♪ NEWS ♪

Sorashige Book (16 July)

• The first message was from a man who’s turning 50 this year. He said that he likes NEWS so much he’s having trouble focusing at work. He said the day after going to their concert, he kept thinking about NEWS and couldn’t focus. He said it was the first time he’s liked a group this much, and said that others are put off by a 50 year old man who’s this fanatical, and asked what he should do.
  
  
  
  
  S: I think you should not worry about those around you and keep supporting us. I’m really happy to hear this.
  
  
  
  
  He went on to say that he hopes that when he’s in his 50s he can be a man that can clearly say what he likes. He wished him good luck at work, and thanked him for his message.




• For the music club section this week Shige recommended the song ‘Peek A Boo’ from the album ‘Teenage Emotions’ by the 19-year-old rapper Lil Yachty. He said the album was really cool and encouraged his listeners to not only listen to the song but to pay attention to the artist’s looks, music video, and album artwork.




• Next, Shige read some messages regarding the latest essay he had published in TRIPPER in the ‘Dekiru koto nara Steed de’ series. This time he wrote on the topic of ‘The Body’.
  
  
  
  
  The first message was from a listener who said that said that they really enjoyed it because they really like sports and going to the gym. They said that during Neverland they were excited to notice that Shige’s figure was different from the previous year, but that their friends didn’t share their excitement.
  
  
  
  
  The next message was from a nurse who said that reading his essay gave them a lot to think about, and related what he wrote about to how they carry out certain tasks in their job.
  
  
  
  
  Shige said he puts a lot of effort into his essays, though this is only the third one in this series, and that he was really happy to get their messages. He said that he had been wanting to write on this topic for awhile and that writing the essay made him think deeply about various things.
  
  
  
  
  He said that he’s been going to the gym a few times a week, and that since the change is gradual he hasn’t noticed a big change himself, but he’s glad to have someone notice it.




• The next message was from someone who said that whenever they start something new, part way through they start to worry that they’ll start to hate it or that it’ll end up being meaningless in their life. When they tried to talk to their friend about it, they said that they’d never experienced that before. They know it’s weird, but it’s preventing them from moving ahead. Since Shige is one to try many new things, they asked for advice on how to be more like him.
  
  
  
  
  Shige said that he also thinks about how he might come to hate it part way through, but that it’s also possible for it to become a hobby that you continue for the rest of your life. If you don’t give it a shot, you’ll never know. If you do end up hating it, then it’s fine to quit. It might end up being meaningless, but you might also end up finding meaning in it. If you are looking for a result right away, then you’ll end up panicking. You also have to consider 10 or 5 years down the line. Shige talked about starting kickboxing, and how he didn’t know if it would be effective for him but he decided to give it a try. If he gets better at it, it might have a positive effect on his performances.
  
  
  
  
  Shige said he likes trying new things. It’s scary because you want to do them well, but you can’t know if you’ll be able to do them if you don’t try. Even fun things require hard work. He said that the best thing is to have fun as you do it, though it may still be hard to overcome the negative thoughts. If you don’t try, it’s the same as losing by default, so you should have courage and give it a try.

Kchan NEWS (18 July)

• This week’s guest was Tegoshi.




• Koyama noted that he’s more tanned this week and Tegoshi said he’s been doing sports at Chiba Prefecture.




• The first listener said she read Koyama’s jweb updated on Shige’s birthday, saying how fun it was when the 4 of them had drinks together, and asked for more details. They said that the 4 of them gathered at the house of the music i/c for NEWS, in celebration of the end of the NEVERLAND tour. As they were going to someone’s house, they thought they should all bring something along. Koyama brought wine and bought new glasses, Massu and Shige brought wine too. Tegoshi turned up empty-handed. (T: I gave a car after that! At the entrance! K: That would have been a mini car.) The music i/c apparently has two young daughters, likely below 5 years old, who stayed up so they could meet NEWS. Koyama shared that Tegoshi was beside them all the time (K: Like an elder brother, no, more like a father), playing with them and he could tell Tegoshi really likes children very much. Tegoshi says he’s been carrying quite a lot of children, including some newborns of his friends, when he goes to visit them at the hospital. He apparently also ever sent photos of him carrying babies to their group chat, and Koyama told him to stop, as it gives him a shock to suddenly receive a photo of Tegoshi holding a baby, with no caption whatsoever (T: It’s like I’ve become a papa). Koyama said the two daughters were really adorable and did the song introduction while Tegoshi shouted in the background, I want to become a father!




