Idol AKB48 Special Topic 24: Shimazaki Haruka – Recognizing taste through salt

Due to geographical constraints, fruits and vegetables are often more expensive than meat in Japan. Especially in summer, watermelon, the most refreshing type of watermelon, costs hundreds of yuan a piece, and the more expensive ones can easily cost several hundred yuan. Many times people are only willing to buy by the slice, or choose sub-varieties that are less fresh and sweet. So the Japanese have a habit of eating watermelon, which is to sprinkle some salt when eating, so that the sweetness of the watermelon is highlighted by the salty taste. Even the less sweet part can be eaten with gusto as long as you mix in a little fine salt.

This is the king of condiments, salt, which uses the wisdom of human life to have wonderful uses outside of meals.

If people’s personality and mood are also described according to taste, bitterness and sweetness are easy to understand, and even sourness and pungentness are not difficult to understand, then the “saltyness” represented by salt is also What type should it be?

On March 30, 1994, Haruka Shimazaki, nicknamed "Paruru", was born in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. Haruka was born prematurely, weighing less than 2,500 grams at birth. She has been very weak since she was a child and has a very introverted personality.

Because her mother’s profession is a pet beautician, Haruka has preferred contact with small animals since she was a child. She raised many hamsters, tropical fish and puppies at home, and also served as the biology section leader of her class. In middle school, Haruka joined the wind club just because she didn't want to become the "homecoming club" and be disliked by her classmates. However, Haruka has always been serious about practicing saxophone, but she still lacks interaction with her classmates. She participates in various trainings and performances on time every day, but rarely goes out to party with friends.

Such a distant fragrance gives the impression to people around it like boiled water, calm and quiet. Although Haruka often stays at home, she has not developed various "homey" hobbies like other girls. She prefers to spend time feeding the small animals at home, or sitting on the balcony and reading a book. "Harry Potter", "Sherlock Holmes", "Tokyo Tower", and "The Little Prince" given to her by her grandfather... It was such a seemingly artistic childhood that made Haruka innocent and straightforward, but also cold. The unique character of inner heat. While other girls aspired to be idols on stage, her life dream at that time was to become a detective.

At the high school era that Haruka had always longed for, she finally tried to make some changes as a freshman in high school. At that time, Haruka began to fall in love with idols due to the influence of her peers, and wanted to get closer to the lives of idols. She especially admired Watanabe Mayu, who was also from Saitama Prefecture and her own age. When she saw the recruitment advertisement for the ninth generation of AKB48, At that time, Haruka chose to sign up without hesitation.

After joining AKB48, Haruka's life has undergone earth-shaking changes. She had to learn how to get along with strange companions day and night, how to cope with the endless rigorous training, and how to face fans and audiences. Their communication was exactly what she had never been good at.

It was a somewhat confusing and tangled period for Haruka. On the one hand, it was the surprise of becoming an idol. She had never experienced such a fulfilling life with such frequent interactions with others. The atmosphere of unity among the ninth-generation students made her feel the warmth of friendship. Somehow, I seem to be more popular than I thought. In the first general election, Haruka entered the top 28 as a trainee, and was even placed in high hopes of "taking on the role of Ace of the next era"; but on the other hand, with the increasingly frequent performance activities, and with her companions, As a result, his own shortcomings in business capabilities have gradually been exposed. It is precisely because of this uncertainty that Haruka has never been able to feel the recognition of her stability from fans and operators. She has been surprised by being entrusted with important tasks, and has also been given the cold shoulder.

The days continued in a slightly torturous atmosphere. Although she felt that she was far less qualified than her companions, on the fifth anniversary of AKB48, Haruka was promoted to official status with all the ninth-generation students. member. A year later, they formed a new Team4. This is a change by AKB48 to the previous trainee promotion model and UG system. These new members are no longer promoted to teams A, K and B respectively, but have their own team. In the performance of "Mian Escape from the King ~'Private Sun'", Haruka stood in the center position where Maeda Atsuko once stood.

It can be said that the quality shown in Haruka more or less allowed Akimoto Yasushi to see the shadow of A-chan. As a brand new team, this Team 4 also has high hopes and is regarded as the backbone of the next chapter. Brand new and independent, this also allows the members to experience the valuable experience that the original veterans experienced, starting from scratch; the team is all students of the same generation who have grown up together through thick and thin, and there are no seniors to rely on, so they must use their own way to prove yourself. Haruka is no longer the age A-chan was back then. She knows what kind of heavy responsibility she has to shoulder. She is burdened with expectations and has been working hard silently despite the name of "waste". And it was the weakness, clumsiness, confusion and frankness shown in this process that allowed Haruka's innate idol nature to begin to reveal itself.

