The article translation thread

The purpose of this thread is to gather in one place translations for interviews or articles about HKT48 published in magazines, newspapers, websites, etc. Currently these translations are scattered among different threads, which makes it hard for people to take notice of them. So my suggestion is that this thread be a place where you can:

-Post translations for articles that you have made;
-Post links to article translations made by other people;
-Request translations for articles.

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Translation List

Akiyoshi Yuka

Spoiler

01. Kenkyuusei Concert Official Guidebook 2013

Anai Chihiro

Spoiler

01. Nishi Nippon - May 2013
02. Bubka - June 2013
03. Tokyo Sports - July 2013

Fuchigami Mai

Spoiler

01. Nishi Nippon - July 2013

Goto Izumi

Spoiler

01. Nishi Nippon - July 2013

Kodama Haruka

Spoiler

01. Bomb - March 2013
02. Nishi Nippon - May 2013
03. Bubka - June 2013
04. Asahi Shinbun - August 2013
05. Nishi Nippon - June 2013
06. Nishi Nippon - July 2013
07. haruppi.webcrow.jp
08. Shueisha Website
09. AKB48 Sousenkyo Mizugi Surprise 2013
10. Bomb - August 2013

Kumazawa Serina

Spoiler

01. Tokyo Sports - July 2013

Matsuoka Natsumi

Spoiler

01. Nishi Nippon - May 2013
02. EX Taisho - August 2013

Miyawaki Sakura

Spoiler

01. Bomb - March 2013
02. Nishi Nippon - June 2013
03. MSN.com - July 2013
04. Nishi Nippon - June 2013
05. Sousenkyo Mizugi Surprise - August 2013
06. Tokyo Sports - July 2013

Moriyasu Madoka

Spoiler

01. EX Taishu - August 2013

Ota Aika

Spoiler

01. Sousenkyo Guidebook - 2013
02. AKB48 Sousenkyo Mizugi Surprise 2013

Sashihara Rino

Spoiler

01. UTB - April 2013
02. Sousenkyo Guidebook - 2013
03. Bomb - August 2013

Tani Marika

Spoiler

01. EX Taishu - August 2013
02. Kenkyuusei Concert Official Guidebook 2013

Tashima Meru

Spoiler

01. Bomb - March 2013
02. Sousenkyo Guidebook - 2013
03. Nishi Nippon - June 2013
04. AKB48 Sousenkyo Mizugi Surprise - 2013
05. EX Taishu - August 2013
06. Kenkyuusei Concert Official Guidebook 2013

Tomonaga Mio

Spoiler

01. Bomb - March 2013
02. UTB - April 2013
03. Bomb - May 2013
04. Entame - June 2013
05. Sousenkyo Guidebook - 2013
06. MSN.com - July 2013
07. Nishi Nippon - June 2013
08. AKB48 Sousenkyo Mizugi Surprise - 2013
09. EX Taishu - August 2013
10. Kenkyuusei Concert Official Guidebook 2013

Wakatabe Haruka

Spoiler

01. Nishi Nippon - July 2013

 

Thanks Pebbles!

Can you add a little extra like the article "work in progress" so that way other people don't do the same translation as you do.

Can i also post interesting article that in my opinion should be translated as well?

 

DP! Thanks so much, an amazing idea to make a separate thread, I was just looking for Haruppi's Body Check translation this morning! Coincidence

Will be checking this thread always, it's a help for translators, so they'd know what has been translated and what not as well as refer back and of course, to us the fans. Your work is greatly appreciated [clap]

 

Good idea. I'll post a note here when I start translating an article.

Sure! Feel free to suggest articles for translation. Hopefully this will also be an incentive for other people to start translating articles as well.

@SnipaKill: It's because I can read your mind!

 

well, about the article that in my opinion should be translated...

Mio's ascent to HKT center

Thanks in advance!

 

^Hey!I posted that

Anyway I guess I'll also gather up everything I think is worth translating from my daily Haruppi finds.

 

^ Please do!

Ok, I'm now translating that article about Mio suggested by gocchisama.

 

This is a good idea, but will be soon invalidated when the new website goes up (viewtopic.php?f=1&t=5804), which is exactly what the website is being built for, as a one stop source of reliable info for all things 48. I hope that when the time comes for the website to open (I think it's still in its programming stages for now) that the translators will all cross-post their translations there as well. I know I'll be taking a much more active role there bringing consistent and up to date translations and the like.

In the meantime, I'll let this thread remain open because right now it's the best way we have of keeping track without having to delve deep into other threads. If I may suggest something, we can keep the OP updated with all the most recent articles, separated by members featured so that it's easier to sort through. In the case that it includes several members, we can have "General" section, like for that roundtable with Sasshii, Lovetan, Meru and Mio.

