{"id":1161,"date":"2020-10-27T15:27:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-27T21:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/?p=1161"},"modified":"2021-01-09T17:23:31","modified_gmt":"2021-01-10T00:23:31","slug":"blossoming-takarazuka-sincerity-as-an-actor-minami-maito-flower-troupe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/2020\/10\/27\/blossoming-takarazuka-sincerity-as-an-actor-minami-maito-flower-troupe\/","title":{"rendered":"Blossoming Takarazuka: Sincerity as an actor – Minami Maito (Flower Troupe)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This edition of Tokyo Shinbun\u2019s column on Takarazuka features Minami Maito, talking about her current performance in Here Comes Miss Modern. The original column was written by Yamagishi Toshiyuki (estimated name reading)\u00a0and was published here on October 22, 2020.<\/a> (Archive link here.<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Blossoming Takarazuka: Sincerity as an actor – Minami Maito (Flower Troupe)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current Flower Troupe performance, Here Comes Miss Modern<\/em> (playing in the Tokyo Takarazuka Theatre until Nov 11), set amidst the romantic atmosphere of Taisho era Tokyo, is based on the girl\u2019s manga of the same title. The story unfolds around the turbulent events in the romance between an army lieutenant, Ijuuin Shinobu, and a lively schoolgirl, Hanamura Benio. Minami plays Ijuuin\u2019s army subordinate, Sergeant Onijima Shinko. \u201cI want to express Onijima\u2019s manly spirit and his compassionate nature,\u201d she says about her character. While she also played Onijima in the previous performance, three years earlier, when she read the script over again \u201cI found my way of approaching roles had changed,\u201d she says. \u201cI want to give a deeper level of performance this time around.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the performance was originally scheduled to open in May, due to the effects of the coronavirus the opening day was delayed by five months. During the social distancing period, \u201cin order to keep my performance quality from dropping, I never skipped training at home, and kept waiting for the reopening.\u201d Even though she couldn\u2019t go outside for a long period, she revealed some of the ways she came up with to entertain herself at home: \u201cI would take plenty of time preparing my own food so that it would look as if I\u2019d gone out to eat and \u2018play restaurant.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople who have been hurt can move forward by finding comrades. That\u2019s one of the appeals this show has for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minami is an otokoyaku in her twelfth year since joining Takarazuka. Besides singing and acting, she is known for her sharp dance skills, and is an invaluable addition to performances. \u201cI want to be sincere as an actor,\u201d she says. She says this philosophy is because \u201cwhen you\u2019re onstage, your true self will start to seep in,\u201d and she also keeps the motto of Takarasiennes, \u201cPure, Proper, and Beautiful\u201d in her heart. She goes onstage every day believing \u201cwith every performance, I want to improve in some aspect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three questions:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the one thing you would bring to a deserted island?
<\/em>I\u2019d be lonely by myself, so I\u2019d bring a companion. And if not a person, then rice. Rice gives me strength, and I wouldn\u2019t starve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When do you think \u2018ah, I\u2019m happy\u2019?
<\/em>When I\u2019m standing onstage. Because of the long break from performances due to the coronavirus it really made me feel how happy that made me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you had a week-long vacation, what would you do?
<\/em>I\u2019d go to an onsen. Eating delicious food and then going back to my room to find the futon laid out is such a nice feeling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This edition of Tokyo Shinbun\u2019s column on Takarazuka features Minami Maito, talking about her current performance in Here Comes Miss Modern. The original column was written by Yamagishi Toshiyuki (estimated name reading)\u00a0and was published here on October 22, 2020. (Archive … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[30],"tags":[13,357,143,68],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1161"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1161"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1169,"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1161\/revisions\/1169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}