Relaxing Breeze (Fuwari) was a musumeyaku feature published in GRAPH, where an interview would take place at a cafe. It was focused on offstage topics such as how they destress or what they do on days off.

Saotome’s was published in the March 2016 issue.

Relaxing Breeze – Saotome Wakaba

~A time of gentle relaxation in a cafe~

First, why don’t you order!

I’ve been to this place before as an ordinary customer, and that time I got the bacon, egg, and cheese french toast, so today…how about the plain french toast and the royal milk tea…yes! With the tea hot!

Are you a tea person rather than a coffee person?

I can’t really drink black coffee… Sometimes I’ll have cafe au lait, though. Milk tea is my favorite. Every morning I’ll have milk tea and bread. Always bread (laughs). I prefer bread to rice.

Today, we’re doing a location photoshoot at this cafe, but…

Since this is a place I’ve been to before, I’m really able to relax (laughs). That time, it was coming up on Fathers’ Day, so I bought him coffee beans as a present. You could have them print a message on the bag, so I asked for that. He was really happy with the present.

What are the main points of your outfit today?

I thought it would be nice to be photographed wearing knits like this sometime. White knits are a real wardrobe staple, they have a weekend sort of feeling, and I think musumeyaku in fluffy clothing is really nice somehow, so I took on that challenge today (laughs).

What sort of fashion do you wear normally?

On days off I go for a pretty ‘rough’ style a lot of the time. If I’m going to see a show I’ll wear a nice dress, but at other times I wear pants most of the time. I wear denim a lot, too.

Your hair is down today.

I’ve cut my bangs for the first time in about 5 years, so I wanted all the readers to see it too (laughs). In order to go with that, I have it down in back. In rehearsals and plays I have it done to match the character I’m playing, and in revues I have my bangs swept up, so I can only have this sort of hairstyle on days off.

Do you go to cafes on your days off?

When I’m by myself, I’ll often get pancakes and black tea, things like that (laughs). On days off, it’s like I’ll reward myself with my favorite foods… (laughs). I love pasta, so if I’m  going out I’ll look up good pasta places nearby and go there all by myself. ‘I wish I could eat pasta for all three meals!’ is how much I love it, so on days off I always want to get pasta (laughs).

Do you do things by yourself a lot?

I guess so. When I’m buying things I need for a show or for work, I’ll start in the morning and it’s like ‘first I’ll go here, next I’ll go there’, so other people can’t really go along for that, maybe (laughs). So I’ll go by myself. That way I have more freedom when I get food, too (laughs). But I have so much I need to do that I don’t have a lot of time. If I had a three-day weekend, I’d like to go out and just wander around lazily, but that’s not really… (laughs dryly)

If you did have a long weekend, where would you like to do?

I’m from Kobe, and while I really like Kobe, I usually go to Osaka for shopping. Therefore, I’d like to go and just walk around somewhere like the Kitano Ijinkan¹ area, which has a really calm atmosphere. And then, if my mood changed, I could go down to the ocean. I really like Kobe because there are so many different ways you can enjoy yourself.

Do you prefer going out to staying at home?

I think so. But when I know I’m tired out, I won’t go straight out in the morning but start in the afternoon, and of course I have to take care of my health first, so I make sure to think about that and not overdo things.

Do you tend to get your shopping done quickly?

Nooooo, I have a hard time with it. I’ll start searching with a general idea of the clothes I want to buy, but it takes a really long time… I’m like ‘I’ll keep walking until I find it’…

Are you the type to buy things that catch your eye right away?

Well, speaking of that, when I saw this knit top in the store, I thought it was really nice, but also ‘what if I saw something better afterwards!’ I thought, so I kept looking for a while, but in the end I thought ‘I have to have that knit top!’ so I went back and bought it (laughs)

Have you ever regretted not buying something?

Ah…but if I feel that strongly about something I’ll buy it (laughs). Sometimes something has sold out, which is disappointing, but I’m just like ‘Oh well!’ and give up on it (laughs)

(The french toast and milk tea arrive)

Okay, first I have to put sugar in the milk tea~ (laughs)

You like sweet things, don’t you (laughs)

I have a total sweet tooth (laughs). I don’t mind eating sweets with other sweets, I just love it (laughs). I always put 2 things of syrup in the milk tea I get from NOVA (the performers’ cafeteria). Even my classmates say that’s too sweet but I reply ‘I have different taste buds!’ (laughs)

Go ahead and try it.

It’s so good~! It’s so lovely and soft! I love the really fluffy kind of french toast. And the whipped cream is nice too. I love it! You know, on days off I’ll buy cake and take it home sometimes. It’s like, since I have an off day I might as well get something as a reward (laughs). I like things like Mille-feiulle cake.

When you’re at home, how do you spend your time?

Recently I’ll watch recordings of old Takarazuka productions, and watch videos on the internet and such. Do you know ‘Gu and Hana are Friends’²? It’s a little girl and an old man talking, and I really like the just slightly surreal atmosphere. Once when I was riding a taxi in Tokyo, it was showing on the Taxi Channel, and I thought it was really fun.

There’s a really little kid in that show.

Right, she’s so clever (laughs). Even though she’s only about 6 years old she does an ‘advice corner’ and everything (laughs). When I watch that I think children are really amazing. I feel like since nothing’s fabricated about her that she can really move people. I feel like even if I was trying to perform that kind of role I’d definitely lose out to her. Even as I’m watching the videos and laughing, I’m thinking ‘acting is so hard~’ (laughs). I really can’t get thoughts of the stage out of my head. Even when I’m shopping, I’m thinking about whether I’ll be able to use things for work.

Do you have any anecdotes about recent days off?

Actually, today, right after this, I’m going to meet up with my classmate, Kaga Ririka-chan. After graduating from junior performances, we have a bit more free time, so even though we are in different troupes, if our time off overlaps us classmates will go out to eat and such. I’ve spent my days off with Ririka-chan for 2 weeks in a row now (laughs). We used to be together in Star Troupe, and two of our classmates in Star Troupe retired at the same time, so we made a photo album as a present for them. But we had way too many photos, so we couldn’t finish it all in one day, so we decided to finish it the next week…we started at 2:30 in the afternoon and went until 8 at night! (laughs)

Are you working on an album today?

Today, actually, we’re going to go to an exhibition by another retired classmate, Hinatano Karin (Shikata Karin), who now works as a photographer³. Up until now our schedules haven’t matched up so we haven’t been able to go, so I’m really looking forward to it!

1 – This is an old district of Kobe where there were many homes of foreign residents.

2 – A series of shorts made to be show. in commercial taxis, that feature a little girl and an older man doing an ‘advice corner’ (an example can be seen here) 

3 – This seems to be the r i a r i a exhibition, which took place at the Tokyo Gallery Small View and featured Ranno Hana as the model.