Yamasaki Ten Q&A feature from ViVi September 2022

 

Hello again, I’m Yamasaki Ten.

On the day of the photoshoot, the staff were sent into an uproar by how cute Ten-chan had become. She’s so cute! Ten-chan is slowly becoming even more beautiful, but let’s have her introduce herself again. We’ll explore this through questions sent in by our readers.

Q Who do you admire?

Ten: Each member has their own unique individuality and set of strengths, making them a good source of learning. For example, I really like how Fujiyoshi (Karin) presents herself through dancing, and I also like Habu (Mizuho)-san’s fashion sense, and she’s also very good at self-management. Matsuda Rina is active in variety and morning TV shows, leads us as Vice Captain, and she’s always funny and makes everyone laugh. She’s someone who’s always cheerful, never tires out the people around her, and has such an amazing smile too.

Q What’s your secret for becoming taller?

Ten: There is nothing that I keep in mind, but when I was in elementary school I ate a lot and slept a lot, so that might have been the biggest factor. I eat actual meals, not sweets or anything like that. And I sleep as much as I can (laughs).

Q You mean like sleeping anywhere?

Ten: That’s right (laughs). I’m the type that hits the bunk as soon as I get home. When I was in middle school too, I would go to bed as soon as I got home from club activities, without playing with anyone else. I think that sleeping and eating are fundamentally important.

Q What is your sleepwear?

Ten: T-shirt and sweatpants, or if it’s Summer it would be T-shirt and short pants. I think that I generally wear a lot of t-shirts.

Q What is your favorite lipstick color?

Ten: For photoshoots, I like brownish colors. I decide what color to use after discussing with the make-up artist, matching it with the costume or atmosphere. I think I mostly have been using pink. But I also like oranges. I like any color, and I like trying out different ones.

Q What cosmetics do you always bring with you?

Ten: Lipstick and sunscreen. I put on a mask to moisturize my throat, so I guess after applying makeup in the morning there isn’t much to fix afterwards.

Q What seasonal fashion is your favorite?

Ten: I like Autumn and Winter. I feel like there is twice as much fashion to enjoy with outerwear because there’s the outerwear itself and what you wear under it, so I’ve been collecting outerwear. The accessories are cute too, I love things that have layers to it.

Q Fashion item that you seem to always keep buying?

Ten: Denim pants. Felt like, “Wait, did I always have this many?” when I noticed how many I had (laughs). I don’t care how much I have. Recently, I took a liking to loose saggy pants. I’m wearing boyish denim today too.

Q What is the most recent picture you took?

Ten: A picture of the crepe that I ate with the staff members after finishing a location shoot in Harajuku. It’s been a while since I ate one, and it was delicious. Usually I would ask for a crepe that’s more of a meal, like one with tuna, but they didn’t sell it that day so I ordered the first sweet crepe I’ve had in a long while.

Q Favorite idol?

Ten: Keyakizaka46. The reason I joined was because I like them. I also love their songs.

Q Favorite artist?

Ten: Lately, I’ve been listening to “iri”-san. I also like Fujii Kaze-san and CreepHyp-san.

Q Which one makes you happier, “You’re cute” or “You’re pretty”?

Ten: “You’re cute” makes me happy! Cuteness is the most important! (laughs).

Q What is it that you want to do as a high school student?

Ten: I want to wear my school uniform a lot. Like going to Disney or USJ wearing my school uniform. I want to try going out wearing it.

Q What is your favorite emoji?

Ten: 🙃

Q What animal do you like?

Ten: I like snakes and reptiles. I also like tortoises and turtles. I don’t like animals that move fast, so because turtles move slowly they have this reassuring feeling about them? I also went to a reptile cafe with a member before.

Q What are you looking forward to right now?

Ten: I look forward to concerts, songs, and releasing the work that I worked hard on. I really look forward to our first album! I look forward to seeing how everyone responds to it!

Q What food do you eat as a reward for yourself?

Ten: Ice cream! I tend to choose creamy foods. I like ice cream so much I wish I could live on it alone ♡

Q What does Ten-chan think of as “stylish”!

Ten: People who have their own style. Not limited to just clothes, but also including the music they listen to, their room, their smell, their hairstyle, their make-up. Where in everything, you can see their preferences, you can tell their personality, what looks good on them… people who have something that only they can wear.

