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[Translation] Toshiki Tateishi Livedoor Interview (19/12/19)

I translated the interview that was posted on his birthday!

I also crossposted this to my translation blog on Wordpress.

From a firefighter to the world of entertainment――Looking back at Toshiki Tateishi’s journey to where he is now, on his 26th birthday

Celebrating Toshiki Tateishi who’s approaching his 26th birthday on December 19th with balloons and confetti! “I’m happy because it’s the first time that an article about me is getting released on my birthday!” he said, beaming from ear to ear as he did the photoshoot.

His stage debut was Musical The Prince of Tennis 3rd Season (hereinafter referred to as “Tenimyu”) in 2017. His popularity rose after he took part in Mankai Stage “A3!”, and in only a few years, he quickly became known as a popular young actor.

There is such a term as an Akita Beauty, but Tateishi surely classifies as an “Akita Adonis”.

Looks that you can’t get tired of looking at, skin that has a smooth, silk-like clearness, and an atmosphere that overflows with elegance…… It came as a shock that despite having this level of flawless beauty, he used to be a firefighter before going into the world of showbiz.

In this interview, he talked about the whole story of how he came to aspire to become a firefighter, and the encounters that brought him to reaffirm his feelings for singing.

For my birthday this year, I’d like to get myself an electric bike 

ーYou’re turning 26 on December 19th. Congratulations!

Thank you!

ーWe had a birthday-themed photoshoot today, with balloons and even confetti.

I had a lot of fun doing things I couldn’t do as a child (haha)

ーCan you tell us about your past birthday parties?

When I was young, I used to invite my friends from class to my house every year for a birthday party, but when I was in 1st or 2nd grade, my parents gave me a soccer ball. It made me so happy that I kicked it around inside the room, and it ended up landing on top of the cake, which hadn’t even been cut yet (haha)

ーHuh? Didn’t your parents get mad?

It was my birthday, so they couldn’t get mad at me (haha). Though I would say that they’re the type of parents that never really get mad.

ーThat’s such a charming story (haha). December 19th is pretty close to Christmas, isn’t it? Did you ever get only one present for both your birthday and Christmas? 

No, they always made it separate. I have sisters who are 5 and 7 years older than me, so as the youngest child, they were very affectionate to me. I guess I was quite spoiled (haha)

ーDo you plan on getting yourself anything for your birthday this year?

I haven’t thought about it. … But now I think I’d like to get an electric bicycle.

It’s because I went to a photoshoot by bike sometime ago, but I kept getting overtaken and it took quite some time to get there, so it was pretty tough (haha). I’ve also had people around me suggest it, saying, “You should definitely buy an electric bike,” so maybe I will buy one.

ーNow that you’re turning 26, you’ve reached the turning point of your 20s. Is there anything you’d like to do before you turn 30?

I’m not much of a planner, so… (haha)

ーHow about things like what you want to do in a job?

Thankfully, right now, I’m able to work both with music in a group and in stageplays, and I’ve just started working in film… Yeah, I would like to expand my horizons more. 

Ah, I love eating, so I would love to appear in a variety show or something that involves doing food reviews without having to stop working in music and acting.

ーI want to watch a program that shows more of your personality

Yes, please! Something like “TOshiki Tateishi’s TOwn Walk” sounds like fun! (haha)

Playing the role of Yukimura led me to grow as an actor and as a person 

ーYour birthday on December 19th is also the same day as the opening night of Musical The Prince of Tennis 3rd Season Seigaku VS Rikkai The Last Half.

That’s right!

ーYou play the role of Seiichi Yukimura of Rikkai. In a previous Livedoor interview, you talked about asking your manager to let you know if Tenimyu starts taking auditions. What made you want to be in Tenimyu in the first place?

After I quit being a firefighter, I passed an audition and started taking lessons. But, I fell into a slump and shut everything out, and there was a period when I didn’t go to my lessons and instead did nothing but watch movies.

At that time, I thought that watching films and then laughing and crying because of acting is the same as listening to music and then feeling moved. It made me think that I want to be someone like this, I want to try being an actor.

… So, the question is, why did I audition for Tenimyu, huh? (haha)

ーYes. (haha)

I heard that it was a gateway to success for young actors, so I wanted to challenge it.

ーI heard that you were in the swimming club and the baseball club when you were a student, but did you have any experience with tennis?

I didn’t. That’s why I don’t know the rules, and the first time I ever held a racket was in Tenimyu.

