I'm not sure how many people remember, but back in 2007 when 30 Minutes Night Flight was released, Maaya released 'Chizu to tegami to koi no uta' (Maps, Letters and Love Songs) which was a collection of song lyrics, photos and two small pieces of writing. It was a really nice collection, beautiful photos, drawings by Maaya, and, of course, the lyrics themselves.
This is the ending of the book. After 'Poketto wo kara ni shite' (Empty the Pocket) which as we know, is a song about heading off on a journey. It's also the song Maaya ends her concerts with. It's a nice little letter from Finland, which is where they shot the photos for 30 Minutes Night Flight. Really sweet.
Enjoy!!
Maps, Letters and Love Songs: A letter from my travels
Published 2007.
It’s around an eight hour flight to get from Japan to the capital of Finland, Helsinki. It’s surprisingly close.
Even though it’s October, every day is hot and humid thanks to the strange weather we’ve been having; in one step I left the lingering summer heat of Tokyo for a Europe of falling autumnal leaves. The avenue of Gingko trees in front of the hotel is full of the scent of gingko nuts.
The four days I stayed here were packed with photo shoots. Blessed with perfect weather they all went according to plan; I’m sure we took a lot of great photos.
In forests, by lakes, inside elementary schools, railway stations, on top of a hill with a red barn, sitting in cafes and sailing on boats – we took photos in a lot of different places, but the spot I liked best on this trip was Helsinki Cathedral.
A white building which soars above the centre of town, when you start to climb the stairs, you realise that it’s actually on a slope and that it's a lot bigger than it looks from below. When I finally reached the top and turned around, I couldn’t believe the scenery that was stretching out before my eyes. All of the rooftops lined up beneath me and beyond lay the harbour, the marketplace and the ferries that travel off to foreign lands. Then there were the cute green trams running up and down the streets. As I turned to survey the land below, the sun suddenly shone down, after being hidden within thick clouds all day.
Sitting down on the steps and watching the sun until it set completely wasn’t a bit boring. The wind was freezing so it was quite cold, but I think I could have sat there for hours and hours. The locals said, “You should see the cathedral once, but it’s not that interesting.” But if I lived in this place, I would sit here and watch the sky and the town every morning, noon and night. I wonder if they don’t realise how wonderful it is because they’re used to living here. There’s a chance that perhaps that I am also overlooking some wonderful place in the town I live, thinking it’s simply commonplace.
As for food in Finland, the local delicacy is reindeer. Yesterday I ate dinner in a traditional Finnish restaurant, it was there that I encountered reindeer meat. It seems like it’s a really popular restaurant, and you need to have a reservation to go there. I was kind of surprised that reindeer has a pretty characteristic smell, but it was tenderer than I thought it was going to be. Apart from reindeer, there’s Lapland Cheese, which tastes a lot like tofu, and really meaty salmon, make up the local menu.
By the by, apparently Finland has the largest number of coffee drinkers in the world. You’re surprised, right? Now, this is just between you and me, but no matter which shop I went to, all the coffee I drank was strangely weak in flavour. But in order to be the biggest coffee drinking country in the world, just how many cups a day are these people drinking? Anyway, when this self-confessed coffee addict gets back to Japan, the first thing she wants to do is to drink a strong cup of coffee.
Something really surprising happened today: I found my own CD displayed in a shop window here in Helsinki!
There, in some shop on a street I was casually walking down, was ‘Hotchpotch’ selling for 18.90 Euros. To think that my songs have crossed the sea to this place, before I’ve even set foot on this land! That people with a language so unlike Japanese, living with scenery so completely different, eating food tasting nothing like that in Japan, are listening to my music. I felt overcome with emotion, happy, when I thought that we must have something in common. I had no idea that the last day of my trip would hold this kind of emotion for me.
Tomorrow afternoon I will be flying back to Japan.
Whether it’s for work or pleasure, I love travelling. This trip to Finland also turned out to be a great success.
But it’s really weird, on the morning of my departure I always feel nervous before travelling, and this time it was the same. I feel like I’ve forgotten something, like I don’t want to go on the trip anymore. No matter how much I’ve been looking forward to setting off beforehand, I always get like this.
I think about the faces of my family and friends; deciding in my heart that as soon as I return home I will meet up with them, and we’ll take our time over a delicious meal. I’ll buy them a souvenir, I’ll send them a post card. I begin to miss those people who I had always thought of as those I could meet ‘anytime I like’.
As I fasten my seatbelt, there’s no going back from this road I have chosen to walk down. It is when we take off, that moment when I must entrust myself to that repulsion of gravity, that I understand the reason why I am going on this trip: it is because I have somewhere to return to that a journey is truly a journey. It is because I have people waiting for me that I return.
It is to you, the one who is waiting for me, that I send this letter to from a faraway country.
From Maaya Sakamoto. Helsinki.
Wednesday, 29 December 2010
Wednesday, 22 December 2010
CDJournal April 2010 'everywhere' Interview
A new interview translation taken from CDJournal April 2010 during the 'everywhere' promotional run. Quite a nice piece. Enjoy! Oh, and Merry Christmas everyone!!
Note: went back to Japanese titles for songs/albums.
CDJournal 2010 April
Original text by Atsuko Takaki
The first awakening, the song that shows me as I was then: ‘I.D.’
This year Maaya Sakamoto passed her 15th year in the music business. We no longer have to say: don’t underestimate her because she’s a voice actor. She has proven through her career that her songs wouldn’t exist without that distinctive voice and those characteristic lyrics. Her thirty track best of album ‘Everywhere’ was released on the 31st of March, the day of her 30th birthday. When listening to all these ‘standard’ Maaya songs, more than just a sense of nostalgia, there’s a cohesiveness that comes from being cut from the same cloth. Transcending time, they burst into existence with their magnitude. You can truly get a sense of the singer Maaya Sakamoto’s talent. Within all this comes the opening track, ‘I.D.’ (from her 1998 album ‘DIVE’.) Sitting in a small café after the cover shoot, she told us about her relationship with this song while drinking milk tea.
“In many ways, I think ‘DIVE’ was what you might call my first awakening, a realisation, I suppose. And from all that was going on, I think ‘I.D’ captures who I was at the time. When I read the lyrics again now, of course there’s a lack of experience that comes through in many places, but I think for an eighteen year old I really had something (laugh.) At the time, when I wanted someone to understand all these pent-up feelings I had, I thought that singing would get it across better than simply saying it. That’s why I think I was saved through writing lyrics. The ‘who am I?’ in the song, the longing of a small self to feel connected with something larger like the sky and the universe; I wasn’t really conscious of it but [after re-reading the lyrics] I realised again that these are the themes I still sing about now.”
The best album also contains her debut ‘Yakusoku wa iranai’ (1996), however “it’s strange but even though the vocal quality and way of singing are different to now, I really don’t think it’s aged at all. It’s a song that’s always been close to me.” For Sakamoto, who has used singing to face herself since her debut, each song has a place within her. Which is why pain and doubt are plain to see within some of her songs. For example, ‘Hikari Are’ (from 2003’s ‘Shonen Alice’) is a song that is unusual for her in that it is full to bursting point with violent determination.
“Around that time, various truths that I thought I understood completely were shattered; I felt like I had completely slid back to point zero. But so much time had passed since my debut that I thought I was no longer allowed to let outsiders see this kind of unease. So in ‘Hikari Are’ I’m yelling as hard as I can to put on a brave front. Because I was doing that, it kind of became a sort of rock song, but at the bottom of it all there’s a feeling of ‘what the hell am I supposed to be doing?’ In the song I sing: ‘someday once again I’ll show you I can walk again’. I wasn’t able to sing anything other than ‘someday’ then. But, despite that I wrote the lyrics thinking: if this despairing voice can reach somewhere out there then…”
Not only ‘Hikari Are’, but many of Sakamoto’s most famous songs were produced by Yoko Kanno. Her presence is not one that can be left out when going through Sakamoto’s discography, but her own first impression of Kanno at fifteen was “the person who brought cake to the studio (laugh)”. Since then, they’ve worked together, although “it’s not a relationship of teacher and student, or that of being in a group…it’s more like she’s my older sister.” Eventually, the degree of difficulty set by Kanno’s songs increased, and Sakamoto could no longer easily belt out a number without thinking. One could probably say this was the adolescent period of Maaya Sakamoto the singer.
“I really like it when the hurdles get higher. If they don’t then what’s the point? It’s more fun if you can jump higher and higher, rather than just staying the same. Even now I can remember that ‘Hemisphere’ (released in 2002) was a really difficult song, the lyrics had quite an impact, and I really struggled with the best way to interpret them. I sang it over and over again when we were recording it, but somehow my feelings just didn’t fit the song. But when I listen to it now, I can interpret the lyrics in my own way, and I feel like I really understand the meaning of what Ms. Kanno wanted me to sing back then. Recently I’ve really discovered how great this song actually is.”
‘Hemisphere’ is a best seller, and was the title song of an animation series that Sakamoto appeared in as a voice actor, ‘Raxephon’. For Sakamoto who has a long history with anime songs, was there any effect while she was awakening as a singer on her ‘I.D. = identity’ as a vocalist caused by the gap between anime and original songs?
“In the beginning, I pretty much went with it because singing lots of different songs was fun, but there came a point when I felt that ‘Maaya Sakamoto songs’ and the songs created for an anime were different. That’s why they were released in ‘Single Collections’ originally, but I thought that it was somehow really sad to separate them out from everything else like that. If possible, I wanted them to exist in harmony. So I started to think about ways that they could be brought together, and I feel that recently they’ve finally been able to merge successfully.”
Being able to make use of my experiences and failures: looking forward to my thirties.
After her honeymoon period with Yoko Kanno, Sakamoto has recently sung songs written for her by the likes of Shoko Suzuki, Michiko Takada and Kaori Kano, who she felt “like I had known them for a long time, despite it being the first time we had met.” Removing the fence between anime and original songs, Sakamoto’s consciousness as a singer also began to change.
“Until now, even though I haven’t written any songs myself, I’d felt a bit daunted by the prospect of only being able to express myself through singing. But recently I’ve begun to take pride in being able to use that form of expression; my voice is unique in tone, it’s an instrument. I used to be satisfied with only brushing the surface of the world view enclosed within a particular song, but that’s now expanded to ‘how do I want to express this?’ I know inside exactly how I want to sing a song, and I want to be able to draw that out, into my performance.”
From that, the last song on the best album, the new song ‘everywhere’ was born. Sakamoto both composed the song and wrote the lyrics. You would think that she would be satisfied with this, but truth be told, it seems as if it’s a song that “feels like I just winged it.”
“Last year I took a holiday and spent a month travelling around Europe by myself. During the trip I stayed in an inn in the Italian countryside which had a piano. To be honest, I only touched a piano for the first time about two years ago. But when I was playing, a melody just floated into my head. While I was travelling, of course there weren’t any pianos, but I didn’t really listen to music either, but when I touched the piano in that inn, a melody and lyrics just popped into my head. The song was born really naturally.”
Guided by piano, the melody gently building, this beautiful ballad begins with the lyrics: ‘the place I’m headed towards isn’t so far away’. For Sakamoto, who has “always thought that the place I was meant to be in wasn’t here, but somewhere else,” has begun to reflect that “recently it’s been the opposite: wherever you go, that place can be made into the one you belong, you just have to start by loving what’s there within your own two hands.” With this change of heart, surely the scenery on her journey will change from now on.
“I’m turning thirty next, and I’m actually really looking forward to my thirties. I feel like I can finally make use of all the experiences I’ve gained up until now. There was so much going on during my twenties, it was really interesting, but I also had a lot of failures. I think that I was able to meet a lot of different types of people, and build lots of foundations. I think I’ve finally been able to chew it up, swallow it all down, and now I’ll be able to turn it into energy that I can send out. More than ‘I’m going to do something new’, it’s that I’ve spread my roots and finally got a foundation to settle down on. I’d really like to put those roots down deeper and more securely now.”
One could say that the song ‘everywhere’ is fruit which has blossomed on the tree grown on that solid foundation. For the last question, when asked about the impression Sakamoto has of her own voice, she replied: “I like the way it feels like a sponge, with lots of gaps for airflow.” ‘Wind’ is a key word for Sakamoto, and there’s no doubt that a comfortable breeze will continue to blow through her songs. And now, guided by that wind the season of the harvest has just begun.
