news_jpop | NEWS news (week of 5 November)

Sorashige Book (5 Nov)
- Shige started off by talking about how the Kyoto Green performances had started and that he hopes that they’re going well.
- The first message was from a middle school student who saw Green Mile and said that they thought the play would be difficult to understand but that they were able to follow it and they cried at the end. They said that it was the play made them think about a lot of things, and that they were really happy that they were able to see Shige in a lead role for the first play they went to see.
  
  Shige reiterated how he felt that seeing plays as a junior high school student is a good experience. It’s good to start watching them while you’re young and encouraged them to see many different kinds of plays.
- The next message was from a listener who wrote about their impressions of the play.
  
  Shige talked about how the role of Paul involves a lot of self questioning, and how the character may appear like a strong and passionate man but he really is constantly thinking and questioning. He said practice was really difficult, but he’s glad if it came through to the audience.
- ♪ Weather NEWS ♪
- For the song this week Shige said that he thought about a lot. Semi-recently, a book called ‘Bokutachi wa Minna Otona ni Narenakatta’(Not all of us were able to become adults) was released in June of this year. It was written by ‘Moegara’ who is famous on twitter. He heard how good it was from their choreographer, air:man, who he often talks about books with. Since it’s pretty short he was able to read it while his play was going on. He talked about taking the train recently for the first time in awhile to go vote and reading it on the train and was able to finish it in one or two days. He said that it was really good and he was able to empathize with the characters, like the book ‘Gekijou’ (that he talked about on the show Typewriters) the character is one you don’t really like but can’t help but empathize with. The book is a mix of fiction and nonfiction, with some real events mixed into the novel, and is about a lost love. The novel takes place around 1999 and things from that time appear in the novel. In one scene the song ‘Kazoetarinai Yoru no Ashioto’ by UA plays on the radio which made Shige want to play it on his radio. He said he really like UA.
- The next message was from a student who said their classmate who isn’t a NEWS fan came up them and told them that they had read ‘Pink to Grey’ and that it was really good, and that they thought Shige was a genius. The listener said that they were glad that non-fans appreciated the book too. They said that they’re waiting for his next book and hope that Shige will release many more in the future.
  
  Shige said he was happy to hear that. He said he didn’t know when it would be announced but that he thought it was probably fine to talk about it here, but that in fact he next book would be coming out.’Tuberose de Matteru’ will be released in December. He joked that it’s been a very long spring since he initially said that it would be released in spring. He talked about getting a message previously asking what he does between shows and said that he gets massages and stuff and digressed to talk about how doing the play has made him stiff. There’s only about an hour, he has to shower and eat and there’s really not much time, but in those breaks he was also proofreading ‘Tuberose’. It’ll be released in two parts, since altogether the page count exceeds 500 pages. He said he’d never done that much proofreading before. He said he’s worried about, because right before release is the most nerve wracking. He said that he thinks that even those who read the serialization, there are probably people who don’t remember all the details so he hopes everyone will look forward to the release.
- The next message was from a listener who loves alcohol and asked Shige to talk about it. She loves men who can hold their alcohol. She also asked what he thought of women who like alcohol, and wondered if didn’t give off a bad impression to men.
  
  Shige said that he thought it’s fine for women to like alcohol and that there’s nothing wrong with women who don’t drink either. He said that while people should drink what they like, it feels good when the other person drinks the same things as him such as shochu or beer. Though it’s fine to just like sweet drinks. He said that this’ll sound lame, but when you’re drinking together he likes drinks that take effect quickly. He encouraged her to take care when drinking.
  
  He added that there’s not really any kind of alcohol that he doesn’t drink, though he does drink sweet drinks when he’s by himself. He doesn’t have a set drink, and he apologized but said that he doesn’t really have a favorite drink either.
- ♪ Alibi ♪

Kchan NEWS (7 Nov)
- The guest this week was Shige.
- The started off talking about how Shige would be finishing up his run of Green Mile in Kyoto shortly. Koyama jokingly asked Shige how Kyoto was going even though it hadn’t started yet, due to the time difference between recording and airing times. Since, it’s possible that there are still people planning to go to the last show who haven’t seen it yet, they’re still refraining from talking about spoilers, but Koyama said that number of lines that Shige had to memorize was amazing, and praised him saying that his delivery made them sound not like a script. Shige protested that of course you have to make it sound natural and countered by praising Koyama in his drama.
- The first message was from a listener who said that they really enjoyed the CDTV Halloween performance, and asked if NEWS each picked out their own costumes. Koyama said that stylists actually make their costumes, and ask them what costume they want. Koyama didn’t know what the others were doing, and Shige said he didn’t know at first and was last to decide while Tegoshi knew right away what he wanted to dress up as and he was really into it. Koyama said that he didn’t know what Tegoshi was dressing up as until the day of, and at first Koyama was thinking that he would dress up as a doctor, wearing nothing under just the white doctor’s robes, but then decided that this year wasn’t the year for it and to save it for possibly next year. Then he was thinking that he wanted to be a witch, he specifically wanted to wear the witch’s hat.
  
  S: I know. I know that you took that hat home with you after. K: Ah, you- you know? And then I gave it to my mom. S: You did?
  
  Shige asked Koyama if he did anything for Halloween and Koyama said he didn’t, and reminded him that they went for dinner together on Halloween. Koyama said that he knew right away what Shige’s costume was, even though as Shige pointed out he’d never seen the movie before, his image of the character was more from Oguri Shun playing him in a play.
  
