{"id":1529,"date":"2021-05-28T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-28T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/?p=1529"},"modified":"2021-04-30T17:52:27","modified_gmt":"2021-04-30T23:52:27","slug":"aran-kei-aran-epilogue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/2021\/05\/28\/aran-kei-aran-epilogue\/","title":{"rendered":"Aran Kei – Aran: Epilogue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This book is a memoir of Aran Kei\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

On March 11, 2011, there was a huge earthquake in Eastern Japan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So many people\u2019s hearts were gravely hurt that day, and that sadness can\u2019t be easily healed. We have to live from now on holding various fears, and in the future, more and more terrible things might happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But even if we\u2019re crushed by this or things go badly for us, that\u2019s something of that time only. Even if we don\u2019t push ourselves to overcome something, if we just have that feeling of wanting to move forward, we\u2019ll definitely make it to the next thing. What we need for that is to believe in ourselves, and be satisfied with ourselves. Even if we compare ourselves to others and think \u2018but I\u2019m trying so hard\u2026\u2019, we can\u2019t possibly know how hard those other people are actually trying themselves, and as soon as we \u2018win\u2019 over those people we\u2019ll lose sight of our goals. But, if we are satisfied with ourselves, even if we fail, the result of our efforts will connect us to our next step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is how, by believing in myself and thinking  \u2018I\u2019ll try my best just a little more\u2019, I was able to make it to this point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s something else I\u2019ve realized recently. I don\u2019t \u2018lose heart\u2019. I don\u2019t think that I\u2019m special, but I feel that my ability to \u2018resist losing heart\u2019 is strong. However, this is a skill anyone can develop if they believe in themself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From now on, I want to keep performing onstage with this \u2018power to not lose heart\u2019 as my ally, and keep going forward while believing in myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Aran’s first official portrait as a Takarazuka Revue member (sourced from Aran Kei Memorial Book)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Dreams are not something you see while you sleep, but something that comes true.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But even if they do not come true,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think that the effort you put in on the road to make your dream true,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is in itself a dream.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

(From Aran Kei\u2019s Takarazuka Revue retirement speech)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Aran in a photoshoot for her retirement commemoration Memorial Book.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This book is a memoir of Aran Kei\u2019s 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 … 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":[26,4],"tags":[255,331,354,360,37],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1529"}],"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=1529"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1534,"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1529\/revisions\/1534"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zukalations.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}