Compared with the previous senior who was called "waste" in AKB48, Haruka does not have a naturally strong counterattack spirit like Shihara; compared to the "Yo-Yo Ma" whom he admired, "Parulu" also lacks the awareness and perseverance of an orthodox idol. She was pushed out before she was ready, and she was bound to experience more difficult tests and pressures. But Haruka is lucky. By coincidence, her specialness has been understood by more people through a magical definition, and triggered a wave that no one expected - "salt".

What is salt? This is an antonym of "god correspondence" to idols, the so-called "salt correspondence (塩対応)", which originally means "the feeling like eating a mouthful of salt after shaking hands", describing being an idol , but had a passive or even cold response to fans. Haruka is not good at dealing with fans, which seems out of place in AKB48 where everyone is trying their best to please fans and "god correspondence" emerges in an endless stream, but it also inadvertently highlights a unique characteristic. As mentioned before, AKB48 provides "character consumption" services, which is the so-called definition of idol service fans, and it is not just "please" in the narrow sense. Fans themselves have the initiative to "create characters". In other words, generally everyone likes Yuanqi's enthusiastic response, but for other character types, they can also get satisfaction from it, because what fans enjoy is the interactive process itself. So they created the concept of "salt". This phenomenon also reflects the public's boredom and rebellion against an inherent status quo: the idol profession itself is closely related to the economic status and social and cultural atmosphere, whether it is the prosperous bubble era or the economy During the recession, as idols that attracted much attention, they had to show vitality that could inspire people and a sense of reality that could be projected by the public - but these two are contradictory to each other. Tolerance of truth and individuality Meetings often conflict with the professional awareness that requires everyone to perform their duties. While people demand the emergence of perfect and touching idols to heal themselves, they have to doubt the logic of their real existence. Under this contradiction, as people's life pressure increases day by day, it is not difficult to understand the prevalence of so-called "Buddhist" culture. People simply avoid these truths and instead seek a kind of self-comfort reconciliation. If negativity is also a true open-mindedness, then there is no need to deny it. From this perspective, "Paruru, who is salt to all things", is actually the earliest "Buddhist Girl".

"Eating a mouthful of salt" - this metaphor is very vivid and can only be understood but cannot be expressed in words. No one can immediately explain what kind of experience it is. What is certain is that the impression Haruka's unique "ma pace" personality brings to fans is not "bitter", which generally means being attacked and offended, making people angry. Haruka, who has a gentle personality, obviously does not have the personality to deliberately make things difficult for fans; but she is not as "sweet" as an idol should be, making people feel warm and happy. Haruka always likes to simply answer phrases such as "um" when talking to people. She is not good at speaking and is not very good at expressing emotions. She is often cold-hearted or makes people feel that she lacks motivation. If we want to talk about the wonderful reactions from fans, in addition to the idol-like "fishing god" such as "Weather Sister" Kashiwagi Yuki, there are also some popular members in the past such as the cool Tomomi Itano and the "venomous" "King" Kojima. For a personality character like Hina, people have never seen such an extreme existence as "Parulu", which gave fans and the media a great sense of novelty. Just like a maverick literary girl in the class, Haruka is always in a marginal state of being slightly empty. She is not the "iceberg beauty" type who is deliberately perfunctory or deliberately ignoring others. She just can't find it. An opportunity to fully release and express your emotions. It is such an intoxicating and rare temperament that allowed Haruka to capture a large number of fans who appreciate her straightforward personality.

Just like Ah-chan, who was often said to be "not fully charged" back then, she also had many "full-charged moments". Usually it is difficult to see Haruka being emotional or talking non-stop. Once The "sweet dew" state appears. Because of the contrast and contrast, everyone will feel that such a rare Haruka is so cute. The basis of AKB48's success is that it has created countless idol types with obvious differences. The members are not products of a templated assembly line. Adhering to the members' natural growth and tapping into their unique personalities has always been Yasushi Akimoto's specialty. The characteristics of Haruka bring its own "salt" flavor to this wonderful dish of chowder. With the "salt dew" background, the vitality of fellow contemporaries Shimada Haruka and Yokoyama Yui's efforts are also highlighted. Haruka is not the kind of cheerful and familiar character, but she is gentle and gentle, very easy to get along with, and even becomes a little clingy after getting to know her well. The theater manager Togazaki called her "a different character from Oshima Yu, who is as active as a puppy." It is the opposite of a child, like a kitten." A team needs such a flavoring agent. Haruka does not have any ambitions as a captain or leader, and will not give people a sense of aggression or oppression. On the contrary, due to her "salt attribute", she can often neutralize conflicts and disputes. She is low-key and calm but not really indifferent. Her natural stupidity and cold humor that she reveals from time to time can often adjust the atmosphere of the team.

