Just trying to clear up some of the ongoing projects in the sidebar-- since this is almost done and it's fairly short, I'm going to focus on getting this series out of the way first.

A bit late in coming, but enjoy!

---

ARASHI IS ALIVE!

+ Aiba Masaki
+ Sakurai Sho
+ Ohno Satoshi
+ Ninomiya Kazunari
+ Matsumoto Jun
+ Section blurbs

---

ARASHI IS ALIVE!


"It's not a step up, but a skill up.
I want our roots to become stronger and stronger."

- Ninomiya Kazunari



---Frankly, what kind of thoughts did you have at the time when the tour ended?

Our previous tour had over 40 concerts, so basically the length of it was completely different. But when it ended, there was the same amount of emotions, which made me think that the sense of fulfillment and sense of accomplishment doesn't actually have anything to do with the length of the tour.


---To have those enormous venues completely packed every time in actual practise, and to have yourselves in the heart of it all. How does that feel?

"When you compare our name with the names of great artists, are we really okay?" We've felt embarrassed like that before. But it's because doing this is fun that we would want to do this, right? Rather than having people just listening at our concerts, having fun at them is our top priority. Just what should we do so every single person can have fun in such a spacious place is something we've always thought about. Being caught up in that was a great feeling.


---There's a feeling of arriving at the next level as a group, then. What are you feeling as Nino?

Hmm, I don't think about what we've done up until now as preparations for this round. Because I don't want to think of every single job we get as steps. More so than step up, I want to think of it as stage up or skill up. For example, going to Asia, doing a return performance at the Tokyo Dome, doing a 5-Dome tour this time, doing one at Kokuritsu, and then Asia again. All of it is in a single arrangement, and I want to go deeper past each stage. More so than aiming to rise higher, I want the roots to become stronger and stronger. All of us have that same kind of sentiment.


---Then to Nino, what kind of a place is Arashi?

We like being at the actual scene more than anything else. Everyone thinks that "Accidents happen at the actual scene!". "We don't want to become anything amazing! We want to be at the actual scene for life!", like that. We do juvenile things like that, talking passionately over drinks and stuff. Well, I should say that's only what we would like to do though (laugh). To me, I think I'm blessed to have such wonderful friendships with these four people.


---With Arashi in that state, it will be entering its 10th year soon.

Everyone's really excited about it, wondering what would happen and so on. I think it's an amazing thing. In the very beginning, I couldn't even see myself thinking about doing this for 10 years. Because all five of us kind of seemed like the 7th batter (laugh). [T/N: He's making a baseball analogy to how they weren't the top figures in the agency.] That hasn't changed even now, though. Those who have been supporting us since early on, I think there's been moments of uncertainty for them too, like "Now we can't not support these people anymore" (laugh). I think everyone has different thoughts on that in itself. We've got two birthdays, you know. It's really something to be happy about. If I'm going to celebrate my own birthday, just as expected, I would want to celebrate Arashi's birthday too.


---It truly is "Arashi Love". It's vital to have all five together to have the most fun, isn't it?

Right, right! We don't have a definite goal in mind. How are things going to roll from this point on? What's going to happen if we put everything we've got into accomplishing this right now? This is why Arashi is so fun.