Gyakutenryoku

Pinch wo Mate
by Sashihara Rino (HKT48)

Foreword
Hey guys, thank you for taking the time to read my translations. First of
all, I want to give credit where credit is due. None of this could have been
possible without the support and help of the staff from NewSchoolKaidan,
@jarunugget for cleaning the images scans, and most of all, to my
Japanese friend, Takei Yoshimi who put up with my unreasonable
demands. Even though she is still learning English, without her checking
to see if my words closely resemble the meaning and intent of what Sasshi
wrote and checking for my typos, this translation of Gyakutenryoku may
have been half-assed and might not have been the best it could have been.
For that, you have my utmost gratitude and I hope to repay the favor to
you all in kind.
Let me talk a little bit more about why I did this in the first place.
In the international 48 fandom, there are many individuals and
translating teams who do great work daily to provide the rest of the world
outside of Japan up-to-date information on the 48 family as frequently and
as often as possible. Although my Japanese ability is just sustainable
enough to not have to rely on others, I can appreciate the effort that is
being put into translation as I have done it on and off before. While it was
great that people were putting constant effort into translating Google+
posts, Twitter posts, 755 posts, blog posts, TV shows, radio shows, to my
knowledge, no one has ever attempted to translate an entire book written
by an Idol before. First of all, books written by Idols are few and far
between - even more so for the amount of people who have actually
attempted and finished it. You would have to be crazy to do that because
no one ever does that....no one except for me of course. In short, I wanted
to be the first one to not only have I attempted it, but carried through and
finished with the project as well. I wanted that recognition and to be able

to say that, "I did it first."

With that recognition, I wanted to not only direct attention to myself,
but to NewSchoolKaidan, the site about Japanese Idols and a site that I
contribute to. We were the ones who produced the very first KFC Fan ver.
video with David Liao Jr. and have had one of our video gone viral for a
short period of time. I want to keep pushing ourselves as a recognizable
brand that aims to bring an understanding of Japanese Idol culture to the
masses. Speaking of which, we do podcasts every Tuesday night at 12
midnight US EDT and put out articles about all things Japanese Idols.
Please check us out.
Last but not least, it goes without saying that despite the calculative
reasons that I've listed so far, I want to spread Sasshi's stories and ideas to
everyone else. Because once a book is released in Japan, it stays in Japan never to be fully read or understood by the world outside of it except for
the few who understand the Japanese language. My hope is that by
becoming the first one to do it, it will encourage other individuals or
translating teams to challenge other books that have been released like
Nakayan's "Hisenbatsu Idol", Uchida Mayumi's "Ienai Koigokoro", or
Uchiyama Natsuki's "Kenpou Shugi" so that their content and ideas can be
shared throughout the world and to give us more appreciation on aspects of
Japanese Idol culture or the individual members themselves which may
have not been previously known before.
Speaking of which, I originally had intended to release a version of this
book without the help of my friend but since I went over it with her, I feel
more confident that it is more closer to what Sasshi originally intended to
say. Nevertheless, a translation is a translation, and they are never perfect.
The only way for to fully understand Sasshi's words is to buy a copy of
Gyakutenryoku and read it yourself. This means that you will have to
know the Japanese language and if you don't know Japanese,
NewSchoolKaidan has you covered. The Learn Japanese series that I made
a while back is an adequate introductory series which should bootstrap you

on your Japanese language learning journey. I realize it's not the best in the
world and I am looking to renew in it in the upcoming weeks so look
forward to that! If you read this book and you personally felt that despite
the native check, the translations are still off and can be improved even
further, rather than giving me suggestions on what parts to improve, I
allow you to take the entire translation of this book to release your own
version with your own improvements as long as you don't sell it.
With that said, I hope you enjoy these translations. It is an accumulation
of 2 months of hard work with sleepless nights.
The time of Japanese Idols is coming. Let us step up and rise to the
occasion, and I shall be with you every step of the way comrade.
- Kenneth Uy @missingno15

48

SNS

NewSchoolKaidan

David Liao Jr.


NewSchoolKaidan

- Kenneth Uy @missingno15

These translations have been brought to you by

NewSchoolKaidan. These translations are not for sale and
will never be on sale. Please support Sasshi and Kodansha by
purchasing an original copy of Gyakutenryoku on CD Japan
or Amazon.jp.

Preface

I lost.
I was second place.
In this years AKB48 Senbatsu Sousenkyo, I lost to (Watanabe) Mayu
and ranked second.
Last year, I got first place so I started announcing in a bunch of places
that I would get first for a second year in a row. What Acchan (Maeda
Atsuko) and (Oshima) Yuko-chan couldnt do was also impossible for me
to do as well.
In second place with the final total vote count at 141,954 votes.
HKT48, Team H, Sashihara Rino
The moment when the MC Tokumitsu (Kazuo)-san called out my name
in the venue of the tally event, I couldnt help but feel so frustrated that I
couldnt believe how frustrated I was. As I stood in front of the mic, my
feelings exploded on the stage.
"I'm honestly really really really mad at myself!!"
I really respect the first place winner Mayu. Shes my senpai and Ive
seen her put in so much effort for AKB48 so I was really to feel happy for
her.
But still, I couldnt believe that I lost on that day.
In this years Sousenkyo, I received a lot of support from the fans. But
at the same time, the words CrushSashihara also entered my ears.
"True Idol Mayu VS. Pseudo-Idol Sashihara"
Even I myself advertised the structure for this match up in my
Sousenkyo speech VTR. I dont even think that either Acchan or Yukochan said that they would get first for two years in a row. I understood that
for me to say that might cause some backlash. But I went ahead and said it.
As someone who placed first last year, I felt that was my role. It may
seem exaggerated if I was use the word "reciprocate" but for the benefit of
the 48Group, I wanted to make this years Sousenkyo more exciting by
taking on the role as the villian.
I thinkthats why. Things like But I tried so hard, made my
feelings of frustration even worse.
No one understands how I feel. Everyone is an enemy.
Thats how strongly I felt when I went back to the dressing room after

the tallying event ended.

But the people waiting there for me were friends. Takamina-san
(Takahashi Minami) said to me, You really did your best this year.
Miichan (Minegishi Minami) said to me, You really did so much work
for the 48 Group.
So there were people who understood me. I was so happy that I cried.
Afterwards, I went to the dressing room of the stage organizers who
always help us out at our HKT48 concerts. I wanted to thank them for
supporting me.
Good job, You did your best, Your speech was really cool!
In regards to all the kind words that people gave me, I responded back
saying Im so frustrated though!!
I was so glad to be able to say that, that I cried again.
Until now, I thought it would be advantageous to me to not show the
vulnerable parts of myself to the staff. Thats what you say Sasshi but its
fine since youre so privileged. That was something I definitely did not
want to be told.
With that in mind though, the word, frustration just naturally came
out. And the kindness when everyone listened to me felt so warm.
Losing and taking second place was frustrating but now I dont feel that
way anymore. To begin with, being second place among a group of nearly
300 members is a pretty amazing feat in itself. Even though I dont have
any special skills or anything to be proud of, it was all thanks to the fans
that helped me get to second place. And it also made me realize once again
that Im surrounded by such amazing friends.
Waking up the next day the morning after the elections, I thought, Im
glad I didnt get first place again! because it was tough making myself
seem as the "invincible center."
When I think about what happens next time, I think itd make a more
interesting story if theres downfall. Thats how I feel when I look at other
peoples lives. People dont want to support others who have everything
going right for them. Since theres no downfall, the story has no drama
which means theres nothing to worry about and we might think that its ok
to not show any support.

Yay for downfall!

Yay for getting the chance to whine!
"Shouldn't you feel a little bit more frustrated though?
I don't know what to say to that. Because for 6 hours, from the time the
tally event ended to the time it took me to get home and sleep, I was
feeling frustrated.For 6 hours!
When I think back on it, I feel like my life has been an accumlation of
moments where I was able to bounce back from tough situations. You can
recover from these because you get into difficult situations.
I think the reason why trying to get first place this year at the Sousenkyo
was because there was no pinch to bounce back from. My life needs
more of those it seems.
Thats a rather weird of way of thinking, dont you think?
I guess you can say that. When I thought about those things, some
people told me to write a book about it.
Whether you think my way of thinking is weird or not, I will leave that
up to you.

Table of Contents
Title
Foreword

Contribution
Preface
Chapter 1 - The Pinch Pushes You On
Mood Makers and Schemers
Turning Passion into Motivation
The World Is Not Just School
Computer in the Living Room
I Remember the Time When I Was A Part of the Audience
Linking Dreams and Reality
If You're Not Satisfied With Where You Are, Gain the Courage to
Move Elsewhere
Becoming an Idol Through "Gyakutenryoku"

Chapter 2 - Discovering Your Own Weapons

Giving Up On "Traditional"
Getting the Courage to Fail A Lot
Lessons from the Producer, How to Discover My Own Weapon

Slowly Say What You Think Without Worrying

Writing As A Weapon
Changing the Conditions

Chapter 3 - Accepting the Character Given To Me

The Bungee Jump
The Opportunity of Hetare
You Don't Make a Character, You Accept It
Between Doing It or Not Doing It, Do It
Building a Character Through Being Teased
Breaking Barriers Through Teasing
Other People Discover Who You Are

Chapter 4 - My Life's Biggest Push & the "Gyakuten"

Thought Process
I Planned On Quitting AKB48
The Sudden Transfer to HKT48
A Change in Attitude
Don't Spout Out Negativity
Not Looking at the Internet When Feeling Negative
Because Everyone Accepted Me
The Greatest Chance Given by the Biggest Pinch
I Became Stronger

Chapter 5 - The Tactics to "Win With Everyone" Sashihara-style Produce Techniques

The 4 Principles of Sashihara-style Producing

Fighting on Your Terms, Part 1: Thoroughly Enjoy Ourselves

Fighting On Your Own Terms, Part 2: Choosing Songs That Breaks
the Standards
Fighting on Your Terms, Part 3: Creating an Act That Can't Be
Compared
Thinking From a Fan's Perspective
Entertaining The Public As Well
Create An Ace, Change The Batting Orders, Part 1: Create, Support the
Center
Create An Ace, Change The Batting Orders, Part 2: Give Everyone a
Chance

Chapter 6 - The Things Necessary For Interpersonal

Relations are "Guts" and an "Objective Perspective"
Without an Objective View, You'll Become an Awkward Person
Save Up on Reputation
How to Do Greetings - Sashihara-style
I'll Say My Opinion But I'll Quickly Take It Back
Submit Project Plans Twice
Don't Turn Your Eyes Away
Appearances Are Important
A Beneficial Way of Complaining
Be Frank to VIPs, Be Polite to Semi VIPs
Listen When Discussing Another Person's Problems and Leave it at
that
Don't Recklessly Humble Yourself
Always Be Proper In Order To Give Advice
Don't Stick Your Head Into Unnecessary Things
Paying Forward a Senpai's "Lessons" to the Kouhai

Chapter 6 - The Things Necessary For Interpersonal

Relations are "Guts" and an "Objective Perspective"

Without an Objective View, You'll Become an Awkward Person
Save Up on Reputation
How to Do Greetings - Sashihara-style
I'll Say My Opinion But I'll Quickly Take It Back
Submit Project Plans Twice
Don't Turn Your Eyes Away
Appearances Are Important
A Beneficial Way of Complaining
Be Frank to VIPs, Be Polite to Semi VIPs
Listen When Discussing Another Person's Problems and Leave it at
that
Don't Recklessly Humble Yourself
Always Be Proper In Order To Give Advice
Don't Stick Your Head Into Unnecessary Things
Paying Forward a Senpai's "Lessons" to the Kouhai

Chapter 7 - Turning "Haters" Into Strength - Sashiharastyle Work Techniques

Getting Insulted is Part of the Job
Not Being Talked About is When It's Most Scary
Instaniety is Prohibited
Not Being Liked by Everyone is a Given
What I Learned From Waratte Iitomo! The Attitude Of Having
Fun
Don't Be Afraid of Failure
The Secret to Not Tensing Up Even on the Big Stage
Trust the People You Can Really Trust

Chapter 8 - Being Able To Turn Something Around by

"Changing Attitudes" and with "Assumptions" - Sashiharastyle Thought Techniques
Being Able to Turn Anything Into A Positive
Express What You Like Incessantly
Become Intoxicated In Yourself
Change Attitudes Right After Being Praised
Listen To Only Praise
The Biggest Principle Is To "Not Cause Others Trouble"
Convince Yourself That It's For Your Own Sake
I Am Happiest When Others Are Happy
You Won't Lose If You Don't Fight
There Are No Rivals
Not Being Good With People of the Same Age
Don't Set Goals

Chapter 9 - Living Enjoyably with Gyakutenryoku

Change Attitudes and Turn It Into Smiles
Gyakutenryoku is the Ability to Have Others Support You
Enjoy Your Life!

Conclusion
Biography
End Notes
Back Cover

Thank You

Taken at relative's wedding during her middle school days.

Before she was an Idol, Sasshi was a quiet girl.

Chapter 1
The Pinch Pushes You On

First, let me introduce myself.

My name is Sashihara Rino, born on November 21, 1992, currently 21
years old, and my hometown is Oita-ken, Oita-shi. My nickname is
Sasshi or Sashiko.
Im a member of HKT48s Team H, and HKT48 is a sister group of
AKB48 and we have our own theater in Hakata where we perform most of
our activities. I also currently double as a HKT48 Theater Manager.
I was originally an AKB48 member. When I was a third year in junior
high, I passed the AKB48 2nd Kenykuusei (5th Gen) Auditions
(September 2007 ~ October 2007) and the following year, I moved to
Tokyo and began started my career there.
The reason why I wanted to become an Idol in the first place was
because I was in a pretty bad pinch.
In this chapter, Id like to talk about the first ever pinch that I
experienced when I was in Oita, the place which serves as the start of my
Gyakutenryoku.
Mood Makers and Schemers
I was born into an ordinary family of 4 including, my father, mother, my
older brother and me.
Its really really ordinary. An ordinary father, and an ordinary mother.
That's why my brother is perfect. Hes completely different from me. He
has such a bright personality, hes popular, has a lot of friends - the exact
opposite of me.
My parents are like that as well. Theyre very easygoing and have a
bright personality as well. The only one with such a screwed up
personality is me.
I was really quiet as a kid. Very negative. I didnt like standing out and I
didnt like seeing others stand out either. I looked down upon the class
clowns in my class.
Im not very good with those kinds of people. Yet now, Im turned into
one myself.

.I feel like it must have been my parents genes.

My father is super positive. A happy-go-lucky mood maker. As for my
mother, she may have some kind of calculative personality.
In 2012, Kodansha put out a photobook of me called Sashiko
(published January 2012). At the end of the book, theres a letter to me
from my mother. At the time, I lived together with her in Tokyo and she
told a lie in her letter.
At the end of the letter, she wrote, I think I am going to return to Oita
soon. Youve showed me just how much youve grown. But after the
book came out, she didnt leave for an entire year! She was enjoying the
Tokyo life way too much and didnt plan on going back at all. She lied to
make others feel emotional.
They say that your personality is determined by your parents. It seems
like Ive inherited the good parts of my parents, my dads happy-go-lucky
mood maker personality and my moms scheming personality.
Turning Passion into Motivation
Ive liked Idols ever since I was a kid. I still love them to this day.
What got me into idols was ASAYAN. Its a famous talent search
variety show that I watched when I was in first grade which gave birth to
Morning Musume. It was about when Gotou Maki-chan was added to
Momusu as the third generation member and when LOVE MACHINE
came out.
The starting point for my passion toward Idols was Gomaki. Afterwards,
it continued with Kamei Eri-chan (Morning Musume - 6th gen), Hagiwara
Mai-chan from C-ute, Kumai Yurina-chan from Berryz Koubou.
The other girls in my elementary school class were also into Momusu.
We did things like trade trading cards with friends in the classroom.
Probably at the time, I liked Momusu as much as everyone else did. But
as I got older, everyone else began liking other things like dodgeball or
male Idols. I still liked them so I was like Oh, I guess Im the only one
left.

