Wao Youka :


- can't sleep in the dark.

It's been like that ever since I was little. It doesn't bother me when I'm sharing with someone, but when I'm alone, as soon as it goes dark my imagination runs wild and I make up monsters in my mind.


- is favourite stall at festivals is the Baby Castella (2) stall.

Whenever I go to a festival, I buy some Baby Castella to take home. It's just a rule. (laughs).


- tends to choose stone on the first go at Janken (3).


- is most important criterion for choosing a new mobile phone is the design.

Even the one I'm using now I chose only for the design. I like it because it's very small and plain. I don't really use all the complicated functions on mobile phones, so I like them simple both on the outside and on the inside.


- hardly ever gets drunk.


- doesn't own a single skirt.

The last skirt I wore, apart from on stage, was my uniform at the music school (laughs). But I didn't really have many skirts even before I entered the school. If I see a nice skirt in a shop, I will look at it, but I wouldn't consider wearing it myself (laughs).


- if she were to visit another planet, would go to Mars.

I want to meet Martians (laughs). Those imaginary Martians you often see in pictures, well, if they existed, wouldn't they be cute? Like Kanegon and Pigumon (4) (laughs). I like that kind of oddly proportioned look (laughs).


- passed both her highway code and driving license test on the first try.

Piece of cake! (laughs)


- always puts her left shoe on first.

It's just a habit. My left foot moves first of its own accord.


- is generally either eating or sleeping when on an aeroplane.

Sometimes, I can't wait for the set meals, so I munch on something I've brought with me as soon as I get on (laughs). Then, when I'm full, I sleep. But if I end up sleeping through a meal, it's a real shock! (laughs)

• addendum p.114

The first thing she does on a train or plane journey is eat.

"Even in the shinkansen, the first thing I do is eat. In my case, I've finished by the time we get to Kyoto." (starting from Shin-Osaka, approx. 15 minutes from Kyoto)


******


Hanafusa Mari :


- used to roller-skate a lot as a child.

"I would whizz round and round the neighbourhood (laughs)."


- ties her fringe up in a hair band as soon as she gets home.

I just don't like having my fringe down (laughs). At home, when I'm not sleeping, I always have it in a hair band.


- can sleep just as well with any pillow.


- always starts packing long before anyone else.

I quickly work out how soon I have to get it done by, and while no-one else around has started preparing at all, I get down to it diligently (laughs).


- always has propolis sweets at hand in the changing rooms.

Propolis is supposed to have a sterilizing and immunizing effect, so I have them to avoid catching a cold.


- The place she'd like to see at least once in her life is the Angel Falls in Venezuela.


- doesn't feel right unless she's holding her bag on the left hand side.

It's just habit. It's probably not good to always have one's bag on the same side, but if it's on the right, it just feels wrong. Even when it's a shoulder bag, I wear it so it's on the left.


- once did a Gô Hiromi (5) impersonation at a party.
It was a small sketch I did with my classmates from the same year when I was in Yukigumi. I was singing and dancing in an afro wig and great thick eyebrows. I remember Takako-san was very complimentary about it.


- can't walk past a pancake (crepe) shop without going inside.

When I get a whiff of pancake, I can't resist it. Back in primary school, I always had a pancake on the way back from swimming lessons and even now, when I smell pancake, it reminds me of those days and I feel like eating one. By the way, my favourite kind is chocolate and banana.


- is so good at skiing she could come down Mt Kilimanjaro on her own.

At the end of the skiing camp I went to every year when I was little, I got a badge saying something like You've got so good you could ski down Mt Kilimanjaro on your own! When I was little I loved skiing, but I haven't done it for so long I don't think I'd be much good at it now.

• addendum p.114

At the time, she was also asked whether Mt Kilimanjaro was the tallest mountain in the world.

"Nu-huh. The tallest mountain is Mt Everest (laughs)."
And with that, she had earned the badge.


******

Notes:

(1) "Gozonji deshou ka?" means "Did you know?". The English word "show" is pronounced "shou" in Japanese, so it's a play on words.

(2) A kind of soft sponge cake.

(3) The Stone-Scissors-Paper game.

(4) Monsters from 1960s Japanese Ultraman Series.

(5) Japanese singer, born in 1955, most famous for creating the Japanese version of Ricky Martin's huge hit Livin' la Vida Loca. (source: Wikipedia)