• The second listener asked what they’d eat when they go to festivals. Tegoshi said he’d eat frankfurters and yakisoba with canned beer. Koyama would eat chocolate covered bananas as he loves them (T: Seriously!?). They talked about how they’d love to go to the festivals and it’s hard for Tegoshi as his hair will still give him away even if he wore hats. Koyama concluded that his presence is just plain loud.




• The following listener is an undergrad who has plans to go to fireworks festivals and all with her friends during summer holidays. The yukata she owns now is made out of black fabric with pink and white sakuras printed, and she wants to get a new one, as that might look a little too childish for a 20 year-old. She asked what kind of yukatas Tegoshi likes on girls. Tegoshi apparently also took off his shirt while Koyama was reading the mail (T: It got too warm. K: Why did you strip when we’re talking about yukatas? It is scary to sense someone stripping when I’m reading the mail). Tegoshi likes feminine yukatas, so something white or pink with flowers would be nice. Koyama likes white based ones too. Tegoshi said Koyama looks like he’d like purple too (K: Ah yes, that’s nice, a little sexy). Tegoshi said he likes yukatas more than swimsuits. Koyama said he understands, as you can see too much when people are in swimsuits. They then talked about how while what’s under the yukatas is up to your imagination, while you can see everything for swimsuits. So that’s just right for the male brain. Yukatas also fall straight off once the obi is removed. They then tried to figure out how it works, whether people wear anything under the yukatas, other than their underwear. Or maybe not even their underwear. Having made this discovery made them conclude that yukatas are great, as there are so many unknowns to speculate about.




• The next listener talked about how a male acquaintance has became smitten with Tegoshi recently. He was initially uninterested, but after he saw Tegoshi in cross-dress, he decided he’ll stop being a male and just go after Tegoshi. The listener found out how amazing Tegoshi is once again, to be able to even charm males, and asked Tegoshi to pretend to be female and give a message to all male fans. Koyama said is really cute as a girl and asked if there’s anything he does when dressing up as a female. Tegoshi said he dresses up the way he likes girls to. Tegoshi then asked Koyama to try looking at him under the table, and Koyama said Tegoshi had his pants off, his blue underwear is peeking out from his blue pants. He asked if Tegoshi is just being a pervert by making him look at that. (K: This is Tegoshi, everyone! You sure you still like him?)




• There was a new corner this week, “Solving your problems, Summertime!”, which is a summer limited edition corner, where they try to solve listener’s problems. The listener is in the third year of high school and preparing for college entrance exams. There are days when they feel so unsure about everything that she cries. They then asked Tegoshi if he has any advice on getting through this, and for positive words. Tegoshi thought the main issue is that most people make the exams their final goal, so whether or not becomes a huge thing. However, if they treat the exam as just a step for them to get into college, get a good job and gain experience to grow, or the freedom to eat yummy food, then maybe it won’t be such a great deal anymore. Like whether or not you want to push your life a step up, and raise the possibility of yourself being able to do what you want in future. Koyama then added that even if they fail, it’s an experience that will help their future. They ended off the corner there, and Koyama commented that they only managed to offer a solution because it’s Tegoshi, if it were Massu, he’d probably end up feeling troubled together with the listener.

Tegomass no Radio (19 July)

• They started off by making a lot of noise on how it was the 300th episode this week, and come autumn this year, it would have been 6 years since they started this radio programme. They apparently also received over 3000 postcards for the special call-out segment this week. Massu started saying how they should aim to make 1000 phone calls since they received more than 3000 requests. (T: Then we probably need a month’s worth of food in here. M: Well let’s at least start with that emotion! Sakura: Seriously? T: You do realise that the more time we spend talking for the opening means the less time we have to make phone calls, right?)




