Sometimes it's silly.... Kazunobu Mineta & Yutaro Furudate .

The Strawberry Song" film

Sometimes it's just a silly story.... Kazunobu Mineta and Yutaro Furudate .

Ginkgo BOYZ has captured the hearts of listeners and viewers alike with their overwhelming performances and musicality, and it was only natural that their rich storytelling would be translated into film. In the film "Ichigo no Uta" (Song of the Strawberry), screenwriter Yoshikazu Okada, who has worked on numerous films including "Hiyoko" and "The Second Love from the End," has taken the baton and sublimated it into a story of loss and rebirth, using Ginko Boyz's music as the starting point. We interviewed Yutaro Furudate and Kazunobu Mineta, who were deeply involved in the film, starring in it on one hand and appearing in it and providing music on the other, about girls and episodes of their youth. The interview was conducted by Tsume Kirio, one of the most famous writers of the day, whose writings are full of melancholy and silliness. Here is a report on the episodes, each of which is too strong to be ignored.

Photo_Hiroshi Takagi
Styling_Frukawa Junichi (Furutachi) , Hiroaki Iriyama (Mineta)
Hair&Make_Miki Shigeyama
Text_Tsumekirio
Edit_Shinri Kobayashi

Prologue by Kirio Nail

'TheIn numerous films such as "Hiyoko" and "The Miracle Worker," Okada Keiwa has gently and delicately depicted the subtleties of emotions of people living day to day. This is the story of "love," "youth," and "forgiveness" that he spun from the songs of Ginko Boyz, such as "Poadamu" and "Drifting Classroom. This is "Ichigo no Uta" ("Song of a Strawberry").

smallKotaro Furudate passionately plays the role of Kota Sasazawa, the insanely pure and dedicated protagonist. The enigmatic heroine, Chihi Amano, whom Kota falls in love with and only sees once a year on Tanabata day, is played by Shizuka Ishibashi. Ishibashi plays the role of "goddess" in a charming and sassy way, which is a little different from her usual image.
Japanese dock (plant) (Rumex japonicus)However, Kota in this work is creepy. Kota's happy face as he stares at the person he loves, Kota's one-sided talk without giving the other person a chance to speak, Kota's jumping around beside Sennichi, and Kota's every move in love are too pure and gross.
indicates certainty, emphasis, etc.. too, everything about Kota is so sweet.
be. because when you are seriously in love, you are the most disgusting thing to other people.
that (someone or something distant from both speaker and listener, or situation unfamiliar to both speaker and listener)Ugh , this movie is full of true love.
."The creepiness of being in love is not to be outdone by the emo stuff."
NMR. and when the roll was over, I was convinced that .
the most. I sincerely hope that the word "emo", which is used too easily these days, will be weeded out by Kota's "creepiness".

silverKazunobu Mineta, the frontman of Anzu Boyz, plays a memorable role in the film, watching over Kota and Chiho. He also wrote the theme song "Ichigo no Uta" (Song of the Strawberry), which has the same title as the movie. This will be Ginko BOYZ's first CD release in about a year and 10 months, and will be sold exclusively at theaters where the film will be shown (excluding some theaters). Be sure not to miss out!
thisThe times we were able to talk to the stars of the show, Yutaro Furudate and Kazunobu Mineta.

and. and I managed to get a write-up that I often see on movie information sites. . I'm sure I won't get a big kick in the pants from the distributors now. For the time being, I am relieved.

come. I would like to apologize in advance. I, Nail Cutter, who will serve as the interviewer for this interview, am a stray writer who earns his living by writing texts in which obscene words such as "masturbation" and "adult entertainment" are frequently used.

."I have never been saved by God, but I have been saved by porn stars on many nights," I can write about things that I don't understand in a pompous manner. I was asked by Mr. Mineta to write a recommendation for the obi sash of his book, "Kireitai Yoru ni Kigitai (Only on the Night I Want to Die)," which is a compilation of my wild love life, and this was a strange coincidence that led to this interview.

young (animal)In the interviews with Mr. Mineta and Mr. Furudate that will begin in the following paragraphs, I am sure that you will find some unsightly parts, such as frequent digressions, stories that have nothing to do with the film, and self-talk in which I speak loudly about my experiences while leaving the two of you out of it.

reflectionRather than covering a painting, it is more like a boys' talk about girls and sex during recess. . I hope you will enjoy it as it is also a coming-of-age experience. （Kirio Tsume)

Yutaro Furudate

In 2008, he formed his own rock band, The SALOVERS, which received high acclaim as a band that vividly reflects the way of life of youth . In 2016, he released his first full-length album as a solo artist, "BETTER" In 2017, he started a new band, "2" (two). In his solo career, he has also acted in TV series, dramas, stages, and movies, including a serial TV novel.

Kazunobu Mineta

In 2003 , GOING STEADY broke up. Ginko BOYZ was then formed. Although the other members left the group in 2013, Ginko BOYZ continued to be active in music, releasing a number of albums and performing at Nippon Budokan for the second time in January 2019. In January 2019, they will perform at the Nippon Budokan for the second time. In recent years, he has also been active as an actor in movies and TV dramas.

