news_jpop | NEWS news (week of Oct 9)

Sorashige Book (Oct 7)
- The first letter was from a listener who said that every year there’s a human rights essay contest at her school, and for 2 years in a row she’s made it through. The theme can be anything as long as it has to do with human rights and last year she wrote about child abuse after becoming interested in the topic from NEWS Na Futari. This year, she gained inspiration from Shige’s essay on the Grammys and wrote about women’s rights. She said that she was thankful that he was always bringing her attention to issues like these. She’s always liked writing, so she wants to keep writing and learning from Shige and hopefully write for a living in the future.
  Shige said that he was really happy, and that that was impressive for a 15 year old. He said that more than coming up with topics to write himself, it comes from things he’s read or people he’s met, things in his life and he hopes that [his writings] can be catalyst to thinking about how to make a better society, even if just a little. That’s been the trend in his writing lately.
  He said NEWS Na Futari always has ‘hard’ topics and things that have surprised him and that makes him have to think about them ahead of time, that happens with Bibitto too. He wants to put his thoughts into something, since on TV they have to speak in a easy to understand way and only have a small amount of time.
  He said that he’s really thankful for those programs and Typewriters as well, it makes him think of a lot societal things. He congratulated the letter writer on their works getting into the contest.
- ♪ ‘Ikiro’ ♪
- Shige said that for this week’s music club he didn’t wouldn’t explain too much, h found a song he really likes but when he researched it couldn’t find too much on it. He played ‘Magic In The Hamptons (feat. Lil Yachty)’ by Social House and he noted that he had played Lil Yachty on the radio last year. He said that he really liked it so it’s frustrating that he couldn’t find much on it to talk about, but said that it must be that his research skills are lacking. He said it was a good song though and wanted everyone to listen to it.
- Shige said that he’s gotten a lot of letters from fans sharing their thoughts on Strawberry so he thought he would read a few.
  The first one was from a listener who said that they listened to Strawberry and recalled how Shige had said that if you read the lyrics you would know who had written what. So they looked at the lyrics, and agreed that it was easy to get. They commented on Massu’s lyrics about his dad transitioning into Shige’s line using ‘Kageboushi’ was very NEWS-like. They said that they could feel the love and that it was a really good song. They said that they liked his voice in the line ‘Guitar ni Awase, Utaidasu Ore’ and that he sounded really happy and like he was having fun and they wanted to keep supporting him so he can continue to sing like that. They also talked about watching Zero, and how they’re looking forward to the last Spin Off and that they’re saving up money for the Epcotia DVD.
- The next letter was from a listener who said that Strawberry is artistic and matches the four member’s voices. She said that the lyrics that go along with the theme of anniversary is very NEWS-like and it’s simple and lovely. She said that she looked at the lyrics card before listening and was able to guess which lines were Shige’s, the rhythm and word play had the feeling of ‘THE Kato Shigeaki’. She said that her favorite lyric was “Gogo 3-ji no bell, Aizu de sakebunda ‘Arigato! Aishiteruze!!!!’” She loved how he picked gogo 3-ji = 3:00pm = 15:00. She thanked him for the lovely present.
- The next letter was from a listener who said that they listened after having guessed who wrote what. (S: Everyone’s doing that huh!) Shige’s like ‘Dare nimo made dekinai omoide no aji’ seemed really cool to them for some reason. She wanted to know if there were any phrases that Shige knew that he definitely wanted to include.
- The next letter was from a listener who said that they got the Ikiro Special Box and that Strawberry was a really good song and made them glad to be a NEWS fan. She said that it made her happy and thanked him for the song. They said that since NEWS wrote the lyrics and Herosim wrote the music, they wanted to know which happens first when the lyrics and music are written by different people.
  Shige said that in this kind of situation probably the music comes first, because if it didn’t then everyone would just do their own thing with the lyrics. He said that he didn’t know how the other members wrote their parts, but that he made his to match the music. He got the demo from Heroism, and like the song he just played, ‘Magic In The Hamptons’, they had wanted to put that same kind of friendliness and warmth into the song. From that they also discussed how they wanted to go with an acoustic guitar sound with the producer, something with a feeling of ‘home’, and threw around various songs with various things they wanted.
