news_jpop | NEWS news (week of 1 October)

Sorashige Book (1 Oct)
- Shige talked about how apparently as of the time of this show airing, Green Mile will have opened the day before. He talked again about how talking from the past is strange and that he hopes the first show was successful.
- He said that since NEWS recently had their 14th anniversary he would like to read some messages relating to that even though it’s a bit belated.
  
  The first message was from a listener who congratulated them on their anniversary and commented on how they’ve overcome a lot of difficulties and said she would keep supporting them.
  
  The next listener also congratulated them and said in celebration they recently went to the Johnny’s shop and bought some NEWS photos for the first time in awhile. They thanked NEWS for always encouraging them and giving them energy. They commented on how busy Shige is and told him to take care of his health, and that they’re supporting him.
  
  The last message congratulated him again and said that while they haven’t been one for a long time yet, they’re glad to a NEWS fan and that they’re looking forward to NEWS’ activities in their 15th year. They also noted that NEWS and Arashi’s group formation anniversaries are on the same day and asked if they’d ever been conscious of that fact.
  
  Shige thanked the listeners for all their messages, and that same as his own birthday he’s not really the type to pay too much attention to these kind of anniversary dates, but he’s thankful to all the fans who celebrate it. He talked about how this means that NEWS is in their 15th year now, and how he’s planning on working hard
  
  He talked about how during 24hr TV he and Koyama talked about how [NEWS and Arashi have the same formation anniversary date]. They went to go eat and it came up in relation to Sho, and Koyama told him ‘actually, NEWS and Arashi’s formation anniversary is on the same day’ and Shige felt like he had heard that before. He said he’s glad NEWS has made it to their 15th year and asked for the listeners’ continued support.
- ♪ NEWSKOOL ♪
- In this week’s music club, Shige wanted to talk about a movie. Even though he’s been busy he really wanted to see a movie, but there are too many interesting movies to choose from. He decided to see the movie ‘Baby Driver’, talking about how the director, Edgar Wright’s, movies are always a lot of fun, praising his work. He said he did have some hangups, that if it was really ok to use his rare day off to go see ‘Baby Driver’, but in the end he felt like if he didn’t end up seeing it he’d regret it. He went, and he was glad he did. He said if he kept going on about the movie the show would end with him having only talked about it so he resolved to come back to it later, but not before giving a brief summary of the movie. He talked about how the movie is about Baby, who is a getaway driver and he listens to music in the car as he drives and that the playlist was really good. He said you could almost call it a musical movies and said that once you watch it makes you want to listen to the soundtrack. There are so many good songs, he’s conflicted about which one to pick, but decided to go with the first song that the main character sings along to in the song while waiting on a bank robbery in the opening scene. He commented on how it’s like what Watanabe Naomi does, fun and you could watch it forever.
  
  He commented on all the great bands included in the soundtrack like Simon and Garfunkel, Beach Boys, Queen, etc. The song he played was “Bellbottoms” by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.
- In the next section Shige wanted to talk more about the movie, and that it’s been awhile since he’s been able to watch a movie and he’s been thinking about ‘Baby Driver’ constantly since he saw it. Even though there are a lot of movies he wants to see, it was so good that he wants to see it again it was so good. He talked about how the relationships were interesting and he wants to see it again so he can notice more details the second time around. He also talked about how any movie with Kevin Spacey is interesting and he’s his favorite actor.
- The next message was from a listener who said listening to Shiges radio is really interesting and how it’s full of a lot of knowledge on various topics. They commented on how Green Mile is starting soon and they’re really looking forward to it, and watched the movie and are looking forward to see how it’ll be portrayed on stage. They said that there were a lot of really moving scenes, and they’re looking forward to see how Shige acts them out. Even though it’s a movie from an earlier period, it’s themes still seem important.
  
  Shige said that he’s said this before but that the play will be different from the movie, the original work is the same but he wants to take advantage of the play aspect. He wants to make is such a good play that the audience, even if they came to watch it not thinking much, on the way home are speechless. Though, there may be some people who feel that they don’t want to pay money to be made to feel that way, he wants to make the audience feel emotions that you don’t feel in everyday life.
  
