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[Interview Translation] BiSH Episode12 Hashiyasume Atsuko's first interview "They said, 'It felt like you jumped out of Kiyomizudera so you pass'"

Posted by Lurkette, in Interview, Translations 06 September 2015 · 3119 views

BiSH's two new members, LingLing and Hashiyasume Atsuko have joined the group. They took the stage for the first time at the sudden show on 8/26 at Zepp Tokyo (TOKYO BiSH SHiNE). On 9/2 they released their first single, in October they will have their first tour, and they're pushing forward with a passion as they wait for the tour final at LIQUIDROOM on January 19, 2016. OTOTY will have interviews with these two over the next two weeks. For this week, we have BiSH's glasses girl, Hashiyasume Atsuko. I want her to catch up to BiSH's speed so she doesn't get shaken off! I

INTERVIEW: Hashiyasume Atsuko


Watanabe Junnosuke told me that Hashiyasume Atsuko wore glasses. But during the interview I felt that the greed I got from her is a more necessary addition to BiSH. To go higher, to go to bigger stages. She doesn't intend to lose to anyone, you could say. Some explosive girls have come along!

Interview & text: Iida Shinichirou
Pictures: Sotobayashi Kenta


I sent Watanabe a message saying I was stuck between this and something else

ーーWhy "Hashiyasume"? [*hashiyasume literally means "palate-cleansing side dish," but she uses it as wordplay to mean "point of going to rest"]

Hashiyasume Atsuko (Henceforth, Hashiyasume): I always go to bed around 2 or 3, so if I doze off I go completely to sleep. I was stuck between a few names but I thought this was the one that I should choose, and I sent Watanabe a message saying I was stuck between this and something else.

ーーThat's ridiculously tricky....... You're a wicked girl, aren't you (laughs)? Why did you decide to join BiSH?

Hashiyasume: Actually, I applied to join BiSH when it was first formed, but I didn't get anything official come my way. So then I wondered, "What happened with that audition?" So I looked it up and I found this other audition on Twitter. It was an unexpectedly quick second audition, but I figured since they're still doing them I'll send something in and then I applied.



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ーーDid you have some scheme for the second application?

Hashiyasume: When I first applied, I sent in pictures that I had taken at a park in Fukuoka, pretty idol-ish pictures. I wondered if that was what was wrong, so this time I put my hair in a braid and put on glasses and had my friend take pictures of me in front of a bank at night in Shinjuku. My first pictures were serious, so I decided that maybe I should send in more normal, or should I say more basic pictures.

ーーAnd to your merit, you passed with flying colors.

Hashiyasume: I don't know about that (laughs).

ーーWhat happened at the interview?

Hashiyasume: I liked Morning Musume, so I sang a Fujimoto Miki song.

ーーWhat was the response?

Hashiyasume: I thought it would definitely be awful. The other girls at the interview with me were female BiSH fans, and when I was talking to Linda when I was on standby, I said, "I've given them a step ahead of me."

ーーWhat did you think when you were told you had passed?

Hashiyasume: I had just gotten to work, and I thought, "Oh, here comes the bad news." When work was over I got out my phone and I was super nervous and didn't know if I should listen to the results or not. I prepared myself for the worst. And then they said, "It felt like you jumped out of Kiyomizudera so you pass" (laughs).

ーーWho did the jumping (laughs)?

Watanabe: I did, I guess.

I didn't have anyone to play with, I was always reading, and I was always hiding in the bathroom during recess

ーー(laughs). So, tell me about yourself. Where are you from?

Hashiyasume: Tokyo. I moved to Fukuoka in middle school.

ーーWhat sort of child were you?

Hashiyasume: In elementary school I was very determined and cheerful. I had a lot of friends and was active. There weren't many kids at my school, so for 6 years I had the same people in my class. We got along like we were family, and no one got picked on.

ーーDid you move to Fukuoka because of your parents' work?

Hashiyasume: They really like music and were listening to Mentai Rock a lot. So they started talking about going to Fukuoka around when I was finishing elementary school. But I had good friends there and I didn't want to leave them. Most everyone goes to the same middle school after elementary school, you know? So I didn't want to leave, but I couldn't say no to my parents since I was in elementary school.

ーーOkay then. So you lost contact with your friends, and then what was middle school like?

Hashiyasume: At first it was like I was some rare thing, "She came from Tokyo!" and I was really, really popular.

ーーWith the opposite sex?

Hashiyasume: With everyone. Like, "A cute girl came from Tokyo..." It's really embarrassing to say this myself (laughs)! But I didn't really care about anyone else, so I cut myself off from life. And from there... into darkness... I started to lose friends.


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ーーYou were going full-speed into stardom, what happened?

