Philosopher Riida When He Is Speaking

-       "In Arashi, there are times when I feel like I’m not taking it seriously.
I feel as though I’m the most childish one. Because everyone is thinking about everything so much, they’re all so adult-like."

-       "If I had gone to senior high, I would never have been able to go to Kyoto. I’m positive that I made the right choice. Because, the experiences in Kyoto became a very important part in my heart. To tell the truth, it was tough. I was worn off after 5 performances everyday. At first it was still okay, there were quite some people during Summer. But when Autumn comes, it’s so empty! There was even a record of only 50 people, in an arena that holds 1000 people! There’re only 5 rows seated with people, and it seemed like those boys are forced to come here for their graduation tour, sitting right in front with faces that wrote “this is so damn boring”. Like this, 5 shows everyday, it’s really tiring."

-        "I don’t love traveling, but I also don’t hate it (laugh). Somehow, wherever I go, I always feel like going back home (laugh). The longest I can stay away is 2 nights and 3 days. Especially trips abroad, I’m not very good with them."

-       "When I was young, I am not able to keep quiet and just sit still. Therefore I am always getting myself hurt. “Don’t touch this!” I’ve been told, but I touched the opened can from the side and hurt my finger. When I sit behind my father on the bike, they’ve already said “Careful of your leg!” as a warning, but still my leg got into the moving wheel and I got 15 stitches. I’ve got lots more scars and bruises; you can say I’m a pretty hopeless kid."

-       "People usually say things like “I can’t cook” don’t they?
There is nothing you can’t do."

-       "My dad likes fishing, he always brings me along. The night before that, when I see my dad packing his fishing equipments, I’ll be very happy. “We’re going fishing tomorrow!!” like that. I like those nights. Barbeques too, packing all types of things into the food box, it’s a wonderful feeling. Talking about the Ohno family, it’s like a synonym to barbeque. We still have it now once or twice a year as a family gathering. Sometimes I can’t attend the family barbeques cause of my work, when this occurs, mom will ask “Can’t you get a leave?”.

-       "But if you don’t try to talk to the person, everything will just end at that eye contact. As long as your open your heart, happiness will enter. This is my thought, and I will continue doing this."

-       "Talking about myself changing, I guess I’ve become more enthusiastic, even my voice became higher, it’s unbelievable, isn’t it? In my impression, when guys grow older, our voice tend to be deeper, but now I feel my voice is just like Nino’s, although his voice is naturally very high. But when I listen to the CD, I feel like it’s quite similar, I was shocked (laugh).

-       But working in this field, you rarely get to socialize with other people. I do feel lonely too, cause I was cheated once. Then my self-protectiveness comes, and instead it’s the person who is worried about me. And there are also times when I’ll think “isn’t there any way out?”, it’s really lonely to think about those times."

(about how to win Ohno's heart)

-        "Let’s see… I don’t know. I don’t think I’ll fall for anything anymore. I won’t. What could work? Oh… I got it! Scent. If someone smells nice, I’ll want to follow them around [laugh]. Right? I’m not talking about those who douse themselves in perfume. Nice-smelling people make me want to follow them. I want to keep smelling them. Like, “Ah! Aaaah…” I sound like a pervert, don’t I [laugh]?"

(answering the question "Who do you think is the sexiest member in Arashi?")

-       "No.1 is MatsuJun. Those eyes….his eyes are erotic aren’t they. Those eyes. His flirtatious glance. I can’t stare like that (laugh). That’s something that only he can do."

-       "Well first of all, I didn’t think I’d get a role as a lawyer (laughs). But if it’s something on the outside like that, I can deal with it. The problem is what’s inside this Ryou. He’s given his life for this revenge to take place, which means he’s killing all his own emotions, and so if you think of it normally, some things start making no sense. In the notes on the script, there’re words like “Looking like a devil,” and “Smiling,” but even if he laughs or gets mad, he’s basically the same, that’s how Ryou is. But from the audience’s viewpoint, if there’s no change on the outside, it’s hard to understand what’s happening on the inside. So it’s really hard balancing things in that respect." (on Maou)

-       "What it means to live on… no, maybe not that, but it would be good if it has a positive effect. Though it’s quite a complicated story, but if it makes you re-think about how fragile & scary human beings can be, I’ll be glad. And also, if you watch the drama & learn that you shouldn’t take revenge, that would be good [laughs]. (about what the audience should get from Maou)"

(when he was asked to say something good about each member)

-       "Aiba chan, he eats all of his lunch box nicely. He never leaves anything (laugh). Nino, the way he always continues the things he likes, MatsuJun is kind. Sho-kun is……..a really hot guy! Hehehe."

