Harada Aoi's Solo Interview (Bessatsu Kadokawa Keyakizaka 20190807)

She took a hiatus in May of 2018 to focus on her studies. After about a year, she returned during Republic of Keyaki 2019. It’s been awhile since we met the girl who shyly waved her hand.

The date was 3rd of May 2018. About a month since the 2nd Anniversary Live, Harada Aoi announced her hiatus in her own blog. And without her, the group released the 7th single, Ambivalent and the 8th single, Kuroi Hitsuji. Other than the Summer National Tour and the 3rd Kouhaku performance, there are also other changes like the 2nd gen and Hiragana Keyaki’s (now Hinatazaka46) 3rd gen members.

There are voices of concern about her, but the good news came at 5th July. On the first day of the annual Republic of Keyaki, she returned to the stage after a year and two months and was welcomed by members and 16,000 fans. 

Small happenings that occurred. Her first Ambivalent performance.

She should be feeling anxious and uneasy as she approached the performance time, but what did she actually feel? “I was worried whether I will break the flow of the performance or not,” she recalled.

“Before my hiatus, performing with everyone and finishing a concert was something usual. But in this year’s Republic of Keyaki, after the first 5 songs, in an MC session Akanen (Moriya Akane) will call me up and then I will be appearing alone so it made me feel nervous. I have never been featured alone before so I was worried if the audience will give a cold reaction, so I keep feeling sorry about it (laughs)”

“The first song I performed was the unit song, “Ballet to Shounen”. It’s been awhile since I performed, and I was able to regain the sense of “What did I do in a song?”. The atmosphere during practice and live performance is different, and I never stood in front of many people during my hiatus, it was scary. That’s why during the photoshoot for the photos of the panel placed in the venue, I could only make an excuse that I’m doing fine (bitter laugh).“

“On the first day, I can only watch from the side of the stage. I’m really happy that I can perform the opening with everyone else on the second day.”

“I started making preparations from the middle of June, but even I was surprised by how fast I could memorize the choreographies. On the day where no members were practicing, I practiced together with the dancers in preparation for the actual day. However,  Ambivalent, the song where I joined the performance on the 2nd day, was really tough. Since there is no other members during practice, I have to remember each member’s standing position for reference. I have to look at the song as a whole and whichever formation changes was difficult while following the fast tempo. There was also a little happening during the part where 2nd row switched places with 3rd row.”

“They told me that my position is between Miichan (Koike Minami) and Shiichan (Sato Shiori), so I moved while following Miichan as my position marker. And then maybe because I was too slow, I bumped into Oze-chan (Ozeki-Rika). Maybe because I was the one who got bumped into, after the live performance Oze-chan asked “Are you okay?”. But I don’t remember that. Because of that, I thought that maybe I was so desperate to overcome what’s in front of me that I didn’t notice of it.”

If it will be messy, where I should put my effort in.

Harada who mentioned that her hiatus was “spent as a very ordinary high school student”. She revealed that she worked hard preparing for the university exams while enjoying her youth with friends. 

“Before I entered Keyakizaka46, I promised my mother that I will go to university. That’s why I wanted to seriously study for it. I planned to do my activities while studying for the exam, but since the summer of 2nd year of high school, I started to think “Yikes! If I want to go to university, I must study even harder!”. A normal student have 3 years of high school to prepare for it, but I have no confidence that I can keep up with it while doing my activities.”

“And because I can't juggle my activities and I don’t want to trouble the members, I thought that I should take a hiatus and focus on studying. If I do both, it will all be messy, and I wouldn’t know where should I put my efforts in that year. That’s the reason why I took a hiatus.”

“That’s why I thought “If I passed the test, I will come back”, and in the end I was barely able to (laughs). There were pressure about whether I could really pass into a good place, and what happens if I ended up as a Ronin (= have no school to attend). But I’m not afraid of going away from the center stage. If it didn't work out, I was prepared to say “Guess it couldn't be helped this time.”

“Before my hiatus, there are program recordings and rehearsal and my summer vacation is filled with preparation for the tour, the time that I spent not for school all pretty much goes to Keyakizaka46. After my hiatus, my way of spending time have greatly changed, it’s all goes into studying.”