Fin
Note: went back to Japanese titles for songs/albums.
CDJournal 2010 April
Original text by Atsuko Takaki
The first awakening, the song that shows me as I was then: ‘I.D.’
This year Maaya Sakamoto passed her 15th year in the music business. We no longer have to say: don’t underestimate her because she’s a voice actor. She has proven through her career that her songs wouldn’t exist without that distinctive voice and those characteristic lyrics. Her thirty track best of album ‘Everywhere’ was released on the 31st of March, the day of her 30th birthday. When listening to all these ‘standard’ Maaya songs, more than just a sense of nostalgia, there’s a cohesiveness that comes from being cut from the same cloth. Transcending time, they burst into existence with their magnitude. You can truly get a sense of the singer Maaya Sakamoto’s talent. Within all this comes the opening track, ‘I.D.’ (from her 1998 album ‘DIVE’.) Sitting in a small café after the cover shoot, she told us about her relationship with this song while drinking milk tea.
“In many ways, I think ‘DIVE’ was what you might call my first awakening, a realisation, I suppose. And from all that was going on, I think ‘I.D’ captures who I was at the time. When I read the lyrics again now, of course there’s a lack of experience that comes through in many places, but I think for an eighteen year old I really had something (laugh.) At the time, when I wanted someone to understand all these pent-up feelings I had, I thought that singing would get it across better than simply saying it. That’s why I think I was saved through writing lyrics. The ‘who am I?’ in the song, the longing of a small self to feel connected with something larger like the sky and the universe; I wasn’t really conscious of it but [after re-reading the lyrics] I realised again that these are the themes I still sing about now.”
The best album also contains her debut ‘Yakusoku wa iranai’ (1996), however “it’s strange but even though the vocal quality and way of singing are different to now, I really don’t think it’s aged at all. It’s a song that’s always been close to me.” For Sakamoto, who has used singing to face herself since her debut, each song has a place within her. Which is why pain and doubt are plain to see within some of her songs. For example, ‘Hikari Are’ (from 2003’s ‘Shonen Alice’) is a song that is unusual for her in that it is full to bursting point with violent determination.
“Around that time, various truths that I thought I understood completely were shattered; I felt like I had completely slid back to point zero. But so much time had passed since my debut that I thought I was no longer allowed to let outsiders see this kind of unease. So in ‘Hikari Are’ I’m yelling as hard as I can to put on a brave front. Because I was doing that, it kind of became a sort of rock song, but at the bottom of it all there’s a feeling of ‘what the hell am I supposed to be doing?’ In the song I sing: ‘someday once again I’ll show you I can walk again’. I wasn’t able to sing anything other than ‘someday’ then. But, despite that I wrote the lyrics thinking: if this despairing voice can reach somewhere out there then…”
Not only ‘Hikari Are’, but many of Sakamoto’s most famous songs were produced by Yoko Kanno. Her presence is not one that can be left out when going through Sakamoto’s discography, but her own first impression of Kanno at fifteen was “the person who brought cake to the studio (laugh)”. Since then, they’ve worked together, although “it’s not a relationship of teacher and student, or that of being in a group…it’s more like she’s my older sister.” Eventually, the degree of difficulty set by Kanno’s songs increased, and Sakamoto could no longer easily belt out a number without thinking. One could probably say this was the adolescent period of Maaya Sakamoto the singer.
“I really like it when the hurdles get higher. If they don’t then what’s the point? It’s more fun if you can jump higher and higher, rather than just staying the same. Even now I can remember that ‘Hemisphere’ (released in 2002) was a really difficult song, the lyrics had quite an impact, and I really struggled with the best way to interpret them. I sang it over and over again when we were recording it, but somehow my feelings just didn’t fit the song. But when I listen to it now, I can interpret the lyrics in my own way, and I feel like I really understand the meaning of what Ms. Kanno wanted me to sing back then. Recently I’ve really discovered how great this song actually is.”
‘Hemisphere’ is a best seller, and was the title song of an animation series that Sakamoto appeared in as a voice actor, ‘Raxephon’. For Sakamoto who has a long history with anime songs, was there any effect while she was awakening as a singer on her ‘I.D. = identity’ as a vocalist caused by the gap between anime and original songs?
“In the beginning, I pretty much went with it because singing lots of different songs was fun, but there came a point when I felt that ‘Maaya Sakamoto songs’ and the songs created for an anime were different. That’s why they were released in ‘Single Collections’ originally, but I thought that it was somehow really sad to separate them out from everything else like that. If possible, I wanted them to exist in harmony. So I started to think about ways that they could be brought together, and I feel that recently they’ve finally been able to merge successfully.”
Being able to make use of my experiences and failures: looking forward to my thirties.
After her honeymoon period with Yoko Kanno, Sakamoto has recently sung songs written for her by the likes of Shoko Suzuki, Michiko Takada and Kaori Kano, who she felt “like I had known them for a long time, despite it being the first time we had met.” Removing the fence between anime and original songs, Sakamoto’s consciousness as a singer also began to change.
“Until now, even though I haven’t written any songs myself, I’d felt a bit daunted by the prospect of only being able to express myself through singing. But recently I’ve begun to take pride in being able to use that form of expression; my voice is unique in tone, it’s an instrument. I used to be satisfied with only brushing the surface of the world view enclosed within a particular song, but that’s now expanded to ‘how do I want to express this?’ I know inside exactly how I want to sing a song, and I want to be able to draw that out, into my performance.”
From that, the last song on the best album, the new song ‘everywhere’ was born. Sakamoto both composed the song and wrote the lyrics. You would think that she would be satisfied with this, but truth be told, it seems as if it’s a song that “feels like I just winged it.”
“Last year I took a holiday and spent a month travelling around Europe by myself. During the trip I stayed in an inn in the Italian countryside which had a piano. To be honest, I only touched a piano for the first time about two years ago. But when I was playing, a melody just floated into my head. While I was travelling, of course there weren’t any pianos, but I didn’t really listen to music either, but when I touched the piano in that inn, a melody and lyrics just popped into my head. The song was born really naturally.”
Guided by piano, the melody gently building, this beautiful ballad begins with the lyrics: ‘the place I’m headed towards isn’t so far away’. For Sakamoto, who has “always thought that the place I was meant to be in wasn’t here, but somewhere else,” has begun to reflect that “recently it’s been the opposite: wherever you go, that place can be made into the one you belong, you just have to start by loving what’s there within your own two hands.” With this change of heart, surely the scenery on her journey will change from now on.
“I’m turning thirty next, and I’m actually really looking forward to my thirties. I feel like I can finally make use of all the experiences I’ve gained up until now. There was so much going on during my twenties, it was really interesting, but I also had a lot of failures. I think that I was able to meet a lot of different types of people, and build lots of foundations. I think I’ve finally been able to chew it up, swallow it all down, and now I’ll be able to turn it into energy that I can send out. More than ‘I’m going to do something new’, it’s that I’ve spread my roots and finally got a foundation to settle down on. I’d really like to put those roots down deeper and more securely now.”
One could say that the song ‘everywhere’ is fruit which has blossomed on the tree grown on that solid foundation. For the last question, when asked about the impression Sakamoto has of her own voice, she replied: “I like the way it feels like a sponge, with lots of gaps for airflow.” ‘Wind’ is a key word for Sakamoto, and there’s no doubt that a comfortable breeze will continue to blow through her songs. And now, guided by that wind the season of the harvest has just begun.
Fin
Friday, 17 December 2010
New PV released!
New PV for 'Himitsu' from Maaya's album 'You Can't Catch Me' was released on Youtube by Flying Dog! I really like it...and the production is outstanding this time!
Monday, 6 December 2010
New album previews up!
I'm excited: Maaya's official site has psoted up previews to ALL of the new songs from her album!
Go listen now.
Go listen now.
Monday, 29 November 2010
You can't catch Maaya when she's on a bus and you're not
I just thought I'd squee about how cute the new album covers are. Limited edition is on the left, the regular one is on the right. How awesome would it be to have a massive bus with your name on it? It would be pretty cool if they drove this around Tokyo to promote the album...
And if you didn't already know Maaya is releasing her new album in January 2011, shame on you!
And if you didn't already know Maaya is releasing her new album in January 2011, shame on you!
Saturday, 20 November 2010
'H' Magazine April 2001 - 30 Mins Night Flight Interview
Hello everyone, I've gone back to my home town for the weekend where there's a stack of old magazines I collected on my year abroad when 30 Minutes Night Flight came out. Was flicking through and decided to translate one of them. It's a really, really nice look at the album concept. To be honest, I listened to the album while translating (on a loop, then switched to the best of David Bowie) and it changed the way I feel about the album. Really worth having another listen while reading Frecklegirl's lyric translations after this interview.
Also, I had a little giggle at Maaya saying something profound then the interviewer being like, 'Wow...so anyway, so have you been anywhere on holiday?' Time limit much?
'H' Magazine vol.94 April 2007 - 30 Minutes Night Flight Interview
Original interview by Tomoki Takahashi
It's a sleepless night when suddenly a toy plane flies right past your eyes. Before you’ve had a chance to realise what’s happening, you’re sitting in its cockpit and a great journey over the borders of cities and countries is spreading out before you...That is the concept created by Maaya Sakamoto for her new album 30 Minutes Night Flight.
As the name suggests, this enthusiastic piece of work takes off on the wings of the imagination, opening a treasure chest of different ‘encounters’ in the space of 30 minutes. I sat down for a chat with this multi-talented artist, who is not only a musician, but also a voice-actor/stage star/writer, on the theme of ‘journeys’ and ‘encounters’.
Interviewer (I): An evocative solo voyage at night...it's an album that makes the listener feel like they've been let in on a secret when they've finished listening to it.
Maaya (M): It does, doesn’t it? For this album ‘journey’ was a key word. I really like travelling, so...I think it’s really interesting how there’s always something different about the setting off and the coming back home aspect of it. You can see your everyday self very clearly when you travel a long distance, can't you?
So, for this period of 30 minutes you’re on a journey. You're asking yourself ‘is it a dream? Is it reality?’, seeing all these different things, all these other people living all these different lives, and then finally you come to have this bird’s eye view of the Earth from space before returning back to the everyday...and even though you’re back in that very same room, you can feel something has changed. I wanted to make an album that felt like that.
I: So in this imaginary world, is a ‘night-time flight’ something you do often?
M: I think it’s different depending on the individual, but we all experience those fleeting moments where our thoughts disappear off somewhere, don’t we? To the point that even while we’re having this conversation, I’ll suddenly be like, ‘huh? Ah, I was somewhere else for a moment there’ (laugh).
I: Ha, ha, ha.
M: I think everyone has that kind of ‘switch’ in them. I think it’s the source of our energy, something humans have evolved with. Sort of like someone looking up at the sky and thinking, ‘I wish I could fly...I wonder how birds fly...’ Then from that pushing themselves to someday creating a plane (laugh).
That ‘something else’. Our world is constructed by things like the weather, distinct smells, what other people say to us, and it’s these things that get our imaginations going: if only I could do that, it would be nice if this was like that etc. I think it’s a wonderful gift that people have.
I: I also think in this album each ‘everyday’ and the bigger picture - like the contrast between Earth and space - is painted very vividly.
M: Another thing I wanted to do with this album was to...take that really personal world that we see with our own eyes, that radius of however many metres around us, to a larger existence that doesn’t really touch on our consciousness in everyday life.
For example, let’s say we’re talking about space. Even though we know it ‘exists’ out there, we don’t think about it at all as we go about our daily lives. I mean, that’s fine. But it's those times when you’re imprisoned by your own emotions, those sleepless nights when you feel completely desolate, or when you can’t sleep because something really good has happened, that suddenly there is a moment when you feel like you are connected to something greater, something you don’t even contemplate normally. I thought it would be nice if I could help listeners experience something like that...or rather, if even I could feel like that.
That’s why in a single song like ‘Universe’, for example, the verse starts out in a small world but then the chorus is like moving the camera out to a bird’s eye view. Think of it like a plane flying at low altitude then gradually ascending up and up. The camera gently takes off then zooms in on the lives of different people on the ground below...I thought it would be good to write using those kind of dynamics.
I: So although making this album was like meeting lots of different people, it was really a piece of self-examination.
