[MAGAZINE] Abe Ryohei (Snow Man) - QUIZ JAPAN Vol 13 Cover Interview

[dreamweavernyx]

Cross-post from my personal account, where this translation was initially posted

Translation of Abe-chan's cover interview special from QUIZ JAPAN Volume 13 (a magazine specialising in quiz-related content). He talks about how he came to love quizzes, and his plans to keep bettering himself.

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Special Interview: Abe Ryohei

Abe Ryohei, the man who has displayed competency in his activities in various fields, in his capacity as a member of the hugely popular group Snow Man, and as the club president of the self-founded Johnnys Quiz Club. As an idol, he entered the Science & Technology Department of Sophia University through the standard entrance exam. He has also obtained the weather forecasters’ qualification which has a passing rate of 4%, and takes part in quizzes, constantly pursuing the path of his “studies”. We investigate what motivates Abe, and what forms the foundation for his desire for knowledge.

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“Studying”, a weapon for survival as an idol

First, please let us know what got you interested in quizzes.

When I was in high school, I was in a group called Mis Snow Man, which was the predecessor of (the current) Snow Man. You could say that I was constantly following on the heels (of the other members), I was aware that I wasn’t as good at singing, dancing and acrobatics as the other members. At that time, I wondered to myself, ‘I’d like something I can use as a weapon’, and I thought, ‘Ah, it’s my studies’. I wanted to develop my studies, and also around that time because I had always liked the weather since I was young, I also thought ‘Someday I’d like to obtain the weather forecasters’ qualification’ and thus I began to watch quiz shows.

Until that point, you hadn’t really paid attention to quizzes?

Yes. Of course, I’ve seen shows such as “Nep League” and “Quiz! Hexagon”, but I saw them as variety shows. The first show I really paid attention to as a quiz show was “Q-sama”. In the segment titled “Pressure Study”, the first player would suddenly go to answer question number 10, and it was very cool when they got it right.

[T/N: “Pressure Study” is a segment on “Q-sama” where each member of a team takes turns to answer a set of questions, and the harder the question they can answer, the more points they can get. Usually, question number 10 would be the hardest question at the first stage of the game.]

Because question number 10 is the hardest one right?

Yes. Watching that, I began to hold the vague thought that ‘Someday I’d like to appear in a quiz show’. It was also “Q-sama” that made me seriously want to appear on a quiz show. When I was in a rehearsal with my group members, I happened to look over at the TV, and “Q-sama” was airing, and it was showing a question where they had to guess what an idiom, which had been translated to English, was in Japanese. Inadvertently, I said “Oh, the answer’s shimen soka”, and when that turned out to be the right answer, all of the members said “Wow, you’re amazing!” and it made me feel happy. Since then, I made sure to start saying, in various places, that “I’d like to appear in a quiz show”, while thinking, ‘Please let this catch someone’s attention!’ (Laughs)

[T/N 1: The word Abe-chan uses is 四字熟語, which refers to an idiom composed of 4 kanji characters.] 

[T/N 2: Shimen soka 四面楚歌 means “to be surrounded by enemies on all sides”].

I see. To say that studies became your weapon, that means you liked studies from the start?

Rather than ‘like’, I hated to lose. That’s why in elementary school I memorised the digits of pi, and competed with my friends for who had better test scores; while trying hard not to lose to the people around me, I studied a lot.

“Reciting the digits of pi” is also listed as your special ability on your official profile.

At the time, in the show “Gakkou e Ikou!” there was a corner called “B-RAP High School”, and our teacher would show it to us every time. There, we saw Co. Keio reciting 20 digits of pi, and we as elementary school kids went “So cool!” “Let’s imitate him!”, and thus the entire class memorised the digits of pi. After we had memorised the 20 digits, we competed to see who could memorise the most digits, and before I realised it I had memorised 100 digits. (Laughs)

[T/N: Co. Keio is a Japanese rapper; he studied in the Science & Technology Department of Keio University when he was on the show “Gakkou e Ikou”.]

You used wordplay to help you memorise the digits?

