- TRANSLATION -KAT-TUN Newsletter vol.34

[uedanoyome]

I've decided to update here with some of the translations I've posted on Twitter some time ago.

(P.s. As soon as Ueda's q&a segment on Tatsu-gumi ends and Kame's drama too, I'll post the translations of their jwebs I've posted on Twitter on here too)

Enjoy it this read, if you haven't yet!

TRANSLATION – KAT-TUN crosstalk

Newsletter vol. 34 – Talking of KAT-TUN

KAT-TUN during 2020’s second half, where the production of their solo stages continues.

We’ll report each recent state –they’ve discussed- at the round-table discussion, -talking about- their own stages and rehearsals.

What is the three’s method to control their physical conditions as the hard days continue…?

What they noticed and felt so far in a different format of their performances.

K: This time, I wasn’t able to go to see you two’s stages, however did the guest seatings have some empty spaces –between one another- while you were performing?

N: Yeah, there was a seat between a guest and another, so they sat like that (with spaces between seats).

U: I heard, from a previous talk, from Nakamaru that it seemed to have been quite difficult to do.

K: That’s right. Since it’s a stage made mainly for laughing (I think he’s referring to Tanoshii Jikan), it seems to be difficult.

N: It was hella difficult to do, indeed.

K: /laugh/  That there wasn’t any applause?

N: There were applauses, but it was banned any kind of talk coming from the audience seatings from the stage’s opening to the curtain raising, that for about an hour. When there wasn’t any restriction, and I actually tried it (I guess he’s talking about normal performances before the virus and all the restrictions), I could understand that the audience was pretty excited right from the start, before the performance.

K: Aah, from the audience itself

N: Since this time there wasn’t anything like that (for him the hear audience’s excitement before he’d step on stage), I had to start it from scratch…

U: The engine (of the audience) wasn’t working, right?

N: It wasn’t working for real! At that moment, I realized how extremely important it is.

U: Since I’m focusing on my role, I didn’t really pay attention to the state of the audience’s seats before the stage started. So, it didn’t really feel uncomfortable, it was like always.

N: Also, even inside the theatre there are quite a variety of –methods of- disinfection, such as changing outdoor shoes once you get in.

K: Because there are rules established by the theatre association, right? Me too, when I practice I usually check my temperature, disinfect and change my shoes.

U: Yeah, even the time during rehearsals or when entering the theatre would “stumble”. Since I couldn’t manage to sing while wearing a mask, I would usually use a face shield even when practicing.

K: I’ve started using the transparent one too when I’ve been asked to let the play’s facial expressions being seen. However, this time, since there are producers and people from the staff (I work with –I think?) for the first time, when I take the mask off, they’re like: “Hm?”

That’s because everyone is always wearing a mask /laugh/

U: That’s right, it happened! Speaking of which, when I watched the CM of Kame’s released movie “Jiko bukken Kowai madori”, it seemed to be interesting, I got curious about it.

N: I want to watch it too, but I’ve watched an horror movie only once…

U: Aren’t you good with them? That’s to begin with

N: Yeah. If I can, I want to watch it at home.

K: But watching it at home wouldn’t be scarier? Since it’s a story taking place in a house.

U: I heard that you can’t move (change house) when you watch it.

N: Is that so… The horror movie I happened to see once was so scary that I got out of the theatre while it was still on its way…

K: There are scary things too, but it’s not that gloomy: it’s pop content.

N: I was worried about what kind of movie I’d be watching, so should I gather some courage and go to the cinema…

U: Gather some courage /laugh/

K: It’s alright, since during the second half, likely, it becomes magical fantasy!

U: Is that a dream? /laugh/

N: It’s definitely different!!

A gadget that Nakamaru obtained. The two’s reaction in response to that…

N: Speaking of which, I bought an oxygen capsule during the butai (Tanoshii Jikan)

K: I have one too. Hard?

N: No, soft. What about Kame’s?

K: Soft. I changed the model once.

N: Just like a mobile phone /laugh/

K: Isn’t the soft kinda difficult to handle?

N: Yeah. It’s a little difficult till it gets in (the oxygen? I don’t really know lol)

U: Sorry, but I have absolutely no clue of what you two are talking about /laugh/

N: The hard capsule has a door, while the soft one has two chucks.

K: Right, right. I have to close the rubber packing tightly.

N: If you don’t get the hang of it, you won’t be able to properly close it.

U: Eh~

N: Ueda too, you’d better buy it too: if you’re at home you can always use it.

K: I use it especially when I’m tired.

U: When I’m really tired I go to the freezer.

