Special Interview with Noriko Sakai: “I want to encourage the afflicted areas with my songs! Thoughts on Ishikawa, her “second hometown

2024-04-13

Deeply involved in both public and private life, Sakai visits Kanazawa two to three times a month at the most. As mentioned at the beginning of this article, it is not surprising that he was greatly shocked by the Noto Peninsula earthquake.

After the earthquake, I happened to see the Instagram of the owner of a well-established sake brewery who appeared on my radio program. There, he wrote Please don’t refrain yourself. Those who are in good health who were not affected by the disaster. If you stop the economy, nothing will happen. I thought he was right.

It is indeed a sad event that we were hit by a major earthquake, but we cannot recover just by refraining from the disaster. I wondered what I could do to help my ‘second hometown’ in my own way.

What came to mind was the Showa-era chanson singer and actress Koshiji Fubuki, who Sakai played in the stage production of “Last Dance is for Me,” which was staged from August to September 2009.

Koshiji, who was also the top star of the Takarazuka Revue, traveled throughout Japan during and after the war to comfort people. She encouraged the Japanese people, who had been battered by the war and were at rock bottom, with her songs. How many people must have been saved?

Playing the role of Mr. Koshiji made me realize once again the power of entertainment. Perhaps it is in times of hardship that people seek enjoyment. I, too, want to encourage people in the affected areas with my songs.”

On January 17, Sakai made a guest appearance at a free live performance for reconstruction in the Taisho-suji Shopping Arcade in Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture, which was severely damaged by the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake of 1995. She performed her signature song “Aoi Usagi (Blue Rabbit),” which was released in the same year.

In Kobe, she also participated in a soup kitchen serving “Noripi Curry” made with nori tsukudani (seaweed boiled in soy sauce). The smiles on the faces of those who listened to the song were too beautiful to resist ……. I haven’t been able to visit the Noto Peninsula since the earthquake, but it seemed like I was shown a future form of cheering up those affected in Ishikawa.”

On February 14, she held a Valentine’s Day and Birthday live concert in Tokyo. She and her fans raised funds at the event, which will be used as relief money through the B&G Foundation, a public interest incorporated foundation for which she serves as an “Ambassador for the Healthy Development of Children. She plans to visit the Noto Peninsula with the foundation’s staff in the near future.

In order to perform well, she also keeps up her physical training.

For the past 10 years, I have been doing muscle training, yoga, and dance to develop feminine muscle strength. One day, I saw Yuri Yasui, known as the ‘Queen of Bikini Fitness,’ at a department store in Ginza, Tokyo. I respected her way of life that says, ‘You can change yourself and your future,’ so I couldn’t help but call out to her.

When we asked her to write down her thoughts and feelings for the victims of the Noto Peninsula earthquake, Sakai signed her name on a piece of colored paper and wrote, “My heart is always with you.

My heart is always with you.

Sakai believes that singing and dancing can encourage people in their “second hometowns,” and she continues to share the wonders of entertainment.