But I remember thinking of it this way. It took time to audition, and I got the part through that, so no matter how difficult the training is, I have no choice but to do it! Anyway, instead of thinking that it’s difficult, I desperately, frantically devoted myself to it.

ーGiven that you have a lot of co-stars, did you ever face any troubles occasionally?

I did find myself troubled with personal relationships. We had to make one production with that large number of people, so we were bound to have some conflicts, and now that I think about it, we couldn’t really make it work at first. But as we attended more rehearsals, we overcame our hardships and our bonds were formed.

ーWas there any pressure in debuting with the role of Yukimura? 

Of course there was. Rikkai is the champion school, so there was the impatience that I had to meet everyone’s expectations. I came in with no skills or anything at all, so there was still the shyness at having to act. It made me very worried.

ーSpeaking of Yukimura, being the captain of Rikkai makes him the strongest guy among all of Japan middle school tennis.

Yes. Yukimura started out with scenes wherein he was hospitalized instead of tennis scenes, so that part was difficult.

ーHow was it difficult?

I think it’s relatively easier to portray his strong “Child of God” side where he’s reigning at the summit of Rikkai. But when I had to sing in a scene where he was still hospitalized, I found it difficult to portray his frailty while also preserving the inner strength of his spirit.  

There’s a part where he sings, “Do your best, I’m praying for you,” to his friends in Rikkai, but I guess I sang it too weakly. The director told me, “Yukimura is originally a physically and mentally strong player, so express his hidden inner strength even through song,” so I had a fairly hard time dealing with that.

ーYou gain a deeper understanding of Yukimura while playing his role, but what do you think makes him attractive?

Like I mentioned, I guess it’s his mental strength as a person. His demeanor is fairly gentle, but I think he’s strong and likes tennis more than everyone else. He also has a ruthless side to him, he hates losing, he never wavers… he’s very cool. I respect who he is on the inside, and I think playing the role of Yukimura led me to grow as an actor and as a person.

I thought it’s amazing to have a job where you save lives 

ーI’d like to hear about the time before you entered this world, your firefighter days. Last October, Jun Utahiroba introduced your history in Mezamashi TV’s Ikemen Notebook corner.

A lot of people messaged me to say “I saw you”, and my Twitter follower count increased, haha. It even went trending on Twitter.

ー#Tateishi-kun (#立石くん) and #FirefighterDaysPic (#消防士時代の写真) did go trending on Twitter. I thought it was clever when Utahiroba said, “If he were dripping in sexiness like this, fires would go out on their own.”

He also said things like “Announcing a burning love alert!” haha. I’m very thankful. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Utahiroba again for featuring me in his corner.

ーOkay, I’ll write that down, haha. When you were deciding on your career, you had a hard time choosing between attending university or becoming a firefighter, weren’t you?

When my mom asked me, “Why do you want to go to college? What’s your purpose for going there?”, I couldn’t answer her. So when I thought again about what I wanted to do, I decided that I wanted to aim to become a firefighter. 

ーOf all the jobs out there, why firefighting?

There was a fire prevention drill at my elementary school, and the firefighters that came to lead it were cool. Boys at that age do find things they admire at least once. After that, the film “Umizaru” became popular when I was in middle school. The term “lifesaving” left a huge impression on me, and I thought that while it may be difficult, a job that saves lives is really wonderful. I wanted to have something worth doing like that as my profession.. 

ーYour sense of justice has been very strong since you were young.

Hmm, I wonder. Is it? Haha

ーI heard that the Tokyo Fire and Disaster Management Agency is quite hard to get into. Their acceptance rate is high; did you have to work hard at studying? 

I did, haha. They had a written exam and a physical strength exam, but I started studying since first year high school, had tutorials, and I asked my upperclassmen about it.

ーIt must have been hard to build physical strength as well.

Yes. I was already doing sports, so I had a foundation to build on, but I still did a lot of muscle training and running.

I cried in frustration at the words of an old stranger, one night in Kitasenju  

ーAfter that, you passed the entrance exam in one take and moved to Tokyo.

I didn’t exactly work immediately after I was employed. I went to a fire fighting school to learn the necessary information and skills, and there I experienced living in a dorm. I was raised with two older sisters and I always went to co-ed schools, so I was overwhelmed when I entered, haha. 

ーHaha. They must have been very strict with rules.