“During school and cram school vacation, I use the time to remember english words and solving problems in the reference book. When I passed in February, I spent the time until my return to make memories with my high school friends. My friends are kind, they take notes for me when I cannot attend class because of my Keyakizaka46 activities and when I’m tired they would reach out and ask if I’m okay. It will also be the last I can wear uniform as an active student so after school we went to a family restaurant and spent time chatting away there and for our graduation trip we went to Disneyland while wearing our uniforms.”

She has a lovable bright character in Keyakizaka46, but it seems to be the same in private.

“My university activities begin in April, but the environment was fresh with no senior-junior relationship. I made friends in my class, and like my friends in high school, they are kind. The truth is, very recently I was helped by them. On the last day of the Republic, just after the live performance, I only noticed that there is a report that I had to issue in 2 days. It’s a group assignment, and as I panicked, my friends sent me a message saying “If you need help, just let us know”. When the live performance was broadcasted live on the 2nd day, they also sent me a message “We watched it!”. I am grateful that they support me from day to day.”

The importance of physical strength that was realized during the hiatus.

Harada received comments from fans that she has become more mature after her return. However, she also realized that her physical strength has fallen during her studies for the exam.

“I sat on the desk a lot during my hiatus to study so I was keenly aware of how my physical strength has dropped. During my activities, it was normal for me to wake up at the last minute and run in a dash to reach the school. But when I realize, I was short of breath just from running up the stairs of a station.

“But maybe because I was trained in the group, before I returned, there was a time when I was praised during my university’s physical education class. In a physical fitness test, when my heart rate is measured after an exercise, it doesn’t go up. I realized just how intense our dance is and my friends teased me with “As expected from Keyaki~” (laughs).”

“During my hiatus, I concentrated on studying and didn’t exercise much. And I eat what I like to eat so I become chubby… When I dance, my body feels heavy and I quick to get tired, and my movements became dull, so I went on a diet for Republic. At home I do muscle training and dietary restrictions. However, because it’s the short term intensive type, I only just started preparing a few days before the event (bitter smile). I’m a little sad that I did not get a satisfactory result but I accept it with “Well, this is who I am” (laughs).” 

And the result of the long awaited return performance that she challenged was…

“Performance wise, the physically hard one was “Kaze ni fukaretemo”. Since the 2nd anniversary live (04/06~04/08/2018), it was hard for me to dance an intense choreography that required me to jump up and down. Moreover, after we performed “Kimi ga Inai” and then “Kataru nara mirai” and when I calmed down we continued with “Silent Majority”, and my stamina completely depleted.”

The presence of Keyakizaka46 I noticed during my examination test.

“I record the group’s activities with my HDD recorder, registering it with “Keyakizaka46”, and I watched the recorded ones. Watching the group’s music performance as a viewer made me sincerely think, “Everyone is amazing”. It was a music program that I used to watch before I enter Keyakizaka to watch my favourite artists, during my activity I watch it to confirm our performance, so it’s been awhile since I watch it as a regular viewer and it felt fresh.”

“During my break too, in everyday occasions, I noticed that there are many people who supported us. In the examination venue, the person in front of me dropped their pen, as I pick them up I thought of chatting with them but then I noticed that they have a Pe-chan (Watanabe Rika) clear file with them, so I couldn’t reach out to them (laughs). In my cram school, the person next to me has a Keyakizaka46 pouch with them, and when I sit on the furthest seat at the back I could see someone wearing Oze-chan’s oshimen towel in front of me, and quietly in my heart I goes “Ooohh~” (laughs). By distancing myself temporarily from this world,It makes me happy to think that there are people out there who are studying hard while listening to our songs. Now I have returned but I felt that the 3 years I spent before was not a waste.”

A yell of support from the Captain who suddenly came to see her.

As she watched over the group from a distance, she still interacted with the members even during hiatus.

“During my hiatus, Yuuka came to my cram school, saying that she wanted to give me a birthday present. When we met, she greeted like usual saying “How are you?~”. That was just around the time when Ambivalent was released. She told me about what happened in the group and the recent condition of the members. It was only for 10 minutes, but as we parted ways she encouraged me saying “Good luck with your exam!”.”

