Berryz Kobo x ℃-ute Cross Talk: Tsugunaga Momoko x Nakajima Saki

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Hello! Project Kids in 2012, a book entitled Rival - 12 shoujo no 10-nen monogatari - (The 10-year legend of the 12 girls) was released. The book contains 2-page discussions between various pairings of the girls, covering all 66 possible combinations. In the process of reading this book, I'll be putting up some highlights as I read through the interviews.

Tsugunaga Momoko X Nakajima Saki

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Speaking of which, Nakajima-san's a frank character, while Tsugunaga-san is like an idol that's straight out of an illustration. It's quite the contrast.

Tsugunaga: Nacky, are you of the artiste persuasion? The idol persuasion?

Nakajima: Personally, I'd like to become an artiste, and I'd like to become someone of the K-Pop persuasion who can pull of cute as well as cool songs.

Tsugunaga: I see, that's how it is.

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Tsugunaga: Idol = cute, that's an absolute requirement [to be an idol]. The definition of cute may differ from person to person, but cuteness is the major premise.

Nakajima: However, H!P gets cool as well as cute songs, don't we? In that case, we can't be missing our cuteness, so it's difficult. Thinking about it though, even when singing cool songs, do things balance out with this hairstyle (the Momochi Musubi)?

Tsugunaga: For that, at our recent tour ('Berryz Kobo concert tour 2012 Haru ~Berryz Station~'), there's a sexy dance where we make use of chairs. Dancing with me were (Shimizu) Saki-chan and Miya, who'd do things like head-banging, their hair going everywhere, but even if I head-banged, my hair wouldn't budge (laughs). And then I got told off by our dance sensei, telling me 'Can't you let your hair down just for this song?', but I was like 'That's impossible, I've put my bets on my hairdo'. It would take away from my cuteness. I'll make facial expressions and move my body with everything I've got, but there are things that I ultimately won't give up.

On the other hand, Saki-chan, what do you do when the time comes around for you to do cute songs?

Nakajima: I like them well enough to sing them, but since there's more room to grow with cool songs, I enjoy it enthusiastically. But I get complimented on cute songs, while I don't get praise for cool songs, for some reason. Even though I'm the type that doesn't grow if I don't receive praise.

Tsugunaga: I get what you mean. I don't get praised by anyone either. The usual pattern is me getting told off for cool songs, while getting sniggered at when it comes to cute songs.

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Tsugunaga-san, why are you so particular about idols?

Tsugunaga: I think it's my calling.

Nakajima: Why did you apply for the 'Hello! Project Kids audition'?

Tsugunaga: I watched Tsuji-san eat delicious stuff on TV, which I thought was great, so I applied (laughs). Therefore, it wasn't that I had awareness of being an idol, however, I completely got into it.

Coming back to it, what do you think is the most important thing for an idol?

[...]

Tsugunaga: I treat all of mankind impartially. Be it Tsunku♂-san, or even the fans, everyone's the same. Of course I use polite language with those above my station, but my fundamental stance is that 'Everyone loves Momochi'.

Nakajima: Ooh, I see.

Tsugunaga: Because I'm everyone's idol, my theme is 'impartiality'.

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Tsugunaga: One of the things that made me to want to be called Momochi was Nacky. Seeing the fans call out 'Nacky' at concerts, I thought it was great, it made me want to have a pet name too. So for me, Nacky's presence was pretty big (laughs).

Nakajima: I get called Nacky when I'm at work, but at school, I get called Saki by my friends at school. And, one day, when a school friend referred to me as Nacky, it was like I was being seen as my idol self, I got really self-concious. At the time, I really thought that in my heart, 'Nacky = idol'.

Tsugunaga: Something that surprised me was that, as Nacky keeps saying that you're good-for-nothing at ℃-ute concerts, the fans started a 'good-for-nothing' call, that was really novel.

Nakajima: There was a time when they said that (laughs).

Tsugunaga: I really got a shock when once, at a Berryz Kobo concert, the guests made a 'soft-in-the-head' call for me, I really felt like crying at the time. So seeing the sight of Nacky doing her best even when you're being told that you're good-for-nothing, I thought that Nacky was strong.

It's tough to be an idol.

Nakajima: I think that the idols of the present are really close to the fans. Through avenues like blogging, we lay bare out daily activities.

Tsugunaga: I'm sorry, I can't approve of that. I don't blog.

Nakajima: Why? Do you have an aversion to it?

Tsugunaga: It's because I think that having a sense of distance is important.

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More interview excerpts from this book