[tenshi no hane]

Here’s my translation of Scawaii’s latest interview. It was a lot more difficult than Vivi’s one ;_; As I’ve said before; I’m still learning Japanese, so it’s not 100% flawless.

Anyway, she talks about health, the importance of taking care of your forehead (xD), Sunrise/Sunset and her boyfriend should understand the subtleties of the Japanese language ;D

Scawaii 2009 September


---Previously you said that when you wake up, you have the daily routine to drink water that cleanses the inside of your body. Do you still have that routine?
“Yes. I don’t drink water though, I drink aojiru*. I mix the aojiru with collagen in 600cc of hydrogen water. Lately, drinking that has become my daily routine.”

---So it’s a special Ayu drink. On that subject; hydrogen water is drunk a lot lately, isn’t it?
“I guess. Takahashi-san* told me about how it seems very good for one’s body. Actually, I feel my body’s condition has improved since I’ve started drinking it . . . .”

---It’s for the benefit of the body, not just a trend.
“I thought about this when I looked at my friends; if your emotions are all right, your character will sparkle too. The emotions you feel at any time express your current character, don’t they? When I think about it, I find that emotions have no restrictions. At emotionally painful times, when you’re no longer able to eat or sleep and you’re only thinking about bad things and feel down, in the end, it won’t be good for your body either. That’s because, of course, the body and the heart are connected. If your interior is happy, your days will be spent cheerfully, and your nature to worry about outward appearances will also be improved.
I find it hard to acknowledge it, but I’m also the same. At the times when my character is in bad condition, I can’t paint anything. Looking into my heart and to what’s inside my head, just one time, might be easier.”

---Certainly! By the way, when you find the source of your sadness, how do you cope with it?
In that instant I can be very depressed, but I’ll also quickly get back to my feet. I feel that letting a depressed feeling drag on is very scary. That’s why I consciously keep stepping forward. Even if there are unpleasant things, I won’t run away or turn my back. If I tell myself, “it might not hurt”, I can clearly face it, cope with it, react to it or throw it away; depending on whatever kind of problem it is. I can quickly judge the situation and decide what to do. If it’s always trailing along, you’ll just keep thinking, “what should I do..”, right?”

---So, that’s the root of Ayu’s beauty regime.
“Maybe. The aftercare for dry skin also feels as if it cleanses straight to the basis (laugh).”

---Now that you mention it, even though there was a boom of people liking the scent, you don’t often hear about people being hooked to those cosmetics.
“Yeah. But lately there have been cosmetics I’m addicted to; care-goods for the forehead (laugh).”

---That’s also a very important body part. . . . (laugh)
“This probably sounds ridiculous, but, people focus on the parts below the forehead and spend money on them. Yet they don’t care about what’s above those parts, do they? I also asked Takahashi-san about this; he said you can understand a person’s physical and mental condition by the colour of one’s scalp. In my case, it becomes bright red when I’m tired. When I was searching, wondering if there was some way to soothe it, I was referred to a brush that cleanses the scalp. And when I tried it out, it felt very good~♪ It’s a handy machine that washes and massages. Whether I am on tour, overseas or just here, that machine is a must.”

---Aojiru and scalp-care… has the importance of health increased to you for some reason?
I got injured at the end of last year, and because of that I realised the importance of being in good health. Until then I was only going strong, always recklessly moving forward, but with that injury I impatiently read about health. In the end, I realized a sense of unease in my body. At that time I couldn’t cope with it quickly and time wouldn’t stop for me. Particularly at this year’s tour, since there were lives at two days intervals, I thought, for just a little bit, that I could do it in my own special way.”

---What answer did you obtain from that?
“Food is very important. This is my own special knowledge, collected from different books, so this might not apply to everyone but, lately, I try to be conscious of what I eat; like tomato’s, blue-back* and avocado. I disliked tomato’s, but whatever book I read, there was always something written about their positive effect. I feel that tomato’s are like highly influential people (laugh). Blue-back and avocado have an oil called omega 3 that is good for dry skin and a dry throat. I try to take in as much as possible of it from different foods.”