K&N: The freezer?!

U: That thing you use for three minutes while its temperature is negative.

K: Aah, that thing athletes usually use.

U: Exactly. That thing –with which?- the body gets so cold until I can’t sense anything, but when it warms again, blood flow gets better immediately.

K: But how much does it cost once, it takes some money, doesn’t it? Oxygen capsules shouldn’t take much, since they work with electricity.

N: They’re electrical, maybe.

K: You don’t have it. (I think he refers to Nakamaru about the thing Ueda uses?)

U: That would be pretty expensive, right? I haven’t gone that far! /laugh/

K: Ahahah /laugh/ Well, it’s a talk about how important the body is, right? I feel the importance of body with each year passing. However, I felt that this year’s flow of time was really fast~

N: We haven’t had any event, so the only thing with which I could actually feel the season was probably “food”.

K: Work is returning to move like always, though. I/we’ve always been talking about wanting to create something with the three of us to share with fans for next year’s 15th anniversary, but it’s difficult to make any plan/schedule, honestly, given that we don’t know what the world’s situation will be like by then.

U: But I think that things we have never done before or also new angles’ ideas will come, so it would be nice if we could do them while cherishing them (I think he also refers to the opportunities they had in the meanwhile, and also how useful they could be for the groups’ future activities).

N: Right. I don’t know what shape will it be like, but I’m looking forward to next year.

K: There’s the strong thought and desire to be able to celebrate our 15th anniversary all together and shape it properly.

WORK part

KAMENASHI’S WORK!

Report about Kao success CM’s shooting:

Kamenashi worked for Kao “success” as the CM’s chacter.

In the latest report of “Black success shampoo edition, tonic edition” it’s reported the shooting site’s state.

Shooting site report:

That day the shooting for the CM’s video for the web took place.

In the CM’s shooting, which pursues a level of completion in -60- seconds, while responding to small indication that came in every cut, the cooperation play develops, like the callings for moves’ timing.

During the scene where the tonic is sprayed, even though the takes of the scene are piling up, Kamenashi keeps showing a smile saying: “It feels so good, blood circulation will definitely improve!”, in order to soften the scene (during shooting) for a moment.

In the video shooting (scheduled to be released in future), he’s dressed as a consultant and, as the staff is preparing a long campaign speech, he shows his actor’s spirit saying: “It’s okay even not seeing it” (I guess they mean that Kame said he doesn’t need to read the speech they were preparing(?).

He wanted to naturally make a speech for it in front of the camera, he said: “It’s a little heavy if you do it while keep looking at it –the speech-, isn’t it so?”,  so he went to try and error, and the shooting made progresses while making adjustments and show more affinities to it(?).

At the beginning, he said: “Should it have a youth style or a serious feeling… The role of a consultant is difficult, huh”, while at the end there was a Kamenashi who seemed to fully enjoy the shooting, as the staff gave him the chance to ad-lib and couldn’t even tell he was actually acting.

Kamenashi’s comment:

The staff members were in the same team as the “Stand-by tantei hen”, so the shooting was easy.

The shampoo and tonic editions were two particular kinds of shooting, so I focused on shooting one cut each, while also breathing in with the staff (I think it means that he followed also staff’s directions).

Even though I was shooting while being given various instructions, such as facial expressions or movements, it was unexpectedly okay as there are many of these things in the play.

This time I was shooting for a web version of the CM, but it was rather different from a CM that spreads on a wider stream of people who can watch it on tv, assuming that the distance from the viewers is short.

I found it interesting since it was a format I haven’t much experienced with until now, and I think that this type of shooting will definitely increase in future.

Also, many of the advertisements I have been shooting lately have quite an unusual setting, at this rate I’ll likely turn into a mystery man /laugh/.

But this time I was happy to see I could shoot as something cool.

UEDA’S WORK!

“Endless SHOCK –Eternal-“ special interview

“Endless SHOCK”, whose performance had to necessarily be cancelled due to the corona virus in late February, has got going again with a new composition.

Ueda Tatsuya, who stood on the stage playing the rival once again, openheartedly talks about his thoughts.

Ueda’s comment:

When I heard that “Endless SHOCK –Eternal-“ would have had a spin-off depicting the three years after the main story, I thought that it sounded interesting. Given the current circumstances, I thought, I would have never been able to do it and I’m lucky for having had the chance to play the rival for two kinds of “SHOCK” in the same year. Since I experienced the two-act play, I thought: “It’s easy to perform for two hours, isn’t it?”,  at first. But since I have to play the original story’s scenes one by one, it wasn’t easy at all, as the scene would suddenly fall to the very bottom, then after a minute the scene becomes all happy again, and, once more, after another minute it would fall down the bottom again /laugh/.

