[Translation] Myojo 5/2011

They weren’t joking when they said it was a 10,000 word article lol. But it’s always nice to learn something new about Takki~ Anyway, I only did a rough translation of the most interesting parts~ There are probably a lot of typos and grammatical mistakes too, but… please don’t make me go over the article again XD It’s obviously quite long, but I hope you guys enjoy!

• – When asked about the oldest memory he has, Takki said he remembers dancing in his pajamas before going to bed (this was around the time he was in kindergarten). Every night, his whole family would just have a great time dancing to music. Looking back, he thinks this was simply a strategy his parents used to tire him out before bedtime lol
• – He also talked about that one time his dad came to pick him up from kindergarten… He was really nervous and apparently, they walked home in complete (awkward!) silence…

• – Takki started thinking about his future around his freshman year of middle school. He wanted to turn his hobbies into a profession. Perhaps it’s because his father was a salaryman and he always seemed exhausted whenever her came home (which was not often). Of course, Takki understood that his father had no other choice because he had to feed his family. But in Takki’s mind, he thought… if work is going to be so tiring anyway, why not get exhausted doing something fun?

• – When he first got hired as a backdancer for a Kinki Kids’ concert, he was basically thrown into the entertainment world without being given any formal instructions or proper training. Backstage, everyone communicated with “technical lingo.” Takki was particularly confused about the “8 count” that was used during dance rehearsals. He didn’t understand what the “en” meant in “Five, six, seven, en*… one, two, three…” and why they never counted up to 9 and 10 lol. (*Japanese people say “en” because its easier to say than “and”)

• – When the Jrs were first given the opportunity to host their own concert, no one spoke up when they were asked to give their opinions. So Takki thought, “If no one’s going to speak up, then I will.” He believed that although they were backdancers, each and every one of them were still individual performers. And he believed that this concert was a huge opportunity for them to prove themselves as such.

• – His passion for composing and filming began sometime during his Jr days. One day, out of pure coincidence, he found a video-cassette (or a Digital 8 recorder?) lying around his house. At first, he only began taking videos of his friends in Johnnys. But after that, he made a video for his friend’s wedding… And one day, he showed the video to one of the Jimusho staff… and the rest was history :)

• – As we already know, there was only one time he actually thought about quitting Johnny’s. It was around his 4th or 5th year… As the representative of all the Jrs, he had to take responsibility for the good and the bad, regardless of whether he was actually responsible for the mistakes/mishaps. At the time, he couldn’t understand the logic behind all of this. When he called his mom and told her that he thought about quitting, his mom very calmly said “You can come home anytime.” It was perhaps the only time he ever went to her for advice/encouragement. But as simple as it sounded, her words got him to calm down and rethink his options.

• – There was another incident when he felt like his mom was really looking after him. It was around the time of his first drama shoot… he was in severe pain from his wisdom teeth and couldn’t fall asleep. When his mom found out about this, she drove in from Hachiouji to look after him.

• – Now, as a sempai, Takki believes that there are a lot of things the Jrs should do and can do. His advice for them is to take advantage of every opportunity and absorb every experience because their debut is the starting point from which everything really begins. But before they “set foot on the starting line,” they need to make sure that they’re prepared for whatever is going to be asked of them. Because things will only be tougher after debut and they’ll pretty much be on their own.

• – In regards to his own future, Takki is interested in working backstage. Although he’s been told that it’s still too early to stop performing, he’s hoping to make a clear transition from a performer to a backstage director. Because only he can see the vision that is in his head. So unless he takes over the behind-the-scenes work, it’s hard for others to execute his ideas exactly the way he envisions them to be. Of course, he’ll probably continue performing in the future, but his goal is to create a foundation for his career as a director and then gradually build it into something major. In the future, he would also like to do some work as a movie director.
• – In terms of his love life, Takki said that his standards haven’t really changed. Of course, he would like someone who is understanding and adaptive to her surroundings. And someone who is past the age of 20 (I guess it’s because maturity comes with age? At least sometimes… lol). And in terms of marriage, he wants a family that is understanding; One that isn’t a burden to him or his career… one that he would actually want to come home to every night.
• – As for what kind of father he thinks he would be, Takki said he prefers to be a father that his children can trust. At least enough so that when he tells them something, they’ll take his word for it. For example, they’ll say something like “It’s probably true if dad says it’s true.” (And obviously, his kids are going to be spoiled… because when his niece was born, Takki got a little overexcited and bought her a huge slide as a present. But it was so big they couldn’t even get it into his brother’s house! So now, it’s at Takki’s house XD)

• – Takki also admitted that although he doesn’t like to cry in front of other people, in reality, he can be easily moved to tears. He’ll sit there by himself and cry whenever he’s watching something on TV about a long-awaited reunion or a touching animal story. But he won’t cry like this unless he’s by himself.

• At the end of the interview, Takki talked about how he deals with success and/or failure. He believes that there are always different alternatives to everything, even if they are totally different from your original approach. This is why he’ll just keep moving forward every time he is stuck on an issue. For example, he admitted that he was somewhat biased against taiga dramas and was not pleased (to say the least) when he was given the role of Yoshitsune. But the instant they started filming, he became addicted to it. His advice is to give whatever it is a chance and find its charm BEFORE rejecting it and/or labeling it as something we like or dislike.