---How was the result?
“OK. Having fun, creating things while using all my power---because I can do those things, first of all, due to the existence of my body, it’s not okay for it to be damaged. My skin becomes worn out because of make-up, even if I smear the most high class crème on it. I guess that differs with something that regains beauty.”

---A healthy spirit dwells in a healthy body, right?
“Coming to this point, I’ve realised the importance of a basis, or should I say, interestingly, while trying to execute this, my body is responding. Moreover, lately, except for when I’m at work, I spend the days without wearing any make-up. It makes me feel better. When I’m conscious of my daily health, I feel that everything is OK.”


“This year, without just blindly following the rules, I want to break out together with everyone!”, with this, Ayu chose to play at a-nation for the summer again. Standing on stage with complete devotion, she, while singing the NEXT LEVEL, released a new summer single for the first time in two years. Moreover, with Sunrise/Sunset ~LOVE is ALL~, she completed a new experiment by making two similar tunes that differ completely in taste. Ayu made these works by using her subtle power of expression.

“At first there were no plans to make Sunset. I had prepared a completely separate ballad, but when I started working on Sunrise, I unexpectedly started fighting with the ballad. Midway I thought, “I hate this, I can’t sing it”, but, in the end, a song that I loved was completed*. I started thinking about how I wanted to create that child’s other self. Originally, Sunrise was very energetic, but, because the melody was very pretty, I felt I could try to turn it into a ballad. That became the plan (laugh). But, when I was finishing them, right for the start, they became each other’s ‘answer song’. Because Sunrise exists, Sunset is very painful. Because Sunset exists, the brightness of Sunrise is painful. In that way, they became songs which couldn’t be sung unless they both exist. Even to me it’s mysterious how it became like that.”

The passage of time, the change of feelings, the colours of sceneries; Sunrise/Sunset ~LOVE is ALL~ synchronizes with those kind of various factors. Furthermore, what’s most surprising are the subtle differences in expression of the lyrics as they release their dramatic colours. The evidence isn’t a word that can express the summer. But, that what’s overflowing out of these songs is definitely the aura of summer.

“Japanese is a beautiful language, but it’s also difficult. If you change a sentence just a little bit, the nuance changes completely. For example, should I use ‘ga’, ‘ni’ or ‘wo* here? Each one is different. Which one expresses best what I want to say? The difference between ‘kara’ and ‘ka na’ doesn’t really exist in English. Those nuances are very important to me, I like men who can understand such delicate subtleties of Japanese (laugh). My songs can also be interpreted in various ways. Surely, there are times where I can energetically shout Sunrise, but today I’m also keeping things only to myself, and there are also days where I’m firmly holding my breath….. There’s only one thing I can say; the feeling that I wanted to convey was an universal love, not just a romantic love*. As for Scawaii’s generation; if one of the songs is sung to you by someone, you could sing the other one in response. If you receive that sort of fun, it’s nice, isn’t it!? (laugh)”

Though it definitely has the shape of new duet love-song, Ayu humbly says, “This might be new, but it’s more an unexpected result than a new challenge.” But, because she came to cherish words more than anything, she could creature a single miracle. Different from a summer love, these songs are, without a doubt, forever engraved in the heart together with precious memories.

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*Notes:
(par. 01) Aojiru is vegetable juice drink. It’s very healthy and quite popular in Japan. You can google it.
(par. 02) Mr. Takahashi is Ayu’s hair stylist. He works for ZACC (I think).
(par. 09) Blue-back is a type of fish.
(par. 13) "...but, in the end, a song that I loved was completed..." I think she refers to Sunset here; she disliked the ballad she had made before Sunrise. But as she made Sunrise, she got the idea to make Sunset. Resulting in a ballad that she did like.
(par. 15) ‘ga, ni, wo’ are particles, they have a grammatical function in Japanese.
(par. 15) “an universal love, not just a romantic love”; she uses 愛(ai) and 恋(koi). Both mean ‘love’ but ‘koi’ usually means the love between a couple, not love within families, friendships etc, which ‘ai’ does include. ‘Koi’ can also be interpreted as more selfish than ‘ai’.

It seems last year’s injury to her hand finally let it sink in that her health is important ^-^ take care of yourself, Ayu!

EDIT: feel free to post this at other places, just credit me ;D