Ten-chan and Modeling Industry

It’s been a year since she started working as a model. Because of the pandemic, she couldn’t really meet the senior models who she can look to to be a reference, but Ten-chan works hard in her own way. The truth is that the staff are impressed with that stoic attitude of hers.

Q Congratulations again for your first cover feature. What did you think when you heard about it?

Ten: My manager told me when I was all exhausted from rehearsal, so my head went blank (laughs). And I’ve been feeling nervous ever since then. I always feel anxious, like, I keep thinking is this really okay? But I’m very happy about getting featured on the cover.

Q Today’s photoshoot is more mature than usual, what do you think?

Ten: It was super duper cute. I had so much fun! I like all the clothes and make-up from today.

Q You looked so mature, you didn’t seem like a 16 year old!

Ten: People often tell me that I don’t seem like I’m 16 years old. I’m often asked, “What is your real age?” (laughs).

Q What did you keep in mind during the photoshoot?

Ten: During the photoshoot I kept in mind my posing and expression, and how I could make the photos interesting.

Q What do you feel nervous about when it comes to modeling?

Ten: I pretty much always feel nervous. Or rather, I feel the most nervous when working as a model (laughs). Perhaps because I have less experience compared to my activity as an idol, and I feel very nervous about how much expression I can show in a single image.

Q Do you feel nervous about the staff too?

Ten: I’ve finally gotten used to it. I’m a shy person, and there’s a different tension from the staff on my work site as an idol. ViVi’s staff members are so gyaru! (laughs). Everyone has a good flow, it’s very fun.

Q What do you pay attention to when maintaining your body shape?

Ten: Lately, most of the time, I can’t eat at night. There are times when I feel so tired that I’d rather just sleep than eat. I’ve been living with the idea that even if I’m hungry at night, I will be eating breakfast tomorrow anyway. Even if I started to eat at night, I would end up eating too much. But If I skipped food because I already decided I will eat breakfast and just go to sleep, when I wake up and eat in the morning I won’t be eating as much. That feels somewhat nice, so I’ve been doing it.

Q Do you exercise?

Ten: Just from dancing. And I like to take a stroll, usually I would be walking around for about 3 hours.

Q What is your favorite theme from Ten-chan’s serialization, “新天地 (Shintenchi / A New World)”?

Ten: It’s hard to choose, but… I like the first one, where I’m surrounded by flowers.

Q Photoshoot that left an impression?

Ten: We took polaroid shoots for this month’s Shintenchi. It was very difficult, but it was really fun! That day I took more polaroid pictures than I ever have. It might be a lifetime’s worth of polaroids (laughs).

Q It’s been a year since you became ViVi’s exclusive model, is there anything that’s changed?

Ten: I started to feel like, “bring it on!” (laughs). I don’t know anything about the clothes, make-up, photoshoot location, and the details about the theme until the day of, so I think that it’s important to always be ready. In my work as an idol, I properly prepare the singing and dancing, so it’s the exact opposite. You also have to be fitted for costumes, allowing me time to think about my hairstyle so I can go into it feeling prepared. But for a magazine work site, you have to grasp the concept quickly. So I want to look at various themes and be able to respond to any concept. Models and idols are so different.

Q Has it sunk in yet that you’re actually a ViVi model now?

Ten: I’ve been realizing it again now that I've been getting introduced as a “ViVi model” in more and more TV shows and fashion events.

Q What do you like about ViVi?

Ten: I really like how free it feels. And how quick ViVi is in getting information about what is trending. Every time I come to the site, I always feel overwhelmed by how amazing it is. There’s a formless feeling, and I love how ViVi prioritize in making the pages looks cute.

Q What is modeling for Ten-chan?

Ten: A place where I can meet a different self. A place where I can learn many sides of myself. There are so many colors, so many forms, so many people, and so many places I can go. I get to see many things, so it’s colorful and fun!

Q What is your goal in ViVi?

Ten: I want to do a photoshoot together with the other ViVi models so bad!

Q What is something that you’d like to do with the other ViVi models?

Ten: I’d like to go on a picnic. Eating sandwiches together, playing badminton or playing with soap bubbles together. I’ll make and bring my own lunch!

Q What role would you take there?

Ten: The photographer. I want to take pictures.

Q Is there something that you’d like to ask the other ViVi models?

Ten: What do they usually have in mind, what do they value, what do they use as reference. I’m curious about the people they admire and such. I think it’s difficult to balance work with school, so I’d like to ask about that too! Also, I would like to know about what motivates them too.