In the latter half of my elementary school years, I felt that it starting

becoming hard to say that I liked Idols, especially female Idols. I feel like I
was able to read those kinds of social cues really early on.
But I like what I like. No matter what others think.... that won't change.
Even now, I still like everything about Idols from their music to their
dances and my feelings still hasn't changed at all. My passion for Idols is
what motivates me to continue my activites as an Idol.
The World Is Not Just School
What really made my passion for Idols snowball was the Internet.
Our family received our first computer when I was around second year
in elemetary. I guess this is one of those things you would call a real game
changer. A ton of information about Momusu that you normally couldnt
get was all there in the Internet.
I could do stuff like watch videos, look at pictures, read other fans
blogs and plain text sites. I like to write and I think Im pretty good at it. I
owe all that to the things I read on the internet during that time. The
Internet has allowed me to learn about the things needed to entertain
people through writing.
I started surfing 2Channel in my 5th year of elementary school. As I
begain following the links from plain text sites I finally ended up in a
pretty deep world.
I said it pretty frankly but I go on 2Channel. Even to this day. It has a
pretty big influence in building my character. Without a doubt.
Back then, the board that I frequented was the Morning Musume
(Wolf)1 board. At first, I was just there to read what was going on. Then
midway, I created a username and began posting myself. Now that I think
about it, I was a pretty weird person. There was no other girl like me in my
5th year of elementary school. Obviously though.
From my first year in middle school to the middle of my third year, I ran
my own blog. It was a Morning Musume fan blog. There, I was able to be
straightfoward about the things I liked and by having conversations in the

comments with the people who read my blog continued to grow my

passion.
Thanks to the internet during that time, my passion grew and it is
definitely connected with the present.
By plunging myself into the world of the Internet, it made me realize
something.
The world isnt just school, it isnt just Oita.
If you're in a place where things arent going well or life isnt going
well, you can just move onto somewhere else. Even if you cant always be
in that special place, if you just keep in mind that there is a place that
exists which is different from where you are right now, youll feel more
easy.
I feel that those feelings that I had at that time is the basis for my way of
thinking now.
Computer in the Living Room
I am a cold person who always looks at everything objectively. This is
completely the Internets fault. But somewhere in me, I believe in the
kindness of others. Really, I do!
I will talk about it more in the following chapters but when I try to think
about how I ended up like that, I think it was because of there was this
balance between the Internet and family.
My parents have never been angry at me before. But they werent
overprotective either. They let me be. I never felt that they were cold
towards me, they raised me carefreely. They dont stop the things that I
wanted to do. Even when I got addicted to the Internet, they didnt tell me
to stop. They never forced onto me things like the Internet is bad.
Now that I look back, it may have been a good idea to be using the
computer in our living room since it was a place where I could be seen by
my parents. My living room was where, to me, the two places where I
could relax overlapped - the Internet and my family.
Recently I often think that the reason why Im able to work hard in

Tokyo is thanks to my family. No matter tough things are or how hard

things get, I can believe that there is a place for me to return to, a place
that will, without a doubt, welcome me with open arms.
I Remember the Time When I Was A Part of the Audience
I think that one of my strong points as an idol is that I myself am
originally an Idol wota. Im confident that no one can beat me when it
comes to who loves Idols the most.
That love might have been completed when I went to an Idol concert for
the first time.
During my fifth year in elementary school, everyone in Morning
Musume came to the Grand Theater in Oita (now known as the iichiko
Culture Center)!
I begged my mom to accompany me to the concert.
My seat was on the first floor a little bit on the left side somewhere
around the 28th row. I was pretty far in the back but Grand Theater wasnt
a large venue so it wasnt like members looked like ants from afar. It was
incredibly amazing to see a live, moving Gomaki on stage.
All it took was one concert. You see, there are two types of Idol wota.
The first one is the Zaitaku wota, the ones that mainly support their idols
from their home. The second are Genba wota, the ones who show up at
concerts and events. I was completely the latter. There were a lot concerts
being performed in Fukuoka, so I finally obtained a ticket after much
struggle and rode the limited express train with my mom many, many
times.
Now that Im an Idol, when I see little girls lined up with their moms at
the place where they sell concert goods, it makes me feel nostalgic.
Sending letters to my favorite idols was something that I also did a long
time ago so when I receive fan letters from fangirls, it makes me wonder if
they feel the same way I did back then, and if they do, itd make me really
happy.
Thats why I hate being absent in a performance that I'm supposed to

appear in and no matter what happens, I will definitely show up. If I was
one of the fans coming to concert and the member I supported the most left
because of a health related reason, Id of course get worried but it would
suck to come and shes not there.
Every person that comes to an event or a concert pays money to come,
or gets a day off from work to come, or skips school or club activites to
come. As an Idol wota, I was like that too in the past so I know that feeling
very well. Because I understand, I am able to feel like I can do my best in
my job.
Linking Dreams and Reality
The things that I aspired for back then is now what I do for my job. I
think thats a pretty amazing thing if I calmly think about it.
By the way, you cant become an idol by just admiring them. You
have to want to be them. For me, I think AKB48 was what helped give
birth to those feelings.
I saw my first AKB48 concert in March during my second year of
middle school.
It was the Fukuoka concert of the Haru no Chotto Dake Zenkoku Tour,
~Mada Mada Daze AKB48!~ National Tour.
Of course, there was a lot of information readily available on the
internet. The focus of the concert setlist was A4th Tadaima Renaichuu
stage songs. So these are the songs that they perform at the AKB48
theater everyday.
I thought that was really cool. And that thought came from me wanting
to go up on stage as well.
I think its impossible for me to become an idol but I wanted to try
going up on stage and I thought it was something that even I had a shot at.
It feels like I had found the path which led to my dream to become an Idol
from a realistic goal of performing on stage.
I felt that dream and reality started to slowly link together. It was just
around that time when something happened where I fully realized that I

was in a tough situation.

If Youre Not Satisfied Where You Are, Gain the Courage To Move
Elsewhere
While the wota life was fun and nice, my school life wasnt doing so
well. The afterschool wind ensemble activites was fun but the classroom
wasnt.
Around my second year of middle school, I was met with light bullying.
Ive been laughed at for no reason by these group of athletic girls as well
as insulting me just loud enough so I could hear it and getting ignored on
purpose.
After I became a third year in middle school, it escalated. One day, I
received a letter in the mail that said Just dont come to school anymore.
I thought that they must have really hated me if they went as far as
giving me a letter. It made me go all like, Whatever. Im tired of this.
I didnt want to go school anymore so I stopped attending.
I still had a normal, proper life though. I would wake up in the morning,
help with household chores at around noontime and then go to cram school
around the time that Id be doing afterschool activities. Even though I
stopped attending school, it was strange that I didnt get into the habit of
reversing up my sleep schedule.
Im sure my parents were worried about me without me noticing it. But
they didnt try to force me to go to school. They were always like, If you
dont want to go to school, then you dont have to go, always putting my
feelings first.
With that said, on September of my 3rd year in middle school, it became
that time where I would have to decide what I wanted to pursue in life.
For now, I want to get out of Oita, was what I was thinking. I wanted
to go to a place where no one knew me and start all over again.
My feelings were like the feelings in the story I told earlier when I dove
into the world of the Internet. If I dont like the place that Im in now, then
I should just relocate to a different place. If I could give advice to anyone

who is being bullied at school or isnt doing so well at work, I think itd be
something like that.
Becoming an Idol through Gyakutenryoku
I was good at English in middle school so I told my mom and my
teacher at cram school that I would attend the international classes at a
local high school and then study abroad from there. But I had secretly
applied for the AKB48 audition.
I passed the preliminary application screening. The second part of the
audition took place in Tokyo so I told my parents my true feelings.
I want to go to Tokyo and become an Idol.
As I said earlier, because I dove into the world of the Internet, I
understood that if things get tough, change where you are. Move to
another place. Based on that way of thinking, the idea that the 3rd year
middle schooler version of me desperately came up with was to move out
of Oita and become an Idol.
I also passed the final stage of the audition. My mom said she supported
me but I was worried that my dad who allowed me to take the audition
because he thought I wouldnt pass anyway would be against it at the very
end. As I timidly announced the results, he said Do what you want. As
long as your mom goes with you to Tokyo.
Now that I look back and think about it, any parent would be pretty
worried if their daughter who stopped attending school all of sudden said
that she wanted to go to Tokyo. And on top of that, to become an Idol.
Youd think they would force their child back to a more proper path at
least once. But it was because my parents gave the OK that I am here now.
I cant help but feel thankful to both my parents.
And also to the all the judges who chose me.
I also want to praise my own courageousness.
I went from a hikikomori to an Idol. I turned a pinch into chance - my
very first Gyakutenryoku experience.

At the AKB48 audition. Sasshi sang BINGO! off-key due

to nervousness.

Chapter 2
Discovering Your Own Weapons

I feel that the year after joining AKB48 was time meant for discovering
my own weapon. In this chapter, I talk about how to find and polish your
own weapons.
Giving Up On Traditional
Once my activities as an AKB48 kenkyuusei began, I realized right
away that being a traditional idol was impossible for me.
But I did try in the beginning you know. When I was in Oita, I was
somewhat confident since I thought I had a cute face. But at the auditions,
when I looked at the other girls, it slowly dawned on me that Tokyo was
on another level.
When I was promoted from kenkyuusei to an official member, I finally
gave up. It wasnt just a problem about looks, but I just wasnt good at
everything from singing, dancing, and performance.
To top it off, I was a character 2 that got teased pretty early on. Its not
like I wanted to be teased, I just went along with it while everyone else
was teasing me. At the time, the spot for that kind of character was
available so I went straight ahead and took it, and it felt like I found a
place where I belonged.
Now that it turned to this, I had no choice but to speak. I was strongly
convinced that focusing on MC would be the shortest path for me to really
shine in the group.
I give up pretty easily. Or more accurately, I can change quickly.
If you change course early on, in exchange, you create time to develop
your weapon.
Getting the Courage To Fail A Lot
The question that I get asked the most from other members is whats
the trick to being able to talk well in MC? All I can say is, Honestly, you
just go along with the flow.
So how do you get a hold of that, well I think theres nothing else but

failing a lot and figure it out from your failures.

The advantage about the 48 Group is having a personal theater. The
theater performance is the home field so even if you mess up, the
audience will be forgiving.
In fact, they get satisfaction from seeing us fail and growing from it.
So I tell the members this:
In the theater, I dont think its a good idea to come up with a script
beforehand and then strictly following only that. It may be scary but itd
also be a waste to do it that way. You should talk while checking the fans
reactions without being afraid. Because the theater is a place where the
fans help you grow.
In the beginning, I failed a lot. And my failures and the fans have
allowed me to grow a lot.
Lessons from the Producer, How to Discover My Own Weapon
I have an interesting story where I fully realized my failures and growth
at the theater.
The first team that I belonged to, out of three teams that existed at the
time, A, K, B, was Team B with the youngest average age. It was the team
with traditional idols like Mayuyu (Watanabe Mayu) and Yukirin
(Kashiwagi Yuki).
During the B4th Idol no Yowake concert, (February 8, 2009 ~ April
16, 2010), it was the first time that I received my own position. It was also
this concert where my senpai gave me clear instructions to be the one to
moderate the MC. I had been told by fans that Even though you spoke so
much during kenkyuusei concerts, you havent be speaking so much since
your promotion so I really wanted to get into it.
This is a story from the B4th concert.
The general producer of AKB48 is Akimoto Yasushi-san. Not only does
he work on the singles and the album songs, he does everything from the
theater concert concepts to choosing the songs and making the lyrics.
Until then, I barely had the chance to meet him. I honestly did not know

what kind of person he was.

Akimoto-san then came to our B4th dress rehearasal (a show in which
everything is done as it would be in a real performance).
In a concert, there is time for MC inbetween songs. Its an important
time to bring out your character and express your thoughts to the fans. I
think MC has this effect where it increases the sense of unity between the
stage and the audience through laughter.
The 9th song, "Itoshiki Natasha, was a song unit between me, Haachan
(Katayama Haruka), Tanamin (Tanabe Miku). At the end of the song, the
three of us were supposed to do MC. At the dress rehearsal, as I said
"Yayyyyy! Well then for this MC~", we were stopped by Akimoto-san.
"Thats not interesting. The song you just sang and your outfits are rock.
This is where you guys should fully become rock stars and do the MC like
a mini skit. Decide a team name and call each other by nicknames. Decide
before the concert."
"Oh god", I thought.
"No one is going to find that funny at all."
But there was no time to be complaining and we had no choice. The
three of us talked about and decided our nicknames and our team name,
"Team Karyuudo." The real concert began and it became time to do our
MC after the song performance. Once we got together, we began the
introductions.
"You're the only one for me, my name's Durian Sashihara.
They loved it.
Through Akimoto-san's advice, Team Karyuudo afterwards began to
add some simple fake information about itself at each concert. Until our
break up at the final concert, the fans who came to the theater really
enjoyed seeing our characters grow. Thanks to that, at Request Hour (an
event where fans vote on 48G songs) which takes place every winter,
Itoshiki Natasha got a really spot at the best 6.
Even though I thought itd fail, it was a huge success. If you change
your attitude, and just do it, some kind of result will follow!
"Akimoto-san is amazing." It was also the first time for me to
experience what producers were like.

Slowly Say What You Think Without Worrying

Lately there was an event that made me proud of my MC skills getting
better than before. It was at the AKB48 Kokuritsu Kyougijo concert
(March 2014). My performance was just one encore song so I was
watching during the first half among the audience. Since Im a person who
loves Idol concerts.
Suddenly, I got contacted by the stage director. Its going to take some
time until the next preparations. Could you go on stage and talk for five
minutes? I understood that the backstage was in chaos and it wasnt time
for asking questions or for discussion so I answered, I got it, and went
up on stage.
I go through the pathway and up the stairs - in about ten seconds, I
thought up of a punchline. Its not a good idea to be looking for a puncline
while youre talking. To put it the other way around, as long as you figure
out the punchline, it shouldnt turn out too bad.
The punchline I decided at the time was about Shimada (Haruka) getting
fat.
I was watching in the audience for two, three hours...and man was
Shimada fat.
I calculated that the fans were definitely going to react to it since she
herself also made it into a topic and she would get teased about it on TV so
the timing was right. I decided to just go with that as the punchline, so I
just needed to go on stage and talk about the things that came to mind.
They loved it.
I realized one more piece of advice that I could give about MC. Speak
while keeping in mind this, Calm down and slowly talk out the things in
your head or what you want to express.
It may be difficult in the beginning. But if you get used to it, anyone can
do it.
Writing As A Weapon

My other weapon is something that is intimately related to MC. That

weapon is writing.
In March of 2010, I joined Ohta Pro and became on of their talents. The
April right after I joined, I started a blog called Sashihara Quality.
Speaking of which, it seemed there were many fans who were surprised
to hear that I joined with Ohta Pro. It was an agency that Acchan (Maeda
Atsuko) and Yuko-chan (Oshima Yuko) belonged to so it was thought of
among fans as the agency you go to become an actress. But think about it.
Dachou Club-san, Ariyoshi (Hiroiki)-san, Tsuchida (Teruyuki)-san,
Hikomaro-san.
Normally, this agency would be the best fit for me.
I digress though.
Anyway, my blog.
When I was in Oita, I was running my own blog and I also was doing
mobame3 so I felt that I was pretty good at writing.
As I put my first post as my introduction, I suddenly received 3000
comments. Not only that, my fans are weird. They all act dumb in the
comments. When I selected those kinds of comments and reacted to them
with a post, it began to pick up even more.
After posting my second post, I suddenly received a message on my
phone from Akimoto-san. "Interesting blog."
I was surprised. I was actually more surprised that he knew my email
address in the first place.
When I re-read my old blog posts, I honestly dont know whats so
interesting about them. By the way, the second blog post that got praise
from Akimoto-san when something like this:

White Scallions and a White Sasshi and a Dark Night

2010-04-30 22:21:36

Yesterday, when I was walking on the street, there was a scallion

completely on the road.
Ill say it again.
There was a scallion completely on the floor.
Wouldnt you be surprised?
The contrast of the white scallion in the middle of the dark night
was amazing.
There was nothing I could do about it so I didnt do anything but
when I checked in the morning, it was already gone (__
I wonder where it is.
Who is it with?
Before I realized it, all I could think about was that scallion.
Wait, you dont think this could mean..
.Love!?
The only thing a 17 year old thinks about before 10PM on a Friday.
Because of this post, I was able to start conversing with Akimoto-san
via text messages.
One post a day is too little so increase the amount of posts. Its
interesting to see you ask questions to your readers. Why dont you try
making a corner like a radio show where person who send a ton of mail.4
When Aki-P heard that I wanted to get my blog to rank first through a TV
show, he said, Why dont you try posting a hundred times in a day?.