  Then they got the song demo from Heroism and in it he sang with just ‘Lalala’ and then the producer broke those up into blocks and they were told from which time to which time they would be writing. But then there wasn’t much time, it was finished before Strawberry- if it had been then it wouldn’t have been ready by the 9/15 deadline. Since he didn’t have time he also spent time thinking it about it while he was in the water tank for zero.
  At that time they hadn’t decided on a title yet either and Massu was the first one to finish his lines. Shige said that he got messages asking like “It’s a few days before the deadline, will you be ok Kato-san?” to hurry him up, and when he replied asking how the others were doing he was told that only Massu had finished. He was worrying about that while working on his lines as the recording day was approaching. Since theme was just anniversary and they were going with an acoustic sound he was thinking that if they were ever going to perform it at a concert, maybe the concert would end up being having an ‘unplugged’ kind of feel. So he pictured a kind of American home party where the house is made of wood and you sit down and play a guitar in a big yard kind of image. He said that he’s also the type to invited people over to his house to have a party, and it’s actually not uncommon for someone to pull out a guitar and start singing, so that’s the image he was going for with his lyrics. So, for the ‘Yuhi somaru kageboshi’ line, he was picturing the four of them going back home on a dirt path. But since he wrote some ‘gimmick-y’ lines like ‘986 hibi’ in Aikotoba, he figured people might find him writing only poetic lines as lacking. In the beginning, the song didn’t have the ‘guitar ni awasete’ part in the first demo, it was just the first bridge with ‘yuhi somaru’ part, the B melody part was shorter and the ‘dare nimo mane dekinai’ line wasn’t in it either.
  The producer kept changing the song too, like I want to make it this way, or I want to add this sound, etc even though they didn’t have a lot of time. Shige made two different versions because, at first when he asked about the title he was told that they hadn’t decided yet and the producer was thinking of picking one from the lyrics they wrote. So Shige said that he would try add lyrics that would make a good title, which is why he added the word ‘Joyful’. He felt like it had a bit of an American gospel sound to it, so he thought that would be nice for an anniversary song. It wasn’t used in the end, and the day he went to go record the producer told him they were going with ‘Strawberry’ and his reaction was like ‘Eh, that’s really straightforward’ and asked if someone had used the word strawberry in the lyrics and they hadn’t so felt like then maybe he would try to. The idea had flashed through his mind before too, so he thought about the ‘gogo 3ji no bell’ part, but there were other versions he had thought up too.
  They also considered whether it should be sung by all 4 of them or just solo, but decided on calling the song Strawberry and that they would sing the bridge solo, and Shige was then told that he would be last, and he felt like he had to pull it all together. He knew everyone would write their own individual lyrics and so he felt like, ok I’ll pull it all together at the end then. He knew in advance that he wanted to have the ‘Arigato! Aishiteruze!!!!’ part in before, but then came up with ‘seinaru 4awase no niwa’ and ‘Sakihokoru shiroi hana’ he came up on the spot. He had been thinking that it’d be good to use the ‘4awase’ from aikotoba in this song, and strawberry flowers are white, and NEWS’ image color is also white. In flower language, it also means a ‘happy family’ and he thought that that was also nice for referring to the relationship between NEWS and the fans, which is where ‘4awase no niwa’ came from.
  He initially thought that he wanted to not put as many gimmicks in the lyrics as he did for ai kotoba, but he ended up doing it quite a lot. He also said that he put in ‘9gatsu no ichigo’ and ‘dare nimo mane dekinai aji’ thinking of Ajinomoto stadium concerts, but that was before they even happened so if it hadn’t been a success it would have been bad. So he’s really glad that a lot of different things all went according to plan. He said that it was a lot of fun to write a song with all the other members, and it’s fun how everyone brought their own unique lyrics and it’s amazing how it all comes together.
