Translation: Potato April 2000・ONE of Arashi・Vol. 2 Matsumoto Jun
SPECIAL Serial!!
ONE of Arashi
Vol. 2 Matsumoto Jun

Starting from last month's issue, our concentrated serial plan "ONE of Arashi". One that will quickly reverberate, this month is Matsumoto-kun's appearance! From childhood memories to his motive for becoming an entertainer and his first impressions of the members of Arashi... We did a long interview about topics of great interest. He also spoke passionately for us about his goals for the future!!


Although I really liked playing and sports when
I was a kid, in the classroom I was very serious.

In elementary school I had an incredible desire to play, and I may have burst open [1] even more than normal kids. When I went to school I would take class seriously, and then when I got home at once I'd go outside to play, and would stay out there seriously playing until evening (smile). And then I'd go home, eat dinner, watch TV, and go to sleep. With that kind of daily schedule, at any rate I was a kid who loved to play. I liked both playing outside with my friends and playing video games by myself. When it came to playing, I had an interest in everything... Or rather, I had a talent for playing.

For example, even if I was playing a game with my friends, the regular rules would be boring, so we'd make up our own and stuff. I also liked sports and joined the neighborhood baseball team, in Kindergarten I was on the soccer club team, and I was a kid who loved moving his body. I played baseball from first grade until just after I joined the Juniors. I was able to do all the things I wanted, and I feel like I would have tried anything in which I could move my body or that was recreational.

Saying that, I bet you can't imagine my sitting at a desk studying (smile). It's true I didn't really study at home, outside of my homework anyway. But, because class was everything for me, I was really serious in class. In elementary school, I couldn't believe how the people around me would be talking or making a lot of noise. In class, I really concentrated. But, it seems like that was also my "desire to play." When I could solve an arithmetic problem I was happy, and when I was asked a question, I was happy when my answer matched. Because there was a sense of achievement and satisfaction in that. My grades were also fairly good. In fifth grade I was the class representative, and also captain of the baseball team. I don't have the ability to bring everything together, but I guess I have a personality that wants to (smile).

At the time, I didn't have any interest in celebrities, just at about the level of watching SMAP's TV program and thinking, "that's interesting." I was obviously just a viewer (smile). Of course I had never even seen a concert or anything... I didn't know Johnny's Entertainment existed. I'm sorry to the people in the groups whose names I didn't know, but I only knew of Hikaru GENJI and SMAP. Now you're thinking "so how?", aren't you? It's because when I was in sixth grade and my sister was in her second year of middle school [2], I saw the really popular Kinki Kids on a program my sister recommended and thought they were really cool. So I said to my sister as a joke, "What if I joined (Johnny's)?" That was the first time I thought "I want to try it" and had interesting becoming an entertainer. And then I discovered lots of videos and stuff, and my desire to do it myself became high. The day I sent in my application was the day of my elementary school graduation, and the pictures were 3 minute pictures (smile). On some program, Kinki Kids had said something like when you become a Junior, they ask you to come to concert. So in the spring I entered middle school I thought simply [3], "I'll be asked to come to the Golden Week [4] concert too" (smile). But then I wasn't asked to come. So, just after I had given up, they contacted me.

In my case I didn't do the audition everyone talks about, but rather after an interview I danced for about an hour and was then told, "you must be tired, so you can go home." Dancing was really fun, so if I could dance like that, and I got called the next week... and now I'm here (smile). On that day I wasn't especially nervous or anything (smile). The time my heart was pounding

-----

was when I danced in front of lots of fans at the entrance to TV Asahi (smile). That was the first time I felt something like people's aura. I guess the reason I joined the Juniors was that on that day my desire to keep dancing was recognized.

I believe in myself and my intuition.
That's the theme of now.

My first job was backdancing for Kinki Kids on Music Station. When I came home and watched the video, you could see my a little, and I was happy. And then I continued with lessons, and in the summer I was allowed to be in a concert at Yokohama Arena, and in winter I went away for the first time [5]. The cheers of the fans at the concerts weren't half-hearted, they were very... Just, I was surprised (smile). Everything was something I had never experienced before, so every day I thought "Oh, wow!" and was freshly motivated. ...I wonder what I was thinking then. I never thought it was tough, just, I feel like I recklessly dove forward.

This world is a harsh one where even if you aren't in good physical condition or you're injured somewhere, you have to work. At the time I didn't feel a sense of responsibility or anything, but I think I was able to come this far just by thinking "I have to do this." That, and it was fun. Not to mention, I didn't really have the same goals as kids my age. After being a Junior for three and a half years, I think I've learned a lot of things that you can't learn in only school or regular friendships.

My first impressions of the members of the members of Arashi really haven't changed. From the beginning I've felt Sho-kun is an older brother I can rely on, and now in addition to that I can see "cute Sho-kun" and "foolish looking Sho-kun" (smile). Ohno-kun is has a character somehow different from other people, and in the beginning he wasn't the type to talk very much. Nino and Aiba-kun and I entered in the same period, so I knew them well. Nino was the same as now, although of course his style of acting [6] is changing (smile). He was interesting, and Aiba-kun was carefree (smile).

That the five of us became Arashi might have been destiny [7], and it might have been fate. Or possibly, it might be something we seized ourselves.... We'll be together for a long time from now on, and I want to go forward treating Arashi as something precious. Right now, we really only have work as a group, and later two of us will go on a show or something, but we don't have any work alone yet. Today I did an Arashi recording by myself, but after I finish my part, I think they'll work to join the five together. It's a process for it to throughly become five people.

I heard the secret of being able to remain a group a long time is "don't be clingy," and I think that might be right. When Arashi was formed, I thought being together was knowing the other members, and consciously we were together, but I think from now on it might be good to have distance in a good way.

What I've been thinking is "being myself." Although I may cause people trouble by accident (smile), but while not causing trouble as much as possible, I want to be able to do my own thing. Saying it a different way, my style? Although I can't really tell you specifically what that is, I want to believe in my intuition.

Although this is something my sister introduced me to, I think it suits me. Ever since I was little, I've wanted to stand out. Because at the time I was playing baseball, I was aiming to be a professional baseball player. Like I was saying I didn't want a normal life. Right now I think rather than mediocre, I'd like to have a life full of dramatic events.

It's a harsh world,
but I think it suits me

Profile
Matsumoto・Jun
Born on 30/8/1983. Born and
raised in Tokyo Prefecture. Blood
type A. Height 170 cm [8]. Arashi's
second single, "SUNRISE Nippon/HORIZON,"
will be on sale April 5th.



NOTES:
[1] This word is part of an expression for "bursting out laughing," so I think that's what he means. Return
[2] 8th grade in the US. Anyone turning 14 between Apr. 1st and March 31st the next year is in their second year of middle school. Return
[3] I mean the kind of dumb "simple." Return
[4] Golden Week is a string of holidays in the beginning of May that all happened to fall together, giving people basically the whole week off. Return
[5] What he says here is that he went to a (rural) area, but what I think he means is that Yokohama isn't far from Tokyo, so it was his first time going away for a concert. Return
[6] "Acting" as in as a performer, not his behavior. Return
[7] This concept, "en," is a very complicated Buddhist thing in which everything comes to be as a result of everything else, so when he says "destiny" he's implying that all their karma and everything until now set them up to be together. It's a little bit heavier that "destiny," I think. Which is why he brings up the less heavy "fate" at the end of the sentence. Return
[8] About 5'7". Return


Many thanks to je_for8ver who is the originator of these scans.