Saturday 20 August 2016

Hamachan's Day Off (Gravure the Television vol. 46 - July 2016)

On a certain day, Hamachan suddenly
On such a sunny day, it'd be such a waste to go to school---.
Suddenly getting of in the middle of the Yamanote Line, Hamaura Ayano decided to spend her momentary time away as she pleased.
In the streets of Shibuya that she rarely frequents, the first thing she heads to is, what else, ramen!
*This story was completely fictional




I'd like to go around having ramen. I'd like to go to five stores in a day. I think that my tummy will go down as I go searching for the next store (laughs)

♥♥♥

The setting for today's shooting was 'Ramen Daisuki Hamachan's Day Off'.

It was fun! For the ramen store shooting, I had tonkotsu-style miso ramen at the first store, and I ordered miso ramen at the second store as well (laughs). I like miso ramen, so I wanted to compare how they tasted. Both were delicious though ♪

We were surprised that you finished up both of them!

Ahaha! I always get a large serving plus gyoza, and I even eat the members' leftover ramen. I still haven't had gyoza today, so it feels like I still not stuffed.

There are people who spend their days off like that?

I think so! I'd like to go around having ramen, going to five stores in a day. I think that my tummy will go down as I go searching for the next store (laughs)

And would you have the members of Kobushi Factory accompany you in that situation?

Nomura Minami-chan's told me that she'd like to go around having ramen as well, so I'd like us to go to Tokyo Station's ramen street together. I don't know how many bowls she'd follow along for though (laughs).

How do you normally spend your days off?

I'll do things like go for massages, watch dramas I've recorded at home, or watch DVDs of scary movies. I like scary films, so my mother will rent comedic horror stories.

Hamachan, if I'm not mistaken, you're one of three sisters. Do you hang out with your sisters?

We go shopping or watch movies or go for karaoke. My younger sister will sing and dance Kobushi Factory songs at karaoke (laughs). I often sing songs by Nishino Kana-san, or Ikimonogakari-san, or Berryz Kobo-san.

It's nice how you go out as sisters. Hamachan, you're the second daughter, so how is your relationship with your sisters?

My younger sister tells me that I'm nice, but I'm scary when I'm mad. She goes out and plays without doing her homework, so I have to tell her to get it done.

Have you tutored her for her homework?

I haven't. I just tell her to do it (laughs). I treat my older sister as if she were the same age as me, so it's comfy when we're together. Like if one of us tells the other to get something, we'd get it. The three of us are close.

Well then, let's talk about Kobushi Factory. You achieved the first place in the Oricon weekly charts with your second single, the fastest to do so in H!P history. 

We wouldn't have got it with just our own strength, the power of the fans played a huge role. But it made me really happy that we were the fastest to get that first place, as Kobushi Factory etched a new record in H!P history.

Including the Record Award's Best New Artist Award, things have been going swimmingly since your debut. On the other hand, does it not scare you?

It does. We can't let our guard down. We can't just enjoy it, we've got to improve our performances and aim for new goals. If we don't keep on our toes, the thoughts of the 8 of us wouldn't come together, would they?

And your new goal is?

We've all talked about it: we'd like to be able to pull off hall performances on our own.

Building up towards that goal, you're starting off with your performances in your livehouse tour, right? How has the response been to those?

There are now increasingly more women, as well as people who are seeing us for the first time, which really surprised me. But it's not like we're getting full houses all the time, so that's something that's unforgiving, it's something we've got to overcome. But it's slowly spreading through the audience, that this is the kind of group that Kobushi Factory is, so as we borrow everyone's strength, we'd like to do our best as well.

When you have discussions after live performances, what sort of points are raised?

There are lots of members who grow tired in the latter part of our live performances, so their dancing slowly ends up lacking in power. Since we're performing at livehouses, the air of excitement is amazing. But we've talked about it, and we think that even in the latter part, we have to let out even more power than the first part

I heard that before, you would make notes about points to keep in mind, and you'd inform the members about those. Do you still do it now?

Now we assign a member for each song. We perform lots of songs on our tour, so since it would be tough for just me to keep my eyes on all the songs by myself, I got everyone's cooperation. Everyone watches the videos that they're assigned to, and we'll tell one another things like 'There are differences in the angles of our arms in this part'.

Whoa, apportioning responsibilities, that's a great system! And so, when you're participating in festivals, do you learn a lot from other groups?

That's right, they're really good at building up the mood at live performances. They make lots of eye contact with the audience. We still can't properly 'build up the concert mood', so it makes for a good lesson.

And as you absorb all these things, your third single has gone on sale, and once again, they're titles with a punch!

This time, we've got more songs with impactful titles (laughs). We sing about baseball in 'Bacchikoi Seishun!', and the choreography also has some baseball-ish dance moves, so I think that you'll enjoy it whether you're watching it or just listening to it. 'Samba! Kobushi Janeiro' is a song that's in support of the Olympics, and it's a song where we have to sing our lines quickly. I have difficulties with speaking smoothly, so it was tough to sing (laughs). And for the last song, we cover 'Ora ha Ninkimono'.

It's another fun single, isn't it? It's nice how the songs have a clear direction to them.

They're amusing, and it feels like we're messing around seriously. All of us love playing around, so it's really easy for us to do.

You're properly continuing on with Berryz Kobo's path of entertainment, aren't you.

Yes, we'll succeed them!

Kobushi-factory Hamaura Ayano First Photo Book "Hamaura Ayano" / Ayano Hamaura (Kobushi-factory)Samba! Kobushi Janeiro / Bacchikoi Seishun! / Ora wa Ninkimono / Kobushi-factory

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