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BiSH "FAKE METAL JACKET" Interview: Hug Me

Posted by Lurkette, in Interview, Translations 01 February 2016 · 2176 views

BiSH Hug Me
Former BiS manager Watanabe Junnosuke said, "I want to start up BiS one more time," and brand-new shit idol group BiSH was born. They just heard that they would get a major debut under avex, and they're such individualistic people that you'd think there was no rhyme or reason in putting them all together. This time we feature Hug Me, who isn't simply focused on trying to stand out, she's worried about her position within the group.

She's a huge Hello!Wota (Hello!Project lover), and yet she took the initiative to do shit idol work like Brazilian waxes and dirty jokes and DiET or DiE, so she may very well be following in the footsteps of her predecessors BiS more than anyone (?) The love and lust and motives of a dangerous older woman. We're lifting the ban here!

Hug Me's Distress~I want to be the one to be the most like BiS

--Since your avex debut was announced, it should be safe to assume that you want to become more well-known among the general public this year, so first allow me to ask a very public-minded question. There haven't been too many scoops on the love lives of celebrities since the start of the year, so for you, Hug Me, who would you want to scope out?
Hug Me: (laughs). Celebrities are scary...... Their fans are scary, you know? Like Johnny's fans. So I think it would be better to have like a venture capitalist executive or something like that. But no affairs. I think those are really bad. It's bad for the man's side. There are people I know who've had divorces after having affairs, so I feel like it isn't ever just someone else's problem.

--I think I'm not going to get a clear answer no matter how much I dig on that one, so I'll move on. 2015 was a tumultuous debut year for BiSH, so what kind of group do you personally think it's turning into?

Hug Me: Like what's come out of BiSH so far? I think we're turning into an interesting group. Everyone's individual personalities have come out. When we were first formed, Watanabe (BiSH manager/WACK representative director) said, "We'll go with shit idols. If we say we're shit, the hurdles will all be lower," and I feel like I've come to understand that, or rather, by calling ourselves shit, there's no hangups like, "oh we can't do that, we can't do this," so it's easier to make our personalities come out, and we're free to to work however we want.

--So what sort of member do you think you're turning into?

Hug Me: ..... I don't know. I'm troubled by my position in the group.

--What's bothering you?

Hug Me: Chittti and Aina are the two-top of the group. I think they're both an unwavering presence in the group, but me............. I have no desire to quit, of course, and I know eventually BiSH will run out of steam, but, like, I wonder what the audience sees when they look at me?

--You said that when you were reading Chittti's personal history interview in "IDOL AND READ 005," there was a passage on how she and Aina were the two pillars that held up BiSH, and that made you depressed and though, "Am I really necessary?" Is that true?

Hug Me: Yeah, we knew that already (laughs).

--Was it upsetting?

Hug Me: Upsetting, or maybe just sad. I love BiSH, so thinking, "Do I even have a place to stand in the group? Can I not commit to anything?" was depressing. I want to do my best for BiSH in my own way, but...... I still thought, "Am I not necessary?" Chittti and Aina are both good at singing and dancing, so I figured I should go about things like that didn't matter to me, but they are stuck in BiSH as the top two, so that's where I ended up... But I hated having it be like, "They'll be fine if just the two of them are here." Momoko and LingLing and Hashiyasume and I are all doing our best, too, but I still feel like we're not really a part of the group......

--But lately you've been much more conspicuous, so as not to lose to them. You're the one who's really the most like BiS in terms of leaving the most extreme impression. What do you think?

Hug Me: I think I'm the only one who can take that on. I liked how BiS sold themselves, that's why I joined BiSH, so I want to be the one to be most like BiS. I'm the closest in age to the former BiS members, and the other members are younger and cuter so they don't have to do those things, so I'm sort of the irregular member in that regard.

--In terms of age?
Hug Me: I've tried working a real job and I already quit it, so....... I guess that's age (laughs). But that means I have these things I can do. Hashiyasume is close to me in age, but she's so pure. She doesn't know anything. So it's impossible for her to take on this role.

