Arashi at National Stadium Photobook Translation (Part 6 of 6)
Yay, the last part!!
The boys finish with their most recent, and last, concert at Kokuritsu, Arafes '13!
<2013 Arafes ’13 / 9/21 (Sat), 22 (Sun)>
Sakurai: This continued from the previous year, but we’d never done many surveys via the web before like that. It was interesting to directly reach out and have the fans answer us. Even though in the end, it turned out a bit differently than we’d pictured.
Matsumoto: But…that’s also why it turned out like it did. Having the members each produce their own corner for the concert. If the ranking songs had changed more, we might not have done it that way.
Sakurai: That’s true. And…in spite of all that, the strong popularity of She-ke (“Shake it!”) that ranked on top!
Matsumoto: Hahahahaha!
Ninomiya: The She-ke Legend!
Matsumoto: There are plenty of other great songs too though…
(All laugh)
Sakurai: That’s true…really!
Ninomiya: But that’s how much everyone wants to see it (lol).
--This year you also had professional dancers participate.
Ohno: Yeah, that was different from before. During my solo there were dancers with me.
Matsumoto: Yeah…in the end I thought so. That we shouldn’t do it with just us 5 (lol). After doing it the previous year.
Ninomiya: We realized that we couldn’t make it in time for a lot of things (lol).
Matsumoto: Seeing how everyone produced their parts, and each one’s “color” come through was interesting. It made me think that there’s all kinds of feelings and memories we have, after doing it there for 6 years in a row.
Sakurai: Since we’re each producing a part, we all wanted to make a highlight for our block after all. So in the end, we all made a dance section in each of our blocks, and we wound up dancing a lot more than usual.
Aiba: That’s true, it felt like that.
Ninomiya: We danced a whooole ton.
Matsumoto: We really did dance a lot.
Sakurai: We decided to start with nothing but dancing.
Matsumoto: Yeah. We danced right from the opening. Because…of the songs that get ranked, a lot of them are dance songs. So, we did it…a bit frustrated (wry smile). Like, “If that’s what you want, then we’ll really dance for you!”
[While watching the opening part on the DVD]
Ninomiya: Really…we’re dancing like crazy.
Sakurai: We are!
Matsumoto: Because…the dance songs ranked high (lol). Of course it’s a good thing, you know? That the fans are saying they want to see the dance songs. I mean…it’d be sad if the demand for Arashi dancing went away (lol).
--Can you reflect on the parts that you each produced?
Matsumoto: Aiba-san did “Hello Goodbye?”
Aiba: Yeah, “Hello Goodbye.” I tried doing sand art for it…
Sakurai: Oh yeah. That was good.
Aiba: That really took a long time, the sand art.
--There was also sand art for birthday surprises for you 2 (Ninomiya, Matsumoto).
Aiba: Yeah, exactly. I thought that I should record them all at the same time.
Sakurai: That was great. The sand art where Kokuritsu turned into a birthday cake. The surprise where Nino was scared the whole time (lol).
Ninomiya: It was super scary…really!
Aiba: Yeah (lol). It was difficult, surprising both of you at the same time. It was hard trying to keep you from finding out about it.
Ohno: Yeah. Once, MatsuJun almost found out…we panicked a bit.
Aiba: The part with the letters (*There was a part with celebratory letters from the 3 of them to the other 2), right? We were saying how Nino was sure to panic (lol).
Ninomiya: I did! Like, “Eh…I don’t have anything prepared though…”
Sakurai: You came over to me right away and said that, right? Like, “I…didn’t do anything for this. Will it be ok?” (*The letters to Matsumoto were read first, and during that, Nino started panicking)
Ninomiya: And even so, all Sho-chan would say was, “It’s ok. It’s a system that you can participate in too, Nino!”
Sakurai: Kuhaha!
Ninomiya: And I’m thinking, “What kind of system is that?!”
(All laugh)
Sakurai: Because I didn’t have an answer ready. Nino asked me, and I panicked like “Oh no! What should I do?”…hahaha!
Aiba: That part was the biggest surprise for Nino, so we had the camera take a shot of that look on his face.
Matsumoto: Is the surprise on the DVD?
Ninomiya: I don’t think it is.
(*Unfortunately, it’s not on the DVD recording)
--Ohno-san’s part that he produced was “Mysterious.”