  He talked about how this (the death penalty) is something that happens in Japan too. He asked people who are coming to watch to look forward to it.
- ♪ EASY COME, EASY GO ♪

Kchan NEWS (3 Oct)
- The guest this week was Massu again.
- The first message was from a listener who wrote in about Massu dying his hair black. They said that it really suited him and that he looked really cool, they wanted to know if there was a particular reason that he decided to dye his hair black.
  
  Massu: Well, it was decided that I’ll appear in a drama. K: Masuda-san, you’re going to appear in a drama? M: Yes. K: What kind of drama was it again… M: I wonder. K: What was the title? The black haired detective? M: It’s called ‘Juyonin sankonin tantei’! K: Ah you mean ‘Juyo sankonin tantei’ M: Yeah
  
  They both started trying to say the title quickly like a tongue twister. Koyama joked that their manager must have made a mistake when he told Koyama he was appearing in the drama instead of Massu.
- ♪ Dance in the Dark ♪
- The next message came from a listener quizzing Massu and Koyama on how much slang they knew, specifically phrases that end with ‘fure’ short for friend. The example they gave was ‘sofure’ short for ‘soine friend’ or friends who sleep next to each other (no sex involved). They also mentioned ‘kisufure’ and Koyama made Massu say what it meant and he guessed that it was friends who kiss, and then ‘hagufure’, friends who hug, ‘ofure’ which stumped Massu a bit and it meant friends who bathe together. He was surprised and asked if it meant a male and female friend and Koyama said he didn’t think so. The next one was ‘mafure’ and Massu gave up, it apparently stands for ‘maximum friend’, meaning a friend you are so close with there are no boundaries anymore, and Massu started to sing a song and Koyama guessed that he guessing that it meant a friend who likes MAX. The next one was ‘sanfure’ and Massu asked if it was the Hiroshima one, referring to Sanfrecce Hiroshima, a pro soccer team, but it meant ‘sandbag friend’ and they guessed that that referred to exercising. ‘Birifure’ and Massu guessed ‘Billiard friend’ but it meant ‘rehability friend’, they laughed going over the definitions. The next one was, ‘kamofure’ and since ‘kamoshirenai’ can mean ‘maybe’ in Japanese Massu guessed that it meant always saying ‘maybe something’, but apparently it stood for ‘kamoshirenai friend’ meaning that maybe friends, someone pretending to be your friend. Massu commented that lately they have services like that, paying someone to pretend to be your friend to come to things. At the end of the message they asked them if they had to make a term to describe the relationship between the members, what ‘fure’ would they be.
  
  Koyama commented on how it would be really cold to say ‘bijifure’ standing for business friend, saying they’re a bit closer than that and they wondered what word would be good. Koyama said that they should decide by the way it sounds, and started repeating the different examples outloud ending in ‘furefure’ or ‘hurray hurray’ and they both laughed agreeing that that was good.
- The next message was from a listener who recently went out drinking with coworkers. They ended up missing their last train and took a taxi home, they were in the same cab as one other person. When they went to open the door, suddenly that person hugged them (K: Scary!), and that person stole their first kiss. The next day that person remembered what happened, and said it was just the alcohol, and it made them feel sad and lonely. They said that soon that they’ll be leaving for America and it’s painful to think that this kind of thing won’t happen anymore. They asked what kind of things NEWS finds painful.
  
  Massu commented on how the story was kind of scary, and Koyama asked if it didn’t make his heart skip a beat. Massu said it’s fine if they both like each other but if not… If it was someone you didn’t really know you’d end up punching them or something. Koyama pointed out that the listener said they felt sad and lonely that they would be going to America and losing this, and Massu said that it seemed like this kind of situation would happen more frequently than in Japan, and Koyama laughed agreeing.
  
