The pride of the 1st generation shown with their actions (Kobayashi Yui interview from BUBKA January 2023)
Q How did you feel when you first heard that you would be performing at Tokyo Dome?
Kobayashi: I felt genuinely happy to be able to stand on the Tokyo Dome stage once again as Sakurazaka46.
Q Instead of feeling that it was perhaps still too early with the current system?
Kobayashi: It has only been two years since our renaming, so I did have the feeling that “Perhaps it’s too soon” as well, but with members leaving and others soon joining, I wanted to be happy about being able to perform at Tokyo Dome with the current members.
Q And then it was decided that Sugai Yuuka would graduate at Tokyo Dome. Did you know about Sugai-san’s graduation before she told the group?
Kobayashi: No, I learned about it at the same time as everyone else. But I sort of had an idea already, so I accepted it like, “I see”.
Q The Tokyo Dome concert was also the final leg of “2nd TOUR 2022 “As you know?”.
Kobayashi: More attention to detail than ever before was given to the setlist and production of the tour regional concerts in other cities, and the tour finale in Tokyo Dome was created based on the composition of the regional concerts. I heard that many people had positive impressions of our regional concerts, so I hoped that we would be able to deliver a great concert at Tokyo Dome as well.
Q I also went to watch the Hiroshima concert myself, and I thought it was a really great concert overflowing with ideas. Were you also consciously trying to attempt something new, Kobayashi-san?
Kobayashi: As we now have more Sakurazaka46 songs in our repertoire, we were able to choose songs that were suited for our tour this time, and so I feel that the setlist we performed was rather audacious. Each song was conveyed through a meaningful production, resulting in a vibrant concert as a whole. Each song comes with a collection of memories.
Q I heard that in the rehearsal right before Tokyo Dome, TAKAHIRO-sensei had some harsh words for the group.
Kobayashi: I took it that he wanted us to accept Sugai’s graduation and to be able to continue as we have done without missing a beat even after she's gone. I think each member had their own way of taking his words in.
Q While I am sure you have always been highly motivated when rehearsing, was that the same this time too, Kobayashi-san?
Kobayashi: That’s right. We were rehearsing Keyakizaka46’s songs at the time, so I think TAKAHIRO-sensei wanted to convey the meaning of the songs to the members who weren’t there at the time the songs were first released.
Q At Tokyo Dome, the first five songs were performed with the penlights turned off. Did it feel different than usual?
Kobayashi: From the dance track to performing “Jouken Hansha de Naketekuru”, we presented the world view of the concert while drawing in the audience. And I think that the performances of the next four songs were a sort of self-introduction as an answer to the title of the album and concert “As you know?”, like showing that “Sakurazaka46 is this kind of a group”.
Prior to this, fans would change their penlight colors together according to the songs, and from seeing the sea of lights, there was a feeling that we were creating the concert together with the fans. This time, as the penlights were turned off, I feel like there was some confusion among the fans on what they should be doing to liven up the show, especially during “BAN” and “Dead end”. Through trial and error across our tour performances, we learned how to perform in a way that would get the whole venue involved.
Q With the current Sakurazaka46, there is a strong impression of 2nd gen members performing at the front, but when you were in the spotlight during “Danzetsu”, Kobayashi-san, I thought “Ah, she’s really amazing after all”.
Kobayashi: Thank you very much. As “Danzetsu” is a unit song, it felt quite novel to enter the spotlight in that way, or rather, I feel like it’s such a powerful song that even the rotating spotlight doesn’t upset the balance of the song.
Q Is your current stance in the group “to support the 2nd gen members” for the most part right now, Kobayashi-san?
Kobayashi: Hmmm… The current 2nd gen members don’t need to be supported because they are already standing on their own feet. How should I put it? I don’t hold their hands, but I help them when they are troubled. I guess it’s kind of like a “watching over them” stance.
Q Ozono (Rei)-san said that she felt inspired from seeing Kobayashi-san’s performances and it made her want to work harder, so I thought that you might have done something there.
Kobayashi: I wonder (laughs). I’m only doing what I can do, so I’m glad if she felt something from seeing that.
Q Not just in “Danzetsu”, but in other songs as well, you were very striking in every moment that you appeared on the monitor. I could feel how you did not cut corners in each of those moments. I wonder if there’s something in particular that drives you to stay highly motivated?