Ninomiya: Aiba-san’s was “Sunset.”
Ohno: Yeah, and mine was “Mysterious.” It turned into nothing but dance songs though (lol). But really… I remembered a lot of things, with this concert. It was nostalgic. Since there were a lot of old songs. I remembered the Asia Tour and stuff too. Like “COOL & SOUL.”
Matsumoto: It was fun re-watching the video (from the 2006 tour) of “COOL & SOUL” (lol).
Sakurai: It was funny (lol).
Matsumoto: With those outfits and sunglasses, it was like…everyone had that sort of energy of youth.
--You were dazzling (lol)?
Matsumoto: Yeah, we were dazzling quite a lot (lol).
Aiba: We were all laughing about it.
Sakurai: I always thought we were a relatively non-dazzling group. But, after looking back at that… I saw that we were surprisingly pretty dazzling.
(All laugh)
Sakurai: Somehow, it made me laugh watching it. Well… those guys back then were good though (lol).
Matsumoto: I mean…even in these 6 years, we’re different after all.
Sakurai: That’s true (deeply).
Matsumoto: “COOL & SOUL” was from even before that. The video was fun (lol).
--And then, for Sakurai-san’s “Hip na Pop,” the rap and singing parts got shuffled around.
Sakurai: Yeah. I’d wanted to have everyone rap. And we did the opposite for “a Day in Our Life,” so Nino, Aiba-kun, and I did (the singing part)…it was the first time we were able to do the “More (pumping up the crowd)!” thing.
Ninomiya: Yeah!
Matsumoto: While Riida and I were rapping.
Sakurai: Yeah. You can see it on the DVD. When the 3 of us are saying, “That’s still not loud enough!”…looking like we couldn’t be any happier (lol). Like, “We were finally able to say it!”
Aiba: We were able to say it (lol).
Sakurai: So, it may have been the first time for you 2 to do the rap for “a Day~,” but for us too…right?
Ninomiya: Yes. For us ourselves, it also became a really fun thing (lol).
Sakurai: We got really into it (lol).
--Everyone’s raps for “Lucky Man” were funny too.
Sakurai: “Lucky Man” was… hahaha (remembers something)! Ohno-san’s “can’t explain so it’s something like this, hahaha! (looking proud of himself)” part (lol).
Ohno: Hahaha (lol). Well… but I thought that you’re amazing, Sho-chan. To think you’ve been doing such hard rapping…right? For over 10 years now.
Sakurai: (lol) After all, Satoshi-kun…that was the first time you’d seen the (rap) lyrics, right?
Ohno: It was the first time.
--Ehhhhhh!?
Sakurai: He said he’d never known what I was saying this whole time (lol).
Ohno: Fufufu. So it was really hard. Singing it.
--In the chorus part, you sang together with elementary school students and a gospel group.
Matsumoto: Yeah…we really have become adults after all. We have been singing “Furusato,” and it was chosen as the (elementary school division) set song for the N Con (NHK National School Music Competition). And we sang it with everyone…being able to do that is part of what I meant.
Sakurai: After that chorus part was MatsuJun, right?
Matsumoto: Yes. The theme was “Remix.”
Sakurai: There was another big incident that occurred here too.
Aiba: Ah~, there was (lol).
Matsumoto: Eh…incident?
Sakurai: In this part, he wanted to connect many songs together and go around the stadium on the moving stage. And he wanted to dance to many songs. MatsuJun said that, so we all were like, “Ok, then for MatsuJun’s production we’re going to dance.” Then, when we did the rehearsal…MatsuJun was standing at the DJ table so he didn’t dance one bit!
Aiba: Yeah (lol)! Us, right? We danced as hard as we could…
Sakurai: Yeah, we did… our “lower class” feeling was really strong.
(All laugh)
Ninomiya: (Imitating MatsuJun pushing them) Saying, “Dance, dance~!”
Sakurai: Kuhahaha! “Eh? What about you, MatsuJun?”
Ninomiya: Like, “Eh…you’re not going to dance? Is that how it is?”
(All laugh)
Matsumoto: It’s the 2nd “scam” in a row (lol).
Sakurai: Hahaha! That was funny.
Ohno: Hahaha! We danced the whole time.