Ten-chan and Idols

She mainly works as an idol. What is an “idol” for Ten-chan? It's something she's had extraordinary determination in. Ten-chan strength is, in the end, something that comes from being an idol. So cool, so reliable, you are sure to fall for her.

Q Frankly, what is something that is necessary in order to become an idol?

Ten: It’s difficult because it’s different per individual. Perhaps the readiness to make a lot of sacrifices? (laughs). You don’t have private time anymore, you can’t go out with your friends, and there are various other undesirable outcomes, so I think that one needs to have the readiness to become an idol to the point that they are willing to throw away their youth. I think it’s important to understand that. And other than that, I think it’s important to work hard. Even if you can’t dance, or you can’t sing, you can get to that point through practicing. I think it’s very important whether or not you work hard there. It’s the same towards self-improvement, your attitude toward fans, those are also parts of the job that people pay attention to. But other than that, anything goes! Even if you think that you are not cute, if someone says you are, then you are cute.

Q How do you memorize dancing?

Ten: All you need is practice. To just continue dancing until the choreography is absorbed into your body, until you can dance without any thought. But I think the most important thing is to enjoy it.

Q Member that you find to be stylish?

Ten: I really like Fujiyoshi Karin’s clothes. She understands what suits her, and she wears clothes that have her own vision, and it’s cute how it has a unique individuality to it. I always praise her whenever she shows up wearing something different.

Q Member you are close with?

Ten: In my private time, I go out with Morita Hikaru the most. We go to the aquarium together, the park, or hangout and chat at each other’s houses. We even spent Christmas and Christmas Eve together. It’s pretty much like we’re dating, huh? (laughs). We talked about going to Disneyland, USJ, and a hot spring, and how we also want to snack as we tour around. Ah, and this morning, she texted me with “Congratulations on your cover feature” ♡ Matsuda also reached out to me. Everyone is so kind ♡

Q Song that is fun to perform?

Ten: It’s hard to choose. The first unit song that I got to be a part of, “Seifuku no Ningyo.” The choreography feels fresh, it feels sexy and mature. I always wanted to do something like that, so I had already gotten excited just from the dance lesson. It feels so nice to dance.

Q What motivates you to work hard?

Ten: Maybe because there are many things that I do that I find fun, it never really feels like I'm pushing myself to work hard. Of course there are times of hardship, but there aren’t many times that I’ve been able to do well just by working hard. I work hard to give it my best so that people can tell me, “You did great” rather than as a form of self-evaluation. I work hard on the things that I must do, and it makes me happy to be praised for that, and even if I fail it’s fun to find a new goal for myself, like, “I can do it better next time.”

Q What do idols and models have in common?

Ten: How they both work as hard as they can to convey something. For models, it’s about how good they can make a single magazine page become. For idols, it’s important to make good moments for the fans through expression, singing, and dancing. I think the part where they both try to show themselves as much as they can is similar. The things that they express are different, but I think that the act of expressing itself is the same.

Q What do you like about Sakurazaka46?

Ten: There is a uniqueness that only we can show, how we are a group that is good at making any song into our own.

Q What do you keep in mind as Sakurazaka46’s center?

Ten: To rely on members on the things that I can rely on them for. It’s not like I need to carry everything myself. There’s a limit to what I’m capable of doing on my own, and I make better work when cooperating with everyone, so I rely on others.

Q Do you feel nervous when standing at the center?

Ten: Yes. But I still feel nervous even when I’m not. I get nervous easily, and I’m weak when it comes to the actual performance, so I practice a lot. Thanks to that, I don’t feel nervous during the actual performance. But, before the performance I will be super nervous, like saying, “I'm gonna puke! This is impossible!” (laughs).

Q What do you do at times like that?

Ten: I talk with the other members about how nervous we are, and let out loud noises. Hitting each other’s backs and pumping ourselves up. There are many times where I faced the actual performance after motivating myself.

Q That sounds like youth!

Ten: There’s a lot of youth that I receive from the fans and during filming. I think that there’s a lot of youthful energy that one can only feel here!

Q Do you feel pressure from becoming a center and the cover feature?

Ten: I don’t want to feel pressure, so I try not to think about it more than I have to. A moderate amount of pressure becomes a motivation that I need to do my work properly, but if pressure is all I feel then it’ll be crushing. Even if I overthink it, I slowly understood that it’s not a good thing for me. It felt easier when I don’t think about how people have expectations of me.

~~~

Translation: tmi

QC: pz

Raw: kiryu