(2018-01-27) Weekly PB

The pretty girl from Morning Musume。'18 Yokoyama Reina, why did she get so loud? "Because one of my teacher ..."

We carry out weekly interviews with "The expected idol". We chose Yokoyama Reina from Morning Musume。'18, the group celebrating its 20th anniversary! About 1 year ago, more precisely in December 2016, she joined Morning Musume。. Let's discover together the transcendent personality behind this pretty girl!

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― For "The Most Expected Idol of 2018", here's Yokoyama Reina.

Thank you very much for your choice. Today there are a ton of idols, so I would really like to stand out in 2018. To start, it's nice to realize that I'm a remarkable person. That's great.

― It starts strong (laughs)!

When I was little, I was very discreet. My fifth grade teacher helped me to impose myself a little more.

― Thanks to a teacher? What do you mean?

I had always been a studious and discreet student. I always received good grades and besides I only wanted to receive A. I wanted to be excellent everywhere. For exams, for class tasks, clubs, managing my life, ...

― I didn't expect to receive such a studious student.

Thank you very much. At that time, I was already very fond of studying and I was the class representative, so I wanted to be the model student.

― Oh, the class representative!

Yes. In my school, it was from the third-grade class that we had to elect a class representative. From the third grade to the fifth grade, I was a member of the class committee. In the eighth grade, I joined the life committee. Now, I'm the chair of that committee.

― You made it to the top! Finally, it really is a brilliant path. You really make a super cute president! What do we call you? By "Madam President"?

People called me "Yokoyama" (laughs). This is one of the reasons why I want to continue to stand out. In the fifth grade, I entered a club and I had a meeting there that one can call "fateful". He was my guitar teacher at a non-school club. He was passionate about his job. He was making plans that were too cool for the club. The two years that I stayed in this club, we organized an end-of-year show where we performed several performances with the members of the club. CDs of our songs and performances were sold at the end of the show.

― Seemed like a great teacher!

Right! The first year, we composed music ourselves. It was called "Egao ni Aeru ne". The following year we composed another one, "Ashita no Kaze ni Fukaretara". Each member wrote their own text and together we drew the best sentences to form a final text. Then, in the fifth grade, I started to like the word "smile" a lot, so I chose to write my text around that word and it ended up being in the title! Well, maybe others had written it too (laughs). During the distributions, I had a solo part and a trio part, I was so happy! The distributions were chosen by the teachers, not by us. My favorite teacher was Nagabuchi Tsuyoshi-san.

― So it was this teacher who made you loud?

Absolutely. My teacher was a huge fan of "Punk Booboo", he always had fun putting out some of the main lines of this show. At the beginning we laughed with him and little by little we started to push him on that, well especially me (laughs). I got up in the middle of class and I made a big deal out of it. I was screaming very loudly. The other club members applauded me and we all laughed together. I was told "You're amazing", "Yokoyama is too great".

― This is where your boke side comes from.

Possible. From that moment on, I found the first opportunities to bring out that character. I guess he never left. Before that episode, I read books in my corner, I didn't play with my friends.

― So today's Yokoyama-san is finally coming from a teacher?

We can say it like that. This teacher has had a huge impact on my life when I think about it. Thanks to him, I bought a guitar. I was able to buy it for myself thanks to money I was given at a New Year. Three days after I bought it, my brother broke it for me (laughs). I cried so much. I told the professor about it and he had tried to fix it for me.

― Can you now replay it?

Yes, if we twist the ropes well.

― Well done (laughs). Have you played it since?

From time to time, I take it out.

― I see. Do you remember the chords?

The main ones yes. I like to train, when my ropes cooperate and do not sulk. But I still know how to recognize adults and minors.

― I didn't know you knew how to play guitar.

Ah~ It's been a long time but I remember a few songs. I can play any tune that has Sol La Si Do.

― Do you know how to play other musical instruments?

I played the alto saxophone on my way back to college and participated in national competitions.

― Did you make it to the national competition ?! It's incredible. That too must have changed you.

I have never been the same, I have always changed. In primary, I was rather reserved. It was also during this period that I got to know Morning Musume。. In middle school, I started to socialize. And when I returned to high school, I became a Morning Musume.。member.

― Another fateful meeting!

It was during a class in the jazz dance club in which I had participated since kindergarten. One of my senpai was showing me several dance videos and I continued to watch some on my own. I came across the music video for "Souda! WE'RE ALIVE". I immediately became a fan of Takahashi Ai-san and I found the group so cool! This song was from 2002, I was just born. And I had become a fan of Takahashi Ai-san, who was already part of the group. I didn't have good timing...

― The end