“As my 10th year in Johnny’s, I want to convey my gratitude.”
On May 9th, Yamada had his 20th birthday. Embracing the joy of
becoming an adult, but realizing it also brings more responsibility.
This should be a special year. Yamada is strongly moved by the feelings
of gratitude.
I was always really looking forward to become 20. When I was a
Jr, I said in an interview that: “When I’m 20 years old, I’ll be 180 cm
tall with an adult’s charm, and I’ll be really cool!” Well, I ended up
becoming a 20-year-old quite different from my ideal, but now I’ve
extended that to until I’m 23 (laugh). Now that I’ve become a so-called
adult, the possibilities at work will get wider, and I can stay out late
at night, I’m really glad about it. As a teen, even though
I attended to a drama’s closing party, I had to go home straight after
the party. Maybe they were just being polite, but the co-stars and staff
said: “Since you’re the lead, come to the after-party as well”. So I
felt really sorry that I had to go home. But from now on I don’t have to
worry about it, and I can stay out talking with the co-workers of the
same project until the end. What I’m also looking forward to is going to
dinner with senpais. During Johnny’s World, I got
a mail from (Domoto) Koichi-kun that said: “When you turn 20, let’s go
to dinner”. Since it would be a place to go with a fellow adult, there
are things we could talk about. There are a lot of things I want to ask
him about his thoughts on work-related things.
For me, a 20-year-old is a fine adult, who has to take responsibility
for their words and actions. Honestly, because I’m an idol, there’s not
just a little things you have to do, or shouldn’t say. I’m aware that
I’m in a position where I might upset a lot of people just by a few
words. Before, I made a careless comment that I like girls with short
hair, and around three months later, I went on and said I like girls
with long hair… I think I was just talking without thinking carefully,
or was into the current trends. After that, I got a message for the Hey!
Say! 7 radio show saying: “Since you said you like short hair, I cut
mine”. It made me think that I should tell if my taste has changed, and I
should think more before talking. Words can be a medicine to give
people courage, or they can be a weapon to hurt them. That’s why I never
want to hurt anyone with my words ever again. I want to become an
adult, that takes responsibility for what he has said or done in the
past.
It’s not just about taking responsibility for your actions, but it’s
also important to cultivate your speech. Even though I’m already 20, I’m
still not good at things like getting people excited during the concert
MCs, or coming up with smart things to say at variety shows. I always
thought that I can’t continue like this. This year in Johnny’s World,
when I acted as an old man, I got to be in contact with the audience. It
was really hard to ignore people if they said something to me, but I
learned a lot doing an ad-lib talk at the audience alone for the 3
months. At New Year’s, I got to see Takizawa (Hideaki)-kun doing
Johnny’s World, and (Nakayama) Yuma did my old man -role then. He was
really good. Having a guy as skillful as him in the same group, NYC,
feels very reassuring.
I was 11 years old when I joined the agency. This year isn’t only my
20th year as Yamada Ryosuke, but also, my 10th year as “Yamada Ryosuke
of Johnny’s” is starting. I don’t know if I can realize them yet, so I
can’t promise anything detailed, but I want to make this memorable year
in a way that I can show my gratitude to the people who have supported
me all along. This is the oath of the 20-year-old me.
“Words can kill people, and words can give people life.
That’s why I want to become a person who can make people happy with
words. That’s my goal.” -Ryosuke
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