Inoue Rina solo interview in Bessatsu Kadokawa Keyakizaka46 / Sakurazaka46 1013/1209

She joined Keyakizaka46 at the age of 17, next year in January she will be approaching her 20 year old coming-of-age ceremony. As expected, she is currently 19 years old. Needless to say, to her, this last year of her teens has been a big milestone. However, this is not only because of the suspension of Keyakizaka46’s activities and the renaming to Sakurazaka46. Through Keyakizaka46’s last activity, the Last Live, it seems that she had faced herself more than ever before and realised many things. Also looking towards the future, she made a certain “promise” to herself.

In order to know what that “promise” is, we must look back at the Last Live which was held several days before this interview. 

On the day of the Last Live, it felt strange. I couldn’t believe that it was genuinely going to be our last performance as Keyakizaka. There were positive feelings of moving forward in a new direction but as the day actually came, there were also feelings of sadness. However, when the live performance finished I felt like I had poured my everything into it, so I was glad to have been able to do that performance. Until recently, I thought it was a bad thing to release too much personal emotions into a performance. Maybe you’d forget the choreography, or somehow cause some kind of trouble to someone.

But this time, without caring about those kinds of things, I was really able to let out my emotions. For example, I was able to join the performance of “Otona wa Shinjitekurenai [Adults Don’t Believe Me]” (performed on the first day) for the very first time, and it was a song that I had always wanted to try. But right now I’m 19, and soon I’ll be 20, so I’m already at the age where it wouldn’t be weird if I was called an adult right (laughs). But when I think about the lyrics, somehow I started to feel like a child holding a lot of anger inside. When I was performing it, all that anger was released, and my emotions filled up immensely.

What song lyrics echoed strongly in your heart like never before, despite having heard it many times?

The song that especially struck me would be “Silent Majority” (performed at the beginning of the first day and at the end of the second day). I was moved by the lyrics, “Bokura wa nan no tame ni umareta no ka? [What is the point of us being born?]”.  “Why did I join Keyaki”, “Why are we doing these activities for people to see”, “Why am I choosing to go down the road ahead”; I felt like I asked myself these questions once again.

I wonder if you were able to find the “answers” to those “questions”.

I’m here because I’m doing something that I want to do, and because of everyone supporting us, I’m able to do my activities; I thought that maybe the reason I had come here was so that I could be “as myself”. 

In order to investigate why she was able to “release” herself at this point in time, let us dive further into each day of the 2-day Last Live.

Compared to the second day, I was much more nervous than sad on the first day, and when the performance was over, my sense of achievement was also much stronger. Near the end of the concert there were lots of songs with intense choreography, I felt like I was able to release my emotions more than ever, and show myself more than ever. I was able to participate in many songs for the first time such as “Otona wa Shinjitekurenai”, so I felt glad I was able to perform them at the end. It was the first performance of “Silent Majority” since Omitatekai (in December 2018), and on top of that it was the first time we performed with our seniors. So I was really happy.

“Getsuyoubi no Asa, Skirt wo Kirareta [On Monday Morning, My Skirt was Cut]” also left a particularly strong impression.

Up until now, “Getsuyoubi” has always been performed with intense emotions, but during this performance somehow feelings of sadness and emptiness arose. As part of the choreography, Sugai (Yuuka)-san and I let (the center, Watanabe) Risa-san fall to the floor and watch as bystanders; up until now we had looked at the fallen person with a cold stare but somehow, it naturally changed to a feeling of, “Sorry for abandoning you…”

I’m not quite sure myself why it became like that but I feel like as I spent more time in Keyaki, the width of my emotions also expanded greatly. As I’m slowly becoming an adult, my state of mind might also be changing. 

The song “Kaleidoscope” from Best Album “Eien yori Nagai Isshun ~Ano Koro, Tashika ni Sonzai Shita Watashitachi~ ( [A Moment Longer than Eternity ~We Who Certainly Existed At That Time~]” was also performed by an unofficial unit. 

