Keyakizaka46's Ozeki Rika x Hinatazaka46's Matsuda Konoka interview from BLT August 2020

Though the two of you are from separate groups, since being grouped together for the “Sakamichi Joint Audition” campaign 2 years ago, I’ve heard that you have been interacting under the name of “MatsuO Party.” I think it would be great if you could become even closer through this magazine. Basically, I will have the two of you talk candidly, but it might become like an extension of “KochiHoshi” which Ozeki-san serves as the host for so I feel a little bit sorry (laughs). 

Ozeki: It’s completely fine! Konoka~, how are you?

Matsuda: Long time no see, I’m well~.

Ozeki: It’s been a while hasn’t it.

Matsuda: Recently, on my birthday (27th of April) Ozeki-san sent me a message of congratulation, thank you very much!

Ozeki: That’s right. It was when we were still in the middle of the self-imposed lockdown, when we weren't able to meet, right.

Matsuda: Yes. When the lockdown was lifted and we were allowed to go out, I was invited to go out for food again [by Ozeki]. I was very happy.

Ozeki: No no, I think that I’m more grateful. By the way, what have you been doing lately?

Matsuda: I decided to put lots of effort into the message app (sent by the Keyakizaka46 and Hinatazaka46 members), and I tried video editing for the first time! For example, the other day I tried making candied fruit.

Ozeki: Eh, hang on a second! I made it too.

Matsuda: Eh, really!?

Ozeki: Yeah, I tried making it (laughs).

Matsuda: Wow (laughs). I took a video of me making the candied fruits, I edited it myself, and I sent it through messages and such.

Ozeki: I also did the exact same thing.

Matsuda: How did it go? Did you succeed?

Ozeki: I remotely took a video together with Watanabe Risa. I planned on sending it through the message app. But when I tried to make it, the candy wouldn’t harden properly.

Matsuda: Same! That’s exactly the same. The candy really doesn’t harden~.

Ozeki: That’s right. It said that it would harden after 1-2 hours on the recipe, but even after letting it cool for a day it was still like syrup, it didn’t harden. I wasn’t able to make it well.

Matsuda: I completely understand~. I also failed to make it the first time. Then, I thought I would try to challenge it one more time but I failed again. “I’m never gonna make this again!” (laughs).

Ozeki: I don’t think that there will be a next time for me either.

Matsuda: It was really difficult somehow. Also when you ate it it would stick to your teeth, it was bad.

Ozeki: It was difficult to even eat it (laughs).

Matsuda: Ozeki-san, what have you been doing recently?
Ozeki: I’m normally not the type to stay indoors so I can’t really stand being stuck inside my house. But because we had to stay at home, I’ve been doing muscle training.

Matsuda: Amazing. Where are you training?

Ozeki: I bought a mat, and basically I was relentlessly training my stomach and stuff. Things like sleeping for a whole day, I didn’t really do that.

Matsuda: Whoa, I respect you so much. There was a period of time where my day and night were reversed. That’s why I think that Ozeki-san being able to maintain an orderly lifestyle is amazing.

Ozeki: Somehow, I think that might be the only thing I can boast about (laughs).

Matsuda: I think you should be proud!

Ozeki: When I wake up at 7 in the morning, I send the other members a message, but since everyone is sleeping, I don’t get any responses. And when I’m sleeping they reply, so the conversation never goes anywhere (laughs).

Matsuda: There’s time difference (laughs). Somehow it’s like you’re overseas. But how are you able to keep such an orderly lifestyle?

Ozeki: According to my parents, it seems that since I was young, I would be fine even if I didn’t sleep much.

Matsuda: So that’s how it was! If I’m told that I have time, I’ll go back to sleep.

Ozeki: It’s proof that you’re healthy~.

Matsuda: But after a while I thought that I should wake up early, so yesterday I slept early. Usually I don’t sleep before the date changes at midnight.

Ozeki: Really! It’s like on New Year’s Eve.

Matsuda: I always sleep late in the night at 1am or 2am so I don’t think that I’m living properly. Yesterday I decidedly slept at 11-something at night, but because I had been constantly sleeping so late before, I woke up at around 4 in the morning. Just as I thought, “Ah~ I slept so well”, it was still only 4am. Then I went back to sleep and the next time I opened my eyes it was 6am. Still definitely no good.

Ozeki: It’s that isn’t it. You’re still not used to the cycle of a morning person.

Matsuda: That’s right.

Ozeki: And you aren’t really moving a lot. You’re not dancing and such so you’re not getting tired out either.

Matsuda: That’s true. When you’re tired you can sleep straight away.

Ozeki: That’s why I think you’ll be able to sleep well tonight. Because you’re using all your brain power doing this remote work (laughs).

Matsuda: I feel like I’ll be able to sleep early tonight (laughs).