  They tried to think of things that felt painful them and they both agreed that they couldn’t really think of anything. Koyama said though maybe I sort of start to feel like that when it starts to smell like fall. M: Really? (both laugh) M: Really? K: That was a lie. M: It was, wasn’t it? You were trying to sound cool and expand the conversation. F- K: OK, I DON’T! (staff and Massu laugh)
- ♪ Kimi Omou Yoru♪
- The last message was from a listener who said that they have a mole on their chest. They used to like it and think it was kind of sexy, but then recently a friend's mother said that there was a song that said that women with a mole on their chest will be deceived by the men they like. Since then they’ve had a complex about their mole, and asked them if they had moles on their bodies that they either liked or disliked. They also asked if there are any kids of moles that they find cute or sexy on women.
  
  Massu said that he didn’t really have any moles and that Koyama doesn’t really either. Koyama asked Massu what he thought of moles on boobs. There was a long pause before they agreed that moles on boobs was fine, Massu added especially if you like it yourself. K: It’s totally fine! Having a mole on your chest is really sexy!! You know when there’s one around the cleavage above the bra. M: Yeah. M: I HAVE ONE OF THOSE! (Massu showing off his mole) K: That’s right in the center!! (laughing) M: I have three! K: On a women, I like them on the right side.
  
  They both said that having moles on your chest was perfectly fine, the song that the mother mentioned is completely unrelated. They wondered what kind of song it was and started to sing what they thought it might be like. M: Moles aren’t good ♪ Like that? K: You’ll be deceived♪ K: No way, that kind of song is scary.
  
  They both said in the end that she shouldn’t worry about it and that they liked moles. Massu added how he thought having moles on your face was cool, and Koyama agreed like how Tackey has one under his eye.
- At the end Koyama did promo for his drama and added that Massu’s drama would be starting soon too. M: Huh? K: It’ll be starting soon. M: Seriously? K: Huh? You’re not going to wrap this up?
  
  They joked a bit more and Koyama said that he’d like to see Massu in a drama again, something cool with the hair like he had in Rescue again. Massu said that as soon as he gets a drama he’ll get a buzzcut, and Koyama said that that kind of haircut is sexy on Massu.