Sakurai: It wasn’t MatsuJun, it was us that were dancing…it took us a while to notice that (lol).
--Ninomiya’s part was “An outdoor night.” We got to see you all in costumes for “Himitsu.”
Ninomiya: Yeah! I was grateful to them. In the end… Arashi is full of that self-challenging spirit. They always come through (lol).
Sakurai: We’d occasionally talked about doing “Himitsu” all together for a long time up until then.
Matsumoto: We did.
Ninomiya: We kept saying it each time we did Arafes.
Sakurai: Yeah. About a year after you did “Himitsu” at the concert we’d started talking about it.
Other 4: Yeah, we did.
--Why is that?
Sakurai: Because the fans reacted so well to it. We talked about how it would be fun and cute if the 5 of us did it. Well…of course, we couldn’t find a reason to do it…
Matsumoto: Yeah (lol). And then as the years went by, we realized it would be pretty hard to dance it naturally as ourselves…
Sakurai: Looking back, “Himitsu” had gotten really far away…
(All laugh)
--Ninomiya-san, you said yourself, “When I tried dancing it in front of the mirror, it wasn’t cute at all. That’s why I had everyone wear costumes.”
Ninomiya: That’s right.
Sakurai: Well, that was the right move (lol). It was hard for Aiba-kun.
Aiba: It was hard! I couldn’t see anything… (*Aiba was wearing a tiger mask under the costume, so he had 2 masks on at once)
Matsumoto: That was hilarious. I re-watched it over and over (lol).
Ninomiya: (Looking satisfied) It reaches people who will get it, after all!
Aiba: Yeah (lol). Our feelings reached the people who would get them.
(All laugh)
Matsumoto: What else…for me, it was “5x10.” After all. With this concert.
--At this part, Matsumoto-san…you were crying, weren’t you?
Matsumoto: (Covering up) I didn’t cry.
--Eh? You cried, didn’t you?
Matsumoto: I didn’t cry!
Ohno: (Bluntly) You were crying!
Sakurai: Hahaha! Ohno-san…Ohno-san told on you!
(All laugh)
Ninomiya: He sees things like that.
Aiba: Not only that, but it was pretty sudden (lol).
Sakurai: The sword got drawn pretty quickly (lol).
Ohno: Yeah. I was getting emotional too, and I looked at MatsuJun…and felt like crying.
Aiba: Sympathetic crying?
Matsumoto: Sympathetic crying… (lol)
Ninomiya: Sympathetic crying…if the person involved was crying out of sympathy, that’d be a mystery.
(All laugh)
Aiba: Like, “You’re feeling sympathetic?” (lol)
Sakurai: Normally it’s the people not involved who cry out of sympathy.
Ninomiya: Yeah, that’s what “sympathetic crying” is supposed to be.
Sakurai: Someone involved, having the same experience/emotions, cried from sympathy…
(All laugh)
Aiba: Well, but that shows how much there is. The memories and feelings.
Ohno: Yeah, I was really very touched.
Matsumoto: Yeah. I was too…and I was about to start crying. I saw myself on the monitor and thought, “Oh, not good” so I held back…then Riida was on the monitor, and he also looked teary-eyed (lol). Not good… so I myself almost started because of Riida. It was a close call, really.
Ohno: (Deeply) It’s contagious.
--I’m sure a lot of feelings/memories started welling up at the final Kokuritsu.
Aiba: After all… it’s the last one.
Ninomiya: We won’t do it anymore.
Aiba: That feeling was really strong.
Matsumoto: Seriously…for 6 years, in the summer we had concerts here. Like…I reflected a lot on those memories. While watching the flames of that Olympic Torch.
--At the last Kokuritsu, you were able to celebrate all of you entering your 30s.
Ninomiya: All of Arashi became 30.
Sakurai: A celebration for entering (our 30s), right?
Aiba: We were able to celebrate.
Ninomiya: Seeing Riida wear that outfit (Matsumoto’s “Yabai-Yabai-Yabai” outfit) was really nostalgic.
Ohno: Fufu, fufufufu.
Sakurai: I thought that Ohmiya…can’t be anyone but Nino and Satoshi-kun, after all. (*Aiba and Sakurai came out wearing Ohmiya SK’s outfits)
Aiba: Yeah. There’s a fine balance and fit to it.