“The present I got from her was Yuuka-like. Maybe she was hoping for me to pass so she drew a daruma on the edge of the cover up to the last page of the notebook. I ended up unable to use it and cherished it, but as I put it on the shelf, the letter attached to it came out. After my return, I showed it to member saying “Yuuka gave me this present” and everyone is surprised and says “Where did she find it?”  (laughs).”

“And then, I actually borrowed a suit from Oze-chan for my university’s entrance ceremony. My mother told me that even if I buy a suit now, I probably won’t be wearing it again in the future. When I ask staff for advice, they said, “Why don’t you borrow one from Ozeki?”. Then I asked Oze-chan, “If I don’t buy one, can I borrow yours?” and she said “I don’t use it, so you can borrow it”. So I borrowed from her a suit, shirt, and a bag. My mother bought me the shoe, and I went to my ceremony with it. I still have it with me. I should properly wash it then return it to her soon.”

The distance with 2nd generation members that is deepened in Republic of Keyaki

The first time she met them was during the Budokan live performance in May. Members told her that she didn’t change, and on the other hand her relationship with the 2nd generation members deepened because of the Republic of Keyaki.

“It was  pretty much the first time for me to meet all the 2nd gen so during Budokan it was a very “Nice to meet you” feeling. I want to slowly able to talk with everyone in the 2nd gen, thanks to Republic I become able to talk with (Matsudaira) Riko-chan quite a lot. It happened that our hotel room is close with each other. On the day before the performance, she asked “Can I visit your room?”. So we gathered in my room, and we practiced the choreography of “Seifuku to Taiyou” that Riko-chan is not good with. She also seeks me for advice, saying “Naako-san (Nagasawa Nanako) is not paying any attention to me. She’s currently into Pe-chan and Dani-san (Oda Nana) so she doesn’t have time to play with me!” (laughs). That time I replied, “It’s not the time for that” (laughs).”

“Then, (Tamura) Hono-chan is positioned next to me in Silent Majority, she always reach out to me with a smile on her face. (Yamasaki) Ten-chan’s position is close with me in Kaze ni Fukaretemo, we encourage each other with a “Let’s do our best”.”

Because of the hiatus, feelings of the fans and the members were felt.

After returning from her life as an examinee, she says, “My feeling towards Keyakizaka46 didn’t change that much”.

“Even though I distanced myself a little, it feels weird that I can’t think of anything in particular where my feelings have changed. But, seeing it from the outside, I realize that our activity is something that we can do by the support of many staff and fans, and once again I thought “I have to do this properly.'' With that said, I think it will take more time for me to get back to the stage.”

“The truth is when I appear and waved my hands at the Republic, I was very shy about it (laughs). I paid attention to how people looked at me. I looked around from the stage to the back of the venue and I spot a lot of people in the audience who have my oshimen towel. That made me really happy. I think that sometimes people grow cold and distant if they are away for more than a year, but even then the people who rushed to welcome me, I think are the hardest to replace.

“My mother told me, “You should be grateful that you can make memories at the last year of high school”. I took a break from being an Idol, and tasted the feeling of youth. I am truly grateful to the people who made the opportunity for me to return.”

When asking her on what she wants to do next after her return, she quickly name “Futari Sezon” where she becomes a front member in.

“There’s a lot of things that I want to do, but I want to quickly perform “Futari Sezon”! During my hiatus, everytime they performed the song, Miichan would send a message saying “I want to quickly do high touch with Aoi again, be sure to come back!”. We couldn’t do that during our Futari Sezon performance in Republic for NTV, so I look forward to showing the fans the full performance of it one day.”

“I like to perform in a live, and looking at the future, I hope that I can be a member who is active in places other than Keyakizaka46. Being away from the group for a while reset my feelings and I feel that anything that I do will feel fresh and new. I’m feeling excited right now.”

Harada started her Keyakizaka46 activity when she was in the 3rd year of middle school. This spring, she enrolled in a university. She has spent her middle school and high school days in Keyakizaka46.

“To tell you the truth, I didn't expect that I will be able to continue this for such a long time. I think that it is because I am surrounded by the kind but competitive members, who earnestly work hard on everything. And so I am truly glad to have returned to this place.”

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Translation toomuchidea

QC ariadne32391

Raw @ weibo