- ♪ Aki no Sora ♪

Kchan NEWS (Oct 9)
- The guest this time was Massu.
- Koyama commented on how Massu’s clothes are more fall-like today, and Massu said they should go by the length, he was apparently wearing shorts and long sleeves. Koyama said it was sports casual with a big silhouette, his favorite kind of fashion. Koyama commented on how Massu’s been wearing a lot of flashy colorful sneakers lately, and they talked about how Koyama is looking put together because he went out to lunch for work. They talked about how they don’t normally go out for lunch and apparently Koyama ate Chinese food. They talked about lunch for a bit more and then Koyama said that the first letter is a perfect one for Massu who’s wearing a hoodie today.
- The first letter was from a listener who said that they love guys in hoodies, and wanted to know what clothes they like on girls. They also asked them to wear hoodies.
  Koyama commented on how Massu’s the hoodie representative, and Massu said that something that’s been on his mind lately is how in Japanese they say ‘parka’ which is an English word, but in English they don’t call them that. In English, parka are closer to what they called ‘jumper’ in Japanese. The parka that Japanese people think of are called hoodies in English, which Koyama was surprised to find out. Massu said that in mina and in his jweb he’s been using the word ‘hoodie’ a lot to try and make it sink in. Massu joked that he might be fluent in English now.
  Koyama ask Massu what clothes he likes on girls, and Koyama said that he like it when someone who usually dresses up very prettily wears a hoodie and Massu agreed saying that girls are really cute when they wear oversized ‘parka’, and said that he’s been saying that for a long time.
  K: You just said ‘parka’
  M: (snorts)
  K: That was fast
  M: Crap
  K: You immediately forgot. It hasn’t sunk in at all yet.
  M: Not yet, ‘parka’ will probably still slip out.
  Koyama said that it would feel weird to go to a shop and ask for a ‘hoodie’, it would feel like he was trying to put on airs and act cool. Massu said that there are a few different items that have different names, like how you sometimes call a vest a gilet, or a knit cap a ‘beanie’, Koyama knew about gilet but had never heard of ‘beanie’ before. Massu said that he starts to get lost when people call tshirts ‘kattosou (cut and sewn)’.
  Koyama asked Massu if people who work mainly with western clothes would be like ‘Ah he doesn’t know anything’ if he were to call a hoodie a parka to them, and Massu said that he didn’t know but that in Japan they are called parka.
  Then they went back to discussing the kind of clothes they like on girls and Massu added that he likes a leather jacket on top of a dress, and Koyama agreed that he likes that kind of gap.
- ♪ ‘Ikiro’ ♪
- The next letter was from a listener who wrote in to give their thoughts in the 15th anniversary medley on Shonen Club premium. They also said that they were surprised to hear Koyama’s story about how he broke his wrist during the Summer Time PV filming and then had to perform in his play with a broken wrist. She asked to hear more about that and said that she broke her wrist recently and had to come to Strawberry wearing a cast. She also brought up the time Massu broke his wrist doing a backflip right after Tegoshi broke his finger. They said they also remember Shige wearing a cast on his leg in a DVD during the 6 member era (K: Really? M: Eh?) . They asked Koyama if he had broken a bone any other time.
  Koyama said that he remembered the incident the listener wrote in about but ask Massu if he had broken anything else. Massu said that it’s possible that he’d broken something without knowing it and just left it be, for instance when he jammed a finger it may have actually been broken. They talked about the time when Massu broke his wrist doing the backflip a bit, and Massu said that it really hurt and Koyama said that he also broke his wrist and that it really hurts. They both broke their right wrists and they’re right handed, and you can’t do anything. Koyama said that he had to cover the cast in plastic when he was bathing and Massu said that he would take it off and wash it and Koyama burst out laughing.
  Koyama said that he broke his when he fell wrong and he landed on his butt and then his wrist. Massu helped him out then, but in his play it starts out with a scene where he’s struggling to get out of real handcuffs, and each time it would make his injury worse.