Sakurai: With us, it was a bit…how do I say this? The body frame…
Ninomiya: You were very well-built (lol).
Sakurai: Right. It was seriously gross…that’s how it turned out.
(All laugh)
Aiba: It was…super tight.
Sakurai: Yeah…the sizing for us, made it not so cute. It works for some and not others. It’s not something everyone can do.
Ohno: Compared to that, I…was normal (lol).
Ninomiya: Though it’s amazing you could wear that and stand there normally…
(All laugh)
Matsumoto: Ohno-san, what left a big impression from the last Kokuritsu?
Ohno: It has to be this view at Kokuritsu, after all…it’s like, I feel like I took another good look at it while reflecting on these 6 years. Including last year’s view too. How do I put it? Somewhere, it just didn’t feel…like it was real.
Sakurai: Yeah…I know what you mean (deeply).
Ohno: It’s like I was able to really accept that…that, and I was probably really feeling that it was coming to an end. That was making me teary.
Ninomiya: Yeah… I think it’s been amazing. I said this at the interviews at the time, but 6 years…is enough time for a student to start and graduate from elementary school. It’s amazing that we were able to do this for that many years.
Matsumoto: That’s really true.
Ninomiya: The fans that come see us year after year like this are amazing too. But…thinking about how we can’t do it anymore….right? That’s what I was feeling the most. That we can’t have concerts at this place anymore…it’s big that we were able to do them at such a place.
Aiba: It is sad after all. But…if the reconstruction got pushed later, and we were told we could do it next year too…I’m not sure what would happen. But it does feel sad, somehow. Also, I’m grateful that we were able to do it until the end. It’s sad, but… I think the concerts were very worth doing. These 6 years.
--The last night at Kokuritsu, you were able to see the last fireworks while wearing the mysterious glasses that you helped create as part of the goods.
Aiba: Yes. Even a personal dream like that came true too (lol).
Ninomiya: That’s amazing. But isn’t it kind of because we’ve been doing concerts there that long?
Aiba: Yeah. That’s why I was able to do it.
Sakurai: Well…I said this at our first (Kokuritsu performance) time too. You know…for me personally this place was always something “beyond our dreams.” The happiness of being able to see it 6 times…and keeping in mind its history, the weight of doing it at the Kokuritsu Stadium I think is really big. It is purely a sacred place for sports, and didn’t have any meaning for us, but…still, I have a lot of gratitude to this place and the people who came to see us, since we made many precious memories there. It’s like if your school building gets torn down. When things disappear like that…you feel that sadness that even if you go there, it won’t be there anymore.
Matsumoto: We won’t be able to stand on that stage anymore.
Ninomiya: Yeah…physically.
Sakurai: Because the new Kokuritsu Stadium will be the new Kokuritsu Stadium. I think it means a lot that we were able to stand in this Kokuritsu Stadium.
--At the end of the very last Kokuritsu concert, you suggested, “Shall we all say thank you to the Olympic flame torch?” and it was great that you were able express your thanks.
Matsumoto: Yes. I think the Olympic torch is after all a symbol of the Kokuritsu Stadium. I mean, back when we first performed at Kokuritsu, I watched Ichikawa Kon’s “Tokyo Olympiad” and all…it’s a structure that’s been there since before we were born. It’s a building that really has a lot of history, having been built when the Olympics were held in Tokyo in the past. It’s big that we were able to create our own memories there…. What will it be like in 2020?
Everyone: We’re looking forward to that time in a lot of ways.
----------------------------------
MatsuJun tricking them into dancing for him, lol ^_^ I also always crack up at Riida rapping in Lucky Man, just saying whatever XD
And there it is, all 50 pages of the crosstalk~ That was a ridiculous amount of work the past 3 weeks, but it was worth doing if you enjoyed reading it ^__^
Again, please ask if you want to use it. And comments are <3
Part 1 - AAA 2008
Part 2 - 5 x 10
Part 3 - Scene
Part 4 - Beautiful World
Part 5 - Arafes
Thank you for making it to the end with me!!
(Also, as an aside... I have been thinking of doing a complete translation of the Nippon no Arashi book for a few years now - have actually already started it. I know some parts have been translated in the past, but I'm not sure if it all was. It will take me forever, maybe another year or more, since I'll have to fit it around RL, but if that is something you would be interested to see at some point, let me know too~)
The boys finish with their most recent, and last, concert at Kokuritsu, Arafes '13!
