Radio Station: Twelve Hits!
Twelve Hits is a talk variety series where we play hit songs and read your heartwarming messages.
Hello, everyone! I’m Nanase Riku from Idolish7 and I will be the last member of the group to host this show. (laughs) I feel kinda nervous, to be honest. Did you listen to the previous talks, too? Trigger’s Kujo Tenn-san will be hosting this program, too, so I want to make this episode as good or even better than his. Thank you so much for your letters and postcards! Please listen to my talk until the end!
I can’t believe it’s already July. The weather has always been rainy but lately, I could feel the summer season coming. [1:25] Make sure to take care of yourselves by staying hydrated! Speaking of July, did you watch the latest episode of Kimi to Ainanight? There was a part when we talked about our wishes for Tanabata and we wore yukatas! It was my first time wearing one. I’m not a girl but it felt so fun and exciting. Oh, by “first time,” I don’t mean “my first time in my whole life” but “my first time this year.” I think a lot of you watched that episode so I’m gonna skip the details but I’ll be talking about what happened behind-the-scenes. When we went back to our dressing room after the shooting, we were still excitedly talking about our wishes. I made sure to write notes about that day so that Iori won’t complain about my talk being unorganized.* (laughs) We wrote down our wishes on a piece of paper and played a game where we’ll guess whose wish was it. None of us had work to do right after the shooting so we were all free for a while. Anyway, the game was so easy that it didn’t even feel like playing a game at all. [2:33] We were sure it was Sogo-san who wished to get a ticket for Douglas-san’s concert here in Japan. I wanna try going to a concert, too! It seems that Sogo-san likes going to concerts by foreign artists. And you know what? After listening to him talk about his experiences, I felt like wanting to go to concerts, too!
It was obviously Iori who wished we’d win an overall victory in Black or White. He seems to be the type to write a wish about our career as idols even when casually playing a game, after all. Hmm…Tamaki’s wish was easy to guess, too. He wished he can teleport from one place to another. Maybe he wished this partly because he doesn’t like riding planes. Anyway, being able to go to any place in a blink of an eye sounds exciting, don’t you think? Tamaki and Yamato-san also pointed out how you can sleep until the last minute even when you have to go somewhere. I surprisingly had a hard time guessing who wished Magical Kokona would have a live-action adaptation. He also wished he would become part of the cast. Well, I immediately thought it was Nagi but I also thought it might be a trap. Mitsuki’s the voice actor of Kokona’s boyfriend so I thought it might be him, too. But it turns out it was really Nagi. (laughs) Mitsuki’s wish was not surprising for someone like him, either. He wished that one day would become 30 hours longs. He said he wants to do so many things that 24 hours isn’t enough. Huh? On second thought, I think he wrote “40 hours.” Were my notes wrong? No, I’m sure he wrote “30 hours!” Mitsuki is so full of energy, don’t you think? Just being around him charges me up! What else did we talk about…I was surprised with Yamato-san’s wish. He wished that our wishes will come true. Nagi, Tamaki, and I asked if he had a wish for himself. He said he doesn’t have one but hmm…[4:37] he should at least have one, right? Like being able to drink beer for the rest of his life. I might ask him again when I go back to the dorm later. By the way, my wish is to make everyone in this world happy. (laughs) It might sound cliche but I’d be really glad if everyone can feel happy by listening to my voice. I hope everyone will always listen to our songs. I wonder if it was pretty obvious that this was my wish. They guessed it was mine right away. I feel so defeated. I have to think of a harder wish next time…but what is a hard wish, anyway? (laughs) Now that sounded funny. Anyway, our guessing game was so fun! Feel free to try it with your friends and family!
Now, I’ll be reading a message from one of our listeners. This one is from a female office worker named Happy7-san. Thank you, Happy7-san! “Hello, Riku-kun! Your birthday is coming up, right? Happy birthday!” Hello! Yup, my birthday is coming soon! Mitsuki said he’d bake a cake for me again–oh wait, I’m supposed to be reading your message. “I’m a big fan of yours! I became an idol fan thanks to your song.” Thank you! It makes me happy knowing that I’m the first idol you liked. “Ever since then, I became into Idolish7 that I stay updated about all your TV guestings and shows, concerts, and radio shows. Thanks to you, every day of my life became fun and I started feeling fulfilled for the first time in my life. [6:32] I feel motivated whenever I see you being true to yourself, working hard, and doing your best in everything. So I have a question.” What could it be? “Do you have an obsession or something you’re crazy about? If so, please tell us.” Hmm…something I’m obsessed with? Oh, lately I’ve been into gashapons, you know, those vending machines where you put coins inside and then you get a random item. There was a time when Tamaki wanted to get a pudding keychain but he couldn’t get it no matter how many times he tried. So, I offered to try the gashapon to help him out and the pudding key chain came out in one try! It was very small but Tamaki was so happy that I felt happy for him, too. Ever since, I became into gashapons. I take photos of gashapons with items that look like sweets or food and send then in a groupchat that I made. I made one so that we can share the gashapons we’ve found with each other. There are surprisingly lots of different kinds of food and items available so you’ll never get tired of it! There’s a gashapon with a magnet that looks like a burger and a keychain shaped like a mini pet bottle. And guess what? Yaotome-san from Trigger and Yuki-san from Re:vale joined the groupchat recently. They thought it’d be nice if we can talk about gashapons once in a while at work. Each of us sends different kinds of gashapons so it’s really fun and interesting. Of course, Tamaki always sends photos of candies and sweets, Yuki-san always talks about vegetables, and Yaotome-san sends photos of…noodles? Yup, noodles. We actually have a contest where the person with the most delicious gashapon item wins but our preferences are too diverse that I doubt anyone will win any time soon. [8:13] Oh, now that I mentioned it, what food do you think I should find so that I can win? I think something that’s related to sweets, vegetables and noodles would be nice…Oh! How about a Mont Blanc made of squash? It looks like noodles, it’s a dessert, but it’s made of vegetables. My reason might sound weird but I think it’s a nice choice. Thank you for your message, Happy7-san! Please tell me through social media if ever you find a gashapon with a Mont Blanc made of squash! And I hope you continue being an avid fan of Idolish7.