Interviews that do not begin.

I look forward to working with you this time. Mr. Mineta wrote the obi for my book before , and I really appreciate it. . I am very happy to meet you like this.

Kazunobu Mineta ( , )Eh, is it you?　Wow!　The book, it was interesting .

The Night I Want to Die" Tsume Kirio

Mr. Furudate , thank you for your time.

Yutaro Furudate ( , )Please!　Um, you were talking about the 00 baths in the waiting room earlier, weren't you?

Oh, you did, didn't you . This public bathhouse is famous for being a haunt at certain times of the day.

oldateOh yes!　I love saunas, but I once went there at that time of the day without knowing what to expect. That was a surprise...

. I don't have a problem with it, as long as you enjoy yourself and follow the rules of the public bathhouse. Ah , but I don't have any intention of being that way, but I once gave a foreign man a fine thing in Roppongi with my mouth.

Furudate, Mineta(Laughter)

. my friend tricked me into a situation where I had to do it. I'll never forget that.

oldateHow did you feel at that time? (Laughter)

There was a similar surprise project on a Downtown show a long time ago, and Yamachan (Kakumasa Tsukitei), surrounded by foreign men and in a critical situation, thought, 'I'll manage to satisfy them with my mouth so that they won't beat me to the end,' and he was determined to do so.

MinetaThere it is, there it is.

. You're really cool, aren't you? I thought, "Wow, Yamachan, you can think positively and positively even in such a situation. So I thought, "I'm going to do my best with my mouth, too. I felt like an athlete, wanting to show the best of myself. I felt like an athlete competing in an international tournament. I wanted to do it with my country on my shoulders.

oldateWhat is this interview about today?

I'm sorry...

MinetaAh, but actually, I did it too when I was in junior high school in Yamagata. I was in junior high school in Yamagata, Japan, with about eight other guys.

all of us(Laughter)

MinetaWe were just doing what made us feel good, and we were doing it with eight people. We were still too young to have an ego, we were in the countryside, and we didn't have the Internet like now, so we didn't realize that what we were doing was bad for the world. The ones who realized that stopped doing what they were doing.

(Laughter)

Mineta. but they said I was the best out of the eight of us.

all of us(Laughing hysterically)

They say that many people who are good talkers become musicians.

Mineta. because it's like a musical instrument, and we treat it with care.

oldateI've never heard of such a thing (laughs).

MinetaEveryone was after my mouth.

all of us(Laughter)

oldateUm, this is really an interview, right? (Laughter)

(Mineta, noticing that the nail clippers have handwritten in their notebooks all the questions they want to ask.)

MinetaI'm serious, so I wrote a lot of questions in my notebook (laughs). You didn't listen to me at all (laughs).

I am so sorry...

My goddess is a doppelganger.

So let me reiterate...

Mineta, Furudate(Laughter)

The main character, Kota, still worships the heroine, Sennichi, as a sacred "goddess" rather than a "woman" as he did when he was a student, even though he is now an adult, right? . I think it is close to a kind of goddess worship.

oldateYes, it is.

Actually, I have a goddess too. When I was in high school, the cutest madonna in my class used to call me to the rooftop every day. I thought I could make out with her on the rooftop, but that wasn't the case.

Mineta. you wrote that in your book.

She said, "Your face looks like it has a lot of face mites, so I'll get rid of them," and suddenly she slapped me on the face. She slapped me in the face. Almost every day after that, I continued to receive her slaps without telling anyone at school.

oldateIsn't that insanely erotic?

It was a slap in the face for a very pretty girl , but I was happy that she was touching herself. She is a goddess to me. So, is there a girl who is this kind of goddess for both of you?

MinetaWhat am I supposed to talk about after hearing such an episode? (Laughs)

oldateThe pretense was too distracting... (laughter)

Sorry...

oldateBut I am a strong believer in those goddesses. . I'm still pulling for the first girl I fell in love with. I don't have any ulterior motive to go out with her or do something about her, though.

Did you ever meet as adults, as in the movie?

oldateWe met, we met!　We ran into each other by chance at a friend's wedding. I thought I could talk to her normally now, but when I saw her in front of me, I was so flustered....

Is it still the tension of having a goddess in front of you?

oldate. rather, I would say that he is like a "master" in my mind. He has been in my heart for a long time and has been a guiding light in my life. I don't know if I like him or not anymore (laughs).

MinetaAh!　Um, can I tell you a strange story?

all of usGo ahead (laughs).

MinetaMe, there was a girl who had been on my mind since my freshman year of high school until my senior year.

oldateThree years!　Pure love, isn't it?

MinetaBut I didn't have the guts and ended up not being able to say a single word to her for three years. I just looked at her in the hallway from a distance and said, "She's cute. Graduation was approaching, and I had decided to go to a university in Tokyo. I had given up, thinking, "Oh, I'm going to have to say goodbye to Yamagata without being able to talk to her.

It's very sad.