And that 100 blog post show really did happen.

It was around this time when I started feeling that Aki-P or other people
began to think that I was interesting. If I think about it that way, I think
that my blog was where everything began. If it had all began when I found
2Channel and started posting there when I was in my fifth year of
elementary school, then the reason for my current self might be thanks to
2Channel.
It seems as if my weapon was cultivated through the internet.
Thats kinda scary.
Changing the Conditions
There are many members in the 48Group. The competition is already as
tough as it is. Yet when I see the younger members, I feel that many of
them stick too much with the traditional Idol route and are unable to show
their personality. If you played by the same rules, in the same arena with
the same weapons, losing becomes apparent.
If thats the case, then change the conditions. Dont play your
opponents game!
Can I give some advice?
Dont worry about it. Thats not the right place.
That, meaning the opponents area, and if youre in it, youll lose so
theres no choice but to find another path
You have to find one of your own weapons, hone it, and then fight with
it. Its your only option.

Sasshi challenges the bungee jump for a TV show for the

second time but was not able to make the plunge in the end. This
is where the march of "Hetare Sashiko" begins.

Chapter 3
Accepting the Character Given To Me

When you hear the name, Sashihara Rino. what are some of the
images that come to mind? Hetare5 right?
I didnt choose that type of character on my own. Before I knew it, I had
become that kind of character.
Actually, I have a turnabout story about this. I will first begin with that
story.
The Bungee Jump
Among the pinches that Ive had, the one that fits the among the number
of predicaments that I can count with my fingers was when I had to do
bungee jumping for a variety show (TV Tokyo,Shukan AKB
broadcasted on September 25, 2009, The 1st Gutsy Queen
Championship).
It was a 42 meter (approx. 138 feet) jump from a bridge.
The more senior members, Tomochin-san (Itano Tomomi), Tomo~michan (Kasai Tomomi), and then (Nito) Moeno from the same generation as
me went ahead, jumped, and succeeded. I was the fourth to go.
I couldnt do it. I couldnt jump.
This is pretty bad. This isnt looking good. At the time, I couldnt even
make the Sousenkyo Senbatsu and any status I had left was now barely
hanging on.
Its not like I have an intense fear of heights. Of course I was afraid of
tall heights but it's not so bad that I would lose conciousness. But I didnt
jump. I just didnt want to die!
If it was a rollercoaster, I would have been fine. You get on the
rollercoaster and while youre on it, it moves for you. Bungee jumping
however, it doesnt start unless you do something. That's not for me.
I mean, you become just one step closer to death. If you dont do it, the
possibility of you dying is zero percent. But if you do it, the possibility of
dying rises from zero percent to how ever many percent it may be. Why do
I have to do something like that of my own will?
I dont want to die at all. I'm all about living with that mindset of not

wanting to die. All the way. I just want to live happily.

In the studio, I proclaimed, "I'm going to do it the next time!!" The TV
staff were nice about it and immediately, I was able to try it agian.
I practice for many days at Iketani Yukio's gymnastics club and
attempted to bungee jump at Yomiuri land. It was a 22 meter drop (approx.
72 feet). You know that it's just a regular attraction at an amusment park
right?
I couldn't jump
I just didn't want to get closer to death!
The Opportunity of Hetare
Ever since my failure at bungee jumping was broadcasted, people
around me started calling me hetare.
At first, I didnt know that hetare was supposed to be an insult. I took
it the same way as Mayuyu (Watanabe Mayu) being called CG so I
thought that they were giving me a character. I have very little pride so
even after I realized that they were insults, I was like, I dont really mind
as long as they think its interesting.
After about two years, Akimoto-san told me, You have a ton of fans
who support your hetare character and Im like, Ah ok. Lucky! As for
the hetare character, I thought that if other people said that Im a hetare
character, then I guess I was and just went along with it.
Can I say the truth though?
At the time, I didnt think that I was hetare.
I started being called hetare because I couldnt do the bungee jump but
not jumping without being afraid of the eyes of the staff in the first place, I
think, is not hetare. In fact, it takes guts. Youd need to be pretty brave to
say that youre going to conquer it the second time, have all the grownups
do all this work for you, and then not jump.
But theres no mistake that the opportunity of the hetare character was
born from that time when I refused to bungee jump. Thanks to this type of
character being spread around, my situation began to quickly change.

You Dont Make A Character, You Accept It

I believe that in order to stand out or find a place where you belong
within a group, having a character is important. And I think that there are
many people who are worried about that. I have my own theory about
having a character.
A character is something you dont make yourself, its something you
accept.
Its probably a good idea to avoid deciding what kind of character
youre going with. If you stick with that character too much, theres a huge
danger that youll fall out of place within the group.
There also might not be much benefit in going out and saying you are a
certain character. You, by youself, wont have much impact. I think that a
character is something that others eventually accept once others around
you acknowledge and find it interesting.
In the beginning you should play it safe and make youself the person
with nothing special about them. Afterwards, you just wait patiently until
the people around you begin telling you, OO, you seem to be a XX
character. Then go along with it. Itd be good to not deny the character
that others had gone out of their way to give you.
However, following through with a character that wont eventually be
hard to do later is the ideal case. Try out for awhile, just how much of a
certain character you can really become and if you feel that you dont like
it for even a little bit, I think itd be a good idea to switch character.
For example, if you can establish a burikko character as persistently as
Milky (Watanabe Miyuki), then I think a burikko character is OK. But a
lukewarm burikko, will be looked down upon within a group of girls.
Seeing whether a character thrown at you fits you or not, is something
that you yourself should make sure to do.
Between Doing It or Not Doing It, Do It
There are many times when one might say something like Thats not

for me. Thats not how I feel.

For example, lets say on a variety TV show, youve been suddenly told
to do an imitation of someone or something. Ill casually do anything
based on the situation. I dont think thats embarassing or anything at all.
This part about me makes me think about how little pride I have. Its
pride that barely reaches the ground. Pride thats barely on the horizon.
But Im glad that I dont have much pride.
You get embarrased by looking at people who seem embarrased. Just by
being embarrassed, they're going to mess up.
I dont really feel embarrassed if someone brings up to me dirty jokes. If
I said something like, Please stop that - its embarrassing, then the flow
of the conversation stops. I dont think theres any need to go take the
initiative and start talking about dirty jokes. If you respond back with
something like, Dont say such weird things~, the flow of the
conversation wont stop.
Throwing away your pride is beneficial in many ways. There are a lot of
jobs where you might think, Why do I have to do this. I dont want to do
it but between doing it and not doing it, doing it has more benefit.
Even in cases where youre made to do something that you think that
you cant do, just doing it is definitely much better. Its a waste of time to
be worrying in the first place. Try to cut the time spent worrying as much
as you can.
There will be times where Ill think That didnt make any sense or
What was with that job but doing something is better than nothing.
Doing a certain job and your value drops or not doing and your value
drops. Between the lesser of two evils, I think itd be the former.
Feel free to worry about if its embarrassing or if theres any meaning to
it. But between doing and not doing, do it.
Building a Character Through Being Teased
In the end, perhaps to talk about characters is to talk about pride. That's
not for my character. That kind of talking is filled with pride.

Maybe if I was much cuter, I would have much more pride. If I was a
more beautiful looking person, I might have thought that just being pretty
would be enough. But theres no point in being just a quiet, pretty woman
with no kind of character.
I definitely think its better to have little pride.
For example, having small breasts is one of the complexes that I have
and people may feel sorry for me about that. But theres no way for me to
fix it.
If thats the case, making the attempt to bring it up myself and taking it
to a more fun direction is much better. Rather than hiding it, I think saying
it without feeling embarrassed is better.
I think what gets to people and makes them feel hurt is that they think
their complexes are embarrassing. If thats so, then throw away those
feelings of embarassment. Im a rather nonchalant person. Or rather,
surprisingly, a lot of parts about me are pretty American.
Its the same regarding topics about me being ugly. When I was in Oita,
I thought that I was somewhat cute. But when I came to Tokyo, it was
completely different. I remember calling myself ugly before anyone else
did. I guess I was told that on sites like 2Channel pretty early on though.
Earlier I said, there was no point in being a quiet, pretty woman but I
think that an unfriendly ugly person is terrible.
If I told everyone around me, Please dont call me ugly, theyd say,
Yeah sure, but I dont have anything else to say. Theyd have no choice
but to be careful about what they say to me. But if I said, Yeah go ahead,
call me ugly!, then they may tease me about it.
If they tease me, then I too can put myself forward in the form of
reactions. Building ones own character through being teased by others
around you. Thats how the woman known as Sashihara Rino got out into
the world.
Originally, Im a person with no pride so Im okay with getting teased
but there maybe many other people that are not okay with that. You might
think it sucks. In these cases, just think that its for your own sake and bear
with it.
If theres something youre able to do within your own abilities, then

you dont need to be teased by others, but if you think theres nothing
within your abilities that you can do, then rely what you can rely on.
Because, you know that even if you're not an interesting person, the people
around you make you out to be interesting right?
Breaking Barriers Through Teasing
Im going to go a little off topic here but there are merits in teasing a
chracter because it makes one seem friendly.
This April, (Kimoto) Kanon from SKE48 is going to have a concurrent
position in HKT48. At the beginning of the concert that marks the start of
her activities as a concurrent member (AKB48 Group HaruCon in Saitama
Super Area ~ Omoide wa Zenbu Koko ni Suteteike ~), I introduced her but
I also suddenly teased her about her chin.
SKE48 fans, dont get angry but is it OK if I tease her about her chin?
She has quite the chin.
The moment Kanon said, Its OK!, one of the barriers between us as
members disappeared and I think it also set her up to be received well by
HKT48 fans. Im sure there were fans that opposed the concurrency
position because theyd think that if a member whos doing well in SKE48
joined, then their own oshimen might fall out of favor.
Instead of treating her like a princess and a guest, showing that shes
one of us through teasing her benefits not only HKT48, but Kanon and
the rest of the fans as well.
By the way, I did ask her for her permission to tease her about her chin
before the concert. Since she said it was ok, I went ahead and did it. I
guess in that situation, the only thing she could say was yes......
Other People Discover Who You Are
Looks like I wasnt really off topic. Bear with me here a little longer.
The group I belong to, HKT48, also has activities in television.
As of July 2014, our regular TV shows are:

HKT48 no Odekake! (TBS)

HKT Variety 48 (Kyushu Asahi)
HKT48 no Goboten (TV Nishi Nippon)
HKT Shakariki 48!(Kyushu Asahi)
HKT no Hokamina ~ Sono Hoka no Minasan ~ (NOTTV)
I get a lot of opportunities doing MC for those shows. After doing MC a
lot by myself, I began to strongly feel that as MC, getting members to
move the way I want them to benefits both the members and the TV show.
Its a terrible thing to say, but its very real.
If you get handed a character on TV, you can also carry that to the
theater and fight your way in the entertainment industry with that weapon.
For an MC to give a person a certain character means to say that, This
part about you is interesting. You shouldnt be able to move forward if
you deny something like that.
There is no such thing as your real self.
Theres no such thing as your natural self.
I think that who you are is something that people discover for you.
This is the conclusion that Ive come up with after experiencing various
things.

At AKB48 no All Night Nippon. Producer Akimoto

Yasushi announces the biggest surprise yet.

Chapter 04
My Lifes Biggest Pinch & the Gyakuten
Thought Process

The Senbatsu members for the next CD are chosen through fan votes.
Members of an Idol group are going to be ranked based on their
popularity. I think both the members and the fans have accepted, or more
like have become used to it now, but the event that has taken place once
per year since 2009 known as the Senbatsu Sousenkyo, is cruel.
Akimoto-san, this is too unpredecented.
Thankfully, thanks to everyones support, since the first Sousenkyo, my
rank has kept going up.
27th in 2009, 19th in 2010, 9th in 2011......
In the beginning, even though I appeared in a PV, I received about a 2.5
second cut which was turned out to be like a Find Sashihara! situation
but thanks to my rank at the Sousenkyo going up, I eventually appeared
properly for over a minute.
And in 2012, I was fourth place at the 4th Sousenkyo. 67,339 votes. I
really, really couldnt believe it. But.
The 4th Sousenkyo tallying event was on June 6th.
Ten days later, I was transferred to HKT48.
In this chapter, I was talk about the thing that has been the biggest pinch
in my life so far.
I Planned on Quitting AKB48
I was contacted regarding an article published about me by a certain
weekly magazine on a Monday with a Waratte Iitomo! live broadcast.
In the 48 Group, there is a rule called Renai Kinshi6
Theres an article saying I did something that would break this rule
during my time as Kenkyuusei
I blacked out.
That night was the AKB48 National Tour with the concert in Chiba so
of course, I couldn't be absent. I gave my best performance but my tears
wouldnt stop. Because I thought about how I wouldnt be able to stand on
stage with everyone anymore.
In the case when there is clear evidence that the rule has been broken,

the management would have to give some sort of decision.

Suspension, demotion to Kenkyuusei, withdrawal from activities.
As for me, I thought about quitting AKB48. I felt really sorry to all the
fans who supported AKB48 and I didnt want to be a nuisance to the other
members. I told this to Akimoto-san as well. And when I did,
I understand. Only those who truly want to cling onto the entertainment
industry should stay.
When I heard those words, I was finally able to temporarily stop all
thoughts that were going into a negative direction. Rather than the feelings
of the fans that were supporting AKB48, I thought of the feelings of the
fans of someone like me and thought about the meaning of the actions I
was about to do.
Because of an article about me being published, the fans would be
worried about me without a doubt. And amidst everything, if I suddenly
graduate AKB48, then leave the entertainment industry, there would be
nothing more sadder than that for my fans.
The thought of Kamei Eri crossed my mind. I loved Kamei-chan so
much but then she suddenly left Morning Musume (December 2010). At
the same time, she left the industry.
I was in such shock that I thought my life was over.
However, Kamei-chan had no choice to graduate due to poor health
conditions. For me, its going to be because of just one article. Graduating,
then leaving entertainment industry because of that, is definitely not good
at all.
The new single that I got fourth place in at the Sousenkyo through
everyones efforts hasnt even gone on sale and they havent even seen me
sing at the fourth place position yet. If I was them, Id want to see it.
If I was them, Id want to see her stay and not leave.
The next day, I told Akimoto-sensei,
I want to continue working hard in AKB48
The Sudden Transfer to HKT48

I hid the fact that the magazine with the article was to be released on
Thursday and continued activites as I normally would.
However the night before that day, Miichan (Minegishi Minami) and
Takamina-san (Takahashi Minami) seemed to notice that I was acting
strange and invited me out to dinner. When I told them about the article,
they held a party at a karaoke place to cheer me up and sang me many
songs likeMakenaide. For three hours. AKB48 is just amazing and it
made me want to stay.
On the Friday of that week, I was to appear live on All Night
Nipponin the form of being called into the episode that was originally
mean to feature Akimoto-san.
At the start of the show, I gave an apology to all my fans for making
them worried.
Afterwards, Akimoto-san said the following words:
Starting tomorrow, you will be Sashihara Rino from HKT48.
...I didnt understand.
AKB48 has three sister groups within Japan. SKE48 in Nagoya, Sakae
(began activites on the autumn of 2008), NMB48 in Osaka, Namba (began
activities on the autumn of 2010), and HKT48 in Fukuoka, Hakata (began
activities the autumn of 2011).
The youngest child of the 48 Groups, HKT48, at the time only had
first generation members and hadnt even released their debut single. They
didnt have many interactions with AKB48 so I barely knew any of their
names. Im sure that not just me, but the other members and the fans were
in the same situation as well.
I was to be transferred to that group, making me the oldest within the
group at 19 years old (at the time).
I was told by Akimoto-san to go contribute. He continued, You
have broken one of the 48 Groups rules. When I thought about what you
should do to make the 48 Group fans forgive you, I thought, It must be
contributing to the group as a whole The greatest contribution would be
to build the hype of the entire 48 Group by transferring to HKT48 who just

started their activities and growing the hype there.

