Translation: MISS April 2009・Sakurai Sho-kun Collection
Bunnies ♥ Uh, also, this took a supremely long time, so please let me know if you spot any errors.


We in our 30's are caught up in Arashi!
Sakurai Sho-kun Collection

"Although I didn't have any interest in Johnnys, Arashi is different!"
"Who do you like in Arashi?" "It might be the first time since I was a student, that I've become so caught up in idols... Arashi is really good!!"
We've come these past few years hearing this sentiment from women in their 30s.
Maybe that heat is at the point of settling in, on one hand gradually overheating.
And then finally the long-awaited first MISS appearance of Arashi's Sakurai Sho!
Sakurai-kun is equipped with a sense of freshness and intelligence and dignity, and also unskillfullness.
From his sincere tone of voice we discover "now"'s sincere Sakuraism.
We begin to be able to see why Arashi has charmed us this much!

Photo: Momoko Katsuoka Styling: Masashi Nomura (STUTTGART)
Hair & Make-up: Yoshinori Takeuchi (MAKE UP ROOM) Special Thanks to PROPS NOW
Editor: Miki Kawada (MISS)

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1 Analects of Sho-chan
"Music has been close to me since I was little.
I played the trombone, and my father played the guitar.
Dance, which expressed that music in a different form, seemed cool."


Sho-chan's Soliloquy
How do you hold a rabbit? (Sakurai-kun, while moving a little gingerly....) Owww (The rabbit's claws got him....) You're asking how long its been since I held a rabbit? I think it's the first time.

Shirt (reference article)/Hugo (Hugo Boss Japan) Pants ￥17,850/Lanvin on Blue (Joyix Corporation) Belt ￥19,000/Leather Evening


Arashi's Sakurai Sho-kun had just had his 27th birthday a few days before this interview. The aura and dignity that wraps him up reaches to fresh.

"This morning, I went for a physical. I hadn't had a physical examination since I was a high schooler. I was super healthy, a healthy wonder kid. I drank barium. It's harsh, that."



Nowadays it's not all that usual for an idol to have higher education, but when Sakurai-kun debuted as Arashi 10 years ago, it was still the minority. Further, when you hear an idol went from the Keio lower schools to graduate from the Keio Economics department in 4 years, there are undeniably inquisitive eyes. Why would such a guy go into Johnny's Jimusho?

"There are two reasons, and when we were in elementary school Hikaru GENJI was popular. They were incredibly cool, and also, at the time I saw one of Micheal Jackson's music videos, and I thought I'd like to try dancing. So one was that as far as I could see on TV, the only ones dancing were people from Johnny's. And then, when I was in my second year of middle school I went to my friend's older brother's high school's cultural festival. When I did, even though I was just a regular middle schooler, a high school girl screamed 'It's a Johnnys Jr.!' and was like, 'Please take a picture with me'. I went along with how my friends around me said, 'Try sending in a resume,' while they burst out laughing."

We understand the motivation. But why did Sakurai-san want to want to dance, I wonder?

"Music has been close to me since I was little, you might say. I was made to play the piano, and when I was in elementary school I was in the brass band, and I wanted to play the trumpet but I lost at rock-paper-scissors so I played the trombone. And then, my father played the guitar. Dance, which expressed that music in a different form, seemed cool."

Acting honestly according to his feelings, that was the answer we heard. But after sending in that resume, he was overwhelmed

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2 Analects of Sho-chan
"At our debut we were brought to Hawaii
without understanding what was going on. It was a feeling that Arashi had been swallowed deeply,
getting caught up in a large whirlpool."


by various circumstances that were like a wave.

"At 13 I wrote my resume for the first time, and I sent it in without saying anything to my parents. And then when club activities were over and I got home, an express envelope with the sender not written on it had arrived. That day was Saturday, and it said please come to an audition the next Sunday. I had passed the initial written application, so concerning tomorrow's second test, please come, that kind of thing.