Nope, I used the rhythm. It’s a bit like the multiplication table. I think I was able to do it because I was young then. (Laughs) In middle school too, because my school displayed everybody’s test rankings, I studied really hard to make sure I wouldn’t lose to my friends.

So your motivation is linked to having a visible ranking.

Yeah, it’s connected. I’ve ranked first place in the school once in my life; I think it was in the mid-term examinations of the second term of the first year of middle school. At the time, I was like, “Seriously?!” (laughs), but I felt very happy.

I’d like to go back to your student days again; you said you were interested in the weather from a young age?

I liked Pokemon a lot. It had a rich variety of types such as fire type and water type, it was like magic. The weather is similar to that - rain or snow can begin to fall where there was nothing there before, and you can feel warmth or cold; I was hooked by that magic-like quality about it.

It seems that when you were in elementary school, you did your own research and came up with a “weather diary”.

Yes, when I was in my first year of elementary school. I recorded down the weather map printed in the newspapers for that day, as well as what the weather was like every day. Other than that, I remember once in art class, we had to draw pictures on a kendama, and I drew pictures of the weather, such as the sun and lightning. So when I was younger I really did love the weather, but I only came to know of the weather forecasters’ qualification much later, around the time I was in high school.

You’ve talked about your avid curiosity in various areas, and it seems that every year you would receive some kind of award for your self-led research. Did your parents help to foster an environment conducive to learning, was it an environment where they had you do what they wanted you to do?

They certainly brought me to a lot of places, like museums and camps. I was able to experience many things from that.

You graduated from the Science and Technology Department in university. Were you good at science subjects from a young age?

When I was in elementary school I went to cram school during summer breaks only, but I was always at the advanced level for mathematics, and the 5th level for Japanese language (laughs). I really wasn’t good at Japanese at all. Also, we had many educational toys at home, and I had always liked the science puzzles from the time I was in kindergarten. I often played with the puzzle called “Pythagoras” where you had to put together triangular and quadrilateral magnets, and a toy shaped like an abacus.

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How far can I go with my own strength? High school, the time when there was no option not to go to university

What else did you like when you were younger?

I really liked this show called “Trivia no Izumi”. I took notes of all the trivia they showed on the show. Not because I wanted to show it to people or anything. I had even marked down which bits of trivia received the “golden brain”, which received the “silver brain”, and wrote down how many “wow, really?” reactions each bit of trivia received. I wonder what I was so crazy about, then. (Laughs) I also enjoyed talking about trivia a lot in school. Up till now, I remember that in the Ghana Football Association there was a president named Nyaho-Nyaho Tamakloe, stuff like that. I don’t really know where that notebook of mine ended up, but I really looked forward to the show every week, and my parents would wake me up to catch it.

[T/N: In the show “Trivia no Izumi”, panelists take turns to present trivia, and the guests on the show can press a “wow, really?” button if they found the trivia interesting. (The Japanese expression used is “へぇ” which doesn’t really have a direct English translation, but it’s used to express interest, wonder, etc.) At the end of the episode, the presenter with the most “wow, really” reactions would receive the “golden brain” prize, and the presenter who the host found the most interesting would receive the “silver brain” prize.]

Because in the first 6 months it was a late-night programme.

Yes, that’s right, it was at a late timing at night. Because I was a kid there were times I’d fall asleep in the middle of the show, and when I woke up the programme would already be over, and I would burst into tears. (Laughs)

Since you were young, from your parents’ point of view they’d surely want you to sleep earlier. You must be thankful that they let you stay up late to watch late-night TV.

Indeed. In the lower years of elementary school they’d say “please go to bed early”, though. (Laughs) They began to say “you can stay up” around the age when I began actively watching “Trivia no Izumi”. They probably thought, ‘Ah, he likes the show’. When I was in high school and university, they’d record quiz shows for me even though I didn’t tell them to.

Speaking of high school, before you decided you were going to use your studies as a weapon, was it difficult to balance your studies and your job?

