■ “I want to grow into someone who can raise the level of Hinatazaka46 even higher, and I will do my best to catch up with my seniors, even if it’s just one step at a time.” (Hinatazaka46’s Ishizuka Yoko)
From June 21st to 23rd, Hinatazaka46 streamed “Hinatazaka46 Hour TV ~National Ohisamaization Plan~” on YouTube Live to celebrate the decision to hold the Hinata Festival.
This is a 46-hour live broadcast program planned to commemorate the large-scale festival “Hinata Fes 2024” that will use the entire Miyazaki Prefectural General Athletic Park, centered around the Hinatazaka46 concert to be held at Hinata Sun Marine Stadium Miyazaki in Miyazaki Prefecture on September 7th and 8th. In addition to a packed list of content, such as variety programs with guests Neptune’s Ken Horiuchi and Masuda Okada Keisuke, and individual programs in which each member tries what they want to do, there was also a surprise announcement of a 3-day live concert by the 4th generation members at Nippon Budokan.
The program began with Yoko Shogenji, who is the center of their latest single “You Are Honeydew.” As the first performer in the members’ personal project “Hinata no Jiyuu Jikan,” Shogenji, who holds a brown belt in Shitoryu Karate, received direct instruction from 2020 Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Kiyo Shimizu and attempted “Chatanyara Kusanku,” one of the most difficult karate forms. After reviewing a month of practice on video, Shogenji demonstrated the form in the studio. The other members were left breathless by his powerful movements, as well as his fearsome facial expression and his shout of “Oh!”, which is unimaginable from the usual Shogenji.
The main project for this 46-hour TV program, “Hinata Fest 2024,” will feature a “Hinata Fest Countermeasures Headquarters” with travel analyst Toriumi Kotaro, who will solve problems leading up to the festival, as well as a “CM Presentation Competition” and a “Hinata Fest Food Development Battle.” In the festival food development project, the 11 members who passed the presentation actually cooked the food, which the two members of the Okazu Club tasted. The food on offer includes “Oshimen Color Cider,” invented by the youngest member Watanabe Rina, and “Kanamura Family Fried Chicken” (fried chicken made by Kanemura Miku’s mother), which is well known among fans. In the future, they will consider which of these will actually be sold as festival food. In addition, “Miyazaki Cross-Country Ultra Quiz,” hosted by Hamakaan’s Hamaya Kenji, will broadcast a nostalgic Ultra Quiz-style program. The members planned a prank on Hamaya during the program, making the most of the appeal of Hinatazaka46, which is well known for its variety skills.
During “Snack Kumi”, where captain Sasaki Kumi acts as host, the members were invited to chat in a friendly and honest atmosphere. On the second day, Hikorohee also appeared as a surrogate host and gave a talk that was well worth listening to. Also, talents with ties to the Sakamichi Series, such as Takei So and Otenki Nori, showed up unannounced one after another and enjoyed the projects with the members. Neptune’s Horiuchi Ken participated in a member talk project titled “Hinatan Nouveau” as “2nd generation member Maron-chan”. He livened up the atmosphere with his high-energy talk that had him rolling around the studio.
Also, in the early morning of the second day, the members’ bedrooms were visited for a “pre-announced wake-up prank.” Reporter Sasaki Kumi took advantage of the fact that the members were awake and did whatever she wanted, including tickling Kanemura Miku to the point of fainting. When she opened the closet, she found Sasaki Mirei wearing a Hyottoko mask and sharpening a sword with her toes, a pose that overturns the concept of waking up, and other chaotic scenes continued.
In the members’ individual project “Hinata’s Free Time”, the members once again tried what they had been serious about before becoming idols, such as ballet by Kumi Sasaki and baton twirling by Sumire Miyaji, and many other projects were held that conveyed the passion of each member. Kawata Hina, who tried her hand at part-time work at Curry House CoCo Ichibanya for the first time, shed tears herself when she gave a present to Kumi Sasaki with her part-time job money, showing the love of the members.
Meanwhile, Yamashita Haruka, who was instructed by etiquette instructor Hirabayashi Miyako in order to “become a woman of a higher rank,” caused laughter with her incoherent exchanges throughout the event, and ended up receiving a score of “-100 points.” In the cosplay production project by Takahashi Mikuni (the official spelling of “taka” is “ladder-shaped”), Takahashi showed off her cosplay as Mikasa from “Attack on Titan,” Kosaka Nao as Inoue Takina from “Lycoris Recoil,” and Konishi Kanami as Jabami Yumeko from “Kakegurui,” leading to an impromptu photo session for Kanemura Miku and the other members.
