【MMN Interview】Disseminate the idol culture to the world! Looking at the real face of Wasuta

26.March.2016 | FEATURES / MUSIC

Wasuta was announced on March 29th last year, and it is known as a digital native generation idol that focuses their activity to the world. Wasuta is an abbreviation for “The World Standard.” They spread the KAWAII Japanese idol culture throughout the world using social networking and idol activities! They are almost having their one-year anniversary, so this time we interviewed Nanase Hirokawa (a.k.a Nanasenu) and Hazuki Sakamoto (a.k.a Hazuking) about their feelings now.

 

――MOSHI MOSHI NIPPON is a site that delivers information about the Harajuku culture to overseas, but do you guys often go to Harajuku?

Hirokawa: Yes, a lot! I always go there once a week. When I hang around with my members or my friends, I often go to Harajuku.

 

————Do you have any recommended places in Harajuku?

Hirokawa: Hmmmmm…I don’t really decide the final destination beforehand. If I see a shop that is cute, I stop at that place, so I attend to many different places. Every time, I find something new, so it’s really fun. At shops in Takeshita Street, there are many pastel coloured clothes, and it’s really cheap. I often go to La Foret as well, which is beyond the Takeshita Street.

 

――Are you interested in any Japanese trend? It doesn’t have to be clothes.

Hirokawa: I’m interested in Japanese Kawaii things. In overseas, for example sushi is incorporated into cute goods, so it’s interesting. I personally like Mount Fuji, so I have a Mount Fuji cushion at home. If I see things that are original and pretty, I end up buying it.

――Sakamoto, how about you?

Sakamoto: I’m interested in the bobby pin that has grass and flower on it. It was popular in China, but I forgot the name. I saw it in many shops in Harajuku, and the girls around me were saying, “This is so cute!”Then, I realized it is on trend now.

 

――Apparently, it’s called Douyafa (flower sprouts).

Hasekawa: Yeah! It’s really cheap as well.

Sakamoto: Affordable price!

 

Hasekawa: Also, aren’t French goods really cute? There are many shops which sell French goods, and it’s fun to look at it. The uses of colours are really cute.

 

――True, they are cute. Have you ever been abroad?

Hasekawa: No. To be honest, I never went out of Japan.

Sakamoto: There was a study abroad experience at my school, so I went to New Zealand for three weeks. At my homestay, I couldn’t speak any English, but the host family spoke to me in English so quickly that I repeated “one more” many times.

 

――How was the life in New Zealand?

Sakamoto: In the morning, there was school, but in the afternoon I was free, so I went sightseeing quite a lot. At my homestay, there were two primary school children, but they were out in the afternoon, so the mum in the host family told me, “Go out with your friends.” That’s why I rode on the train and went to different places.

 

――What was different from Japan?

Sakamoto: The portion of the food was a lot! When I ate an ice cream with my friend, every one was hungry, so we ordered a triple ice cream. However, it wasn’t a Japanese size, so it was too much. At the end, we shared it, but each amount was extreme.

――Which country do you want to perform in the future?

Hasekawa: There are 5 members in the group, and every one is learning a foreign language. Ririka Kodama and I are learning English, Sakamoto is learning French, Naruka Mishi is learning Korean, and Miri Matsuda is learning Chinese. As you can see, every one is learning a different language, so we want to go to a country that can utilize the skills.

 

――In the blog, you write about the French lesson.

Sakamoto: In my high school, there’s a French lesson, and I have it for one hour per week, so in Wa-suta I study French.

Hasekawa: For me, I study English, and it was one of the school subjects that I was good at, so I chose it.

 

――Do you want to go to any other country?

Hasekawa: Personally, I want to go to Taiwan. It’s near, but I think it is a place that penetrates Japanese culture. Also, I’m interested in Los Angeles.

Sakamoto: I want to go to England. I like the British flag. It’s really cool.

 

————What kind of stage do you want to do abroad?

Hasekawa: For the songs for Wa-suta, we include different kinds of music from the world. For example, there are disco, latin, jazz, and country. For each song, there are different ways to entertain people, so we try to show it cool, beautifully, etc. depending on the song.

Sakamoto: In the one-man live in March, we have our dance part for the first time, each member’s solo, the dance scene with every one, and an atmosphere that is a bit different from usual, so we want to challenge in many things in the future live performances.

――What do you want to achieve in Wasuta this year?

Hasegawa: We will have our first regular performance on March 29th, and I hope we can do it abroad once. (After the interview, performance at Shanghai was decided on June 4th). It will be difficult, but I want to go abroad with the Japanese fans, and enjoy together.

Sakamoto: I hope many people will come to see Wasuta in 2016, and get invited by many events. I want to do many live performances.

Hasegawa: I want people to know our name Wasuta, at least.

 

――I think there will definitely be a Wasuta boom this year.

Hasegawa: Really? Our group was announced recently, so the fans remembered our group as “worst” instead of “Wasuta” at first. In Twitter, people called as “worst, worst”.

Sakamoto: We won’t name our group name as that. (laugh)

 

――Lastly, please give us a message to the fans abroad.

Hasegawa: Yes! Wasuta is an abbreviation for “The World Standard.” In our group name, there’s “World”, but we never went abroad. In the future, we would like to go to different countries and meet as many people as possible, so please visit our live performances.

Sakamoto: It’s only our 1-year anniversary soon, but I hope we can go to lots of foreign countries. If we have the opportunity to go abroad, we would like to see many people, so please check out our group!

 

■Information

Wasuta official WEB site   http://wa-suta.world/

Interview: Sahori Momo Words: Naoko Sugita (SHUTTER)

Photo: Atsushi Yamada

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