Okada Nana (Naachan) / 14th Generation

[Behind the scenes] First solo concert screening:


if the video does not show watch the video here

 

Yet more unboxing of gifts from fans:


if the video does not show watch the video here

 

Reaction to the MV for 'Uragiri no Yuutosei', the main track from 'Asymmetry':


if the video does not show watch the video here

(She doesn't play the MV but she says she's looking forward to when she can show it to everyone.)

 

She likes them.

 

Naachan visits the Ginza Vampire Cafe where she meets her friend Count Rose who works there:


if the video does not show watch the video here

 

A short preview of her TIMELESS FLAG live tour:


if the video does not show watch the video here

 

Long interview
https://dot.asahi.com/articles/-/205656?page=1
https://dot.asahi.com/articles/-/205657?page=1

 

Unofficial English translations from '48RequestHour' X:
https://twitter.com/48RequestHour/status/1721446716053102724
https://twitter.com/48RequestHour/status/1721450079024980245

(TW as stated: medicine & alcohol abuse/injuries/weight)

EDIT: @bonjourmarlene has just posted her own (and IMO better) translation two posts below this one.

In other news, the MV for 'Uragiri no Yuutosei' will be released at midnight JST tonight:
https://twitter.com/okadanana_1107/status/1721416986666909736

 

So, she's non-binary but in 2017 she felt lesbian and was dating a girl (woman?) because at that time she felt it didn't count as a scandal.

 

Well sexuality and identity change. At the time, she thought she'd never fall in love with a guy, so she's safe from scandals. Now she realises she can love men after all, so of course the term lesbian doesn't fit anymore. She did also say she felt in one way she betrayed her fans because she said she was a lesbian but that turned out to be not true.

I've also translated it, and added some translation notes where I felt they were needed.

First interview is about her 2017 sousenkyo speech, her graduation and her gender identity.

Spoiler: First interview

Okada Nana, “I was immature at 19 years old.” The important things I realised after the ‘boomerang’ and huge scandal

Overnight, a top idol, who had been considered an ‘honour student’ was subjected to a shit storm. Shortly after, it was announced she would be graduating from the group she was part of and there was also a hiatus due to poor health. At the time, what was happening to the person Okada Nana? Former AKB48 member Okada Nana has given multiple long interviews, saying, “I want to talk about it in my own words.”

— For Okada Nana (25), becoming a fan of AKB48 was the trigger to enter the entertainment industry. She particularly admired the former member Watanabe Mayu, who had won the first place in the AKB48 Senbatsu Sousenkyo. She said, “I want to become a royal idol like Watanabe-san!” She had this dream and in 2012, she actually joined AKB48.

Okada: When I was in middle school, I loved AKB so much that I went to Watanabe-san’s handshake events and collected merchandise. I also enjoyed singing but rather than just wanting to be a singer, I just liked AKB. I was in my third year of junior high school when I applied, and my dream of joining AKB came true.

| Aiming to become a “royal idol” with determination and perseverance

After I joined, it was really tough. I had to memorise about 200 songs, I commuted an hour and a half from my parents’ home in Kanagawa to lessons every day, and I slept only three hours a day. I was a very serious middle school student. Even if I had some free time, I’d always stay in the studio and practise. Now that I’ve achieved my dream, I want to continue doing my best. I did it with joy, youth, spirit and guts.

— The meaning of the “Senbatsu Sousenkyo” was significant. Popularity fan votings were held from 2009 to 2018, and the idols engaged in heated competition with their fans, which attracted the attention of the general public.

Okada: By receiving a ranking in the Senbatsu Sousenkyo, I feel that my hard work over the past year had been recognised. This was a source of encouragement, and, as one member put it, it felt like a ‘report card.’

I’m sure some people find this kind of system stifling, but at the time, I believed that working hard would naturally lead to results. But rather than working hard for a year for the election, if you always work hard, I thought results will come automatically. I didn’t want to work hard just for that time of year, I wanted to be a good girl regardless of the election. Now that I think about it, I was way too serious.

