TOKIO_Interview

Tokio Special Interview: "Upon Getting No. 1"

TOKIO - COLOURFUL LIFE
Following the achievement of their No.1 Single on the Oricon Chart, have their lives changed ever since?

Nagase Tomoya
When I learnt that our new song was No. 1 on the chart, I was really shocked! I've never ever dreamt of it! For a song like "Hitoribochi No Haburashi" which was produced due to the drama, it was quite an achievement as there was no precedent. What's more, it's a song that can also be sung by girls, isn't it? Oh yes! I went to download this song as my mobile phone's ringing tune and I realized that this song was downloaded the most number of times! Really overjoyed! Also, "Message" is a very easy song to sing, its rhythm is easy to memorize as well, it is definitely a great song! As I like both songs, I'm really very happy that we have achieved such good results!
What am I busy with lately? Well, I'm entering the final phase of filming for my drama "Muko Dono". Aiba-kun has been working very hard too! Who am I closest to from the film set??.it has to be Danda-san, I guess? As both of us are often involved in the same scenes, not only do we work together, we also go for ramen together! Put it plainly, it feels like "Hako-san & Yu-chan are really great friends!" (laughs). We get along very well too?.or maybe Danda-san has been accommodating me all along (laughs). Wasn't there a scene in which we all went to this hotel? Well, we actually went for a dip in the onsen after filming ended that day!
It will be nice if Hako-san can join Johnny's Agency as my manager. (laughs) We have the same vibes! It seems like the people who go well with my vibes are usually very calm people. My current manager is like this too, so it makes working with him so much more relaxing.
My new movie that is supposed to be a collaboration between Korea and Japanese companies has already been decided. The filming in Korea will be starting in mid-July and it's gonna looked very grand. Among the cast, I'm the only Japanese. The story is about this syndicate managed by both Korea and Japan. I'll be playing a cop who got himself into trouble in Korea. Though I'm required to speak some English and Korean in the movie, most of my lines are still in Japanese. In my view, the story line is very interesting! And apparently, there are also scenes whereby the entire streets will be cordoned off for shooting. There are gonna be intense action scenes in it as well. I can't wait to see the completed movie!

Kokubun Taichi
This time when the new single went just out on sale, I heard from the recording company that the sales were looking great. Don't know why, but for some reason, I didn't show or feel much enthusiasm (laughs). I would respond, "?well, it's just the first day!" and then "Isn't it just the third day?" (laughs). When it was finally confirmed that it has gotten to first place in the chart, the fact still didn't really sink in. Even when people had been congratulating me, I would still simply reply "Ah..thanks!" without much emotion. Then, I would get replies like "Eh, aren't you happy at all?" Only after I was being congratulated by everyone that I've met, that it dawned upon me, "Hey, we really are No. 1!" I must agree I'm really slow in getting into the situation compared to our fans and colleagues. I'm still in a state of shock with all the continuous flow of congratulatory messages from people around me (laughs).
For this month's issue, I will like to touch on some serious topic, something that is vastly different from the past (laughs). So, it has been 7 years since our debut and the timing is just right that we got to the first place on the chart for the very first time. During these 7 years, we have come across groups that split shortly after their debut and also those that shot to fame quickly but yet quit the music scene shortly after. But for us, we have always been working very hard to get to where we are now. Wow! It has taken us a long, long time?.(laughs). Nah ~ It's a good thing that we have persevered till now. Getting No. 1 for the first time, I believe some people will be very shocked to learn that. But to me, this joyous feeling will be deep-seated within me for a long time.
Of course, we are grateful to those fans who stood by us all these years, our colleagues at the recording company and also to give thanks to our ex-recording company. The latter have been supportive of us since our debut. In actual fact, we have not been just lucky to reach our present achievement. Though we may have gotten No. 1 now, we will still be putting in our very best with a down-to-earth attitude for our future works. It's true that we are getting more exposure from appearing in variety shows but I'm also glad that people also know us as "Tokio who sings". This makes me really happy! Thank you, everyone!

Yamaguchi Tatsuya
It's just a simple "very happy" to describe how I feel towards our achievement of No. 1 Single. I think we have produced more than 20 singles and albums by now? So regardless of this being viewed upon as "Finally, we did it!" or "At last, we did it!", we are still overjoyed. Many people have come forth to congratulate us and we are indeed happy to receive all these well wishes. This time, it has to be the result of many great opportunities. There are a lot of people asking " It seems like Tokio has never gotten No. 1 before?" Though my answer to them has always been "That's how it is," I couldn't help but think that if not for the fact that we are holding such grand celebration, there are perhaps still many people out there who did not realize that it was our first time topping the chart!
I'm still the same as before, thinking of how to go about improving my surfing skills (laughs). Whenever there is free time, I'd start thinking of it. I even had a dream that I was surfing gracefully in the sea! Like a small kid, aren't I? (laughs) How's my skill? It's really bad. If I want to improve upon it, I will need to make more time to go surfing more often. Practicing an hour, once everyday will definitely beat doing it for 10 hours only once or twice every week! It's the same thing as studying. At most, I go only once or twice every week, so it's tough to make progress. In the past, when our work used to only start after 12 noon everyday, I could still surf in the morning. But it's difficult to do so nowadays as I will think of my work first and then decide if I can afford to go. There were times when we only started work after 6pm and I would be up early in the morning and go surfing for the whole entire day! Then I would go to work and by the time we finished at around 2 A.M., I would be dead beat by then. (laughs)
I do hope to go for a surfing competition someday but looking at my standards now, there's no way at all yet. Although each person has 15 mins to catch a wave, if you don't have the skills, you'll probably still be hovering around the shoreline when the time's up. That's something I would really like to avoid! (laughs) Wouldn't it be a shock to you if someone commented, "Yamaguchi? I could only see his back side!" (laughs) Bad news spreads like wild fire, especially if you're in show business like me, you will definitely become the center of attention. Something like, "Let's take a good look at what he's capable of!" (laughs) Right now, my goal is to have good surfers say things like "I heard that Yamaguchi of Tokio is pretty good!" When that day comes, I'll then finally consider going for a surfing competition.