<2013 Arafes ’13 / 9/21 (Sat), 22 (Sun)>
Sakurai: This continued from the previous year, but we’d never done many surveys via the web before like that. It was interesting to directly reach out and have the fans answer us. Even though in the end, it turned out a bit differently than we’d pictured.
Matsumoto: But…that’s also why it turned out like it did. Having the members each produce their own corner for the concert. If the ranking songs had changed more, we might not have done it that way.
Sakurai: That’s true. And…in spite of all that, the strong popularity of She-ke (“Shake it!”) that ranked on top!
Matsumoto: Hahahahaha!
Ninomiya: The She-ke Legend!
Matsumoto: There are plenty of other great songs too though…
(All laugh)
Sakurai: That’s true…really!
Ninomiya: But that’s how much everyone wants to see it (lol).
--This year you also had professional dancers participate.
Ohno: Yeah, that was different from before. During my solo there were dancers with me.
Matsumoto: Yeah…in the end I thought so. That we shouldn’t do it with just us 5 (lol). After doing it the previous year.
Ninomiya: We realized that we couldn’t make it in time for a lot of things (lol).
Matsumoto: Seeing how everyone produced their parts, and each one’s “color” come through was interesting. It made me think that there’s all kinds of feelings and memories we have, after doing it there for 6 years in a row.
Sakurai: Since we’re each producing a part, we all wanted to make a highlight for our block after all. So in the end, we all made a dance section in each of our blocks, and we wound up dancing a lot more than usual.
Aiba: That’s true, it felt like that.
Ninomiya: We danced a whooole ton.
Matsumoto: We really did dance a lot.
Sakurai: We decided to start with nothing but dancing.
Matsumoto: Yeah. We danced right from the opening. Because…of the songs that get ranked, a lot of them are dance songs. So, we did it…a bit frustrated (wry smile). Like, “If that’s what you want, then we’ll really dance for you!”
[While watching the opening part on the DVD]
Ninomiya: Really…we’re dancing like crazy.
Sakurai: We are!
Matsumoto: Because…the dance songs ranked high (lol). Of course it’s a good thing, you know? That the fans are saying they want to see the dance songs. I mean…it’d be sad if the demand for Arashi dancing went away (lol).
--Can you reflect on the parts that you each produced?
Matsumoto: Aiba-san did “Hello Goodbye?”
Aiba: Yeah, “Hello Goodbye.” I tried doing sand art for it…
Sakurai: Oh yeah. That was good.
Aiba: That really took a long time, the sand art.
--There was also sand art for birthday surprises for you 2 (Ninomiya, Matsumoto).
Aiba: Yeah, exactly. I thought that I should record them all at the same time.
Sakurai: That was great. The sand art where Kokuritsu turned into a birthday cake. The surprise where Nino was scared the whole time (lol).
Ninomiya: It was super scary…really!
Aiba: Yeah (lol). It was difficult, surprising both of you at the same time. It was hard trying to keep you from finding out about it.
Ohno: Yeah. Once, MatsuJun almost found out…we panicked a bit.
Aiba: The part with the letters (*There was a part with celebratory letters from the 3 of them to the other 2), right? We were saying how Nino was sure to panic (lol).
Ninomiya: I did! Like, “Eh…I don’t have anything prepared though…”
Sakurai: You came over to me right away and said that, right? Like, “I…didn’t do anything for this. Will it be ok?” (*The letters to Matsumoto were read first, and during that, Nino started panicking)
Ninomiya: And even so, all Sho-chan would say was, “It’s ok. It’s a system that you can participate in too, Nino!”
Sakurai: Kuhaha!
Ninomiya: And I’m thinking, “What kind of system is that?!”
(All laugh)
Sakurai: Because I didn’t have an answer ready. Nino asked me, and I panicked like “Oh no! What should I do?”…hahaha!
Aiba: That part was the biggest surprise for Nino, so we had the camera take a shot of that look on his face.
Matsumoto: Is the surprise on the DVD?
Ninomiya: I don’t think it is.
(*Unfortunately, it’s not on the DVD recording)
--Ohno-san’s part that he produced was “Mysterious.”
