[MAGAZINE] Kawashima Noel (Travis Japan) - SODA (May 2022)

[dreamweavernyx]

Here is Noel's solo interview from the May issue of SODA! He talks about how his outlook / mindset towards being a Johnnys has changed recently, what motivated him to continue staying with the agency, and how the rest of Travis Japan keep him motivated; there's also a special message from him to all TJ fans at the end ^^

The little bio section of the magazine had a short interview with him so I've translated that as well.

Noel refers a lot to his Valentine's Day edition of Jweb during one section of this interview; if you're interested, you can check out my translation of it here!

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Kawashima Noel: Strong and beautiful; a devoted person

A person who’s strong and beautiful precisely because they’ve polished themselves over and over again. A person who is devoted to everything around them. That is the impression we get from Kawashima Noel. We look into his “changes”, in this year that seems to become his “year of change”.

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He holds a real estate agent’s qualification, is fluent in sign language, and has experience studying abroad. In addition, he’s also able to nail grand acrobatic moves. If one were to speak of Kawashima Noel, he’d surely be known for having a multitude of skills.

“Of course, I think that it would be good to be able to do a variety of things, but for me in particular, I’ve retained my habit of studying since my school days so I’m able to study even now. At the start of my university life I didn’t have much in the way of work; I was in Travis Japan and we had a stage production in the summer, but apart from that I’d just have bits of work here and there. I wondered, on the small chance that being in Johnnys’ didn’t work out for me, what I would end up doing, and thought that I’d definitely need to pick up some sort of skill; so I did a lot of research and studied a lot. I’m able to put the result of that to work as a Johnnys’ today. I’m working on both concurrently, much like how you might eat your meal and watch TV at the same time. Well, I can’t eat and watch TV at the same time, though (laughs). I guess it’s kind of like a working adult working their full time job while also studying for a qualification. If you get used to it, you’ll become able to do both, is what I personally think.”

He mentioned that during his university days, he was torn over whether to continue being in Johnnys’.

“I was really torn about it particularly in my 3rd year of university. Whether it would be job hunting or starting up a business, I was thinking about whether I could make a living on my own in ways other than being in Johnnys’. In my 3rd or 4th year, when I had a discussion with my seminar’s professor on what I wanted to do in the future, I reaffirmed once again that in the end, the thing I really want to do is be in Johnnys’. I think that because of that, I decided to shift my focus to making use of the skills I gain from my studies in my work as a Johnnys’. I enjoy my work at Johnnys’, and I like it. In addition, I also feel responsible towards the people who support me. My fans, they’d definitely become lonely if I were to disappear, wouldn’t they (laughs). The self-awareness and responsibility I felt towards the fans who are always close to me and supporting me, started to bloom when I was just past 20 years old.”

In his blog, he writes about his big love for his fans, who he calls “Noe-tans”, from time to time, but in the blog entry he wrote in mid-February, there were many memorable phrases such as “I’ve always been forcing myself and trying to live as an honours student”, and “It’s fine even if I don’t get 90 points, it’s fine even if I get just 50 points”; and he confessed that it’s precisely due to the existence of Noe-tans that he’s able to live as his bare, “naked*” self.

[T/N: Referring to living as his true self without masks or putting on airs.]

“I’ve always felt so much love from my fans, like when they put up their reactions on social media, or take part in voting segments, or send letters to TV programs. But despite that, I’d been pretending to close my eyes and not notice them. I’d thought that the fans want is not my true self, but a perfected version of me, or some kind of role I can play. I’d assumed that they might not come to like all of my attributes. To take one of them as an example, I’m the intelligent ‘type’, so I’d think that my fans would decrease and leave if I went on quiz shows and got the answers wrong. I had those kinds of fears, but then I eventually realised that the fans’ love is not a thin arrow pointing only to certain attributes of me, but rather a huge, broad arrow that comes down on you like “bam!” to send love to Kawashima Noel as a whole. It’s not that there was something in particular that led me to this realisation, but rather it happened gradually, like somehow I’d come to realise it unknowingly. When put like that, it sounds a little like when you slowly fall in love with someone before you realise it, though (laughs). So that’s why I was like, “I’m going to do the same from now on!”, and wrote a blog entry on Valentine’s Day in order to return that same love, like “bam!”, to Noe-tans.”

We asked him what drove him to properly write about his love for his fans in his own words, and what caused his change of heart and mindset. When we did, he told us about a recent change he experienced.

“The change I’m talking about happened in the past 1-2 months. During our stage production (“Toraja NINJAPAN 2021”) last year, because I didn’t manage to communicate well with the other members, there was a short period where the dynamics became 6 of them against me. I did certain things because I thought it would be the best for the production or for the group, but I wasn’t able to properly convey that intention to the rest of them. Close to our final show, I created an opportunity to talk to the rest of them about it and tell them what I truly thought, and when I did they were like, “What the heck, so that’s what it was about!”, and the misunderstanding was cleared up immediately. I regretted that I didn’t properly tell them my thoughts earlier, and I don’t want to have regrets like that ever again. When you keep going on without truly understanding each other’s true thoughts and motives, someday before you realise it you might assume something bad about the other person, and that creates a fissure between the two of you. Because of that, I really took to heart the importance of being open, and of properly expressing your own thoughts. If this could happen with my members, who I’ve been with for so many years already, and who are like a family to me, then I thought that I absolutely have to express my own thoughts clearly to my fans as well. No matter how much you understand about each other, it’s not love to just say “you’ll be able to understand even if I don’t expressly say it, right?”.”