So it would look like this

General

Spoiler

insert article links here

Miyawaki Sakura

Spoiler

insert article links here

Kodama Haruka

Spoiler

insert article links here

Moriyasu Madoka

Spoiler

insert article links here

Or separated by dates, whatever, but anything to help sort through articles better if the list starts getting long

 

^ Thanks for the suggestion about organizing the articles in the OP! That would definitely make things easier. I guess it makes more sense to organize by member, as most people won't be interested in reading articles about every member (or so I think). I'll get around to it later.

About the new site, I made a post on that thread more than a month ago offering to make translations for the site, but my post went ignored.

 

as long as we don't have a scheduled date for the upcoming newsite of Stage48, we should just continue to come to this thread and then transfer the content to the site, no?

 

I can help if you all need an extra hand. Dibs on sakura. [clap]

 

I found an article/interview with Haruppi talking about one's perspective from within AKB. Anyways I'll be happy if anyone's willing to translate it.

Spoiler

（ＡＫＢ的人生論）児玉遥　目標に向かって仲間と一緒に

　アイドルなのに滑舌が良くありせん。昨年の選抜総選挙では先輩の篠田麻里子さんが後輩たちに向けて「つぶすつもりで来て下さい」と語った言葉に感動し、その言葉を胸に１年間がんばってきました。今年は３７位にランクイン。スピーチで、先輩たちに「つぶすつもりでがんばります」と言おうとしましたが、「ちゅぶすつもりで……」と肝心なところでかんじゃいました。だけど、「そこが好き」と言っていただけるファンの方もいるので、短所だけど、長所として、いかしていきたいと思っています。

　性格はポジティブですごく前向き。今の自分があるのは、中学生の時のバスケット部での経験があるからです。入部した理由は「やせよう！」「そのために自分を変えよう！」と思ったこと。実は小学生のときは今より、太っていたんです。友達と外で遊ぶよりも、ひとり家でパソコンをして遊ぶタイプ。タイピングゲームをしたり、「宇宙」とか興味のあることを検索したり。

　運動はしないのに、食欲は旺盛でした。ご飯もお肉も野菜もお菓子もよく食べる。一食でラーメンを３杯たいらげたこともあるんですよ。これじゃさすがに太りますね。

　決意をもってバスケットを始めたものの、ドリブルやシュートが上手にできませんでした。実は運動神経が鈍いんです。そんな自分に顧問の先生は「自分の強みを持て」と言いました。「そうか！」と気づいて考えました。走ることは才能がなくても、努力でカバーできる。短距離の瞬発力はありませんが、長距離ならと、毎日、走り込んで、持久力をつけました。「速くなったね」。友達から言われたときはうれしかったです。部員は初心者が多いこともあって、一緒に技を磨いたり、励まし合ったり、すごくチームワークがよかったです。みんなで一から作りあげていく喜びも、このときに学んだような気がします。本当に楽しくて、今も思い出に残る日々。精神的にも、すごく鍛えられました。

　３年生になって、今までの集大成となる最後の試合に向けてがんばっていました。そんなとき、私は大きな選択を迫られました。博多を拠点に活動するＨＫＴ４８の１期生募集。１次、２次審査に合格し、あとは最終オーディション。ところが、その案内のメールを見て驚きました。最後の試合の日と重なっていたんです。「どうしよう」。悩んだ私は、「オーディションの日を変えて下さい」と、電話をしましたが、私のためにスケジュールが変わるわけはありません。それからの数日間はすごく悩みました。

　私はバスケットと勉強が大好きだったので、試合の後は受験勉強をして、進学校に入り、将来は外交官か客室乗務員になりたいと漠然と考えていました。だけど、もうひとつ、私には夢がありました。幼い頃から人前に立つことが好きで、歌手や女優の仕事にも関心があり、小学校３年生のときの作文では、「アイドルになりたい」と書いていました。結局は、悩んだ末に、チャンスが少なく、スタートが早い方がいいアイドルの道を選びました。

　先生に打ち明けたのは試合の前日です。先生は、「試合の途中で、オーディションのことが気になるなら出ない方がいい。行って後悔すると思うなら、試合に出なさい」。そして、最後には「自分で決めなさい」と言いました。先生は練習をする私のプレーを見て、気持ちに迷いがあると見抜いていたようでした。私の決意は固く、その後、部員のみんなにも打ち明けました。そのときのことは、今もまだ言い表せないくらい……。すごく申し訳ない気持ちのまま、私は練習に向かうみんなを見送りました。