• The first call they made was to someone who has problems memorising the multiplication times table for 7 and 9. Could they please practise with her so she can do it well? It turns out that this listener is in her 3rd year of high school (T: Eh? 3rd year of high school and you want to practise the multiplication times table for 7 and 9? Listener: But I tried rehearsing today and now I’m having more problems with 8 than with 7.) They laughed and said they’ll do 8 with her in that case. Tegoshi then made fun of Massu, asking if he can do multiplication and he said of course he can! (M: How old is she again? 3rd year of high school, right? I’m already 31!) TM then started reading the multiplication times table for 8, but the listener was just laughing most of the time. They got her to do it once by herself, and she started messing up from 8 x 4. Tegoshi and Sakura said Massu might have beat her at this, and Massu said obviously! And told the listener to please do her best encouragingly. All of them then started encouraging her to do her best as this will come in useful for her dream of becoming a medical office worker. M: By the way, what do you like about Tegomass? Listener: Takahisa-kun!! M: YAYYY! T: Oei oei oei oei… what is this, do we still want to continue today? M: Thank you, really. Listener: I really like you very much! M: Thank you! T: Yeah, yeah, do your best… I hope you forget everything about the multiplication times table! (laugh) Massu asked her to pick a song to play next, and she chose “Hanamuke”.




• The following listener is an undergrad student who’s the vocalist for a band in her club in school. However, she is not good at moving or getting people hyped up while singing. She’s considering quitting the club, but she doesn’t want to end up with regrets and doesn’t know what to do now. She hoped to get advice on how to get people hyped up from Tegomass, especially from Tegoshi as he’d wanted to be in a band. Tegoshi was not sure if NEWS has been doing okay from when they first started out. But since she’s the vocalist, maybe she can put in all her soul into singing a high note in a loud voice sometime during the intro, ending or chorus of the song (listener did a slight laugh) M: She’s laughing, she’s laughing... Sakura: She sounds troubled. T: Really? Sakura: To say things like her soul… M: To talk about your soul! T: Yeah your soul, your soul. Because I live life with my soul. M: The moment when you said to sing a high note with her soul, she laughed. T: Hang on, did you mean you’re having problems because you’re embarrassed about having to hype people up? Listener: Yes. T: Oh, I get it now. Massu then said if that’s the case, she just needs to decide what she wants to say when, even before the performance starts, like how Koyama does (studio laughs). Tegoshi agreed, saying though there are times when Koyama says things ad-lib, he properly comes up with a plan. For Tegomass, they don’t really decide what to say when, though they have a rough idea about when they probably have the chance to say certain things. Massu then said it might be easier if she listens to the songs and figure out what she can say when. They asked whose songs she’s covering, and maybe she can imitate the original artistes as a start. Tegoshi said since she enjoys singing, he feels she’d probably regret if she quits just because she can’t hype the audience up. After all, the main job of a vocalist is singing, so if she enjoys singing it’s probably better to continue. M: One more piece of advice: I pretty much don’t do any of these things. (studio laughs) T: That’s true. Masuda-san barely says any of those things to hype the audience up when it’s NEWS. Same when it’s Tegomass. M: Barely. Even less for Tegomass as I have to sing. T: True. For NEWS it’s mostly either me for Koyama-san. M: Even when Shige tries, his voice prevents him from being heard. (laughter) It’s true, he tries quite a bit, like “Let’s have fun!!!” but the fans can’t hear him. T: It’s like, “I think Shige-chan just said something” M: Even we can’t hear him. M: To be honest, when Shige goes like, “Hey! Hey! Hey!” we probably should join him and be on the same level of excitement, but we only realise a lot later. “Hm? Shige said something?” In the end, they concluded she should just do things the way she’s comfortable with, and it’s not absolutely necessary to have to hype things up. They also commented on how good her manners are by how she properly ended the phone call, unlike them uncles who simply went, “Right, byebye~”




