This book is a memoir of Aran Kei’s time as a member of Takarazuka, as well as her post-Takarazuka career and memories of her childhood. It was published in 2010 to commemorate the 20th year of her stage career. It also features messages from Takarazuka classmates and other colleagues and theatre artists she has worked with.
Some paragraph breaks are added for ease of reading in English.
My goal! To be a Takarasienne!
When I started aiming for the Takarazuka Music School, I began going to a ballet studio that did entrance exam prep lessons. While I was there, I had to watch all my friends gradually make it in, and I began feeling a lot of frustration. When I failed the entrance exam for the third time, I worried that I didn’t have any outstanding qualities, or that I didn’t have enough of the elegance that a star was supposed to have.
Although I was thinking that maybe I should just give up, I took the exam for the fourth time, mostly out of stubbornness, and finally made it in. Thinking back on that time, rather than wanting to be on the Takarazuka stage, I think I was mostly thinking “I want to wear that uniform, I want to wear that hat.”1
On that topic, on the day of the examination results being announced, some TV reporters came, and my father looked right at the camera and said proudly: “My daughter passed on her fourth try!” This was a sore point for me, so I was super embarrassed and apparently I glared at him with a really terrible expression (laughs). My father will say even now: “You really scared me back then.”
I’ve forgotten what my examination number was, but I remember that it had my favorite numbers, 3 and 9. For some reason I like numbers that aren’t divisible by 2. Now, when I look at my high school age niece, I think about how at that same age I was giving it my all so desperately and had already thrown myself into such a competitive situation, and it makes me feel a lot of sympathy for myself back then.
Since I had heard about how strict dorm life was from my friends who had entered before me, I didn’t think I could handle the organized group life. Therefore, when I passed the Music School entrance exam, I decided to commute from the home of some relatives who lived in Takarazuka.
Also, since my exam grades had been high (4th place), I was assigned as a student representative in charge of keeping everyone in line right after I entered the school. I was saying things like “Are you stupid!?” in my Kansai accent, vigorously trying to manage all of these girls who had come from all over Japan. It turned out later that everyone thought things like “Your Kansai dialect was so scary…” (laughs). Since I had also entered the Music School after graduating from high school2, I was really in the position of an older sister.
Perhaps they were just afraid of me, but everyone listened to what I said. If someone made a mistake, I would be the first one singled out to get scolded, and I hated how unreasonable that was; so even though I was clumsy about it, I did my best to keep everyone in order. Looking back on it now, I feel that the philosophy of “one person’s responsibility is the responsibility of all” might have helped to create strong bonds between everyone in my class.
The idea that even in this new all-female world, there was still the tradition of ‘whatever anyone even one year your senior says is law!’ was a huge culture shock for me. When living in a large group, of course there are people you won’t get along with, and also people who will end up quarrelling with you. Since I was able to adjust to dealing with people whose personalities were different than mine and think ‘Oh, so they are this kind of person,’ I didn’t get into any fights.
Even though I was trying to keep everyone in order and giving them intense lectures, I could be non-serious too, and, at night, I would sometimes go out and hang with my friends. Among girls trying to get into Takarazuka, there are a lot of people who drive themselves too hard and end up with only a very narrow view of the world. I would feel sorry for those who were pushing themselves in such a smothering atmosphere, and so I would invite them to come and play, since I felt “We should all make sure we’re having fun, too!”
My favorite class was Tea Ceremony3. The reason for that was that we went to a tea pavilion in the Takarazuka Family Land for it, and I was really happy to escape the watchful eyes of the Upper Students (laughs). (The Takarazuka Music School is divided into 2 class years. The 1st years are called Lower Students, and the 2nd years are called Upper Students.)
Once, during a vocals class, the instructor suddenly scolded me, saying “There isn’t anyone in the company with such a bad attitude as you.” Even though I spent my time that way, I was able to get good grades, which is surely because I racked up good scores on the four exams. Besides singing, which I had always been good at, my scores in ballet and Japanese dance went up with each exam. I didn’t like lessons or studying, and I would try to get everything done right before—that still hasn’t changed a bit (laughs). Maybe I’m just bad at gradually getting everything done bit by bit, but I’m always impatiently waiting for rehearsals to end, and I like the real show the most.
1 – The Takarazuka Music School has been famous since its early days for its stylishly designed uniform. (Examples displayed by former performers: Main uniform [belonging to a 75th class member], summer uniform [belonging to an 84th class member])
2 – Girls can try out for the Takarazuka Music School for a period of 4 years, from their final year of middle school to their final year of high school (Japanese high school only lasts 3 years.)
3 – Tea Ceremony is no longer taught at the Takarazuka Music School; it was hosted in Takarazuka Family Land until its closure in 2003, and then cut from the curriculum in 2009.