translation => nino @ nikkei entertainment jan'08 [part 002]
part 001 is here. and guess what? there's going to be a part 003 :DDD

lol lazy bug please go away

[+] bolded: section title
[+] italics: magazine's editor notes
[+] straight: nino
[+] pink: my notes

"
the significance of solo activities

with respect to solo activities, not only were there many, they also helped to better define each member's characteristics.

while prince-like matsumoto jun had widened the group's teenage fanbase with hit dramas "hana yori dango" and "bambino", he also nailed the mature female fanbase by displaying his sexy side in a semi-nude shoot in an.an.

ninomiya kazunari who is had received high praises for his acting in the movie "iwojima kara no tegami" and drama "hakei, chichi uesama" had infiltrated the ranks as one of the top actors in the U-25(under 25) age group.

cast as a character who's constantly picked on in "tensai! shimura doubtsu en", aiba masaki displays his flair for variety. from kids to the mature age group, his recognizability has increased greatly.

sakurai sho has been appearing in the news program, "news zero". as a graduate of keio university from the faculty of economics, he established himself as a newscaster, exhibiting his intelligience and level-headedness.

leader ohno satoshi has been steadily improving his skills as a stage actor. as the root of the group, he ensures the quality of the songs in concerts.

throughout this year, it's true that we have been playing alot of different roles. what's interesting is the comment by our leader "i've done nothing" (laughes). however, in the concerts, you can see his amazing dance and when we appear on music programs, it's always ohno who is in charge of the main vocals. therefore, he can't say that he hasn't done anything. but back to the topic, 07 is a year where we have been active in our individual activities.

speaking of individual qualities, in the sep 07 issue of nikkei entertainment where all the members of arashi were featured, the editor had dissected each member's character from his point of view. this article has been "actively used" by the boys.

that issue had been used in the concert mc. it was very interesting to analyze what had been written about us from an objective point of view. although we were only talking about it for the sake of the mc, it seems that the fans went back and read the article carefully (laughes). up on the stage, in front of a gathering of people who would honestly take what we say for granted, there were things that we revealed and there were things that we kept secret. therefore, it's like we've tsukkomi-ed[1] the people who had read the article when we said "there's no such thing!" (regarding what had been written) on stage. sorry about that.

the member who changed the most

the question, "who is the member who had changed the most this year?" was posed. ninomiya's answer is...

sho kun. [i summarized this part. nino talks about the time when he acted alongside sho in YTM. sho always feels awkward around strangers. when they were doing YTM together, nino wants to tear down this "wall" for him. but it went a bit wayward and sho kun ends up taking on this meek personality instead. nino thought that was funny.] in "tokoyo friend park II", it was a miracle that we got the car prize. in year 2007, it's as if there's a guardian angel beside sho kun. who knows? it might be due to sho kun that arashi is currently on the rise (laughes).

within the group, everyone feels at ease with each other[2]. they are on such good terms that they are able to tsukkomi(refer to [1]) each other without fear of invoking anger. even within johnny's, they do not care about the fight to become no.1 or 2, nor are there any special arashi group traits. prior to this, when sakurai was featured in the magazine, he said "arashi are both friends and family". this may be why they are able to put in their best for their solo activities. because they have a place to return to.

we are able to do anyhing for each other. because we trust each other, that's why we are able to go out and do the things we like. because there's a place to return to. there's this feeling of "i have finished what i want to do. now i'm back".
(this must be bolded! omg the hairs are standing on my arms as i typed this. i feel so touched 8D)

it was already like this from the very first year but after 8 years together, this thought just comes naturally. when we first started out, each of us thought "i can't cause inconvenience for the other members". now we are able to share the same feeling without having to say it out. this is something that is accumulated through the months and years that we've been together.

at the last stop of our national tour, although we did our toast, sho kun was not around because he had to appear in "zero". however, we thought "although sho kun is not around, there's always a next time". i feel that this is a leap forward for arashi.

moving the focus towards ninomiya himself, as an actor, there were many opportunities for the audience to view his work. in april, he won the "15th hashita award" (第15回 橋田賞). he starred in 2 dramas "haikei" and "yamataro" which were aired back to back. in the autumn special drama "marathon" he challenged the role of a youth with austism. he won the September Galaxy Award for this role. polls held by the magazine in the dec issue ranked nino no.1 in the categories "most promising actor" and "guy's favourite actor". as a johnny's idol who centres around female fans, it is a positive sign that he receives so much support from the guys. however, there was this other thing on nino's mind.

look here (nino points to the problem), the category "i want to be lovers with this person", that's the most important category. but i'm not ranked in. because of the nature of my job, it is important to have the support of the ladies. i guess its people like sakurai who'll get ranked in...(sakurai is no.8 and no.1 is oguri shun). though my works are not of the kind that would invoke the thought of "i want to be lovers with this person"[3] (laughes). it's really unexpected that i would received such great support from the guys. but i won't change my target audience because of this survey cos i still have the granny fanbase to think about (laughes).

"

[1] tsukkomi: for eg., if A said something stupid or wrong, B would hit A on the head. that's tsukkomi. something aiba had suffered for 8 years lol
[2] the exact translation is "do not feel any constraint", "do not feel own's actions would cause trouble for others" etc but i can't put that into the sentence cos it would sound weird.
[3] 「恋人にしたい」 literally "i want to be lovers with you". yeah i translated literally so it sounded real weird. sorry~

. . . . .

i felt rly happy when i read this article. thing is, i can ttly imagine other members saying the same thing. and i remember things like how aiba wanted to send out that arashi msg during their 8th year anniversary only to find out that sho wanted to do the same thing but was too embarassed. and i rly do think that mj loves arashi best. ohno...well he makes clay stuff for the boys didn't he? though they didnt seem to like them much lol

idk what to say but just that arashi is very special. if i ever dropped out of the arashi fandom like how i dropped out of the kt fandom, i'll remember them as the ugly ones i used to hate but came to love BEST :D
(and that's a hint for non-fans who have something bad to say about ohno's nose. you'll end up liking ohno best, i'd tell ya. cos i did!)

damn, i rarely get sappy over my fandom.

in part 003, there will be oguri shun and i will finish translating the whole article (cos i like saying big words that i know i will take back lollll). and nino, i want to be koibito with you so bad, you just never knew! i would ttly want my own trench digging baker soldier. you missed out. omg *bitch slap ownself* 8DDD

p.s.: corrections and a link back if you took anything out would be much appreciated. the same goes for nino cutting his hair. PLZ CUT IT. i would appreciate that very much!
p.s.s.: i hope the sentence construction was ok~ cos i had to rearrange everything when i translated it from japanese which has a completely different idea of where the verb should be placed. and there i go thinking i was only training my japanese... -_-