Anime Herald Talks With Travis Japan

Note: Due to time sensitivity concerns, this will be published on the main Anime Herald site at 9:00PM EDT. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Interviewer: Seth Burn

Anime Herald: What has been the most pleasant surprise about living in the US (Los Angeles)?

Shime: The thing that has surprised me the most is how the dance lessons work. The ability for us to participate in these has inspired this desire to do more and be in front of people in a much more compelling way. That’s something that has surprised us about our own motivation since coming over and taking part in these activities.

Anime Herald: Let’s talk about the dance lessons. How would you say you’ve improved your skills from the dance lessons here in the United States?

Chaka: The “how to” of how to dance is not that different between how it is taught in Japan versus the United States. What I have noticed is that there’s a different type of emotional element to the way the environment is set up. With the various genres of teachers we’re able to interact with, we can look around and think “Oh, that looks cool, let’s try a little of that,” which allows us to experiment with different styles and mix and match our own. It’s a little bit more expressive as a lesson than the rigidity of the classes that we were accustomed to back home in Japan. It’s not that one is better or worse than the other, but it’s just a different style. It makes us feel like we’re learning differently than we ever have before.

Anime Herald: What is a normal workday like? Monday through Friday?

Chaka: We have English classes every day in the morning. Depending on our teachers’ schedules, we’ll then have dance classes, voice training lessons, and if there is an event we’re preparing for like the one we’re doing here at Anime Expo, we’ll rent out space to practice and rehearse for it.

(Editor’s note: If you’re curious as to their pre-US training singing prowess, you can look at their performances in the Tokyo Dome and Yokohama Arena.)

Anime Herald: Seven men, one house. Any fun stories from living together?

Shizu: Seven guys, one house, two bathrooms, and one is broken right now. It can make things a little stressful getting ready in the morning since we have to run in and out of the same area.

Anime Herald: Who broke the bathroom?

Shizu: I did.

Anime Herald: Congratulations!

Shizu: I’ve done this before. I’m very sorry!

Anime Herald: How did Shime get the solo room? Was it luck? Or did he win an arm wrestling competition?

Umi: It was originally set up at random like a roulette. But we regularly change rooms and now I have the solo room.

Anime Herald: How were Nakamura’s croquettes?

Umi: The croquettes were something I decided to make as part of my birthday celebrations. Apparently, they were super delicious because they were gone almost immediately. I received praise from everyone for the croquettes.

Anime Herald: You are all taking singing lessons. What kind of singers would you like to become?

Shime: Someone like Michael Jackson who was able to sing and dance together and be perfect in every element of his performances.

Anime Herald: Talking about Michael Jackson leads us to Travis Payne. Has Mr. Payne given you any fun stories from his career? He has worked with many famous professionals.

Chaka: One of the most frequent things we hear from Travis Payne is about his relationship with Johnny-san. They knew each other for a long time, and the stories that he tells about his times with Johnny and some of the other senior acts that he’s worked with, some even formed before we were born, are always really cool. All of the things Johnny said in English to Travis are especially fun for us to hear now.

Anime Herald: Would you like to share one of those stories?

Noel: One thing about Johnny-san is that he hated getting his picture taken, despite of how much he loved taking pictures of other people. He always had a camera with him, and Travis, being American and with that American charm, managed to get a few candid shots with Johnny. That’s an extremely rare occurrence, and in fact they’re the only candid photos we have of Johnny. He managed to get Johnny to overcome his hesitancy.

Anime Herald: World of Dance: You land, and on the next day you had the competition and got third place. What was that like? Were you tired from traveling?

Shime: It wasn’t so much that we were tired as much as we were uneasy. It was right after we arrived, and so our first experience doing anything here in the United States. The newness of it all was a little overwhelming. We were very happy, not just that we got third place, but that we got to be there and see so many people who showed up for us. It was such a great way to kick off our trip to the United States and really set the tone for everything that we’ve been able to do since.

Anime Herald: Speaking of dance competitions, do you want to talk about Prelude Las Vegas, or should what happened in Vegas stay in Vegas?

G: I chose the concept and choreographed our routine for Prelude Las Vegas. The biggest thing for me was to be able to compare it favorably to World of Dance and show that we’ve improved and we’ve grown since then. I felt there was a lot riding on what I wanted to do and what we could show off. Everyone was able to come together, and despite the fact we weren’t able to place at Prelude like we did at World of Dance, it was a great experience for us. We enjoyed being able to dance in a different environment, with different styles. Being able to get a sense of variety in these dance competitions we’ve participated in is something that touched me and everyone in the group.