Kobayashi: I like dancing and I like singing too, so I was merely concentrating (laughs).
Q During your performance of the 1st gen song “Time Machine de Yeah!”, you looked like you were simply having lots of fun.
Kobayashi: Indeed. The atmosphere of the songs in the setlist greatly changes after “Time Machine de Yeah!”, and in Tokyo Dome we were able to get close to where the fans were using the trolley, so the song also has the role of leading into the next part where we have fun with the fans from there on. I think that in this segment of the concert, we were able to show both Sakurazaka46’s coolness and warmth.
Q While having fun performing “Time Machine de Yeah!”, did you also feel sentimental about Sugai Yuuka-san’s graduation?
Kobayashi: I might have felt it a little in Tokyo Dome. But during the tour, it hadn’t really hit us yet that Sugai was leaving, so I feel I simply had fun performing it.
Q The performance of “Nobody’s fault” in the second half of the concert was so cool, it looked as if it was a different song than the one performed right after the group’s renaming.
Kobayashi: When I hear the intro to “Nobody’s fault”, I get all fired up. Remembering how worried I was about how I should express “Nobody’s fault” right after our renaming, I think we were able to show an improved performance compared to back then.
Q The performance of “Masatsukeisuu” at the end of the main show felt like the culmination of the present Sakurazaka46.
Kobayashi: I feel that Sakurazaka46’s identity took shape in the 1st Album “As you know?”, and “Masatsukeisuu” is perhaps most representative of that. Wearing pants and taking on a new dance genre is one of those things that feels “Sakurazaka46-like”. When Sakurazaka46 was first established, we didn’t know what the group’s direction and style of music were, so there was also a part of me that was feeling it out as we went along, but my mindset changed when we sang “Samidare yo” as our title song. I think that Sakurazaka46’s edge is that we are able to not only express “strength”, but also gentleness like in “Samidare yo”.
Q Tokyo Dome’s “Samidare yo” was wonderful as well.
Kobayashi: There is a move where we spread our arms, and since it was a song created with a wide open space in mind, this time the members expressed their own worldview of “Samidare yo” in their own ways from their scattered positions. I think that the audience was able to feel the song on a larger scale than ever before.
Q There was a loud roar when Keyakizaka46’s Overture was played in the encore of Day 1, did it reach you as well?
Kobayashi: I wasn’t wearing my in-ear monitor, so I heard the roar. It also made me happy to see the whole venue dyed in green.
Q On the first day, “10-gatsu no Pool ni Tobikonda” was performed. I believe it was Sugai-san who selected this song.
Kobayashi: “10-gatsu no Pool” was originally supposed to be released as the first title song that included 2nd generation members. I think it was a good selection as a song that has a connection to the later Sakurazaka46 and a song that we could perform without being bound by Keyakizaka46.
Q What about “Sekai ni wa Ai Shika Nai”?
Kobayashi: We performed close to the fans, but I felt that everyone showed a different expression from the time we performed it as Keyakizaka46. I felt that it was Sakurazaka46’s “Sekai ni wa Ai Shika Nai”.
Q You performed “Fukyouwaon” in the encore of Day 2. Were there any worries for the members both physically and mentally?
Kobayashi: Hmm… Each member has their own feelings when confronting “Fukyouwaon”, so there are things that I can’t describe, but it makes me happy to be able to perform together a song that Sugai included in a setlist that is special for her. I performed “Fukyouwaon” as a “memory”.
Q So you are saying that you performed it with a different feeling from when it was released or when it was performed in Tokyo Dome 3 years ago?
Kobayashi: That’s right. It’s different from the time of Keyakizaka46, and there’s nothing you can perform with the same feelings. It’s not about which is better or worse, I just thought of it as something different.
Q On the first day, Sugai-san said this in her message to you*: “Back in the days of Keyakizaka46, you worked twice as hard as anyone else as a ‘double stand-by’, so that no matter what happened, things would go smoothly”. I don’t think that you have ever talked about this before yourself. During which period did you have to be a double stand-by the most?
*T/N: During the encore of D1, Yuuka conveyed her message for each member.
Kobayashi: I think it became more common since “Garasu wo Ware!”. It’s a role where I’d be able to step in as center if anything happened, so that meant that I had to memorize the moves of positions other than my own. If you ask me whether I wanted the fans to know about it, I don’t (laughs). Because it’s something that they don’t need to know. Sugai has been watching over me, so I think that she wanted to make use of that chance to say it.