Ninomiya: Aiba-san’s was “Sunset.”
Ohno: Yeah, and mine was “Mysterious.” It turned into nothing but dance songs though (lol). But really… I remembered a lot of things, with this concert. It was nostalgic. Since there were a lot of old songs. I remembered the Asia Tour and stuff too. Like “COOL & SOUL.”
Matsumoto: It was fun re-watching the video (from the 2006 tour) of “COOL & SOUL” (lol).
Sakurai: It was funny (lol).
Matsumoto: With those outfits and sunglasses, it was like…everyone had that sort of energy of youth.
--You were dazzling (lol)?
Matsumoto: Yeah, we were dazzling quite a lot (lol).
Aiba: We were all laughing about it.
Sakurai: I always thought we were a relatively non-dazzling group. But, after looking back at that… I saw that we were surprisingly pretty dazzling.
(All laugh)
Sakurai: Somehow, it made me laugh watching it. Well… those guys back then were good though (lol).
Matsumoto: I mean…even in these 6 years, we’re different after all.
Sakurai: That’s true (deeply).
Matsumoto: “COOL & SOUL” was from even before that. The video was fun (lol).
--And then, for Sakurai-san’s “Hip na Pop,” the rap and singing parts got shuffled around.
Sakurai: Yeah. I’d wanted to have everyone rap. And we did the opposite for “a Day in Our Life,” so Nino, Aiba-kun, and I did (the singing part)…it was the first time we were able to do the “More (pumping up the crowd)!” thing.
Ninomiya: Yeah!
Matsumoto: While Riida and I were rapping.
Sakurai: Yeah. You can see it on the DVD. When the 3 of us are saying, “That’s still not loud enough!”…looking like we couldn’t be any happier (lol). Like, “We were finally able to say it!”
Aiba: We were able to say it (lol).
Sakurai: So, it may have been the first time for you 2 to do the rap for “a Day~,” but for us too…right?
Ninomiya: Yes. For us ourselves, it also became a really fun thing (lol).
Sakurai: We got really into it (lol).
--Everyone’s raps for “Lucky Man” were funny too.
Sakurai: “Lucky Man” was… hahaha (remembers something)! Ohno-san’s “can’t explain so it’s something like this, hahaha! (looking proud of himself)” part (lol).
Ohno: Hahaha (lol). Well… but I thought that you’re amazing, Sho-chan. To think you’ve been doing such hard rapping…right? For over 10 years now.
Sakurai: (lol) After all, Satoshi-kun…that was the first time you’d seen the (rap) lyrics, right?
Ohno: It was the first time.
--Ehhhhhh!?
Sakurai: He said he’d never known what I was saying this whole time (lol).
Ohno: Fufufu. So it was really hard. Singing it.
--In the chorus part, you sang together with elementary school students and a gospel group.
Matsumoto: Yeah…we really have become adults after all. We have been singing “Furusato,” and it was chosen as the (elementary school division) set song for the N Con (NHK National School Music Competition). And we sang it with everyone…being able to do that is part of what I meant.
Sakurai: After that chorus part was MatsuJun, right?
Matsumoto: Yes. The theme was “Remix.”
Sakurai: There was another big incident that occurred here too.
Aiba: Ah~, there was (lol).
Matsumoto: Eh…incident?
Sakurai: In this part, he wanted to connect many songs together and go around the stadium on the moving stage. And he wanted to dance to many songs. MatsuJun said that, so we all were like, “Ok, then for MatsuJun’s production we’re going to dance.” Then, when we did the rehearsal…MatsuJun was standing at the DJ table so he didn’t dance one bit!
Aiba: Yeah (lol)! Us, right? We danced as hard as we could…
Sakurai: Yeah, we did… our “lower class” feeling was really strong.
(All laugh)
Ninomiya: (Imitating MatsuJun pushing them) Saying, “Dance, dance~!”
Sakurai: Kuhahaha! “Eh? What about you, MatsuJun?”
Ninomiya: Like, “Eh…you’re not going to dance? Is that how it is?”
(All laugh)
Matsumoto: It’s the 2nd “scam” in a row (lol).
Sakurai: Hahaha! That was funny.
Ohno: Hahaha! We danced the whole time.
Sakurai: It wasn’t MatsuJun, it was us that were dancing…it took us a while to notice that (lol).