— Such seriousness came to life, your idol activities were smooth sailing and you were rewarded. Nana had a stoic* personality that was recognised by both herself and others, and she was also called a ‘disciplined honour student.’

(T/N: The Japanese term ‘stoic’ refers to a person who diligently works on their goals and does not get side tracked.)

Okada: I joined the ranking after not ranking at all at first, and my rankings rose year by year, until I ranked 5th place in the last Senbatsu Sousenkyo in 2018. As I became a contender for centre, the number of fans increased and my skills also improved. I felt like I was achieving good results.

— Reports of her relationship appeared on news sites in November 2022. Immediately after, there was a lot of hate directed towards her on social media. What was cited was the speech she gave on stage during the 2017 Senbatsu Sousenkyo, where she ranked 9th. Her own words were quoted, criticising the actions of members who appeared to be using scandals to boost themselves, and she was criticised for being involved in a scandal herself now.

Okada: I felt a great responsibility for the words I said then. It was like a boomerang of words coming out of my own mouth.

One aspect of AKB48’s Senbatsu Sousenkyo is that what is said will be left behind for future generations. For the 2017 election, the day before, I was thinking about what to say in my speech among close friends – we started talking about what we could say to make headlines. At the time, I had the reputation of something like a ‘disciplined honour student,’ and I thought I should take advantage of that. I thought about my speech up until about 4am that day.

On stage, I said, “In today’s AKB48 Group, we often see members who cause scandals or problems and use them as a joke, or make fun of it and then even climb ahead of it. Even if there are people like that, it’s good to have versatility, but I definitely don’t think it’s good to try to imitate that behaviour.” And, “I believe in working hard to get to the top, and I want to change the group so that those who work hard are rewarded.”

I’ve always been a perfectionist and at the time, I was critical of the actions of my colleagues who were dishonest.

However, I didn’t mean to point at anyone in particular. I was shocked that a member announced her marriage on stage that day, and it was taken as if I was criticising her directly.

I never thought that what I said then would come back to bite me five years later. Now I think I was immature at that time. These words have bounced back at me, so I think I have to accept it as my own responsibility.

| I had already decided to graduate.

— Immediately after the news was reported, on the 23rd of November, you announced your graduation from AKB. Did your graduation have anything to do with the press and the hate? When I asked her about it, she flatly denied, saying, “That’s not true.”

Okada: I think there are a lot of people who think that because someone broke the rule of not having a relationship [while being an idol], they think, “Wasn’t she forced to quit as a punishment?” or “Did she graduate because the hate affected her too much?” But that’s not the case. The news came out in November 2022, but in August, I had already decided that I would graduate in autumn 2023 in anticipation of my solo debut.

That year, while filming a music video in a rural area, I felt uncomfortable with the instructions of ‘smiling more’ and ‘being more energetic.’ What I want to do now is not to smile cheerfully at the camera, but to do something different. That’s when I realised it clearly – at that moment, I decided to quit, and that day I informed the staff of my intention. I also messaged Akimoto Yasushi-sensei on LINE, saying, “I want to graduate.” He just replied, “Okay.”

| Is love forbidden here?

— You were preparing for graduation as well as your solo debut; but as a result, graduation was postponed.

Many people think that “no romance” is an unwritten rule for idols. Having a report on a romantic relationship is often a scandal for idols. But they’re also just human being. As you’ve been active for 5, 10, 20 years, is it really healthy to be in a situation where romance is prohibited?

For example, in 2013, a video of a former member was uploaded, where she had shaved her head and apologised after it was reported that she was dating. This was reported on even overseas and sparked criticism, both domestically as well as internationally. In Okada’s case, immediately after the news was published, there was a huge uproar on social media, with cruel words such as ‘die’ and ‘traitor.’

Okada: I felt depressed. There were comments such as ‘die’ and ‘traitor.’ I was mentally damaged, I couldn’t eat, I lost a lot of weight. It was a hard time.

I had both the feeling of wanting to apologise for my lack of self-awareness as a person, as well as my lack of self-awareness as an idol. I also wondered, “Why can’t I just fall in love normally?”

— Okada-san issued an apology to her fans on Twitter (currently known as X).

