1999 • Our Christmas!

★ It’s nice to invite lots of friends over for Christmas and have a fun party together. If I had a girlfriend, a romantic christmas would be nice, but I don’t have one. If I had a girlfriend, I’d love to walk around Omotesando and stuff. Oh, starting this year they won’t have Christmas lights up? Oops. It’s too late now (lol). ★ So where do couples usually go? Odaiba might be good. I’d like to ride the Ferris wheel. When I was a child, my family would eat fried chicken for Christmas. I got pocket money as a present. Sorry, it’s not very dreamy (lol). I think we were in a concert last Christmas. But, no matter what, it’s more fun to have a concert than just a normal Christmas. I wonder what will happen this year. ★ Personally, I’d like to have an Arashi Christmas party. An Arashi Christmas party would have eating and singing, and a lively revelry. I’d love to do that, but maybe that’s not possible. We’d also like to have a New Year’s Eve countdown, with all five of us. I’m sure everyone would have a blast. Ohno-kun is fairly quiet, but he really lets loose at times like that. ★ I’ve been thinking about it while we’ve been together recently, but the way Ohno-kun moves is interesting. It looks like it’s on purpose but it comes off as totally natural. Out of the five of us I have the bully role. I’m the one who gets bullied, not the one who does the bullying (lol). ★ Arashi has become even more in sync since we did the volleyball show. It felt like a real club. We even did running during practice. The muscle pain after training is unbelievable. It’s completely different from dancing. I should have done more muscle training on a regular basis. ★ By the way, the CD has finally been released. A CD release is the biggest thing for me. I looked in the CD store before the release and there was no sign anywhere saying “Arashi’s CD releasing on November 3rd,” so I got worried (lol). We did the dance around 20 times total for the PV shoot. I think it turned out clean and cool, but what do you think? ★

★ When you say Christmas I think birthday. My birthday is December 24th. This year marks my 17th year. I’m seventeen. I wonder how what kind of a feeling 17 is. But 16 and 17 aren’t that different, are they? 17 and 18 are different, I think. 18 feels like a turning point. ★ When I was in elementary school, I used to have a birthday party at home that included Christmas celebrations too. We ate cake and chicken and had a wild party (lol). I guess it was more Christmas-themed than anything else. For me, my birthday was the main focus, but I wonder if it was for everyone else… (lol). ★ This year, I’d like to ask Santa for a birthday celebration that surpasses Christmas. Ideally, I’d like to have a hot pot party. We’d put the pot and ingredients on the kotatsu table and everyone would put whatever they wanted into the pot and eat it. That kind of heartwarming gathering would be great. Also, this winter I want to try skiboaring. Snowboarding is good, but this year I think I’ll go for skiboarding. I’d like to try jumping and other tricks. ★ Arashi has been doing well lately. I’m crazy about volleyball. Since I started volleyball, my right shoulder has gotten really buff. When I touched it, I was surprised at how different my right and left shoulders were. I practiced volleyball for three days. I was taught the basics for two hours a day. My muscles were really sore on the first day of practice. I played volleyball with people from various countries on “Arashi no V1” and it was a lot of fun. The team from Yokota Air Base in the US was huge and strong. It was fun while we were playing, but I got really tired afterwards. Volleyball is fun in a different way than basketball, which I’ve been playing for many years. It’s more like a team game. You feel a sense of responsibility not to drop the ball. Sakamoto from V6 is really good, so it feels like he’s leading us. ★ By the way, Arashi’s CD jacket has a very “Arashi” feel to it. We dance enthusiastically in the promotional video too (lol), so I hope you’ll check it out. ★

