barbosa2007 | DUET December 2009 - Sakurai Sho Interview (Reply)

The people at DUET magazine sat down with the members of Arashi as they welcome their 10th year anniversary together. Here, the future and current activites of Arashi are discussed.

A portrait of Sakurai Sho - Now and 10 years later.

Myself, 5 years later:

VS Arashi just entered into the golden time slot, and I’d like for us to continue great programs like that. 5 years is really a short term goal, so I hope that we can properly host the programs we have now. This may sound rather difficult, but it would be nice for the five of us to film on the same [outdoor] location together. We haven’t had the time for that lately. I don’t think my private life will change much. Well, it’ll be weird if I say that everything’s going to stay the same, since the number of juniors is going to increase right? In a bad sense, without slowing down, I would like to seriously face the future and progress from there. I wish to be a fresh 30-something. (laughs)

Myself, 10 years later:

Of course, I would like to be married in 10 year’s time. And have at least a kid or two. (laughs) The five of us would often say things like, let’s get our families together and have a barbeque, that’ll be awesome! Nino’s kid would make a riposte to Aiba’s kid and stuff like that, it promises to be interesting. If ever that day comes, it’ll be enjoyable. Most certainly, if we could be in the same place as our supporters in our concerts ten years down the road, I think that’s a great position to be in. We can still dance, totally. (laughs)

Myself, 20 years later:

I look forward to it. It’ll probably be when my life as an adult is in full swing. I’ll be starting to do things like paying the school fees for my kids and savings. (laughs) At 47, I’ll still brazenly do [programs] Aiba-Sugoroku and Pika’nchi. Though I don’t know who will be watching it then. (laughs)

Arashi, 10 years later:

I want for Ohno to host his own program on fishing. Something like, “Ohno’s fishing corner”. (laughs) I wish for Aiba-kun to run his own ranch. He’ll go, (adopts Aiba’s tone) “You know, my cow the other day…” Even when he’s 37-38, I hope that he’ll still be the Aiba-kun who’s being chased after by tigers. Nino would produce games. Stuff like NINOMIYA QUEST. Don’t you think he could do it? I want Matsujun to produce our juniors’ concerts. I want to see that happen. I’m also interested in Matsujun’s sense of fashion at 35-36 years. (laughs) I often talk to the members about this, but I think the basic foundation is that we’ll still enjoy doing what we do now. Whilst growth must be accompanied by change, the basics still remain the same. I hope what can be described as “Arashi-ish” now will still be labelled as “Arashi-ish” ten years later.

Recent stuff:

My friends planned a 10 year anniversary celebration for me. This started about 5 years ago? We jokingly said, “When Arashi turns ten, let’s celebrate on a cruise!” And they actually remembered. When I heard about the plan I was on the verge of tears. That made me so happy. I’m just living in the moment right now and loving it.