This edition of Tokyo Shinbun’s column on Takarazuka features Ayaki Hikari, talking about her current performance in Romeo et Juliette. The original column was written by Yamagishi Toshiyuki (estimated name reading) and was published here on March 18, 2021. (Archive link here.)
Continue readingThis photo feature, which ran in GRAPH through 2016, had subjects selecting photos they had taken with other Takarasiennes. This edition features Seto Kazuya, Saotome Wakaba, Mao Yuuki, and Tsukishiro Kanato.
(By this point, the photos had captions naming their subjects, which some previous issues did not.)
Continue readingRelaxing 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.
Hinami’s was published in the July 2016 issue.
Continue readingThis article about Nanami Hiroki’s new album was published by TOKYOweb on June 29, 2021. The original article was written by Yamagishi Toshiyuki [estimated name reading] and can be found here (archive link here).
Please note that at time of translating the album was still unreleased, so some context was not available.
Continue readingThis article about the Star Trip revival of Manon was published by Mainichi Digital on July 1, 2021. The original article was written by Suizu Satoko [estimated name reading] and can be found here (archive link here).
Continue readingAshizawa Jin is an illustrator/columnist who seems to have worked for GRAPH since the 1960s (yes, you read that right). His interview column generally gets a new title every year but has been fairly consistent format-wise in recent years. I’m giving him his own tag in the Staff category since he is one of the few interview conductors to be credited by name in the publications.
This interview with Aizuki Hikaru was published in the June 2017 issue of GRAPH (while she was still a Cosmos Troupe member) and seems to have been recorded during the production of Chateau de la Reine/VIVA! FESTA!.
Continue readingThis 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 have been added for ease of reading in English. I have also collected many archival images from various sources to illustrate the book.
Continue readingTo the Future is a small GRAPH interview of junior actresses. This one was published in the March 2019 issue.
Continue readingThis 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 have been added for ease of reading in English. I have also collected many archival images from various sources to illustrate the book.
Continue readingAshizawa Jin is an illustrator/columnist who seems to have worked for GRAPH since the 1960s (yes, you read that right). His interview column gets a new title every year but usually the format is fairly similar. The 2007 column was called Flowers Blooming, Dreams Blooming, and this interview with Aran Kei was published in the December issue.
Continue reading