You can’t perform it unless you’re deeply focusing on it, and the acting part requires more stamina and sweat than the dance. Every performance would become a sort of battle to see whether I could focus on it.

During the broadcast performance (I suppose the online performance), everyone was rather nervous, I think.

I, myself, thought: “It’s quite like a drama shooting”, and I decided I had to adopt a different way of acting than when I’m performing for a stage play. The shooting is not a fixed-point one: you don’t know what moment will be projected in up-close, differently from a normal stage play, where you can widely see the whole thing, there is no escape… it doesn’t apply to a stage play’s performance’s balance anymore.

Also, in the case of a drama, it doesn’t matter whether it’s a long-shot scene, the camera would take about five minutes to move around; as for this time, you need to continuously focus for two hours. –From the- side of a performer, it feels like there aren’t any good points in both drama and stage play /laughs/. This is why I stood on the stage with the consciousness that it would have always been projected in close-ups.

I think that this kind of performance will increase in future, so, at that time, I felt that I had to fully concentrate, that way I could perform more realistically.

Also, I played the role of the rival again, but I thought, that it can change according to the cast you perform.

I was an easy-to-understand rival, kind of like a “Hero and villain” shounen manga, but other people who played the rival either had a brotherly-like relationship with Koichi, or carried an inferiority complex towards Koichi, and there are various patterns too.

That’s why I want to see “SHOCK” many times. Personally, I myself also wonder, from the audience’s point of view, things like: “I want to see that member of the cast’s pattern” or “What will the next person playing the rival be like?”

Of course, if the chairman or the staff were to request it (to play the rival again), I think I should definitely play it again, however I’m not that attached to the: “I definitely want to play that!”

It would be interesting to see other people playing the role of the rival and, then, play that role again.

NAKAMARU’S WORK!

“Nakamaru-kun no tanoshii jikan 4” special interview

The fourth one-man stage play by Nakamaru, which was now performed in a different way under the current circumstances. Nakamaru, who’s welcomed the show’s conclusion safely, looks back on the stage play.

When I got to the ending stage of the last performance of: “Nakamaru-kun no tanoshii jikan 3”, I had several thoughts, like: “ I would like to try this thing if there will be a next one”.

This time, I feel like I was able to shape it like that. Every time, I roughly decide what the story will be like, then I decide the content of each corner more concretely while I work out the full details of it at the same time… this is the flow of how I work on it, but since I’m scared of not having enough contents, I also make some more stuff. This time, the performance timing ended up being around two-hour-long, but I couldn’t shorten it in terms of tempo.

In the end, I came to the conclusion that: “I wish it to have no sense (lit. it to weaken the sense or sth like that)”, so it ended up reaching that length.

By the way, the sound effect that came when I drew the paper with the audience’s seat number during the question corner was actually my recorded voice, which has been processed then. I haven’t talked about this part of the content in any interview, and I guess none actually noticed it?

Since this time it was performed with different restrictions from before, I honestly felt rather frustrated for not having been able to do the things that I wanted to do, such as the production I did every time using the fragrances. There was also a part where –I- had to think of how to include the binaural mic and how to include it in the premise of the broadcast performance.

I think it would be good to have that kind of broadcast performance in future, but I think that if you’re too aware of it being a broadcast, there would be no meaning in the stage performance.

There is the feeling of realism that can be good only –if you see it- in the stage play itself, so I’d be happy if you could come and see it at the theatre when the world has calmed down.

Now, the performance of the “4” has ended and settled, however, if there will be a next one, I would like to take in the material for time warps. I wonder if the amplitude to which the scenes can be expanded and that the eras (I think he’s talking comparing the results of each edition of the stage play during the years) are different can be easily understood… I am considering this /laugh/.

When I did the “1”, I didn’t imagine it would continue like this, but if there’s the possibility to do it once more in future, I would like it to be performed regularly, then.

Stage’s report:

The one-man stage play number 4 is the development of the story of how Nakamaru, who hates the number 4, spends the seven days until the first day of the stage’s performance.

In addition to the usual projection mapping (it’s a projection technique used to display objects) and the game material, the corners include also the parody of a certain program about housework (Kaji yaro) make use of new sound techniques, all of which are unique to 2020.

This time’s stage play, includes not only the “fun” and “likes” elements, but also the “dislikes” factor, delivering a complete production of entertainment, which makes the audience feel and see not only parts of a lifestyle, but also the overall change of the series.