing we can look back on, each of us having done our own work.

Sakamoto: Mmmmhmmm, so as far as that goes, that means that's something I predicted the first time we were in "Popolo."

Inohara: Wait, what?

Sakamoto: I said "I want to be a group where we can do our own solo work" (laughs).

Nagano, Inohara: (burst out laughing)

Looking back on 20 years of rare actions

Inohara: When it comes to things about us that have changed, I feel like our professionalism now is incomparable to how it was back in the day and so that's changed, but as people, I don't think we've changed that much. For example, if we were to compare Leader to a colour, I'd compare him to a dark yellowish brown.

Sakamoto: That's weird (laughs).

Nagano: Back in the day, we didn't really have images that you could really get a hold on, but now I feel like our characters have come out and we've changed in that way.

Sakamoto: Nagano, back then you were so collected and a motherly figure.

Inohara: He still is. Looking at everyone objectively. When I'll tell Nagano-kun to "knock it off," he'll say "okay" right away.

Sakamoto: He's someone who's really accepted all of us, and he's been able to help us a lot.

Inohara: Even now, there's a lot you can count on him for.

Sakamoto: Inohara, you're like a pipe between Kamisen and Tonisen, and that's helped us, too. And before I knew it, you'd changed from just being the pipe between Tonisen and Kamisen into being the moodmaker.

Nagano: Maybe the colour of V6 and the way we are now is a blending of good feelings and our six different colours and we all have dyed each other. In terms of age, Go feels closest to me, and I wonder why that is because you three are here (laughs).

Inohara: In terms of his face, he's Tonisen (laughs).

Sakamoto: This might be troubling, but for me, it really feels like you've grown up the most.

Nagano: During that first Tonisen concert we did about a year after debut, you were the guy the fans yelled, "Inocchi, shut up!" to, and now you're the MC (laughs).

Sakamoto: It wasn't just "shut up!" but also "I can't see -- get out of the way!" and now you're the face of morning TV (laughs).

Inohara: All right then, the next question is about looking back on weird things we've done over the past 20 years! (laughs)

Nagano: You're doing the MC thing!

Inohara: Nagano-kun, back in the day, you'd eat whatever was in the freezer at the gym, like juice and stuff.

Nagano: Back then, they had sherbet there and it was really good so I got really into it.

Sakamoto: Nagano is famous for his love of cars, and I always thought it weird how on Sundays, mid-morning, he'd wash his car until it shined, then put it back in the garage and go take the train when he was going out (laughs).

Inohara: Sakamoto, you've collected a lot of the others' autographs (laughs).

Sakamoto: I have. It's to make memories. It was so in the future, if I got married and had kids, I could boast to my kids, like, "these are Daddy's friends" (laughs).

Nagano: You also took pictures (laughs).

Sakamoto: I didn't imagine myself working this long (laughs).

Inohara: You haven't done it much lately, so does that mean you're feeling more at ease?

Sakamoto: I've felt like things are all right for a while (laughs)

Nagano: Inohara, when your'e drunk, you immediately forget everything.

Sakamoto: And then, when you're in a vehicle and you see mail-order shows, you'll order something two seconds later (laughs).

We want to do a show only we can do

Inohara: We've done concerts, plays, dinner shows, and that kind of thing, so we want to do our life's work of entertainment that we've pursued so purely.

Sakamoto: Because there are things that only we can do, you know? Not just concerts, but I think doing shows in general for so long is a good thing.

Nagano: We've talked about this a lot, the three of us.

Sakamoto: But with us, we're humble people and we don't think things like, we want to keep stepping up and playing in bigger and bigger venues. And if you were to ask me why, it's because it's good to play in places we can fill (laughs).

Nagano: If we play in big arenas, there are things we can't' do, and things we'll have to change.

Inohara: More than that, I just want to increase the number of full venues (laughs).

Sakamoto: Actually, there are things I want to tell Kamisen now.

Inohara: Huh? Why, what happened?

Sakamoto: I want to apologize for how I was back then.

Nagano: Like at an evening meeting or something?

Sakamoto: I just hated how it was back then (laughs).

Inohara: But I think you couldn't really have helped it -- you were a 24-year old and they were 8th graders, and there was a huge age difference.

Nagano: Okada is 9 years apart from me, but I think now the thing that I can't really feel is the full 19 years of history.

Inohara: We have to go on and keep on dancing and praying for each other's health.

Sakamoto: And for that, Nagano-san, I'll leave the health advice to you!

. notes
01. Green cars are basically the first-class cars on shinkansen. Very swanky.