"My mother had burst out laughing in the kitchen, but while my dad was watching TV in the the living room he said, 'You're definitely not going,' and I thought, 'Oh man, what should I do?' But somehow, the next morning, I was brought to the audition meeting place in a care driven by my father, and well, the more I think about it now, I think it was a home where you were let do the things you wanted to do, because my father took me there like that."

After that, in Johnnys Jr., he was called to rehearsal for the programs his sempai would be appearing on every week. The 100 people that had been there at the time of the audition were 50 people by the next week, 25 by the next week, and when a year had passed only a handful remained. And as he kept staying, with a surprising amount of effort and tenacious mental ability he took on balancing his work and his studies.

"Although at the time I didn't really think of it as work, it was just fun. Guys who were all around my age gathered from lots of places, and it was a feeling like it was some kind of club. I remember it even now, but class in middle school ended at 2:50. There were 56 minutes on the express train, and the moment class ended I would run so I could make that 56 minute express train. I would ride that and then there would be a 3 and a half hour rehearsal for Music Station or something. I went in my school uniform.

"But on the other hand, it became necessary that I not let my grades fall. Because I thought I'd be told it was because I was doing that kind of stuff that my grades had fallen. Because I couldn't leave even that little gap. So even if I caught a cold or had a fever, I went to school everyday starting first period, and, the day before, no matter if we had ended in the middle of the night or what, I made it through with no tardies and no absences."



And then finally talk came


Sho-chan's Soliloquy
I haven't been going to the gym recently. Just by training a little bit, I soon get muscles. (And, while patting his arm...). I guess it must by natural.

Vest ￥27,300 Parka ￥16,800/Both LORINZA (Waingman Wassa) Pants (reference article) Belt ￥18,900/Both Hugo (Hugo Boss Japan) Necklace ￥33,600 Ring ￥21,000 Wallet Chain ￥94,500/All HOLLOOW (UNITE NINE) Lace-up Boots ￥78,000/Leather Evening
(pg.189) Trenchcoat ￥71,400/LIVRASON (Atein) Pants (reference article)/Hugo (Hugo Boss Japan)


3 Analects of Sho-chan
"Because at concerts I get yelled 'kya-' at,
it's like I'm also 'kya-' (smile).
That time is the most fun."

-----

of his debut as "Arashi."

"Because I didn't continue because I wanted to debut, I only continued because it was fun. I thought I'd do it until I entered college. So in the two months from the end of January or beginning of February when exams were over to when college started, I thought I'd maybe go abroad and do a homestay. When I told my manager that, he said, 'There's no way you can go.' Huh, why couldn't I go!? This situation, something's funny here, was sort of how it became."

So then was there a choice to follow a path other than Arashi?

"There wasn't. Like, it's said, most people in the world, basically I was the same. I didn't have a dream, and I thought I'd just sort of go to college and just sort of get a job. So it's weird. If the timing had been off a little bit, I don't think I would have been in Arashi."

The destiny that chose him, how did Sakurai-kun react to that reality?

"I'm pretty much a realist, so yeah, I don't really think it was me doing as much as I could and becoming a member. Just something incidental, like timing, or maybe luck... I guess."



While riding the waves of time and being made to ride them, his activities as Arashi started. He was unable to pull away from his studies, and work was completely uncompromising. If there are geniuses in the world, Sakurai-kun is a person of effort. But if he doesn't have talent given from heaven, he shouldn't be able to participate in this harsh world.

"Because I think that I don't have anything like natural talent at all. That's probably what makes me worry. I have to accumulate things. I don't think I'm really exerting myself that much, but if I'm being estimated as that, I think it's because I worry. But that is, it's different from having no confidence. In a sense, I think I believe in myself strongly. So I'm a talented person, but maybe I have an aptitude for working hard."

A talent for working hard. Throwing out an example from a newspaper he read recently, he continued on to say this.