• The next listener is a 12 year-old in her first grade of middle school. They did a short small talk asking how her middle school life has been so far, and it’ll be summer break soon. M: The only things I looked forward to in school were summer holidays, school lunches and physical education lessons. T: We know, it’s fine. M: You do? T: Even if you tell us again, we’ll probably just think, “Of course, right.” So it’s fine, thank you. The problem she’d like their advice on is that she knows she likes someone, but she’s not sure who she actually likes. They weren’t sure initially of what she wanted to ask, until they figured that there’re a few people she likes but not sure who she actually does. M: So to put it simply, it’s like knowing you like NEWS, but not sure who your favourite member is? Listener: Right. T: OH. But isn’t that fine? It’s a blessing to have a lot of people to like. Sakura: Looks like you’ve asked the wrong person for advice. T: But it’s nice to have someone to like. Sakura: Yeah, but… M: It’s like, “I like Tegoshi, but I like Massu SO MUCH MORE.” T, Sakura: Sounds familiar. Turns out there are 2 people she’s confused about, both of whom feel like cute little brothers whom she can’t help but want to take care of. (T: Will you look after me then? Sakura: You’re way too old. M: Take care of yourself) Sakura said maybe that’s not really love, but just motherly instincts, that’s why she can’t choose? Tegoshi asked if she ever feels like wanting to hold hands or go on dates with them? She does, and have a matsuri date. With both of them and another female friend. Sakura asked if she’d be upset if either of them got attached, and it turns out that one of them already is. T: APA! He is? M: That’s not right, to fall for someone who’s attached just because you find him cute out of motherly instincts. It’s the exact kind of story when you can practically see her ending up with a jerk already. You need try to put an end to this yourself, bit by bit. T: Well, so one is attached and the other is available? Listener: Yes. T: But you can’t choose. Listener: Yes. T: This means you like the one who’s attached more, isn’t it? Because you’re not choosing the one who’s available. Of course, this is just how I see it, so it might not be true. Listener: In classes with the one who’s attached, there’ll be incidents when our eyes meet and stuff, then I’ll find him cute all over again. M: But look, if you’re meeting his eyes while he’s attached now, it means he’s probably the type who’ll continue having his eyes meet that of other girls even if you become his girlfriend. Sakura: That’s so tough! M: (in a small voice) Did I hurt her with what I just said? (studio bursts out in laughter) T: What’s that! Sakura: Nah I don’t think so. M: Well, you don’t have to rush yourself into a decision now. Just take your time. It’s not like you have to force yourself into choosing one or the other now. If you’re going to have the chance to go to the festival with them, trying talking properly to both of them and hanging out with them after that at equal distances...who knows, a third person might appear. T: And if you still feel you like the attached one then, you can just switch into attack mode. Listener: I can’t. T: Because I’m the type who doesn’t want to regret having liked someone and not doing anything, I tend to start attacking. But it’s right that you’ll be lots of people. Take it from the 3 of us, who’ve lived almost 20 years longer than you. M: That many? T, Sakura: Yeah, she’s 12. M: (shocked gasp) Tegoshi then continued to tell her to treat each meeting with care, and she’ll probably meet a great person someway down the road. And to be glad about being able to like someone, as life is a lot more interesting when you’re in love, than when you’re not. So don’t overthink too much. After they ended the call, they continued talking about how nice it is to be able to go on festival dates and all (M: Imagine how the other person feels. T: What’s the motivation for going then). They then tried to figure out if the other girl going to the festival is the girlfriend of the one who’s attached, but Tegoshi said probably not, and that this guy is really good at playing the field. (M: She should give this guy up. T, Sakura: laughs)




• They will continue doing the call-out project next week too. They also talked about how they can probably keep on going forever if they don’t get stopped, like how they can keep talking for MC at concerts. So it’s good they have Mr. Impossible this time, though a lot of times Mr. Impossible appears at the worst timings. There were times when the four of them all had this feeling when “It’s now, Mr. Impossible!” but he never appears then.