There’s a curfew at night and the time when you’re supposed to wake up is also fixed, so it was difficult to live out our lives with all those things decided for us. When we woke up in the morning, we ran and assembled at the oval, and then we had a roll-call. They even had rules on how to fold our mattresses. If you don’t fold it properly, you’ll have to do it over again, so they had very detailed rules like that.

ーWhat left a deep impression on you in your nearly two years of working as a firefighter?

What left the biggest impression was probably the people I met. The instructor and assistant instructor in my class were very compassionate people, and I’m very glad I met them. Above all, I still keep in touch with the assistant instructor. We even went out to drink together around the end of last year, just the two of us. 

ーHe’s still concerned about you even until now.

He’s the kind of person who would talk about things straight and to the point, which is something most adults wouldn’t do. I also opened up to him and talked to him about how I wanted to pursue music. …… Ahh, that brings me back, haha. Which reminds me, I was invited by my higher-up who likes music to perform at a small bar in Kitasenju. That assistant instructor also came to watch.

ーWhat did you sing?

A song by my higher-up’s favorite, Yutaka Ozaki. I didn’t know that song too well, but I tried to copy the way Ozaki sings when I sang it. When I did that, an old man who came as a guest told me, “Is that your real voice? You don’t leave an impression at all even if you copy voices like that.”

… Those words pierced through my chest, and after the live, I cried while eating sushi in front of my assistant instructor and my higher-up, haha.

ーYou cried tears of frustration.

I haven’t cried in front of anyone ever since I became an adult…… but it somehow spilled out.

ーIs that the point when your dreams of becoming a singer were brought back to life?

I suppose so. That time was frustrating, but I’m grateful to that old man now, haha. 

When anxiety and fear turned into “fun”. I found a turning point in Mankai Stage

ーAfter experiencing your debut at Tenimyu in 2017, you gained a sudden rise in popularity by appearing as Itaru Chigasaki in the 2018 production of Mankai Stage “A3!”. Do you remember the time when you got accepted for your role in Mankai Stage?

I went into Mankai Stage after experiencing two musicals in Tenimyu, but at the time, I was still afraid of standing on stage and felt embarrassed to act, so I was very anxious. On top of that, he’s an extremely popular character, and he’s really attractive, so I didn’t know what to do.

That’s why I consulted my co-actors a lot, like Yamato (Furuya) who plays Citron and Ray Fujita who plays Sakyo Furuichi. I stood on stage carrying all my unease at the start, but around the closing night, I felt like I finally had a grasp on Itaru’s character.

ーReally?

Itaru places distance between his colleagues in the Spring troupe and himself at the beginning, so in our first musical, I deliberately made a wall between the cast and myself.

ーWere you pulled in by your role?

It did have quite an effect at the time. I couldn’t really switch between work and private life, so I could only face them wholly. But now, of course, even if a role like that comes up again, I won’t be pulled in by my role, haha. 

ーThere’s a scene in the play where Itaru starts to find theatre fun. Has your own feelings ever overlapped with Itaru’s?

There was. The first performances in Tokyo ended in July, and the Tokyo return shows weren’t until 3 months after, so there was a lot of time in between. I was very frantic at first and it was just a lot, but by the Tokyo return shows, I found it fun.

ーHow did you feel on stage before the Tokyo return shows?

I didn’t know what to do, and I was pretty much just scared. I didn’t get to stand on stage all that much as Yukimura in Tenimyu, so I wasn’t used to the stage yet. I was a lot more nervous as Itaru than as Yukimura, haha. It almost felt like I was making my first stage appearance. From there, the Tokyo return shows passed and I grew accustomed to it little by little.

Apart from that, the Autumn & Winter 2019 performance which ran from January until March was also a turning point for me. Itaru appeared in it to support the Autumn troupe and the Winter troupe, but everyone’s acting made me want to do better too, and I was really impressed.

ーDuring the Osaka run, you also did things like go to Universal Studios Japan with the Winter troupe.

That’s right. We really got along well, and every time we ate during the provincial tour, it was like, the Winter troupe plus me, haha. Ryo Kitamura and Makki (Yoshihiko Aramaki), Kandai Ueda, Ue-chan (Keisuke Ueda), Ryosei Tanaka, would go, “Let’s grab some food,” and invite me. It was a very nice, comfortable place.

ーAnd, you mentioned before that during the the rehearsals for the Spring solo performance in April this year that the words of Director Fumiya Matsuzaki gave you confidence.

