[2017.12] MORE - The five people who resemble each other

[barbosa2007]

Here I am, back again with Nino's December 2017 MORE interview. He talked about how it was like on the Last Recipe set and how the Arashi members view the future.

Together with Jun's recent Vivit interview and Ohno's Iza Now article from back then, it brought back a lot of OT5 feelings.

We’re in a spacious garden. For someone who’s “uncomfortable with shooting outdoors”, he looked like he was having a good time. Perhaps it’s because no one else was around, or maybe it’s the autumn weather. We don’t know for sure.

The movie, “Last Recipe”, was an exquisite piece of work that surpassed expectations and lingered in our hearts. When I told him what I thought of it, he replied with a smile, “Of course you would! The director, staff and cast were amazing!” The lead actor Ninomiya Kazunari was wonderful too, though.

“How was it for me, I wonder? I started filming the movie, thinking that it would be nice if the audience could enjoy the story and filmography, rather than going, ‘Oh! Nino is cooking! How cool!’ It would be great if I could convey the character’s slight growth at the end.”

He doesn’t want to make a movie that draws attention to Ninomiya Kazunari’s star quality. That’s one thing that he always talks about.

“People have this strong impression of me as Arashi’s Nino, so they might have trouble viewing me in a particular role. It’s not something which I actively resist or an image which I try to break, I can’t control how people perceive me, after all. However, I try to do what I can when I see the film as a whole.”

It’s something you would expect him to say, coming from someone who previously dreamed of being a director.

“I mean, it was a great film set. Director Takita (Yojiro) was an extremely tolerant person, he would listen to the staff and cast while putting himself in their shoes. That’s why everyone had great staff morale. (Ayano) Gou-chan, amongst my acting peers, is the only person whom I’m close enough to go for meals with in private. However, it’s been some time since I worked with him. He’s someone I can trust, and I enjoyed myself greatly.”

Emotions aren’t rational, and I can’t fathom what’s in other people’s hearts.

That being said, this line of work is filled with once in a lifetime encounters. “You’ll never experience the same set twice,” says Nino. Isn’t that sad?

“I don’t know. Once in a lifetime encounters happen as a matter of course, and I don’t think too deeply about it. In the first place, you can’t use a single line to bind emotions together, right? It’s not a simple emotion such as “Oh, it ended so that’s sad.” If we could easily determine what was in people’s hearts, there wouldn’t be any crimes and people could like the way they wanted, right? Even though there might be a certain thought or emotion at that moment, there isn’t a clear reason behind it, and I think that an unchangeable feeling doesn’t exist. That’s why I don’t analyse my own heart and I think it’s meaningless to want to discover people’s emotions or true intentions.”

He doesn’t try to search into people’s hearts because he feels that there isn’t anyone who understands Nino better than himself.

“I don’t think even my family or the Arashi members can understand my true intentions from time to time. Everyone just has a different personality and life. People can’t view things except through the perspective of their own experience. You can’t expect a person who hasn’t climbed the same mountain to understand the sensations or emotions of someone who has.”

He resigns himself to thinking that humans live a lonesome existence, incapable of fully understanding each other. On the other hand, it’s precisely why he treasures the comrades with whom he has many shared experiences and memories, and occasionally, thinks that they’re somehow alike.

“There are times when I feel that the Arashi members resemble each other, even without conversing in detail. For example, all the members have a “director’s perspective”. The five of us take a bird’s eye view of Arashi, and we look two to three years ahead. Arashi’s current status is something which we envisioned two to three years ago, you see. However, rather than executing (that vision), we have the common goal of prioritizing “work that makes everyone happy”. We put in our best efforts into what’s expected of us, and then we try just a few things that we want to do. That’s the stance we take. Everyone in Arashi thinks of doing something “for someone else’s sake”, which makes it possible. Many years ago, it was that way when we’d just celebrated our 10th anniversary. There isn’t a single person in our group who’s just working for himself. If there was someone like that, we’d know because the atmosphere would be different (laughs).”

Isn’t there any dissatisfaction?

“I don’t think so. Each member has something that he wants to do, but we strongly feel that we “need to repay the kindness” which people have shown us. Even when we decided on the Hawaii concert for our 15th anniversary, we had a debate about it, saying, “There are places in Japan that we haven’t been to yet.” That feeling is something that we hold even till this day. We want to continuously repay the people who have supported us. The guys in Arashi have a strong sense of duty (laughs)!”

He speaks of this with a sense of pride. By the way, does Nino have anything which he’d like to do?

“Something like a complicated love story! I guess there are fans who wouldn’t want to watch it, and I’m bad at performing love scenes (laughs). I’ve never done it before, so I’d like people to be surprised by it. I think that’s one way to entertain people (laughs).”

Scans: 尤顾