M: That’s right...basically, everybody has different problems and feelings, right? Even when we look up at the same night sky while deep in thought, what you see is completely different to what the person next to you is seeing, isn’t it? The colour of the sky changes depending on your own feelings, but then if you try to share that feeling in words, to explain it as ‘for me, it’s like this’ to someone else, does the other person really understand? I guess we’ll never know that for sure.
We are living things which live embracing solitude, never truly understanding another person’s feelings. Though I feel like that is an incredibly lonely way to see it, despite all our feelings being different, we’re all looking up at the same sky...I think that’s something really precious.
I: I see. By the way, is there somewhere that you like travelling to in real life?
M: I do like travelling in Japan but the nerves I get when travelling abroad...to a place I have no knowledge of, where I have no sense of the land, when I’m walking alone in a place where I have to work hard to make myself understood. I feel a little like it awakens my whole body, sharpening senses I don’t usually use. It feels pretty good, you know? It feels like a part of me that was asleep has woken up...if it’s just a short trip you can only see as much of the good things as you can and buy souvenirs. But I think on a long journey you don’t just see the good things, there are also times when you want to go home.
I: Definitely.
M: I’ve done home stays since becoming an adult. And I did think this at the time but...not staying in a hotel, having your room cleaned every day, or leaving a tip on the bed; but by eating together with someone at the table, washing dishes, you really have a chance to learn about the values of that place. You can also have a conversation, can’t you? You’re constantly questioned, like ‘what is your job?’, or ‘what is your personality?’ The answers don’t just pop out easily (laugh) Usually, I work surrounded by people who know me, but even so, sometimes I stop comprehending exactly what I’m doing, or start wondering whether I’m only going along with what others think I should be doing. It’s a chance that you don’t usually get to encounter in everyday life, and I thought it was a really good experience.
That’s why I’ve had a dream for quite a while of going somewhere far away and staying there for a long time span...really, if it was just a question of how I feel, I would always be setting off on a trip somewhere (laugh).
END
Also, I had a little giggle at Maaya saying something profound then the interviewer being like, 'Wow...so anyway, so have you been anywhere on holiday?' Time limit much?
'H' Magazine vol.94 April 2007 - 30 Minutes Night Flight Interview
Original interview by Tomoki Takahashi
It's a sleepless night when suddenly a toy plane flies right past your eyes. Before you’ve had a chance to realise what’s happening, you’re sitting in its cockpit and a great journey over the borders of cities and countries is spreading out before you...That is the concept created by Maaya Sakamoto for her new album 30 Minutes Night Flight.
As the name suggests, this enthusiastic piece of work takes off on the wings of the imagination, opening a treasure chest of different ‘encounters’ in the space of 30 minutes. I sat down for a chat with this multi-talented artist, who is not only a musician, but also a voice-actor/stage star/writer, on the theme of ‘journeys’ and ‘encounters’.
Interviewer (I): An evocative solo voyage at night...it's an album that makes the listener feel like they've been let in on a secret when they've finished listening to it.
Maaya (M): It does, doesn’t it? For this album ‘journey’ was a key word. I really like travelling, so...I think it’s really interesting how there’s always something different about the setting off and the coming back home aspect of it. You can see your everyday self very clearly when you travel a long distance, can't you?
So, for this period of 30 minutes you’re on a journey. You're asking yourself ‘is it a dream? Is it reality?’, seeing all these different things, all these other people living all these different lives, and then finally you come to have this bird’s eye view of the Earth from space before returning back to the everyday...and even though you’re back in that very same room, you can feel something has changed. I wanted to make an album that felt like that.
I: So in this imaginary world, is a ‘night-time flight’ something you do often?
M: I think it’s different depending on the individual, but we all experience those fleeting moments where our thoughts disappear off somewhere, don’t we? To the point that even while we’re having this conversation, I’ll suddenly be like, ‘huh? Ah, I was somewhere else for a moment there’ (laugh).
I: Ha, ha, ha.
M: I think everyone has that kind of ‘switch’ in them. I think it’s the source of our energy, something humans have evolved with. Sort of like someone looking up at the sky and thinking, ‘I wish I could fly...I wonder how birds fly...’ Then from that pushing themselves to someday creating a plane (laugh).
That ‘something else’. Our world is constructed by things like the weather, distinct smells, what other people say to us, and it’s these things that get our imaginations going: if only I could do that, it would be nice if this was like that etc. I think it’s a wonderful gift that people have.
I: I also think in this album each ‘everyday’ and the bigger picture - like the contrast between Earth and space - is painted very vividly.
M: Another thing I wanted to do with this album was to...take that really personal world that we see with our own eyes, that radius of however many metres around us, to a larger existence that doesn’t really touch on our consciousness in everyday life.
For example, let’s say we’re talking about space. Even though we know it ‘exists’ out there, we don’t think about it at all as we go about our daily lives. I mean, that’s fine. But it's those times when you’re imprisoned by your own emotions, those sleepless nights when you feel completely desolate, or when you can’t sleep because something really good has happened, that suddenly there is a moment when you feel like you are connected to something greater, something you don’t even contemplate normally. I thought it would be nice if I could help listeners experience something like that...or rather, if even I could feel like that.
That’s why in a single song like ‘Universe’, for example, the verse starts out in a small world but then the chorus is like moving the camera out to a bird’s eye view. Think of it like a plane flying at low altitude then gradually ascending up and up. The camera gently takes off then zooms in on the lives of different people on the ground below...I thought it would be good to write using those kind of dynamics.
I: So although making this album was like meeting lots of different people, it was really a piece of self-examination.
M: That’s right...basically, everybody has different problems and feelings, right? Even when we look up at the same night sky while deep in thought, what you see is completely different to what the person next to you is seeing, isn’t it? The colour of the sky changes depending on your own feelings, but then if you try to share that feeling in words, to explain it as ‘for me, it’s like this’ to someone else, does the other person really understand? I guess we’ll never know that for sure.
We are living things which live embracing solitude, never truly understanding another person’s feelings. Though I feel like that is an incredibly lonely way to see it, despite all our feelings being different, we’re all looking up at the same sky...I think that’s something really precious.
I: I see. By the way, is there somewhere that you like travelling to in real life?
M: I do like travelling in Japan but the nerves I get when travelling abroad...to a place I have no knowledge of, where I have no sense of the land, when I’m walking alone in a place where I have to work hard to make myself understood. I feel a little like it awakens my whole body, sharpening senses I don’t usually use. It feels pretty good, you know? It feels like a part of me that was asleep has woken up...if it’s just a short trip you can only see as much of the good things as you can and buy souvenirs. But I think on a long journey you don’t just see the good things, there are also times when you want to go home.
I: Definitely.
M: I’ve done home stays since becoming an adult. And I did think this at the time but...not staying in a hotel, having your room cleaned every day, or leaving a tip on the bed; but by eating together with someone at the table, washing dishes, you really have a chance to learn about the values of that place. You can also have a conversation, can’t you? You’re constantly questioned, like ‘what is your job?’, or ‘what is your personality?’ The answers don’t just pop out easily (laugh) Usually, I work surrounded by people who know me, but even so, sometimes I stop comprehending exactly what I’m doing, or start wondering whether I’m only going along with what others think I should be doing. It’s a chance that you don’t usually get to encounter in everyday life, and I thought it was a really good experience.
That’s why I’ve had a dream for quite a while of going somewhere far away and staying there for a long time span...really, if it was just a question of how I feel, I would always be setting off on a trip somewhere (laugh).
END
Tuesday, 16 November 2010
Yuho Iwasato encounters Maaya
No, I'm not gone. You'd be forgiven for thinking that it was so. Just a little thing to stop the gap, then. I was reading Yuho Iwasato's blog from her official site today and came across her entry after Maaya's Gift Budokan live so thought I'd translate it. It's a nice little thing to read if you're a Maaya fan. If you can't place the name, Yuho Iwasato was the writer of many early Maaya song lyrics.
No.25 2nd April 2010 - Maaya-chan's Budokan
Yuho Iwasato
The day before yesterday was Maaya Sakamoto’s first Budokan Concert, ‘Gift’. It was to celebrate the double whammy of her 30th birthday and 15 year anniversary as a singer. The name of the concert, ‘Gift’, was the title of one of the first songs I wrote for Maaya-chan, and I was frankly delighted that she sang it as the opening number.
It was during the recording of Miki Imai’s ‘Love of my Life’ that I first met Yoko Kanno. Something along the lines of “By the way, do you think you could have a go at writing some lyrics for a young girl?” came up, and that was 15 year old Maaya-chan. She was this cute, spotty high school student.
The final song of the concert was also something I wrote back then: ‘Poketto wo kara ni shite’. I think it was about the third song I had for Maaya. She still thinks so much of a song from that time...I wonder if I’ve gotten old. Yesterday my eyes just welled up without cause: oh, you’ve come so far!
Time has slipped by.
And now it’s already April. ‘I have to do my best and once again set my sights on a new horizon!’ thought the Plover, invigorated, as he surveyed a canyon of cherry blossoms.
No.25 2nd April 2010 - Maaya-chan's Budokan
Yuho Iwasato
The day before yesterday was Maaya Sakamoto’s first Budokan Concert, ‘Gift’. It was to celebrate the double whammy of her 30th birthday and 15 year anniversary as a singer. The name of the concert, ‘Gift’, was the title of one of the first songs I wrote for Maaya-chan, and I was frankly delighted that she sang it as the opening number.
It was during the recording of Miki Imai’s ‘Love of my Life’ that I first met Yoko Kanno. Something along the lines of “By the way, do you think you could have a go at writing some lyrics for a young girl?” came up, and that was 15 year old Maaya-chan. She was this cute, spotty high school student.
The final song of the concert was also something I wrote back then: ‘Poketto wo kara ni shite’. I think it was about the third song I had for Maaya. She still thinks so much of a song from that time...I wonder if I’ve gotten old. Yesterday my eyes just welled up without cause: oh, you’ve come so far!
Time has slipped by.
And now it’s already April. ‘I have to do my best and once again set my sights on a new horizon!’ thought the Plover, invigorated, as he surveyed a canyon of cherry blossoms.
Sunday, 5 September 2010
I.D Essay Book - Bony Bony Rock
Now, I'm cheating a little. I said I'd have something new *hopefully* today but when I settled down to translate the next essay from Maaya's book 'I.D.' I noticed it had been previously published on her official website. The essay book, as I've mentioned before, is a collection of new essays AND content from her blog on her official HP. Hence, when I checked Deltafour's wonderful translation archive he had already got this essay done and dusted as one of Maaya's online blog posts.
Thus, I direct you over to his wonderful body of work for the next essay from 'I.D.' and I shall see you next time!
I.D. Essay Book - Bony Bony Rock translated from the I.D. website by deltafour
What a lovely surprise! With this though, the first part of Maaya's essay book has been completely translated from pages 9 to 99. Thus far we have:
1) When I was a Child Star
2) First Love
3) By mistake - Handball Club
4) A Thrilling Weakness! A Life of Lost Property
5) Texas Size (an I.D blog translated by luminaire)
6) Dance! Expertly Parted from my money
7) Bony Bony Rock (an I.D blog translated by deltafour)
Leaving ...er....sixteen to go ^^;;; well! We're a quarter of the way through!
Thus, I direct you over to his wonderful body of work for the next essay from 'I.D.' and I shall see you next time!
I.D. Essay Book - Bony Bony Rock translated from the I.D. website by deltafour
What a lovely surprise! With this though, the first part of Maaya's essay book has been completely translated from pages 9 to 99. Thus far we have:
1) When I was a Child Star
2) First Love
3) By mistake - Handball Club
4) A Thrilling Weakness! A Life of Lost Property
5) Texas Size (an I.D blog translated by luminaire)
6) Dance! Expertly Parted from my money
7) Bony Bony Rock (an I.D blog translated by deltafour)
Leaving ...er....sixteen to go ^^;;; well! We're a quarter of the way through!
Friday, 3 September 2010
Thank you!
So, I just noticed that 'stats' tab on Blogger and it seems that people have been visiting and taking the time to read my translations (and those of others that have been archived here) and I'd like to say thank you very much. Yes, yes, I know that people come here because of the comments and because of the threads on forums etc. where I post the links but it still gives me warm fuzzies to see it there on a graph.
I know I'm a slow worker but I hope that you're enjoying the back numbers while I work on the next piece to go up. So sorry and thank you!