At this rate, even if you got fourth place and spend the year as you
normally would, your popularity will not rise any higher. I dont think
theres anything more interesting than you transferring and working hard
in HKT48.
Perhaps maybe, my current situation isnt a pinch, but a chance at an
opportunity. Or more like, I have no choice but to think of this as an
opportunity.
A Change in Attitude
After going to sleep and waking up on the next day, I felt completely
refreshed.
Dont get me wrong, its not that I wont reflect on my actions, I just
start to feel more better quickly. Im good at finding the flip side of things.
If you try looking for them really hard, it can be found anywhere. At
first when I was transferred to HKT48, I felt really down.
But since AKB48 has many surprises, it toughened me mentally. No
matter how terrible things are, whats decided is decided. If so, then
theres no time to be apprehensive. Find the good sides of things.
Theres a ton of good food in Hakata, You can save up a lot of
airline miles, My family and other people in Oita can come see me at
our concerts.
I also imagined something like this as well.
Rather than staying in AKB48 in the state Im in right now, arent there
other inspirational things or experiences that would help me grow even
more?
I think I was right.
Changing your attitude during difficult situations and always facing
foward makes finding the flip side of things much easier. I think that the
flip sides that you find are easier to turn into a reality because of that.
Don't Spout Out Negativity

After transferring to HKT48, the first day of the theater show where I
would perform together with the members was decided. July 5th, 2012.
Since I had other work elsewhere, my time for lessons was limited.
As the date drew closer, I told my manager, I want to schedule all the
time I have until the concert for rehearsals. I dont want to be doing
interviews asking me about how my transfer is going.
I didnt want words like Im reflecting on my actions to leave my
mouth anymore. To begin with, reflecting isnt something you can see
with your eyes, or rather, its hard to communicate. I felt that the only way
to prove that, I, Sashihara Rino, will work hard as an HKT48 member
now and to the future, in a more tangible manner was on the stage.
Also, even if you asked me, It's about to begin, how are you feeling?,
the only thing Id be able to say was, I will do my best so that everyone
can accept me with my head facing downwards.
I knew what I had to do and I was feeling a little uneasy about the first
day concert but the fans may have been more uneasy than I was. On top of
that, if they see me looking all depressed, then theyll be even more
uneasy.
If this was the interview after it was over, then I can look up and say, I
finished off on a high note! I will continue to do my best!. Theyll be able
to see me in high spirits.
I dont think saying negative things in front of other people is a good
thing because it puts everyone else in a negative mood and that negative
mood will only come back at you.
Not Looking at the Internet When Feeling Negative
At around that time, the thing where I can say to myself "Good Job
Sashihara", was stopping myself from checking the Internet.
I didn't look at sites like 2Channel or Matome sites7 one bit.
If I checked the Internet after the article came out, it would only make
me feel worse since I had negative feelings that "I did something bad."
I easily imagined that the most terrible things about me to date were

written there. But if you never check, you'll never know.

When things get rough, I can imagine that there are a lot of people that
go on the Internet and look for things that make them feel better or give
them courage but I think the tougher things get, the more that hurtful
words tend to get to them. When you look at the negative things when
you're in a negative mood, you only swell up with more negativity.
That's why I decided to not check the Internet at all, and I didn't check it
once at all.
I think I made the right decision.
Because Everyone Accepted Me
And so, first day of the theater concert came to a close.
At that time, the only things that were left in me were enjoyment and
motivation. No signs of negativeness.
To be honest, the only things that I remember after my transfer to
HKT48 was decided are only happy things.
At the very beginning, the HKT48 members were indeed shocked
though. I think it's only natural. Normally you'd be surprised if you did all
the things with only other people in the same generation as a group and
then all of a sudden, a senpai joins the group.
Even though I'm fine with it, Miichan told me that from the HKT48
member's point of view, I'm probably like (Shinoda) Mariko to them and I
can see what she meant by that. To be honest, I was filled with anxiety.
But all of the HKT48 members are young and in a good way, they were
all children. They're cheerful, energetic, and pure. They welcomed me as if
I were the "the transfer student from Tokyo."
They actively wanted to get to know me more. I think that if this was
any other group, things might have been different.
I'm also thankful to all the people in Kyushu that accepted me. There
were countless people who said to me "Welcome" or "Welcome back." I'm
from Oita so I can understand why they might say "welcome" but hearing
"welcome back" was so refreshing and it made me so happy.

After the performance of the first day concert, I had some work for a TV
Station based in Fukuoka and everyone was really nice.
Because everyone accepted me, I naturally started to feel that here is
where I wanted to do the biggest things possible.
The Greatest Change Given by the Biggest Pinch
June 8th, 2013. It was my first tallying event for the Sousenkyo after the
transfer.
I was aiming for fourth place. I figured that if I was able to maintain the
same spot as last time, that meant that everyone had acknowledged me.
And then it happened.
First place.
150,570 votes.
I was so surprised that I stopped breathing. And there were so many
votes.
I still vividly remember the yells and the view from the stage as I was
called for to give my speech for first place.
A good portion of those yells were "Why is it Sashihara!" Either way,
70,000 people were shocked by a 20 year old girl who isn't even that cute.
I became an Idol when I was in third year of middle school to get away
from my hometowm. And it has now expanded into a situation I would
never have dreamed possible at the time.
I could feel the supporting cheers from every vote like they were
chances given to me saying, "Do your best one more time!"
In events like handshaking events, there were many people who told me
that they understood that I was doing my best for HKT48 so they would
vote for me. For those people as well, I have to "contribute" even more. I
want to make the entire 48Group much more exciting from Hakata.
I began to feel that way from the bottom of my heart once more after
receiving first place.
I Became Stronger

I feel that my heart has gotten much stronger than before by transferring
to HKT48.
Or well, I had no choice but to become stronger.
I am the oldest within HKT48 and a senpai so I had to become someone
that will lead everyone. I began to think that if I can't get myself together,
then the group also won't be able to.
As an Idol, it's a disadvantage. A more unreliable member would seem
much cuter and seeing the weak parts of someone makes one want to
support them. As a person who's popularity comes from being a hopeless
"hetare", I used it as my weapon more than anyone else.
But I can't show my weaker parts anymore. I am already no longer
"hetare" From now on, I have to live as a strong person.
It would be much appreciated if you could take interest in that strength
from now on.

A circle with the HKT48 members. As a senpai and a theater

manager, she supports the girls and encourages their growth.

Chapter 5
The Tactics to "Win With Everyone" - Sashiharastyle Produce Techniques

Before I knew it, I was the HKT48 theater manager.

There was a surprise announcement on April 28th, 2013 at Nihon
Budokan, and it was the first time in the group's history to hold a
concurrent position as a member and a theater manager. "Yeah, no duh", I
thought.
From the outside, it may look like a huge change but just because I'm
the theater manager doesn't mean there is any change in the things I do. I
listen to the concerns of the members, give them advice, and if they have
suggestions I feel are important, I tell them to the higher ups. As for the
particular details for other tasks, Ozaki-san (the other HKT48 theater
manager, Ozaki Atsushi), handles them for me. He's a nice guy.
What I can do now after becoming a theater manager is submit
proposals for concert setlists. I actually did this before I became a theater
manager and now I don't have to hesitate anymore just because I am a
member.
I've been a "Genba-wota" since I was a kid and the concert is a special
place for someone like me who loves to watch Idols on stage. For me, I
can say that it's my most favorite workplace.
In this chapter, I will talk about the methods I have come up with for
producing people and groups based on my past experiences in creating
HKT48 concerts.
No matter what, HKT48 as the youngest group will always be in the
position of catching up. It is a perfect environment for demonstrating
"Gyakutenryoku."
The 4 Principles of Sashihara-style Producing
As I mentioned in the last chapter, the 48 Group has just four groups
within Japan. Going by the order they were created, the first is AKB48
whose theater is in Akihabara. Next is SKE48 based in Nagoya, NMB48 in
Osaka, Namba, and then HKT48 from Fukuoka, Hakata.
The overall quality of performance in AK48 is high. Many popular
members reside in AKB48 so when they come together, they have an

amazing presence. In SKE48's case, their dances are cool and are perfectly
in synch. NMB48 is a Kansai-area group so one of their best traits is
having interesting MCs.
The youngest child, HKT48, is still in the process of development. In
many ways, they still have much to work on. Even if they do the same
thing as their elder sisters, they'd never catch up and surpass them.
While I worked with everyone to reach for the top, I noticed that I seem
to be employing four strategies as a result.
1.
2.
3.
4.

Fight on our own terms and compete in what we're good at.
Think from a fan's perspective.
Set up "hook" that will catch on and spread it nationwide.
Upholding both "creating an ace" and "changing up the batting
orders."

Let me explain about what each of these mean.

Fighting On Your Own Terms, Part 1: Thoroughly Enjoy Ourselves
When you compare HKT48 to the other groups in terms of things like
degree of recognition, presence, quality of dance and MC, HKT48 is quite
weak in all of these areas. Even if we competed head on in these areas,
there would be no chances of winning.
However, if there was a ranking in how much we enjoy themselves,
we'd no doubt be number one.
The easiest way to entertain the audience is to enjoy yourself as well. If
you aren't having fun, then the people watching won't be having fun either.
The feelings of those who stand on stage is something that is naturally
communicated.
If our performance and abilities were good enough to engage and attract
an audience, then perhaps instead of "enjoying ourselves", it might be
better to "entertain" our audience. But HKT48 doesn't have that much skill
so we have to have fun so that everyone can have fun with us.

HKT48's prominent characteristic is being the young and energetic

"youngest child" and in many ways, they still have a long way to go. But
it's for these reasons that we can pull of this tactic.
Recently I think this a lot but being cheerful is amazing. Being energetic
is amazing. If there was a girl that you're familiar with at work or school
who is cheerful, energetic and can do the things she needs to do while
having fun, then it's obvious that you too would begin to feel like you're
having fun.
I think that is HKT48's weapon.
Fighting On Your Own Terms, Part 2: Choosing Songs That Breaks
the Standards
Between January to March of this year, HKT48 held their first Kyushu
tour (HKT48 Kyushu Nanaken Tour, Kawaii Ko ni wa Tabi wo Sase
yo).
From here, I will take a specific example form the Kyushu tour and talk
about the appeal of HKT48 and the appeal of the concert.
These were the first concerts where I was able to be involved in
everything. I gave ideas concerning the opening performance to the acts
outside of the song. In a way, it served as a basis for HKT48's concerts as I
was able to do all things I wanted to do for the first time. Oh yeah, the
DVD & Blu-ray are now on sale.
First off, I wanted to drastically change the setlist.
At the time, HKT48 released their third single. The singles consisted of
their debut single, Suki! Suki! Skip!(released March 20, 2013), and
Melon Juice(released September 4, 2013), Sakura, Minna de
Tabeta(released March 12, 2014). The CDs each come in four different
kinds with Type-A to Type-C and a theater edition and the coupling song
for each type is different. When thought about that way, HKT48 had a
somewhat decent amount of songs.
As a fan, it'd make them happy to see the group singing a song that they
would know at a concert. But if that became the norm for each concert,

then the setlist would be the same every time. As a result, the fans would
get tired of it.
So I decided that we shouldn't sing the other songs that we had except
the popular songs. I made it so that anything was possible and brought in
different songs from various places. I originally love Idol songs and I have
a ton in my iPod.
First, I re-listened to the 48 Group singles, albums, and the theater
songs. AKB48 has a long history and have great, hidden songs. Just
because they are songs from the past or unfamiliar to fans, not singing
them would be a waste.
I also chose songs from SKE48, NMB48, and even from "AKB48's
Official Rival", Nogizaka46. By suddenly increasing the variation of
entries, it becomes hard to predict what song will be performed next. By
doing that, I want the fans to enjoy HKT48 concerts with a constant fresh
feeling.
Fighting On Your Own Terms, Part 3: Creating An Act That Can't Be
Compared
The centerpiece act that I thought up of was the HKT48 The Best
Five.
Matusda Seiko-san's Aoi Sangoshou, Candies-san's Haru
Ichiban, Wink-san's Sabishii Nettaigyo, Ann Lewis-san's Ahh,
Mujou, Onyanko Club-san's Sailor Fuku wo Nugasanaide.... It was
where the HKT48 members covered the famous songs of the past.
For each concert, I changed the songs and the performing members as
well. They were all songs that members sang for the first time but I think
they memorized and performed them well.
As for why I thought up of that.
48 Group concerts are structured by full songs performed by all
members and unit songs narrowed down to a few members. HKT48 had
been performing existing AKB48 unit songs like Temodemo no
Namida,Ame
no
Dobutsuen,Kinjirareta
Futari,

andCandy.
I was unsatisfied with how we always do the same songs. However,
even if we did new songs, the risk of doing songs that no one knew in a
large concert was huge.
That's when the FNS Kayousai happened.
The 48 Group appeared on the show and when I was watching the other
artist's live performances, Aichan (Ota Aika), told me "If (Tomonaga) Mio
sang Sentimental Journey(Matsumoto Iyo), I think it'd definitely be
cute." I went like, "That's a great idea!"
I'm sure there were also fans that didn't like that. The young fans
probably wouldn't know those old songs and there's probably a lot of fans
that want to hear the AKB48 songs that they all know.
But there are no chances of winning by doing the same thing as AKB48.
There are no chances of winning if we did the same thing as SKE48 or
NMB48. The amount of experience for each group is different so even if
we competed using the same songs and the same rules, once we are
compared, we'd just lose.
If we'd lose by being compared, then do something can not be
compared.
My usual style of "fighting on your own terms" can be seen in that
HKT48 concert.
Thinking From A Fan's Perspective
In HKT48 concerts, there are many times where members work up the
crowd by going, "Are you guys excited---!?" I tell the members to work
them up whenever they see a chance to do so.
When there are interactions with the stage and the audience, you and the
fans get pumped up. By saying, "Are you having fun?", we and the
crowd can confirm that are having fun ourselves.
Also, by working up the top floor, the feeling of excitement falls to the
bottom floor and as a result, it connects the entire venue together. "If you
look straight ahead or look downwards, it looks as if you're uninterested so

looking upwards makes you look cuter and more energetic on the
monitor......"
Those kinds of techniques were taught to me by the stage director.
Actually at around the time of the Kyushu tour, HKT48 welcomed the
new stage director.
All of the stage directors up until then were like family to the members
who put passion in our performances. The new stage director brought a
sense of "strict show business" to the stage,
"You are all pros. Do not forget the fact that the people coming here are
paying money in exchange for a concert."
Everyone's feelings clearly changed. We began to think that we wanted
to have as many fans as possible return home satisfied from the bottom of
our hearts.
I can't help but have fun with the current HKT48 concerts. It's the first
thing I want to do. It's the thing I have the most fun with. I want to do it
more than TV!
Entertaining The Public As Well
I was particular about the first opening song of the Kyushu tour.
It's my favorite Morning Musume song, The Peace!. But I didn't
just choose this song based on my interests.
Compared to AKB48, we don't have much of an audience and in a way,
since we were just going around the Kyushu prefectures, the tour was local
news. I thought about what I should do to make it newsworthy. If it had
impact like "The 48 Group covered H!P songs", then maybe the public
would start talking about it.
During the standalone HKT48 concert (AKB48 Group Haru Con in
Saitama Super Arena Omoide wa Zenbu Koko ni Suteteike!, April
5th, 2014), I received advice from Akimoto-san. "If you don't make
something that has attitude in the opening, you won't make it to
tomorrow's news." As a result, I made it so that the HKT48 members
appeared on stage with gym clothes on as part of the performance.