Tegomass no Radio (4 Oct)
- They started by announcing that from this episode, the programme will be available on SBC Shinetsu Broadcasting too, in the Nagano area. They talked about how they are happy that the programme that first started in Kansai (MBS) expanded to Kagawa, Okayama (RNC), Kumamoto (RKK) and now Nagano. Tegoshi then rattled off a list of famous produce from each area (udon, peach, horse sashimi, apple) and what they would like to eat next. Tegoshi would like things like crabs or seafood, so Hokkaido please! Or goya chanpuru (stir fried bitter gourd) in Okinawa. But they also mentioned how there must have been requests by people to their local radio stations that they wanted to listen to Tegomass no Radio, which is what has led to the increase in number of stations. (T: THANK YOU! Sakura: You’re going to shock people. M: It’s okay. You don’t need such a loud voice for it to reach people.)
- The request for this week was from someone taking entrance exams this year, and could only go out once during the summer holidays. (Sakura tripped over her words in between and TM laughed at her for quite a bit and how her face turns red immediately) The listener said this is the first time they are studying so much as they were more focussed on their club activities in middle school. Some of their friends already have their next destination determined, and to be honest, they just want to escape from all of this. It is NEWS and Tegomass’ songs that give them strength and hope they would choose a song, for people who are working hard now. TM continued digging at Sakura’s trip just now for a bit (when she mispronounced “shuchu” as “chuchu” by suggesting songs containing “chuchu”). Massu finally suggested “Gan gan ganbatte” and they sang a bit of it. But Tegoshi can’t remember it very well, asking if what they just sang was the chorus or the verse. (T: Do you remember verse A? M: Of course. Well, please listen to… T: BUT I DON’T! M:...NEWS’ “Gan gan ganabatte”! T: OEI! You just went ahead like that)
- ♪ Gan gan ganbatte ♪
- The second listener said they liked the spiciness of wasabi, and didn’t even realise when they got the portion of sushi with extra wasabi added in, during a game of Russian roulette recently. This turned all the friends off. Do the three of them have any strange eating habits that surprise people around them? Tegoshi mentioned how he adds chili sauce into everything. Massu added on, saying that he was surprised how as long as Tegoshi adds a lot of things like tabasco, shichimi (Japanese mix of 7 spices), red peppers… everything becomes delicious. T: That’s right. M: So basically it means he has no sense of taste. And that anything goes. T: But basically everything is delicious, no matter what it is. Sakura: What do you dislike? T: Coriander, celery. They then got off track for a while when Tegoshi started singing some songs and imitating singers. Tegoshi then threw the ball to Massu, saying that he’s always eating gyoza. (M: That’s not a strange habit!) Tegoshi and Sakura said he’s always eating gyoza in the radio booth, and that makes them hungry. So they take some from him sometimes. Massu then said he probably doesn’t have anything strange habits, eats everything and is pretty ordinary. Tegoshi agreed, saying he doesn’t add anything much either. Massu said he doesn’t even add loads of dressing to his veggies, not to deep fried food either. Sakura said he’s the type who cares about the original taste of the food. For Sakura, she’s perfectly okay with spicy food. (T: [imitating Ikko]: Oh man, we’re the same!) Sakura and Massu then jabbed him, saying there were better timings to do that imitation, and not at such a weak spot.
- The third listener asked how they take care of their accessories. The listener has always been hanging them from pins on cork boards or placing them on glass plates, but the number of accessories have increased and it’s all a mess now. They hope to have receive ideas on how to organise them, and “Massu, daisuki”. T: (Ikko imitation) Oh man, oh man! M: (cute voice) Arigato! T: What about my name~~~~ (in a spoof of “Kimi no na wa”) M: Tegotegotego. I’m happy. Sakura: What was that? M: Hmm? Tego tego tego? T: Ah, as “kimi no tego tego tego” (as in the theme song for “Kimi no na wa”) Tegoshi said he keeps his sunglasses in a showcase with lights, and hangs his necklaces on the twirly stands, like the