-       "I want to go to a desserted island with Ninomiya Kazunari."

-       "I haven’t seen you guys lately, have I? [...] I try my best to read all the fan letters. Also I recently bought a pc so I visit the websites made for me by the fans a lot. When I’m reading the contents on those sites, I see a lot of fans saying “Ohno-kun said in a magazine that he bought a pc and views the fansites. I wonder if he really does that?” Of course, I really do look at them."

-       "Actually…I want to become normal guy. Being able to confidently walk in the streets without anyone noticing. I’d like to just walk freely."

-       “At the end of the day, I just do what can I do now”.

-       "For one play I was in, I was told five minutes before the real thing that the veteran actor I was acting with was going to retire after that play. From him-/herself. Near the end of the play there was a scene where we glared at each other, and I say something to the effect of “Don’t quit!” and try to stop him/her. And my emotions totally synchronized with my lines. S/he usually didn’t cry in that scene, but for that show s/he did, and that got me teary too, and in the middle I kind of lost track of whether I was saying what I was saying as lines or as the real me. There’re times when it’s an act but it’s not really an act, it really happens. After the show I was totally drained."

-       "You know, it’s really reassuring, when Nino is with me."

-       "Now that I’m staying at my folks’ home, so my room is sorta like the place which I only return to sleep (laugh). If I start staying out alone, I guess I would be very particular about the interior design. I will not just move things over just as they are, I will modify the standing lamp, and I will have my own tables and chairs custom-made, because I like to do these kind of things. So that is why when I give presents to the girl I like, I will most probably give her something I made myself. The same goes to dating, I will think of going to places like little special stores; at that time if the both of us can feel “hey~ this is kinda nice” or “how cool is that?!”, I will feel very happy, I guess we’ll be fine with each other for quite some time…"

-       "Through our hard work, we want to be the pillar of support for people who have lost their self confidence or have low self-esteem of themselves. We want people to look at us and think ‘These guys, they are just ordinary guys but they are doing great things, so we can do it too."

-       "Some time ago, it became popular to speak Kansai dialect among the members. Since we don’t really know the real Kansai dialect, we’d just randomly say the cliched phrases. But when all of us had forgotten about it, Matsujun started doing it again. To top it off, his Kansai dialect is so bad that it makes us burst out laughing. "

-       "Nino, thank you for always protecting me. Thank you for the skinship (laugh)."

To Arashi,

-       Am I alright the way I am? If you have something you want to tell me, please say it. If you want me to fix something, please let me know. I will do my best! Also, I’ll treat you guys one day. Someday. (laugh)
Let’s do our best from now on too!"

-       "My ideal type? Well when we are together, even if we don’t talk, we’ll be able to understand each other, that sorta girl. Even if it’s the first meeting this girl, just by a little chat I’d be able to have a direct response, that I can have ‘resonance’ with this girl, it just feels right. Other than that, when I confess my love, I’d most probably just say a simple “I like you”; but when I’m going through a break up, just so I can forget it faster, I will focus fully on my work or my hobby I think, and because when I’m more hardworking than before, perhaps the outcome will be superbly great (laugh). I do have friends who already has a family of his own by the age of 24, but because I’m not too sure about my situation, so I’m not planning to get married yet. However, I do have the intention to try, and I’d like to see my own kids, at the same time as a man, I do not want to give up on what I’ve decided to do, instead I’ll focus and head straight for my goal."

-       "But to me, the time I’ve spent together with Arashi is very important. It’s something I’d really wanna treasure. We get really precious memories in every concert. But talking about Arashi, indeed it’s “Here We Go” concert. We had a long chat till dawn, understood every member’s thoughts. Before that, we didn’t know each other that much. Now we have a fair idea what Arashi is all about, what we individually plan to do as Arashi in the future. After knowing all these, I felt “from now till forever we have to do this together, the five of us”. Knowing that everyone treasures Arashi, I am really happy."

-       “There are big ship, and there is also a small ship. But the best ship in the world is FRIENDSHIP.”