Whenever I had even just a sliver of time I would study. In particular, I would study during the intermission at stageplays… I was doing it in the dressing-room backstage so of course the other members were around and it was noisy, but I would sit at the side and do homework by myself, or do the materials for my correspondence course. Sometimes the members would ask me “What are you studying?”. Sometimes when I would be listening to English audio tracks they’d pull out my earpiece and ask “What are you listening to?”, but at that time I was listening to “Speed Running”. I was teased a lot for that. (Laughs)

[T/N: “Speed Running” is a series of audio educational materials designed to teach English.]

It seems that when you took a break from your activities to take the university entrance exams, there were members who opposed this.

Ah, yes, there was a time when it was like that. But to me, there was no such option to ‘not go to university’. Of course, I wanted to go to university, and while I had the option to go for recommendation-based admission, I thought, ‘I’ll only be able to undertake this huge studying endeavour once in my life, so I’d like to test how far I can go with my own ability’. So I overcame the doubting voices of my members, and took a break of slightly over 6 months from my Johnnys activities to study for the entrance exams. Although I started out doing self-study in the school library during my free periods, I think the fact that I worked hard in my school studies certainly helped in my studying for the entrance exam.

[T/N: Recommendation-based admission is a stage of university admission that opens in priority to regular admission, where students can apply to university based on recommendations from their alma mater.]

Was Sophia University your first choice?

It wasn’t my first choice. If we’re looking at the number of universities I sat the entrance exams for, I definitely had more losses than wins. But when I think about it now, I really did manage to get into a really good university. It had a good location, and for the co-existence (of university and work) it was the ideal place.

By the way, for high school you went to a regular high school, and not one for people in the entertainment industry, right?

Yes, it was a metropolitan high school. Although I got into the high school based on recommendation, I couldn’t obtain authorised absences from school to go for my entertainment activities. There were lessons that I couldn’t skip, and there was a time where I was told that if I missed lessons one more time, I would have to repeat the academic year. So sometimes I wasn’t able to backdance for the seniors during their shows, and I would feel very bad about that, and that conflict continued into my university days as well. The university was also surprisingly strict about missing lessons, and when I had to miss shows I felt really bad.

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Aiming for appearances in quiz shows - preparing the foundation

Now, your “studying-type character” has publicly taken root, but when did you start pushing forward that image? Looking back through the years, it seems that a big turning point was in 2015, when “Abe-chan Sensei” was aired on “Taki CHANNEL”, you passed the weather forecasters’ qualification exam, and you were accepted to graduate school, etc.

It’s already been so long since then, huh. I think it was around then when I began to push forward the image of being a studying type. In order to be loved by the entertainment world, isn’t your image really important? In order to be able to repeatedly appear on quiz shows you must have the image of being ‘smart’, otherwise the TV networks and people in charge of casting won’t focus their attention on you. Putting “able to recite the digits of pi” on my profile was also because I thought it would attract people’s attention. Weather forecasting, graduate school, pi, “Abe-chan Sensei”... All that I was able to do at the time was to push those things to the forefront, in order to place foundation stones that would let me gain, even if just a little, some sort of knowledgeable image.

And then, your first quiz show was in September 2017, on “Cream Quiz: Miracle 9”.

Later, I heard that (the thinking behind my casting) was because “he says he wants to appear on a quiz show, so let’s try putting him on”, but that very first time I appeared, my condition was excellent. So when they called me a second time, I was even happier than the first time, because I thought that might have been tied to my performance the first time.

You’re really someone with a great talent, aren’t you, Abe-san.

I’m happy that you say that, but the truth is that sometimes my condition is not as good; it really makes you think that ‘Quizzes are really about ‘luck’, huh’. The key to minimising the influence of luck is really studying and hard work, so for a stable performance, I think it’s important to keep studying from here on onwards as well.

Due to your appearance in quiz shows, you began to study for quizzes together with Iwanaga Tetsuya-san, and you even take part in the quiz studying circle led by Kazulaser-san. Please tell us about an episode with Iwanaga-san.