Thank you for reading! Will do my best to get something up as soon as I can ^^V
I know I'm a slow worker but I hope that you're enjoying the back numbers while I work on the next piece to go up. So sorry and thank you!
Thank you for reading! Will do my best to get something up as soon as I can ^^V
Sunday, 29 August 2010
I.D. Essay Book - Dance! Expertly parted from my money
A new essay translation from Maaya's essay book 'I.D.' for you to enjoy. Certainly I really enjoyed translating this one. When I read them straight up I get what's going on but when I don't understand one word I won't spare the time to look it up. By doing these translations you really get into the meatiness of the essay. a bit like going through Shakespeare line by line at school! Hope you enjoy it.
Note: Maaya says the woman is wearing a pink 'matsuri' which means festival, but I thought the alliteration of pink parade invoked the spirit of matsuri ^^V
Dance! Expertly parted from my money
I.D Essay Book
Today when I went shopping I happened to come face to face with a really depressing scene.
Even though I’d been scheduled to have my photo taken for a magazine, I’d accidentally forgotten my accessories when I left the house. This story is something that happened when I nipped out to a department store in a spare moment because, as I’d feared, the balance was off without some accessories.
I went into one shop and I caught sight of a display of various items, grabbed something and went off to the counter to pay. While the shop assistant was away from the till calculating my bill, I milled around, the change in my hand, ready to pay. As I was doing this, suddenly in front of me a mirror door opened to reveal an office lady-type coming out from a changing room. No sooner had she stepped out of the changing room than a shop assistant rolled up saying “Wow, that’s so cute on you!” Now, excuse me for saying this, but it was not cute. The woman was wearing a glossy, sleeveless pink dress and a see-through pink shawl. Put this together with the pink bag and the pink mules she was sporting and the girl having a pink parade.
Now, I am of the opinion regarding clothes than if the person truly likes what they are wearing then good for them, they can wear whatever they want. I have no idea what is in fashion and I think it’s pointless to wear designer clothes if they do not suit you. It is no fun if everyone is wearing the same clothes just because it’s the latest trend. I shouldn’t criticise without giving someone a chance, as there are many people in this world, and many different tastes in clothes; why did I feel such a strong sense of displeasure when I set eyes on this girl?
I think that more than what she was wearing, it was her complete demeanour that was the problem. Despite not looking especially young, her voice was so high-pitched that for an adult it was embarrassing; it was also extremely loud. What got me the most was the way she was standing: her feet were planted really far apart, and when she put the mules on she made a clip-clop noise when she walked. With that kind of form you will not look beautiful to an onlooker no matter what you wear. Add all this to the pink parade the woman had dressed herself in and the situation was hopeless.
“It won’t do if the ceremony is held in a cold hall, how about this jacket as well?” The jacket picked up was, of course, pink.
“Recently a lot of people are wearing black to weddings, you know. So if you pick a bright colour then…” The shop assistant was in full flow.
A man who was probably the pink woman’s boyfriend was hovering nearby, silently watching, and seemed like he wanted to say something. Well, of course you would. You wouldn’t be able to tolerate turning up to a party with someone who made such a bizarre impact on your arm. However, what he finally came up with was: “It really suits you”…is that what one would call kindness? “Really? Oh I don't know…what if I end up overshadowing the bride?” cried the woman in pink, her voice echoing around the shop…so that’s what it comes down to. The shop assistant’s perfectly insincere smile was in place.
When a shop assistant has said “That really suits you!” even I’ve gone, “Oh, you really think so?” when trying clothes on in a changing room, and start to feel the same way. But even when someone has said this to me, it’s almost 100% certain that it is nothing but shameless flattery, just like the situation with the pink woman. For the other party, this is business. There is no way that they always, always tell the truth to the customer.
Even when I bought some black trousers recently, I was politely declining with “Well, my butt is quite big so I think I’ll leave them…” when the shop assistant shot back with “It’s not big at all! You are wearing an extra small size there, so I don’t think you can say that at all.” And I bought the trousers: “Yes, you’re totally right!”
But I know my own butt more than someone who I’ve just met for the first time. Even though my butt has been big since the day I was born, why on earth did I believe someone I’d never met before when they said ‘no, it’s not’. The fact that it was an XS size pair of blank pants has no relation at all because the most important thing is the balance of the whole body. Did this mean I was manipulated just like the pink woman?
Was there someone, another customer, close by, looking from time to time, and thinking to themselves ‘Oh my god, that butt is huge’? Was the shop assistant quietly laughing to herself after I’d gone home: ‘alright, a stupid customer!’?
Since eventually my bill in this shop was paid and I left, I don’t know whether the pink woman bought everything she tried on or not. But I think I’m leaning more towards her buying everything.
You might be wondering what it is I’m getting at. What I’m saying is that in the end fashion is nothing more than an ornament, and if there’s nothing on the inside then it’s meaningless. I’m also saying that my butt is really big. And then there’s also the fact that part of a shop assistant’s job is to sometimes put on a wonderful act, employing the art of flattery. This would be impossible for someone like me who shows everything I’m thinking immediately on my face.
It is like the work of a Buddhist monk, swallowing down everything you want to say in one gulp. However, I am not deceived by these shop assistants. They are probably making these innocent faces to play their customers, then once the customer has gone home, using what happened as conversation material with their colleagues to laugh about. Both ’that’s the last one in stock’ and ‘that’s something new we got in today’ are suspicious.
I know these tactics, but I’m still taken in.
Note: Maaya says the woman is wearing a pink 'matsuri' which means festival, but I thought the alliteration of pink parade invoked the spirit of matsuri ^^V
Dance! Expertly parted from my money
I.D Essay Book
Today when I went shopping I happened to come face to face with a really depressing scene.
Even though I’d been scheduled to have my photo taken for a magazine, I’d accidentally forgotten my accessories when I left the house. This story is something that happened when I nipped out to a department store in a spare moment because, as I’d feared, the balance was off without some accessories.
I went into one shop and I caught sight of a display of various items, grabbed something and went off to the counter to pay. While the shop assistant was away from the till calculating my bill, I milled around, the change in my hand, ready to pay. As I was doing this, suddenly in front of me a mirror door opened to reveal an office lady-type coming out from a changing room. No sooner had she stepped out of the changing room than a shop assistant rolled up saying “Wow, that’s so cute on you!” Now, excuse me for saying this, but it was not cute. The woman was wearing a glossy, sleeveless pink dress and a see-through pink shawl. Put this together with the pink bag and the pink mules she was sporting and the girl having a pink parade.
Now, I am of the opinion regarding clothes than if the person truly likes what they are wearing then good for them, they can wear whatever they want. I have no idea what is in fashion and I think it’s pointless to wear designer clothes if they do not suit you. It is no fun if everyone is wearing the same clothes just because it’s the latest trend. I shouldn’t criticise without giving someone a chance, as there are many people in this world, and many different tastes in clothes; why did I feel such a strong sense of displeasure when I set eyes on this girl?
I think that more than what she was wearing, it was her complete demeanour that was the problem. Despite not looking especially young, her voice was so high-pitched that for an adult it was embarrassing; it was also extremely loud. What got me the most was the way she was standing: her feet were planted really far apart, and when she put the mules on she made a clip-clop noise when she walked. With that kind of form you will not look beautiful to an onlooker no matter what you wear. Add all this to the pink parade the woman had dressed herself in and the situation was hopeless.
“It won’t do if the ceremony is held in a cold hall, how about this jacket as well?” The jacket picked up was, of course, pink.
“Recently a lot of people are wearing black to weddings, you know. So if you pick a bright colour then…” The shop assistant was in full flow.
A man who was probably the pink woman’s boyfriend was hovering nearby, silently watching, and seemed like he wanted to say something. Well, of course you would. You wouldn’t be able to tolerate turning up to a party with someone who made such a bizarre impact on your arm. However, what he finally came up with was: “It really suits you”…is that what one would call kindness? “Really? Oh I don't know…what if I end up overshadowing the bride?” cried the woman in pink, her voice echoing around the shop…so that’s what it comes down to. The shop assistant’s perfectly insincere smile was in place.
When a shop assistant has said “That really suits you!” even I’ve gone, “Oh, you really think so?” when trying clothes on in a changing room, and start to feel the same way. But even when someone has said this to me, it’s almost 100% certain that it is nothing but shameless flattery, just like the situation with the pink woman. For the other party, this is business. There is no way that they always, always tell the truth to the customer.
Even when I bought some black trousers recently, I was politely declining with “Well, my butt is quite big so I think I’ll leave them…” when the shop assistant shot back with “It’s not big at all! You are wearing an extra small size there, so I don’t think you can say that at all.” And I bought the trousers: “Yes, you’re totally right!”
But I know my own butt more than someone who I’ve just met for the first time. Even though my butt has been big since the day I was born, why on earth did I believe someone I’d never met before when they said ‘no, it’s not’. The fact that it was an XS size pair of blank pants has no relation at all because the most important thing is the balance of the whole body. Did this mean I was manipulated just like the pink woman?
Was there someone, another customer, close by, looking from time to time, and thinking to themselves ‘Oh my god, that butt is huge’? Was the shop assistant quietly laughing to herself after I’d gone home: ‘alright, a stupid customer!’?
Since eventually my bill in this shop was paid and I left, I don’t know whether the pink woman bought everything she tried on or not. But I think I’m leaning more towards her buying everything.
You might be wondering what it is I’m getting at. What I’m saying is that in the end fashion is nothing more than an ornament, and if there’s nothing on the inside then it’s meaningless. I’m also saying that my butt is really big. And then there’s also the fact that part of a shop assistant’s job is to sometimes put on a wonderful act, employing the art of flattery. This would be impossible for someone like me who shows everything I’m thinking immediately on my face.
It is like the work of a Buddhist monk, swallowing down everything you want to say in one gulp. However, I am not deceived by these shop assistants. They are probably making these innocent faces to play their customers, then once the customer has gone home, using what happened as conversation material with their colleagues to laugh about. Both ’that’s the last one in stock’ and ‘that’s something new we got in today’ are suspicious.
I know these tactics, but I’m still taken in.
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
I.D Essay Book - By mistake: Handball Club
Wow! Do my eyes deceive me? Is this a new essay translation from 'I.D.'?? Yes! It is! Unbelievable. It's true, this is the next essay in Maaya's book of essays to be translated. Maaya recalls her encounters with sports. I do like this essay, I hope I've managed to do it justice. Maaya has a really nice sense of humour in her writing, I hope that it comes across in my translation. Enjoy!
By mistake: Handball Club
I have dreadful reflexes.
When I say that, generally the look on the face of the person I'm saying it to will be ‘Isn’t that because you don’t put the effort in?’ Or, it will be a boy who says ‘That’s normal for girls’.
However, only someone who has truly awful reflexes can truly understand the feelings of their inept fellows. When I want to hit a ball really far, why does it hit the floor at my feet with such conviction? If I try table tennis or badminton, I lose without even gaining one serve. When I’m running so hard that it feels like my feet are going to fall off, people get angry and shout ‘Run properly!’ I carry these experiences as a great burden, these dark traumas from my days as a student.
Elementary school. If the teacher said ‘Let’s play dodge ball!’ the kids in the classroom would go crazy. But I would suddenly feel gloomy. It was time to start the team selection process of doom (see note below.) The team members were chosen in order by the two team leaders selected from the class by the teacher. In other words, the kids whose sportsmanship would be an asset to the team were chosen first, and the kids left until the end were basically branded ‘dead weight’.
Naturally, I was the type who was chosen last of the last. When it got down to the last five people to be chosen for a team the leaders' attitude was that of ‘I don’t care who we get now.’ These men who, when they grown up, say things like ‘It’s cute when girls are bad at sports’ were the one's who were completely indifferent to these girls in elementary school! Saying that things like 'it's cute' now won’t help; I won’t ever be able to forget this bitterness!
And the relay race where everyone has to participate, why on earth is that included in sports day? Ridiculous! ‘Who shall we put in front and behind slow-poke Maaya Sakamoto?’ was the topic of class meetings! It would always end up being the fastest people in the class who were put in position in front and behind me for the race.
Which is why even I’m surprised that I ended up belonging to a handball club.
A shiny-new first grader in high school, a student in the year above who was a childhood friend got her hands on me, me, the girl who didn’t know left from right. I joined because she’d said ‘We don’t have enough new students, would you put your name down to get our numbers up? Or even just be a manager for the team’ but actually, they only had two first years including me join the club. And then the other new girl quit after just two months complaining that her ‘feet hurt’.
