Sunday, September 07, 2008

NINO's WHY and HOW

Why And How Did You Join Johnny’s?

My parents are paranoid. You see, I live in the "ghetto" side of Tokyo so I can understand why my parents would be so conscious about their kids hanging around with the wrong crowd at the wrong places - especially at this particular kind of atmosphere.
They get paranoid at everything I do. They think I'm off doing drugs with the wrong crowd every time I go out to the park with my friends or they think I'm going to be some gangsta every time I play my video games. They get paranoid too whenever I listen to gangsta hip-hop/rap and that I'd be influenced to be violent when I grow up.
What they didn't realise is that I have my own interests as well - such as singing, song writing, playing the guitar and even writing stories and poetry. But I guess I was too shy to show it because in my turf, every kid thinks that a guy is a wimp if they like "classical" stuff like that, so I never really shared it with anyone.
When my parents heard from some family friends that Johnny's auditions are open, they had the idea that I'd be a "clean cut kid" if I ever joined Johnny's. I never wanted to be in Johnny's. I thought that I had a lot more ambition in becoming a professional baseball player, playing in the big leagues in Japan and hopefully get drafted to the majors in the U.S. (like famous Japanese baseball players such as Ichiro Suzuki etc.) and play baseball there. But they think that I'd be more recognised as a Junior than as a baseball player. It took about a month for them to finally convince me to join.
I had a baseball game on the day of the audition and my parents wanted me to go for it. I was furious at them for trying to prevent me from playing my game. Then we made a deal “If I ever join Johnny's Juniors and actually make it in and stay there, they'll pay me 5000 yen”. I finally agreed, went to auditions and I eventually got in. And I got my 5000 yen.
I met others too but not from the same "ghetto" area where I live. I felt kind of out of place because these guys came from wealthy families with really nice atmosphere that I thought I'd never make it in since I'm one of those "ghetto kids" who live on the wrong side of town. But luckily after interviews and showing off some of my “whatever” talent, I got in.
During training and practice days, I met up with future popular idols, which was unexpected and that includes Hideaki Takizawa, Tsubasa Imai, Yuki Kohara, the members of Musical Academy, and of course, my future band mates, Masaki Aiba, Jun Matsumoto, and later on, Sho Sakurai and Leader (Satoshi Ohno).
Aiba, Matsujun and I were placed in a subgroup called MAIN with Toma Ikuta. We just hit it off right away and became really close. We even had our very first concert as Juniors (SUGAO and SUGAO II). That was fun even if I didn't really do much but dance around with the other boys. I didn't know Sho and Leader yet because they were more "senior" than the rest of us so every single Junior always looked up to the "seniors".
Sho hung out with the "coolest" Juniors (back then it was Takizawa, Tsubasa, Yuki and Subaru Shibutani) and I heard a lot of hearsays and rumours about these guys being the “favourites” in Johnny's. Matsujun was actually a favourite too because he did say that he didn't even have to audition just to be in Johnny's. So I always thought of him as one of the "elite" and that he belonged "up there" with the "seniors". He even acted like he should be one of them but I guess it's because of his age that he was stuck with the rest of us here.
I used to be so intimidated by the seniors. Some of them were actually strict to the younger ones whenever we mess up in training and I get really fearful of them. But I continued to stand my ground and do my best. One time we had a Juniors volleyball party or something and it was a chance for to actually "connect" with other Juniors and even the "seniors".
I met Leader there first (I don’t think Leader remembers) and we formed our own small friendship bond there. He said that he too felt like an outsider so I wasn't alone. He said he hoped to be a “real” artist and I told him that I wanted to be a baseball player and a writer. We both just said to do our best with our own wishes and hopefully we can get out of Juniors if we don't make it "up there" and follow our own desired goals.
Later on while Leader and I were talking, to our surprise, we were asked by Sho and Yuki to play volleyball with them so we did. And somehow, I also discovered a bond between me and the two best friends. But sometimes I felt bad because it was always the two of them, everyone knows the two of them, and it'd be weird to have an "extra" hanging around with them.
But regardless of age or subgroup or the people who we most hang out with, I was able to keep in touch with all three of them. I was particularly impressed with Sho then, especially that he was one of the "seniors" whom I got intimidated with. He has the same tastes as me except for sports - his is soccer, mine is baseball and he seems to understand where I come from when it comes to issues and opinions.
He's from a really well-off family and I'm really surprised that he'd even want to be friends with some lowly dude like me who resides in the "ghetto" side of Tokyo. We exchanged phone numbers, even traded some MD's and CD's of (American) hip-hop and we even exchanged our own "rap lyrics". We did a lot of stuff together "in secret" (not that it was a secret for some of the other guys).
When the news about Johnny's forming a new group (Arashi), I was already making my predictions as to who was going to be in that group (Takizawa, Tsubasa, Yuki, Subaru, Sho and possibly Jun too). I even congratulated the "seniors" for being the candidates until Yuki came up to me saying "Your name is also included in the debut candidate list". I was shocked to hear that and I also learned later that Aiba's name was also in there too. No sign of Toma so I was kind of sad. I felt even more intimidated than ever because that would mean a lot of peer and management pressure and I didn't want that.
So I went to Johnny-san's office (Sho also happened to be there) to let him know that I didn't want to debut but when we arrived, no one was there so we "snooped" around a little and found a bunch of papers on the desk. When we learned of the new group name, I also found another piece of paper with names of potential candidates to debut. Everyone was right - my name was in there.
About a few weeks later I got a call from Johnny-san asking if I had a passport. I told him I do and he asked me if I wanted to go to Hawaii. I've always wanted to get out of the country to visit other places so here was my chance. When I was there, I was happy to see Aiba, Matsujun, as well as Leader and Sho. When we got on the cruise boat, I felt like I was bribed again, just like how my parents bribed me when I first joined Johnny's. I heard the announcement that the five of us are now the brand-new group “Arashi”.
It was awkward at first knowing not all five of us are close. Some of us know each other by name and face, but I was fortunate enough to be able to speak with the other four members. I fell silent a bit right after the debut because I really didn't know what to do or which direction our group should follow. I looked up to Sho, who was the definite "senior" of the group, as the group's leader.
I didn’t think Ohno had enough confidence or the guts to be the leader himself, but Sho had a lot more respect towards Leader, knowing (and I admit I agree with Sho too) that Ohno is better at a lot of things such as singing and dancing than Sho is. After the Show Nen Time janken (rock-paper-scissors) game, the Leader then is our leader now.
One of my goals in Arashi is to write our own songs. Knowing my song writing skills will come in handy, I still have yet to see that happening. I mean I write my own songs for my solos in concerts but that's not even the whole picture of my goal. I wanted to write songs in which all 5 of us can sing together as a group and define what Arashi is really about and what we are as individuals as well as a group together.
Sho is already making his name writing rap lyrics in some of our songs. He thinks I can make my name too someday. Never mind my credits as an actor, but I also want to be known as a song writer too. Maybe not know, but someday, my songs will be heard.



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Watashi wa Althea desu. A normal otaku. I'm happy to have friends which will last forever, and I'm hoping for a longer relationship with my Anata. Hope this upcoming new life will be a lot more wonderful than my past few years. Hoorah for college!
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i'll write it down in the death note;

Digital Camera
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Finish College

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