Miyamoto Karin - Sunflower (UTB Dec 2016)

Karin's third photobook is currently selling well!

This third volume was the first time we experienced good weather, which seems to have exposed her current sunny state (laughs)!! And just like the title, it's packed with sunflower-like smiles!

The point is how you tuck in a bit of yourself in it

It's already your third photobook!

'It was my first time at Miyako-jima. Up to the previous one, both my photobooks were shot on the main island of Okinawa, so I thought it would be similar. But the atmosphere was different. So the photoshoots were done with a fresh feeling!'

Your image has changed drastically as well...

'My hairstyles are the most obvious. I had lots of outfits when my hair was cut short, but it's broadened even more this time, and I was glad to do all sorts of hairstyles.'

What's changed as you've piled on the photobooks?

'For the first, my enthusiasm was racing. Just the fact that it would be a book with just me had me excited. For the second, my hair was very short, so interpreting it in my own way, I thought that it would be better if it was filled with energy. Thinking about it now, I feel that both were missing a part of me. For photobooks, you have to match your expressions with the theme and the situation, but the point is how you tuck in a bit of yourself in it. But this time, I was conscious about being too conscious about it (laughs)'

It's packed with the present 'Miyamoto Karin', isn't it!!?

'I hope that people will think that......'

But your powers of concentration are staggering. You didn't budge an inch when you got bit by a mosquito during the shooting......

'I didn't realise it at all (laughs)! But my eyes immediately swelled up after the photoshoot. And the next day, the cameraman-san told me that he had been checking out the pictures at night, and there had been a mosquito that had landed below my eye! We had a good laugh over that!!'

When you were shooting in town, your hands were scrubbed raw on the slide, and yet your face suggested that everything was just fine......

'That was just my clumsiness (laughs). It often happens to me, so instead, it's not a problem'

That shows how much of a professional you are. The Budokan performance is drawing close as well, isn't it!

'Honestly, there was a time that I didn't think that we wouldn't get this far. But since we'll be standing at the Budokan, rather than having the audience think there will be mishaps that can't be helped since it's our first time, I want to make it a performance that makes people think "Is this really their first time?"!!'