Q Did you feel a sense of loneliness back then?
Kobayashi: I was the only one doing it, so I just did what I had to do. There were probably members who didn’t know that I was doing something different, but the other members also had their hands full with the changing situation, so I never brought it up on purpose.
Q Sugai-san also had a difficult time as captain, and it seemed that you had some feelings of regret about whether you were able to support her.
Kobayashi: I am sure there were struggles that I didn’t know about and things that Sugai didn’t tell me in her position as captain. I wondered if I could’ve done more to comfort her. I was glad to see Sugai telling the fans “I had fun” during “Sono Hi Made”, when we performed it last on Day 2 of Tokyo Dome.
Q What was Sugai-san to you, Kobayashi-san?
Kobayashi: Our ages are four years apart, but Sugai is someone who doesn’t make you feel that age gap. There is a strong sense of companionship between us as fellow 1st gen members who spent their youth together.
Q With Sugai-san having devoted herself to the group as captain up until now, do you feel a sense of wanting her to walk down her own path?
Kobayashi: With the many things that I feel she has endured up to this point, I want her to pursue the things she wants to do and enjoy her life from now on.
Q Kobayashi-san, you are not keeping your individual activities on the back burner to focus more on group activities yourself, are you?
Kobayashi: It’s not like that. Ever since I came back from hiatus, I haven’t been setting goals (laughs). I like to act, but if you ask me if I want to graduate from the group and do it, then it’s not like that. Right now, I want to do the things that I should do in Sakurazaka46. Of course, if there are individual activities that I can do for the group, I will work hard on it.
Q So you are in a state of doing what comes naturally right now.
Kobayashi: That’s right. I’ll leave it to what I feel at the time when things come.
Q When you announced your hiatus, I thought that you perhaps just wanted to take a break to feel refreshed again, but I was shocked to read your comment in your photobook, where you said: “(Before the hiatus) I wasn’t even able to fake a smile”. There must have been a time when you were fighting on your own.
Kobayashi: At that time, there were so many things that I wanted to do and so many goals that I wanted to achieve, while also having my own worries about the group. That’s why it became difficult for me, so I wanted to take a break for the time being. I sometimes envy that glittering self from back then when she was working towards her goals, but I feel that my present self who doesn’t force herself isn’t so bad either.
Q So it’s important for you to live treating yourself well now.
Kobayashi: That’s right. It’s a priority for me to be stable emotionally.
Q Endo Hikari, who is on hiatus, made an appearance in Tokyo Dome. I wonder if you could understand what she was feeling.
Kobayashi: She is still on hiatus [at the time of the interview], so I don’t think that she’s in tip-top condition, so right now I hope that she can properly eat her meals, sleep well, and go out from time to time.
Q I’d like to see a “Jamaica Beer” performance in the future.
Kobayashi: I hope that we can do it.
Q Do you have any expectations for the 3rd generation members, who are joining in the future?
Kobayashi: I think that the 3rd generation are the girls who will be creating Sakurazaka46’s future. As a senior, there isn’t any one thing in particular that I want them to do. Rather, I want them to feel things themselves, to make choices themselves, and to decide for themselves. I think I’d be fine with just watching over them.
Q I think [Sakurazaka46] is a group that has been changing rapidly since Keyakizaka46’s time. That is why we can’t take our eyes off it. During such a period of change, what kind of stance do you think you will be taking?
Kobayashi: Concerts are something that Sakurazaka46 have confidence in, so I hope that we can continue to put our effort into it. On our tour this time, including Tokyo Dome, we held concerts at six places, but there are still regions that we haven’t visited yet. Then, realistically, there is also the question of whether we would be able to attract a satisfying number of audience in Hokkaido. I would like to make Sakurazaka46 even bigger so that we can do concerts in such regions as well. And beyond that, there might be an even bigger world.
Q Are you thinking of those things with yourself included as well?
Kobayashi: If it’s possible… (laughs)
Q I have mixed feelings toward the 1st generation members who have been active for over 7 years. I want you all to continue your group activities, but you all have been so devoted to the group, so I want all of you to walk your own paths as well…
Kobayashi: (Smiles). I enjoy being in the group, so right now, I want to stay here.
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