Chapter Sixty-Four: Points of Resemblance (1/2)

February 3rd. As the final note in the promotion of his new single, Ye Zhao once again stepped onto the stage of MUSIC STATION after more than four months.

That afternoon, Ye Zhao arrived at the TV Asahi building for the final rehearsal before the live broadcast. This time, it wasn’t Akihiko Niigaki accompanying him, but Yuki Uemura instead.

Backstage, when Ye Zhao brought his new single as a gift to Tamori, Tamori accepted the CD but said, “There’s no need to bring CDs anymore in the future.”

At first glance, it sounded as if Ye Zhao had offended a big shot. He was immediately puzzled, standing there dumbfounded.

Seeing his reaction, Tamori suddenly remembered that this young man was still a greenhorn and chuckled as he explained, “What I mean is, I already remember who you are. So you don’t need to bring a CD—just showing up is enough.”

If that’s all, couldn’t he have been more direct? Relieved, Ye Zhao thought silently to himself.

...

Ever since MS first aired, every episode had featured a Johnny’s artist—except for one. In 1997, when KINKI KIDS and DA PUMP were scheduled to appear together, Johnny Kitagawa, the president of Johnny’s, suddenly canceled KINKI KIDS’ slot before the live broadcast, claiming, “Male idol groups from Johnny’s shouldn’t perform alongside male idol groups from other agencies.”

That’s why people say Johnny’s monopolizes the male idol market and suppresses other male idols. With their power, they don’t need to use overt or covert tactics; simply waving the “no co-appearance” banner is enough for TV stations to weigh their options and automatically forgo the other side.

Even BRUNING, powerful as they were, could hardly get another taste of Johnny’s share of the male idol market, despite Johnny’s having suffered a silent loss over the Kimi Hirobi incident.

...

Tonight’s Johnny’s guest on MS was TOKIO, a band that had debuted just last year. Speaking of groups debuting as bands from Johnny’s, TOKIO was the second—the first being Hikaru GENJI.

But while Hikaru GENJI was called a band, their musical skills and musicality were average at best—they were idols holding instruments rather than real musicians, and if their abilities were truly put to the test, their peers would likely burst out laughing.

Perhaps to redeem themselves, Johnny’s launched TOKIO as a band last year. Unlike their predecessors, this band was impeccable in their instrumental performances. Although they were still “performance bands,” mainly singing songs composed by others, the members themselves were creative and occasionally contributed their own songs to singles and albums.

Ye Zhao didn’t particularly care about TOKIO, since it was just a brief encounter. What did catch his attention was his so-called “official rival,” who had been unwittingly dragged into the media spotlight for months.

Masaharu Fukuyama—in today’s terms, the guy was just plain handsome... Well, that’s an understatement, but his good looks were undeniable. In the Japanese entertainment world, there were a handful who could rival him in looks alone, but when it came to both popularity and looks, only he and Takuya Kimura stood at the top.

There’s a joke that says, half the women in Japan love Takuya Kimura, and the other half love Masaharu Fukuyama. It may be exaggerated, but it gives a sense of just how popular these two are.

Usually, when two people are set up as official rivals, things can get awkward when they meet. But that wasn’t the case with Ye Zhao and Masaharu Fukuyama. After all, to be fair, they were both bystanders caught in the crossfire.

Referring to the recent “Masaharu Fukuyama II” controversy, Fukuyama kindly offered some advice: “Honestly, just take what magazines say with a grain of salt. When I first started to get popular, there was a magazine that called me ‘the successor to Yutaka Ozaki.’ I was flattered to be compared to Mr. Ozaki, but really, we don’t have much in common, do we?”

“Well, there are a few similarities,” Ye Zhao joked. “Both young, both handsome, both singer-songwriters.”

“Haha, if you put it like that, then isn’t there a similarity between you and me, too?”