--Your reflexes aren't good but every time you're giving such a desperate performance, you have the highest tone of all the members, you are the dirtiest of all of them, you got compelled to diet and lose weight, and you love Hello!Pro, so I'd say you have a lot in common with Pour Lui, don't you think?

Hug Me: I think we're a lot alike, definitely.

--I think BiS fans put a lot on Chittti as captain that they did on Pour Lui as leader, but actually you have the most in common with her.

Hug Me: I never thought of Chittti as Pour Lui, for me it kind of felt like if Yufu had been made captain, you know? That's how I've been going about it. She's super serious, she can be quite stubborn, she's quick to get frustrated, too, so I think she's more like Yufu than she is Pour Lui.

--So do you think you want to have a position like Pour Lui's?

Hug Me: I don't want to be her. I think we are similar, like making dirty jokes all the time (laughs). We've talked at length about following in BiS' footsteps, and there's no sense of wanting to be just like someone in BiS. The BiSH members are the BiSH members, we are ourselves. People who liked BiS and people around us say things like, "Oh, Momoko is just like Coshouji," and we've been very aware of that since the beginning. Like, "Do we really have to keep going with that image?" But now we have absolutely no intention of doing that.

--What kind of child were you?

Hug Me: I don't think I've changed at all. Once I looked at the BiSH thread on 2ch, and they wrote, "Hug Me's been brainwashed by Watanabe, just making dirty jokes. How pitiful." I thought, "I've always been like that! This is unacceptable!" (laughs) But I've become more serious since joining BiSH.

--There's the normal, serious Hug Me, and then there's the Hug Me on twitter who just makes dirty jokes that the first one would never agree with, I think you have split personalities.

Hug Me: (laughs). Since I was in middle school I found it easier to put my personality out there online, and that's still a part of me now. I genuinely thought about becoming a shut-in, and I was a very quiet girl, so I was a child who would just put all my feelings up on the internet.

--Did you have fun writing dirty jokes on the internet as a child, too?

Hug Me: I did (laughs).

The legend of Hug Me, the Hello!Wota "I still can't accept Sayashi Riho's graduation"

--Does your family not say anything when they see your dirty tweets?
Hug Me: The internet at my parents' place is weak so they probably don't see them, but my nephew started following me (laughs). He's in his first year of college......
Watanabe Junnosuke: Oh damn. I can feel the sexual tension.
Hug Me: He might be masturbating......

--How fitting that your relatives would be beating off to you (laughs).

Hug Me: I'm not the one doing it.

--I didn't ask!

Hug Me: (laughs)

--But in reality you do post very provocative pictures, do you not have any opposition to the opposite sex looking at you lustfully?

Hug Me: No. Well, it's not like the fans are coming to see me in person and telling me how erotic I am. I get it a lot on twitter, but actually hearing it in person...... was only immediately after the NicoNama where I was in a bikini.

--What did they say?

Hug Me: "You're so lewd......"

--(laughs)...... are you having fun?

Hug Me: I am!

--Then I guess it's all right (laughs). So you're showing off as a more erotic individual, but you're also known for your tweets about how much you love Hello!Pro.

Hug Me: When I was a kid I was obsessed with the Golden Era of Morning Musume. I've liked Hello!Pro ever since. I always watched ASAYAN and Mo. Taihen Deshita. As for why I was so obsessed, it's because they were trendy, and everyone had top-notch characters like Tsuji and Kago. Why did I like them so much? I feel like I liked anime more than I liked idols.

--After that, what sort of Hello!Wota story did you have?

Hug Me: I always liked them, but when I was in my first year of middle school, Reina and Sayu joined, and that's when my friends who liked Morning Musume drifted away from Hello!Pro. Like, "It was better when GoMaki was in it." But I liked Reina and Sayu, so while I didn't make a big deal out of it, I was following after everything in Hello!Pro. When I got to high school, AKB48 started to get trendy. That's when Morning Musume had their Platinum Era, but I got influenced by AKB48 all around me, and I regret that even now. They were fun for that time, and just like Chittti I really liked Erepyon, and the first idol I ever touched was Erepyon. Hello!Pro hands were something I wanted but could never reach, so with Erepyon it was like, "Is it really okay to be this close!?" That's when I really started becoming an otaku......