Hashiyasume: I don't really want you to write about this... I was in basketball, and there was someone I liked in baseball, and I got invited to go out with him once. We took purikura. That was it. And then there was a girl in basketball who was like the star member of the team, and she was like, "Why did Acchan go out with him?" "Let's pretend she doesn't exist." Stereotypical mean girl stuff.

ーーYou were bullied, too?!

Hashiyasume: She was the star, so she had more friends than me, and ultimately no one on the team would talk to me. The junior girls on the team would throw balls at me and be disrespectful, so I didn't have anyone on my side. So I didn't have any friends in middle school and I always went home alone, and I had no one to play with, I was always reading, and I was always hiding in the bathroom during recess. I don't think my parents knew about it.

ーーSo you stayed in the dark during middle school?

Hashiyasume: That was the end of it. There was only one other girl who went to the same high school in the same area as me, and we still keep in contact. It was a school like Horikoshi in Tokyo, where public figures go to school, and she's working in entertainment too so we get along.

ーーIs that when you decided to go into entertainment?

Hashiyasume: I wanted to, and I wasn't very smart, so there was only one all-girl's school were I could go to high school. I figured I would definitely still be bullied if I went to an all-girl's school, but I always liked idols, so when I thought about my future, I figured I might try to be famous by going to a school for famous people, and that's when I kind of started to hold onto that idea.

ーーWhat idols did you like?

Hashiyasume: In Morning Musume I liked Ishikawa Rika-chan. She's super adorable and perfect. I don't know the particulars about her, but she was like this sweet and determined idol, which I thought was great. I only ever really listened to Hello!Pro music. Mini-Moni and Petit-Moni and stuff. When I get into something that's all I'll listen to, so all I listened to was Morning Musume ever since I was little.

ーーLingLing also said she liked Momusu, and BiS' Pour Lui started the group because she liked Momusu, so they made a really big impression on this group.

Hashiyasume: They really did.

"I'm sorry, I'm leaving home," I said, and I went to Tokyo with only $300

ーーWhat was your life like in high school?

Hashiyasume: All at once the bullying stopped, and I felt like maybe I even had more personality being different, so I started liking things about myself. I became a magazine model shortly after starting high school, for a free paper that's only issued in Kyuushuu, and I did that for 3 years. I had auditions during my school years, I went on TV, and I had a lot of opportunities. But every time, even when I'd make it far, I'd fail the auditions, not one came through. Well, I was still in high school, so I felt like more chances had to come along, so I was pretty easy-going about it. But in my heart somewhere I still wanted to sell, I wanted to be famous.

ーーAfter graduation?

Hashiyasume: I went to an art school in the area, and I was the worst at everything so I had modeling lessons and acting lessons. As I went along I kept thinking that I couldn't stay in Fukuoka, so I went on a trip by myself, although didn't gain anything from it, except maybe some extra weight (laughs). But I couldn't start anything while I was in Fukuoka, and since I was originally from Tokyo I decided to go back, and I found an ad in a job magazine saying, "Come work in Tokyo! $16 per hour, Haneda Airport, accommodations included!" so I then I left. My parents were on vacation then, so I said, "Sorry, I'm leaving home," and I went to Tokyo with only $300.

ーーDid you work at Haneda?

Hashiyasume: I only had $300 and no friends, so my life turned into working and sleeping, and saved up a ton of money. But then one day I thought, "You came to Tokyo to be an entertainer, what are you doing here?" so I started applying for auditions. I wondered what my friend from Fukuoka had been doing, and she was doing live shows and gravure as an idol. That's the first time I found out about underground idols. I tried applying to them from there and I got accepted.

ーーSo you have experience as an idol?

Hashiyasume: Yes. I experienced underground idols the first time there, and I quit after about a year, so it wasn't that much at all. I got to stand on a big stage like TSUTAYA O-WEST, but it wasn't independently, it didn't sell out, and the audience was sparse, since I had only ever seen crowds for mainstream idols before, I thought, "What, why are there so few people? I'm supposed to sing in front of 1 or 2 people?" They told me, "That's normal!" which was different than I had pictured so I didn't know what to do.

ーーBut you still dreamt of being an idol after you quit?

Hashiyasume: I wanted to be in music more than I wanted to be an idol. I liked rock a lot, and since I didn't exactly think of myself as pure and innocent, I wondered if there wasn't something out there that was idol but with a rock component to it. I didn't find anything at all, but I still thought it was a good enough idea that something had to come along like that, so I decided to wait. I waited for my reward, or at least for something good to come my way, and that's when I found BiSH.

ーーWhy do you think BiSH is your reward?

