ARASHI Days

➤I’m a terrible morning person. I just keep sleeping until my parents wake me up. I need about an hour from the time I’m supposed to wake up until I leave the house, but 20-30 minutes of that is spent actually getting up (lol). I don’t eat breakfast on workdays, but on school days, I have them make me two rice balls. I eat them before I leave, or I eat them when I get to school; the timing varies from day to day. My favorite rice ball fillings are pickled plum and salmon!

The first thing I do when I get home from work or school is listen to a CD in my room. Lately, I’ve been really into listening to CDs by a group called m-flo. I happened to be watching a drama and an m-flo song was playing, and it piqued my interest. Then, I happened to find it at a CD store, and when I bought it, it was a great find.

At home, I spend most of my time in my room. My room is really cold, though. It’s cold even though I have a heater. You know, it’s not good for your health to run the heater in a room with all the windows closed, right? So I try to leave the window open a little, but the wind that blows in from there is super cold. You might think I should just close the window, but… I don’t really like that feeling. So, even when I sleep, I’m fully bundled up in a sweatshirt and sweatpants. I even tuck the hem of my sweatshirt into my sweatpants (lol).

Lately, whenever I have free time, I read books. I often read something right up until the last minute before going to sleep. My recent favorite is “150 Quotes from Mark Twain, the World’s Most Sharp-Tongued Man,” the author of “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.” It’s a collection of his famous quotes, and it’s full of sharp and interesting words. I get so engrossed in it that I often fall asleep with the lights on (lol). I know that’s a problem because my body doesn’t get proper rest! But I just can’t stop reading before bed.

➤In the mornings, I set three alarms to wake me up.　A regular alarm clock, my cell phone alarm, and my stereo system. I set all three to ring at once, and if I still can’t wake up, I ask my parents to wake me up. But once I’m awake, I’m quick to get going. On school days, I’m ready in about 20 minutes after waking up.　I eat breakfast at school. After the first period, I go to the cafeteria and eat my favorite menu items, like paitan udon or mini fried rice. I only have 10 minutes until the second period, but it’s okay. Even if the chime rings, I figure the teacher probably hasn’t come to the classroom yet, so I keep eating (laughs).

After finishing school or work and coming home, checking my email has become a recent habit. Computers were popular in classes since my first year of high school, but I only recently got one at home. So I get excited when I check my messages… but usually, I haven’t gotten any (lol). I only have about four email friends (including Ohara Yuki). It’s lonely~ I’d like to make more, but I don’t want to send messages to people who are on a cell phone. Because I’m diligently typing on my keyboard to write a heartfelt letter, and they’re just tapping away with their fingers, right? Thinking about that makes me depressed, so I don’t exchange emails with people with cell phones! (lol)

I often eat out for dinner. Also, I’ve gained weight recently, so I’ve decided not to eat after 9 pm. Speaking of which, the other night, when I went to open the refrigerator, and there was some sukiyaki sitting there. I was ravenous, and my hand almost reached for it, but I forced myself to close my eyes and just take out some barley tea. With sheer willpower, I decided to put that sukiyaki on hold (lol).

I fall asleep easily. And I sleep deeply. But my room is super cold, so I often wake up at 5 or 6 in the morning because of the cold (lol).

➤I’m good at getting up~. So, I get ready in the morning quickly. Back when I was a junior, I’d sometimes leave the house within 5 minutes of waking up. As soon as I woke up, I’d quickly pack my face wash, toothbrush, and other things I needed for when I was out into my bag and leave the house.

So I take the train to school or work, but lately, nobody recognizes me on the way. It’s almost like, “Couldn’t you at least notice me?” (lol). Since debuting with Arashi, I don’t think anyone has ever recognized me on the train. It’s a little lonely. If I go out into the city, people recognize me somehow…I wonder if I’ve phrased this incorrectly (lol).