--That's when touching idols became like something out of a dream.

Hug Me: But when Erepyon graduated I lost interest (laughs). That's when my friends were saying, "Oh my god, look at Morning Musume," around when the 9th gen members were joining. They said, "These cute little girls have all joined, oh my god." In my heart I said, "No, no, there's no one as cute as Erepyon, right?" but when I actually saw them they were so cute! That's when I got completely back in with Morning Musume...... I even went to handshake events (laughs).

--So you have met them.
Hug Me: Lots of times! As an otaku.

--Who's your oshimen?

Hug Me: I've always been a hako-oshi. Morning Musume has been going on for so long, and that's an intense story, right? They have history. Each member brings something to the group, and you can see the individual stories in each member so I can't say "I like so and so." ...... but Kuduu.

--You said it (laughs).

Hug Me: Well, when Sayu graduated and when Reina graduated I was sad, but they had been in the group for over 10 years so it was like, "The time to move on has come." Sayu couldn't walk at her own graduation concert, you know? I was freaking out while watching it, but the junior members were putting so much focus into their performance and made us all think, "Even if she's not here, the group will be okay." That's why I could send her off properly, but RihoRiho's case was different. There were people saying, "Congrats," but I was just sad.

--Could you not accept it?

Hug Me: I can't accept it even now. I can't look at Morning Musume '16. I wanted to see the Morning Musume she was going to pull along...... It's just sad. I read the interview Billboard did with her, and she's so optimistic but I feel like so much was left undone...... I cried when I read it.

--So, "Why can't I be as optimistic for her?"
Hug Me: Right! I saw her live at her last Budokan, and I went to a live viewing for her graduation concert, but I still can't accept it. So now I'm obsessed with Country Girls (laughs). I can't look at Morning Musume '16 right now.

--But I think if you look at Morning Musume now you'll start to like the Morning Musume with Sayashi more. And if you think like that, you'll start to want to following Morning Musume '16. They'll keep performing your favorite story for you.

Hug Me: .......I have to watch them!

--(laughs). I'm anticipating a BiSH story just as good as theirs.

Hug Me: Ah, but BiSH's story hasn't even been going on for a year yet (laughs). It was rough. Like, we couldn't perform the second day at TIF...... I felt like that was unacceptable for our fans, like we hadn't done anything to deserve that, and it was so upsetting. But then we held a makeup show at Zepp Tokyo and that was intense. I thought, "Is this for real? Are they going to like it? Will they be surprised?" I was happy I could see some light at the end of the tunnel.

Hug Me and her sensuality "I just naturally wound up watch AV"

--You're now in the same position of "idol" that your beloved Hello!Pro girls are, so what sort of feelings do you have about them now?
Hug Me: I actually don't feel like I'm the same. For me Hello!Pro is like heaven, they're all so established, you know? So...... I'm an angel. Close to the gods (laughs). I don't think we're the same as idols, other even really the same as humans.

--So does that mean there are people who think of you as an angel?
Hug Me: Those would be very benevolent people.

--But there are, right? People who see Hug Me and get the same feeling you get while looking at Hello!Pro.

Hug Me: There are, I guess. They call me, "princess" (laughs).

--How does it feel being put on a pedestal like that?
Hug Me: It's miraculous.

--No pressure?
Hug Me: There is. I'm in the same arena as so many other idols, and I have to keep trying to get higher than them, but I don't have that much strength. There are times when I think, "What should I do?"

--What sorts of things do you think you're lacking in, to say you don't have that much strength?
Hug Me: Singing and dancing, generally. How I appear on stage, my performance. With the Hello!Pro girls, no matter when you catch them, they're perfect, aren't they? Any given moment, their expressions are on point. They can flash a smile no matter when the camera catches them. I don't think it's right to say that I'm not focusing during a live show, but when the camera catches me, my face is......

--In your case it's because you get tired by the second half of the show (laughs).
Hug Me: That's true (laughs). But I think that's something I need to improve upon if I really want to be professional.