Masuda Takahisa no Master Hits (21 July)

• Songs played: “NEVERLAND”, “with me”




• He talked about how they had a celebration after the concert at the place of one of their staff members. It was probably the first time the 4 of them had a meal together in private since they went over to Shige’s house. All of them brought something over, except Tegoshi. They talked about how it was important to have chances like that when they get to talk, including with the staff, so they hope to have more occasions like that soon.




• The first listener asked which dango he likes, the 3 coloured dango or dango with red beans. The listener said she likes mitarashi dango, and Massu also said he likes mitarashi dango.




• The second listener asked how Jinnai-san (one of his co-hosts for Netapare) celebrated Massu’s birthday for him. He said Jinnai-san asked he was doing that day, and he replied he had nothing on, so Jinnai-san invited him to a hotpot dinner, along with a junior of Jinnai-san. He even prepared a cake for Massu. He asked what Massu’s hobby was, and when Massu told him clothes, they said to go shopping together someday as Jinnai-san likes clothes too.




• The third listener says she has to do impersonations soon for a class presentation, and asked if there’s any that Massu can do really well. Massu said he’s probably ever mentioned this before, but he’s really bad with impersonations and even if he managed to do a very good one and get praised for it, he wouldn’t feel happy at all. Of course he wants to try challenging everything, but the conclusion is usually that he can’t do impersonations. He thinks professionals like Corokke-san are amazing, and part of him feels that there’s no way he can do impersonations better than him. But he hopes that the listener would update him when she’s decided who to impersonate and how it turned out.




• The fourth listener mentioned that summer is here she will feel like listening to certain songs and watching certain movies each time summer is here, and if Massu would share anything he always feels like doing when it’s summer. He said there are summer songs, and winter songs, but for what he feels like doing when summer comes...he mentioned that for many magazine interviews, they’ll always ask him what he’s up to recently, and he always has no idea how to answer that, because there really isn’t anything to say. Things like having gone for a meal with someone, or having bought something new, or having gone for this work, will probably be fine as answers, but are these interesting? He doesn’t have a lot of these interesting stories in his repertory and those stories will be too ordinary.  Especially for summer, when the likelihood of him heading outdoors decreases, as he won’t take walks outside, and the appetite falls in summer. If he could, he’d want to maybe spend a day at some stylish cafe, but even the journey to the cafe will painful. To all the magazine editors, who probably are already thinking how he always have nothing fun to say, he really hopes they won’t ask him this question in summer. Tegoshi probably has stories to share about how he went to the beach and stuff, but Massu basically just wants to stay still throughout summer. So yeah. When summer comes, Massu just wants to stay still.




• The fifth listener wished him happy birthday and asked if he had a great birthday. As he’s in his third year of middle school, he needs to prepare for his high school entrance exams, and probably won’t be able to enjoy his birthday this year, which is near Christmas. His mother told him to prepare ahead of time, and he’ll be able to enjoy the birthday. He asked Massu for advice for how to feel motivated when he doesn’t. Massu said it is commonly said that people who are able to do their best for entrance exams are people who are able to grow, and become better people in future. It’s not about studying, but being able to overcome it and taking a step up. (“For me to talk about this topic is probably not convincing at all, though.”) It might be a bit different, but it’s like going for auditions, where you prepare all that you can, and show people what you can do then. Though you might get nervous, all the preparations will pull you through. He’s not sure if the listener has decided on how many hours he wants to study each day, but maybe he could consider setting an hour aside to do what he likes with all his strength. Even if he studied without sleeping, it’s likely he’ll find himself having problems memorizing things after a while, so it’s important to make time to rest, blank out, or play, even if such time is going to have to be reduced. If he could plan his time well, he’d probably be okay. Massu told him to do his best and let him know how things go.




• For “Masterpiece” this week, he chose Kome Kome Club’s “Shake Hip!” He says this song is really cool, and rediscovered it again when he saw them performing this song on a programme recently. He thought he’d love to sing this at karaoke (while shaking his hips) and bought the CD. This song was also released in 1986, 31 years ago, the same year as he was born.