Hashiyasume: I like reading free papers and music magazines, and I'd see BiS standing nude in the forest (Quick Japan) or doing pig noses in their artist pictures, and it really left an impression on me, like, "They're girls but they're doing these kinds of things!" That's how I first found out about BiS, and I thought it was just so cool. I didn't listen to any of their songs, though, and I quit my group shortly after that, but I thought it was amazing they were doing a solo live at Yokohama Arena. So then time passed, and I saw the tweet where Watanabe said he was going to do BiS one more time. It somehow trended to number 1, and I thought, "BiS was that naked group!" and I was in the age limit so I applied.

ーーBy the way, since it is another BiS, there's a possibility you'll have to get naked.

Hashiyasume: That's true. Well, I personally have no problems with anything like that, so I said I'd do it during the interview.


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ーーHow are the other members?

Hashiyasume: They're so nice. I thought this during the interview, too, but they're all good people and have strong auras about them. I didn't know what to do with myself.

ーーYou don't think you're a good person?

Hashiyasume: I am a good person, but I do have a bit of a temper. Like now on Twitter LingLing has a few more followers than I do, and I'm just like, "We started at the same time so why the hell! Screw this!" (laughs)

ーー(laughs). That might be an invaluable position in a group, though.

Hashiyasume: If you say so (laughs).

I went to see THE MODS "Rainy Yaon" when I was in preschool

ーーIt's been about a month since you joined, have you been able to see what sort of role you'll have on the team?

Hashiyasume: The members and I have to figure that out, and we've been talking about it as aggressively as possible, but I still don't know. I think I do pretty well in dance, but Aina is amazing at that and she does all of the choreography. I don't want to lose to her, but with how we are now, I'd lose. She's also really good at singing too, so I think she should just stick to one. Like, "let me have one."

ーーYou're such a relatable person (laughs).

Hashiyasume: I suppose. It's because I sometimes say bad things (laughs). I'm trying not to, though.

ーーWhat's your special skill or charm point?

Hashiyasume: I'm good at running. Like cross-country or marathons. I read the article on the 200km marathon earlier, and I really wanted to do it, but I also I didn't.

ーーWhat are you scared of?

Hashiyasume: Bugs and ghosts and stuff.

ーーLingLing said she likes bugs.

Hashiyasume: Ew, no way!

ーーDo you have a goal in BiSH?

Hashiyasume: I've seen a lot of music shows and venues, and there are so many times when I'm like, that's where I want to be. In my early group, we had concerts with other idols, but I still got to go to Shibuya AX. And Hibiya Yaon. More on the rock side, I went to see THE MODS' "Rainy Yaon," when I was in preschool, and I thought it was so cool when I was little, so I want to go there. Also... Nippon Budokan. The Beatles went there, and so have lots of other artists, so I want to, too.

ーーYou saw THE MODS at Yaon in preschool? Because of your mother, who loves Mentai Rock?

Hashiyasume: Yeah, it was my mother. I didn't know what was so great about them back then and I liked idols more, but as I've gotten older I've understood more about them, and I thought about this a lot when Sheena's funeral happened. Also, on Music Station earlier, there was an artist (Ken Yokoyama) who said, "Bands don't appear on TV as much these days." It's all idols now. So he said, "I've chosen not to be on TV up until now, but I wanted to come on to show people how good rock music can be," and that's how it is for me.

ーーSo you do like rock.

Hashiyasume: I do. I like rock and idols.

ーーSo BiSH, an idol group with a rock sound, is the best for you, isn't it?

Hashiyasume: It's the greatest. I don't ever want to quit.

ーーWhat do you think of Watanabe?

Hashiyasume: I saw his Twitter icon and thought he must be such a cheerful person.

ーーWhat, is that all?

Hashiyasume: Yeah. I don't know. I'm sure I'll think of something else, but he's an amazing person.

ーーDo you want people to look at you more?

Hashiyasume: I do. I think that, but people are busy. I want them to take care of themselves, too.




Thank you so very much for posting. I have read the whole pack of interviews; what you are dping is priceless for tose of us who want to know more about BiSH.
Do you plan on translating episodes 3, 8, 9, 10 and 11 too?.

Thanks again for this very interesting notes! XD.

Thank you so very much for posting. I have read the whole pack of interviews; what you are dping is priceless for tose of us who want to know more about BiSH.
Do you plan on translating episodes 3, 8, 9, 10 and 11 too?.

Thanks again for this very interesting notes! XD.

 

10 and 11 are about the relay marathon they ran, and it isn't particularly exciting so I don't think I'll do those. 9 is a live review. 8 I'll do when I have the time/motivation since it's the follow-up to the first set, and 3 I don't know. Part of me thinks I should because otherwise there's nothing from Yukako, but part of me also doesn't want to because it's really weird and doesn't really satisfy. If there's a demand I will. 

ooh, you do lingling's yet? I wanna see hers!

Also, thank you so much for translating!

LingLing's hasn't been published yet. It should be up within the next week, and I'll translate it then.

I'm interested in Yukako's. Otherwise there's pretty much no information out about her.