"Speaking of volume (effort), I think it was a column in a newspaper I read recently, there are letters that start writing from, 'I don't have much time today, so I'm sorry if this letter gets long'. In other words, it's simple to just on at length, spewing things out, but how you can condense the things that have built up inside you and output them smartly is important. I've come to think that's very important. Like, it's second hand you know, second hand from the newspaper (smile)."

I understood from this attitude going into raw seriousness, in the journalism world, he has another face.

"In both the books I read and the movies, there were many documentaries, and there was also the big reason that I had an interest. When I thought about it there wasn't anyone in the company doing it, and that might have also been a large motivation."

Suiting those feelings of his, this year he begins his third year as a caster.

"With just 27 years old, Johnnys, Arashi's Sakurai Sho can sit in the caster's seat, there might not be much I can do. But I have to believe just maybe there are people who wouldn't have given us a chance if I wasn't in that position, that's what I think now."



Even so, Sakurai-kun's ability to be calm is incredible. Is this his true form?

"Today I'm going with formal behavior (smile). Rather, I love things like festivals and concerts! Because the fans all yell 'kya-', it's like I'm also 'kya-'. Of course that time is the most fun. Especially last year was our first time at the National Olympic Stadium, and as far as you could look out it was our fans, and it was


4 Analects of Sho-chan
"Because I think that I don't have
anything like natural talent at all,
that's probably what makes me worry.
But I think maybe I have an aptitude for
working hard."

-----

moving.

"Uh, after concerts? In general, I guess we almost always go drinking. If we drink with the staff who came to the concert for us, they compliment us a lot (smile). Saying we keep it to after concerts, it's like we go drinking to be praised (smile)."

Incidentally, when he goes on stage, what is reflected in Sakurai-kun's eyes?

"Basically we only hear good things usually, so we honestly don't know if it's a lie of the truth. So I guess you could say we know if we have a concert. If there's a mother holding a child, or when there are also people who come as a family of as a group of 3 guys. The space where we can feel for ourselves that a lot of people have really come to know is is of course that place. That's why we really look at everyone's faces. Kind of like, 'Oh, that girl's become a fan of so-and-so? Even though up until last time she was holding my uchiwa. I wonder, did I do something bad (smile)?'"

That Arashi is entering their tenth year this year. Those strong emotions are to be expected, but Sakurai-kun has already set his eyes on what's ahead of that.

"I guess it's been these last three years, where I felt that if I recklessly kept giving 120% to the things in front of me, today's things, tomorrow's things, somehow a road that connected to what's after that would open. Because oppositely as a special characteristic of our work, it's like if you stand still you're done, so we had to keep running. Now I'm really looking forward to what we do from our 11th year. So that the calm after the storm doesn't become a calm, one step at a time, just like we've been doing so far, we have to continue to gather things one by one, or things won't come together into a shape, I think. Everything from our 11th year on is presently a blank sheet. Please give us work. I'll write down the company's telephone number for you, where you can reach us (smile)."



As that one 27 year old man, Sakurai Sho, it seems he has something he's a little worried about....

"It's about my family, but I think my position is strange. I'm the first child, and I started working early, so from both my parents and my younger sister and brother the feeling that I'm relied on is huge. Of course the two central pillars are my mother and father, but... I'm not central, but I am a pillar. Even so, as I try jump into things from my parent's legs, even now I live with my parents (smile). But it's about time, isn't it. I'm thinking I'd like to move this year. I want to live someplace away from home. If I lived close, I'll just end up going back home. I guess I'll go with someplace far away enough where there's a feeling of separation."



This is one passage from the rap composed by Sakurai-kun. "For myself, who I've come this far believing in/For everyone who's added dreams/A word of thanks for my family/'I believe' just to the limits of my strength/That this impatience too will someday become a seed..." (From Arashi's "Kaze no Mukou e") I feel like I've understood the person that can write these straightforward lines, Sakurai-kun, just a little bit.