I managed to speak with Iwanaga-san briefly the first time I was invited to “Miracle 9”, and our dressing-room was the same when we appeared on “Cream vs Hayashi Osamu! Super Quiz Survivor” (aired on New Year’s Eve in 2017), and after that we became really good friends. For the following year’s “The Time Shock” (the “Strongest Quiz King Battle ~2018 Autumn Edition~” episode that aired in September 2018), when both Iwanaga-san and I were invited to appear, we were like, “why don’t we study together?”, and so both of us went to a cafe and strategised for “Time Shock”. (Laughs)

[T/N: Iwanaga Tetsuya is a Japanese actor and member of MENSA who frequently appears on quiz shows. He’s known to be good friends with Abe-chan. Kazulaser カズレーザー is a Japanese comedian very famous for appearing in various quiz shows. He leads a quiz study group for people in the entertainment industry to study for quiz shows.]

Did the questions that were eventually asked match (with the strategy)?

That time, the both of us shared with each other what we had studied. After that, it seemed that a quiz studying circle had formed with Iwanaga-san, Enari Kazuki, and Kazulaser at the centre, and I was invited to join after they had started. Kazu-san had prepared Waseda-style quick-answer buttons, so it was useful for our studies, and also very fun. (Laughs)

[T/N 1: Enari Kazuki is a Japanese actor who also appears in quiz shows fairly frequently.]

[T/N 2: Quick-answer buttons are the buttons that are used in quick-answer quizzes (haya-oshi mondai 早押し問題) (i.e. where the first person to hit their button gets to answer). A Waseda-style one has a giant blinking light in front of the device so it’s very visible who was able to press the button the fastest. If you’ve seen the cover photo for this volume of Quiz Japan, it’s the style of button that Abe-chan is holding on the cover.]

It’s amazing that you know the term “Waseda-style”. (Laughs)

Haha! (Laughs) That one’s good, isn’t it.

It seems that you even went on a quiz holiday with Iwanaga-san, isn’t it.

Yes. We went to the Tohoku region on a day trip. In order to gain knowledge on the various prefectures, it’s easier to remember the knowledge if you actually go to the place itself.

Especially since now video-type quizzes are so common.

That’s why, when Iwanaga-san and I just happened to have off days that match up, we were like “Hey, why don’t we go on a trip?” “Where should we go?” “Let’s go to a UNESCO heritage site.” The both of us shortlisted a number of places, and eventually it became “Let’s go to Hiraizumi. It’s close to the Three Views of Japan, so we can also go to Matsushima.” “I also want to eat the dishes the region is famous for, such as wanko soba.” That day was a whirlwind. Once we decided to go to Tohoku on our one off day, we said “Tomorrow we’ll gather at 7am at Tokyo Station!” (Laughs)

[T/N: The Three Views of Japan are Japan’s 3 most celebrated sights: Matsushima, Amano-Hashidate and Itsukushima (Miyajima). Wanko soba is a style of soba where the noodles are served in many small little bowls.]

You went that far in order to become stronger!

Region-specific questions are the kind of thing where if you’re from that region, you’d be able to answer it no matter how difficult it is, and so they’re often put forward in quiz shows. But precisely for that reason we had to become better at region-specific questions, but because I’m super bad with geography (laughs), I have a strong desire to go to more and more places. Right now I’m a reporter for “Zip!” on the corner “Trendy News: Kiterune!”, and when this job was confirmed I was incredibly happy. There’s many chances to report on the regional cuisines of various areas. It’s natural to be happy when you get jobs to go on location in other regions.

Speaking of geography, you also hold the second level for the UNESCO World Heritage qualification, right?

Yes. I was really bad at social studies, but the most easy to approach area of it was UNESCO World Heritage sites. I love travelling, and when I study (about World Heritage sites) I’m able to learn about that country, and the feeling of travelling arises. Right now, I’m working hard to memorise the flags of the world. I’ve also started playing “Momotarou Railroad” in order to get better at remembering geography. For the arts subjects that I’m bad at, I’m starting to approach them from an angle where I can come to love them.

[T/N: “Momotarou Railroad”, also known as “Momotetsu”, is a popular game where you control a train company that travels all around Japan.]

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If we could gather just as Johnnys we would be able to do quizzes more frequently…

In May 2020, the Johnnys Quiz Club was formed with you as club president.

