Happy 34th Birthday, Sakurai Sho san
Jan. 25th, 2016 10:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nowshakeitA lot that meets the eye, and even more than meets the eye. That would be my answer if anyone ever asks me to describe him. I’m talking about Sakurai Sho.
The first several times of watching him didn’t come to me as a good experience. My first impressions of this guy was so bad. I even made a post on this LJ conveying my dislike to him. That’s just how strong the negative feeling I felt towards him.
But time goes by with me as an Arashi fangirl, and I began to understand. He is so many things to meet the eye, and that is overwhelming. Highly overwhelming to the level that you need to take a step back and see him from quite a distance to be able to actually appreciate him.
He has facial features that can get a perfect score if anyone ever to give score for faces. He’s handsome, but that’s not just it. He’s pretty, he’s cute, he’s adorable, he looks like a hamster, and his laugh is contagious.
And even more than just his face, he also has this persona of a composed, well-mannered adult who is able to put himself properly in any situation. He’s a good MC, a great spoke-person, and not to mention that he’s also a newscaster. But then, when he’s needed to, he can suddenly shows his other side of persona, which I call as adorable fail-man. When he does something (often silly things) and he fails, he would sulk and be all cute that it’s unfair.
So you see, we can see a perfect human being as his persona, but this human being makes mistakes too. And when he makes mistakes, he’s adorable. How fair is that, I ask you? Oh, and he can rap, and his voice, I’m quoting a fellow fan here, reeks of sex. Awful, isn’t it?
Then, just when I just get over those, I have to deal with what he has as a person and not just what meets the eye. I’m talking about his background as the first son of Sakurai family, one of the respectable families in Japan. I mean, his father is a Vice Minister, that speaks a lot, doesn’t it? Then I’m talking about his education background, he has a degree in economics from Keio University. Then I’m talking about his ability in songwriting.
He once said that his family didn’t really take it easy on him for choosing to be an idol. He even said himself that he couldn’t imagine to still be in Arashi after he’s past 20. I’m writing this for his 34th birthday and he’s still in Arashi thank you very much.
And don’t get me start on his songwriting. If all above have failed to make me love him, his songwriting was definitely the one that got me. It’s quite recent, actually. He totally got me when I read the translation of his lyrics for Hip Pop Boogie Chapter 2 for Arashi BLAST in Miyagi concert. I read the old lyrics, then I read the new lyrics, then bam!
I’ll just quote you the translation of both lyrics to make you see it yourself what this man is made of.
“Walking the untrodden paths
Without accommodating to please others, just going at my own pace
Now, I can say it If it’s now, I can say it
The seeds I scattered are starting to blossom”
- Hip Pop Boogie lyrics
“We can keep walking as long as it’s with all of you
Headed to glory, still going at our own pace
Polishing our skills, still hoping to improve
We’re holding the flowers of success that have blossomed”
- Hip Pop Boogie Chapter II lyrics
If you go to look at the complete translation of both, you’ll see how much he has grown up. And that’s just- I don’t know how to put my feelings into words.
So, I think that’s all? LOL. I can’t really convey it properly but I feel that I need to write something on this topic since it’s his birthday. I can always write fics but rather than some trashy fiction with poorly written plot, I prefer this kind of post.
And as my closing words, I want to say that, yes, I have a huge (and growing) list of JE biases and Sakurai Sho will never be on it by himself (because Arashi is on that list, LOL), but he is the one Johnny’s idol that has my total adoration and respect. I can never relate to him, I can never flail over him more than I flail for my JE biases, but he’s the only one who’s able to make me cry over the overwhelming feelings I feel because of him.
Happy 34th birthday, Sakurai Sho san, I wish you for even greater life ahead.
P.S.: Oh, I forgot to add that he has this old persona of being a gangy, angry teenager. There was a time when he would get mad at his fans and even hit them with umbrella. I don’t quite understand about it, but I take it that he has grown past it and mellowed down. But even if he still has it in him, it means that he’s this professional worker who is able to control his emotion and probably channel it to other outlet and never let even the tiniest bit of those emotion to be shown at work. And for that, he’s even more amazing human being, don’t you think?
