[JO1] Progress Takumi Interview

Handwritten Profile
Name: Kawanishi Takumi
How are you called by the members? Takumi
Birthday: 1999.6.23
Blood type: B
Home prefecture: the prefecture Hyogo
Charm point: voice, eyes
Interests: watching movies, sneakers
Skill: beatbox
Habit: ending up touching my mouth.
Favourite music: Jo1
Favourite sports: Baseball
TN: for the last two answers I copied his way of writing
Favourite food: strawberries, pizza
Favourite phrase: If you change your heart, your actions will change.
Your favourite item that you cherish using each day: AirPods
A place where you want to go: Hawaii.
Some you admire/respect: my father.
Some words to the fans: thank you so much for always.
JAM❤️__JO1
I love you ❤️

Since the time of my 2nd or 3rd year of elementary school, I watched the recordings of “Mecha 2x iketeru!”, in which Okamura Takashi-san and EXILE-san danced together, over and over and imitated the dancing. Both EXILE-san and Okamura-san were so cool. But I think I just had fun watching it. I played baseball the whole time and it never occurred to me to learn more songs or to try out more dances. It was just childish curiosity. But this might be my first memory of dancing.
I started to long for this career about the time when I was a middle school student. I did talk with my parents about it, but they told me to look at it realistically. Thus, I graduated from high school and got a job. It was a stable job, so I thought I could do it for a long time. During my 2nd year working, I got to know about PRODUCE101JAPAN. In the company I was in, the first year was the training period so I did some kind of training for a whole year. Every morning I ran 3 to 5 kilometres, and I had to acquire a lot of skills and qualifications necessary for the factory. Hence, I have a lot of qualifications. At first, I never thought about letting those go because it would have been a waste. However my mom knew a bit about the Korean PRODUCE101 and told me that it would also take place in Japan next. Once I heard about it, it was the only thing I could see. Since I always liked Korean culture, I thought “Isn’t it amazing that there will be a Japanese version?” When I consulted my parents after feeling that I wanted to challenge it, they told me that I should absolutely stop thinking about it. Besides them being the ones who told me about it (laughs). They were really worried that I would throw away the stability in my life.
Still, I wanted to challenge it after all, so I decided to resign. Of course I had to tell the company. I was more worried about that. They had been very good to me, so I felt very sorry about it. But when I honestly told them my feelings, the people from the company kindly accepted it. “You have such a dream? If you are serious about it, we have no choice. Do your best.” is what they said. They let me resign 1-2 weeks after that and when they told me it was something exceptional for the company, too, I felt even more sorry. Later, when I became a member of JO1 they were very happy for me, saying “Congrats. You are really amazing.”.
What I was worried about in the beginning of the dorm life of PRODUCE101JAPAN, was that I was hardly able to make friends. I’m shy of strangers, so I couldn’t talk to anyone in the beginning. I haven’t sung or danced before and around me there were a lot of experienced people, so everyone was scary. However, I didn’t came there to make friends and I believed that if I worked hard I would surely be chosen as one of the 11 members. Consequently, there were nothing but good people and they did talk to me (laughs). I’m thinking that I was blessed with the people around me and I was able to overcome it thanks to them.
I made my debut with JO1, but I haven’t gotten used to this world yet. When I appear on TV, my mother also tells me “you changed from the audience to the participant”, but I can’t feel yet that I’m an entertainer. It is such a strange feeling that it will be like this forever. But to be honest, it’s also fine if I don’t feel like that. I want to try to not to forget the innocence of a beginner while steadily keeping the awareness of a pro.
In JO1 there are a lot of different personalities, and my shyness is huge, so even in the group I’m nervous. I can’t talk to people well… (laughs) Even so, I hope to gradually build a relationship with them. The one who I think is my polar opposite might be the cheerful members like Sho-kun or Junki-kun. They are so energetic~ Because I’m also energetic, but my true side is a dark one. If possible, I don’t leave the house and I’m someone who likes to be alone.
I dreamed of standing on stage, so I really enjoy the lives. There weren’t a lot yet, but the fanmeeting has been fun. But because it was the first, I was so nervous. We hadn’t debuted yet, so I wasn’t able to imagine what kind of response would come. I felt nervous and scared, so next time I want to enjoy it to the fullest. I want to meet JAM again soon.
I think my colour is pink after all. That JAM thought that pink is good for me, made me think that pink is the one. Pink has something cute but also a sexy image. I hope to become such a person.
There are a lot of things that I value. The first thing is what my father has often told me: “to cherish encounters”. The second thing is the thing my mother told me so often that I can’t hear it anymore (TN: literally : that I get callouses from it on my ears): “to sympathise with the other one”. I had been an unruly child, so I was told this a lot. Since elementary school I always played baseball, but as a high school student I struggled with baseball with a desperate feeling. Back then the club members used to chant “If you change your mind, your actions will change.” However the words is actually much longer. These three quotes are what I’m always cherishing. It’s not that I have them written down somewhere, but they are always here (in my chest). It’s like a memory of my heart (laughs).