On the bayfm radio show “Tonight, Under Sakura’s Tree” (every Wednesday from 24:00 to 24:30) broadcast on Wednesday, June 10, 2020.
In response to a listener’s question, “What do you do when you feel lonely or homesick?”, Miyawaki Sakura of IZ*ONE talked about when she first started living in a dorm in Korea.
Miyawaki Sakura: Radio name “WIZ*ONE Kaku-kun”. Thank you.
Listener mail: I’m Kaku-kun from WIZONE, who always supports IZONE.
Miyawaki Sakura: Thank you.
Listener mail: I like Hi-chan the most, and I’ve been watching her from her Japanese shows until now, but seeing Saku-chan, Nako-chan, and Hi-chan working since they were young reminds me of what I did back then and makes me think, “They’re amazing.”
If you think about it, the three Japanese members came to a foreign country at a young age, experienced a lot of things, and even though they have “family-like members,” I think they sometimes feel lonely or homesick. I wonder how they overcome that loneliness at times like that.
I hope that you continue to spend time with the members like friends or family and have only happy things happen to you.
Miyawaki Sakura: Thank you.
Hmm, I wonder. I don’t feel homesick or lonely anymore, but…
When we were living in the dorm for the first time and preparing for our first song, “La Vie en Rose,” we didn’t know Korean. And we didn’t understand the Korean system… and we’d never lived in a dorm before…
I really think we got through that time well (laughs).
But what’s really interesting about us, Sanaki, is that all of us are quite…I don’t know, not “tough” but “unwilling to rely on others.” When we’re going through a tough time, we sometimes say “it’s tough, isn’t it?” but… we don’t really like it because none of us like to show our “crying side”…
When I say “Actually, I was crying back then,” they’re often like, “What? I was crying too…alone.” They should just tell each other, but for some reason they don’t.
…But.
Even now, when I think about it, thinking “why didn’t we say anything,” I still feel like “we would all fall apart” if we weren’t “strong” at the time. I think somewhere in our hearts we all thought, “we have to be strong,” even if it was a lie.
It was a really tough time, but I think we got through it because the three of us thought, “you two are doing your best, so I have to do my best too,” and now I can’t help but enjoy living in the dorms with members who are like family to me.
…So I think, “I’m really glad you two were there back then,” and I’m sure you two also think, “I’m glad we were able to be together as a trio.”