If something attention grabbing is set in the opening and have some of

media take pictures early on, there might be a possibility that something
like "HKT48's Arena Concert, Curtain Opens With a Field Day" will make
news. A bunch of things happened, and the news headline instead became
Sashiko Set Up! Appeared In A Bloomer On Stage By Herself!......
In order to make HKT48 bigger, it's not enough to just entertain the
people who come to see us. We have to think about entertaining the public
as well.
Create An Ace, Change The Batting Orders, Part 1: Create, Support
the Center
The center, in a literal sense, means the member that stands in the
middle of the group.
In HKT48, Haruppi (Kodama Haruka) from the first generation and
Tashima (Meru) and (Tomonaga) Mio from the second generation stand as
center. The three of them as idols have talent and they're hard-working so I
think they are suitable centers.
If you think about it from the Sousenkyo rankings, (Miyawaki) Sakura
ranks higher than them.
However, an Idol senpai once said, "It would be better if the most
popular person wasn't in the middle. Once the most popular person stands
in the middle, she will attract all the popularity so it's actually not good for
the group."
I can definitely understand that.
There are a lot of other girls that want to be center.
To be real, sparks fly between members about which position they will
be placed within the senbatsu members or whether or not they will even be
part of the senbatsu members.
Some people may feel bad but my personal thought is that there should
be bias towards an "oshi" in the group.
It's impossible to suddenly get people to have interest in the entire
group. First, give the spot to a certain amount of members and reliably get

people interested in them. By doing that, the interest will eventually spread
to the entire group. There's no other way but this.
If there are members that come up to me and ask, "Why is that member
the center", I answer, "It's for HKT48's sake." "If she goes down, we all go
down. If HKT48 doesn't do well, then you're not going to do well. For
now, do not do things for yourself but for the sake of HKT48", is
something I would say.
Create An Ace, Change the Batting Orders, Part 2: Give Everyone A
Chance
First, while making the ace conspicuous, I thought about wanting to
give the other members a chance.
For the Kyushu tour, for each of the seven prefectures, I put in and
switched out the unit members and gave solo parts to the members that
belonged to a certain prefecture. It connects well with the member's
motivation and it increases the possibility for the fans to "discover" them.
"Oshis aren't something you change, they are something you add."
This is something that I said for MC in a theater performance during my
time as a kenkyuusei. Even now, people still tell me that it's a pretty
famous quote. I don't remember at all when and in what situation I said
that. Did I actually say that?
Putting that aside.
Oshi is the abbreviation for Oshimen. It's a term used in Idol
culture to mean the member that you support the most. To fans, there can
only be one oshi. If you start to like another person, that is a Oshihen.
But your oshi doesn't have to be just one person you know?
At the end of the day, I think a really strong group is able to compete
with the center no matter who it is.
That's why I want to raise as many stars as possible. I want to increase
our amount of stars.
It can't be helped if I become number one by myself. I want to become
number one with the rest of HKT48.

Chapter 6
The Things Necessary For Interpersonal Relation
Are "Guts" And An "Objective Perspective"

People tell me that I have an objective view of things.

I think so too.
For example, even when I'm talking to my family, I think about what
kinds of things I should say or if I say a certain thing then me and the
person I'm speaking to would have more fun.
Even during concerts, all I think about is how and what I should do in
order to be seen on the screen monitors.
I'm an incredibly calculating person. I'm always thinking about what I
should do to benefit myself.
With that said, I thought about how to communicate with other people.
You alone do not have a lot of power. There are limits on how much
impact you can make. That's the reason why you have to look at your
situation objectively and go around being calculative. And then, involving
others and turning them into strength is the key to "Gyakutenryoku."
Without An Objective View, You'll Become An Awkward Person
People often say things like, "Read the situation" or "Understand what's
going on." But things like that aren't something you can visibly see in your
everyday life. However, you can see it.... on 2Channel.
On the 2Channel boards, when an exciting topic gets posted, all sorts of
people write all kinds of comments and they get quickly posted in real
time. From top to bottom, the comments all pour in.
During times like these, when someone posts a comment that ignores
the current flow of the topic like, "I like chan. I think so-and-so part
about her is cute", that person stands out in a bad way. You'd be like,
"Don't you see all these other comments?"
That's how I've looked at all those comments that stick out so I've
gained the habit of reading the entire situation before saying what I want to
say.
I feel that if you don't have an objective view, you become an awkward
person.
To put it simply, narcissistic people are like that. They think they're cool

or cute. But once you take a step back and look at one's self from the same
position as everyone else, you'd say that's not true.
However, the problem is when you start taking it too far. I can't get
obsessed with the thing that's in front of me. Somewhere in my head, I am
constantly looking at my situation calmly. Once you get addicted to the
Internet, your personality will most certainly become twisted......I just put
that in a good way. I most definitely have a bad personality.
Now that I'm an Idol, my experience with the Internet is no doubt being
put to good use.
Save Up On Reputation
When you begin to look at yourself objectively, you start to become
sensitive to how you're being perceived by other people.
For that kind of person, greetings are incredibly important. No matter
how tired you are, you smile as much as you can. You look the person in
the eye and greet them properly as much as possible. Also you should
remember to have the mindset of winning by making the first move.
For example, when there's a big concert, there's a lot of staff that we
meet for the first time. After the concert, I go around to different rooms
and say "Thank you very much." Is there a door that's not open? Did I
greet everybody? I go through a mental checklist strictly in my head.
When I pass a member's family members in the dressing room, if I
notice them, I take the initiative to go and greet them directly. Rather than
giving off an impression like "I came across Sashihara but she had this
scary-looking face", it's much better to have it be "She greeted me." And
furthermore, someone might be watching me as I do it. Plus one reputation
for me.
I think that reputation is something you can save up on like money. I
secretly call it the "Reputation Savings."
When I get tired, I get all irritated or lose the strength to go greet people.
In times like those, I think about my "Reputation Savings" and push
through like, "Don't break the bank, save up on more!"

When people complain, it's also a chance to increase your reputation.

When you hear people complain, it's easier for you to complain with them.
It's during those times that you should something say like a good person
would instead of complain together with them! Of course, you don't need
to go out of your way to say something different from how you really feel.
The point is how you use those savings.
There are times when you really get tired or feel like you've had enough
of things, you unconsciously start to get in a bad mood. When that
happens, when you feel something's wrong with someone's actions, instead
of scolding them, you might blame them for it. It's not good if people see
you like that. It gives off a bad impression.
It's during those times that your Reputation Savings comes into play. If
you have savings, then it'll end with something like, "Well, Sasshi usually
works hard so there are times when she gets like that." But let's say if I was
a person that didn't have those savings, then it might end up with me being
thought of as the "hard to deal with" person.
That's the worse thing that can happen.
You save up reputation for when the time comes. And when that time
comes, you'd been saving up already so you will be fine.
I fairly recommend the Reputation Savings.
How To Do Greetings, - Sashihara-style
Bear with me on my thoughts about greeting just a little longer.
People say that I'm a brown nose.
That doesn't mean I'm conscious of it. I only realized that's how people
saw me until after they told me.
But, it's true that in many cases, I am liked by my elders. The reason
that I can think of is that it might be because I do greetings a lot.
For example, when your senpai comes into the changing room, all the
kouhai say, "Ohayougozaimasu"8. Even if I am among the group of
greetings, I won't be heard. Perhaps the senpai might think, "Why does
Sashihara not do her greetings?"

First, once I say "Ohayougozaimasu" at the same time as everyone else,

I then afterwards go up and get close, look them in the eye and say
"Ohayougozaimasu" one more time.
There's not much point in greetings that are done conventionally and it
doesn't feel good either. That's what I think now that I'm also in a position
to be greeted by kouhai.
Also, if one of my senpai is on a TV show, I will watch it. I won't go as
far as going out of my way to record the show but if I turn on the TV and
they're on TV, I make sure to watch it and tell them my impressions. I do
this because if someone told me that, I'd be happy.
The things done to you that makes you happy also makes the other
person happy. Seniority has nothing to do with it.
I'll Say My Opinion But I'll Quickly Take It Back
Now to continue the talk about objective perspectives.
Once you start looking at things objectively, you begin to communicate
with people while not just thinking about present but what will happen in
the future as well.
I'm the kind of person to have clear opinions on things. If I have an
opinion, I will clearly state it. But I'm always in a position to be ready to
listen to other people's opinions. I'm always ready to say that I have no
problems at all with the other person's opinion.
The moment I say that something should be a certain way and another
person disagrees and says it should be another way, if I think that the other
person is right, I take back my opinion right away. There may be times
when you think that your opinion could be the right one and you feel like
you can't retract it, however I can easily retract it easily even during those
times. I quickly hold back my own feelings.
The reason is because once you think about the future, not sticking to
your opinion is correct.
Let's say that you had retract your opinion without any objections, you
decide to go with the other person's opinion, and in the end, they figure out

that your idea was the right correct one.

Nothing gets said from me. Inside my head, I go, "See?" The things
that you were right about are things you should just keep inside your head.
Saying, "Hah, see I told you so" makes you look like a jerk.
But in those cases, the other person generally apologizes to me. When
it's something like, "Sasshi's idea was the right one", I respond, "Well it
looks like it could've gone either way in the end", and I get more credit.
In order to make an environment that makes it easy for the other side to
apologize, when you take back your opinion, you should do it quick and
early. if you hold back while saying "Fine whatever, I'll just go with your
idea then", it will just make the other person angry so even if you do
happen to be right later on, the other person won't apologize.
Don't forget to apologize right away when you make mistakes as well.
Recently, I got into an argument with one of the staff members. I
completely misunderstood something regarding the members and I ended
up slamming that person. But. when I realized that it was to my
misunderstanding, normally you'd get embarrassed because you got really
angry so you'd go like, "Well that's fine then."
But immediately, I said I was sorry.
I can immediately switch myself to apologizing mode. After you say
you're sorry, there are times where you want to say, "But...." Just forget
about it. Once you apologize, leave it at that. That way, it doesn't leave a
mark later. I'm always thinking about the future consequences as I'm
communicating with other people.
There are also people who commend my honesty. But really, I'm just a
woman who's trying to get ahead.
Submit Project Plans Twice
Next, I will talk about my work as a theater manager. In terms of
HKT48 concerts. I am tasked to a certain degree with deciding the songs to
perform but anything other than that costs money so I do presentations to
the higher ups.

I put several proposals together and then I submit them. Among these
proposals, I will always put in one project that I know is impossible to do.
By doing that, I get praised for coming up with various kinds of ideas. It
makes me look like I'm motivated.
More specifically, the "impossible project" stands out, and since it's
impossible to do, we're left wondering what else can be done. I have the
project that I want to get picked the most slipped in with the other projects.
When I do that, it gets chosen most of the time.
When I do the target presentation and I'm told "But you know, that's not
possible", I back down right away saying, "You're right. Please let me
think about it more."
At that moment, without being stubbornly persistent, I make the other
person feel better by saying, "That's true. I haven't thought about it that
far." That way, they can feel the difference between themselves and me.
As in like, "We are more greater than you."
If you stand your ground on your proposals saying something like, "I
think it's a good idea" or "No don't worry, I have it planned out", right then
and there, there might be some people that would praise you for that but I
think that the amount of people who wouldn't think too well of that be
greater. You don't want to be thought of as that one guy going against
everyone else since it'll be hard to submit ideas the next time.
Then, after you give it a little bit of time, you say "I went over the
project from earlier...." and then submit the revised proposal. Yes, this
works!
Don't Turn Your Eyes Away
In face-to-face communication, there is a simple but effective technique.
When you talk to people, you look them in the eye while talking to
them.
At the same time, it's very tiring. Looking at someone in the eye and
speaking to them takes physical and mental effort. But doing it definitely
benefits you.

In the movie that I played a main role in, Barairo no Buuko, I sang
a duet for the theme song with rockstar Uchida Yuuya. When I was given
the opportunity to talk with Yuuya-san, I hadn't decided at all what I was
going to say but I had only decided to never look away while speaking to
him. Afterwards, I was set on listening to what Yuuya-san had to say and
nod responding, "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!" as I was looking at his eyes. While
I was looking him in the eyes, I squeezed in my opinions here and there.
He completely likes me. The only people who refer to me as "Rino" are
my family and Yuuya-san.
These past few years, the event where I felt that I must not lose in terms
of feeling the most was talking with Hayashi Mariko-san. I mean, she's the
person who wrote Yashin no Susume(Kodansha Gendai Shinsho).
She's a person who has observed many women.
I got an opportunity to talk to her through a magazine and I decided that
I wouldn't take my eyes off her for not even a second. There are people
that can be seen right through immediately! Akimoto-san can do that as
well. If you show any weakness for even a second, you'll be taken
advantage of so don't turn your eyes away.
Appearances Are Important
When you apologize to people, you also don't look away. The other
person is angry which is all the more reason to keep looking them in the
eye. While you look them in the eye, you apologize saying you're sorry.
After I transferred into HKT48, as a senpai, I became in a position
where I have to be strict at my kouhai.
When I become strict, there are some things that I notice. When I give
warnings, the members who look down and feel really bad are the ones
who most likely feel genuinely bad for whatever they did but I start to
wonder if they are really listening to what I'm saying.
The members who "seem" to be seriously listening to what I'm saying
are the calm and collected ones. While they are looking at me in the eyes
and nodding to me as if they're really sorry, they might really think it's

annoying inside. With that said, for someone on the side of being strict, it
feels like, "this person is listening to what I have to say" and it leaves a
good impression.
I think that communicating while considering just how much one's self
is being seen by others is beneficial. Appearances are important.
I am a woman who has survived just based on "appearances."
A Beneficial Way of Complaining
It's similar to what I was just talking about and I think that there are also
different types of ways of complaining.
First of all, you can't say the exact same complaints that come to mind.
If you overdo saying what you really feel, it will weird out the people
around you. Not just between Idol and fan relations, but in normal
interpersonal relationships as well because there are some parts where you
might be like "Are you really going that far" or "You didn't have to say
that."
It's the same with trying to hold back feeling down when someone gets
angry at you. You hold back wanting to go full force with you complaints
and say enough to not be rejected by the other person. I think as long as
you give out the right amount of complaints, people will support you.
You aren't lying. What you're saying isn't a lie but the right amount of
complaints are necessary.
Be Frank to VIPs, Be Polite to Semi VIPs
I will now talk about the tricks that I discovered myself when
communicating with someone of higher status than you.
Since becoming an HKT48 theater manager, I have had many chances
to speak with some big-time old guys. There are even many of them at the
location of shootings for variety shows.
I'm good at talking with these guys. As a way of approaching those guys
with status way higher than mine, I talk with them like they were my

friends and for guys with some status, I speak to them politely.
For example, I've been together with Tamori-san for Waratte
Iitomo! for two and a half years, and after the TV shoot, we casually ate
together and he talks to me casually.
People with tons of status are open-minded.
Akimoto-san is the same way as well. He's completely fine with
someone like me. Rather than being in nervous super respect mode, going
in friend mode will actually make me be more interesting to him.
But somewhat big-time guys get irritated by a slight offense. They're
sensitive to that which is why I keep a low-profile with them. It's bad if
you mess this up.
I think probably the reason why I'm good at talking with old guys is
because I used to talk a lot with the older H!P fans at concert venues.
I displayed my trading card collection and tried really hard to negotiate
to trade the cards I had for their Kamei Eri-chan cards.
They'll surprisingly accept young girls who boldly come to speak to
them. When I tried talking to the old guys who like H!P, they were all
nothing but nice people.
So thanks to checking 2Channel and trading with older H!P fans, I can
talk casually to Tamori-san and Akimoto-san. We barely have any idea
about what kinds of experiences will serve as pluses for us.
Listen When Discussing Another Person's Problems and Leave It At
That
Being transferred to HKT48 was a big reason why I began to think
about a bunch of different things about communication.
What changed the most between then and the time I was in AKB48 is
that all of the members are now kouhai. So now I listen to all the problems
that they have.
I am the oldest within HKT48 and the difference in experience between
us is big so I go with answering with "During those kinds of times, I had
this kind of mindset" and answering as much as I can answer.

But it doesn't mean I try to solve their problems just saying like, "I was
this way" or "You know, I think about it this way." More specfically, what
I am doing mostly is just listening to what they have to say.
Listen to what you need and leave it at that. I think that the person
talking to me knows that having a conversation with me doesn't mean
they'll find a clue to their problem. They just want to talk. I'm that way as
well when I talk to people about my problems.
There are times when I happen to want to push my opinions though.
When Aichan (Ota Aika) come to consult with me about whether or not
she should transfer from AKB48 to HKT48, I couldn't help but want to
say, "Yeah, you should come!" Because if Aichan came to HKT48, it
would be even more fun and by watching Aichan, who has a longer career
than I do, the other members would be able to grow.
But I held myself back from saying that. Since it was about how she
wasn't doing too well in AKB48. I stopped at, "I think it's possible to start
over and work hard in HKT48." If say, she made a decision based on what
I told her, then it wouldn't be because she wanted to. If there were to be
some kind of accident, I feel that she would even think that coming to
HKT48 was a mistake and that it wasn't her idea.
If you want to do something of your own will, then I think that the
feelings to doubt your first decision won't come so easily. By thinking
about standing up to those accidents in front of you, those feelings should
come straight towards you.
As I thought, it's important not to say too much. Here is where you also
make fine adjustments. I think doing everything based on impulse would
be a loss.
Recently, I've started to get a lot of regular messages aside from their
problems.
I ignore them in moderation.
I wonder if that's kind of mean?
Don't Recklessly Humble Yourself

Let me add a little bit more to the current story.