Ozeki: What else is there, how many times have we held a “MatsuO Party”? Has it only been 2 times? Around roughly 2-3 times.

Matsuda: That’s right. 2-3 times. Was it butashabu [shabu-shabu with pork] that we went to the first time? I have a feeling that we had butashabu, and the second time we had yakiniku [grilled meat].

Ozeki: Yeah, if we’re talking about “MatsuOi Party”, it’s meat (laughs).

Matsuda: Indeed, it’s all meat.

Ozeki: We’ve not really been able to go, have we. Was the last time we went for yakiniku? When was that again? Has it been a year? Maybe not quite. I have a feeling it was during winter, am I wrong?

Matsuda: Winter…… huh, was it winter?

Ozeki: It’s been about a year right?

Matsuda: Has it been a year? Eh, I can’t remember at all…… (laughs).

Ozeki: I do remember that it was for lunch.

Matsuda: Right, right, it was lunch. I remember that part too.

Ozeki: I can only remember that it was lunch.

Matsuda: But I can’t remember anything, like what clothes we were wearing and such. Was it not summer?

Ozeki: Hmmm…… I wonder if it was summer.

Matsuda: Ozeki-san, didn’t you give me some sweets that were like strawberry candy or something?

Ozeki: Ah, that’s right! I gave you the sweets that I had bought from my trip. Huh? But I have a feeling that it was a winter type of gift……. It’s no good, I don’t remember (laughs).

Matsuda: It’s something you forget quite easily isn’t it.

Ozeki: It’s because it’s quite a long time.

Matsuda: I want to have a “MatsuO Party” soon.

Ozeki: If we go again next time, what do you want to eat?

Matsuda: Next time? I wonder what would be good……

Ozeki: Most of the time, we end up getting meat.

Matsuda: That’s right. I can never make up my mind. At times like that Ozeki-san says, “Meat, how about it?”. She takes the lead and I’m really grateful for that.

Ozeki: I’m also quite indecisive, so usually I’m not able to decide on things.

Matsuda: Eh, really? Don’t you take the lead a lot?

Ozeki: Yeah. But even if I say we should get meat, there’s a big range, isn’t there? Things like shabu-shabu or yakiniku. That’s why if I pick the overall category of meat, I feel like we’ll end up somewhere in the end (laughs).

Matsuda: I see~. In the category of meat dishes, what other types of food are there?

Ozeki: I wonder what. Apart from yakiniku and shabu-shabu, right. Something similar, maybe sukiyaki? I wonder what else there is?

Sorry to butt into your conversation (laughs). How about yakitori?

Matsuda: Ah, that’s good!

Ozeki: Yakitori somehow seems very grownup.

Matsuda: It’s true that it gives off an adult feeling. It’ll become an adult “MatsuO Party”.

Aren’t the two of you already adults.

Ozeki: That’s true (laughs). Thinking about it, yakitori might be a possibility.

Matsuda: That’s right, we’re adults after all.

Ozeki: Yakitori has lots of different varieties as well. If we’re talking about something a little bit weird, there’s hatsu and such.

Matsuda: Is hatsu [animal] heart?

Ozeki: When you say heart, I feel a bit reluctant……. Maybe things such as horumon [animal entrails]?

Yakitori’s hatsu is really tasty.

Matsuda: Ehh~! After listening to all this, I feel like I’m becoming more and more inclined to go out for yakitori.

Ozeki: Then, next time let's go out for yakitori definitely. When the circumstances calm down.

Matsuda: Nice! I want to go soon~.

This conversation resolved excellently (laughs). Next I would like to move the conversation to work, I’m sure that your desire to perform live is getting stronger, and that you’re also looking forward to resuming filming for your variety shows, is there anything that you would like to do?

Ozeki: I wonder, work that I want to do……..  Of course, I want to perform live. I’ve kept wanting to dance, my body is itching to do something.

Matsuda: I’m the same, I want to perform live.

Ozeki: When was the last time Hinata-chan performed?

Matsuda: I think the last time was during Hinata’s 1st Year Anniversary Special Talk & Live. The 31st of March. It’s been only 3 months, but it feels longer than that.

Ozeki: That’s right. It was just barely in time before lockdown.

Matsuda: Before the self-imposed lockdown, that was the last activity we had as a group.

Ozeki: Is that so. I want to do a live performance.

Matsuda: For Keyakizaka-san, starting from when have you not been performing?

Ozeki: In my memory, I have a feeling that the last time everyone performed together was at “Kouhaku (Utagassen)”.

Matsuda: Eh, is that so?