“That’s true,” Ye Zhao mused. “But if you’re similar to Mr. Ozaki, and I’m similar to you, doesn’t that mean I’m also similar to Mr. Ozaki?”

Masaharu Fukuyama stared at Ye Zhao for a moment, then burst out laughing. “Ye Zhao, you really are an interesting person!”

At eight o’clock that evening, the live broadcast began.

In this episode of MS, besides male solo acts Ye Zhao and Masaharu Fukuyama and the male idol group TOKIO, the other four guests were all women—and strikingly beautiful at that. The long-legged beauty Chisato Moritaka, super idol Shizuka Kudo, multi-talented Miho Nakayama, and the queen of love songs Miki Imai—together, these four could be called a veritable “visual dream team.”

For various mysterious reasons, MS never had male audience members at regular broadcasts—except for special episodes. Otherwise, just the sight of these four beauties sharing the stage would have driven male fans wild.

In contrast, when Ye Zhao, Masaharu Fukuyama, and TOKIO took the stage, the female audience members screamed as if throat lozenges cost nothing.

Masaharu Fukuyama was scheduled to perform first, and backstage, Ye Zhao could almost feel the roof being blown off by the frenzy.

The hosts, Tamori and Satsuki Ariga, faced with such a lineup of handsome men and beautiful women, made the most of every opportunity to joke and tease their guests.

Halfway through the program, Ye Zhao’s seat was moved next to Tamori.

“Up next is Ye Zhao. Ye, it’s been a long time,” Tamori greeted him.

“It has been a while,” Ye Zhao replied with a polite nod.

Satsuki Ariga added, “Ye Zhao’s single ‘WINTER, AGAIN,’ released in December last year, officially surpassed one million copies in January, becoming the first 12-centimeter single to reach a million on the ORICON chart.”

The audience erupted in warm applause and a chorus of congratulatory shouts.

“Speaking of which, there’s another guest here tonight who just released a 12-centimeter single,” Tamori handed the topic to Masaharu Fukuyama. “Fukuyama, your ‘HELLO’ is doing so well—it’s sure to hit a million too. How do you feel about that?”

“I was planning to do something big for my twenty-sixth birthday, but Ye Zhao beat me to it. I kept grumbling to myself, ‘Why celebrate my twenty-sixth instead of my twenty-fifth?’” Fukuyama joked.

Ye Zhao laughed as well. “Since this single was my comeback, I hope you’ll forgive me, Fukuyama.” As he spoke, he even put his palms together in a pleading gesture.

The audience applauded again, with a few shouts of “Go for it!” mixed in.

“Speaking of the new single, you went up north for this one, didn’t you?” Tamori asked.

“Yes. I started in Hokkaido and made my way down to Shizuoka. It was a very fulfilling journey.”

“Incredible. Not many people would go to such lengths, would they?” Tamori said with admiration. “At the year-end party, Sanma even mentioned it—‘It’s just like the folk singers of the seventies!’ That was his comment.”

Sanma referred to Akashiya Sanma, who, along with Tamori and Takeshi Kitano, made up the “Big Three” of Japanese comedy. Compared to Tamori’s milder style, Sanma was a whirlwind of chatter—a guest who could take over any show with his energy, and more importantly, could leave you laughing so hard it hurt, no matter how much he talked.

“Now, it’s almost time for your new song performance. Anything you’d like to say?” Tamori asked.

“Well,” Ye Zhao said with self-deprecating humor, “Spring break is almost here, and I’m still singing a winter song—it feels a bit out of season.”

“Why not release a spring single right away?” Tamori suggested. “Then you’d have songs for all four seasons! In fact, you’ve truly mastered the art of writing songs inspired by the seasons.”

Amid the audience’s laughter and the guests’ good-natured chuckles, Ye Zhao rose and walked onto the stage.

...

Just as Tamori had predicted, two weeks later, music magazines reported that Ye Zhao and Masaharu Fukuyama would be releasing a collaborative single on April 18th, and the theme would be spring.