--Ninomiya’s part was “An outdoor night.” We got to see you all in costumes for “Himitsu.”
Ninomiya: Yeah! I was grateful to them. In the end… Arashi is full of that self-challenging spirit. They always come through (lol).
Sakurai: We’d occasionally talked about doing “Himitsu” all together for a long time up until then.
Matsumoto: We did.
Ninomiya: We kept saying it each time we did Arafes.
Sakurai: Yeah. About a year after you did “Himitsu” at the concert we’d started talking about it.
Other 4: Yeah, we did.
--Why is that?
Sakurai: Because the fans reacted so well to it. We talked about how it would be fun and cute if the 5 of us did it. Well…of course, we couldn’t find a reason to do it…
Matsumoto: Yeah (lol). And then as the years went by, we realized it would be pretty hard to dance it naturally as ourselves…
Sakurai: Looking back, “Himitsu” had gotten really far away…
(All laugh)
--Ninomiya-san, you said yourself, “When I tried dancing it in front of the mirror, it wasn’t cute at all. That’s why I had everyone wear costumes.”
Ninomiya: That’s right.
Sakurai: Well, that was the right move (lol). It was hard for Aiba-kun.
Aiba: It was hard! I couldn’t see anything… (*Aiba was wearing a tiger mask under the costume, so he had 2 masks on at once)
Matsumoto: That was hilarious. I re-watched it over and over (lol).
Ninomiya: (Looking satisfied) It reaches people who will get it, after all!
Aiba: Yeah (lol). Our feelings reached the people who would get them.
(All laugh)
Matsumoto: What else…for me, it was “5x10.” After all. With this concert.
--At this part, Matsumoto-san…you were crying, weren’t you?
Matsumoto: (Covering up) I didn’t cry.
--Eh? You cried, didn’t you?
Matsumoto: I didn’t cry!
Ohno: (Bluntly) You were crying!
Sakurai: Hahaha! Ohno-san…Ohno-san told on you!
(All laugh)
Ninomiya: He sees things like that.
Aiba: Not only that, but it was pretty sudden (lol).
Sakurai: The sword got drawn pretty quickly (lol).
Ohno: Yeah. I was getting emotional too, and I looked at MatsuJun…and felt like crying.
Aiba: Sympathetic crying?
Matsumoto: Sympathetic crying… (lol)
Ninomiya: Sympathetic crying…if the person involved was crying out of sympathy, that’d be a mystery.
(All laugh)
Aiba: Like, “You’re feeling sympathetic?” (lol)
Sakurai: Normally it’s the people not involved who cry out of sympathy.
Ninomiya: Yeah, that’s what “sympathetic crying” is supposed to be.
Sakurai: Someone involved, having the same experience/emotions, cried from sympathy…
(All laugh)
Aiba: Well, but that shows how much there is. The memories and feelings.
Ohno: Yeah, I was really very touched.
Matsumoto: Yeah. I was too…and I was about to start crying. I saw myself on the monitor and thought, “Oh, not good” so I held back…then Riida was on the monitor, and he also looked teary-eyed (lol). Not good… so I myself almost started because of Riida. It was a close call, really.
Ohno: (Deeply) It’s contagious.
--I’m sure a lot of feelings/memories started welling up at the final Kokuritsu.
Aiba: After all… it’s the last one.
Ninomiya: We won’t do it anymore.
Aiba: That feeling was really strong.
Matsumoto: Seriously…for 6 years, in the summer we had concerts here. Like…I reflected a lot on those memories. While watching the flames of that Olympic Torch.
--At the last Kokuritsu, you were able to celebrate all of you entering your 30s.
Ninomiya: All of Arashi became 30.
Sakurai: A celebration for entering (our 30s), right?
Aiba: We were able to celebrate.
Ninomiya: Seeing Riida wear that outfit (Matsumoto’s “Yabai-Yabai-Yabai” outfit) was really nostalgic.
Ohno: Fufu, fufufufu.
Sakurai: I thought that Ohmiya…can’t be anyone but Nino and Satoshi-kun, after all. (*Aiba and Sakurai came out wearing Ohmiya SK’s outfits)
Aiba: Yeah. There’s a fine balance and fit to it.
