The Arashi Encyclopedia - Pia Magazine 09

[barbosa2007]

 

The people at PIA sat down with Arashi as they recollected their 10 years together through the form of an encyclopedia.

We’ve put together an Arashi encyclopedia using materials from the past ten years!!

 

Ohno: Something that starts with “A” or “あ” right?

 

Sho: A-FRIENDS also starts with A right. Since we didn’t manage to get into the group, J-FRIENDS, which was started by our senpai, we decided to come up with a brand new unit ourselves.

 

Nino: And when someone in the group turns 20, I’ll come up with a song and everyone would sing along to it.

 

Jun: That really brings back memories. You guys sang for me when we had a concert at Ehime. But in terms of the timing it was really horrible for Nino since at that time, no one else but Nino could write songs…

 Aiba: That’s true…

 

Jun: We thought that at the very least we should do a video letter as well, so we recorded our messages (Jun, Aiba and Ohno) when we were in our rehearsal rooms. But the content was horrendous! We couldn’t publish something like that in a magazine. (laughs)

 Aiba: That’s the indiscretion of youth. (laughs)

 Nino: In the end, we could only hear the sounds of laughter of the stage director! That was novel, yes?

 A-FRIENDS

 The five members and their manager formed the aforementioned unit. It was for the sake of celebrating the members’ birthdays when they turned 20, and was disbanded once the youngest member Matsumoto turned into an adult (at 20). The group’s main activities were to make an original CD was a gift. Ninomiya was responsible for crafting the melody and lyrics of the song. You can check it out in the “How’s It Going?” DVD on how they celebrated Matsumoto’s birthday.

 Nino: Backflips. (lit: Bakuten)

 Jun: It seems like everyone who’s a Johnny is expected to be able to do backflips.

 Aiba: That’s normal. When we were in Johnny’s Junior, there was days set aside for practising backflips.

 Ohno: Didn’t we have a grading system for this, split into grades A, B and C? I was in grade B.

 Nino: I was initially given grade C.

 Sho: So once you’ve reached grade A, that you probably mean you were something like a gymnast. (laughs)

 Nino: But I’m sure in your life, you’ve done a backflip on your own before, right?

 Jun: Well, I sure did it. Totally.

 Sho: I did so once. While looking like a frog that was bashed up.

 Jun: (laughs) I’m not gonna show people how I do it! Although if I did take it seriously I could do a backflip.

 Nino: But you wouldn’t want to see it, right? A 26 year old who’s in serious mode.

 Jun: Our faces would show that we’re stretched to the limit. (laughs)

 Sho: After all, the issue is whether we want to do it. Our songs don’t require us to do backflips anyway.

 Jun: If we had to do so in our work, we’d do our best at it, but there isn’t anyone breathing down our necks to do backflips, I guess… (laughs)

 Backflips [Jap: Bakuten]

 A backward somersault. During Arashi concerts, the members may display backflips from time to time.

 Jun: Ever since our 1^st concert in 2000, we were blessed to be able to hold a tour every year.

 Aiba: We had no songs to our name initially, so during our 1^st concert we had to perform A RA SHI three times. Like a Para Para version and a ballad version.

 Jun: [singing in a ballad style] They say that on the TV today~ [Translator’s note: A line from their single A RA SHI]

 Sho: (laughs) We played stuff like Kick the Can and Trumps with the audience.

 Jun: The horrendous part was during the MC, where we brought out a kotatsu* onto the centre stage. (laughs)

 [Translator’s note: A kotatsu is a low, wooden table frame covered by a futon, or heavy blanket, upon which a table top sits.]

 Ohno: Around the kotatsu, we took out humongous trump cards and played Old Maid (lit: “Pick the grannie). However, the audience couldn’t see it from where they were sitting.

 Nino: That seriously was the pinnacle of surrealism. Following that, we thought we should move about so we played Kick the Can. (laughs)

 Jun: And [the thing which starts with C is] … COLOR. We thought we would decide each member’s colour. [Translator’s note: Is this something like Power Rangers?]

