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Q: What were you like as a kid? I was a lively kid who would often play tag with my friends. I also liked doing girly things like exchanging stickers with friends, crafting my own accessories, and playing dress-up with my dolls. Q: At what age did you start dancing? I did ballet for six years during elementary school, but I only started dancing seriously after I entered a dance studio in the third year of middle school, and I also joined the dance club in high school. Q: Did you think to try other dance genres because you came to like dancing while you were learning ballet? That’s right. I felt like dancing was fun and I liked performing on a big stage in front of my family and friends. Q: What were you like in school?  In middle school I was the leader of the class representative committee, I was the type who would put everything together. But I didn’t take any role like that in high school. I already thought that I don’t suit it during middle school, but I tried my best as I got ...

Q: Yamashita-san, what kind of child were you? Yamashita: I wasn't very sociable, I didn't join in anyone's circle of friends, I was the type of child who stood on the fringes, all by myself. I think I was an unsociable child (laughs). I was afraid of people looking at me, and I hated things such as kindergarten recitals. I joined a dance club when I was in junior high school, and I think I became less afraid of being seen. Q: Did you originally want to try out dancing? Yamashita: There wasn't a particular club that I was keen on joining, so in the end, I ended up joining a dance club that I’ve been invited to. Q: Did you grow to like dancing?  Yamashita: No, not at all. Q: What? Is that so? Yamashita: I became less and less good at it as the years went by. I'm sorry! The atmosphere is getting a bit stuffy, isn't it? (laughs). The dance club was really hard. I am the type of person who can't go into everything with 100% motivation, so my energy didn't ma...

Q: What did you do most often as a child? Murayama: I used to draw a lot. Q: What kind of drawings did you often create? Murayama: I used to go to the zoo with my family, sit on a bench and paint different animals. Q: What animal did you enjoy drawing the most? Murayama: Giraffes. Coloring a giraffe is difficult, isn’t it? Hippos and elephants are mostly grey, while giraffes are yellow and have spots... I really enjoyed mixing various colours and adding different shadows to them. Q: Did you also paint when you were outside the zoo?  Murayama: Yes, I did. But if you must know, I didn't paint while at the aquarium. Q: Is that so? Murayama: Truth be told, I am not good at either watching nor eating sea creatures. I also find myself thinking that if the aquarium tank breaks and water flows out, I might die. But the other day, Yamashita Shizuki and I went to the aquarium together. Q: So you did go in the end (laughs). Murayama: Yamashita wanted to overcome her fear of sharks. I stuck to...

Q: How was your childhood? A: I was so shy of a kid that I would stand at the entrance of my kindergarten until someone came to talk to me. It was no fun at the kindergarten, so I didn't want to go. There was a time where I pretended to be asleep so that I could stay home with my beloved mom. When I was home, I bounced around dancing to my favorite group AKB48. Q: Was it the same in elementary school? A: I only talked to a few friends, so few that even my besties would tell me "You don't really have any friends, do you?". However, since I liked being alone and the fact that I have 3 other siblings, thoughts like "I want to make friends" never crossed my mind. Q: For someone who had never taken the elevator by themselves until recently, you must have been very clingy to your mother, right? A: I really love my mom and have grown up being pampered by her. When I was in kindergarten, mom gave birth to my younger brother and sister. In third grade I decided I had...

Q: So you’ve said when you’re a kid you’re bad at communicating, does it make you spend time by yourself a lot? It’s not exactly like that, if it were with my friends, I can talk a lot. But if it were with adults, I’m bad at it, as much as possible I don’t want to talk to them. Q: When you’re a kid, the adults you contact outside out of your family would be your teacher right? Like during New Year, you have to greet your relatives, right? I was bad with it. I also don’t want to talk with my mom’s friends, if I were to meet them at the supermarket I’d go and hide (laughs). Back then I was scared by the peculiar aura from the adults. Q: Did you stay like that until middle school? In middle school I managed to be in good terms with everyone. I don’t think there’s anyone that think of me as the quiet kid. Q: So in the vlog that was posted right after you entered the group, you said you became more cheerful because you encountered “Silent Majority”. When you watch the video, it ...

Q: Seems like you were growing up surrounded by nature when you lived in Oita? I was raised in the countryside (laughs). I would catch bugs, climb trees, and play at the beach. In the summer, I would get really tanned.  Q: Did you spend a lot of time playing with friends, and not by yourself? I was the type of kid who gets along with everyone. Q: Did you take a lesson for anything when you were a kid? I learned dance, flower arranging, and calligraphy. Q: You had a wide range, didn't you? My mother wanted me to be calmer, so she enrolled me in flower arranging and calligraphy lessons. I was a kid who couldn’t stay still (laughs). Q: So did you become a calmer kid? I became able to stay still, but I still wasn’t a calm kid (laughs). In a way I was a thick-headed kid, I would just move without thinking. There was a time when I got really hurt while I was running around.   Q: At what age did you start dance lessons? I started at around age three or four, but it was more like...

