Okamoto Keito
“2 years ago, I still couldn’t tell left from right an expression. All I remember was that I worked my hardest in everything.” That’s what Okamoto-kun had to say when we asked him to reflect on the last “SUMMARY” he participated in. He only worked as a Jr. 2 years ago, he could barely keep up with the other member’s singing and dancing and fought every day.
“It was obvious that I was the least experienced and I almost gave up. But there’s so many people who want to debut so I wanted to work hard to show them that I’m working hard.” Although he spoke in a mellow slow tone, we could clearly feel the strong emotions evoking from his voice.
“This SUMMARY, I have strong confidence that I’ll be able to show a much better show than I did last time.” He added a very firm, “Definitely!” afterwards. We wonder how hard he worked to be able to say that. “I’m nowhere close to the other members. Everybody’s working hard so I have to work even harder.”
Starting last year, he started playing his guitar during concerts and the reason why he started playing was because, “I realized I don’t have any special talent for me to show in the concerts. My dad (Okamoto Kenichi-san) plays the guitar so I thought he could teach me. But when I first had to ask him to teach me, I needed a lot of courage.
In the first album “JUMP NO.1”, he played the guitar with Yaotome Hikaru-san’s solo. “When Hikaru-kun said, “You can play Keito” I was really happy.” He is apparently making his own song. When we asked him to put that song in their next album, he replied with troubled grin. “It is my dream to sing and play my own song. But it’s… quite far ahead (laughs).” His shyness is very charmful.

TO: Ryosuke Yamada
Yamachan always sweats a storm so I want him to be careful that he doesn’t become dehydrated. Please drink more water!

TO: Yuto Nakajima
He actually has a very weak body. He gets sick very often so I hope he doesn’t get a heat stroke.

TO: Yuri Chinen
All I want for Chinen to do is to continue being bright and fun. Ah also, please don’t eat too much shaved ice.

TO: Ryutaro Morimoto
He’s the youngest so he should have the most energy so I want him to do something very energetic.

TO: Keito Okamoto
You’re the oldest in 7 so make sure you don’t burn out. Also… please get more alive and energetic (laughs).

What made your heart beat recently that was caused by a girl?
When I was riding the train recently, I was watching another train go pass in the other direction and I saw the back of this female high schooler and saw her hair flip. Although I couldn’t see her face at all, I did get a little excited at that.

Yamada Ryosuke

“Young, energetic, honest. Those are our charm points,” Says Yamada-kun. But their true charm point is that they’re passive. “I have a very drastic personality? When I’m happy, I’ll laugh my head off but when I’m sad I’ll cry my head off. I guess my emotions are very defined.” He’s very much himself and has a very straight way of thinking. Within the group, he is very aware of his surrounding and although it looks as if he has never had any troubles, it seems that he has. “There are people who like me and then there are people who don’t. It got me thinking that I should work hard to please those people who like me.”
Taking a break from the troubles, he says, “This year’s SUMMARY should be much more fun than 2 years ago’s. I’m more excited for this year’s than I was for the last time’s. Back then, it was the first time as a group so there was a lot of pressure on us. But not to be full of myself, but I think this year will be absolutely awesome.” Besides being very excited, we felt a strong sense of high hopes for the play.
“SUMMARY is different from a concert in the way that it’s a type of play so I have to play the part of the idol Yamada Ryosuke 24/7. In concerts, you can express your true self but in SUMMARY, you have to 100% make your character. So it’s quite hard and it’s rewarding.”
To top off his self confidence, their first album is currently in stores. There are many songs that the members themselves composed and he challenged in writing his first song, “Shinku.” “I think I was able to write that song because I’m in JUMP” says Yamada with a smile.
Lastly, we asked him to express the joy he felt when the album first came out to something in his life. “Maybe like a pack of strawberries.” What? Strawberries? “Not those cheap ones they sell in supermarkets, the high quality ones that they pack in boxes. Although there aren’t a lot of strawberries, to me it’s more than enough. Because I don’t have enough money to buy one myself” says the 17 year old.

TO: Yuto Nakajima
Yuto-kun does many things that he claims he can’t do. You grew up right in front of my eyes. I feel like a father (laughs).

TO: Keito Okamoto
Keito is a hard worker. He listens to everything that everybody says and while crying, you work really hard. Don’t work too hard because you’ll get really tired. Work hard but take care!

TO: Yuri Chinen
Chinen has a lot of abilities so he’s set for SUMMARY but he’s very childish… Don’t play too much because you might get injure.

TO: Ryutaro Mirmoto
Even during the actual performances, you keep on bothering me so let’s stop that first of all. It’ll be a huge problem if you get injured during our pro-wrestling matches (laughs).

TO: Ryosuke Yamada
I think I’m perfectly fine the way I am so make sure you bring that out during SUMMARY. Don’t get caught by your surroundings and give it your all!

What made your heart beat recently that was caused by a girl?
An appearance of a girl who is working hard, or when she’s sweating. Like for example when she sweats because she’s doing a sport, I think that’s good. Also, a girl who’s smile comes naturally. It makes me flutter when she really enjoys whatever she’s doing from the bottom of her heart and whenever I see somebody a girl’s natural smile.

cd : Itsumademo