[WEB ARTICLE] Kimata Syoya (JO1) - Elle Gourmet (6 April 2023) (Part 5)

[dreamweavernyx]

And part 5! Gosh, this month's issue was long ;o;

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Photo 47]

Kimata: When I was younger, the way I held chopsticks was really clumsy, and I thought that if I kept on like this it would be pretty bad, so I started to fix it by training myself to hold them properly in my left hand.

Ohira: Actually, it’s the same for me – when I was in elementary school my mom often criticized the way I held my chopsticks but I kept on holding them that way… When I was in high school and started aiming for showbiz I was like, this can’t go on!, and watched some Youtube videos, and after that I fixed (my chopstick hold) in seconds. (laughs)

Kimata: Yeah, when you want to fix your own chopstick form, then you’ll end up following through and fixing it!

Chef: Next up is the ootoro, which will be seared.

Kimata: Seared? Right in front of us?!

Ohira: Ahaha! Amazing!

Kimata: This is art, too.

Ohira: Yeah, amazing. It’s art, indeed.

Chef: This one falls apart easily, so please eat it with a set of 5-piece chopsticks!

Kimata: 5-piece chopsticks? Ah, you mean my hands. (laughs)

Ohira: Bon appetit!

Kimata: (bites down) It vanished! Only the flavour remains, everything else vanished… The soft texture, kind of like an earlobe, also remains…

Ohira: Delicious~!

[Photo 48]

An encounter with grandpa’s tea mug

Chef: This is miso soup made with grated yam. Please enjoy this before the final piece of sushi, in order to cleanse away the oil from the ootoro.

Kimata: We’re already at the climax! The bonito soup stock is great!

Chef: The final piece of sushi is stewed hamaguri clams.

Kimata: I don’t think I’ve ever had hamaguri clams as sushi before.

Ohira: It’s got some sweetness to it.

Kimata: Hold on… The tea mug that the sauce is held in, it looks like the one my grandpa had….?!

Ohira: (laughs)

Chef: I received it as a birthday gift from the part-timer who works here, you know. (laughs)

Kimata: A tea mug that has a whole bunch of kanji with the sakana-hen radicals* written on it… He definitely had one! Somehow, this feels really nostalgic! And the sushi tastes great, too.

[ T/N: Radicals are the components that make up kanji. A “hen” radical usually appears on the left side of the kanji, and can contribute to its meaning; ‘sakana-hen’ means the character for ‘fish’ (魚) is used as the “hen” radical on the left side of the kanji character. The names of most fish / seafood would include the “sakana-hen” radical; some common ones include “maguro (tuna)” (鮪), “sake (salmon)” (鮭) and “tai (snapper)” (鯛). ]

Ohira: Right? It’s delicious.

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[Photo 49]

A surprise at the end! A birthday celebration with maki sushi

Chef: For today, as a special treat, we have prepared a thick sushi roll with tuna. Someone will come and arrange it nicely (on the plate), so please wait for a bit.

Kimata: The green onion shoots (me-negi) stick out on either end like twin ponytails!

Ohira: I wonder what he means by “arrange”.

[Photo 50]

ELLE: Happy birthday!!! This article will be in the April issue, and since both of you are April babies you’re both birthday boys, which means…!

Kimata: Ah, that’s right!

Ohira: I’m happy, thank you so much!

Everyone: Happy birthday to you!!

Kimata: There’s a candle stuck in the sushi!

Ohira: Can I take a photo of this on my personal phone? I really want to take a photo…

Chef: How old will you be this year?

Kimata: 23 years old!

Ohira: Time really passed in a flash.

Kimata: I’m always young at heart. This year, I’ll start saving money.

Ohira: We were 19 when we debuted… So just like this restaurant, we’re in our fourth year!

[Photo 51]

Ohira: It seems like it’s stuffed full of various ingredients – what’s inside the sushi roll?

Chef: Tuna, chutoro, ootoro, and pickled radish are all stuffed inside.

Kimata: Bon appetit! Mmmmmm!!! The sear brings out a really nice flavour. You have to eat the green onion shoots carefully so that they don’t stab you in the face.

Ohira: Thank you for this celebration right at the end of the meal!

Kimata: It was truly a delicious meal. Thank you very much!

Ohira: It was delicious! It extended my lifespan. (laughs)

[Photos]

(Bonus) Untold episodes from the filming of the MV for their new song “Tiger”

Kimata: The release date for our 7th single “TROPICAL NIGHT”, was 5 April, which was exactly on my birthday.

Ohira: We filmed the MV for the lead song “Tiger” in South Korea; it’s our first time filming an MV in South Korea since “Born To Be Wild”. We’ve filmed other performance videos there, though, so I didn’t really make much of it.

Kimata: The key scene is when fire comes out from Shosei’s legs!

Ohira: No such thing happens. (laughs) But even without any fire, there was so much going on on set.

Kimata: Even just talking about the aesthetic of the artist photos, they’re pretty rugged, which is different from our usual.

Ohira: I got super carsick at that scene where we drift in the car. (laughs)

Kimata: Also, the art (on set), too.

Ohira: Yeah.

Kimata: The director of the MV had thought really hard (about the concept) and knew exactly what kind of scenes he wanted to capture, and he explained that all to us in detail, so it felt like we were becoming a part of the director’s artwork.

Ohira: The director was really passionate, wasn’t he.

Kimata: Our communication with the director was pretty strong; we could really sense his intentions when he told us how he wanted to express the song, and he’d even show us an example using himself as a model.

Ohira: This time round the filming spanned 3 days, I think? It was pretty cold…

Kimata: We took a lot of different cuts, but at no point did I wonder where a certain cut was going to get used. It was pretty clear what he was going for. I think that’s precisely why it was so fun to dive into the world (he created).

Ohira: Everyone was doing their best in the middle of the intense cold. We were filming until 3 in the morning, and everyone was in thin clothing, and we were all going “Man, it’s cold” to one another. (laughs)

Kimata: Anyway, it’s a really great MV, so please watch it lots, okay!