When I was to be transferred to HKT48, I told the members, "You can
speak to me casually", "Call me Sasshi." Thanks to that, I was able to
quickly get along with them and became able to speak to them more
frankly.
However, I was also sent here in order to make the group better. I had to
make sure to not destroy my position as senpai.
I decided to stop acting in a way that would baby the kouhai.
To give a specific example, I won't try to be nice and make an effort to
ask the members who don't talk to me how they're doing. I won't try to
force myself into a circle of a discussion and make a conversation out of it.
If they get the impression that they are the ones who let me into their
group, they'll definitely start to treat me lightly.
Nothing good comes out from humbling yourself recklessly. Because I
decided to take that stance from the beginning. I'm still not taken lightly to
this day.
Since I don't think that getting too friendly isn't good either, I
purposefully make a point of putting distance between me and the
members.
I want to stay as the senpai no matter what.
It's much better for HKT48 if I stayed as a person that isn't taken lightly.
Because we normally uphold the senpai-kouhai relationship, I think fun
comes out during concerts and performances when the relationship gets
turned upside down.
Always Be Proper In Order To Give Advice
When I have to give others advice to the HKT48 kouhai, there's
something that I try to keep in mind
Even if you tell off someone who can't do something, that other person
might think, "Well, you can't even do it either." In order to properly scold
someone, you yourself must always have things together.
I have other jobs to do so I can't attend as many lessons as the other

members. But when I can attend, I make sure to come in early in the
morning, do lessons, and cram as much as I can in my free time as to not
drag all the other members down.
Everyone knows that I properly have things down so when it comes
time to scold them, they will listen to me without answering back.
I carefully choose my words so that they can take my advice in a
positive way.
People often say, "I do that too." If we say, "I make the same mistake
too, so let's keep that in mind", I think which enable us to feel that we are
all one and the same and we should cooperate together to solve the
problem. I feel that way makes it easier for my advice to be taken.
It's a method that I came up with recently.
Don't Stick Your Head Into Unnecessary Things
Next is about fighting.
HKT48 is a group. Moreover, it is a group of girls.
When you're with each other for a long time, it's not uncommon for a
bad mood to come about between members from time to time.
There are times when a rumor goes around unattended and
misunderstandings lead to more misunderstandings and it feels like a fight
is going to start.
During those times, if the person involved confides with me then I'll do
something but I won't do anything if they don't come to me.
If I try to force taking action, then it becomes more complicated. For
example, if the things that come out of my mouth gets interpreted
incorrectly, someone might tell another person, "That's what Sasshi
thinks", even though it's something that I don't even think at all. It's
annoying.
Let's assume the worse case scenario.
In HKT48, there is a pair known as "NakoMiku." They are Yabuki
Nako and Tanaka Miku, sixth year elementary schoolers who passed the
third generation auditions. They are both angels. Or fairies.

Even though it'd never happen, let's say that they both started to not get
along well with each other. If I came in saying that I heard that they were
fighting, I'm going to be first asked where I heard that from.
If I end up saying who I heard it from, the relationship between the two
girls and the girl who told me is going to go bad and I'm going to most
definitely be blamed harshly by that one member because "I told you
because I trusted in you." It's terrible.
One should not be listening to who was fighting with who as much as
possible in the first place. If I'm able to hear that, I slowly get up and walk
away. I put on my earphones and focus on listening to music.
If I do find out, it's very possible that it might turn out to be a "who's
side are you on" situation so not knowing anything at all works out for me.
Pretty much "ignorance is bliss."
I really do want to interfere though. But I need to bear with it.
I won't stick my head into unnecessary affairs.
If they come to directly talk with me, then what's unnecessary becomes
necessary. You should wait until that time comes.
Paying Forward a Senpai's "Lessons" To The Kouhai
Lastly, let me talk a little about the past.
As many people know already, in the 48 Group, just because you passed
the audition, doesn't mean that they'll be able to become a regular member
right away. You start as a kenkyuusei.
Kenkyuusei are basically in charge of a regular member's position as an
under (or the replacement for when they're not performing). Back then, for
Team A, I was Tomochin-san's (Itano Tomomi) under, for Team K, I was
Umechan's (Umeda Ayaka) under, and for Team B, I was Haachan's
(Katayama Haruka) under. I worked incredibly hard to remember each
person's choreography and singing parts.
One day, Tomochin-san was to be absent for a performance because of
work elsewhere. It was my first chance to appear not as a back dancer, but
as a proper member. If I were to use school clubs as an example, it's as a

newbie was suddenly thrown into the senpai varsity team for a year.
I got so nervous that I began to hyperventilate in the dressing room
before it was my turn to appear. It was the first time that I ever became
like that and I was in a huge panic. That's when Takamina (Takahashi
Minami) spoke out to me.
"Are you ok? Let's do this."
Kenkyuusei barely have contact with the senpai so that was my first
conversation with her. It made me happy that a senpai was concerned
about me. That alone helped me to be able to calm down.
The senpai who we were unders for taught us the dance moves and
formation in great detail. Thanks to their lessons, even I who isn't good at
either dancing or singing was able to acquire the ability that is good
enough to show in front of everyone else.
I was able to grow thanks to all the senpai.
People tell me that I am "nice to the kouhai." That's probably because
I'm just doing for the kouhai what all my senpai did for me during my time
as kenykuusei. It's not like I keep it in mind but I think that I am just
paying forward the "lessons" that I received from my senpai to the koukai.
That's all.

At times, she dons a tuxedo at concerts and announces

important subject matters to the members as a HKT48 theater
manager.

Chapter 7
Turning "Haters" Into Strength -Sashihara-style
Work Techniques

The work of an Idol is an earnest accumulation of hard work.

We memorize songs and dances, practiced together with teammates and
perform in front of all the fans. The Idols of today aren't appreciated by
just their looks but their character as well so we have to polish our MC
skills. We have to frequently update passages the text that onto our blogs
and Twitter accounts. And there are many more things to do. It's pretty
tough.
I have jobs by myself as an entertainer. As an HKT48 theater manager,
it's also my job to hand in ideas for concert setlists.
The technical aspects are important and so is knowing how to preserve
your motivation. In this chapter, I'd like to talk about my own thoughts
regarding the work.
Getting Insulted is Part Of The Job
I think that getting flamed is also part of my work.
The antonym of the word "fan" is "hater." I have many haters.
An Idol group definitely needs a person to take on the role of the bad
guy.
Having someone where you can direct your insults together with
everyone else makes for exciting dialog and if that person doesn't exist, the
dialog itself disappears.
I know because when I was in Oita being an H!P wota, I made
comments like "What is management doing pushing this girl!" on
2Channel. When I think back to my feelings at the time, I don't think my
feelings were as strong as the words I said. It was just something in order
to show off my oshi by saying, "rather than her, look at this girl."
When you think about it like that, the insults aimed towards me aren't as
strong as the person's feelings so I'm completely okay with it.
Even if I happen to hear insults in my normal everyday life, I don't mind
them at all.
Adults tend to talk about the things they hate rather than the things they
like. They won't go out of their way to talk about things they thought were

"good" or "nice" but they'll immediately talk about things they "disliked."
They get excited by what they don't like.
I just think, "Wow, people are talking about me." "They think that I'm
interesting."
Even if I get insulted, even if there are a lot of people who hate me, I've
become able to shrug it off by telling myself, "I am currently happy so
that's fine."
I have a family that supports me, I have the members who are both my
colleagues and my friends, and on top of being able to achieve my dream
of becoming an Idol, I earn money through it.
Once I think about it that way, I'm always perfectly happy with the
current situation.
I am okay with being the bad guy for the rest of my life. I willingly
accept this role within the 48 Group!
Not Being Talked About Is When It's Most Scary
They say that the reason why insults are made in the first place is they
are interested in you. Don't you think that sounds a bit too optimistic?
But if they didn't care, then there wouldn't even be any insults. I guess
that means it's basically the same as liking you then?
For example, the mangaka, Kobayashi Yoshinori.
There was a period where Yoshirin (Kobayashi Yoshinori) said that he
"disliked Sashihara." What he wrote on his blog spread via the Internet and
it even reached my ears.
I thought, "Yay!"
I talked and talked on TV and on radio shows that Yoshirin disliked me
which made him dislike me even more and intensified the structure of the
showdown.
When a high-profile person publicly announces that he/she "dislikes
me" the fans will go, "What the hell is up with this person" and the haters
will get excited like, "Yeah! Yeah!" By going against the opinions of those
who "dislike" me, the feelings of those who "like" me also get fired up.

I believe that Idols make things exciting by having both people who like
and dislike you. By having pros and cons, your popularity begins to swell
up.
Not begin talked about is when it's most scariest. Your fire will die out
if you don't throw more fuel into the fire so before that happens, it doesn't
matter if you'll be "liked" or "disliked", find the fuel that will get people
talking and throw it into the fire yourself.
Even if I get flamed for it, I have confidence that I can control it. The
reason why is because all I did was go on 2Channel as a kid. I'm good at
controlling the fire.
By the way, I was able to talk with Yoshirin and shook his hand
afterwards.
I said, "Please continue to support me as my No.1 hater," and he said,
"I'll support you, as a hater of course."
He was a nice person!
Instaniety is Prohibited
There is a good way and bad way for flaming. The bad way happens
when you get angry at someone that provoked you and you immediately
wrote something on the Internet on impulse.
The thing that is important when you write something on Twitter or
Gugutasu (Google+) or on your blog is the flow and timing. It's more
important than what you write. Prohibit instaneousness.
Saying what you think right away will only lead to arguments so first,
you swallow your feelings. Hold it all in, think about how to make it
benefit you, then write. Also consider the flow and the timing.
My life is full of swallowing my emotions.
But sometimes, I fight back.
I look at all the people who tweet me weird things on Twitter. If there is
a tweet that I can't help but feel uncomfortable with, I scroll through that
person's tweets and profile. When I think it's okay, I reply back saying, "It
hurts my feelings when you say things like that to me."

The ones I don't want to be involved with the most are the ones who
write "w" 9 a lot and who stray from the point because I think that no
matter what I say, they'll never change. I ignore them completely.
The trick to extinguishing them is by not overreacting. If you don't want
to bring up something again that's already been dealt with, it will just
naturally go away.
Not Being Liked By Everyone is a Given
Not even I can say that I was strong against haters in the beginning.
Since my time as kenkyuusei, I checked 2Channel almost everyday. I
would be influenced by little insults from some person somewhere and feel
terrible for days. Especially right after I started my blog, I couldn't help but
find out what the reviews were for things that I wrote on my blog.
During that time, I was moved to Team A (July 2010). This transfer had
most definitely made me mentally stronger.
Acchan (Maeda Atsuko), Tomochin-san, (Itano Tomomi), Takaminasan (Takahashi Minami), Mariko-sama (Shinoda Mariko), Kojiharu-san
(Kojima Haruna)......It was a team of super senbatsu senpai who supported
AKB48 since it's beginnings and pulled it up to being a popular group.
Even from an entertainer's point of view, they were all pros not just as
Idols but as entertainers.
To become famous means to become watched by many other people. At
that rate, the amount of people who say good things will grow and so will
the people who will say insults at you. In a way, being disliked is more or
less a given. Your body and mind won't hold up if you respond back to
every single little thing.
That's why the senpai don't check the Internet in the first place and even
if they did, they don't care. Mentally, they were incredibly strong.
That's why I should also maintain my own style without being depressed
by someone disliking me. I think what helped me to become able to think
like that was being transferred to Team A.

What I Learned From Waratte Iitomo! The Attitude Of Having

Fun
When I look back, I think my way of thinking changed bit by bit
through the people I've encountered.
Upon creating my own stance on work, the most influential encounter
was meeting Tamori-san from Waratte Iitomo!
I appeared as a regular in Iitomo!from October 2011 until it's final
episode on March 31st, 2014.
I met many entertainers and celebrities and appeared on TV every week
at the same time. It was an oppotunity for me to get more people to know
about me and I became even more positive, thinking that maybe I too can
make a push in TV.
In the past, when I appeared on a TV show, I was set on making sure I'd
leave a mark. Because of that, I'd get nervous, blow my fuse, and start
going in circles. When I was with Tsuchida (Teruyaki)-san for Sashiko
no Kuseni Kono Bangumi wa AKB48 to wa Mattaku Kankei
Arimasen(January ~ September 2011 / TBS, Oita Broadcast) , he
warned to me, "It's wrong to think that rudeness is funny." I was always
crying on the show.
Yet I was able to relax and have fun since my first episode on
Iitomo!. I think that it might have been because I had somewhat
grown up but I think the biggest reason was because of the air surrounding
Tamori-san.
Tamori-san has composure. I have never seen him be pressured for even
a moment.
I think because of Tamori-san's relaxed atmosphere, all the people
around him become more relaxed. There wasn't a single person on
Iitomo!who was like me in the past who was concerned with "leaving
behind results" or "settling it in one shot." There wasn't anybody who
made others around them feel uncomfortable trying to go like "Me! Me!"
I also have come to think that I should have fun with the situation
without going all out. I was originally the type of person who didn't get

nervous on the job and I've completely become that kind of person who
has fun.
I don't need to compare myself to what I can't do and what others can
do. I don't need to compete, just have fun. I've began to hold more
confidence in the way of thinking that I originally had.
Don't Be Afraid of Failure
Can I tell a weird story?
I've probably had an optimistic personality from the beginning. For the
longest time, I've had no problem touching other people's stuff like their
computers. Like, at all. Even if the entire screen turns blue and starts
making weird noises, I'm completely confident that it won't break. I think
it wouldn't break just from me playing with it. It's the same as thinking that
there's no way that I'd get into an accident. There's no way that an
unexpected misfortune would befall upon me.
I mean because I've never seriously once in my life up until now felt I've
been in any danger. I'd say maybe that the article about me from a weekly
magazine was the extent of it.
That's why I'm not afraid of failure. Even if I mess up, I'm confident that
it won't turn out to be anything too serious.
I'm not even worried about old age. I don't want to die. I want to live as
long as possible.
Even if I really messed up, I'll forget about it right away.
If I feel that I've messed up or made a mistake, I'll definitely feel bad
when it happens but I'll have forgotten about it an hour later.
I don't look back. I think I can move forward that way in my case.
The Secret to Not Tensing Up Even On The Big Stage
Since I'm the type of person who doesn't look back, I don't really check
my work. However as for the thing that I think which should be checked,
especially the TV shows that I do MC for, I make sure to watch the first

few episodes that I appear in. I check what the show expects from me by
checking out the kind of editing that is being used and which kinds of
conversation is used during the broadcast.
.....But, I guess I basically just don't watch the shows that I'm in.
I don't know if that's the reason why I don't feel like I'm an entertainer
appearing on TV.
On the rare chance that I did think that I was an entertainer was when
there was a huge billboard poster of myself on the Shibuya 109 building
(June 2011, DVDAKB ga Ippai The Best Music Video
advertisement poster). It was because ever since I read about Shibuya in
mangas as a kid, when I think of Tokyo, I think about Shibuya 109. A
poster of myself was put up in a place that I knew from a long time ago. I
got emotional and without thinking, went to go take a picture of it.
Another thing where I felt just as happy was, as I talked about earlier,
become a regular on Waratte Iitomo!. I don't really watch TV in the
first place so if you were to ask me if I'm familiar with many shows, then
I'd say no. But of course, I know Iitomo!.
In my case I want to appear because I know it. I'm happy to appear in a
show that I'm familiar with.
Being able to go inside of Studio Alta in Shinjuku was another reason
why I at first felt happy to appear on Iitomo!. I want to know the
behind-the-scenes about the places I'm familiar with, like it seems big on
TV but it's surprisingly small in real life. I'm interested in knowing how
the things I'm familiar with were made. Basically, I'm a fangirl.
But then you're like, "well then just being part of the studio audience is
fine, you'll be able to tell." And I'm probably okay with that too. I think
that somewhere in me, I appear on TV feeling like a spectator.
Maybe that's why I don't get nervous. Somewhere in my head I'm
thinking that it's fine as long as it's interesting.
Lately that spectator feeling has gotten stronger. I don't really care about
about I can do, I just have fun.
After I started thinking like that, strangely I feel like I'm able to conduct
myself well on the job. I think having a spirit of playfulness is
unexpectedly, or should I say, the most important thing when working.