 Sho: During our first live performance, we hoped to determine our microphone colours. Mine was orange.

 Jun: Mine was light blue. Nino’s was blue so it was really difficult to distinguish the two of us.

 Aiba: Mine was always green.

 Sho: And Ohno’s was pink? Well, in the end I thought the color separation was a good thing. It is certainly true that in our live performances, it was easier to distinguish between each member.

 COLOR

 Ohno = Blue, Sho = Red, Aiba = Green, Nino = Yellow, Jun = Purple. The colors were set to complement each member’s image, and it was known as the Member Color.

 CONCERT

 This was the opportunity for the group to establish their credibility in their creative ability. Starting with detailed descriptions for the Moving Stage, it led on to other developments like the Johnny’s Super Moving Crane. There were many other stage props which Arashi first proposed and implemented.

 

I'm quite curious as to who the people reading this journal are, given that I've been in the fandom for quite a few years now. If you're commenting, do drop a note on which country you hail from! Cheers.

Comments

[awa-naj.livejournal.com]

thank you~XD

[sky7horizon.livejournal.com]

love them so much..thanks for sharing...and happy new year..

[blubbertz.livejournal.com]

It would be awesome to see Jun do a backflip XD Thanks for your translation!

I'm from Singapore. ^^

[jiggly4545.livejournal.com]

thank you.. love ur translation

i am from singapore

[omiyukio.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the article!!
My name is Miyuki ^_^
I'm from California, USA.
I would love to add you as a friend ^_^
Add me as well~~~!!

[aikyo16.livejournal.com]

thanks for translating and sharing!

with much love from Singapore! <3

[crono112288.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the translation
I cant believe they actually sat and played cards though XD

Happy New Year ^-^

I'm from the U.S. (Texas)

[chillhat.livejournal.com]

from singapore =)

[tangerinesun.livejournal.com]

thanks for translating!
greetings from Philippines!

[huey-tsai.livejournal.com]

I would love to see all of them do backflips... while forcing Sho to do one. :))

I'm from the PHILIPPINES. :D

[guppy-chan.livejournal.com]

thanks for sharing! hapi 2010!

[pauba.livejournal.com]

thank you so much for this! :)

[dianil5272.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Thankssss!

Happy New Year! from Philippines yo!

[arashisamon.livejournal.com]

thansk for translating:)..

hmm county :) Poland

[akiiii-no.livejournal.com]

thanks for translating xD

im frm HK ^^

[swtcamden.livejournal.com]

Thank you for translating and sharing!

I'm from the states.

[miszterius.livejournal.com]

Anati desu, from Malaysia. Thank you so much for tranlating!
I so want to see the 'ballad' version of Sakurap XD

[r34lpr1nc3ss.livejournal.com]

thank you for sharing.

[criyu.livejournal.com]

I really want to know what they did in their youth!X°D
I'm in the fandom for about 4 years and I'm from Italy ^-^

Thanks

[brianathebard.livejournal.com]

waa~ thank you so much for translating! That gave me a few giggles at this early hour, off to bed, counting members of Arashi doing backflips... (*´・ω・)ﾉ~~

I'm from Wisconsin, USA, by the way ^^

[statr.livejournal.com]

thanks! I'm from the Philippines.

[inay91.livejournal.com]

This is really fun to read!I really love Jun's birthday song.Nino is really talented ne.About the backflip,I never watch Jun do it.I'm curious how it looks like.The colour 4 each member really fits them.
Thanx a lot 4 translating & sharing it!
Luv ya!
I'm from Malaysia

[riapi.livejournal.com]

HAPPY NEW YEAR
thanks for the translations..

sho's backflips are always hilarious.. what more now.. haha..
i haven't seen jun did a backflip before...poor me...

from philippines desu~♥

[sapphire-ddj.livejournal.com]

Thank you for ur effort in translating. I'm from Malaysia. Happy New Year 2010!!!

[anyappellation.livejournal.com]

I'm reading this :D thanks for the translation, I'm pretty slow when it comes to reading Japanese still. haha.

and I'm from the USA :) pretty normal, I guess~