At night, when I come home from school or work, the first thing I do is go to my room and undress until I’m only wearing underwear (lol). That’s how I first truly appreciate the warmth of the heater’s breeze. As my body gradually warms up, I play the guitar in that state. Doesn’t that sound cold even with the heater on? It’s not. My room is only about 5.5 tatami mats, so it’s fine. By the way, it’s a tatami room. I think it’s standard for idols to live in tatami rooms! (lol). I haven’t played the guitar much since becoming a member of Arashi because I’ve been so busy. But I started playing again after the World Cup ended and things calmed down a bit. You know those music magazines with sheet music? I just look at those and play some hit songs or whatever.

When I get sleepy while doing that, I put on my shorts and T-shirt for sleeping. It’s the same outfit in summer and winter. Stupid, right? I just realized that myself while we’re talking (lol).

Do I fall asleep easily? Well, lately I’ve been going to bed late. So yesterday, I was planning to go to bed at midnight for the first time in a while, but I just couldn’t fall asleep. In the end, I was playing guitar until around 3 AM. What a loser I am~ In the end, I only got about 5 hours of sleep.

➤I had to get up at 6 this morning. I went to bed at 2 last night, so it was tough. It took me about 20 minutes to get up.

Yesterday was my day off. That said, I don’t have any stories about having fun with friends or anything like that (lol). Lately, people notice me when I go out, so I haven’t been going out much. Yesterday, I only went to the convenience store nearby. Even there, I just made some copies and didn’t buy anything else before coming back.

But when I got back, I had a sudden craving for BBQ Chicken pizza, so I ordered delivery. I ate 6 of the 8 slices and then I felt sick (lol). After that, I continued drawing the camel picture I’ve been working on for a while. I took a short nap, and when I woke up, a neighborhood kid was in front of me. He must have come into the room without me noticing (lol). He said, “Big brother, let’s play!” I was bored too, so we played catch.

On my days off it’s different, but on workdays, like today, I sometimes can’t get up, so my mom wakes me up. If I don’t get up properly, the blankets all come off (lol). I do eat breakfast. The side dishes are sometimes leftovers from the night before, but I eat them with bread or rice. I have both bread and rice ready, so I choose depending on my mood that day.

When I get home from work, first I just zone out in the living room. Then I chat with my mom about silly things. I go back to my room after I take a bath. When I get back, I put down the jeans I was wearing and just zone out again (lol). When I go to bed, I usually wear pajamas. And when I go to bed, I always turn on a video with a turn-off timer. It’s lonely when there’s no sound or visuals. By the way, the video I watched last night was “Armageddon.” It might not be a movie suitable for bedtime (lol). But for me, it’s fine for background noise, it’s fine!

➤I have trouble waking up in the cold weather… This winter too, I had days where I couldn’t get out of bed (lol). I set an alarm clock, and my parents wake me up, but it takes a long time from when I wake up until I get out of bed. So I decide on a time, “I’m definitely going to get up at this time!”and I look at the clock and count down from 5 minutes before that time (lol).

Then, as soon as I get up, I put on socks. My room has hardwood floors. So the night before, before I go to bed, I already have them next to my bed so I can put them on as soon as I wake up. They’re fluffy wool socks that I only use at home. Before I go out, I change into my outdoor socks.

I usually eat breakfast. Breakfast at the Aiba household is a typical Japanese meal, like fish or eggs. I can’t get motivated without breakfast!

Although, I’m usually still sleepy and eating half-asleep (lol)

It takes about 30 minutes to get ready to leave the house. It’s different on my days off, though. By the way, yesterday was my day off, and I woke up leisurely around noon and went to play billiards with Nino and Kazama Shunsuke. Our skill levels are pretty much the same (lol). After that, I went back home once, and then went out to hang out with some local friends. This time, we didn’t have anything specific in mind, we just got together and talked about all sorts of things. Even though we see each other often, somehow we never run out of things to talk about. We didn’t intend to have a long chat today, but before we knew it, we were deep in conversation! And it was all about trivial things (lol). I don’t even talk about work with my friends back home…….I spend my time having fun like that, so I’m usually in good shape the day after my day off. I also feel like I need to get myself in shape on my days off! So, no matter what day it is, even if it’s my day off, the first thing I do when I get home is gargle and wash my hands. Well, I do it when I remember to (lol).