Honoka Hirao, who loves idols, produced the idol unit “wisTar” consisting of Hinano Uemura, Hina Kawata, and Kanami Konishi. The studio was filled with excitement at the high level of perfection of their original song “Koi no Train”. The final individual project was Nao Kosaka. It was almost her first time to try archery, but after intense training, she successfully performed an amazing technique in the studio, popping three balloons at once.
In addition, live broadcasts were also conducted by members from Hokkaido, Tottori, and Miyazaki. Takahashi Mikuni and Fujishima Kaho were in charge of Hokkaido, and Fujishima, who is from Hokkaido, performed a calligraphy performance surrounded by sheep and a street live performance at Odori Park in Sapporo. It was also announced that Fujishima will be the first pitcher at the game between the Nippon-Ham Fighters and the Softbank Hawks to be held at S-Con Field Hokkaido on June 28th.
Tottori was represented by Yamaguchi Haruyo and Hirao Honoka, both of whom are from the same prefecture. The pair visited the Tottori Prefectural Office, where Governor Hirai Shinji personally informed them of their appointment as “Tottori Hometown Ambassadors.” Miyazaki was represented by Matsuda Konoka and Yamashita Haruka. They visited various locations related to this year’s Hinata Fes, and had Miyazaki Broadcasting staff sample the 100% buckwheat soba noodles that Matsuda Konoka had made. This was Matsuda’s first attempt at making soba noodles for this individual project, but it went so well that she ended up making them twice during the live broadcast.
On the morning of the final day, a video titled “Emergency Announcement” was suddenly shown. It was announced as a complete surprise, without even the members being informed, that a 3-day concert by the 4th generation members only would be held at the Nippon Budokan starting on August 27th. In fact, when Hinatazaka46’s predecessor group, Keyakizaka46 (Hiragana Keyaki), was scheduled to hold a joint 3-day concert at the Nippon Budokan, Keyakizaka46 announced the cancellation of the concert. At short notice, Keyakizaka46 was entrusted with the entire 3-day concert, and it is said that they performed this important role brilliantly, which led to the group’s subsequent leap forward.
The 4th generation members were tasked with performing the group’s legendary 3-day Budokan concert, and some were stunned and in tears, but Ishizuka Yoko spoke forcefully, saying, “I will do my best to grow into someone who can raise the level of Hinatazaka46 even further, and catch up with our seniors, even if it is just one step at a time.”
Other than this, the members split into groups for a chaotic time where they did whatever they wanted, a gaming tournament where Nao Kosaka played the central role in playing “Street Fighter 6” and “Mario Party Superstars,” and “Full Power Hinatazaka,” where the members ran up the hills of Miyazaki at full speed, were streamed. Late at night, precious footage of Hinatazaka46’s debut live and Tokyo Dome live were streamed.
The final big project was the “Out-of-Season Hinamatsuri Battle,” hosted by Masuda Okada Keisuke. The members of Hinatazaka46, who are recognized in the television industry for their “extraordinary variety skills,” created one laughter after another with a Ogiri project in which the members responded to various topics with flip charts. At the end of the show, the members showed off the completed blackboard art they had been working on during the 46 hours of TV. With the group’s staple live song “JOYFUL LOVE” playing in the background, an illustration of Hinata Sun Marine Stadium Miyazaki wrapped in a rainbow of Ohisama (nickname for Hinatazaka46 fans) glow sticks was overlaid with the message “To Miyazaki and the future together with Ohisama.”
The purpose of this project was to promote the large-scale festival “Hinata Fes 2024” that will be created together with Miyazaki Prefecture, but in the end, it was a chance to feel the hospitality of the Hinatazaka46 members as they put all their effort into entertaining their fans. At the same time, each member took on a new challenge, revealing their talents and potential. In the second half of 2024, Hinatazaka46 will continue to take on big challenges such as “Hinata Fes 2024” and a three-day concert at Nippon Budokan by the fourth-generation members, and it looks like they will continue to entertain the whole of Japan.
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