　その翌日。オーディションには、「絶対に落ちるわけにはいかない」と、プレッシャーを抱えてのぞみました。選んだ曲は西野カナさんの「Ｂｅｓｔ　Ｆｒｉｅｎｄ」。感情を込めて歌いました。バスケ部のみんなと一緒にすごした日々を思い浮かべながら。そして私はＨＫＴ４８に合格。バスケ部も試合に勝ちました！

　一昨年にスタートしたＨＫＴ４８は、仲の良さと結束力では、ほかのＡＫＢ４８グループには負けません。今年、初めてのシングル曲を出し、単独の武道館コンサートも実現しました。今のチームの目標は年末のレコード大賞で新人賞をとること。夢がかなったときの景色をみんなと一緒に見たい。今度こそ絶対に――。

■番記者から

　小中学生の頃から、「元気で明るい子」のイメージだったとか。「天然だね」と言われることもあったそう。「ボケてるって意味？」と聞くと、少し首をかしげて、「ボケてるつもりはありません」。自然体でハキハキと素直に受け答えをするからだろうか。

　文武両道がポリシー。中学生時代は、バスケットをしながら、勉強にも熱中した。「勉強はやればやるほど結果がついてきます。努力を裏切らないから好きです」。外交官や客室乗務員に関心があったのは、海外旅行が好きだった祖父の影響があるという。「海外からのお土産話を聞いて、将来は“グローバルな人”になりたいと思っていたことがあります」

　ＡＫＢ４８の先輩たちの生き方に学ぶことは多い。篠田麻里子さんからは、「モデルになるという夢に一歩一歩近づいて実現された。努力の大切さを教わりました」。同じＨＫＴ４８の指原莉乃さんについては、「自分にしかない個性を発揮してがんばっていると（選抜総選挙で）１位になれると教えてくれました。メンバーたちが勇気づけられました」。児玉さんは今、成長途上。少し不器用なところもあるが、「うまくやるより全力でやる」という座右の銘を思いながら活動している。「人は全力を尽くしている姿が格好いい。自分もそうなりたいと思っています」（大西元博）

　　　　　◇

次回はＡＫＢ４８の島崎遥香さんです。

http://www.asahi.com/culture/articles/T ... 20092.html

 

Here is the translation for the article that gocchisama talked about. Next I'll be working on the article that SnipaKill posted above.

SOURCE: msn.com
DATE: July 26, 2013
MEMBERS: Tomonaga Mio, Miyawaki Sakura
ORIGINAL TEXT: Link

Spoiler

Like first-gen Nacchi? Tomonaga Mio becomes center, the gekokujou of the kenkyuusei is hot!

[NOTE: "gekokujou" is a Japanese word which means "juniors dominating seniors"]

HKT48 has as its member Sashihara Rino, who was first place in the "5th AKB48 Senbatsu Sousenkyo" and even works as Theater Manager. In March they achieved their major debut, Suki! Suki! Skip! - which surprisingly sold more than 200,000 copies in the first day - and are now the hottest of the 48 Groups.

Recently the AKB48 Five Dome Tour started at Fukuoka Yahoo Auctions! Dome, and as that is the hometown of HKT48, they announced the senbatsu members for their second single, Melon Juice, to be released on 4 November. Theater manager Sashihara said "The centers are 2 people! The centers are Tashima Meru and Tomonaga Mio!", and the unexpected surprise of the kenkyuusei double center caused a stir at the venue.

Tashima was the center also for the debut song, Suki! Suki! Skip!, but Tomonaga, who was suddenly selected, is popular among fans for looking like Morning Musume's first generation member Nacchi (Abe Natsumi) or like Ueto Aya, and has been praised as "cute" on Twitter by AKB members Kitahara Rie and Chikano Rina. Both Tashima and Tomonaga are already well-known among fans for being among the 32 senbatsu members of AKB48 Sayonara Crawl, released in May, and for ranking 55th and 59th respectively on the Senbatsu Sousenkyo.

After the announcement at the Fukuoka Yahoo Auctions! Dome, Tomonaga talked on Google+ about how she felt being chosen as center. She said she learned about being selected as center at the time of the photo shooting for the cover. "At first I was surprised. I had many thoughts like: Why me? Even though I can't sing, dance, talk or do anything? Will I be good?", she said in a perplexed state. "I'm happy, but very anxious. Even though I thought that I must do my best, I couldn't put my feelings in order", she said describing how she felt.

She also discussed it with Tashima, who will work together with her as center: "I talked a lot with Meru-chan. I decided to face forward and do my best", she declared. Also, at the Janken Tournament, Tomonaga won the kenkyuusei preliminaries as well as a match against Theater Manager Sashihara, and was part of the selection of only 3 members. Sashihara told her "I give all my luck to you!" and expects a similar development from last year, when Shimazaki Haruka won the tournament and suddenly gained prominence.