When the unit was created, at first I didn’t know what kind of song it would be, only who the members were. At that time, with the members being Uemura (Rina)-san and Harada (Aoi)-san who both have a cutesy image, as well as Takemoto (Yui), Fujiyoshi (Karin), Morita (Hikaru) and I from the second generation, I thought, “Exactly what kind of unit is this going to be?” (laughs). Then when we heard the song, it was a super cute kind of song, and the four of us from the second generation members said, “Why us?! It’s so random~”. But I was also told, “It suits you, Inoue,” (laughs). I actually like idols who do a lot of burikko, I listen to very idol-sounding songs, so I had always wanted to try those kinds of songs too. But when it really came down to it, I wondered if it would really be okay (laughs).

I was most interested in how the fans would think of me doing this very idol-like, cutesy song. Because even during rehearsals, it was to the point where TAKAHIRO-sensei and the dancer instructors kept telling me, “Do it more idol-like!”, “With a more cutesy and sparkly feeling!” (laughs). But during the actual performance, I think I performed it better than I’ve ever done before. I was able to naturally enjoy the performance with the members. However when I looked back on the footage from the concert, I somehow felt like I looked super out of place (laughs). 

It seems that the sense of release you experienced on the first day was felt even more strongly during the second day. 

It felt like I really threw everything into the second day. It would have been good if I was able to do that before as well but as expected, there’s a sort of power that humans are able to show during their final moments or something similar along those lines. During the performance on that day, my emotions were already at a high but during the finale, from around “Garasu wo Ware! [Break the Glass!]”, those feelings exploded like crazy. “Garasu wo Ware!” had been a song where I was able to break out of my shell and put myself out there more and more, but somehow, I was still doing the designated choreography, yet I was able to feel so free to the point where I wondered if I was even dancing properly. 

Why were you able to reach that state of being?

I wonder why too. I think part of it was the thought of, “This is the end”. Also, we talked about it before, but when singing the lyrics to each of these songs, it really resonates in my heart. I connected deeply with all of the songs, but particularly when it comes to “Garasu wo Ware!”,  the phrases “Keep on living!”, or “Make some noise!” or “Scream!” that are like shouts of encouragement, somehow resonated immensely within me. You’re able to hear the members saying “Keep on living!” with lots of force during performance. Part of it is like saying it to yourself and making yourself listen, while part of it also feels like having the members say that to me, there was a rush of emotions.

There were some members who cried during the concert, perhaps due to heightened flow of emotions….

I held it in (laughs). During “Seifuku to Taiyou [School Uniform and the Sun]”, memory-filled pictures of our past activities up until then were shown on the monitor, I heard someone crying while watching that, and I felt myself tearing up because of them; also during “Garasu wo Ware!” and “Silent Majority”, my tears were already on the verge of falling.

But rather than just feeling the lyrics resonate within me, or feeling as though those words were being said to me, or stopping at just my own emotions, I was strongly aware of having to “convey” to the people in front of us - the people who were watching our performance. Because we are often told something along the lines of, “Let’s try to convey it to the people in front of us” by TAKAHIRO-sensei. However, at the end of the main part of the concert, all the members bowed with gratitude to our fans who had supported Keyaki up until then. At that time, I saw a few stain drops on the floor and I realised, “Ah, I’m crying…”

After the two days of the Last Live were over, what kind of thoughts came and went?

I thought that every single thing that Keyaki had given me was treasure, and that I was really glad that I was able to create something shining in my life. Also, to the fans who supported Keyakizaka no matter the circumstances, I felt nothing but gratitude. The staff told us that we received messages from not only those living in Japan but from those everywhere around the world. I’ve been troubled with things such as, are we okay to be ending our activities like this, or what am I even doing, but after the concert ended I really felt that everything I had done up until then was not for nothing.

Behind the success of the concert and the sense of achievement, there are many thoughts and hardships during rehearsals that are hidden.