Matsuoka Masahiro
(Under the influence of Yamaguchi Tatsuya's excited discussion about the sea, Matsuoka responded in a cool manner)
Oh, the waves! It's something which will never lie?But I'm beginning to feel like trying to surf as it's not good to hold prejudiced views without first knowing what it is all about. But, please do not tell anyone about this first (laughs)! Well, my wake-board friends are real picky about this. If they ever learn about this, they will probably say, "You sold your soul to surfing!" (laughs) Well, I thought it would be kinda wrong for me to say bad things about surfing when I haven't even tried it once before. That would not be fair. I'll just give it a try once and after I've experienced it, I'll start complaining to Anii (Yamaguchi Tatsuya) about it (laughs). We both want to teach the other our sport. I want to teach Anii how to wake-board and he, too wants to teach me how to surf. Sometimes when we talk about sports, I don't like to use the phrase, "I do this?" (eg. "I surf", "I ski") unless it is something that I'm really good at or have been doing for a long time. If it's not, you can't use that phrase. And if you only experienced it for a really brief moment, then it is more appropriate to say " I tried this before."
As usually, I have been watching a lot of movies too! Recent few were "Little Dancer," "Dangerous Beauty," "Mexican," and "Starlin Gelait". Saw quite a few actually! Of which, I count "Little Dancer" and "Dangerous Beauty" good films. As for topical movies like "Hannibal," I've not seen it yet. I don't usually go for horror movies but if there is a need, I'll rather go for zombie flicks than shows with ghosts. Of course, I have watched "Zombie" before but in the past, I liked "Battalion" a great deal! I have no problem with shows like that. Do you know a movie called "Cannibal"? It's a really gory movie. I remember watching it over at a friend's place and we were eating fried chicken while watching it (laughs). I have seen many movies to date. I'm planning to be a movie critic someday?..nah, just kidding! (laughs) Well, actually, I think the only things in the world that we don't need are cockroaches, earthquakes and movie critics. Not that I detest movie critics, but I just think everyone has his/her own likes and views so it's just kinda meaningless to have.
Lastly, to the fact that our single topped the chart, it's really something to rejoice about! Especially because the song "Message" was the theme song for my drama "Tengoku Ni Ichiban Chikai Otoko", everyone from the film set and cast members have been congratulating us, I'm just so happy! By the time this article is out, my drama would probably be over already?did you guys enjoy it?

Jyoshima Shigeru
Of course I'm thrilled to know that we have gotten the No. 1 place! People from workplace or my own social circle have been coming forth to extend their congratulations to me. As such, I feel that somehow Tokio seems to be connected with many people. Hence, it feels so real. The way these people congratulated me is as if they had achieved it as well, we couldn't be any happier than this (laughs). There were also some who cheered "Yay!!" and I would think to myself "Um?WE are the ones that got No. 1?" (laughs). For me, I had set 2 goals for Tokio. The first was of course to get to the top of the chart which we have recently achieved. And the second goal is that if we don't get the No. 1 spot, that's fine, as long as we continue to appear in the rankings no matter if it's No. 5 or 8 and we descend down from there. In other words, just produce music that people will love. Whatever is the target, it definitely means something to me! What comes next will be to come up with songs that are going to be everyone's long time favorites. Ah, and one more! It would be great to have an album go to No. 1 now! And that will mean we need your support! Talking about my latest development, "Tetsuwan Dash!!" is taking a break due to the baseball season. For those who like this program, I can only say "sorry" but in the meantime, I will make full use of this free time now to fully recharge myself. Well, the filming of this program is REALLY hard on the body! (laughs) For instance, I've lost my balance and fallen while playing the part of the flower clock, I've ran back and forth for more than 10 times into a cold vault under the blazing sun?one could easily catch a cold like this! (laughs) And there was this time when we went mountain-climbing, I actually fell into this hole and hurt my leg! (laughs) The scariest was riding in this small Cessna airplane that could only withstand 15 knots of wind. When we finally reached the air base, someone came up to us saying, "We had one that could withstand 22 knots, you should have taken that one!?I'm surprised the 15 knots one even flew!" Even the pilot was at a loss of words upon hearing this (laughs).
Our overseas trip to Russia was also very tough. Initially, we had prepared to rent a rather spacious tour bus but it turned out to be a small passenger car. And we had to squeeze into that small car for a very long period. Then the local coordinator actually ate up all of our food so I had to bring out some snacks that I brought from Japan to share with everyone (laughs). As the filming of the show is really tough, it is good to take a break to recharge ourselves. The staff working on this program will also be resting during this period. This will definitely enable us to make an even better program in the future. Isn't it great? So everyone will just have to be patient for a while!