Yes. During the break, Director Matsuzaki told me, “The fact that you’re having fun while acting is showing in your performance this time,” and I felt really happy that he went out of his way just to tell me that. That gave me confidence. I really owe Director Matsuzaki a lot as my teacher.  

ーDid you welcome the Spring solo performance with that feeling?

It was the best! 

There were a lot of scenes where Itaru drags the stage, so I really felt like I had control of the stage, and while that came with a lot of responsibility, it was extremely fun. I felt the sense that I was creating the play along with everyone in the Spring troupe.

ー2019 was the year of development for you, wasn’t it?

I was. But Mankai Stage actually started the year before, even though I feel like it’s been three years, haha. I guess, with that, 2019 was quite a fruitful year.

Toshiki Tateishi takes on the “Would You Rather?” challenge!

ーQuestion 1: If you were to have only one friend for a lifetime, would you rather have... A. A friend who always cancels on you at the last minute B. A friend who always gets jealous easily

Will I ever get to meet my friend even if they always cancel at the last minute?

ーYou will meet them, but they will frequently message to say, “I can’t go today,” even if you’re already at your arranged meeting spot.

Then I guess it’s better to have a jealous friend.

ーHow come?

Isn’t it nice, though? You’re very much loved, haha. 

ーThey’ll keep nagging you with questions like, “Who were you with yesterday?”, though.

Isn’t that cute? Haha

If they ask, it would be fine to just answer and say, “I was with ___.” Even if they easily get jealous, I’m sure that if we hang out together, they’ll cheer up about it. Sudden cancellations just ruin plans, so that’s worse, haha.

ーQuestion 2: If you were to get married, would you rather be married to... A. A girl who doesn’t talk at all B. A girl who will talk your ears off for as long as you’re together

There are a lot of things you can’t communicate without talking, so it’s better to be with a girl who talks than a girl who doesn’t. I’d rather not be told something later on like, “The truth is, it was like this, but…”

ーThere are a lot of stories where someone doesn’t want to say something but wants their partner to notice on their own.

True. That’s why I’d be happier if they would just say it.

ーBut if you come home from work all tired, and they’ll keep talking and talking...

Then I’ll make them be quiet. I can’t just let them talk for 24 hours, haha.

ーQuestion 3: If you were to go on an overseas trip, would you rather... A. Be left behind in a jungle B. Be left behind in a desert

Aaaagh… both of those are really scary. There would probably be water and food in the jungle, but there would also be crocodiles and snakes and bears and insects, and there are a lot of dangers. On the other hand, it’s hot in the desert, and there would be nothing to drink, and even in the desert, there would still be snakes and scorpions.

(grimaces) Yikes...

ーIt’s “Would You Rather”, so you’ll have to make do... 

For the desert, it also depends on how long it would take for me to get to a town.

ーPerhaps you might find an oasis along the way.

If I’m allowed to wear proper, durable clothes, I’ll go for the desert. Even if I suddenly get attacked by a scorpion hidden in the sand, my clothes will be strong enough to defend me, haha.

ーQuestion 4: If you were to be reborn, would you rather be... A. A guy B. A girl

Huh, I’ve never thought of that before.

ーIs it because you have sisters? So you don’t have any curiosity towards what it’s like to be a girl.

That’s probably it. I’ve had friends who only have brothers tell me, “Must be nice to have sisters,” but I’d tell them, “Not really,” haha. 

Ahh, what do I do. I think I’d like to be a dolphin or a bird.

ーThat’s a good answer, haha.

Ah, but I don’t want to see the sea at night; it gets scary. Guess I’d rather turn into a bird after all, haha.

ーQuestion 5: What kind of 2020 would you rather have? A. A calm year where nothing good and nothing bad happens B. A turbulent year where you experience the best and worst moments of your life

I wonder how bad the worst moment could be, haha. I’m sure there are people who prefer to live a safe life with no gains and no losses, but that’s scary. … But, yeah, I guess I’d definitely go for a year with the best and worst moments.  

ーYou prefer the turbulent year?

It isn’t time for me to rest yet, I guess. It would be nice to spend my days peacefully someday, but for now, I want to experience a lot of things and grow more. So bring it on, turbulent 2020.

#toshiki tateishi #tateishi toshiki #立石俊樹 #mankai stage #tenimyu #yukimura seiichi #chigasaki itaru