  Shige said that at first the stylist asked him to just pick anything, but he responded that he had no idea, since there was also restrictions regarding certain characters they couldn’t do. He asked about the mad hatter from Alice in Wonderland, but in the end he didn’t want to do it because he didn’t want others to think that he really loves Alice in Wonderland, since that wasn’t the case. Then, about 2 days before the performance he decided to go with Clockwork Orange, and the stylist responded right away saying they’d do their best. Koyama interrupted Shige in the middle of his story to ask:
  
  K: Sorry, one second there’s one thing I don’t understand. What’s ‘Mad Max’ from Alice [in Wonderland]? S: Mad Max- Mad Max wouldn’t been a good choice too! Maybe I’ll do Mad Max next year! K: What’s Mad Max? S: Mad hatter. It’s Johnny Depp. K: Ah, Johnny-san’s [character]. S: From the movie. K: You weren’t planning on being Alice. S: No, the guy with the playing cards.
  
  Koyama tried to move on to the song but Shige continued to talk, saying that dressing up as a character from Green Mile would’ve been good too, though. Koyama suggested that he dress up as Baruto’s character and Shige complained that that was confusing.
- ♪ Pokoponpekorya ♪
- The next message was from a listener who asked what Shige did to physically prepare for Green Mile, and said that his costume really suited him.
  
  They talked about how this is the biggest Shige’s been, and Shige said that he has been eating a lot. Koyama commented on how right now he’s also the biggest he’s ever been, and Shige said you can’t tell from looking at him. Shige said that he weights around 67kg and Koyama said he’s around 64 or 65kg. Koyama talked about how he’s working out since there are scenes in his drama where you can see his body. S: Ah that’s right, you take you clothes off. K: Rather than take off, it’s more like I’m made to… I thought it’d just be Tamamori…
  
  They talked about working out and going to the gym for a bit.
- The next message was a listener who said that they sometimes write fan letters with thanks to Koyama, but they’ve never written one to Shige before. Since Shige’s such a good writer, they’re afraid to and asked Koyama on advice on what to write since they want to write in with their thoughts about Green Mile.
  
  Koyama reassured them and said they can just write like he does, and Shige said it really was fine. Actually, trying too hard makes the letters more difficult to read. Shige said that they can just write like “Whassup!” They said it’s best to just honestly write your feelings.
- The next message was a listener who wrote in to tell them that on ItteQ, Tegoshi recently said that fishing is tedious, if you don’t catch anything then it’s a wasted day. They wanted to know if Shige agreed that if you don’t catch anything it’s a waste and if they had any new hobbies recently.
  
  Shige said he didn’t, even if he doesn’t catch anything he thinks of it as practice kind of like how when you get a bad score playing golf that doesn’t make it a waste. Koyama asked him if he’s had days where he didn’t catch anything and Shige said he has, a bunch of times. Koyama said that Tegoshi feels that way because he’s result-orientated.
  
  They said that they don’t have any new hobbies, and Koyama said that you can’t just easily pick up a new hobby, that’s not what a hobby is. The conversation reminded Shige of something he wanted to tell Koyama, and said that recently he went to check out a sale and saw shoes that he thought was cute, and was told by the store clerk that Koyama had already bought them.
  
  K: HAHAHA S: OI! You went as soon as the sale started didn’t you! When I asked, apparently Massu was there too! K: That’s right. I did.
  
  Shige said that he goes every time. Koyama said that he would explain. A certain store had a sale, and the only time Koyama had to go was right when it started which is when the store has the most items in stock. When he was trying to decide between two pairs of shoes to buy, he heard someone calling out ‘Koyama-san, Koyama-san!’ and it turned out to be Massu. And had Massu pick which ones he thought were better, and that he thought that the ones that he picked were also the ones that Shige would like better, the ones with iron-on patches on them. Shige complained that those were the one pair of shoes he really liked, and since the patches are pretty popular right now he could probably only wear them this year and was wondering if they would fit him. He asked Koyama if they were size 42, and Koyama said that they were 42.5.
  
  Koyama told Shige that he’d actually been wearing them yesterday when they went for dinner, and Shige said he hadn’t noticed.
  
  Shige complained that he’s been going to that sale for about 10 years, and that the shoes weren’t Koyama’s usual style and that he should go buy things in his usual style. They both laughed and Shige said that he was joking, and that he’d found the situation pretty funny. Shige said that Tegoshi shops there a lot as well, and Koyama commented that unexpectedly he really influenced by what others wear and that he must’ve seen Koyama wearing that brand.
- ♪ DREAMS ♪
- The last message was from a listener who said that they prayed at new years to get a boyfriend by summer, but that their wish disappeared just like the fleeting sparkler fireworks. (S: Don’t mind!) There’s still Christmas, so they’re trying to stay positive. What color lipgloss do they like best?
  
  S: What the heck! (staff laughing) What the heck!! K: I was surprised too by that sudden turn.
  
  They both said that they really didn’t care about lipgloss colors.
  
  Koyama commented on how the phrasing with the fleeting sparklers is like something Shige would write, and how Shige often uses metaphors with sparklers. Shige agreed he did have a habit of it and Koyama told him to cut it out. They started talking over each other until:
  
  K: SHUT UP! Just tell them your favorite lipgloss color!! S: Red! K: Ok, red! Finished! (both laugh)
  
  They talked a bit about lipgloss and Koyama said he liked light pink, something that wasn’t too flashy. Shige said that it depends on the season, doesn’t it? And Koyama said that he’s unexpectedly knowledgeable on the subject.
- At the end Koyama congratulated Shige on his hard work on the play so far and wished him luck on the final show.