So, this left the handball club with seven members. The number of team members necessary for a hand ball team to play a match is seven. So without me officially saying whether I’d be a member or not, I ended being a regular.
It was too late to say: no one asked me! If I was to quit now then the girl’s handball team would have to be disbanded because they wouldn’t have the required number of members to play a game.
What? Is that a threat?
All the older girls were really nice, great people, but I found it difficult to cope with the pressure being put on me. It was around the same time that I debuted as a singer, so I was rather busy. If I can’t attend team practice I’ll be letting them down, but I have to go to work - I often found myself torn between these two commitments.
However, it is a fact that I enjoyed myself.
We were a pretty poor team, so our ‘practice’ was rather half-baked. Our sessions consisted of lots of ambiguous activities along the lines of ‘Let’s recite the stations on the Yamanote subway line while passing the ball to each other, then when you hit it back, you have to rush forward and shoot.’ We often had a lot of days off because we were ‘fatigued’ from training. Only our official training camp had a rather spectacular four nights and five days of continuous practice. Going to get a drink of water was somehow a group activity, and seemed to coincide with staring at the boy’s basketball team practicing. We were usually tired out from laughing too much rather from doing exercise. We were always laughing.
Being busy, not really being good at hand ball, getting suntanned, all this was crammed into just one year. After that one year, the senior students would graduate, so whatever happened, the club was to be disbanded. I don’t think there are any other clubs which are as easy-going or as fun as that handball team was. I really loved the girls who were above me.
One day, when that one year had passed in one way or another, something which I had feared since day one came to be: the next handball match was scheduled to take place on a day when I had work.
…I had always known that there was a possibility of this happening but…
I was supposed to be dubbing a Western film on that day, and I was the lead. But for the seniors in my team, this match was their farewell game, and if I wasn’t there then they wouldn’t be able to take part in the game at all.
I played in the match.
After agonising over it for a long time, I chose to participate in the handball game. I caused a lot of trouble for the people at work, and the game finally ended in complete defeat - which meant that we truly were a team who had never won a match. But I think I made the right decision.
I now belong to a gym. I’m actually paying to do sports, something which I thought I hated. Unbelievable. But it’s probably all thanks to that handball team that I’m able to say the words ‘It feels good to move my body.’
Fin.
(Note: Maaya says ‘team selection process of tears’ in the original but I thought DOOM would be a better English equivalent to get her point across)
By mistake: Handball Club
I have dreadful reflexes.
When I say that, generally the look on the face of the person I'm saying it to will be ‘Isn’t that because you don’t put the effort in?’ Or, it will be a boy who says ‘That’s normal for girls’.
However, only someone who has truly awful reflexes can truly understand the feelings of their inept fellows. When I want to hit a ball really far, why does it hit the floor at my feet with such conviction? If I try table tennis or badminton, I lose without even gaining one serve. When I’m running so hard that it feels like my feet are going to fall off, people get angry and shout ‘Run properly!’ I carry these experiences as a great burden, these dark traumas from my days as a student.
Elementary school. If the teacher said ‘Let’s play dodge ball!’ the kids in the classroom would go crazy. But I would suddenly feel gloomy. It was time to start the team selection process of doom (see note below.) The team members were chosen in order by the two team leaders selected from the class by the teacher. In other words, the kids whose sportsmanship would be an asset to the team were chosen first, and the kids left until the end were basically branded ‘dead weight’.
Naturally, I was the type who was chosen last of the last. When it got down to the last five people to be chosen for a team the leaders' attitude was that of ‘I don’t care who we get now.’ These men who, when they grown up, say things like ‘It’s cute when girls are bad at sports’ were the one's who were completely indifferent to these girls in elementary school! Saying that things like 'it's cute' now won’t help; I won’t ever be able to forget this bitterness!
And the relay race where everyone has to participate, why on earth is that included in sports day? Ridiculous! ‘Who shall we put in front and behind slow-poke Maaya Sakamoto?’ was the topic of class meetings! It would always end up being the fastest people in the class who were put in position in front and behind me for the race.
Which is why even I’m surprised that I ended up belonging to a handball club.
A shiny-new first grader in high school, a student in the year above who was a childhood friend got her hands on me, me, the girl who didn’t know left from right. I joined because she’d said ‘We don’t have enough new students, would you put your name down to get our numbers up? Or even just be a manager for the team’ but actually, they only had two first years including me join the club. And then the other new girl quit after just two months complaining that her ‘feet hurt’.
So, this left the handball club with seven members. The number of team members necessary for a hand ball team to play a match is seven. So without me officially saying whether I’d be a member or not, I ended being a regular.
It was too late to say: no one asked me! If I was to quit now then the girl’s handball team would have to be disbanded because they wouldn’t have the required number of members to play a game.
What? Is that a threat?
All the older girls were really nice, great people, but I found it difficult to cope with the pressure being put on me. It was around the same time that I debuted as a singer, so I was rather busy. If I can’t attend team practice I’ll be letting them down, but I have to go to work - I often found myself torn between these two commitments.
However, it is a fact that I enjoyed myself.
We were a pretty poor team, so our ‘practice’ was rather half-baked. Our sessions consisted of lots of ambiguous activities along the lines of ‘Let’s recite the stations on the Yamanote subway line while passing the ball to each other, then when you hit it back, you have to rush forward and shoot.’ We often had a lot of days off because we were ‘fatigued’ from training. Only our official training camp had a rather spectacular four nights and five days of continuous practice. Going to get a drink of water was somehow a group activity, and seemed to coincide with staring at the boy’s basketball team practicing. We were usually tired out from laughing too much rather from doing exercise. We were always laughing.
Being busy, not really being good at hand ball, getting suntanned, all this was crammed into just one year. After that one year, the senior students would graduate, so whatever happened, the club was to be disbanded. I don’t think there are any other clubs which are as easy-going or as fun as that handball team was. I really loved the girls who were above me.
One day, when that one year had passed in one way or another, something which I had feared since day one came to be: the next handball match was scheduled to take place on a day when I had work.
…I had always known that there was a possibility of this happening but…
I was supposed to be dubbing a Western film on that day, and I was the lead. But for the seniors in my team, this match was their farewell game, and if I wasn’t there then they wouldn’t be able to take part in the game at all.
I played in the match.
After agonising over it for a long time, I chose to participate in the handball game. I caused a lot of trouble for the people at work, and the game finally ended in complete defeat - which meant that we truly were a team who had never won a match. But I think I made the right decision.
I now belong to a gym. I’m actually paying to do sports, something which I thought I hated. Unbelievable. But it’s probably all thanks to that handball team that I’m able to say the words ‘It feels good to move my body.’
Fin.
(Note: Maaya says ‘team selection process of tears’ in the original but I thought DOOM would be a better English equivalent to get her point across)
Sunday, 1 August 2010
I.D Essay Book - When I was a Child Star (Final)
Well, here it is. The final part of Maaya's first essay in the book 'I.D', 'When I was a Child Star'. It's been a long time, but I've finally finished it. I apologise for the long wait. I hope that you will indulge me in reading the whole thing from the beginning on one go at some stage. It was long. I hope you enjoy the last part!
When I was a Child Star (Final part)
After All That
It’s been three years since I graduated Komadori.
Nishimura-sensei still, as ever, has a loud voice. Sometimes we go for dinner and she’ll treat me but we’ll argue for some time about whether to have udon or zousui (rice and vegetable porridge) after our hot-pot. Whenever I get in touch to say, ‘Come and see my play, ok?’, she’ll reply with something like ‘I don’t know whether I’ll be alive or not then so I can’t make any promises.’ It’s ok, you definitely have another twenty years left!
With my theatre troupe comrades it seems that there have been various changes over the years. Well, I suppose it has been the same for me, and until you get used to a new environment you are bound to feel full of anxiety. Because of that we often went out drinking together, to share the latest news in our lives, and to encourage each other with whatever we were doing. Recently we haven’t gotten together as often as we used to, and I wonder whether that’s because we’ve all settled down in our various walks of life. But even now when something happens I immediately want to call them up and see their faces. Unfortunately, all of us are very busy.
It was only the other day that I received a call from Nishimura-sensei saying ‘Come and pick up the things you left here.’ It seems she’d started to clean up the old training room.
Several other former members of the troupe and I went back to Komadori for the first time in a long while. Even though she complained about her ill health, ‘recently it’s just…’, Nishimura-sensei’s booming voice remains unchanged.
While sorting out lots of different boxes, we uncovered a large amount of photographs. Photos of when we were children, lots of photos of the children who had been above us, even old black and white photos; an expansive collection telling the story of Komadori’s long history. Looking at the photos, saying ‘Wow! Oh wow!’, even photos of Nishimura-sensei during her youth were discovered. Photos taken before the era of her famous bandana. Her hair cut in a short bob, wearing a dress, the most cheerful face in a long line of people, with an impish smile. This was a photo from when the previous generation were still together, when the troupe had hundreds of members.
I've tried to imagine Nishimura-sensei’s life. She oversaw Komadori’s interviews from when she was around twenty years old. She was just one of many managers at the beginning. I wonder if she ever had any idea that she would be the only one to remain out of the previous generation, continuing on alone. Since it’s Nishimura-sensei we’re talking about, I bet she said with great emotion, a sense of justice, and with guts: ‘We will continue on!’ I imagine that for more than twenty years she has given everything she has to continue to protect the troupe.
It must have been hard work. It must have been tough. I’ve even said some pretty impertinent things to her in the past…
Nishimura-sensei doesn’t have any children. But, myself included, there are a lot of people who think of her as their mother. So in one sense, I think Nishimura-sensei does have a lot of children.
Looking at the photos, I thought how much they looked like a family photo album. A record of all the children growing up into adults, there are also photos of weddings and newborn babies. This is the Komadori inheritance.
The training room of what was once called the Children’s Theatre Troupe Komadori will soon disappear from the corner of that quiet neighbourhood in Shinjuku. It’s sad but a theatre troupe without any members cannot be left as it is. But I don’t think the end come with something as clear cut as taking down the sign, or putting a full stop at the end of such a long history. It might be taking a small vacation, but someday, somewhere, I can imagine a small training room opening, filled with a gathering of loud kids, snotty, cry-babies, naughty, all with loud voices. Until that day, we will all protect this treasure of photographs.
Even if a room which we call ‘Komadori’ does not exist on this earth, there is still a place where we can all return home to. Even when we live apart, family is still family. And when we remember the days we spent together, whenever we wonder how everyone from that time is doing, that place will be right there with us. Those things that we spent so much time building there were the things that cannot be seen with our eyes.
Fin.
When I was a Child Star (Final part)
After All That
It’s been three years since I graduated Komadori.
Nishimura-sensei still, as ever, has a loud voice. Sometimes we go for dinner and she’ll treat me but we’ll argue for some time about whether to have udon or zousui (rice and vegetable porridge) after our hot-pot. Whenever I get in touch to say, ‘Come and see my play, ok?’, she’ll reply with something like ‘I don’t know whether I’ll be alive or not then so I can’t make any promises.’ It’s ok, you definitely have another twenty years left!
With my theatre troupe comrades it seems that there have been various changes over the years. Well, I suppose it has been the same for me, and until you get used to a new environment you are bound to feel full of anxiety. Because of that we often went out drinking together, to share the latest news in our lives, and to encourage each other with whatever we were doing. Recently we haven’t gotten together as often as we used to, and I wonder whether that’s because we’ve all settled down in our various walks of life. But even now when something happens I immediately want to call them up and see their faces. Unfortunately, all of us are very busy.
It was only the other day that I received a call from Nishimura-sensei saying ‘Come and pick up the things you left here.’ It seems she’d started to clean up the old training room.
Several other former members of the troupe and I went back to Komadori for the first time in a long while. Even though she complained about her ill health, ‘recently it’s just…’, Nishimura-sensei’s booming voice remains unchanged.
While sorting out lots of different boxes, we uncovered a large amount of photographs. Photos of when we were children, lots of photos of the children who had been above us, even old black and white photos; an expansive collection telling the story of Komadori’s long history. Looking at the photos, saying ‘Wow! Oh wow!’, even photos of Nishimura-sensei during her youth were discovered. Photos taken before the era of her famous bandana. Her hair cut in a short bob, wearing a dress, the most cheerful face in a long line of people, with an impish smile. This was a photo from when the previous generation were still together, when the troupe had hundreds of members.
