For reference since I don't feel like color-coding the whole thing:
Ueda Riko
Haruno Kiina
Seta Sakura
Kiyama Ai
Nishigaki Arisa
Hoshino Sora
--Hello! I saw your live show for the first time, and I was wondering if you thought up your catchphrases on your own?
Ueda: We thought them up together with our managers. I'm a black-belt in karate. So we went with "blackbelt." I'm also told a lot that my face changes when I laugh, so we chose "killer smile," like "I'll throw you down (with my smile)."
--Do you like it?
Ueda: Yes! We agreed on it.
--Kiina?
Haruno: The sight of Nagasaki at night is a million-dollar view, although lately it's gone up to ten million (laughs). So I took that, and used it to say that I wanted to give that same energy with my smile.
--Arisa?
Nishigaki: I'm from Yamaguchi, and the catchphrase of the area is "home land of artisans." So, I guess... I'm just a prodigy. ***(Okay this is super complicated but the Yamaguchi catchphrase is Sho~Shu~San, Arisa's is Cho~Shu~Sanhibonjin, it's wordplay in Japanese, it doesn't make a lick of sense in English. Don't worry about it.)
--So that's what you went with (laughs).
(Shochou) Like, she's not an ordinary person (laughs). "Mediocre" isn't the word for her.
Nishigaki: So that's what I got!
--You also call out, "When I say Arisa~?" during your introduction at shows, right?
Nishigaki: Right, then you say, "Magical Arisa!"
--People say that (laughs)?
Nishigaki: Mama and I thought that part up together, and then Shochou arranged it all together for me.
--Is she like this in the dressing room, too?
Ueda: She's really quite unique, so much so that it feels like we don't quite mesh (laughs).
--Ai? Do you like your self-introduction?
Kiyama: I like the song rhythm that I use for it (*Futari no Ai-land). I especially like the "I'm Ai Ai Ai Ai Ai-chan" part.
--That's a pretty old song.
Kiyama: I've heard it before.
--I guess your parents influenced that part.
Kiyama: No, it's because Arissa was singing it.
--How old are you (laughs)?
Kiyama: (laughs)
--What do you say before the singing part?
Kiyama: San-no ga hai!" I guess it's Hakata-dialect? It's like "Isse no se" ***(ready set go, more or less).
Ueda: I don't think... That's Kyuushuu-dialect.
Haruno: We don't say that in Nagasaki.
--Sora?
Hoshino: My tagline is "tiny giant monster (tiny kaijuu)," and my favorite part is when I pretend to be a monster and roar at the audience, and everyone screams back!
--Seta?
Seta: I made the "seven-part chanchan" segment easy to remember for everyone. My tagline is "Miracle cherry (Miracle Sakuranbo)," which is because Shochou said I have an unusual aura about me, like a miracle, and cherry is from my name of Sakura!"
--When did you all join the agency?
Kiyama: The three of us (Seta, Hoshino, Kiyama) were scouted. I was in elementary school when someone approached me at a fast food place. I was startled at first."
Seta: They were having an event at Aeon Mall and I wanted a pamphlet, and when I went to get one I was scouted. At first I hated it because I wanted to be a TV announcer at that time, but I figured I should take advantage of the opportunity so it was fine.
Ueda: The rest of us (Nishigaki, Haruno, Ueda) are from the same audition.
--What were your first impressions of each other?
Kiyama: Everyone was so quiet~.
Ueda: Arissa is weird now, but back then she had this aura like she wouldn't talk to anyone. She was very quiet and stuck herself in the corner.
Nishigaki: I was nervous.
Ueda: Kiina was... Like I would look around and she'd always be right next to me.
--What, like boyfriend and girlfriend (laughs)?
Ueda: (laughs). I think she was standing next to me the first time we met, even.
Haruno: No, we might have been facing each other.
--So with Kiina always nearby, what is she to you now, Riko?
Ueda: A helmet!
Haruno: Wait a minute (laughs)! Did I not grow on you?
--Is that why she has that haircut?
Ueda: It's definitely shiny, at least.
Haruno: Give me a real compliment!
--So what about Seta?
Ueda: She's like a fairy. It felt like she wasn't human.
All: Yeah, definitely.
Ueda: She has her own little world.
Haruno: She does. We knew that from the moment we met.
Ueda: It's still true.
Haruno: But she also says some really scary things when she's smiling at you.
--What was your first impression of Sora?
Ueda: Like an energetic child.