Anime Herald: Do you share choreography duties, or is it one person per show?

Chaka: Typically what we’ve done is decide that this particular event will be choreographed by this particular individual. But to show the cohesiveness of the group, for the World of Dance finals it will be all of us working together. It won’t be choreographed by one person, it will be choreographed by Travis Japan.

(Editors note: We reached out for clarification and this was the response from Travis Japan: Chaka produced the World of Dance performance in March, merging his own original choreography for the first half and the professional choreography done for them for “Party Up Like Crazy” by Vinh Nguyen of Kinjaz. G produced the Prelude Las Vegas performance using a similar mix of original choreography of his own with established choreography from their original song “BIG BANG BOY.”)

Anime Herald: What first inspired you to get into dance and join Johnny & Associates?

Chaka: Originally, in elementary school I played a lot of soccer. My parents felt I needed better rhythm and balance, so they signed me up for dance classes. I took to it, and at the urging of my parents, I applied to the agency and was accepted. Johnny-san praised my dance skills and my style, and that kept me going. Since someone like Johnny-san recognized my talent, I want to keep moving forward with dance.

Shizu: My story is slightly different because I didn’t start learning dance until after joining Johnny’s. Johnny’s has a “sink or swim style” where you’re given a microphone and just told to “go!” I was touched by seeing all the sempai around me that looked so good. It appealed to me and became something I wanted to polish in myself.

Anime Herald: So, what was the reason you applied to Johnny’s?

Shizu: I applied to Johnny’s because I looked up to Yamada Ryosuke of Hey! Say! JUMP. I wanted to be like him and learn from him.

Machu: Like Shizu, I didn’t start learning dancing until after I joined the agency. It took me a while to take to dance. It wasn’t one of my natural talents. Johnny-san commented that my style was “very American.” For now, I’m not going to take it too seriously and just go with the flow. That became part of my style. Johnny-san thought that was very befitting of me. Based on that, I decided to pursue a career in dance.

Anime Herald: So, same question, what made you want to apply to Johnny’s in the first place?

Machu: My mother was a big fan of Johnny’s group ARASHI. She took me to a concert. Seeing the lights and the stage, everything was so amazing. I wanted to emulate that so the inspiration to apply came to me.

Noel: I went to see The Lion King. The showmanship and dance touched me and inspired me to become an entertainer and apply to Johnny’s. From then, I’ve been focused on building my persona as a performer.

Shime: My mom took me to a lot of Johnny’s shows. She was a big fan back in the day. I was touched by the showmanship everything about the style and wanted to emulate that. I wanted to pursue that in my own career.

G: I’ve been dancing since before I entered the agency. There was no particular reason, I just felt like dancing. I wanted to dance, so I did.

Umi: Before I entered the agency, I was part of a neighborhood baseball team. There was a girl on the team that danced. I went to her dance recital. It was amazing and I realized it was what I wanted to do for my career.

Anime Herald: Do any of you read manga or watch anime? If so, what are some of your favorites?

Noel: We’re all big fans of anime. One of my personal favorites is My Hero Academia.

Anime Herald: Go Plus Ultra!

Noel: My favorite character is Froppy.

Umi: Two of my favorites are Evangelion and Tiger & Bunny.

Chaka: As young Japanese boys, we all grew up with a lot of manga titles. All of our homes back in Japan have manga rooms with many of the titles we’ve read.

Anime Herald: Do you have any questions for us?

Chaka: Seeing Anime Expo, we’re quick to understand there’s a different cultural element to it. At the same time, even with all our differences, we’re still united by the same hobbies and interests, which I find very interesting.

Anime Herald: What are your plans for the future? What is next for Travis Japan (apart from the World of Dance finals)?

Noel: The next thing we’d like to do is release a song in the United States. The when and how of it are yet to be determined, but it’s definitely a dream of ours. To our fans who have supported us from our youngest days, we want to give back to them. We’d like them to be able to turn on their car radio and hear a song of ours. That would be a big treat for them and us both.

Anime Herald: What type of song?

Noel: Something that touches the world.

Anime Herald: Are there any current artists that you’re fans of? That impress you?

Machu: For me personally, Bruno Mars. Like Michael Jackson, he can combine singing and dancing into a top-notch performance. I respect that a lot. We want to eventually become a group known around the world and be looked up to the same way we’ve looked up to these global stars.

Anime Herald: Final question: What is the name of the unicorn and did it have a fun time at the park.

Noel: His name is Will. Actually, he’s a pinata, but we didn’t want to kill him.

Anime Herald: Thank you very much.

Travis Japan: Thank you!