--Do you have any thoughts like, I want to show them something even better than Hello!Pro, or I want to be an idol that even more girls look up to?
Hug Me: Lately, yes. People who give amazing performances catch your eye, so I feel like I have to be someone like that. We've been leaving a lot of that up to Chittti and Aina, but I think we all have to reach a point where we can compete with each other.

--Do you think you'll end up becoming a group with charming performances?
Hug Me: I think it was fine for BiS to have such unrefined performances, and I personally liked that, but that's where I think BiSH has to change. I want people to think, "BiSH sure do some strange things, but their performances are amazing." I think that if we can get to that point with that sort of personality gap, there won't be any other idol groups as impressive as us.

--If that happens then you'll get even riskier lines as the dirty character. The value of your Brazilian wax report will go up.
Hug Me: I did that simply because I thought people would get a kick out of reading it (laughs). Like, all I did was write a report on getting a Brazilian wax. It's the same as if I did a report on a nail or hair salon.

--Really (laughs)? You didn't think you were doing anything out of the ordinary?
Hug Me: Not at all.

--It's pretty incredible on the reader's end (laughs). Idols do that to themselves, but to go so far as to write a column about it. There isn't anyone else who would go that far into it.
Hug Me: Thank you (laughs).

--Are you going to do any more of that?
Hug Me: I want to. But in terms of something that leaves as much of an impression as a Brazilian wax, I think all I can do is get a tattoo. I'm thinking about it.

--Are you going to keep going down that route?
Hug Me: If it doesn't gross the fans out then I want to do it.

--So even if it's painful and embarrassing, you'd do it as long as it were entertaining.
Hug Me: Simply put, I'd do it as long as no says, "Please stop it." Right now, everyone thinks it's funny, and people who support me even went to the same place to get a Brazilian wax done.

--Girls?
Hug Me: Boys.
All: (laughs)

Hug Me: So right now there's no one put off by it, and I feel at ease as long as they're entertained. Nobody is making me do anything, and I just do what I want (laughs), so it would be more difficult for me if I couldn't get them to accept it.

--Then, for right now do you not have any resistance to posing nude like BiS did?
Hug Me: As long as I have my Brazilian done.

--You are even more outstanding than I had imagined (laughs).
Hug Me: I have a dream to be in something erotic.

--Now that's smart.
Hug Me: I think of AV as symbolic. Like in the 3 seconds it takes to get it in, time stops, nothing seems real, you know? For an adult to think of that realm, to polish up a plan, and to make it become real, that's such a dream of mine. I have one erotic manga, it uses real-life idols as the subject material, and it's all stuff that could never happen in real life. That's the dream, you know? To do something that definitely can't be done.

--What made you start thinking that you wanted to be in something erotic?
Hug Me: I wonder? I just naturally ended up watching AV.

--You say that kind of like, "I just ended up listening to music."
Hug Me: I've been watching it since I had a flip phone. Desperately, on a tiny little screen.

Hug Me is? "Sex and singing and dancing, I want to brush up on all 3"

--Do watch it with the same feelings that men do? "Oh, I want to watch an erotic movie."

Hug Me: Sometimes (laughs). Sometimes it's just stupid and it's simply funny, like all the world's men are supposed to be taking care of these AV actresses, but then they also say nasty things about them, right? That's become kind of a sentimental feeling for me. But I do have a dream. Teachers, stewardesses, there are so many scenarios they're put in, when in reality you'd never have sex on an airplane, but they do it like it's no big deal, it's all fantasy. AV for me is fantasy.

-- I have something I've always wanted to ask, but if I do that now I have no idea what sort of interview this will turn into (laughs). Well, you have no intention of stopping your erotic character, right?

Hug Me: Of course not.

--What sort of person do you want to become as an idol who has to stand and present things in front of people?
Hug Me: I want people to say, "She's surprisingly amazing."

--Based on the current line of discussion all I can hear is a dirty joke.
Hug Me: (laughs)

--To put it more specifically?
Hug Me: People know me for my character on twitter, and when they come to see me live, they'll be like, "Wow, Hug Me is surprisingly amazing." I want to be the sort of character that has some sort of unexpected element, like, "Surprisingly good at singing." A gap between the two. That's why I want to get my performance level up.