Kiyama: Like a sunset...
Haruno: Like she was mischievous?
--And Ai.
Ueda: I knew about her from her blog and stuff before we met. And then when we did meet, I thought, "Oh, she's so pale" (laughs).
Hoshino: She was mature.
Haruno: Like an older sister...
Seta: Right, everyone's older sister.
Nishigaki: Like a celebrity...
--What's most different between your first impressions and now?
Ueda: I thought... she would be mature and reliable...
Haruno: I can't understand what she's saying most of the time (laughs).
Hoshino: She's cute and fluffy.
Seta: Especially ever since we became Basshou.
Ueda: During our F-girls time (when they were a group doing lessons together in Fukuoka), she was the oldest and like the leader, so we left a lot of things up to her, but then we changed into a real group. And she's gotten a little more loose... (laughs).
Kiyama: I've come out of my shell (laughs).
--And Riko...
Hoshino: She was kind of scary. I heard she did karate, and when we first met she was wearing a red hat and a red skirt. She looked like someone who's really tough.
Ueda: I wore those all through my audition.
Nishigaki: She looked scary just holding a cell phone...
Ueda: What, why (laughs)!?
Seta: Yeah, she might have been a little scary.
Kiyama: I feel like my mother called her cute all the time but I don't remember.
Haruno: She's scary because she's so cute.
Nishigaki: Those Fukuoka girls...
All: I don't know about that~!
Kiyama: When we first met, I thought, "This girl is an idol," so I definitely thought she would be loved by everyone.
Ueda: Thanks (blushes).
--Tell me the characters of everyone within the group.
Ueda: You're the one we all make fun of, right? (Points to Haruno).
Haruno: No!
Kiyama: Kiina is the one we all make fun of.
Haruno: No (laughs).
Seta: You seem happy about it.
Nishigaki: You're laughing!
Kiyama: You're getting so stiff."
Haruno: (laughs) My mom told me I do that, too.
Seta: Okay, what about you (points to Hoshino).
All: Sora is the reliable one!
Hoshino: Really?
Ueda: She sometimes gets a little spoiled, too.
Kiyama: I think she's grown out of that, though... (laughs).
--Is there anything that people say about you that takes you by surprise?
Seta: I can't get excited on my own, so when people see me for the first time, they tell me I'm so serious.
Ueda: What! Everyone tells me I'm so loud!
Haruno: Yeah, but we already knew that (laughs).
Kiyama: Oh, me me me! People say I look like I'd be good at English! They say I look like I came from France.
--Then wouldn't it be French (laughs)?
Kiyama: Just Japanese!
Haruno: So wait, people say you look like you came from France so you seem like you'd speak good English (laughs)!?
All: (laughs)
--That doesn't make any sense (laughs). In your live show earlier, you said you wanted people to come to Kyuushuu to see you perform, so please tell us something good about where you live.
Nishigaki: Even if you're just walking around, there are lots of stands around... oh, this is Hakata. Yamaguchi. The air is fresh and clean. We have a World Heritage site, and the Shoin shrine, and we have a lot of history there. I think you can learn a lot there!
Haruno: Nagasaki has a lot of mountains, and there are houses on the mountainsides, and just like my tagline says the view at night is breathtaking. Also, you can get a taste of our food and different cultures there, which I really recommend.
Seta: In Fukuoka we have the Dazaifu Tenmangu, which is where the god of learning is, so if you need a wish for exams or something you can do that, and the umegaemochi is really good. You can enjoy yourself walking around and eating it.
--This is my first time hearing about umegaemochi. That's a good tip!
Hoshino: Food in Fukuoka is really good. Ramen and stew and motsunabe and stuff. It's all about the food!
Kiyama: I like something called a "Hakata Toorimon," which is super good.
Ueda: Everyone is mentioning food... but it really is about the food. I had real motsunabe for the first time earlier. We do it at home usually, but it's a totally different flavor in restaurants.
--What's it like in the Ueda household?
Ueda: It's like, "Oh, motsunabe" at home, but at the restaurant it's like, "Woah! Motsunabe" (laughs). I got emotional! I want people to eat the real thing when they come to Fukuoka.
--What's your goal for this year?
Ueda: We're going to work hard so that no one abandons us this year.
--What, have people already abandoned you (laughs)?
Ueda: (laughs). At Ore no Fujii this year, a lot of people learned about us for the first time, so even though they might have noticed us and come to see us, they might forget about us if we don't impress them on this one stage...