There are some juniors of mine who also take part in Kazu-san’s quiz studying circle, and we’d wait for each other to go (for the study circle) together as the Johnnys group, so I thought ‘It would be nice if we could gather just as Johnnys and do quizzes more frequently’. During the stay-home period, there wasn’t much opportunity for us to inform about this, so I thought of doing a quiz video. I gathered the kids who had appeared on “Q-sama!” before and filmed on Zoom, and learned video editing from scratch in order to edit the video myself.

For the question “What is the interior angle of a regular hexagon?” you drew a hexagon diagram by hand to explain it, didn’t you.

Ah yes, I did. (Laughs)

It was edited in a way that was very easy to understand. It started off with a very relaxed atmosphere, but the quizzes were serious, weren’t they.

It was pretty serious. It was an idea that started with “Let’s show that doing quizzes is fun”, so we did it in a relaxed, casual manner. I began to talk about the group in various places, thinking “It would be nice if we could appear somewhere on a quiz show as this team”. I didn’t think it would have resulted so quickly in us being invited onto “Q-sama”. (Laughs)

For the “Pressure Masu Drill” segment you need 6 people, so it was just right.

We fit perfectly, don’t we.

From the point of view of club president Abe-san, what impression do you have of your fellow Johnnys Quiz Club members?

Kawashima Noeru (Travis Japan) is almighty. Even I am surprised by him. Noeru is also more inclined towards the sciences, but he has a vast breadth of knowledge and a strong desire to learn, and during the stay-home period he learned sign language (among other things), so there’s really no gap in his knowledge. Motodaka Katsuki (7 MEN Samurai) is an elite student who goes to Waseda University, but just like me he’s weak at the arts (laughs). But given the quickness of his mind, or his ability to put things together, I think he’s the type who would be good at solving riddles, similar to Ijuin (Hikaru). Ukisho (Hidaka, Bi Shounen) has a very good sense for quick-answer questions, and he’s able to tell ‘This question is aiming to ask about this’. He can press the button even before I understand the aim of the question. Nasu (Yuto, Bi Shounen), on the other hand, tends to press the button only after he understands the aim of the question. He knows the fundamental basics, but sometimes he’s able to give really superb answers or observations; that’s really fundamental to creating excitement on a show, and so I think Bi Shounen really has a good balance. And then Fukumoto (Taisei, Ae! Group) is able to both state his opinions clearly and also at other times try to get people to laugh, and he really makes you think ‘Ah, he’s so smart’ in a number of ways. Each of them have their own unique personality.

[T/N 1: The term Abe-chan uses is hirameki mondai ひらめき問題, literally questions that can be solved in a flash of inspiration; I’ve used “riddles” to translate for this but riddles are really just one type of hirameki mondai.] 

[T/N 2: Ijuin Hikaru is a Japanese comedian who often appears on quiz shows, especially “Q-sama”. He’s known to be very good at hirameki mondai. ]

And how about yourself?

Next up, (I) will be focusing on social studies… (laughs) In addition, I think it would be good to train the quality of my intuition. For example in yesterday’s “Q-sama”, in the final round (“Insanely Difficult! Pressure STUDY”), there was a question that said, “Please state the correct social studies-related term”. In times like that, usually I’ll be able to think, ‘Ah, it’s probably going to ask about this’ and predict the answer, but yesterday my guess was off the mark.

But, if you keep working on it, that sense of yours will surely become more polished.

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I’ve always thought, “Someday I’d love to be featured on QUIZ JAPAN!”

This past year, the opportunities on quiz shows for both yourself personally as well as the Johnnys Quiz Club have increased. Is there a talent who you view as a rival?

The idea of rivals is presumptuous! Everyone is knowledgeable.

Might it be more of feelings of admiration or respect?

Yes. Ujihara (Fuminori)-san is a hero-type existence who I’ve been watching since I was young, and Ijuin-san as well, his ability to comprehend in a flash, especially in “Pressure STUDY”, is amazing. To arrive at the answer even without knowing the answer is really mathematical, I think. Of course, Kazu-san has also been very kind to me, and I respect him. When we study together, he supplements our learning, and I’ve learned a lot.

