This photo and essay book was written by Moon Troupe Top Star Sena Jun and published during promotions for the 2008 show ME AND MY GIRL, where Top Musumeyaku Ayano Kanami retired. It’s very charming and occasionally emotional.
Some chapters are very short, or contain only pictures, and thus are combined.
The book also featured dual Japanese and English chapter titles, which were not always the same. Where these differ, both are included, with the translation of the Japanese title following in brackets. (For example, Chapter 8 is That time [The era of Asa and Osako])
011. The soul of language [Words of Destiny]
It was my first time having a Dinner Show1.
This was the end of my ken-9 year.
There was a ton I wanted to do, and I also wanted to improve my singing.
And above all, I wanted to make sure the audience had fun…
I was so stoked about it.
There were so many consultation meetings with the creative staff.
Format, song selection, there was so much to discuss.
So this is how a show is made…
I got more and more excited as all these discussions happened right in front of me.
And then the cast.
Tomu, Miho, Sonoka, Ichika2.
We were all so young.
(Well, except Tomu)3
Then rehearsals started and the battle was on in earnest.
Me versus my inabilities…
Was the idea.
I wanted to fight but it didn’t turn out that way.
I couldn’t think of myself as unable to do anything so I ran away from myself.
‘I’ll just enjoy this’, ‘I’ll just relax’…I was so naive.
But the choreographer saw through this naive part of me.
After we were about a week into rehearsals, they4 asked me this:
“Asako, what do you want to do?
What do you want to become?”
There was no way I could answer…
Not since I ran away from my own inabilities, I didn’t even push myself to work hard,
And all I did was have fun.
People often say “If you aren’t enjoying yourself, you can’t make other people enjoy what you’re doing,” but that isn’t quite right.
That’s certainly important, but I think that if first you don’t struggle and fight to create something, you won’t be able to stir emotions in others.
The next day I went to the choreographer and declared in a loud voice,
“I’m going to be Top Star! I want to become a Top Star!!”
Even though I was thinking, wow, I said something so big… 💦
But those were earnest feelings.
Words really have incredible power.
The moment they’re spoken they become powerful ‘sacred sounds’5 that resonate with the self and others.
These ‘sacred sounds’ gave the staff, the cast, and especially myself “motivation, dedication, conviction.”
Something within me definitely changed.
This showed in the main performances as well.
The next performance was Michaelangelo/VIVA!!, when I received that letter from Director X6.
I think this really lit a fire in my eyes…
So much that I could even notice it myself.
Ever since then, as if I’m putting pressure on myself,
I’ll find all of the “motivation, dedication, conviction” that I have and pronounce the ‘sacred sounds’.
I don’t have any confidence.
But I’ll slowly and at my own pace work (as seen earlier) towards those words that I declared.
For as long as those words become ‘sacred sounds’ and give me strength…
(end)
1 – Virtual Guy!, 2001.
2 – Ranju Tomu, Maishiro Nodoka, Kiryuu Sonoka, Sakura Ichika
3 – Ranju is much younger than Sena but there was a long-standing joke in Flower Troupe that she was much older than she actually was due to her very mature appearance.
4 – Neutral pronoun used because information about Virtual Guy! Is hard to obtain so the choreographer/s working on it could not be identified.
5 – Kotodama, a Japanese belief in the mystical power of spoken words.
6 – Discussed in Chapter 9.