Sakurai: With us, it was a bit…how do I say this? The body frame…
Ninomiya: You were very well-built (lol).
Sakurai: Right. It was seriously gross…that’s how it turned out.
(All laugh)
Aiba: It was…super tight.
Sakurai: Yeah…the sizing for us, made it not so cute. It works for some and not others. It’s not something everyone can do.
Ohno: Compared to that, I…was normal (lol).
Ninomiya: Though it’s amazing you could wear that and stand there normally…
(All laugh)
Matsumoto: Ohno-san, what left a big impression from the last Kokuritsu?
Ohno: It has to be this view at Kokuritsu, after all…it’s like, I feel like I took another good look at it while reflecting on these 6 years. Including last year’s view too. How do I put it? Somewhere, it just didn’t feel…like it was real.
Sakurai: Yeah…I know what you mean (deeply).
Ohno: It’s like I was able to really accept that…that, and I was probably really feeling that it was coming to an end. That was making me teary.
Ninomiya: Yeah… I think it’s been amazing. I said this at the interviews at the time, but 6 years…is enough time for a student to start and graduate from elementary school. It’s amazing that we were able to do this for that many years.
Matsumoto: That’s really true.
Ninomiya: The fans that come see us year after year like this are amazing too. But…thinking about how we can’t do it anymore….right? That’s what I was feeling the most. That we can’t have concerts at this place anymore…it’s big that we were able to do them at such a place.
Aiba: It is sad after all. But…if the reconstruction got pushed later, and we were told we could do it next year too…I’m not sure what would happen. But it does feel sad, somehow. Also, I’m grateful that we were able to do it until the end. It’s sad, but… I think the concerts were very worth doing. These 6 years.
--The last night at Kokuritsu, you were able to see the last fireworks while wearing the mysterious glasses that you helped create as part of the goods.
Aiba: Yes. Even a personal dream like that came true too (lol).
Ninomiya: That’s amazing. But isn’t it kind of because we’ve been doing concerts there that long?
Aiba: Yeah. That’s why I was able to do it.
Sakurai: Well…I said this at our first (Kokuritsu performance) time too. You know…for me personally this place was always something “beyond our dreams.” The happiness of being able to see it 6 times…and keeping in mind its history, the weight of doing it at the Kokuritsu Stadium I think is really big. It is purely a sacred place for sports, and didn’t have any meaning for us, but…still, I have a lot of gratitude to this place and the people who came to see us, since we made many precious memories there. It’s like if your school building gets torn down. When things disappear like that…you feel that sadness that even if you go there, it won’t be there anymore.
Matsumoto: We won’t be able to stand on that stage anymore.
Ninomiya: Yeah…physically.
Sakurai: Because the new Kokuritsu Stadium will be the new Kokuritsu Stadium. I think it means a lot that we were able to stand in this Kokuritsu Stadium.
--At the end of the very last Kokuritsu concert, you suggested, “Shall we all say thank you to the Olympic flame torch?” and it was great that you were able express your thanks.
Matsumoto: Yes. I think the Olympic torch is after all a symbol of the Kokuritsu Stadium. I mean, back when we first performed at Kokuritsu, I watched Ichikawa Kon’s “Tokyo Olympiad” and all…it’s a structure that’s been there since before we were born. It’s a building that really has a lot of history, having been built when the Olympics were held in Tokyo in the past. It’s big that we were able to create our own memories there…. What will it be like in 2020?
Everyone: We’re looking forward to that time in a lot of ways.
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MatsuJun tricking them into dancing for him, lol ^_^ I also always crack up at Riida rapping in Lucky Man, just saying whatever XD
And there it is, all 50 pages of the crosstalk~ That was a ridiculous amount of work the past 3 weeks, but it was worth doing if you enjoyed reading it ^__^
Again, please ask if you want to use it. And comments are <3
Part 1 - AAA 2008
Part 2 - 5 x 10
Part 3 - Scene
Part 4 - Beautiful World
Part 5 - Arafes
Thank you for making it to the end with me!!
(Also, as an aside... I have been thinking of doing a complete translation of the Nippon no Arashi book for a few years now - have actually already started it. I know some parts have been translated in the past, but I'm not sure if it all was. It will take me forever, maybe another year or more, since I'll have to fit it around RL, but if that is something you would be interested to see at some point, let me know too~)