Trust the People You Can Really Trust

There is something I noticed recently related to work.
I should trust in the people that I can really trust.
By taking and passing the AKB48 audition, it means I'm in the position
of asking to Akimoto-san produce me and entrusting myself to him. That's
why I should follow the things that Akimoto-san says. Even if it doesn't go
well for me, and I've chosen him to let him produce me, continuing being
in that person's care until the end makes sense.
It's not good if you think, "Why does he make me do these things?"
while you're working. That's not fun at all.
You don't need to make a point of feeling suspicious. You should for
now, take the things you're told and think about what there is you can do
about it.
Lately, I feel like wanting to repay him.
Akimoto-san made me who I am today. The one who pulled me up from
the auditions is also Akimoto-san and the person who gave me the
opportunity to transfer to HKT48 is Akimoto-san.
I must not let the 48 Group that Akimoto-san created die out. I live
thinking that I must keep things interesting for the group.
Repaying those who I can really believe in is my greatest motivation for
my job.

By taking first place in the 2013 Sousenkyo, the new AKB48

single, Koi Suru Fortune Cookie was to be shot in Hakata,
the base of operations of HKT48.

Chapter 8
Being Able To Turn Something Around by
"Changing Attitudes" and "Convincing Youself"
- Sashihara-style Thought Techniques

I rarely forget myself.

I don't like doing something like going out at night and go drinking like
crazy. I've never been to a bar once in my life. Places like clubs are scary
to me.
Surprisingly, I get told that I'm serious a lot. That's not it. I don't want to
lose sight of myself for even a second.
Even if something difficult comes up, I'll sleep it away.
I can do it even in situations where it's like "how are you able to sleep in
the first place?" After joining AKB48, there hasn't been one night where I
haven't been able to sleep due to worrying.
Things will be alright if I think it will be alright. Changing attitudes is
important. Convincing yourself are important.
It may just simply be because I was born with that kind of personality
but there are various things I have in mind that I've come up with. I will
talk about how to create the strong feelings needed to active
"Gyakutenryoku."
Being Able to Turn Anything Into A Positive
The members usually say to me, "Sasshi, you're really positive."
When it looks like something terrible is going to happen or when they
feel uneasy, the members asked me, "Sasshi, stay with me." They
sometimes depend on me, saying "Because I feel like things will be okay if
I'm with you."
I think it means my ability to believe is strong.
I think a pinch is a pinch. But I believe and convince myself that "this is
a chance." If I strongly believe that, it will turn out the way that I want it to
be.
You might think that I'm starting to sound like some sort of evangelist
but it's more simpler than that.
No matter how negative the situation is, you can turn it into a plus
depending on your way of thinking. It's about how you use your head.
I had a talk with a young member of HKT48. "I didn't get placed within

the first 80 spots in the early rankings (the amount of total votes on the
first day of the voting period of the Sousenkyo)" I don't know what to do if
this keeps up."
I told her, "For now, just believe."
"It might be a good thing that you didn't get in the early rankings. It'll
make the fans want you to get ranked and it'll be eventful that way if you
didn't get rank in the early rankings but end up ranking in the real thing.
That's why for now, just believe that you will definitely rank."
If she didn't get into the rankings in the end, I think I would have said
something like, "Wouldn't it be interesting to be able to have a story where
you didn't rank this year but then rank the following year?"
It's exactly the same thing with what I said in the fourth chapter, "If you
try really hard to look for the flip side of things, you'll find them
anywhere." Depending on your way of thinking, you can convert any
negative into a positive.
Express What You Like Incessantly
I think it's a good idea to keep on saying positive things. Because you
have no idea what will be lead to what kind of job. Thanks to whoever
remembered what I like or what I think is fun, the amount of things that
were like a dream come true are not few and far between.
For example, I really like Asano Inio-san's mangas. When I said that in
a bunch of places, it led to me having a talk with him through a magazine.
That's not all. Right after my transfer to HKT48 was decided, in order to
help me feel better, Asano-san drew a drawing of me and gave it to me as
a present. I'm not the kind of person who has attachment to physical things
but that drawing is my most prized possession.
I was also emotional when I made a guest appearance on a certain music
show (Sakigake! Ongaku Bandzuke ~Eight~May 3rd, 2012
broadcast).
I was able to make an appearance with Kumai-chan (Kumai Yurina)
from Berryz Koubou who I've loved ever since I was an H!P wota in Oita

and kept saying that I liked over and over again even after I joined
AKB48.
I would have been happy with just that but Kumai-chan brought with
her a fan letter that I wrote to her when I was in middle school in Oita.
Because my old self put those feelings into words, my feelings reached
Kumai-chan. Because I continued saying that I liked her, I was able to
meet her through a TV show.
I thought that it makes one want to try expressing themselves. In fact, in
regards to what you like, whoever speaks up about what they like wins.
Become Intoxicated In Yourself
One of the reasons I can feel happy is because I'm the type of person
who gets intoxicated in myself.
Last year, I produced Kaotan's (Matsumura Kaori, Forever SKE48) solo
debut.
Since creating Idol songs was one of my aspirations I chose a song out
of thirty candidates by myself and I also wrote the lyrics to the song. In the
beginning, I chose the word "Matsumurabu" and after I found a song with
a beginning and end chorus that fits a 5 character word, I wrote it all up on
my smartphone in one shot. I was in the plane from Tokyo to Fukuoka so I
think it took me about an hour.
When I asked about it later on, it seems that Akimoto-san decides songs
the same way as well. He says that he decides on a word and then chooses
a song that fits that word.
And that's how the song, "Matsumurabu", was created. When I re-listen
to it now, I pat myself on the back saying that it's great. The lyrics,
especially the lyrics, are great.
I must say, I love my life.
I don't have confidence in my appearance or my personality but I have a
ton of confidence in my own life. I think my life is the greatest and the
happiest. I am confident that I won't lose to anyone concerning that.
That's why no matter how much I'm made to play the bad guy, no matter

what kinds of terrible things are said to me, I'm able to think that I'll be
fine because my life is perfect.
Change Attitudes Right After Being Praised
It's great to praise myself but I'm happier being praised by others.
I'm not the type of person who doesn't have opinions. I'm the type of
person who has them. But if I'm praised on something that I don't even
realize myself, I'm going to go with that idea.
There was an impressionable happening where I completely felt that I
was good at changing attitudes quickly.
Many times the character of whoever is first place in Sousenkyo is
reflected upon the song that the senbatsu Sousenkyo members sing. To
give an easy example, because (Oshima) Yuko-chan became first place,
the energetic song known as "Heavy Rotation" was born.
In 2013, I was also first place. I wondered what kind of song that
Akimoto-san would make for me. I was thinking that this can't be good.
Because I was told earlier on something like, "Sashihara's a weird person
so I'll write a Bon Odori song."
The finished song was called Koi Suru Fortune Cookie.
Can I just say something?
When I first heard this song, I didn't like it at all. It had a slow tempo
and it wasn't fast paced. I thought it was a terrible song!
What I want in an Idol song is a fast paced tempo. When I told that to
Akimoto-san, he said to me, "I can write the type of song that you like
with my eyes closed." If that's so, he should have done that instead.....
But when it actually released, it received really great reviews. Even
Tamori-san told me, "The moment I heard it after one listen, I thought it
was a really great song", and both (Chihara) Junia-san and (Watanabe)
Naomi-san said they bought the song. There hasn't been a song that had
been praised that much by other people. Around the time when I started to
slowly come to that realization, the song started to spread to around the
society in a form that had never been seen until now.

As a result, I changed my thoughts entirely.

"This song is a great song!"
I'm really quick at changing my mind. If everyone else says it's a good
song, then I'll seriously think that it's a good song too.
My opinion might not change for the other way though. Even if other
people say it's a bad song, as long as I think it's a good song then it's a
good song. That part probably won't change much.
But now if others will give me praise then it's better to switch to the
other opinion or idea. It's annoying to watch someone be weirdly stubborn.
I think it's the happier choice to go with the opinion of others.
Listen To Only Praise
Either way, I want to be praised. I'm a person who thrives on praise. Of
course, I do get warned by the staff. Akimoto-san has also given me harsh
words.
But basically, I only listen to the positive things. I'm a terrible woman.
When you get a warning, there's a compliment that comes with it too.
Like, "This part about this was good. But...." To my ears, I can only hear
what comes before "but." "This part about this thing was not good. But
there were good parts as well." To my ears, I can only hear what comes
after "but."
In fortune telling as well, I only believe in the good things. If the fortune
teller tells me, "Such and such currently has bad fortune in such manner.
However....", I only care about what comes after "however."
I ignore the negatives.
The Biggest Principle Is To "Not Cause Others Trouble"
So am I beginning to seem like a crazy person?
But I'm the type of person who doesn't want to cause others trouble.
You might be thinking, "Well, you're the one to talk" because of the
scandal but......please listen.

For example, if I only have ten minutes to put on makeup because I

overslept, that's fine with me but I'd be scared if I overslept and it took up
other people's time.
When I starred as one of the main roles for the first time in the drama,
Muse no Kagami, again I didn't want to cause trouble to other actors
and staff because I didn't know my lines so I made sure that I memorized
my lines.
I abide by the law so as to not cause trouble to others.
Even if I'm going to a convenience store that's very close by, I make
sure to press the pedestrian crossing button and wait. No matter how
empty the roads may be late at night, even if I can't see a single car in plain
sight, I won't cross unless it's green.
I don't like to run across when the signal is blinking. The people who
see that will get nervous and it's a nuisance.
I think I have a decent amount of common sense. I may have broken
Renai Kinshi but aside from that, I follow all the rules.
You only have one life so I think you can do whatever you want.
However, as long as it doesn't cause others trouble!
It may be the biggest principle to my way of thinking.
Convince Yourself That It's For Your Own Sake
In the end, I think I only think about myself. I only live for myself. I do
only things that become my achievements. In companies, people are
probably like that as well. I think you should do it if you try hard at work
and people around you say like, "We were able to come this far thanks to
you" but first, don't go out of your way to participate in work that won't be
like that.
In HKT48, I am the same in that respect. I work very hard at jobs for the
group because I'm happy when people tell me "Good job Sashihara." In
fact, you can even say that I try hard only because I want people to say
those kinds of things to me.
I'm a really dirty person.

It's pretty sad.

I Am Happiest When Others Are Happy
Despite the fact that I'm just a really twisted person, I am most happiest
when other people are happy. I am happiest when other people are happy
because of something that I did.
That's why I love to give people presents. Since a long time ago, I often
don't spend money on myself. I'd rather spend money on other people and
it gets me excited. I also usually treat my kouhai out a lot.
The first time a senpai treated me out to somewhere was (Oshima)
Yuko-chan. When the four of us from Not Yet (Oshima Yuko, Kitahara
Rie, Yokoyama Yui, and me) went to go to karaoke, she paid for all for us
as if it was a pretty normal thing to do. She said she felt that it's actually
embarrassing to make the kouhai pay.
I thought, "Ah, I see." People who have money should be the ones to
spread the wealth around.
When I go out eating with Takamina-san (Takahashi Minami), she will
definitely treat me out. "Yeah, that's totally fine." I just tried mimicking
her right now.
When Mariko-sama (Shinoda Mariko) took me out to get a facial
massage, I wondered, "How can such nice people exist?!" I mean, facial
massages are really expensive.I began to think that this is the kind of
person that I'd want to be.
I think this way of thinking is easy to understand. Do things for people
that would make you happy as if it were done to you.
After I started to properly receive money from work, I became able to
treat out my kouhai. I understood that it feels really good seeing others get
all happy. I liked to give presents in the past, but now I can do it more than
ever.
I remember the kindness of others. I also remember my grudges towards
others though. I'm very persistent in both of them.
I wonder what kind of woman am I.

I guess mystery just gets deeper, huh?

You Won't Lose If You Don't Fight
And now, I shall tell a super special secret that I've saved for last. It's a
secret of life that I've told to no one else other than members who are at a
complete loss as what to do.
Basically, I don't compete head on.
I've said this many times by now but I always change the conditions. I
will either search for a method that will end something without me
competiting or I will try to create a situation where I can fight on my own
terms.
I may have not cared much about winning or losing in the first place . If
you do care, you'll have a life full of losses. If you don't care, you win.
Right?
When I think about it that way, the only thing in my life where I
compete head on with other people might only be the Sousenkyo. Ah,
arguing over the Internet is different. During those times, I don't want to
lose at all.
Back to the subject.
So this was during the first Sousenkyo (July 8th, 2009).
At the time, the first 21 places were the Senbatsu team. I wasn't aiming
too high but I definitely wanted to get into Senbatsu if I could.
The result was 1170 votes, 27th place.
I kept on crying ever since I gave my speech. Even backstage, I cried for
two hours.
Now that I look back, it was the most frustrating moment in my life. The
frustration I felt at the time was even greater than the frustration I felt
when I got second place in this year's Sousenkyo. I thought that I would
never be able to enter senbatsu in my life. The Sousenkyo itself was being
held for the first time as a test so I didn't know how much influence it had.
I actually didn't get into senbatsu until I got the place in the next
Sousenkyo of the following year.

So as a result, I began sulking.

I think that if that happened now, I would've stopped sulking and
changed attitudes in a second. I still had a long ways to go during this
time. I was super negative. If I had some reason to leave, there's a good
possibiliy that I would have left AKB48.
That's why there was no part afterwards where I used my feelings of
frustration of not getting into senbatsu to try my best until the next year.
There was not one part where I leveraged my frustration to try harder by
changing my character to be even more geared towards variety and my
rank jumped up the following year as a result.
I will say it one more time.
I began sulking.
We have phrases like "driven by frustration" or "driven by regret."
I can't be driven by frustration. I'm the type to go, "Damn, this sucks"
and feel depressed if I get frustrated.
That was something that I understood from a long time ago. On school
tests, I never thought even once that if the first time was bad, I would try
the next time. I just get depressed like, "Oh, looks like that's the best I can
do."
Because I understand that I'm that kind of person, I have to forget things
that I feel frustrated about right away. I have to put it behind me and
pretend my frustration didn't exist.
At around the time of the first Sousenkyo, I wasn't able to do that. I
wasn't aware. Now, I'm already fine. As long as I get a full night of sleep, I
can completely forget about it.
But, there's a better way. That is, not fighting in the first place. If you
don't fight, you won't lose.
For me, the most important thing is not winning, but rather, not losing.
There Are No Rivals
I think I'm probably lacking the will to compete with other people.
I haven't had a rival in the past. I've never thought about comparing

myself to another person and seeing where I'm lacking or catching up to

another person, or creating one in order to grow myself and I don't look
around me and think that I should have rivals.
There was a memorable event where I clearly realized that.
I have a group of friends known as the "Chihou-gumi" who lived
together for just a month right after we came to Tokyo.
The members were Kitahara Rie and Nakanishi Yuuka from Aichi, Oya
Shizuka from Fukuoka, and a member who already graduated. We were a
group of five girls all around the same age who lived together.
We woke up early, went to lessons, learned dance choreography, did
voice training, came home late, practiced by ourselves more after coming
home, fooled around like idiots, get tired, then went to sleep. Our dinners
were leftovers from lunch at the lesson so we asked them to give use large
portions so that we could share it amongst ourselves.
We kept going back and forth from our home to our lesson together,
everyday for 24 hours. At the time, there still wasn't anything that to
compete about like waking up earlier or having practice with another team.
I think that's why the five of us were able to get along so well.
I think that everyone coming from somewhere else outside of Tokyo
was also another big reason. Once you say you're going to be an Idol and
you go to the city, the people back at home will talk about you. You can't
come back home in disgrace while the people are talking about you. It's a
disservice to your parents who supported your dreams and gave money to
support you. Wanting to return home as a hero makes us want to work
hard away from home. We all shared the same feelings.
I think that I was really lucky to quickly be able to find friends
important to me and whom I'd want to be together with.
My feelings stopped at being just friends.
This was a while after the Chihou-gumi started living separately from
each other.
Kitahara (Rie) who is the same generation as me, started appearing on
TV more often. The other Chihou-gumi members called my phone crying.
"Kitahara is getting more and more work and yet I have nothing to do......."
That's when I realized it for the first time. "Oh, so people carry those

kinds of feelings."
I was also in the exact same situation as that member. Yet, all I felt
towards Kitahara was wanting to wish her "Congratulations." I didn't feel
as if "I lost to this person" at all.
There may be many members who think of me as their rival. But I don't
think of anyone else as a rival. It's not that I'm taking them lightly, it's just
that I never had a sense of rivalry in me in the first place.
Not Being Good With People of the Same Age
Allow me to continue my previous story a little longer.
I am humble with my senpai. With kouhai, I can become nice.
For people older than me, it's safe if I "look up to them" and it's okay if
I'm somewhat "more casual" with people younger than me.
If I put it that way, the ones who are the most difficult for me to
communicate with might be people who are the same age as me. It's
incredibly unclear as to how I should behave with them.
For example, Miichan (Minegishi Minami) and I are the same age and
our birthdays are only six days apart but if lets say that we were in the
same generation, I'm not sure if I would've been able to get along with her.
Miichan is an AKB48 "orimen" (an original member from the first
audition) and since she is a senpai, I was able to gain her favor by
completely going like, "Senpai!" so we got along and we were able to
create the relationship that we have now. If that wasn't so, I wonder how it
might have turned out.
When I look back at all my past experiences until now, it seems that
having a senpai-kouhai relationship strangely makes it easier for me to get
along with others.
It probably might become easier for people of the same age to hold
some sort of sense of rivalry with me. Even if I don't feel that way, the
other person will.
But I don't want to think that "I've won against someone" or that "I've
lost against someone." I don't compare myself with other people and make

my feelings go up and down depending if I win or lose.