I've tried to imagine Nishimura-sensei’s life. She oversaw Komadori’s interviews from when she was around twenty years old. She was just one of many managers at the beginning. I wonder if she ever had any idea that she would be the only one to remain out of the previous generation, continuing on alone. Since it’s Nishimura-sensei we’re talking about, I bet she said with great emotion, a sense of justice, and with guts: ‘We will continue on!’ I imagine that for more than twenty years she has given everything she has to continue to protect the troupe.
It must have been hard work. It must have been tough. I’ve even said some pretty impertinent things to her in the past…
Nishimura-sensei doesn’t have any children. But, myself included, there are a lot of people who think of her as their mother. So in one sense, I think Nishimura-sensei does have a lot of children.
Looking at the photos, I thought how much they looked like a family photo album. A record of all the children growing up into adults, there are also photos of weddings and newborn babies. This is the Komadori inheritance.
The training room of what was once called the Children’s Theatre Troupe Komadori will soon disappear from the corner of that quiet neighbourhood in Shinjuku. It’s sad but a theatre troupe without any members cannot be left as it is. But I don’t think the end come with something as clear cut as taking down the sign, or putting a full stop at the end of such a long history. It might be taking a small vacation, but someday, somewhere, I can imagine a small training room opening, filled with a gathering of loud kids, snotty, cry-babies, naughty, all with loud voices. Until that day, we will all protect this treasure of photographs.
Even if a room which we call ‘Komadori’ does not exist on this earth, there is still a place where we can all return home to. Even when we live apart, family is still family. And when we remember the days we spent together, whenever we wonder how everyone from that time is doing, that place will be right there with us. Those things that we spent so much time building there were the things that cannot be seen with our eyes.
Fin.
Sunday, 27 June 2010
I.D Essay Book - When I was a Child Star (Part 7)
Did I ever tell you how bad I am at maths? Yes, that's right, this essay still isn't finished. But we're getting there. One more part after this guys. This was a little short section. The next one is the 'epilogue', so to speak. Enjoy!
When I was a Child Star (part 7)
Graduation
I think that the decision for me to graduate Komadori was made incredibly early on. It was a very natural thought process, to know the day would come when I would become an adult and have to leave this place. Just like the hundreds of students above me who had come and gone, I would have to decide my own path.
I was graduating university when it properly hit me: well now, I’m an adult. Graduation is a time when everyone thinks about their own future, and it’s a matter of course that there will be goodbyes to be said when you start your journey to a new place. That’s just how it is, but what I found distressing was that Komadori wasn’t just any old place to up and leave. Komadori was my family. It was one of a kind. And that was why I struggled with the decision.
When I first confided in my former teacher Nishimura-sensei about what I was thinking, my body was shaking. A teacher has seen countless students fly the nest, and has probably experienced this same scene many times over. We’d both been expecting this day to come but nevertheless we were both affected by it. Nishimura-sensei said even though she was happy to let me decide this for myself, inside she was anxious for me. Not about my work, but because she was praying that I would be able to go on growing in a place filled with good people. Until now I had been protected from things by my teachers, I had no immune system, so to speak. What if I ventured into unknown territory, then was tricked by some good-for-nothing and ended up dead?! It was a little bit of an overreaction but as someone who was like a second mother to me, it was her job to say it, and it was her job to be worried about me. And because I understood that, I knew that it was my job to become happy whatever happened. My repayment to Nishimura-sensei was to be healthy and happy.
For the remaining year of my time there I spent the days slowly preparing to graduate. At the same time I spoke to my teacher about graduating, I had also spoken to my fellow students at Komadori to break the news. Including me there were only seven of us left in the group. Komadori had stopped recruiting new members years ago, so Komadori hadn’t actually been a children’s theatre group for a long time. There was even a girl who had already had her own child. Each of us were busy and completely taken up in our own lives.
We would say things like, we’re living lives that we never even imagined ten years ago, aren’t we? And though we had no way to imagine what it would be like, we would also talk about what might happen in the next ten years, saying things like ‘if we all have kids then we should form the second generation of Komadori!’ Even though we tried not to think about it, we became adults. It may be that we were able to ride out the storm thanks to the protection of the big tree Komadori.
On the long road of life ahead, we must experience the adventure even when we are scared, and we must forge ahead despite hardship; we have to walk on our own two feet.
In the end three of us graduated Komadori at the same time and went off to begin again in a new place.
When I was a Child Star (part 7)
Graduation
I think that the decision for me to graduate Komadori was made incredibly early on. It was a very natural thought process, to know the day would come when I would become an adult and have to leave this place. Just like the hundreds of students above me who had come and gone, I would have to decide my own path.
I was graduating university when it properly hit me: well now, I’m an adult. Graduation is a time when everyone thinks about their own future, and it’s a matter of course that there will be goodbyes to be said when you start your journey to a new place. That’s just how it is, but what I found distressing was that Komadori wasn’t just any old place to up and leave. Komadori was my family. It was one of a kind. And that was why I struggled with the decision.
When I first confided in my former teacher Nishimura-sensei about what I was thinking, my body was shaking. A teacher has seen countless students fly the nest, and has probably experienced this same scene many times over. We’d both been expecting this day to come but nevertheless we were both affected by it. Nishimura-sensei said even though she was happy to let me decide this for myself, inside she was anxious for me. Not about my work, but because she was praying that I would be able to go on growing in a place filled with good people. Until now I had been protected from things by my teachers, I had no immune system, so to speak. What if I ventured into unknown territory, then was tricked by some good-for-nothing and ended up dead?! It was a little bit of an overreaction but as someone who was like a second mother to me, it was her job to say it, and it was her job to be worried about me. And because I understood that, I knew that it was my job to become happy whatever happened. My repayment to Nishimura-sensei was to be healthy and happy.
For the remaining year of my time there I spent the days slowly preparing to graduate. At the same time I spoke to my teacher about graduating, I had also spoken to my fellow students at Komadori to break the news. Including me there were only seven of us left in the group. Komadori had stopped recruiting new members years ago, so Komadori hadn’t actually been a children’s theatre group for a long time. There was even a girl who had already had her own child. Each of us were busy and completely taken up in our own lives.
We would say things like, we’re living lives that we never even imagined ten years ago, aren’t we? And though we had no way to imagine what it would be like, we would also talk about what might happen in the next ten years, saying things like ‘if we all have kids then we should form the second generation of Komadori!’ Even though we tried not to think about it, we became adults. It may be that we were able to ride out the storm thanks to the protection of the big tree Komadori.
On the long road of life ahead, we must experience the adventure even when we are scared, and we must forge ahead despite hardship; we have to walk on our own two feet.
In the end three of us graduated Komadori at the same time and went off to begin again in a new place.
Saturday, 5 June 2010
I.D Essay Book - When I was a Child Star (Part 6)
Ah, what I thought was the penultimate part wasn't actually the penultimate part. Part six is actually the penultimate part of the essay. I should have counted up. The entire essay is composed of seven sections and this is part six. So! Almost finished! The next part will be the end of the essay! Woo!
When I was a Child Actor (Part 6)
Casting off the child actor!
There wasn’t a conscious decision on my part to cast off my ‘role’. But the special treatment I received for simply being a child actor gradually trailed off (for example, if it got late the studio would record my parts first and then let me go home before everyone else, or at lunchtime someone would treat me to a dessert etc.)
And once I entered middle school I was sort of at a loss. When work came in the various hurdles to do with acting I was faced with suddenly seemed to get a lot higher. I started thinking that perhaps up until this point I had just been coasting along as a child actor and maybe I didn’t really have any talent at all, from this I gradually fell into a rut.
Although I had faced the microphone straight on without any nerves in the past, it was at this point I gradually became more and more inhibited by a strange sort of self-consciousness. Perhaps you could say that this is something all teenagers experience, but I tried to hide myself completely, and was afraid of standing out from those around me. I lost the courage to do anything out of the ordinary at all.
No matter how hard I tried to see my work from a rational point of view, it was in this state of mind that I began to experience a mental block towards acting. I would suddenly forget everything I knew, thinking ‘huh? How do I do this again?’ It felt like the film ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’, when one day Kiki the witch suddenly completely forgets how to fly.
Actually, very recently a director who has often employed me even from way back said to me at a party, ‘Oh yeah, when you were in middle school you didn’t really shine at all, haha!’ Ah, so it wasn’t just me. I had to laugh. But I often wonder whether it was this period, when I held all these questions towards my own acting, that I shed my skin of being a child actor.
Being lost, getting depressed, but then deciding that I actually did enjoy my work and then continuing on with it, I think that I was then able to reaffirm my ambition to become a professional. Well, strictly speaking, from then until now I’ve quite often been lost, troubled or depressed, and whenever this has happened I’ve just decided that, ‘No, I still want to do this’. It kind of makes me want to ask ‘just how many times have we got to go over this before you’re satisfied with the answer?’ But I imagine that I’ll carry on regardless, stopping and starting as I continue on.
Anyway, until then I had been completely happy with my acting. Whatever role it was, I felt that I was able to pull it off perfectly. But then I lost the ability to feel satisfied with any performance I gave at all. No matter how hard I tried, whenever I cleared one hurdle, I would find a new problem. And this cycle has continued until this day.
When I was a Child Actor (Part 6)
Casting off the child actor!
There wasn’t a conscious decision on my part to cast off my ‘role’. But the special treatment I received for simply being a child actor gradually trailed off (for example, if it got late the studio would record my parts first and then let me go home before everyone else, or at lunchtime someone would treat me to a dessert etc.)
And once I entered middle school I was sort of at a loss. When work came in the various hurdles to do with acting I was faced with suddenly seemed to get a lot higher. I started thinking that perhaps up until this point I had just been coasting along as a child actor and maybe I didn’t really have any talent at all, from this I gradually fell into a rut.
Although I had faced the microphone straight on without any nerves in the past, it was at this point I gradually became more and more inhibited by a strange sort of self-consciousness. Perhaps you could say that this is something all teenagers experience, but I tried to hide myself completely, and was afraid of standing out from those around me. I lost the courage to do anything out of the ordinary at all.
No matter how hard I tried to see my work from a rational point of view, it was in this state of mind that I began to experience a mental block towards acting. I would suddenly forget everything I knew, thinking ‘huh? How do I do this again?’ It felt like the film ‘Kiki’s Delivery Service’, when one day Kiki the witch suddenly completely forgets how to fly.
Actually, very recently a director who has often employed me even from way back said to me at a party, ‘Oh yeah, when you were in middle school you didn’t really shine at all, haha!’ Ah, so it wasn’t just me. I had to laugh. But I often wonder whether it was this period, when I held all these questions towards my own acting, that I shed my skin of being a child actor.
Being lost, getting depressed, but then deciding that I actually did enjoy my work and then continuing on with it, I think that I was then able to reaffirm my ambition to become a professional. Well, strictly speaking, from then until now I’ve quite often been lost, troubled or depressed, and whenever this has happened I’ve just decided that, ‘No, I still want to do this’. It kind of makes me want to ask ‘just how many times have we got to go over this before you’re satisfied with the answer?’ But I imagine that I’ll carry on regardless, stopping and starting as I continue on.
Anyway, until then I had been completely happy with my acting. Whatever role it was, I felt that I was able to pull it off perfectly. But then I lost the ability to feel satisfied with any performance I gave at all. No matter how hard I tried, whenever I cleared one hurdle, I would find a new problem. And this cycle has continued until this day.
Sunday, 30 May 2010
I.D Essay Book - When I was a Child Star (Part 5)
I know, it's been too long. But finally the next part is here!! The title and first few paragraphs talk about snot. Yes, the green stuff that comes out of your nose. Think of the English phrase: snot faced kid. She means it like that. A little kid, snotty nosed, regular, scruffy.
Apologies for not posting more regularly, real life is busy. Enjoy the essay!
NOTE: Actually, after posting this I just want to add that perhaps a closer title to the original Japanese would be 'Snot Green' (aoppana karaa) but that isn't nearly as poetic as it should be!
Note 2: weirdly, my old fansite from way back in the day still won't die on google rankings. Guitar Chords and Grapefruits. How I loved you (T_T)
* * *
I.D Essay Book - When I was a child star (Part 5)
The Colour of a Runny Nose
“You were so small back then and now you’re so grown up!”
