(English translation) SODA September 2020 Issue - Inoue Mizuki

[kimiwomatteru]

Good morning!!! Ive just finished to translate this interview! somehow i really enjoy translating soda, they always delivee super interesting interviews, after reading this one i thought you guys had to read it too!!

please have fun! lets be hi leveled girls together!!!

ORIGINAL SCANS: CLICK HERE
TRANSLATOR : rosie twt@igarism
CORRECTOR: ryochigosuke


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Inoue Mizuki, a member of HiHi JETS, is one of the big names of the next Johnny’s generation, he recently appeared in the movie "Yowamushi Pedal" starring (King and Prince’s) Nagase Ren. He is playing the role of Sugimoto, one of the main’s character Onoda Sakamichi’s classmate, who are both part of the cycling club.

“As I expected, I struggled a lot at cycling. I was riding on a real road bike so I had to be careful not to keep injuring myself. Also, because I was on a tour when they began filming the movie, I wasn’t able to participate in the training, I got super frustrated because I couldn’t ride the bike at all (lol). I’m really bad at unstable vehicles like this so it took me a week longer than the others who could ride the bike in only one day. As I was going through the concerts, I decided to rent a bicycle and rode all around the Imperial Theater (where I was doing the shows), this is only when I discovered how fun and charming riding a bike was. Since there is only one correct way to play a character, I tried hard to find that exact way. Miki (Koichiro)-san told me to figure it out myself; so I tried to understand what kind of person Sugimoto was. Those searches were the starting point of how I was going to play as him.”

When you tell him “you have a complete view of the work” he answers “Nuh, that’s just the way I like to work. It’s nothing amazing, it’s just kind of natural to me? (laughs)” He humbly denied our statement and finished his sentence by “I was always nervous when I was filming.”

"I’ve always been the type of person who is shy and gets nervous anywhere I go. I really get nervous when I shoot stuff for the first time.  So for this work too, there were lots of people and most of them were more skilled than me so I was just there, being nervous as usual (laughs). I have no coping mechanism to relieve stress so I’m always nervous. I guess it’s easy to notice it because lots of people ask me if I’m stressed. The only way for me to relieve stress is walking around when I get nervous. I swear it’s terrible every time, It's embarrassing every time because I'm wandering around (laughs). "

As mentioned in his own radio show, Nagase also got nervous during the filming however the two didn’t really get to talk at that time.

"We never really appeared in the same scene but Ren-kun is always the same. What I thought was amazing was that the way he could switch back in forth between Sakamichi* and Nagase Ren between the scenes and cuts, like when he needs to act he is totally Sakamichi. However, once the filming was over he went back to his usual Ren-kun self which totally helped me ease my mind because it was relieving to have someone I know around me. I think he is very good at switching between roles and his usual self. Most of Johnny's people have the image of switching quickly, but as for me… I really suck at this."

Inoue who honestly talks about how nervous he is and how his “switching” skills might not be as good as he wishes but he is developing some curiosity for acting.

"Acting is difficult, but some people told me to look at someone’s acting because they were good so that I could be influenced by their skills. I really want to become that kind of person. I really thought that after watching Ninomiya-kun is the movie Black Forceps 1988 which was released a long time ago. I was very impressed by the way the cadence and the timing were perfectly performed and I thought that this acting skill was something that just not anybody could do.Ninomiya-kun has that kind of power that really changes the atmosphere of a place which totally surprised me. By reading the interview, I realised how deep acting actually is and I felt how amazing what I’m doing actually is.”

HiHi JETS is a place in which he can be himself

When we talk about Inoue, we think of his appearition in his senior’s tv show named “Sakurai・Ariyoshi THE Yakai” by the end of May. During that show, he showed various of his special skills such as his ability to eat scorpions and retracting his stomach as well as roller skating skills which is his group’s weapon. His name became a word trend on social media during that day.