Seta: I don't want that to happen.
Ueda: I want to perform so that people want to keep coming back to see us.
--Finally, if we ran a story on recent "Batten incidents," what would you put in it?
Ueda: Whenever Sakura makes a mistake in the dances and you ask, "Hey, Sakura, did you make that move differently?" she gets a huge grin on her face and says, "Yep, I changed it." You have to be careful not to make it stick (laughs).
Hoshino: She's so cute, though...
Haruno: She told me, "Yeah, it's like this now (laughs).
Nishigaki: There was the scallop incident, too.
Haruno: So Sakura hates seafood. One day for lunch during lessons we went to a convenience store and there was a "Scallop Potage" there, and she said, "Doesn't this look good?" I didn't know if she would really eat it, but then she got it and came back and said, "Hey, this tastes like scallops!"
Hoshino: Because it's scallops (laughs)! She said she thought it was like a place in Hokkaido.
Haruno: I don't think she actually read the label (laughs).
Ueda: I forgot that she didn't like seafood and told her that it looked good.
-- (Editor) Maybe Seta should go to that shrine to pray for better studying skills (laughs).
All: (laughs)
Kiyama: We'll do our best (laughs)!
Interview following their major debut event
--Was this your first live in Tokyo?
Haruno: We've had several before.
--How was it today?
Ueda: I was happy to see so many people coming here for the first time.
--This was your first Tokyo live since announcing your major debut.
Ueda: I wanted people in Tokyo, who came for the first time, to know about us.
Haruno: I hope we can get people to see that it's appropriate for us to get a major debut.
--What were your thoughts when you first heard about your major debut?
Ueda: I was shocked!
Haruno: It wasn't so much, "yay" as it was...
Ueda: Like, reall? This fast?
Nishigaki: I knew what the word major meant, but it was so fast, it was like, "What's a major?"
--So how would you express that feeling in Hakata dialect?
Kiyama: I had no idea it was happening, so the only thing that came to my mind was "N?!" (laughs).
--Tell me what your goals are following this speedy major debut.
Ueda: I think we'll get more chances for everyone around the country to know who we are, so I want to get everyone, from Okinawa to Hokkaido, to think of Batten Shou Jo Tai when they think of Fukuoka.
Kiyama: I think we'll be coming to Tokyo more often, so I want to keep my time spent in Kyuushuu close to my heart.
--Are you going to school now? Do you only work on Saturdays?
Ueda: A lot of us go to school farther away, so we mostly work on weekends.
--Haruno and Nishigaki come from far away, right?
Both: Yes.
--Yesterday you announced in Fukuoka that you were getting a major debut.
All: Yes!
--How did your fans and families react?
Ueda: Our families were super surprised. Like, "Major debut... you mean like that major debut?" Our fans all cheered, but they told me they were surprised, too. Everyone was shocked.
Kiyama: But I was happy they congratulated us.
Ueda: They told us to keep doing our best.
Haruno: Some people even cried.
Ueda: They did!
Haruno: ... I cried too.
Hoshino: So did I.
--People cried out of joy?
(Ueda, Haruno nod)
Haruno: And at the Zepp Fukuoka announcement.
Ueda: We didn't know about that, so we cried.
--What about you, Seta?
Seta: I didn't cry, but I was shocked.
Ueda: I didn't think I would, so I was so surprised that it just came out.
Haruno: Zepp Fukuoka is closing in May, so I didn't think we'd be able to play there.
--What sorts of idols to you want to be?
Ueda: I want to catch up to our seniors. I don't want to imitate them to get where they are, I want us to go out there as our own group.
Kiyama: We sing a lot in Hakata dialect, so...
Haruno: I think that with our name of Batten, it will bring to mind images of Kyuushuu.
--You call yourselves the 1 in 100 years group, so what makes you different from your seniors?
Ueda: Energy, or like a different energy from the other girls...
Haruno: We have really deep characters and we have some tension.
Nishigaki: Not like we're fighting each other, but like we have to convince each other on things.
Haruno: Sometimes it just ends with a fight.
Ueda: But our fans tell us that we seem like we get along, so I want to work harder at our relationships with each other.
--What are your personal goals?
Ueda: I want to perform by ourselves at the Yahoo Auctions Dome...
Haruno: It's the biggest venue in Fukuoka, and we were the opening act for Momoclo there once. So we want to be able to stand there on our own.