Tsugunaga Momoko-san
(Country Girls)
A series of interviews by American-style girl rock unit PASSPO☆! Our 6th guest is Country Girls' 'Momochi' Tsugunaga Momoko-san, who is flourishing in the very same idol world. Momochi-san is 'The Idol' through and through, and yet she was unexpectedly frank......? This interview is chock full with behind-the-scenes stories that surprised even PASSPO☆！
Negishi: Momochi-san, firstly, I'd like to ask about what led you to becoming an idol.
Tsugunaga: My path was via the auditions for the 'Hello! Project Kids', protegees of Morning Musume。 This was in my 5th year of primary school.
Fujimoto: I watched those.
Tsugunaga: Really? But while the auditions were my path in, I'd always been quite the idol among my relatives before that. My grandad was a really passionate Momochi fan. So I felt that it was obvious that I was bound to be an idol.
PASSPO☆: How wonderful
Anzai: An answer worth a hundred marks.
Tsugunaga: While it's not like I felt like I wanted to be an idol ever since I became aware of my surroundings......
Iwamura: But it was like, you were an idol?
Tsugunaga: I was.
PASSPO☆: Awesome!!
Iwamura: Besides being an idol, did you not have any other dreams for the future?
Tsugunaga: When I was in kindergarten, I wrote 'I want to become Sailor Moon' on a Tanabata strip. But in the end, just like how Sailor Moon is admired by girls, being an idol is the same thing.
Negishi: When you actually did start singing and dancing for real, did you face any hardships?
Tsugunaga: I really couldn't perform well. Fifteen people passed the auditions, the oldest being in their fifth year of primary school, and the youngest was in their first. But there was a time when all of us had to rehearse in front of the mirror, and those who couldn't perform well had to stay behind.
PASSPO☆: Eh-! That's scary!!
Tsugunaga: And then, remaining at the end were a first year primary schooler, a girl in her second year, and myself in my fifth year. It was embarrassing that I couldn't perform well. I was in the upper years, yet why couldn't I pull it off?
Negishi: But, you were still in your fifth year of primary school.
Tsugunaga: But we all started at roughly the same time, so it wasn't like any of us got left behind after that. All of us did it together, we did our hardest together!
Anzai: Amazing. You were primary schoolers.
Fujimoto: Did you have lessons every day?
Tsugunaga: Almost every day. For about three hours, after school ended.
Anzai: But, it was three hours a day. Could you remember all the songs?
Tsugunaga: There were solo concerts. Every year, in summer and winter, there are concerts with the whole Hello! Project. The rehearsals throughout those concerts would have us doing dance lessons for the songs in those concerts. But when we made our debut, I was really fortunate. We passed the auditions on the 30th of June, and during the summer break, we filmed a movie. I got the lead role.
Anzai: Amazing!
Tsugunaga: I got it despite being at a novice level. I had to memorise really long lines, which I don't think I could do now. I've been blessed with good experiences from the time I started.