ones you see in shops displaying sunglasses. And his rings are just placed there like that. M: For me… T: Sorry. You can’t talk about clothes anymore. Sakura: This gets categorised as clothes too? T: He can’t. Sakura: Even though this came as a question? T: Sorry. Ah, the Nagano listeners don’t know yet, but Masuda-san is prohibited from talking about clothes on Tegomass no Radio. M: Why? T, Sakura: HAHAHHAAH. M: That’s my strength. T: HAHAHHAA. Sakura: You have plenty of other… T: That’s right. You mean to say Masuda Takahisa is nothing- M: OEI! T: -if you take clothes away from him? M: OEI! I stopped him quite early. But that’s true. That’s probably my only hobby. T: HAHAHAHA. Sakura: No no no that’s not true. They finally let him talk, and he said he separates them in the shelf. Tegoshi said that Massu has LOADS of accessories, and how he’d always thought that Massu wears a lot of rings to the radio sessions. Massu said a couple of them are already part of his body, and Tegoshi joked that it’s like how hats are to air:man. They talked about how Massu must have really own lots, and those will just keep increasing, as accessories aren’t really things you get rid off. Massu said that there are people who go as far as making sure their silver and gold pieces don’t get into contact with air as they will discolour. He does think it’s a good thing to properly keep them in a good condition so they are always ready for use. Tegoshi moved on to talk about how he hopes to wear an engagement ring someday, saying it’s cool when he sees actors wearing them. (Sakura: Don’t you call those wedding bands? M: Uh-huh) Tegoshi said he’s been told that the spot where most power enter/ exit his body is his left ring finger, so he wears rings on that finger sometimes during concerts and stuff, to receive power. He shared how he lost a ring he liked during a concert, and thinks somebody should be holding on to it. He also shared a story of how Shige lost a wrist accessory and Tegoshi had actually heard saw something metallic on the floor, but it didn’t occurred to him that it’s Shige’s accessory and left just like that. They also talked about how Shige likes those loose and jiggly stuff while Massu prefers those that don’t make too much noise. This segment ended with another of Tegoshi’s Ikko’s impersonation.
- So the announcement that Massu mentioned in the previous episode was that there are new segments for the programme. They will keep the usual mail segment for the first half, and for the second half, there will be 3 segments done on rotation basis - Tegomass no Debate, Tegomass no Battle, Quiz! Tegomass ni Oshiete. And from October, there will be 2 new ones from October. The first is “Tegomass hitokoto (short line) Actors”, where they each draw a line and act that out together. Sakura gets to decide who wins. As a trial, Tegoshi drew the line (“Let’s do our best together”), and Massu drew the situation (“in a very bad mood”). Tegoshi asked if they could do adlib, and Sakura said okay. Massu went first, then Tegoshi. And they were both terrible. They asked for another chance, where Tegoshi drew the word, “Tegomass no Radio” and Massu drew the situation “in the midst of falling off from a building”. Tegoshi went first this time (yelling: Tegomass no radioooooooooooo!) then Massu, who probably went a distance away as he sounded further and softer (Tegomass no radio). Massu suggested them drawing a line and situation each by themselves, and do a different one each, so the person who goes first doesn’t get advantage. They all agreed. So the radio is now asking for suggestions for the line and situation, and you don’t have to send in both if you don’t have both. They also added in a disclaimer to say that they are still testing this out, and might do a renewal of the corner if it doesn’t work out well.
- The other new segment is named “Chikara wo awasete Tegomass” (“With your powers combined, Tegomass”). So far, the segments have had the two of them pitted against each other, and this is finally one that requires them to work together to clear challenges. As a trial, they did a word chain game, where each word has to be 3-syllable and they need to give 10 words in 30 seconds. Massu said a word with more than 3 syllables in between and the last word just as the bell rang, but Sakura decided to let it go as it was just a trial. So these are the 2 new segments.