  Massu said that he had another behind the scenes story related to that. That was the ‘Loss Time Life’ play, and when he went to go see it in the scene with the handcuffs they accidentally came off, and so he could have escaped and the play would have been over.
  Koyama said that when that happened it was really awkward, because in that scene he’s supposed to not be able to escape and go into a panic, but they came off so he could escape. He said that when they came off it got quiet for about 3 seconds, and it was scary. They laughed recalling the incident and Massu said that the audience was good at reading the atmosphere and pretended they hadn’t seen. Massu said that rather than the audience pausing for 3 seconds it was Koyama who paused like, ‘It came off!!’ and Koyama said that it was because he was taking in what happened and was trying to figure out what he should do. Koyama commented on how Massu really remembers that well, and how funny that is. Massu asked if it only happened once and Koyama said it was just the once because after that the set person got scared and made them really sturdy.
- The next letter was from a listener who brought up how during Epcotia they said that they’d like to do a concert that’s only coupling songs, and asked them if there are any songs that they’ve never performed before that they’d like to do and said that they’d like them to perform the song ‘Push On’ because they love it and asked if they would perform it.
  They played the song in the background and Massu commented on how there are a lot of songs that they’ve only sung once, when they recorded it. Massu said that there are coupling songs that have gotten popular because they’ve performed them. If they were do a bunch of songs they’ve never performed before, it’d probably end up not being a very exciting concert.
  M: If people didn’t get excited then we wouldn’t do it again.
  K: Yeah. We’d get depressed while we were off stage getting changed, like ‘they weren’t excited at all’.
  Koyama said that if they were to do a concert of only coupling songs, then maybe it would be kind of acoustic and Massu said they could do it as a segment of a concert. He asked Massu if there were any coupling songs he particularly liked, and said that he likes ‘Kimi ga ita Natsu’ and Massu commented on how they have done that one live before. Massu said that he likes ‘Hi wa Mata Noboru’ and Koyama quickly jumped in to say that he really likes that one too and said that it was on his personal list of songs he wanted to do on Shonen Club Premium. They agreed that there are a lot they want to do, and Massu said that the songs they do live is kind of limited to those that can get an audience in a big venue excited. Hi wa Mata Noboru started to play in the background as they talked, and Koyama and realized that it was the coupling from Chumu Chumu and commented on what a wide variety was on that single and Massu agreed saying that it gave that single a good balance. They both said that they’d both like to do it sometime and show a new side of NEWS.
  They also brought up how ‘Ikiro’ got number 1 in the charts and thanked everyone, and how they really felt the power of the fans when they were told how much it sold.

Tegomass no Radio (Oct 10)
- At the opening, they said a lot of mails came in for the song requests, about 6 to 7 hundred million. Tegoshi said that’s fewer than expected, since there are about 6 billion people in the world, which means only 1 in 10 sent in a request. They said they feel kind of regretful about that, so they’ll just have to keep working harder. They’re thankful to the people who sent the requests in though. They then talked about how it’ll be tough to tabulate the results, and asked Sakura to do it on her own. But since they’ve reached a level where they’re all encompassing, so “to narrow down choices” doesn’t exist in their world. Massu said it isn’t that bad for him since he probably knows more songs, but Tegoshi would probably start complaining real soon if he comes across a song he doesn’t know. Tegoshi agreed, saying he probably wouldn’t know most of the songs. (M: He probably only knows X Japan and some of the latest songs!) Tegoshi then said he’d recognise songs of other artists who performed with them at Music Station for example, and the songs he listened on the MD when he was still studying, like Porno Graffiti etc. B’z too. They then talked a bit more on the requests, saying there might have been a huge range of song requests, old and new, since the listeners must be of different age groups too. They’ll prepare for the songs they don’t know about, and this episode will air on the final week of October.
- The request this week was from a listener named Arisa, and Tegoshi started singing Porno Graffiti “Melissa”.
  M: That’s Melissa!
  T, M: (gets excited) Oooooei~
  T: Awesome!