Even now this is always being said to me. It seems that the sight of me coming into the studio with a school bag on my back from way back then has left a strong impression on all the adult actors I worked with. There are also still people who ask ‘Oh, is today a school holiday?’ Or they say something like ‘You were such a snot-faced kid!’. No, no I was most certainly not a snot-faced kid.
‘I remember changing your diapers!’ No, no, I was most certainly not that small.
There are people who say these ridiculous things but I’m very happy that they still remember me from when I was a child actor.
Nowadays you can’t find elementary school kids walking around with snot dripping from their noses. ‘Ah, but I think there were some like that in Komadori!’ – why is it that I start dwelling on that thought?
When I remember all the friends who I went to Komadori with, there were the three Nakamura boys. Each of them had something individually interesting about their characters, but all you saw when you looked at them was that the younger two were wearing the older brother’s hand me downs. The youngest was the same age as me and I have a vision of his rolled up sweatshirt sleeve having snot on it…
Although I was definitely not a snot faced brat, I was definitely ‘as normal a kid as you’d find anywhere’.
When I became an adult and sometimes worked with child actors, they are without exception always dressed up in an adorable way. There is no child who looks like their hair has been cut by the local barber or by their mother. They’d always be in a colourful designer outfit and despite being kids, a lot of them had some kind of aura about them.
I can’t really compare because time has moved on since I was a kid but I haven’t met anyone who was like that younger brother, coming in with a bed head and snot hanging out.
Incidentally, the monthly fee for Komadori was shockingly cheap. Compared to the amount asked for after the first audition that I took at the mainstream theatre troupe it was laughable. This was something I learned later but apart from the joining and handling fees charged by that company, they also charged a fee for shooting profile photos of 40,000yen a year.
When you attend an audition you have to bring a photograph of yourself and it’s true that if you pay a lot of money then you can have a beautiful photo by a photographer that makes you look great but the Komadori profile photos were taken by Nishimura-sensei on a normal camera: ok, cheese! The background was full of bookshelves, dolls and other things with no particular reason for being there.
When going to a big audition where you would meet kids from other theatre groups, our photos were so uncool in comparison to the other children’s photographs that there were times when we’d try to hide the photos with our hands, lest the red eyes and uncombed hair be seen.
By the way, the youngest Nakamura brother was someone who has left a lasting impression on me. He was an actor who put everything into what he was doing. He had a very cute lisp when he spoke and wherever he was he was always popular. He was a complete one-off, there was no one else quite like him. I used to think that maybe he was someone that one would call a genius. Even though he was someone who could have made it with ease, he quit acting without a care in the world when we entered middle school, with the excuse ‘I’m busy with my afterschool club’. And so people graduated, one after the other.
Not everyone entered the theatre troupe because they were enamoured with the glamorous world of the entertainment industry. To lose one’s shyness, as a respite from an unpleasant academic enviroment, there were many reasons for kids joining the group. I think now that there was not one single child there who had conciously thought ‘I will walk the path of an entertainer’.
Children have countless decisions in front of them and countless things which capture their imagination, and they can all be caught in your hand at the same time. Each of these things are real, all of them are equally attainable. In this unique world they continue on, easily doing one thing only to be entranced by something else and naturally letting the first wonder go.
We wanted to do everything. We didn’t work when we were busy with our studies. We didn’t want to skip afterschool club activities. Playing with friends, going on holiday with our families, going to school every day. Without giving something up, doing work on top of all that was something that was a luxury but with Komadori we were somehow able to do it all.
But because of that, sometimes we weren’t able to see the boundary between work and play, and there were times when we pulled too many pranks. But to the very last we were able to express ourselves as we truly were and it was wonderful.
If the Komadori Child Theatre Troupe was still around today, I think that it would still be full of kids who were just like us back then. It’s pretty mysterious but it was a place where strange people, those unlike anyone else, gathered together.
Apologies for not posting more regularly, real life is busy. Enjoy the essay!
NOTE: Actually, after posting this I just want to add that perhaps a closer title to the original Japanese would be 'Snot Green' (aoppana karaa) but that isn't nearly as poetic as it should be!
Note 2: weirdly, my old fansite from way back in the day still won't die on google rankings. Guitar Chords and Grapefruits. How I loved you (T_T)
* * *
I.D Essay Book - When I was a child star (Part 5)
The Colour of a Runny Nose
“You were so small back then and now you’re so grown up!”
Even now this is always being said to me. It seems that the sight of me coming into the studio with a school bag on my back from way back then has left a strong impression on all the adult actors I worked with. There are also still people who ask ‘Oh, is today a school holiday?’ Or they say something like ‘You were such a snot-faced kid!’. No, no I was most certainly not a snot-faced kid.
‘I remember changing your diapers!’ No, no, I was most certainly not that small.
There are people who say these ridiculous things but I’m very happy that they still remember me from when I was a child actor.
Nowadays you can’t find elementary school kids walking around with snot dripping from their noses. ‘Ah, but I think there were some like that in Komadori!’ – why is it that I start dwelling on that thought?
When I remember all the friends who I went to Komadori with, there were the three Nakamura boys. Each of them had something individually interesting about their characters, but all you saw when you looked at them was that the younger two were wearing the older brother’s hand me downs. The youngest was the same age as me and I have a vision of his rolled up sweatshirt sleeve having snot on it…
Although I was definitely not a snot faced brat, I was definitely ‘as normal a kid as you’d find anywhere’.
When I became an adult and sometimes worked with child actors, they are without exception always dressed up in an adorable way. There is no child who looks like their hair has been cut by the local barber or by their mother. They’d always be in a colourful designer outfit and despite being kids, a lot of them had some kind of aura about them.
I can’t really compare because time has moved on since I was a kid but I haven’t met anyone who was like that younger brother, coming in with a bed head and snot hanging out.
Incidentally, the monthly fee for Komadori was shockingly cheap. Compared to the amount asked for after the first audition that I took at the mainstream theatre troupe it was laughable. This was something I learned later but apart from the joining and handling fees charged by that company, they also charged a fee for shooting profile photos of 40,000yen a year.
When you attend an audition you have to bring a photograph of yourself and it’s true that if you pay a lot of money then you can have a beautiful photo by a photographer that makes you look great but the Komadori profile photos were taken by Nishimura-sensei on a normal camera: ok, cheese! The background was full of bookshelves, dolls and other things with no particular reason for being there.
When going to a big audition where you would meet kids from other theatre groups, our photos were so uncool in comparison to the other children’s photographs that there were times when we’d try to hide the photos with our hands, lest the red eyes and uncombed hair be seen.
By the way, the youngest Nakamura brother was someone who has left a lasting impression on me. He was an actor who put everything into what he was doing. He had a very cute lisp when he spoke and wherever he was he was always popular. He was a complete one-off, there was no one else quite like him. I used to think that maybe he was someone that one would call a genius. Even though he was someone who could have made it with ease, he quit acting without a care in the world when we entered middle school, with the excuse ‘I’m busy with my afterschool club’. And so people graduated, one after the other.
Not everyone entered the theatre troupe because they were enamoured with the glamorous world of the entertainment industry. To lose one’s shyness, as a respite from an unpleasant academic enviroment, there were many reasons for kids joining the group. I think now that there was not one single child there who had conciously thought ‘I will walk the path of an entertainer’.
Children have countless decisions in front of them and countless things which capture their imagination, and they can all be caught in your hand at the same time. Each of these things are real, all of them are equally attainable. In this unique world they continue on, easily doing one thing only to be entranced by something else and naturally letting the first wonder go.
We wanted to do everything. We didn’t work when we were busy with our studies. We didn’t want to skip afterschool club activities. Playing with friends, going on holiday with our families, going to school every day. Without giving something up, doing work on top of all that was something that was a luxury but with Komadori we were somehow able to do it all.
But because of that, sometimes we weren’t able to see the boundary between work and play, and there were times when we pulled too many pranks. But to the very last we were able to express ourselves as we truly were and it was wonderful.
If the Komadori Child Theatre Troupe was still around today, I think that it would still be full of kids who were just like us back then. It’s pretty mysterious but it was a place where strange people, those unlike anyone else, gathered together.
Sunday, 7 March 2010
Maaya's Prescription for Those in Need
Taking a break from Maaya's essays for a while just to ease myself back into the blog after a period away.
Maaya Sakamoto’s Counselling – prescriptions for readers who are feeling troubled.
TV Bros. Interview February 20th 2010
For people who find it hard to get up in the morning: Magic Number
This song is a prescription for me too, it really switches me on. If you listen to it before going to work you’ll be able to hype yourself up: ‘here I go!’
For people who want to get rid of the fatigue everyday life can cause: everywhere
This is a song I composed while travelling alone around Europe last year. The theme I had when I was writing was ‘a feeling of complete well-being’. Travelling offers a complete change of mood and recharges one’s batteries so I really felt able to take up the challenge of writing a composition for the first time. I think that finding a new challenge is important when you find you are sick of life in general.
For people who just want to feel happy: Platina
I sang this when I was 17 years old and I think it has a really fresh feel to it. The proactive lyrics and the line ‘there are limitless possibilities’ really leave a strong impression on me. This is my recommendation for anyone who wants to feel upbeat.
For people who are searching for themselves: Kazamidori
This song was the centre of my album ‘Kazeyomi’. It brought together every experience I’ve had in my life up until now. It’s very important to me, to the point where I think everything I’ve ever encountered has all been in order for me to sing this song…but instead of offering some sort of conclusion, it’s a message which says that I’m still travelling on a road that’s continuing on and on.
For people who can’t seem to get over their heartache: Remedy
I wrote these lyrics while thinking of the words ‘natural remedy’. The pain to our hearts that the end of love brings, isn’t it precisely because we can’t see the wound that we find it so difficult to bear? But I think that just like a graze will eventually heal and disappear; our bodies will also naturally heal those invisible wounds for us.
For people who can’t stand themselves: Kaze ga fuku hi
Another song that I sang when I was 17 years old. Even now I sing it quite a lot and there is this phrase within the lyrics: ‘how can I learn to love myself?’ I think this fits however old you are. This will be an always be a central idea to me.
For people who want to open the door to love: Koucha
No matter if you are dumped or if you are the dumper, it is sad when love has to end. But time won’t wait for you and we have to continue on whether we like it or not, through the countless events which unfold each day. That’s what this song is about. I think that by giving everything you’ve got and moving forward you will be able to find a new love.
Maaya Sakamoto’s Counselling – prescriptions for readers who are feeling troubled.
TV Bros. Interview February 20th 2010
For people who find it hard to get up in the morning: Magic Number
This song is a prescription for me too, it really switches me on. If you listen to it before going to work you’ll be able to hype yourself up: ‘here I go!’
For people who want to get rid of the fatigue everyday life can cause: everywhere
This is a song I composed while travelling alone around Europe last year. The theme I had when I was writing was ‘a feeling of complete well-being’. Travelling offers a complete change of mood and recharges one’s batteries so I really felt able to take up the challenge of writing a composition for the first time. I think that finding a new challenge is important when you find you are sick of life in general.
For people who just want to feel happy: Platina
I sang this when I was 17 years old and I think it has a really fresh feel to it. The proactive lyrics and the line ‘there are limitless possibilities’ really leave a strong impression on me. This is my recommendation for anyone who wants to feel upbeat.
For people who are searching for themselves: Kazamidori
This song was the centre of my album ‘Kazeyomi’. It brought together every experience I’ve had in my life up until now. It’s very important to me, to the point where I think everything I’ve ever encountered has all been in order for me to sing this song…but instead of offering some sort of conclusion, it’s a message which says that I’m still travelling on a road that’s continuing on and on.
For people who can’t seem to get over their heartache: Remedy
I wrote these lyrics while thinking of the words ‘natural remedy’. The pain to our hearts that the end of love brings, isn’t it precisely because we can’t see the wound that we find it so difficult to bear? But I think that just like a graze will eventually heal and disappear; our bodies will also naturally heal those invisible wounds for us.
For people who can’t stand themselves: Kaze ga fuku hi
Another song that I sang when I was 17 years old. Even now I sing it quite a lot and there is this phrase within the lyrics: ‘how can I learn to love myself?’ I think this fits however old you are. This will be an always be a central idea to me.
For people who want to open the door to love: Koucha
No matter if you are dumped or if you are the dumper, it is sad when love has to end. But time won’t wait for you and we have to continue on whether we like it or not, through the countless events which unfold each day. That’s what this song is about. I think that by giving everything you’ve got and moving forward you will be able to find a new love.