In previous concerts, there was a lot of waiting time, rather than participating in all the songs, more often we would only join selected songs; but this time there were quite a few new choreographies to learn so we were desperate in remembering [the dances] during rehearsals. 

For some reason, it reminds me of the 3rd Year Anniversary Live Concert (held in April 2019). At that time I thought it was really full-on as well. I had the confidence that this time I would definitely be able to perform it with more ease than before but that wasn’t the case at all (laughs). In the end it turned into, “Yikes! I can’t perform like this! I can’t stand on stage!”

But the other second generation members told me things like, “It’ll be fine. There’s still time, you can do it”, and members like Matsuda Rina who had previously participated in songs that I would be performing in for the first time taught me part of the dance and such, it really helped me out. Even after rehearsals, Fujiyoshi and Tamura Hono asked me things like “At this part, am I doing the dance correctly?”

When I think about why I was so panicked even though there was still a lot of time before the concert, I think it was because it was the final live performance, I didn’t want to conclude it half-heartedly; the pressure that “It has to be the greatest performance ever!”, I think I was desperate. 

Nevertheless, if we compare the current you to the you a year and a half ago during the Anniversary Live, I’m sure there are parts that have grown.

I’m still not good at performing at all, but, maybe not to the extent of conveying something to the audience, but I feel like my breadth of emotions has expanded. I started to understand an unexpected side of myself, like even if I didn’t cry about one thing, but I cried about the other…. How do I say this, for example, when I heard that Keyaki was going to have a name change, I thought, “Oh, I’m actually this sad.” I wasn’t aware of the extent of my own feelings towards Keyaki. But from then on, I was able to understand how much much I loved Keyaki, and how much I had been supported by Keyaki up until then. To me that was a pretty big change within my heart.

What kind of existence is Keyakizaka46 to you?

An existence that has changed my life. Before joining the group, I listened to their songs, watched their music videos, and the way the seniors were performing looked really shining to me. I was a passive kid during school days, this might be a bad way to say it but there was probably a part of me that thought, “Let’s take the easy path in life.” I was only around the people I was close to, never pushed myself too far in anything; I think I was that kind of person who only wanted to stay within their boundaries, looking back on it now. But after joining Keyaki, I met all kinds of people, they changed my way of thinking, I really think if I wasn’t here right now, I would have continued to live as a boring human. 

Beginning with Keyakizaka46’s debut song “Silent Majority”, and in many other songs such as “Fukyouwaon [Discord]” “Kuroi Hitsuji [Black Sheep]”, there’s a message of, “Live freely as yourself without being swayed by those around you”.

Since long before, I had always thought, “I want the real me to be seen”, “I want to break out of my shell”. But I was unable to take that first step forward. That’s why I was really influenced by Keyaki’s songs. That’s why as we spoke about before, even while singing during the Last Live, I was still touched (laughs).

It has been two years since the second generation joined Keyakizaka46. What is something about the group that you have only been able to see after becoming a member? 

Of course I [finally] saw the Keyakizaka I had admired so much before, on the other hand, I wondered if this was really what Keyaki is, as I began to see some parts that were a little different from what I’d thought before I joined, it’s as if I’m always in between ideals and reality. There are some parts where I swing between “Is this Keyaki?” or “Is that Keyaki?”. 

But no matter if I’m talking with my seniors, or if I’m talking with members from the same generation, the feelings towards the songs and the feelings towards the group are earnest. The songs, the goodness of the group; the want to convey these things is undoubtedly truthful, that’s why I think even if I had wavering feelings, I was always able to keep loving [the group].

That Keyakizaka46 will undergo a change of name. The new name Sakurazaka46 has been decided. 