However, on the other side of this great promotion there were also members feeling frustrated. Miyawaki Sakura, first generation member who ranked 26th in the Senbatsu Election, second only to Sashihara in HKT, opened her heart on Google+ about her frustration over losing center.

"During the shooting for the cover of the second single, we learned that the centers were Meru (Tashima) and Mio (Tomonaga). That day I talked to Haruppi (Kodama Haruka). We didn't know what to do from then on and we both cried. Frankly I still don't know what I should do", she said expressing her anxiety. However, she made a vow with a positive feeling: "Haruppi and I decided on an objective. No matter what happens, we will do our best. Because this is what the fans expect to see from us. Center is not everything, and I want to become a person that can shine in any place."

Besides, in the first single, from the 16 senbatsu members only 3 were kenkyuusei, but for the second single, 7 joined the senbatsu including Tashima and Tomonaga. The first generation members Ueki Nao, Shimono Yuki, Nakanishi Chiyori and Wakatabe Haruka, who were senbatsu members of the first single, have fallen out of senbatsu, causing a situation of "gekokujou".

While the head group AKB is complete as a group and has fixed famous members, HKT48, the youngest of the sister groups, has an interesting composition: Team H, centered around the first generation, and the kenkyuusei, where there are stars like Tashima and Tomonaga who are suddenly becoming popular. As the members will keep growing, from now on we will enjoy the developments excitedly.

 

Thank you! Feel free to translate any article that catches your fancy. valenoff usually posts links to some articles about Sakura in her thread. For example, there is this interview with Sakura, Serina and Chihiro.

I have updated the OP to include a list of the translations, divided by members, following ithebigc's suggestion.

 

thanks for the translation!

Sadly it didn't brought anything we didn't knew before.

it also means we know really well the group

 

Amazing work DP! And thanks for the fast translation as well [clap]

Thoughts about the article, well I'm glad I fished it out I always thought all of this was just secret undercover work of the HKT management, but the way the Japanese media seems so explicit about it, teh fact that everyone knows HKT is the odd one out in terms of the way they do everything kinda pputs me at ease, I have no idea why.

Maybe because it's not personally about Haruppi and Meru anymore. HKT's management is obviously going in for some daring moves, it's sad that HKT had to be the experiment, like I wish it was NMB or the upcoming group and not my lil girls, but I guess it's already done, might as well benefit from it.

I like that HKT is not just about one or two fixed girls anymore. Bringing Okapon and the other 2nd gen like Tani into the picture strongly as well means they really wanted a revolution of 2nd gen.

I especially yeleld out "SO TRUE" at this part

So yea just the fact that everyone is aware of it, and the management is doing it on purpose makes me feel somewhat at ease.

 

You're welcome! I think that even if an article doesn't bring new information, it still might be worth translating for a couple of reasons. First, because it creates a record of HKT's development. Two or three years from now we may use articles like these as reference of what happened before. And it will also be helpful to new fans who want to learn more about the history of the group.

And second, since most of us here at Stage48 live outside Japan, we often don't know what the Japanese fans or the Japanese media think about the issues we talk about. An article like this one, even if brings no new information, still provides us a peek into what people are thinking and talking about in Japan.

It's like SnipaKill said:

Yeah, it seems that the image people have of HKT is of a group still in a state of flux, with no fixed member positions. Personally I hope this flux lasts forever. I know I'm in the minority here, but I don't want HKT setting into "fixed popular members" like AKB.

Also, having a national media outlet calling HKT the "hottest 48 Group" now is kinda nice.

EDIT: @SnipaKill: Could you please post the link on tumblr where you got the full text for that article? I'd like to include that link when I post the translation.

 

you are definitively right. For people like me who lurk 24/24 on forums and newsite, i already know the information about Tomonaga. But 6 month earlier, would i be able to say the same?

it will help people to know HKT48 better!

 

Yep it will help new fans a lot especially for articles that are explicit and don't sugarcoat things like the recent one.

@DP, here ya go

And as surprising as it is

Me too. Of course I'm biased because Haruppi's turn is over, I don't want any girl to keep center forever, I'll be thrilled if they kept shuffling the girls and creating more opportunities like they're doing.

Like it or not, the strategy hurt a lot of people but it's working. It made HKT rise stronger than any of the other sister groups of their time. They were slow in the beginning but this new outlook gave them a speed jump and now they're miles ahead from where they're supposed to be.

 

How the flip did I miss this thread? And I was cruising the News & Discuss section earlier today.

Anyways. Looks like I got some reading to do, though I think I may have read all these already. Time to find out.

@DreamingPebbles Thanks and good move with the thread! [clap]