Yamashita Shizuki interview from BUBKA June 2023 edition
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 match up to the tension of the others, and I thought it was quite difficult. I didn't really know what to do, so I quit the dance club. I thought I would never dance again, but before I noticed, I found myself dancing in Sakurazaka46 (laughs).
Q: Did you change your feelings about dancing after becoming a member of Sakurazaka46?
Yamashita: I thought I had to dance well, especially because I was a person experienced at dancing, but after all, I couldn’t do it well. I’m sorry for saying something like this!
Q: How did you come across either Sakurazaka46 or Keyakizaka46?
Yamashita: A friend of mine liked Keyakizaka46 and once, we were reading the opening message of 'Sekai ni wa Ai Shika Nai' like we would read poetry at school. I memorized it, and as I followed my friend's lead, I fell in love with Keyakizaka46. There was a time when I strayed away from Keyakizaka, but one day when I saw Tamura Hono-san's photo, I started paying attention to Sakurazaka46.
Q: I've heard that you like collecting photos of Sakurazaka46 members.
Yamashita: My hobby was to complete the photo sets of my oshimen. Hehehe.
Q: Why did you decide to audition for Sakurazaka46?
Yamashita: When I was a senior in high school, I had to think about finding a job or going on to higher education. There was a profession I wanted to pursue, but I couldn't keep up with it because of my academic ability, so I started to worry about my future. Besides, at school you do the same thing every day. I thought life wasn't fun, so I auditioned for Sakurazaka46's third generation.
Q: How did you usually spend your time at school?
Yamashita: I mostly slept during my classes. (laughs)
Q: You wanted to do a job that would constitute something useful for someone, didn't you?
Yamashita: I wanted to become a police officer or a forensic scientist, but I thought the chances of that happening were low (t/n: because she had studied the humanities in high school), so I gave up.
Q: Did your mother support your decision to audition?
Yamashita: I've been able to live life quite freely, in a good way, doing what I wanted to do without having to ask for my mother's opinion. I applied for the audition for Sakurazaka46's third generation of my own accord, and she told me that I could do whatever I wanted to do. I don't think she gave too much thought to it. After the audition ended and during the training period, I shut down and stopped talking to others, so my mother called me and told me that 'I'm worried about you, because you really haven't been talking much lately!'.
Q: You still don't talk with her, then?
Yamashita: We've talked about things such as washing machines, but not about Sakurazaka46.
Q: Why did you start shutting down (in terms of talking)?
Yamashita: Once I stopped talking, my mother would ask questions such as 'What did you do today?'. I admittedly found it tedious to tell her the whole story.
Q: So you've gone in this... mode where you just don't talk much?
Yamashita: Truth be told, I didn't even tell her that I'd be coming to Tokyo, I just got ready and told her 'I'm moving to Tokyo today' and left.
Q: At the Omotenashikai, is it true that you told your mother not to come at the last minute?
Yamashita: Shortly before the performance started, I thought that I didn't want her to come because I wasn't so confident in myself, so I told her, 'I'm sorry, but if you haven't reached the venue yet, please don't come.'. My mother, who is generally a very warm-hearted person, replied by saying, 'Okay, then I'll have dinner in Yokohama and go home. Good luck!'. After the show, she told me how she felt about watching the performance through the live broadcast, but I reacted in a casual way.
Q: In your speech at the Omotenashikai, you said that you regretted telling your mother not to come.
Yamashita: At that moment, once I heard what everyone had to say, I cried a lot and felt that I had done a terrible thing. But when I came to my senses after the concert, I still acted cold towards her (laughs). However, I was, after all, really happy about the feedback from my mother, and I couldn't help smiling.
Q: How did being in front of your fans feel at the Omotenashikai?
Yamashita: When I first heard that we would hold it at Pia Arena MM, I looked up the venue and there were so many chairs that I thought 'No way!?'. I was worried about whether the seats would be filled or not, but when I got on stage, I saw so many people. It was a truly wonderful sight.
Q: Yamashita-san performed 'Samidare yo' at the center of the stage.
Yamashita: I'm not good at singing. Even my kind friends, who like to flatter me, tell me I'd be better off not singing. I think that I can sing pretty well, but whenever I listen to it, I find that I was really bad at it instead! (laughs). There is a part at the beginning of 'Samidare yo' that is sung solo, right? I thought, 'This is bad'. When I was focusing on singing during the rehearsals, I wouldn't be able to nail the dance moves. I struggled a lot. But during the online Meet & Greet, I was really happy to hear somebody praising my singing voice.
Q: What kind of idol do you want to be, Yamashita-san?
Yamashita: I want to be a gentle idol. Much like a soft blanket (laughs). I'm often told that I have a 'gentle' atmosphere. I personally don't understand that, but if that's my personality, I want to make the most of it.
Q: I think the gap between the gentle atmosphere of Yamashita-san and her sharp dancing is really good.
Yamashita: I often get comments like that, but I still don't like my own dancing (laughs). When I watch videos of my own dancing, I think 'Hey, hey......' I want to work hard in order to gain confidence in my dancing.
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