Because I personally found this article really interesting and couldn't resist getting to work on it right away, here's the first half of his interview from Cut. I'll probably finish up the second half tomorrow since it's almost 4 AM here and I should get some sleep. XD Oh, and sorry about some of the awkward phrasings; Sho has a tendency to use difficult words and metaphors in his interviews.

Comments are always love; enjoy!

Credit for the scans goes to yuckie_chan ♥

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Sakurai Sho - Cut - 04/2009 - Part 1 of 2


Sakurai Sho
You might have wanted to hear a business-like answer from me about wanting to be a professional idol, but I want to be a place which people can go to when they want to cheer up.


With a cute image from the roles he has acted in up until now and a strong honor student image from his work as a newscaster and MC host, 'it is only expected that such manly outlook on the world would definitely suit him!' Sakurai was given the offer of a "lead role in an American road movie". As you have seen, the result is a display of addictive coolness.

And, he himself is a person who overflows with chivalrous spirit. One key factor to the general concept of "Arashi" uneventfully permeating their fanbase, as he has stated clearly in an easy to understand manner, is in their becoming idol pioneers with a sense of novelty who constantly faces forward even in this world. With the passing of this so-called "Arashi has come" era, with the virtues of Arashi known even at the level of living room chatter nowadays, what kind of changes has it made to Sakurai's consciousness after accepting that reality? This time, with the quote "I came to want this group called Arashi to become everyone's dream." from a cross talk with Miike Takashi in a previous issue as our focus, we asked questions with "dreams" as the theme.


---Was there an occasion or motive that spurred you into thinking "I want Arashi to become a dream"?

A moment where I definitely thought that was in our concert at the Kokuritsu Kyougijou. During the encore, we took to the moving stage and took a lap around the tracks laid out along the Kokuritsu Kyougijou, and there were people such as J-STORM (Arashi's label) staff that are no longer part of Arashi and Johnny's jimusho managers who no longer follow Arashi standing scattered alongside the tracks, watching us attentively. When I saw everyone with such positive, extremely happy-looking expressions on their faces, the thought came to me very strongly as I stood on the stage and tried to project the sentiments of those staff. Besides that, when I look over the music we've done, though the number of songs that became an instant hit have increased, I can't help but wonder why they carry so much persuasion when listened to. Not exaggerated things like hardships or anything, but rather... when you're restless, or going through a period where you feel anxious, if there happens to be a song of support and we're singing it with persuasion, wouldn't it also carry persuasion when listened to? Because incompetent sons are not cute (laugh), if we face everything one by one, earnestly and steadily, it will bear fruit one day. I think the idol image probably gives off that kind of easy to do projection.


---It is indeed true that an Arashi fever has arrived since 2006; you have proven that if you work diligently and put in the effort to strive for something, you will receive proper attention for it.

Yes. But you know, this feeling of getting to work opposite a number of people in the business because they find us very interesting, hasn't it been there since the earlier days? To the extent where "H" (CUT's sister magazine) found the courage to put me on the cover (laugh). But, the feeling of being known more universally and having people like us might be a recent thing.


---It's not something that's a part of your core, but it's become a situation where the virtues of Arashi is generally known.

Of course, I don't dislike that kind of core-like feeling at all; though back then and even now I still think "This kind of feel would be nice", there is a different kind of pleasure as well now. But at the time, I didn't feel like those days were full of hardships at all. A while ago, there was a magazine that did a feature on us that had written things like "10 years of unwavering determination" (laugh), but I thought those 10 years had been great and fun...... while that's what I think, if they thought it had been full of hardships, that's not a bad thing either, kind of thing (laugh).


---(laugh) It would be easy to create a story like that, wouldn't it, because this 10 year period has been very dramatic for you.

Right, right. With that kind of significance, these 10 years through which we've had no need to negate our past at all, it really is a pride from which we can draw confidence. What we have now because of what happened then is something I think about from the bottom of my heart.


---With the start of your work as a newscaster, an idol image which no one besides Sakurai-san would have been able to establish has been accomplished now, but as someone who has graduated from university and yet still took it upon himself to be an idol, I can't help but wonder if there had been periods of reverse complexes as well.

Reverse complexes...... there might have been, actually. Just as expected, if you think about it in a typical fashion, getting a normal job after graduating from university would provide a sense of stability, wouldn't it? At least in the spot for place of employment in my graduation register, there wasn't a single person who had chosen the profession of becoming an idol. So it became something like "Well, just watch me, you guys" towards those guys around me who had already broken through and found their stability so to speak (laugh). Though it's not a matter of winning or losing...... I would think 'I don't want to lose, I won't lose!' (laugh). A "Kisarazu Cat's Eye"-like saying, isn't it?


---(laugh) And that was what you had been thinking around the time you graduated from university?

......No, it might have been something more along the lines of 'it would be bad if I lose...' (laugh). It must be nerve wracking, becoming a member of society. But speaking of people eventually becoming a member (of society) in their teens, the feeling of becoming an idol is rather like the feeling of taking off (a student's) training wheels. That's why you can remember undefined anxiety and uneasiness being a big part of it, but you can't remember fine details like just what kind of mental state you had been in.