It is very evident that, whether it’s for his group or for the stage production, he “desires to improve them”. Though he told us that “I have high expectations”, he switched to past tense when he said “I used to have high expectations of myself”.

“My goal for 2022 is to live true to myself. That means to live as my unhidden, “naked” self, so I’d like for this to be a year where I purposefully don’t set high expectations, and come to confront myself. Up till last year, I was living like I couldn’t afford to let one minute, one second, go to waste, so I ended up running and running while out of breath. It’s like constantly trying to walk while keeping your back perfectly straight. But it’s tough to be out of breath, or to constantly hold yourself perfectly straight, so I think it’s important to take a break now and then, and come face-to-face with yourself. Recently, when I spoke with my high school classmates, Kanta of Mizutamari Bond* and the illustrator “wakuta”, the topic turned to the episode of “Music Station” that Travis Japan had been on, and both of them told me that the comments I had made seemed very natural. To be told that I spoke that well without trying to act cool on a live broadcast show, to be told I was amazing, by these guys who I’ve been with since high school made me really happy. Even though in the past, I might have thought “I’ve got to try harder to get my point across!” or “I have to try to make myself sound interesting!”. I think the fact that I’ve become able to naturally talk about the things I feel is a change for me, and it’s helped me to become less tense. Of course, I’d like for the people who know Travis Japan’s Kawashima Noel to see the cool parts of me, but I’m actually a really weird guy, and I do have my dumb moments and careless moments, and when I’m sleeping in the car I’ll definitely have my eyes rolled up and my mouth wide open (laughs). I wonder why I still want to make myself act cool when there is such a side to me. If they really like me, then I’d like for them to come to know all of me, and I’d like to become someone who’ll be liked even after I lay bare all of myself. I mean, if I only ever show the side of me that acts cool, as a couple you’d get tired really quickly, wouldn’t you.”

[T/N: Mizutamari Bond are a pair of very famous Japanese YouTubers.]

When he says “couple”, is it a metaphor that applies to himself and Noe-tans?

“That’s right. Right now, I’m specially giving Noe-tans my love, and also will do so for the people who will become Noe-tans from now on. Noe-tans have a great amount of love to give, so I want to live from now on with a love so big that it won’t lose to theirs. And I’d also like to show those who come to know me from now on that I’m enjoying myself doing work as a Johnnys! Those are the feelings I’d like to convey.”

To seriously give their all like “there’s no other job than this” is passionate

When we talk about Travis Japan, who are supported by the massive love of their fans, his expression becomes even softer.

“Everyone in Travis Japan feels like a classmate. They’re really such out-there guys that there’s really nothing to be done about it. But while they might seem like idiots with different personalities, their goals are aligned. But when I watch those loveable 6 idiots enjoying the work they do, seeing them seriously give it their all as though “there’s no other job for us than this”, it’s really passionate. That passion, as intense as though they’re putting their lives on the line for it, has also influenced me, and I want to follow along with them; it makes me think that it’s one of the things about this group that people love. This touches upon what I said just now about “stopping walking like I’m holding myself perfectly straight all the time”, but when I talk about wanting to live as my bare, “naked” self this year, I mean that when I’m with the members I don’t need to be on the defensive. To say that I’ll only need to wear my armour and defend myself when it’s necessary to, it’s because I’ve come to such an understanding. In the past, even though they were my members I saw them as work buddies, so there was a part of me that acted cool around them, but (now) it’s like, ah, ah, there’s no more need for that (laughs). If we were to keep working together for many more years to come… That’s the mindset I’m functioning with, but… Because you can’t keep walking around with your back perfectly straight all the time, this year I’ve decided that now’s the time, to stop keeping my back straight and sit back on my heels. So I think that from this year onwards, I’ll change a lot.”

Even though he says it is a year of change for him, there is something he believes in that will never waver, never change.

“You often hear when an indie band gets a major label debut that it feels like they’ve become distant, that it feels lonely; but I’d like to tell everyone not to feel that sense of distance from Travis Japan. We’ve spent more than half our lives as Johnnys’ Jr., so we’ll be moving forward for the rest of our lives with that as our foundation, won’t we. Of course, nothing’s been decided, our debut hasn’t been decided, but we will always be here, so I’d like for everyone to not stray too far from us (laughs). We would like to always continue empowering those who shower us with their love, no matter what.”

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Kawashima Noel | Born in 1994 in Tokyo.

Q: Any recent anecdotes about your cats?

A: Every night I sit Shii-chan (Shirasu) on my lap and feed them cat treats, but Hii-chan (Hijiki) who’s almost turning 1 year old always come close, perhaps because she’s come to develop a taste for adult (cat) food; so I end up giving 95% of the treats to Shii-chan and the remaining 5% to Hii-chan.

Q: What do you take note of when taking care of your body?

A: Every day I drink fermented-milk drinks, and eat liver oil. Other than that, I employ the Entirely Naked Health Method (laughs). When I sleep, I sleep in the state I was born in. It’s a time when you can be freed from all your bindings and burdens, isn’t it.

Comments

[heart283.livejournal.com]

Thank you for taking the time to translate and share this.

[dreamweavernyx]

You're welcome! ^^

[roo-kie.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much!!!
Watching the Johnny's Jr channel made me blind of how they need to carefully act towards they fellow members.
They are kind of my inspiration.
I always they live their fullest life!!!
Thank you so much, I love you.

[dreamweavernyx]

Glad you enjoyed reading!! I appreciate how he's willing to discuss things they can't really show on Youtube and stuff :>