I believe that I am who I am. All the time. Constantly.
Don't Set Goals
Either way, I don't want to fight.
I don't want to fight with others and I don't want to fight with myself.
That's why I don't set my goals.
Once you decide goals, you begin to fight against them.
If you're not able to reach your goal, you'll think, "Looks like I was only
able to make it this far." You'll think that you have lost against yourself.
If you don't have goals, you'll be able to think that, "Yes! I've made it
this far."
We can enjoy our lives more happily if we see what we have done
instead of what we have not done yet.

At the 2014 Sousenkyo tallying event, falling from the crown

into second place. Taking a pinch as a chance, a famous speech
was born.

Chapter 9
Living Enjoyably with Gyakutenryoku

By transferring to HKT48, I think I became very positive. I became

stronger and I feel like I completed my "pinches are chances" formula, or
in other words, my "Gyakutenryoku philosophy."
After talking about my producing techniques, my ways of
communication, my ways of working and thinking, there's something that I
felt once again.
I will talk about that time one more time.
Change Attitudes and Turn It Into Laughter
As an Idol, there are many points that I'm lacking in than good points.
I'm not good at singing or dancing and I'm not cute.
When I talk like this, you might think, "Do you want me to tell you
that's not true?" but I seriously feel that way. I get it because I'm at least
good at looking at things objectively.
And that scandal. I honestly thought my life as an Idol was already over.
Like I said in the fourth chapter, I thought about seriously quitting AKB48.
But by transferring to HKT48 and receiving a chance at another
challenge through making the group exciting, I became able to clearly see
the path in front of me. After I slept, I was already fine by the time I woke
up. I'll have returned to my usual self the next day.
There's already nothing I can do about the article. It is no use trying to
fix something that is beyond your control.
Forget, rather than think. All that's left to do is do what you should be
doing.
I decided that I would do the work in front of me while having fun like
always.
The next day after my transfer to HKT48 was decided, I had a recording
for variety show. I was with Tsuchida (Teruyuki)-san and (Gekidan)
Hitori-san who are in the same agency as me and they kept on teasing me
about the transfer.
If I turned into a person who looked sad or a problem they couldn't deal
with, I guess things wouldn't have gone well from there. If I step forward

by speaking like, "Hey, wait a minute!" after being teased, it doesn't

become painful to watch. It becomes funny, it becomes something to talk
about.
I've been teased a lot by people in many shows after that.
"So why were you transferred to HKT48 again?" "Someone sold out
pictures of me!"
"What type of guy do you like?" "A person with a tight mouth!"
Whenever I get a topic thrown at me, I kept on going along with it.
I think it's alright if you can bring it into a comedic direction. I think it's
not good if you're seen as a problem like, "Oh, we'd better keep away from
this person." But you're fine as long as you make them laugh.
I take the teasing and turn it into laughter. It is all thanks to everyone
around me who turned image where people felt sad and sorry for me into a
brighter mood.
Gyakutenryoku is the Ability to Have Others Support You
There was also an unexpected and lucky thing that occurred.
What I did was change attitudes and act as if nothing happened. But the
people around me were thinking, "I feel sad for her" or "It must be tough
on her."
There's a gap between my feelings and everyone else's feelings. That
gap was a chance.
During a pinch, as I'm working positively, the people around me praise
me. When everyone is worried if I'm alright and I'm energetic, they'll tell
me that I'm a strong person. When I take a pinch, turn it into something to
talk about, and then laugh it off, they get amazed.
It becomes easier to receive praise during a pinch. And that's how I get
it. It's almost like cheating.
I thought they would get angry at me. I had thought that I would become
disliked. But, the thing I felt the most was the feeling that everyone
supported me.
I probably haven't done anything special. It was thanks to everyone's

support that pulled me out of my worst situation to the place that I'm at
now.
If the thing that the Idols of today need is the "the ability to make others
want to give their support", I may have that as well.
The source of my Gyakutenryoku, the ability to change a pinch into a
chance, is the support from everyone.
Enjoy Your Life!
At the start of 2012, I revealed my aspirations for that year at
kakizome10.
The words that I chose was, "Enjoy your life!" Every year since then,
those words were my aspirations.
Even when things get rough, I think about it in a fun direction for even
just a little bit.
I convince myself that I'm having fun, fun, fun. That's all that matters. If
you think for even a second that you can't do it anymore, you can't. You
need to strongly believe that a pinch is a chance.
Ending your conclusions with something like "But I had fun" is also
another one of my methods.
For example, there are times where I think that I couldn't speak well or I
couldn't do anything for TV show recordings. If those feelings latch onto
you and drag you down, you'll feel down and it might also be a hindrance
towards your next job. If so, then switch your conclusion to be, "But I had
fun."
I wasn't able to speak well, "but I had fun."
I couldn't do anything good for the show, "but I had fun."
I wonder if this is also Gyakutenryoku?
In the end, the only person who can make you happy is yourself.
Make yourself happy. Strongly having those feelings, I think, is the
shortest path to happiness.

Conclusion

This summer marks the two full years that has passed after my transfer
to HKT48.
I had fun in my times as an AKB48 member. But I am having the most
fun right now without a doubt.
If I didn't get transferred to HKT48, I think my life as an Idol would be
much shorter.
All the members of HKT48 are pure and not ready in a good way. There
was only room for improvement. Being able to closely watch them grow
has also enabled me to grow as well.
And I was also able to remember my past self who admired Idols and
entered AKB48.
A mysterious thing happened.
I've become able to hear everyone's cheers at theater performances or
concerts more than ever before.
The cheers from the audience, the emotions that you can only
experience on stage, is what you call "addicting." I feel like I recently have
understood the true meaning of that word.
I've said it many times already in this book but when I was in Oita, I
was a "Genba-wota" who would rush to my favorite Idol group's concerts.
Now that I'm a member of HKT48, I'm into the "Genba" part of "Genbawota" more than ever.
My mother who at the time saw Idol concerts with me recently seemed
to really began liking HKT48 concerts and comes to see us perform
everytime.
Together, we're now both "Genba-wota."

Can I tell a nice little story?

At the start of this year, at the HKT48 Kyushu tour, we held a "coming
home" concert in my hometown of Oita for the first time.
The venue was Grand Theater - the same venue where I saw my first
Idol concert during my fifth year in elementary school.
I stood on the same stage where I saw Ayaya (Matsuura Aya), Morning
Musume, and Gomaki.

"So this is what the view is like from the stage."

"During that concert, I was sitting over there."
A bunch of memories started coming back to me.
It was the concert around the time Mikitty (Fujimoto Miki) was in
Morning Musume. When Mikitty looked directly at me at the first balcony
where I was seated, the moment I waved, she waved back at me.
Whenever I tell that story, people make fun of me for it. They say, "It's
all in your head." As people told me that, I too began to think that it might
have been just in my head.
I stood on the stage of Grand Theater and I understood. If a person who
was sitting in the same seat waved at me, I'd be able to see it clearly. I
knew it, Mikitty did only wave at me! I was incredibly happy to be able to
confirm that.
I felt like I was able to wave at the same person who looked up to Idols
all those years ago.
I will also one day graduate. One day, I will quit being an Idol.
If I were to continue the entertainment industry even after my
graduation, I wouldn't at all be against being addressed as "former
AKB48" or "former HKT48." Rather, I want to live sucking the nectar
from my glory days.
But right now, my graduation is completely unthinkable. I want to
continue being an Idol and continue standing on top of a stage forever.
By the way.
Did you find my way of thinking weird?
At a glance, I'm a normal girl right? Then when you listen to what I'm
thinking, I'm just weird. I'm just a really calculative person with a bad
personality.
Am I a bit weird? Some of my emotions are lacking here and there.
But I do have common sense. And, I'm surprisingly positive. Just what
is up with me?
I wonder if I'll be able to get married?


Sashihara Rino
Born on November 11, 1992. Blood type O. From Oita-ken. In 2007,
she passed the AKB48 5th generation member auditions and began
activities as an AKB48 member on March 2008. She is currently a main
member of the Idol group, HKT48, which is based in Hakata, Fukuoka. In
the 2013 AKB48 Sousenkyo, she obtained first place. The song, "Koi Suru
Fortune Cookie" where she sang as center position was a big hit and is
now one of the songs that represent AKB48.

End Notes

Morning Musume (Wolf)

back

" Back then, the board that I frequented was the Morning Musume
(Wolf) board. At first, I was just there to read what was going on.
Then midway, I created a username and began posting myself. Now
that I think about it, I was a pretty weird person. There was no one
else but that 5th year elementary schooler. Obviously though."
On 2Chan, there are 3 boards related to Morning Morning commonly
known as Morning Musume (Sheep,
Morning Musume (Wolf), and
Morning Musume (Dove). The differences between them are the
communities that use them, and the feeling that comes out from those
communities, just like how we have Stage48, Nihongogo, and the now
deprecated Everyday48 and how each are different in their own way. As
for the reason why they are named after those three animals, it is a
reference based of a bible verse, Matthew 10:16 in the New Testament
which states, "Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves;
so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves."

or "Character"

back

To top it off, I was a character that got teased pretty early on. Its not
like I wanted to be teased, I just went along with it while everyone

else was teasing me. At the time, the spot for that kind of character
was available so I went straight ahead and took it, and it felt like I
found a place where I belonged.
In Japan, (kyara, short for character) is used to describe a
persons traits, habits and/or personality. In other words, an archetype.
Sashihara was known as an (ijirare kyara) or a person
who gets teased a lot. Especially in the Japanese entertainment industry,
having a kyara is important as it helps one stand out, be more easily
recognizable, and be more personable.

Mobame

back

"I disgress though. Anyway, my blog. When I was in Oita, I was

running my own blog and I also was doing mobame so I felt that I
was pretty good at writing. As I put my first post. as well as my
introduction, I suddenly received 3000 comments. Not only that, my
fans are weird. They all act dumb in the comments. When I select
those kinds of comments and react to them with a post, it began to
pick up even more."
Short for mobile-mail, its monthly mobile-only premium content
where you get text messages sent by members

Hagaki Shokunin

back

Because of this post, I was able to start conversing with Akimoto-san

via text messages. One post a day is too little so increase the amount

of posts. Its interesting to see you ask questions to your readers.

Why dont you try making a corner like a person who send a ton of
postcards. When Aki-P heard that I wanted to get my blog to rank
first through a TV show, he said, Why dont you try posting a
hundred times in a day?. And that 100 blog post show really did
happen.
Aki-P says which refers to a person who is known for
sending tons of mail to a certain TV show or radio show where the content
of the mail can range from ideas for a corner to illustrations.

Hetare

back

Ever since my failure at bungee jumping was broadcasted, people

around me started calling me hetare. At first, I didnt know that
hetare was supposed to be an insult. I took it the same way as
Mayuyu (Watanabe Mayu) being called CG so I thought that they
were giving me a character. I have very little pride so even after I
realized that they were insults, I was like, I dont really mind as long
as they think its interesting.
Signifies an inept person who is always sincerely worried about
something benign and crumbles by a slightest nudge. But their acute
behaviour is the very reason why others love (or laugh at) them. A selfinflicting hypochondriac but in a funny and harmless way. Originally
derived from an old Japanese colloquial expression 'he-tare' (constantly
farting from one's mouth) which means someone tend to moan/sigh/squeal
when facing a trivial problem. *Definition taken from UrbanDictionary

Renai Kinshi

back

I was contacted regarding an article published about me by a certain

weekly magazine on a Monday with a Waratte Iitomo! live
broadcast. In the 48 Group, there is a rule called Renai Kinshi
Theres an article saying I did something that would break this rule
during my time as Kenkyuusei I blacked out.
Renai Kinshi, better known as the Love Ban to western fans. For
those who are unfamiliar with the term, it is the sometimes implict,
sometimes explict unwritten rule that states that Japanse Idols are not
allowed to date. There are many possible theories as to why it exists in the
first place, however the most commonly accepted one is focused on how
Japanese Idols are always rough around the edges and that if they had time
to date a person, it signals to fans that they are not taking their work
seriously and they are not using their time on improving their abilities. I
could have just called it Love Ban but Renai Kinshi as a phrase comes
more naturally to me. A stylistic choice in the end.

Matome sites

back

At around this time, the thing where I can say to myself "Good Job
Sashihara", was stopping myself from checking the Internet. I didn't
look at sites like 2Channel or Matome sites one bit. If I checked the
Internet after the article came out there would also be things that
would make me feel that I did something and it'd only make me feel
worse.
Matome sites are sites which curate information and then displays the

highlights and summaries of a given topic. The matome site that Sasshi
talks about are most likely ones which highlights key comments from
certain 2Channel threads.

"Ohayougozaimasu"

back

But, it's true that in many cases, I am liked by my elders. The reason
that I can think of is that it might be because I do greetings a lot. For
example, when your senpai comes into the changing room, all the
kouhai say, "Ohayougozaimasu". Even if I am among the group of
greetings, I won't be heard. Perhaps the senpai might think, "Why
does Sashihara not do her greetings?"
(Ohayougozaimasu) as you may or may not
know means "Good morning" in Japanese. However, in work
environments, you say even if it's no longer
morning, especially in the entertainment industry. Most Japanese people
seems to not understand why that is the case but one theory is that for the
person that begins working, it is the start of a new work day for them.

www or

back

The ones I don't want to be involved with the most are the ones who
write "w" a lot and who stray from the point because I think that no
matter what I say, they'll never change. I ignore them completely.
is the kanji for laughter and used in the word,
warauwhich means "to laugh". "wwww" in Japanese is the equivalent of

"lol" and so repeating it over and over again would be the same as
"lololololol".

Kakizome

back

At the start of 2012, I revealed my aspirations for that year on

kakizome. The words that I chose was, "Enjoy your life!" Every year
since then, those words were my aspirations. Even when things get
rough, I think about it in a fun direction for even just a little bit.
In the start of the New Year, the Japanese perform the event of
kakizome in which they write an auspicious word or phrase that embodies
their wishes or resolutions for the New Year.

Finished reading the book? What did you think? Wait, dont tell us yet!
We are happy to hear about what you thought about the book but wed
rather you tell that to Sasshi herself first! Go to her Twitter page and tell
her what you thought about the book with the hashtag #Gyakutenryoku! If
you dont have a Twitter account, ask a friend to tweet to her for you!
Sasshi seems to be most active on Twitter (she hasnt posted anything on
her Google+ or her blog for years), so in order for your voice to be heard,
it has to be Twitter!
Also, we feel that this is the best way for us to count how many people
have actually read the book. I can write a program that will search for
Twitter for tweets using #Gyakutenryoku and see how many times it was
being used. This is also important that you do this because it will show
how much of a reach a medium of this kind has outside of Japan were it to
also be released in English. The more times the hashtag is used per each
unique individual, the more that it will show that there are many fans
outside of Japan and that many fans outside of Japan care about this kind
of content.
Let us send a message. Literally. And tell your friends to go read this book
- both the original and translated version!
With that said,

Thank you for reading Sashihara Rino's Gyakutenryoku ~Pinch wo Mate~.

These translations were brought to you by NewSchoolKaidan.