Masuda Takahisa no Master Hits (6 Oct)
- He opened the show by saying it’s already October. When he heard people talking about the year-end during the previous month, it still felt like something very far away. But now that it’s October, it feels like it already is the year end. In just a little bit, it’ll be the Countdown, they’ll go for their Hatsumode (first visit to the shrine for the year), and wishing each other Happy New Year. For the first time in his life, he feels like a year has passed by really fast. Or maybe not? It does feel like some time has passed since he turned 31, so maybe it’s just the right speed. In any case, he wants to spend each day of the remaining year fully so it won’t feel like the year passed by in the blink of an eye. He also mentioned that it was bayfm’s 28th anniversary on 1st October, which means they’re in their 29th year now. He talked about how these anniversaries are confusing, as you can’t really tell how many years have passed, and which year they are in. Like for NEWS, it was their 14th anniversary, so which year are they in now? But since it was the 14th anniversary, they are now in their 15th year. For bayfm, they will be going into their 30th year next year, which might just coincide with the 700th episode of Master Hits, the episode which he said he wanted to do an open recording for. So maybe he can ride on to their celebrations and have it held as part of the celebrations.
- ♪ Anthem ♪
- The first listener wrote in to ask what kind of specialty shops he likes, and that the listener likes tiramisu specialty shops. Massu first got distracted by the idea of tiramisu specialty shops, as he couldn’t imagine how that works. Are there that many variations for tiramisu such that specialty shops can be opened? He does get attracted to things like gyoza specialty shops and ramen museums, but to put it simply, the salad stalls at the food basement of department stores? The kind where they have lots of different types of salads on display. He always gets super attracted to those and end up buying so much he can’t finish. Like this, this, this, and this. But he says there are lots of specialty shops, like cutlery shops, chopsticks shops (in English, “Chopstick”)... but what popped into his head now is the salad shop, so salad it is.
- The second listener said her first summer holidays as an undergrad is almost coming to an end. There were quite a few occasions when she went on trips and training camps with her friends, and these made her realise she doesn’t like packing. She always delays the packing to the night before. She asked if Massu likes packing and what items he always brings along. He said that people usually pack the night before, don’t they. Like, wouldn’t the bags get into the way if they were already packed a week ahead or something? When he was in elementary school, he might have started packing earlier for his graduation trip as he was looking forward to it so much, and was trying to decide what clothes to bring, but now… For the tours even, he only packs the night before the first concert, and doesn’t unpack that bag for the entire tour. So he’d have the stuff he needs to care for his throat and his body, perfume, accessories he’d want to wear during the concerts… He doesn’t really bring along change of clothes either so it’s mainly the stuff to take care of himself, and the music related stuff. One item he’s been indecisive about recently is whether or not to bring his pillow along. He probably talked about this before, but every time he sleeps with the hotels’ pillows, he’d wake up with a stiff neck. So he thought that if he brought his own pillow along, he’d be able to complete the entire tour without any stiff necks. But if he ever gets asked at the bag check to open his bag, people would likely either think he’s really homesick, or the super particular type. As his things are usually on the fewer side for the tours and so on, so if his bag gets surprisingly filled, people might wonder what’s inside and it’d be quite embarrassing to answer “pillow”. So he hasn’t managed to take the step of bringing the pillow along, though it would probably be better to bring it along. But he really always wakes up with stiff necks, and they usually last through the morning and slowly get better as they prepare for the start of the concert. There were a few times, not this time though, when he really went into the opening of the concert with a stiff neck. If he had to choose whether or not he likes packing, he probably doesn’t, but he always packs the night before so all he has to do the following morning is to take it along.
- The third listener said Massu mentioned that he didn’t like “Neverland” being shortened in a previous episode, but what about using kanji characters to represent the concert names? Like 純白魂 for WHITE, 四奏魂 for QUARTETTO, and 夢国魂 for NEVERLAND etc. (M: HOOOO~ This has finally come. This sort of shortening style. Seriously. Where do I even start.) He said he basically dislikes having the titles shortened, as these are the titles of their works, and he wouldn’t hope for them to be shortened. So naming WHITE as something like a white concert? Where 魂 is read as “con”? Why? WHITE is fine isn’t it? Do you know how much time they spent before coming up with WHITE? QUARTETTO? And their thoughts for NEVERLAND? He’d have really hope for these words to be used widely, rather than the kanji ones, as the original titles will lose their impact. In anycase, he basically doesn’t like shortening things, but he is using a lot of these short forms naturally in his daily life, so he can’t say anything much. There isn’t a need to rename the concert titles this way, is there? So what? If they decide to do a tour in kanji the next time, like, 花火, what’re people going to call it? Fireworks? Like if it’s in English, refer to it in kanji, and if it’s in kanji, refer to it in English? He does hope people can do whatever they like in the way they enjoy, but for them, they’d be happier if each work can be referred to it the way it is.
- The fourth listener said it’d be Halloween soon. They go to the theme park with their friends every year and they’d dress up, but are out of ideas this year. Would Massu, the idea man, help them out? Massu said that since they’re going to the theme park, there are probably characters you shouldn’t wear or characters you can wear, depending on the season? The only cosplay he has ever done was Sorakara chan, for Ippuku. But as it’s a mascot for somewhere else, he’s not sure if it’s okay to dress up as that to go to another theme park. He suggested dressing up as characters from the big movies for the season, but not the main characters. If they weren’t going to a theme park, he’d highly recommend Sorakara chan. He said there’s this blue bulldog looking character behind Sorakara chan, and that’s a great character. He might dress up as that next time. So he suggests dressing up as a smaller movie character for the theme park, while personalizing it to your character.
- ♪ Pumpkin ♪
- For Brain Master this week, why the cloth used in Spanish bullfighting is red. He thought it was simple as bulls get excited at red. But it was wrong. He got confused, as he was told that’s the reason before. He then made a couple of wrong guesses before finally guessing the right one, to get the audience excited. The bulls apparently can’t really tell colours apart, and see everything pretty much in monotone. So what they react to, is the swinging action, and not the colour of the cloth.
- ♪ Ai no Matador ♪
- At the ending, he shared an episode of how he bought a new laptop case recently. This was the first replacement he bought, since he’d been using a ethnic looking, cute knitted case since his first laptop. When he changed a laptop, it was a little small, but still fitted if he stuffed the laptop in by force. So this case has probably been with him for maybe 10 years or so. This time, it’s really a very ordinary case, with nothing special at all, and is really just a functional one to protect his laptop when he has to bring it out. Still, in the past 10 odd years, he had probably brought his laptop out once or twice. The old knit one would get his laptop really warmed up if he placed his laptop on top of it outside, and that wouldn’t work. It doesn’t hurt him to have to replace the laptop case without using it much to its full potential though, so he intends to use it to keep his old laptop.