  Sakura: Stop, we won’t be able to move forward! It’s Arisa-san!
  The request this week was for “Izanaizuki -represent NEWS mix-”. They really like the harmonisation from Tegomass at the “ano tsuki ni everything negai wo takushi get away”. They also turned 19 this summer, and would like to know if there’s anything they should do before turning into an adult.
  Tegoshi said he did “My Boss, My Hero” as well as “Gachi Baka!” when he was 19. Tegomass also went to Sweden the same year. They touched a bit on the old story again of how Tegoshi couldn’t drink and Massu could, after which Massu fell asleep and started drooling all over. And how it was when they went to a very stylish restaurant that looked like some underground tunnel in the old city street.
  Sakura: How embarrassing!
  M: It’s cute.
  Sakura: It is? And it’s not okay to say that yourself!
  They said for the listener to just enjoy themselves, or to just prepare themselves for adulthood. If they had just that one great memory, they’d always remember that birthday, so do that. Sakura suggested to work real hard at part-time jobs, then buy something for themselves for their 20th birthday.
  T: No no no…
  Sakura: No? Hey… maybe I should just go home today. So much crap since the opening…
  M: Get a taxi for her~
  Sakura: Wait! Don’t really make me go home!
- ♪ Izanaizuki -represent NEWS mix- ♪
- The second mail was from someone who went to “Dream Festival”. It was the first festival they ever went to, and that helped them realise how fun festivals were. They really liked NEWS’ setlist, and were happy the non-fans seemed to have enjoyed themselves too. Did the 4 of them decide on the setlist together? Massu shared how the festival staff shared that the audience that night were really good, as there are some who go for certain artistes, and wouldn’t show interest in others, but that night it was good, and NEWS felt the same way too.
  Sakura: So overall, the venue was a warm one?
  T: Yeah.
  M: It was hot, I perspired lots.
  Sakura: We’re talking about “warm” figuratively here!
  T, M: That was really difficult Japanese, we don’t get it.
  They continued to fool around a bit more pretending they didn’t get it.
  Sakura: Whatever. You guys are really troublesome today! What happened?
  T: Really? Maybe because it’s October?
  Sakura: Huh? Don’t blame it on the astronomy!
  M: So, please listen to “Izanaizuki”.
  Sakura: We’re done with that! We’re done with that…
  M: You’re just picking on us more than usual.
  T: Is it that time of the month?
  Sakura: It’s not that! And that’s more like my line. “Is it that time of the month”?
  T, M: Hahahahahh.
  Sakura: Answer the question please. How did you decide on the songs?
  M: Thank you very much!
  Sakura said she felt like giving Massu the fist even though it’s usually for Tegoshi. But finally going back to the mail, they said it was the 4 of them, plus the producer and air:man. They probably decided on it 2 - 3 weeks ahead, and decided based on how they wanted to show all sides of NEWS. So it was like a super compressed version of EPCOTIA, with some elements for the audience to join in, like swinging the towel for “BLUE” and singing along during “U R not alone” so it’s interesting to watch even as a first-timer. They decided on the setlist fairly smoothly.
- The third mail was from someone who keeps forgetting things recently. Their mood sinks most when they forget to bring their lip cream. What about the 3 of them? For Tegoshi, it’s the iPad for days when he has long waiting or travelling times, as he reads books, watches soccer videos, looks at lyrics... everything on the iPad. Sakura commented keeping it charged must be important then, and he said he’s just getting it charged. (M: This is robbery. Electricity robbery!)
  Tegoshi asked how it is for Massu, and Massu said that’s excluding the phone and wallets right… he then asked if they’ve left their phones at home before. Tegoshi hasn’t, though he’s forgotten his wallet before, when he was going out for a meal.
  Sakura: What happened then?
  T: I said, “Sorry.” (laughter in studio) You see, humans apologise when we feel bad. “Sorry. I forgot my wallet. Please pick today’s bill up.”