Q: What was your childhood like? I was a lively kid who often ran around and played in the mud from my preschool days until I was in year three of elementary school. Then after that, I got into reading, so I spent more time reading the books I borrowed from the library in the classroom than outside. I spent a lot of time alone in my first year of middle school.  Q: At what age did you join Actors School Hiroshima? I was enrolled there from when I was five years old until I graduated elementary school. I felt comfortable there because I was with people who have the same goals as me, since I couldn’t really talk about it at school. Q: Did the initiative to join come from yourself? I’ve liked singing and dancing while watching TV since I was little, so my mother enrolled me in the school. At that time, I was a fan of Momoiro Clover Z. Q: When we talk about the Sakamichi Series and Actors School Hiroshima, Nakamoto Himeka-san comes to mind. Have you heard of her before? Of course. At t...

  Q: What kind of kid were you? Up until kindergarten I was a really shy kid and wouldn’t talk to anyone besides my family. And then in kindergarten after I started liking idols, I managed to socialize with various people. Q: Please tell us the first idol you like! It’s Watanabe Mayu from AKB48, I like her so much that I impersonated her by singing and dancing in kindergarten. I remember back then that because everyone likes AKB48, we just ended up dancing together naturally. Q: Did you play piano from kindergarten up until you joined Sakurazaka46? It’s not like I stopped playing because I’m now a member. I joined Sakurazaka46 after I already stopped playing. Q: But either way you still played it for a long time, right? No no, I skipped the lesson quite a lot of times too (laughs). Q: How long did you play in a day? Since I appeared in contests up until 5th grade, that time I didn't really mind about the time and just played until I’m satisfied. Then since I looked up to ...

  Q: How did you spend your childhood? Because I love to move, I would often run around. Back then I can also jump the vault box until the 12th step. Because my body is flexible, I did rhythmic gymnast from 5 years old until 8 or 9 years old. But I also liked reading books. Q: What’s the reason you stopped doing rhythmic gymnast? Because I just feel like that it was my limit. Q: So early! Is it because there are more amazing kids around you? Yes. I also realized that I think I’m more suited with reading books. Q: You started playing violin when you’re in middle school right? Why did I start playing violin again… Oh, I remember! I have always liked reading books since I was in elementary school, and I could read up to 700 to 800 books in a year. Q: If it’s like that you’d become to not mind what the genre is right           I’ve read various books from novels, picture books, to encyclopedia. Though it’s not like I am the diligent type, but that ...

  Q: What kind of kid were you back then? I was an active kid that likes to play outside, like playing tags and hide and seek with my friends, but even so I basically was a shy kid (laughs). Q: You’ve said that you used to be a kid that doesn’t smile, is that so? It may be sounds misleading if you put it to be “a kid that doesn’t smile.” I do smile normally in front of my family and in front of someone that I’m close with, but since I’m a shy kid, my classmates used to think that I’m a quiet kid, and the image of me that doesn’t smile just follows. Q: Did you ever took any kind of lessons?  During kindergarten I have tried piano, English conversation class, basketball, Kumon, and also swimming class, which I also stopped them soon after (laughs). Q: Did you learned piano because you want to? It’s because my big brother and sister learned it, and then I asked my parent because I wanted to do it too. Back then I would always just imitating my big sister. Q: Is your big s...

  Q Ishimori-san, what kind of childhood did you have? Rika: I was always singing at home as a kid. We’d have songs that everyone had to sing in kindergarten, and even after going home I’d sing them by myself. I especially remember practicing “Jabujabu Ondo” for Girls’ Day. I have a video from back then too. Q So you were alone often? Rika: I played a lot with everyone in 1st and 2nd grade of elementary school, but starting around the 3rd year I started spending a lot of time alone. Q What was the reason for that? Rika: I don’t think there was really a reason for it. By junior high it became easier to spend time alone and that had become the norm, and the reason for that was the basketball club. Since it was an environment with only girls, I worried about the eyes around me and whether or not something I said could hurt someone’s feelings, so it became scary for me to speak up in front of a crowd of people.  Q And you eventually ended up quitting the basketball club, right? Ri...

Linking with the world of the lyrics Q Konno-san, you first worked with Sakurazaka46 on the MV of “Boku no Dilemma”, what was your first impression of the members?? Konno: To be honest, I didn’t know much about them at first… When my work with “Boku no Dilemma” was decided and I learned that it would be an all-members song, I studied a lot. Q Then, what was it like to meet them in person on the set? Konno: Once I was surrounded by them, I realized that there are different personalities among them, and I got the impression that they are a group with an established expression. Now I am entirely captivated by them. Q Was there any member who left an impression on you at the time? Konno: In regard to “Boku no Dilemma”, it was (Watanabe) Risa-san after all. Risa-san’s presence was very amazing. And since it was an all-members song, it felt pretty hectic. Q I see. Well, it’s been about a year since then, and now you were approached again to be the director of “Sakurazuki”. During the early s...