It’s time for the next portion!
Nandemo Variety: Get to know Nanase Riku! (nandemo = anything)
(claps) Yaaaaay! Nandemo Variety is a portion where I will be answering questions and performing requests sent by my family, friends, or co-workers.
I shall explain the mechanics. Here, I have a box containing the gathered questions and requests. These include things they want me to do, absurd requests, and questions that require me to talk about happenings behind-the-scenes. I have no right to refuse to answer a question no matter how personal it may be.
I’m finally at the request portion~ I wish I’d get that request, but that other request would be too embarrassing to do. Yup! In case some of you don’t know, I actually know all the requests and questions inside this box. I’m not really lucky when it comes to lotteries like this. Oh well, worrying about it won’t do me any good at a time like this. [9:57] I should man up and just do it!
(gets a piece of paper from the box) Let’s see what we have here…The first request is “Rikkun, tell us a funny story.” Ahh, of all requests why did I have to get this? This is too difficult. Something funny…hmm…I’ve already talked about the gashapon keychains, though. Oh! I’m just gonna talk about something that happened at the dorm. You see, Yamato-san has a robotic vacuum cleaner named Musashi and he takes care of it very well. Have you seen it before? There was a time when I borrowed it to clean the living room. Musashi is so cute because when it moves, it looks like you’re just talking it out for a walk. So while I was using Musashi…(laughs) Sorry. Just remembering what happened makes me laugh. I saw Iori and Nagi throw trash in front of Musashi on purpose to let it suck the trash up. And then I was like, “What’s the use of having Musashi clean when you’re just gonna throw garbage on purpose?” But I couldn’t blame them because Musashi moving and sucking up dust looks so cute. Maybe they just wanted to see that. Iori was like (attempts to imitate Iori) “I was just checking if Musashi is still functioning properly.” while Nagi was like (attempts to imitate Nagi) “I’m sure Musashi is a robot who can feel human emotions!” And then, the three of us watched Musashi clean the living room. It was strange how we didn’t even talk and the only sound we could hear was the sound of Musashi cleaning the room. We just stayed like that for quite a long time until Yamato-san saw us and told us “not to give it food just for fun.” …Huh? Does this story only sound funny for the three of us? I can see the staff doing forced smiles…Okay, let me reset the atmosphere. Time to draw the second request!
“What is your current goal?” Oh, this is from Trigger’s Kujo-san! [12:09] My current goal…? I think my goal is just the same as the wish I mentioned before. This might sound too ambitious of me but I want the whole world to know me, regardless of whether they are fans or not. I want the prime minister, people outside Japan, and even CEOs of the biggest companies to listen to IDOLiSH7’s songs. I hope everyone can find comfort in our songs in times of sadness, happiness, or at any time. This is my current goal. (laughs) That was kinda embarrassing to say.
And this ends Nandemo Varierty!
It’s about time for the show to end. I honestly wanna talk more but the staff said it’s time to wrap things up. It feels sad…I made sure to read all of your messages and requests. Just thinking about how much effort you’ve put into thinking about what to write makes me feel so happy! Thank you for those who sent me birthday greetings, too! I’ll promise to give it my all as IDOLiSH7’s center so that all of you will continue to support us until next year, the year after that, and for a lot of years to come! [13:45] Oh! I got permission to advertise so let me invite you to listen to my radio show with Nagi! …Waah I’ve always wanted to do an advertisement!
As mentioned before, the next episode will be hosted by Trigger’s Kujo Tenn-san! I can’t wait to listen to his talk, too! Don’t you think Kujo-san has a voice that sounds so kind it calms you down? Listening to his voice makes me feel a sense of reassurance. It makes me want to listen to his voice more. (laughs) I actually love Kujo-san! And I know you love him, too! Let’s listen to his radio show together!
To end this show, I would like to play my solo song. The title of this song means “a group of seven people singing together.” It’s a song where I’m the only one singing but I feel like the rest of Idolish7 are right beside me. It’s a song where I feel the bonds that exist between the seven of us. It has a melody that cheers me up and makes feel like I can do anything as long as I’m with them. I hope you feel the same when listening to this song.
Please listen to my solo song, SEPTET for…
END
Translation by shoumeiowari@gmail.com
Notes:
*Riku did not mention Iori’s name but it was very obvious that Riku was talking about him. Literal translation: I took down notes about that day so that no one would complain like “Nanase-san, your talk was so unorganized.”
Tanabata – a festival where people write their wish on a piece of colored paper called tanzaku and then hang it on a bamboo branch
yukata – one of Japan’s traditional clothing
mikanzuki translations 