Standing in front of the camera, his form taking a pose without hesitating. One could also say his flawless smart behavior was the appearance of his "charming unskillfullness." Surely this quality of giving everything creates Arashi's exquisite sense of solidarity. But, this perfect behavior at times also felt like a wall. It is for this reason, I thought I'd like to see a Sakurai-kun who was just a bit more, just a little more relaxed. It doesn't have to be quickly, and we don't have to rush. It's okay if it's the slow, deliberate rhythm that Arashi has been marking off thus far, so I'd like to see an easy-going Sakurai-kun. However, this Sakurai-kun, this Arashi, that has evoked in me this much a feeling I can't ignore... More and more I can't take my eyes of of them.


5 Analects of Sho-chan
"I live with my parents.
I try jump into things from my parent's legs (smile).
But, I'm thinking I'd like to move this year.
It's about time, isn't it, that I should stop relying on my parents."

Sho-chan's Soliloquy
A historical person I'd like to trying playing? Uh, I don't really know many historical people. I don't know the military commanders of the warring states or anything. (...After thinking for a few seconds) Yamato Takeru no Mikoto! Since we don't know what he was actually like, it seems I could do it.

Jacket ￥79,000 Pants ￥35,000 Shirt ￥23,000 Necktie ￥14,000 Belt ￥17,000 Lace-up Boots ￥78,000/All Leather Evening

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Nino is...
Ninomiya Kazunari Kazunari Ninomiya
"The rotations of his mind,
are good, they're fast.
It's kind of like, from a different place he's at by himself, there are moments when it's like he sees things.
There are times when with a commanding view he takes things in from a different angle."


6 Analects of Sho-chan
"We took ten years and came this far at our own pace.
There were ups and downs, and also times
we seemed to go a roundabout way.
Looking at us, we want you to feel dreams,
or rather be thankful with dreams.
Like, if you have the will to do something, you can do it."


Aiba is...
Aiba Masaki Masaki Aiba
"Well, he's cheerful.
Well, he's cheerful (smile).
Because he has an atmosphere of drawing the people around him in and enjoying something. Like the sun, maybe.
What, when Aiba was in MISS he called me a penguin!? He said he was a dolphin!? Although he doesn't know anything else, he really knows about animals.
Also... He copies the stores I go to. Really, I'd like him to stop! (smile)"


Ohno-kun is...
Ohno Satoshi Satoshi Ohno
"A talented person,
I think.
He's good at dancing, good at drawing.
I think he's a person with an abundance of talent on one hand, and of course the effort backing that up, he doesn't let you see it, but he's doing a lot of it I think. He's strict with himself, that person. There are times when even when he gets an OK from those around him, he can't be satisfied until he gets an OK from himself.
On the other hand, there are also times when even though those around him gives him an NG he's given himself an OK (smile)."


MatsuJun is...
Matsumoto Jun Jun Matsumoto
"Serious
isn't he.
To say it in a way that's easy to understand, he's a prototypical A type person, he's very detail-oriented. Added to that, he's serious.
What's it called, his form of exertion as he faces each project one by one, well, he's serious.
How should I say it... stoic!? He thinks things through quite well, and he has his ways of doing things."


The Fans are...
"Mysterious, aren't they.
Truly important... people who understand us wellL I guess.
Because there are people who know me better than I know myself, sometimes. There are lots of things you say in a magazine on the radio a long time ago that you don't remember, right, when you've been working for 10 years. There are times when I'm told, 'you were cool at such and such a time,' and I'm like, 'which?' (smile).
Bearing in mind these things, they might just be the people who understand us 5 the best."


Sho Sakurai
Born January 25th, 1982. After debuting with Arashi at age 17, he's participated in a broad range of dramas, commercials, movies, etc. He is also looking towards his third year as a caster on NEWS ZERO (NTV). The movie Yatterman opens on 3/7 (Sat.). Its theme song, "Believe" sung by Arashi, goes on sale 3/4 (Wed.). In this year of Arashi's 10th anniversary, he's going to work more to fully to repay the fans!!





Special thanks to yuckie_chan who is the originator of these scans (post locked).