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
MIA
Sorry for the lack of updates, I started a new job this month (move to a new town included) and it's been a little hectic to say the least. Maayas.net has a lot of news for now and I'll do my best to get something up asap.
Sunday, 17 January 2010
15th Anniversary Best Album 'everywhere' 31/1
Exciiiittting!!!...apart from the fact I have all the songs on CD already -_-;;;; but I am sure I'll end up getting it anyway.
Released on the same day as her birthday live. A two CD best of including 30 songs chosen by Maaya from her 18 singles and 10 albums. Released in a CD+DVD edition and a CD only edition. The DVD edition will be first press only.
The CD will include new remixed arrangements of her older songs as well as her newest single 'Magic Number'. The title song 'everywhere' will be the first song which Maaya has written both the music and lyrics for.
It will be released on Super High Material CD which means it will be super high quality (yes, you can play it on normal CD players) which is closer to the quality of a master track. So a lot of the older songs will be in higher quality.
The DVD will have the promotion videos to 'Magic Number' and 'everywhere' on it.
Released on the same day as her birthday live. A two CD best of including 30 songs chosen by Maaya from her 18 singles and 10 albums. Released in a CD+DVD edition and a CD only edition. The DVD edition will be first press only.
The CD will include new remixed arrangements of her older songs as well as her newest single 'Magic Number'. The title song 'everywhere' will be the first song which Maaya has written both the music and lyrics for.
It will be released on Super High Material CD which means it will be super high quality (yes, you can play it on normal CD players) which is closer to the quality of a master track. So a lot of the older songs will be in higher quality.
The DVD will have the promotion videos to 'Magic Number' and 'everywhere' on it.
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
While we're on the subject...
...as this is a translation blog, I found this article by Matt Thorn to be very enlightening:
http://matt-thorn.com/wordpress/?p=407
It addresses issues in translation of manga mainly but also about translation in general. The comments are interesting too.
As an amateur translator (and I would be the first to say it) I worry about the adequacy of my translations. There are sections that are clumsy, words which might sound unnatural and grammar which is...well, all over the place.
While I've been concentrating on getting the translation of Maaya's words and intentions 'right', I've sacrificed the English to my own impatience. When I finish a translation I press the 'submit' button on this blog as soon as possible, barely skimming the paragraphs for glaring errors.
This article has really inspired me to step up my game. It's a matter of personal pride.
http://matt-thorn.com/wordpress/?p=407
It addresses issues in translation of manga mainly but also about translation in general. The comments are interesting too.
As an amateur translator (and I would be the first to say it) I worry about the adequacy of my translations. There are sections that are clumsy, words which might sound unnatural and grammar which is...well, all over the place.
While I've been concentrating on getting the translation of Maaya's words and intentions 'right', I've sacrificed the English to my own impatience. When I finish a translation I press the 'submit' button on this blog as soon as possible, barely skimming the paragraphs for glaring errors.
This article has really inspired me to step up my game. It's a matter of personal pride.
Friday, 8 January 2010
Maaya Sakamoto 15th Anniversary Live “Gift” Interview
A quick translation for you guys while I'm busying myself with job-hunting (don't worry, I haven't forgotten the I.D essay) to wet your appetites for the Budokan live in March.
* * *
Maaya Sakamoto 15th Anniversary Live “Gift” Interview
Lawson Ticket Website Interview
A birthday live to top off a 15th Anniversary!
‘The tour in’09 changed my values in regards to concerts’
Maaya Sakamoto is satisfied with her single ‘Magic Number’, released in November 2009. 2010 will be a big turning point, with this year being the 15th anniversary of her CD debut, and a special concert at the Japanese Budokan hall has been scheduled on Maaya’s birthday, the 31st of March.
Well, first of all, let’s look back on 2009. This was a year which began with the release of your album ‘Kazeyomi’ in January, wasn’t it.
That’s right. I think that ‘Kazeyomi’, was a summary of everything that I’ve learned and felt over the past 10 years through my relationship with music. Because it was an album with this significance, I’m really glad that I got to start the 2009 with this CD.
And after that was your first hall tour.
Until that point, from a personal point of view, I’d never been able to do a concert in a positive way. I like singing but there was part of me that really didn't like going in front of people. I was holding a resolve that if I couldn’t do a concert like the one I pictured in my head then I was not going to do concerts anymore. I spoke about this in the concert MC. Because the fans took in my words straight on, I even surprised myself when my sense of values regarding concerts changed. I thought ‘Concerts are fun!’
Then there was the release of your single ‘Magic Number’ in November.
It had been a while since I’d released a happy song as a single. My own personality isn’t actually as all-out cheerful as this but it’s a song that is sort of a ‘magic spell’; when you listen to it you are suddenly filled with strength. I want people who listen to it to be revitalised.
2010 is your 15th anniversary. A concert will take place on your birthday (31/3) at the Budokan Hall, what’s going to be included?
It really is extravagant that I’ll be able to have my 30th birthday not just together with fans but at the Budokan Hall, isn’t it? (laugh) There won’t be just my singles there. Out of over 100 songs I think I want to chose songs that will make people think about the meaning behind me singing at 30.
A Quick Word ~a story that came out of the interview~
After the tour in 2009, Maaya Sakamoto went on a tour of Europe. A solo trip!
“I really wanted to visit Portugal and the Czech Republic for a bit, but the two countries were really far apart. I crossed the distance by train and in total I passed through 10 different countries. Even though I was traveling alone, I never thought ‘I’m lonely’. I’m surprised that I didn’t even think it once (laugh) Even though I didn’t actively speak to anyone, there was no day when I didn’t speak to at someone. That and, ‘I’ve got to find a place to sleep’, ‘What time is tomorrow’s train?’, there were so many things that I threw myself into, or rather, was frantic with, I wasn’t really in a situation where I could say ‘I’m lonely’.
It seems like she was mentally disciplined on her travel, doesn’t it. “The Czech Republic and Portugal were both wonderful. Even though it was the first time I’d been they felt very nostalgic to me. I got to see a lot of different things and it was a journey where I found out what I wanted to do next.”
* * *
Maaya Sakamoto 15th Anniversary Live “Gift” Interview
Lawson Ticket Website Interview
A birthday live to top off a 15th Anniversary!
‘The tour in’09 changed my values in regards to concerts’
Maaya Sakamoto is satisfied with her single ‘Magic Number’, released in November 2009. 2010 will be a big turning point, with this year being the 15th anniversary of her CD debut, and a special concert at the Japanese Budokan hall has been scheduled on Maaya’s birthday, the 31st of March.
Well, first of all, let’s look back on 2009. This was a year which began with the release of your album ‘Kazeyomi’ in January, wasn’t it.
That’s right. I think that ‘Kazeyomi’, was a summary of everything that I’ve learned and felt over the past 10 years through my relationship with music. Because it was an album with this significance, I’m really glad that I got to start the 2009 with this CD.
And after that was your first hall tour.
Until that point, from a personal point of view, I’d never been able to do a concert in a positive way. I like singing but there was part of me that really didn't like going in front of people. I was holding a resolve that if I couldn’t do a concert like the one I pictured in my head then I was not going to do concerts anymore. I spoke about this in the concert MC. Because the fans took in my words straight on, I even surprised myself when my sense of values regarding concerts changed. I thought ‘Concerts are fun!’
Then there was the release of your single ‘Magic Number’ in November.
It had been a while since I’d released a happy song as a single. My own personality isn’t actually as all-out cheerful as this but it’s a song that is sort of a ‘magic spell’; when you listen to it you are suddenly filled with strength. I want people who listen to it to be revitalised.
2010 is your 15th anniversary. A concert will take place on your birthday (31/3) at the Budokan Hall, what’s going to be included?
It really is extravagant that I’ll be able to have my 30th birthday not just together with fans but at the Budokan Hall, isn’t it? (laugh) There won’t be just my singles there. Out of over 100 songs I think I want to chose songs that will make people think about the meaning behind me singing at 30.
A Quick Word ~a story that came out of the interview~
After the tour in 2009, Maaya Sakamoto went on a tour of Europe. A solo trip!
“I really wanted to visit Portugal and the Czech Republic for a bit, but the two countries were really far apart. I crossed the distance by train and in total I passed through 10 different countries. Even though I was traveling alone, I never thought ‘I’m lonely’. I’m surprised that I didn’t even think it once (laugh) Even though I didn’t actively speak to anyone, there was no day when I didn’t speak to at someone. That and, ‘I’ve got to find a place to sleep’, ‘What time is tomorrow’s train?’, there were so many things that I threw myself into, or rather, was frantic with, I wasn’t really in a situation where I could say ‘I’m lonely’.
It seems like she was mentally disciplined on her travel, doesn’t it. “The Czech Republic and Portugal were both wonderful. Even though it was the first time I’d been they felt very nostalgic to me. I got to see a lot of different things and it was a journey where I found out what I wanted to do next.”
Exciting!
Following up with the concert report I posted up from September but...according to my friend I who I went with, the nice boy we bought the live tickets off who is in IDS...this is a very tenuous link I know but stay with me...
My comment made it on to the Christmas DVD!!!
Apparently. I have no way to hear it and my friend isn't in the fanclub either so she hasn't heard it but...it got published! Which means Maaya must have either heard it or chosen it...who knows. It's on there! I'm ecstatic but I made such an embarrassing mess of my comment that it's a little scary to think it's out there being listened to Maaya and the rest of the fanclub.
But how cool is that!! I hope that people who have managed to get tickets for the March Budokan live will be able to show their support for Maaya as international fans as well! Flying the flag for international Maaya fans :D
By the way, on the first Vitamin-M radio show of this year Maaya phoned up some fans to speak to them in person. That's pretty cool! A girl and a boy. The boy was a little quiet, I think he might have been a bit overwhelmed but the girl was really cute. Well, she sounded sweet.
Woo!! That's my news :D
EDIT: it's official, I got a message from the lovely IDS member himself. Apparently they played the message then a surprised Maaya commented going 'wow someone came from England' or something ^^VVVVV GYAAAAAHHHH exciting!! Thank you to my friend, and the guy and Maaya and everyone I met at the concert. It was AWESOME.
I hope people can go to the Budokan live!!
My comment made it on to the Christmas DVD!!!
Apparently. I have no way to hear it and my friend isn't in the fanclub either so she hasn't heard it but...it got published! Which means Maaya must have either heard it or chosen it...who knows. It's on there! I'm ecstatic but I made such an embarrassing mess of my comment that it's a little scary to think it's out there being listened to Maaya and the rest of the fanclub.
But how cool is that!! I hope that people who have managed to get tickets for the March Budokan live will be able to show their support for Maaya as international fans as well! Flying the flag for international Maaya fans :D
By the way, on the first Vitamin-M radio show of this year Maaya phoned up some fans to speak to them in person. That's pretty cool! A girl and a boy. The boy was a little quiet, I think he might have been a bit overwhelmed but the girl was really cute. Well, she sounded sweet.
Woo!! That's my news :D
EDIT: it's official, I got a message from the lovely IDS member himself. Apparently they played the message then a surprised Maaya commented going 'wow someone came from England' or something ^^VVVVV GYAAAAAHHHH exciting!! Thank you to my friend, and the guy and Maaya and everyone I met at the concert. It was AWESOME.
I hope people can go to the Budokan live!!
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
New Maaya Sakamoto Translation Site
For all the people who have despaired at the fact Maaya's official home page has so much news, views and Maaya resources but alas, no English language version, there is a new site just for you!!
http://sakamotomaaya.com/
Maaya Sakamoto's official home page is being translated completely (what a project!) by deltafour from Maaya's. It's 62% complete according to the bar at the top and anyone can see that even 62% is a LOT of work. I'm impressed and slightly jealous. Anyway, let's all support the newest addition to the translators guild of Maaya Sakamoto!!
Work on this blog should resume sometime next week hopefully!
http://sakamotomaaya.com/
Maaya Sakamoto's official home page is being translated completely (what a project!) by deltafour from Maaya's. It's 62% complete according to the bar at the top and anyone can see that even 62% is a LOT of work. I'm impressed and slightly jealous. Anyway, let's all support the newest addition to the translators guild of Maaya Sakamoto!!
Work on this blog should resume sometime next week hopefully!
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