"Looks like not only the other members of the group but plenty of people saw the show, I was super happy to get feedback from these people. I’m embarrassed to watch myself so I didn’t watch it when it got broadcasted, but it felt okay to me as I really enjoyed recording it, nevertheless I was so nervous and anxious back then that I don’t really remember much of what happened (laughs). I believe it’s a rare opportunity to get so I just purely wanted to enjoy it.”

As part of the TV show’s theme, it has become a tradition that every time the juniors show their strange quirks, Kazama Shunsuke complains “idols don’t need to be able to do this kind of thing!!”

"The reason I ate scorpions is simply because after listing all my special skills, that was the one that ended up being selected (laughs). I’m not really the type of person who wants to do idol things that are in everyone’s mind. So I don’t have to act the way people expect me to and I can be myself. It’s HiHi JETS’ policy to make sure everything we do is interesting and enjoy doing the job we do. I would like to convey feelings and emotions to the fans who see my work.”

HiHi JETS is a group composed of 5 strong personalities, a classmate of Inoue’s Hashimoto Ryo, Takahashi Yuuto who is the oldest member in charge of doing the MC, Igari Soya, the versatile boy who is able to rotate at the speed of light and finally Sakuma “The Tall boy who can do anything perfectly” Ryuto.

“HiHi JETS is a place in which we can be ourselves without caring for the surroundings, it’s a group that enjoys what they do purely. We don’t want to do something because someone else did it, we just want to do it our way and everyone in the group feels the same way. We get fired up while talking about the way we could make something interesting to watch. That’s why we can’t really have discussions, I mean of course we do the work that has to be done but--like for example, we meet up to prepare setlists and programs but end up talking about these for like 5 minutes and just have casual chit-chat for the two next hours (laughs).  I don’t wanna have to overdo it, I just want to be myself and HiHi is a place in which I can be myself with the other members.”

To speak frankly, it seems like it’s just the way they are. It’s not making up something or flattering them to acknowledge how amazing they are.

"Everyone in HiHi doesn’t like to pretend so this is why I can just have fun while being myself with them. I think that I’m really fortunate to have met these members, because this wouldn’t happen twice. I wonder if I finally could be myself when we finally became 5. At the beginning, the constant rotation between the members was kinda exciting but once everything settled down to 5, I started to ease myself and stopped overthinking, it really felt safer because we were like “hey, we can finally move forward together because we will always stay this way”. This is why I think that if I wasn’t with these guys, I’d quit. (laughs) Everyone in HiHi says that though, that’s it’s no way we would continue if we weren’t together. Since everyone in HiHi Jets is working super hard, I’d like to live up to their expectations and work hard for them too.”

It’s important for him to enjoy what he does entirely.

Previously, he said in a documentary how he wouldn’t know what to do if he suddenly lost this job. For Inoueー who joined the agency at the age of 9 and has a remarkable journey that is half of his life performing arts at Johnny’s; the two months of April and May were just nothingness and emptiness.

"We too had our lives canceled and during the quarantine, we were frustrated and wanted to do live and work but such behaviour wouldn’t lead us far so I think the best was to deal with it. As for me, I just played games, read manga and it passed so quickly even though I didn’t do much. (laughs) After all, what I really like is singing and dancing and I love to see the fans’ reaction when I’m standing on the stage, and when I play characters, I love thinking about how to perform them.  This is why I kept on doing these things, because I am having fun no matter what I do and how I do it. I’m glad that this hard work paid off when I read the reaction from the letters I received from the fans. Obviously, I’m pushing myself for the fans too but I put lots of efforts in enjoying what I do for myself. If I look bored when I work, then I think this would have some negative effects on people who watch me“

As he turns 20 years old soon, is there stuff he would like to do ?

“I actually… Don’t wanna turn 20 years old. I wish I could stay a teenager forever. HOWEVER I really look forward to release my sex appeal as an adult (laughs). As things I’d like to do… I’d like to perform as a member of HiHi. Because being on stage truly feels like home and also it’s something in which the five of us can become one. As an individual human being, there are still lots of things I need to learn and experience, I still need to find my own path and find what I am good at. Nevertheless, no matter what I do, I still have lots of fun so I want to give it all.”