  Massu was still trying to think of something when Tegoshi asked if he’s ever forgotten to bring accessories he wanted to wear for music programmes. Massu has, and he does feel down when he forgets. Though it happens more often for concerts. And that’s why he has an accessory holder in his concert bag and he just dumps everything in so he won’t forget. The two rings he always wears on his index finger and middle finger don’t count, so if he doesn’t wear anything else, it’d feel like his hands were bare that day.
  Sakura said it’s probably powder foundation and lipstick/ lipgloss for females. They talked a bit about how maybe that’s why the convenience stores sell makeup too, so that people can just run in to grab them when they forget to bring theirs out. Sakura doesn’t carry makeup around though, so for her, it’s earphones. She’d go buy some when she forgets them.
- For “Quiz! Tegomass ni Oshiete” this week, the first question was a riddle. What ball game do you play with your grandfather? Massu first guessed gateball, and Sakura said it’s a riddle, not in the realistic sense. Tegoshi got it pretty quick after, softball. In that, since it’s with the grandfather, it’s better for the ball to be “soft”. Massu argued a bit that they should have made it clearer they weren’t looking for real answers, then moved on to the next question.
- The second question. What is something you can move around easily but not lift up easily. Massu made a few guesses, cars, air, appointments… Sakura gave them hints that it’s always near them, then somewhat a part of their bodies, and they started guessing all sorts of body parts like tongue, hair etc.
  Sakura: It’s not a body part, but always, always a part of you.
  M: Negative feelings? (laughter in studio)
  Sakura: What’s that? I’d love to make it the right answer, but nope.
  M: You can change negative feelings, but can’t carry it around. Can lift it up though. (slight pause) PASS.
  Sakura: Pass?
  Sakura then gave a few more hints, before Tegoshi got it - shadow.
  T: YES! (in english) Shadow! SHADOW! SHADOOOOW!
- Massu asked for the last question to be worth 3 points again. Tegoshi said sure since it won’t make a difference anyway, and then stopped, saying it’s like deja vu.
  Sakura: Yeah don’t say that or it’d be like before.
  T: Hmm? Sure. I’m a man.
  Sakura: Here goes. The alphabet “T”. You can write this down.
  T: Tegoshi.
  Sakura: No… don’t think all Ts are Tegoshi!
  So T is 1, D is 1, and F is 2. How many is K?
  Tegoshi got it pretty quick again, 43. Because of the division of the 47 prefectures in Japan, where there is 1 to (metropolis), 1 do (territory), 2 fu (urban prefectures) and 43 ken (prefectures).
  T: THANK YOU EVERYONE! IT’S 5 TO ZERO EVERYONE!!!! 5 TO ZERO!!!!
  Sakura: Masuda-san is still writing…
  M: 1! 1!
  Sakura: Sorry, we already have the right answer, it’s 43…
  Massu still tried to explain his train of thought when Tegoshi interrupted and asked him to end the segment, “Mr. Zero”.
  M: (crying sounds) This is the end.
- At the ending, they promoted “Ikiro”. They made a bit of fun of Sakura’s watch, asking if she’s gotten a new watch as now she’s gotten some high tech watch while she used to wear one of the sentai watches for kids before. That one broke, so she got this new one. Tegomass tried to make her give it to them, but of course she wouldn’t, and they accused her of being a miser.

Masuda Takahisa no Masterhits (Oct 12)
- At the opening, he shared how they did the recording for “Music Fair” recently. They worked with a live band and it was fun. While he can’t say the details of what they did yet, it’ll be on-air on Oct 20, so please look forward to it! He also talked about how he was going to make the costumes for “Songs of Tokyo”, and it’d be a one-night only costume too, just like those for “Dream Festival”. He’s pretty much got the design ready, and he just needs to firm up the details. Please look forward to that too.
- The first mail was from someone who wanted to know if Massu prefers earl grey or darjeeling tea. Massu first said he doesn’t know the difference nor which is which, so if he were to just choose based on his image of the name… “earl grey”.