★ Christmas is a once-a-year event. And Christmas 1999 was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. So it would be great to have a Christmas like the ones in the TV dramas. I’d like to walk down the street where classy older people are walking about and as a couple, go to a restaurant with an open terrace, And then it starts snowing… I’d love to experience something like that someday. It would also be nice to have a party with all my friends in a log cabin or something. But the reality is so lonely (lol). ★ Last year, I got injured at a concert and spent Christmas in the hospital. Everyone at the concert hall was probably saying “Merry Christmas!” It’s so frustrating. Christmas only comes once a year, so we should enjoy it. ★ Speaking of winter, I often ski. I still haven’t been snowboarding. Why does everyone want to do it? You shouldn’t do a sport just because it looks cool! Can you jump on a snowboard? Can you soar for 100 meters or more? Skiing is definitely the original. Being the original is powerful. I guess it’s a double-edged sword (lol). ★ By the way, Arashi released a CD and finished the promotional video. Arashi is basically a group of five very danceable people, so I think the dance is really cool in the PV. I’m just barely keeping up (lol). But I’m the drama team leader, so I really can’t help it!! ★ Speaking of dramas, “V no Arashi” is all over now, and looking back, it was really tough. But it was fun. I want to do more dramas. I like both comedy and serious dramas. I’m also good at war stories and period dramas (lol). I think I could do any period drama, whether it was the Meiji, Taisho, or Showa eras. Going back to the Edo period would be a bit tough (lol), but I definitely want to do a drama. Also, is everyone watching the World Cup? Please look forward to our activities, including volleyball, until the very end! ★

★ When I was in the fifth or sixth grade of elementary school, we made a group called “Circle”. There were about ten members, and we would go to skating classes on Sundays and do all sorts of fun things. When that group got to junior high school, it was renamed the Student Council, and we all had a Christmas party together. When we exchanged presents, we would put all our presents on the kotatsu table, mix them up, and then each of us took one. I took two stuffed toys. They were Mickey Mouse or something. I haven’t seen the rest of the Student Council in ages, but the other day I got a letter saying, “Let’s get together again.” But meeting up is kind of awkward. ★ My ideal Christmas would be to spend it alone with Santa Claus. I’d want to talk all night without any reindeer (laughs). Handing out presents is a lot of work, right? So I’d like to hear about his struggles (laughs). That’s impossible in my lifetime, right? ★ I wonder what I’d like to do this winter? Maybe I’ll sit at the kotatsu and eat some mochi. I like to grill mochi, wrap it in nori seaweed, and dip it in sugar and soy sauce. Also, I’ve been thinking about getting into computers lately. I’d like to draw on the computer. Also, I’d really like to write New Year’s cards this year. ★ Arashi is really great. Our unity during volleyball has become incredible. Everyone’s eyes light up when it comes to a match. I think I was the worst during practice, I’m really bad at receiving. The ball doesn’t hit both of my arms parallel, so it flies in a weird direction. Even when I tried to pass it to Ninomiya who was tossing it, it didn’t go the way I wanted, so I felt sorry for Nino. But the match was awesome, so I was surprised. ★ Arashi’s music video is really cool. There was a part where everyone had to do a dance solo but I was the only one who did something unusual and funny, and it was all cut out (laughs). Thinking about it now, it definitely wasn’t usable. Well… sorry (lol). ★

★ I think I was in Kamisen’s (Coming Century) concert last Christmas. After the concert, I said we should get a cake or something because it was Christmas, but we didn’t do anything (lol). I think I was with Yuki-kun, but I ended up spending the whole time resenting the people who were enjoying Christmas (lol). Of course, concerts are fun. But the more exciting the concert, the lonelier it gets after it’s over. Because, when you turn on the TV, it’s Christmas, the magazines are all Christmas specials, and the whole town is filled with everyone cozying up by the lovey-dovey lights. I’d like to have a lovey-dovey Christmas someday, too. ★ If I ever get a girlfriend and we can go on a date, I’d love to walk through the illuminations of Omotesando. If Omotesando isn’t an option, I’d walk through my local shopping district illuminated with lights (lol). I want to experience that classic activity at least once. I love winter. My birthday is in winter, too. ★ I’ve been skiing since I was a kid. Skiing is fun, but right now, snowboarding is the way to go. This winter, I want to go on an overnight snowboarding trip with my friends. Eat hotpot, take a bath in the hot springs, and snowboard in the morning. That would be great. ★ I was very satisfied with the volleyball that was on “Arashi no V1.” I looked cool in the first game against America, right? I was cool at the start (laughs). In the end we lost, but I think I was able to perform better than I thought I would. Also, during the program, I went on location to encourage the Japanese athletes, but it was difficult. I wasn’t good at hosting the show. I’m hoping to learn more about that. ★ It must be awkward when Arashi’s CD is released and the songs I sang are being sold in stores (laughs). It’s kind of embarrassing. I think the PV is pretty cool. One thing to look out for, in terms of Sakurai, about halfway there’s a part in the video related to Jamiroquai. It was only used briefly though (laughs). I hope you’ll take a good look at that.