[T/N: Ujihara Fuminori is a Japanese comedian who frequently appears in quiz shows; he has been appearing in “Q-sama” as a regular for many years.]

Do you talk about quizzes with people other than the members of the Johnnys Quiz Club?

The Snow Man members often say, “Abe-chan, give us a quiz” (laughs). Also, I’m a big fan of quiz-type phone applications, and the other members also say “Oh, that looks interesting” and download the same application, so there’s times when we’re all doing the quizzes (on the application) together during break time.

It’s good that everyone can enjoy together while studying for quizzes.

Yes.

Since you’ve been recognised as “someone who loves quizzes”, have you received things like published collections of quiz questions?

I’ve received them from myself (laughs). Right now, Snow Man is hosting their show called “Sore, Snow Man ni Yarasete Kudasai” (TBS), and when the staff of the show asked me what I’d like for my birthday I said “A collection of quiz questions”. Then, I received a ton of past records from this quiz competition called “Kachinuke-hai”, and also a whole bunch of past question collections. Recently, I’ve taken to watching the first round of “Kachinuke-hai” on Youtube while en route to my next destination. Although, I think most of the questions are ones I don’t know. (Laughs)

[T/N: “Kachi-nuke-hai” is a yearly quiz competition that takes place in stages. Each stage, only the top ranked participants can advance to the next stage, and each stage features a different type of quiz.]

It’s pretty difficult, isn’t it.

It is difficult. But I did think, “Is it really okay for me to appear on this magazine?” (Laughs) It’s a huge honour! I’ve been working to be recognised as a Johnnys who likes quizzes, and I’ve always thought ‘Someday, I’d like to be featured in ‘QUIZ JAPAN’’. So, to have that dream fulfilled here…  And what’s more, to be able to be on the cover of the magazine! (Laughs)

To be thought of like that, we’re very happy as well.

There really is no other privilege like this, really. It’s like saying “Nice to meet you”. To all of the quiz players, nice to meet you. I am but a novice, but please take care of me.

[T/N: “Quiz players” are people who specialise in participating in quizzes, whether in quiz competitions or otherwise.]

To the Abe-san of now, what is your motivation for continuing to do quizzes?

When I appear on quiz shows, I think that ‘To be knowledgeable is really cool’. So when my fellow participants answer questions correctly, I often think “Wow, that way of answering was super cool, wasn’t it!” “I want to be able to answer with this kind of vocabulary!”, and that really becomes a source of motivation for me.

And it really links up with the studying episodes you mentioned at the start.

I think studying for school and studying for quizzes are a bit different, but whenever you are studying anything I think the most important thing is motivation. You absolutely can’t run short on that.

Does your hates-to-lose personality also come alive in quizzes?

Yes. The side of me that hates to lose is really awakened. That being said, quizzes aren’t just ‘something only smart people can do’. For example, I’m good friends with Fukura and Kou-chan from QuizKnock, so when I do (quizzes) with them it really does feel like studying; but for simple questions, even the other Snow Man members can enjoy them. Everyone probably has ‘something they are able to talk about’, so if they’re able to display that knowledge and have people around them go “Oh, you knew that!” “Amazing, so cool!” then I think it would definitely feel pleasant. Even more so for shows like “99-nin no Kabe” where they really hone in on a certain topic. Exactly because it’s the closest thing to everyone’s interests, that’s why everyone can enjoy them; further, for TV quizzes I think it’s important to show off your area of specialty, so I’ll keep working hard from now on.

[T/N 1: QuizKnock is a Youtube channel formed of ex-quiz players, who post videos about quizzes and appear regularly on quiz shows. Two of the members are Fukura Ken (Fukura-P) and Watanabe Kouhei (Kou-chan).] 

[T/N 2: “99-nin no Kabe” is a quiz show where a guest participant will take part in a quiz in an area they think they’re very good in, competing against 99 people who are knowledgeable in the area, to see if they can answer questions faster / more accurately than all 99 other people.]

Please, definitely keep getting stronger and stronger from now on as well.

Yes! Since I’m the club president for now. (Laughs)

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