- ♪ Thunder ♪
- The second mail was from a listener who wanted to hear stories about the photoshoot for the body painting feature on the latest issue of Soen. He first talked a bit on the artist he collaborated for this issue, someone who painted cucumbers on bananas, faces on hands etc. An artist who paints works with depth that would make people think. He was shown her portfolio, and he saw works of the insides of the body looking like machines, and also of flowers. During the meeting, there were talks of how it would be interesting to mix those two together. They took probably 7 hours for the entire shoot, including the painting and shooting time. He’s never spent so much time for a photo, and it was very fun. He’d like to do a shoot like this, where a lot of time is spent perfecting it, maybe about once a year. The photos are ones he likes very much, and he’d like those who haven’t seen them yet to see them too.
- The third listener said it was very fun to have guests like Nino (Arashi) and Kame (KAT-TUN) appear. They would like to request for Shige to guest on Master Hits, as Shige is the only one who doesn’t do any radio with Massu, since there’re chances for KoyaMass (on Kchan NEWS) and Tegomass (on Tegomass no Radio) elsewhere. He said that’s true, though Shige probably has appeared on Master Hits once. It’s true he doesn’t get many chances to speak with Shige on radio. (M: To begin with, there probably aren’t that many chances for me to speak with Shige. Hurhurhur… just kidding.)
  It’d be nice to find out the kinds of things Shige thinks about and what he’s interested in. He made a call to Shige to come when he has time, so Shige probably would appear soon if he can make it.
- The fourth mail was from someone who supports NEWS with their 5 year-old son, since watching them on 24hr TV in 2016. The son is dancing to “BLUE” at their nursery and they’re working hard at practicing it everyday. They wrote in because the son has a question for Massu - is it faster to run in a race with the hands in fists or with the palms open? He’d like to top the race!
  He first thanked them for becoming fans, and said he gets excited to hear about their songs getting played at sports events in school. With regard to the question, he said he probably ran with his palms open, since having them in fists would waste energy unnecessarily? He also shared how there were some unique running poses from his schoolmates last time, like just swinging the right hand, or keeping the arms real close to the body, running barefooted etc. He recommends running with the palms open, as at the very least, they’d beat those running with their fists held together at “Rock, scissors, paper”. Please write him the results!
- The fifth listener wanted to know if Massu wore socks at home when it gets cold. For him, he wakes up in the morning, showers, changes, and if he wore his socks then and spends some time at home in those socks before heading out, dust would get onto those socks, which would in turn make the insides of his shoes dirty. So he’d only wear his socks at the doorway. If the socks he wore for the day didn’t get dirty at work, it’s perfectly okay for him to keep wearing them at home. So his highest priority is to keep the insides of his shoes clean. He talked again about how he doesn’t like going to food places where he has to take his shoes off and walk around in his socks, then wear his shoes back on again. He also has friends who’d bring change of socks, or just take them off, at times like these. So yeah. When he feels his socks are clean he’d wear them at home after getting back. There’re also times when he wears fresh socks when he’s home most of the day. He probably would use slippers in the winter though.
- The sixth mail was from someone who wanted to know whose songs Massu likes, other than NEWS. He said he likes lots of artistes, mostly hip hop, rap, dance music etc. that he plays often for Masterpiece. He’ll be introducing a song on Masterpiece today, so please look forward to that. But before that, there’s a song he recommends even more.
- ♪ Pumpkin ♪
- For Masterpiece this week, he played “Weird Part of the Night” by Louis Cole. He talked about how Louis Cole is a singer-songwriter currently under a lot of attention, as lots of big names are full of praise for him, including producer Quincy Jones, Red Hot Chili Peppers etc. The album this song is from is super cool, and he picked the first song from the album today.
- At the ending, he spoke about how he’d like Shige to come. While there’ve been quite a lot of guests coming recently, there’re probably only like 10 odd times in the entire 14-5 years of Master Hits. So if Shige comes… it’d be like a whole streak of guests. But it’d be nice if he does, so they can play maybe “Strawberry” and share some behind-the-scenes stories.