“I am truly sorry for the inconvenience caused.

“I am truly sorry for acting in a way that betrayed and hurt the fans who have supported me until now. I am sorry for making you feel disillusioned.”

(Post from 23rd November 2022)

Okada: At the time I gave the speech, I considered myself a lesbian and had always been in love with women. Therefore, I had been betraying my fans for a long time. To be honest. I wondered why I had to receive so much criticism just because my partner was a man.

| Gender has nothing to do with the weight of love

— In this interview, Okada revealed that her gender identity is ‘non-binary.’ The idea is that the gender you identify with does not clearly fit into either male or female gender, or you don’t want to conform with either of these categories. People who identify as non-binary are said to fall in love with both men and women*.

(T/N: Non-binary has a slightly different meaning in Japanese. The more common term for people who don’t identify as male or female is ‘X Gender.’ Both non-binary and X Gender refer to a person who isn’t confirming the binary gender identity, but in Japan, non-binary also carries the additional connotation of not confirming with heterosexuality. As such, X Gender is purely about gender and non-binary is about gender and sexuality. To be treated as a general explanation; every person is different.)

Okada: When I was little, there was a time when I liked boys and even gave them chocolate on Valentine’s. That changed after I joined the group. I was a lesbian around the time of the 2017 Senbatsu Sousenkyo. I fell in love with a woman who supported me from the bottom of her heart, and I started dating her. At that time, I never imagined I’d ever fall in love with a man again.

I now think that the speech I made in 2017 came from a “safe place,” in that I felt I was immune to the scandals related to men and women dating each other.

That was my big mistake. Love between man and woman and between two women should have the same weight. I was 19 years old at the time and I regret that I didn’t understand many things, that I was thinking in a narrow world view.

Second interview is about her drug and alcohol abuse, her hiatus in 2022, and how she plans to tackle her personality and fans as a soloist

Spoiler: Second interview

Okada Nana’s rock bottom days, when she fell from her apartment and took screenshots of people telling her to ‘disappear’ - until she realised the ‘bonds’ with people

Overnight, a top idol, who had been considered an ‘honour student’ was subjected to a shit storm. Shortly after, it was announced she would be graduating from the group she was part of and there was also a hiatus due to poor health. At the time, what was happening to the person Okada Nana? Former AKB48 member Okada Nana has given multiple long interviews, saying, “I want to talk about it in my own words.”

| I saw it was ‘verbal abuse’

— What kind of impact did the shit storm have on you, and how did you deal with it?

Okada: I spent a lot of time on social media and when people started to say things like, ‘die’ and ‘disappear,’ I even started to get angry, thinking, “Well, I guess I’ll just die then.” I can’t reply directly, but I took screenshots and looked at it as if I was trying to engrave it in my memory.

Actually, I had already been experiencing symptoms of panic disorder since spring of that year. Since 2021, I’ve also been part of Avex and was in a state of double work with AKB. Besides the intensity of work, I think my personality as a perfectionist also played a big role.

I’ve been taking antidepressants for about a year. After seeing what was written on the internet (after the news broke), I was so depressed that I couldn’t eat, and my weight dropped to 34kg (75 lbs / 5.35 stone). At the time, I had a singing show and other jobs to do, so even though I didn’t want to make an appearance, I couldn’t afford to leave a gap in a job that I was already scheduled for and involved lots of other people. I drank alcohol every day after I finished work, and I got addicted to drugs and alcohol. It was a vicious cycle.

Around that time, I also fell from the second floor of my apartment building and suffered a serious injury.

— On the 17th of December, the group’s official blog announced you would be dedicating yourself to recuperation for the rest of the year to treat the injuries caused by that fall. She also apologised on her twitter (currently known as X). However, she says, “I don’t remember the details very well.”

Okada: I don’t remember much about the injury because my anxiety was through the roof and I was in a state of panic. I was taken away by an ambulance and until my injuries healed, I took about a month off in December 2022. I stopped appearing on shows and took a hiatus.