Ozeki: It’s because our anniversary live is always in April (around the 6th). This year we weren’t able to do lots of different things. So since “Kouhaku”, I haven’t been dancing at all.
                                                     
Matsuda: That’s a fairly long time. It’s been almost half a year……

Ozeki: That’s right. Soon half a year will have passed, so when we’re able to do live performances, I’m worried about whether I’ll be able to move my body or not (laughs).

Matsuda: That’s true. You’ll definitely have become less able than before.

Ozeki: But it seems better just to think about how nice it would be to be able to hold a live performance this year.

Matsuda: Even if we are able to do a live performance,  for the time being it feels like it might be something where there’s no audience.

Ozeki: I wonder how it will be. It feels like that might be the case at the beginning. But I don’t know about that side of things.

Matsuda: Maybe like, having a 2 meter interval of space in between.

Ozeki: Somehow it has to be figured out, though that seems fairly difficult doesn’t it.

Matsuda: It does seem difficult. Speaking of live performances, I was watching footage of past performances while we had to stay home.

Ozeki: Your own (live footage)?

Matsuda: Yes. The staff put it onto a DVD and gave it to us, so I sometimes watch it, but the distance between the members is close. It’s the same between the audience themselves, as well as between us and the fans. I thought, “Ah, at that time, we weren’t able to really appreciate that happiness”. “It would have been better to enjoy that moment even more.”

Ozeki: Yes, I thought that when I was watching “Keyaki Republic 2017”! But at that time we couldn’t even imagine……

Matsuda: I wonder when we will be able to return to the environment of that time. Somehow I feel sad.

Ozeki: That’s right, I feel as though things that we had taken for granted up until now are now no longer commonplace. I’ve felt that way a lot lately.

Matsuda: Yes, I feel that a lot as well.

Sorry for cutting in again.  Then, if the two of you “MatsuO” were to work together, what kind of thing would you want to do?

Ozeki: I wonder what. Something that I can do together with Konoka…… ah, I think I might have something!

Matsuda: Eh, I wonder what it is!? What is it?

Ozeki: Konoka, do you often go outdoors?

Matsuda: No, I might be more of an indoor person……. But you’re most welcome to bring me out, I’ll be happy if you invite me.

Ozeki: I want to go camping.

Matsuda: Oh, that sounds great!

Ozeki: How do I say this. You seem like you have a strong sense of survival.

Matsuda: Ahaha (laughs). Really~?

Ozeki: Yeah, you seem like it. That’s why I want to do things like fishing together, or climbing a mountain and gathering edible wild plants, I want to do things that are kind of like survival tactics. Halfway seriously.

Matsuda: That seems interesting. I might be feeling a bit interested…… (laughs).

Ozeki: I end up finding that kind of thing fun. I want to try starting a fire.

Matsuda: Eh, that’s quite a primitive place to start (laughs). If it were me I think I’d end up bringing a lighter with me. But that kind of thing is nice isn’t it, camping with nothing but yourself [no belongings].

Ozeki: That’s right. I’ve wanted to challenge it. Since Keyaki’s debut, I’ve always wanted to do a location shoot in nature, and I thought it would also be good if I brought Konoka along with me (laughs). We would probably be able to social distance as well.

Matsuda: And because it’s outdoors we wouldn’t have to worry about air ventilation. It sounds good, camping. I think it’s a great plan.

Is there anything from Matsuda-san? 

Matsuda: From me? I wonder……. I wonder if there’s anything. Either way, now the inside of my head has fully gone into camping mode (laughs). But, not just going shopping together, how do I say this…… I want to try something like “The Ultimate Girls Outing”.

Something like the location shoot shopping segment that was broadcasted on “Sakamichi-TV” at the end of last year?

Matsuda: That might be close to what I mean.  Something like a segment for boosting femininity. How does café-hopping sound, Ozeki-san?

Ozeki: Cafés……. Something that doesn’t feel like an adventure? If it’s a small, nearby spot would you go?

Matsuda: That’s right, it might be better if we’re able to go a bit more carefree.

Ozeki: Somewhere nearby then. I wonder around where. Hakone might be good. We would be able to go on a daytrip.

Matsuda: Is it possible to day trip to Hakone?

Ozeki: Definitely, you can go in one day.

Matsuda: I had always thought that it was super far.

Ozeki: If you take the Romancecar [a limited express tourist train line] from Shinjuku, you’ll arrive in about an hour and a half.

Matsuda: When I hear Hakone, I have an image of long-distance relay racing. What’s famous there?

Ozeki: For me, when I went to Hakone I would always eat black eggs. The place where the hot springs come up…… it’s Oowakudani. The black eggs from there are famous. Wow, it’s good isn’t, “MatsuO Party'' girls adventure. It seems fun!

Matsuda: Somehow my dream has started to expand. As expected, a girls adventure is good as well (laughs).

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Translation: ichikabachika
QC: fuyupz
Raw @ Weibo

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