MinetaThen, in front of my parents' electronics store, there is the biggest supermarket in town, and this girl in a cute apron was working part time at the flower shop there! She's great in her uniform, but she's also great in her apron! I said to myself, "Wow, I got to see Satomi for the last time!

oldateSatomi (laughs).

MinetaStill, I couldn't speak to her in the end, but Satomi, the florist, remained in my mind as a faint memory. Then, last year!

Yes (laughs).

MinetaSatomi was at my high school reunion for my 40th anniversary!

all of usO~!

MinetaAnd my friend, who knew how I felt, said, "Hey, Mineta, this is not the time for you to be in a morning drama or something. Confess now! So I approached Satomi.

Confessions of a Forty-Year-Old!

Costume Cooperation: "DESERT SNOW" and "Porter Classic

MinetaI'm sorry, Satomi. I liked you. You were working part-time at a flower shop . I was watching you from the shadow of the truck. Satomi said, "Oh, that's not me. I've never worked at a flower shop before.

oldateClouds are getting darker...

MinetaAnd when I persistently asked him several times, he said, "You may think I'm a thing when I say this, but that's my doppelganger. . I get that a lot. My doppelganger. Not only in Yamagata, but also in Sendai and Tokyo.

all of us(Laughing hysterically)

An alter ego in his own image is all over Japan (laughs).

oldateIt's a scary story (laughs).

MinetaMy goddess, Satomi's doppelganger. That was painful....

all of us(Laughter)

In order to protect my real self, I created the fiction of Ginko's Mineta.

In the play, there is a scene in which the heroine, Chihi, struggles with the gap between her "goddess" self and her actual self. In your music and acting careers, have you ever struggled with the difference between your ideals and the ideals of your fans, such as "this is how Mineta should be" or "this is how Furudate should be"?

oldateIn my case, it is not so much that I am expected to be an idealized person, but I have suffered from the gap of feeling that my true self is misunderstood. This has been the case since I was a child.

What do others often think of you?

oldatePeople say I'm scary and difficult to get to know. I don't think of myself that way at all. Maybe it is because of the environment I was brought up in....

Do you still suffer from that gap?

oldateI am much better now. I realized that I need to tell people who I really am, instead of always blaming them, and since then, I'm fine.

. even though you have amazingly straight eyes.

MinetaHey, you have really beautiful eyes.

oldateI am aware that I used to be somewhat sharp (laughs).

How about you, Mr. Mineta?

MinetaAt some point in my life, I began to create a fictional "Ginko no Mineta" (Ginko's Mineta). With "Ginko no Mineta," who is also my substitute, I can get naked right away, do weird MC stuff, and do whatever I want. He is the one who takes the brunt of everything.

What is the reason for creating a fictional self?

MinetaAfter all, you don't want to reveal the real part of yourself to anyone.

Earlier it was Satomi's doppelganger, and now it is my own doppelganger (laughs).

Have you ever run as fast as you can for a girl?

In coming-of-age movies, we often see a scene where a guy runs as fast as he can for the girl he likes. In this movie, too, there is a memorable scene in which Kota runs around the shopping arcade.

MinetaHmmm .

By the way, I don't have those memories. . as a man, I feel a little sad about that.

MinetaAhhh, I've had to run as an act in those roles, but I don't think it's a private thing.

Actually, after seeing the film at the preview, I decided to try running for girls once in a while, and ran as fast as I could to the pin salon in Koenji, which I often visit, but it didn't feel good at all.

MinetaThat's a very disturbing story about the pinsaro! (LAUGHS)

old houseI can't get the question out of my head (laughs).

MinetaWell, but some things are hard to do without something in return.

old houseActually, I have run before. . it was with my first love, a girl who is the "master" I mentioned earlier.

. hoho.

old houseWhen you go home with her, you want to stay with her as long as possible, so you play with her until late at night. . and then I would walk her home. I didn't want to say good-bye right away, so I walked as slowly as possible. Once I saw her enter the house, I would run as fast as I could back to the bus stop. If I didn't, I would miss the last bus to my house. So every day I would run, sweating.

MinetaIs that in the ninth grade?

oldateYes, I am. I'm in the third grade.

That's nice!

Mineta. In the end, Furudate-kun may be the most natural and pure.

Final conclusion: get laid.

It looks like it's time for you to go. Thank you so much for your time today.

Mineta, FurudateThank you very much.

At first, I thought this movie was a coming-of-age movie derived from a Ginko Boyz song, but after seeing the movie, I thought this was a movie for Mr. Furudate. A little creepy, a little annoying, a little stupid sometimes, I was hooked on Mr. Furudate who has all the elements of youth.

Mineta. Yes, that's right. I think that this aspect of Furudate's work is utilized in the flavor and fragrance of this film.

oldateThank you very much!

I also fell in love with Mr. Furudate during this interview. So I may be able to get laid.

all of us(Laughter)

oldateWhat, you mean you can... with me?

MinetaWhat have you been saying all day?

all of us(Laughter)

The Song of the Strawberry

July 5 (Fri.) Shinjuku Piccadilly and other theaters nationwide roadshow
Distributor: Phantom Film
ⓒ2019 "Strawberry Song" Production Committee
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