--I heard a rumor that you're in your mid-20s, which, in reality, is not young when becoming an idol. How do you react to that, personally?
Hug Me: Dempagumi.inc and predia have so much bravery. And then in Hello!Pro you had the OG doing Dream Morning Musume, right? So I don't think being an idol comes down to age. I think it's about personal training and what you do with everything. Also, whenever I see a Mikitty video, I see all the comments going, "This is it!" "Shouji is shouting 'Mikitty!' from the audience, she's had kids, and yet Mikitty with all of that is still Mikitty!" It's not about age, it's not about being an idol, because if I can establish Hug Me as my own genre, I don't think anything else matters.

--What is the Hug Me genre?
Hug Me: Doing anything, being surprising, a person with no boundaries. You said it yourself, there's no other idol writing reports on Brazilian waxes. That's it, I think. I keep going back to it, but it's about doing those sorts of things while still having the, "She can really perform!" part.

--That's important. Without the performance, you're just the Brazilian wax girl.
Hug Me: I'm a regular old lecher.

--It would suck to put in all that work just to be a "regular old lecher" (laughs). Even though it's funny.
Hug Me: I want the masses to accept me, after all (laughs).

--You said before that you had become like everyone's mom within BiSH, but you also want to be someone who comes out in front more, right?
Hug Me: Right. But it's not as though I want to leave anyone behind in the process. It's not just for me, I want to push all of BiSH to the front.

--Going back to an earlier subject, there was the IDOL AND READ 005 article on how Chittti and Aina were the two pillars of BiSH. It's surprising that that made you wonder if you weren't needed. I thought you were in the position of, "It's fine to bring all of BiSH up, with me supporting everyone."
Hug Me: It's not that I got riled up because I want to be in the front, it was just that it felt like I wasn't contributing anything. I think we relied on the two of them too much, and even though the pressure is unbearable, I wondered if I wasn't really doing anything in response to that pressure.

--So you started wondering if you weren't contributing anything right when you read the article?
Hug Me: Yes. It gutted me. I was thinking before I read it, "What sort of position should I hold?" ... and then it became, "Oh, I'm not really doing anything at all, am I?"

--But I don't think anyone who reads this interview will think that way about you. Like, "What? This is an idol!"
Hug Me: I would be grateful (laughs).

--I said you had split personalities before, but you take on a lot of different roles, so I think most people will be wondering, "Which is the real you, which is fake?" But I can't help but think after our talk today that nothing about you is fake.
Hug Me: The stuff I put on twitter is the only thing I'm not sure about.

--Like you just want to post a bunch of jokes?
Hug Me: That's a big part of it, I guess. It's less like I go on twitter and say, "This is my character!" and more like it just comes out. And, "Will the fans like this?" "Will they like that I'm putting such perverted stuff up?" (laughs).

--Your innate sensuality.
Hug Me: That might be it (laughs).

--How will you be progressing in 2016?
Hug Me: I wonder? Well, I can't see that far ahead, but I want to keep growing. I want more people to know about BiSH, so I want to make this a year where I spew stuff up while exploring what I can do to help spread the word. I also want to get more work for myself. Late night radio where I can say whatever I want, gravure, stuff like that. We've already sort of cut my ties with BiS, but I don't think the people watching me have, so I want to take the initiative and be the most like BiS.

--To close, please leave a message for our readers.
Hug Me: For 2016, BiSH will have a major debut, and I want to ride that momentum, but I personally have sex and singing and dancing. I want to brush up on all three, and defy my age, so please watch over me. Let's have a good year!


Interviewer&Photo:Hiraga Tetsuo

http://www.billboard...ial/detail/1457




Thank you Thank you Thank you 

This is amazing.
Thanks!

Thanks for the translation, if you would do the ones for the other members, I think a lot of us would like that.

Would be seriously weird if any of her male fans sent her pics of their brasilian waxed bits.

Thank you very very very very much, Lurkette.

Thank you so much!

Can you translate Ling Ling's interview too?