At the time, even though I was injured because of the drugs and alcohol, I saw various rumours about myself on social media, such as, “She got scared ‘cause of the scandal and ran away,” “She’s pregnant,” “Disappear,” “Die,” etc. I read all kinds of posts like that.

— You went through a difficult period, feeling as if everything you’ve worked for was falling apart. Still, you say, “I have no regrets.”

Okada: When I was criticised, I struggled and thought, “Will all of my 10 years have been wasted?” There were times when I thought about giving up. But now, after experiencing a series of things, I’ve become stronger. I had the support of my family, friends, my boyfriend, and it was a big help for me to feel like I wasn’t alone. One person became “an irreplaceable person” to me, and I came to see this series of events as a “chapter of my life.”

| As I think, “Let’s sing a song”

I admired idols a lot, and I thought if I lived my life as an idol to the best of my abilities, I wouldn’t have any regrets once I graduate. As I continued to perform during these 10 years, I also thought, “Once I graduate from AKB, I will retire from the entertainment industry.” I didn’t have a specific career path in mind, so if I retired from the industry at the same time as I graduated, I was vaguely thinking along the lines of, “Maybe I’ll work in a bar.”

Then I decided I wanted to sing and become a professional singer. That’s because someone listened to me sing and said, “There aren’t any other singers as wonderful as you, so I want you to keep singing.” Those words really touched my heart. Until then, I’d never imagined that there were people who would feel this way. Without those words, I don’t think I would be where I am today.

— “I have no regrets about my 10 years as an idol. I hope you will continue to support AKB48, my favourite group.” In April this year, you held your graduation performance at the AKB48 theatre in Akihabara, marking the end of your 10-year idol career. For the performance, you decided to stage it in a way so that members would leave you one by one.

Okada: I finished it with no regrets. I’ve done everything I wanted to do, and there are no pages left unturned. My fans say, “I still want to see you together,” but I feel like I have no choice but to work hard in a different setting. I also wanted to do my best as a proper singer.

— The first month after graduation was a recharging period. You forgot about work and had time as regular person, during which you also started writing lyrics. As a singer, how do you want to change the way in which you present yourself?

Okada: For about 10 years, my life has been fully immersed in AKB48, so even though I’m debuting as a solo artist, I don’t think there will be any significant positive changes. I joined AKB48 when I was 14, so I didn’t finish school, I didn’t attend university. All my life experiences, youth, everything, have been through my experiences with AKB.

The time spent devoted to idol activities is by no means a negative thing. For 10 years, I’ve been touring all over the world, performing at concerts, going to disaster-stricken areas to support recovery efforts… AKB gave me a lot of experiences that I wouldn’t have had otherwise.

| I put my feelings into lyrics

I don’t think I ever became a sparkling, cute idol during my days in AKB, so I tried to express my honest feelings openly. Regarding my sexuality, I’ve always said, “It doesn’t matter whether you’re a man or a woman,” and cut my hair short, so in that sense, maybe nothing’s really changed much.

The songs on my solo debut album feel like adding more colours to a white flag, and all the lyrics were written by me. I wrote the lyrics because I want people to know about what I’ve gained over the past 10 years as an idol, and the feelings I’ve hidden within me. I don’t have any lyricist in mind that I’m trying to emulate, but if I had to name one, it would be Akimoto Yasushi-sensei. When I first started writing, I thought to myself, “Hm, there’s a bit of Yasushi in this” (laughs).

There are some things you can’t express directly in words, so I feel like I can express all my feelings in a song and sublimate them. I really write it how it is.

I want to live in love, and die in love. I’ve been alive for 25 years, I won’t deny my past and my core hasn’t changed. I also have a desire for people to accept the real me. So, I'm a bit scared about whether I will be understood.

— As the new Okada Nana, how will you deal with your fans?

Okada: Idols are always smiling and making everyone happy, but for me, I don’t want to hide anything and rather be deeply involved with my fans. I’m the type of person who wants to talk to each person individually to find out what kind of person they admire and therefore, what would make them become a fan; I want to find out their favourite foods and what keeps them up at night. I believe that the beautiful thing about relationships is interacting on a person-to-person basis.

| I held their hands, looked them in the eye, and spoke to them

In the 10 years I’ve been an idol, I learned more about building relationships than you’d think. I’ve been steadily communicating with my fans holding their hands and looking them in the eye. I think that’s why we have such a strong relationship and bond.