It’s a wonderful, beautiful name, and the meaning “Sakura is the representative flower of Japan, so let Sakurazaka also walk along that path,” is included within it so I think we were able to receive a really good name. Our group colour is white, it's a color that hasn't been dyed, so we want it to be dyed [many colours] by many people, of course it also carries the meaning of each of us dyeing the group with new colours, it’s a really suitable colour for a fresh start, I think we’ve received a very fitting name. It’s a chance to change the group, and also the chance to change our own hearts, it’s really like “A challenge to ourselves”... yeah, it feels like that. 

It isn’t just about seizing the opportunity from the name change, but also about setting your mind on what type of group you want to want it to become, and what type of person you want to become.

Of course, the first thing is that it would be good if all the members were headed towards the same direction. Because I think if we set a singular large goal for the group, even if everyone individually has their own goals, everybody is able to continue to walk in the same direction and the members will be able to become one. For me personally, hmm….. This time, the title song from Sakurazaka’s 1st Single “Nobody’s fault” was performed after the main part of the concert, but I wasn’t a part of the members who sang the title song.

I was quite disappointed because of that. I haven’t really been able to move on. (Even though I participated in the coupling songs) the title song is very important, it’s also the 1st single, so don’t you think it makes it even more important. From now on I want to be committed (to becoming a performing member of the title song) but I wonder… hmm, I think it would be good if I was able to create my own path myself. In order to do that, first I must become a stronger person. Because I think there will be many situations I have to endure from now on. 

The 1st Single has a system of the title song and 6 coupling songs where each have 14 members, and a new system where the members are swapped around has been introduced. In addition to this, each of the songs are centered by members of the second generation, the same generation as Inoue.

I haven’t really talked about that sort of thing with the other members. I bore the sadness of not making it into the title song by myself. As the other members of the second generation continue to move forward, and continue to carve their own paths, I ended up thinking things like, “What I have I been doing these past two years”, or “I feel bad for the fans who support me”, or “Do the things I’ve done up until now have any meaning”, these things have always been in the corner of my heart. But during the Last Live - as we talked about before, when the lyrics from Keyaki’s songs echoed within me, I thought that if I had moped about it and given up, that really would have been the end of me, I thought I had no choice but to change myself. 

I wonder what exactly is necessary in order to have a strong heart.

I think it’s to have something unwavering no matter what happens. When you have an unwavering goal or something with a strong core, even when it’s tough, even when it’s not fun that it’s uncertain, you can always return to that something, and you’d be able to work with a strong will. 

Just now, when asking yourself whether you have an unwavering heart, you answered clearly with a smile. 

Yes! After the Last Live ended, there was an After Live Special Broadcast for the people who had bought fan-club limited tickets, and there I made a declaration, “I will become stronger!” That’s a promise I’ve made with the fans, and it’s also a promise I’ve made with myself, that’s something I want to carry with me as my core. 

What she thinks regarding “strength”—. The things Keyakizaka46 has sung about, the things they have conveyed; they continue to live strongly within her. 

At the Last Live during “Kataru nara Mirai wo… [If you talk, talk about the future…]” (during the first day) I stood in Habu-san’s [original] position (as Habu Mizuho filled in the center position that Hirate Yurina had held until then); in the intro at the beginning, there are five members who dance, and I stood in the middle of them. However I thought, “Somebody else, not me, is definitely better for this. There are people who are more skilled than me, I’m no good,” and I asked the dance teacher, “My dancing is weird isn’t it? It’s strange isn’t it?” many many times. Then I was told, “Not at all. You practiced it properly after all. It’s just that you don’t have confidence right? When you have no confidence, even if you’re doing it properly it will be seen that way”. I thought that was true. 

When I look back on my past activities, I’ve slowly become able to dance, and in interviews I have answered, “I’m able to work on it in a more positive way than before”. But in the end, my roots are a person with no confidence, and I realised that nothing has changed about me not having confidence. I think that part of myself isn’t good, so without pushing myself down too much, or rather than thinking, “I can’t do it,” I want to be a strong person who is able to think, “I can do it! I’ll give it a go!”.

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Translation: shin

QC: Nira

Raw: kiryu