The first several times of watching him didn’t come to me as a good experience. My first impressions of this guy was so bad. I even made a post on this LJ conveying my dislike to him. That’s just how strong the negative feeling I felt towards him.
But time goes by with me as an Arashi fangirl, and I began to understand. He is so many things to meet the eye, and that is overwhelming. Highly overwhelming to the level that you need to take a step back and see him from quite a distance to be able to actually appreciate him.
He has facial features that can get a perfect score if anyone ever to give score for faces. He’s handsome, but that’s not just it. He’s pretty, he’s cute, he’s adorable, he looks like a hamster, and his laugh is contagious.
And even more than just his face, he also has this persona of a composed, well-mannered adult who is able to put himself properly in any situation. He’s a good MC, a great spoke-person, and not to mention that he’s also a newscaster. But then, when he’s needed to, he can suddenly shows his other side of persona, which I call as adorable fail-man. When he does something (often silly things) and he fails, he would sulk and be all cute that it’s unfair.
So you see, we can see a perfect human being as his persona, but this human being makes mistakes too. And when he makes mistakes, he’s adorable. How fair is that, I ask you? Oh, and he can rap, and his voice, I’m quoting a fellow fan here, reeks of sex. Awful, isn’t it?
Then, just when I just get over those, I have to deal with what he has as a person and not just what meets the eye. I’m talking about his background as the first son of Sakurai family, one of the respectable families in Japan. I mean, his father is a Vice Minister, that speaks a lot, doesn’t it? Then I’m talking about his education background, he has a degree in economics from Keio University. Then I’m talking about his ability in songwriting.
He once said that his family didn’t really take it easy on him for choosing to be an idol. He even said himself that he couldn’t imagine to still be in Arashi after he’s past 20. I’m writing this for his 34th birthday and he’s still in Arashi thank you very much.
And don’t get me start on his songwriting. If all above have failed to make me love him, his songwriting was definitely the one that got me. It’s quite recent, actually. He totally got me when I read the translation of his lyrics for Hip Pop Boogie Chapter 2 for Arashi BLAST in Miyagi concert. I read the old lyrics, then I read the new lyrics, then bam!
I’ll just quote you the translation of both lyrics to make you see it yourself what this man is made of.
“Walking the untrodden paths
Without accommodating to please others, just going at my own pace
Now, I can say it If it’s now, I can say it
The seeds I scattered are starting to blossom”
- Hip Pop Boogie lyrics
“We can keep walking as long as it’s with all of you
Headed to glory, still going at our own pace
Polishing our skills, still hoping to improve
We’re holding the flowers of success that have blossomed”
- Hip Pop Boogie Chapter II lyrics
If you go to look at the complete translation of both, you’ll see how much he has grown up. And that’s just- I don’t know how to put my feelings into words.
So, I think that’s all? LOL. I can’t really convey it properly but I feel that I need to write something on this topic since it’s his birthday. I can always write fics but rather than some trashy fiction with poorly written plot, I prefer this kind of post.
And as my closing words, I want to say that, yes, I have a huge (and growing) list of JE biases and Sakurai Sho will never be on it by himself (because Arashi is on that list, LOL), but he is the one Johnny’s idol that has my total adoration and respect. I can never relate to him, I can never flail over him more than I flail for my JE biases, but he’s the only one who’s able to make me cry over the overwhelming feelings I feel because of him.
Happy 34th birthday, Sakurai Sho san, I wish you for even greater life ahead.
P.S.: Oh, I forgot to add that he has this old persona of being a gangy, angry teenager. There was a time when he would get mad at his fans and even hit them with umbrella. I don’t quite understand about it, but I take it that he has grown past it and mellowed down. But even if he still has it in him, it means that he’s this professional worker who is able to control his emotion and probably channel it to other outlet and never let even the tiniest bit of those emotion to be shown at work. And for that, he’s even more amazing human being, don’t you think?