I’m sure no one wants to support an idol that appears in a gossip tabloid. However, I think it’s really amazing how they continue to support me. I think we’re even closer now. It’s fun to expose each other. We share everything, the tough times, the bad times, the funny times. Because we’re so open and vulnerable with each other, I think we have a bond that won’t just be broken over something small.

My strength lies in that middle group between being an artist who sings on stage, and being able to meet my fans on eye-level, sharing my concerns. I listen to everything from love advice to being bullied by someone’s boss and worries about work. Even though they are idols, the relationship is more like that of a “Snack Mama*.”

(T/N: A Snack Mama refers to a hostess at a snack bar. Snack bars are places where people go to drink and socialise after work, and the hostess is a primary key figure in making the establishment welcoming, casual and relaxing, often listening to worries and soothing their troubles.)

I plan to utilise the experiences I’ve gained so far for my solo activities. For example, AKB’s concept is ‘idols you can meet,’ but from now on, I want to be ‘Okada Nana, someone you can meet.’

(Journalist: Furukawa Masako)

 

She seems to just grab at whatever term is "the current thing" at the time, LGB is so passé these days.

 

well... she said she's bisexual years ago and now she found a better term to describe herself. I don't see anything wrong this that.

 

Friendly reminder that non-binary is not a sexual preference like Lesbian or Bi. The latter refers to the gender you are attracted to. The former refers to the gender you identify as.

So they felt in 2017 that because they liked women, they were lesbian (woman who likes women), but we can assume by the time Naachan was dating her boyfriend, they realised they weren't lesbian and were, in fact, bi (person who likes men and women).

Now Naachan is at a place where they don't refer to themselves exclusively as a 'she', but neither a 'he'. It could be both, or neither. That's what Non-binary means.

So Naachan is a non-binary person who likes both men and women (so Bisexual).

Gender discussions are a very broad topic, as as many people find it hard to fit into the gender constraints of 'man' and 'woman', non-binary is a comfy middle ground that has become increasingly popular. Especially for younger people who are still discovering themselves. Trendy term or not, there's nothing wrong with Naachan announcing they're non-binary if that is what they identify with the most at this point in their life.

 

Friendly reminder that non-binary is not a thing. At all. You are either male or female, there is no third sex, or non-sex or whatever the hell. It's cringe and comes off as attention-seeking.

 

there's nothing attention seeking about the fact that someone identifies what suits them the most and makes them the most happy. It doesn't harm anyone that Nana or anyone identifies as non-binary.

 

'Asymmetry' unboxing:


if the video does not show watch the video here

'Uragiri no Yuutosei' MV full:


if the video does not show watch the video here

 

Wait a minute... 2017... A woman who supported her... That was when Okada and Tsumugi became way too close, remember?, and Hayasakaguchi's relationship kinda cooled off... Oh nose.

 

Actually, from a scientific point of view, this is not true. There are many factors that determine sex and gender (chromosomes, hormones, even certain parts of the brain), and these can be completely contradictory. This is not a new finding, but has been known for some time now. ^^

Apart from that, I don't know how Japanese people deal with this kind of thing today, but I think this interview is brutally honest? I don't mean the non-binary part, but rather the antidepressant part. I know that drinking is no problem, but pills against depression and anxiety? o__O

 

Loved the song. Loved the PV.

I don't expect much from the album sales, but if there's an AKB member who can actually have a proper solo career... it's her.
Hoping for a Sayanee collab eventually!

Gravity doesn't need you to believe in it to exist. And the same can be said about non-binary people.

 

Well, actually, Naachan has been struggling with her mental health for many years now, and she only started taking medication last year. However, she couldn't openly admit to having depression and panic attacks either due to the taboo in the idol world or because she didn't want her fans to worry. Also, drinking has become a problem for her in the past few years, but I'm glad to see she's doing better now.