The students of the ninth generation, who have high hopes, need to show a unique and iconic charm similar to that of the seventh generation. This is also the greatest competitiveness of being an idol. Haruka has successfully achieved this and therefore stands out. "Salt correspondence" and "confused face" were successively nominated as Japan's popular words of the year. Haruka, who is so popular, has also begun to serve as the center of a single. This person is as unpredictable as a kitten in appearance and personality, but full of affinity. Girls, triggered a "salt attribute" storm.

However, Haruka's low-key and calmness have not changed, which also proves from another aspect that her "salt" character is indeed innate and cannot be imitated by others. She has always had great respect for those legendary seniors, and has expressed her strong admiration for Yuan AKB more than once. Perhaps it is because of being such an introverted and clumsy girl that she admires and longs for those dazzling existences even more. Haruka will use honorifics when facing her seniors on any occasion. During a break in a performance, she will take the initiative to remind her companions that they should first send lunch boxes to the seniors in the next room.

——Kana Iwata

Of course, Haruka’s closest senior is the “Tiger Tooth” Tomomi Itano, who has a similar personality to her and is like a sister, and there is also the one who always takes good care of herself. The added "house sister" refers to Hara Rino and others. In Minami Takahashi's view, Haruka Shimazaki and Yui Yokoyama, two ninth-generation students, reminded her of A-chan and herself back then. Haruka herself may not be confident enough and has never expected to reach the heights of her predecessors, but everyone can find those shining personalities in her.

——Yokoyama Yui

——Takahashi Minami

There will always be some melons in the world that are not sweet enough, and they cannot change their inherent attributes. Everyone knows that strong and twisted melons are not sweet. But people did not choose white sugar to forcibly add flavor to it, but used table salt as an auxiliary. In this matter, human behavior demonstrates a kind of simple wisdom and respect for nature. Everyone wants to taste the most natural taste, even if it is different from the imagined beauty, but destroying its nature for this is an even worse behavior. This is why Haruka, a "not sweet enough" melon, can become popular, because she is rare but true. Haruka herself has always been very calm and indifferent about this. She is very aware of her shortcomings. She has never expected to reach the heights of her predecessors, nor has she avoided those critical voices. The "salt attribute" made her stand out from her peers, and also brought huge controversy. Not everyone can accept such a positioning as an idol. The singing and dancing skills of AKB48 members have never been too demanding, but their high idol quality in serving fans is indeed their biggest drawcard. So Haruka, who has an indifferent personality that even Akimoto Yasu himself is often "salted in," is destined to fail to become the trump card that can conquer everyone and represent the image of AKB48.

The popularity of "Salt Correspondence" may be more like a collective performance art-style public carnival. It once put this ordinary girl in the spotlight, but after the wave, everything remained the same. After the novelty wears off, it will be difficult for people to maintain interest in a character that lacks chemistry and interactivity, and people will no longer care about what kind of thoughts are hidden under the girl's perpetually confused expression. After all, Haruka's naturally weak body and introverted personality are destined to prevent her from taking on the important task of being A-chan's successor. She is known as the Ace of the next era. She is a transitional product launched by AKB48 during the generation transition period, which is an unexpected surprise. But for Haruka herself, she has worked hard enough to complete her task - maybe salt will never become a staple food, but it is precisely because of its existence that countless ingredients have a taste that people have never seen before. You know, even Haruka, who seems confused and ignorant, will have persistence and faith that are deeply engraved in her heart.

——Kojima Haruna

——Shinoda Mariko

——Oshima Yuko

——Minegishi Minami

Throughout his idol career, Haruka tried his best to show his true self without any pretense, and showed a brand-new personality of "salt attribute", leaving a mark for AKB48 in the history of idols. Another classic and unique character image. Whether affected by an asthma attack, helpless in the face of the disbandment of Team 4, the graduation departure of seniors, attacks by opponents, conflicts between teammates, stage accidents... This seemingly soft girl can always use the least irritating People pay attention to the way they silently overcome difficulties by themselves and do their best to help their companions.

She would also unabashedly cry when referring to Hara Miji and Tomomi's graduation; during Yuko's graduation performance, she said goodbye hastily with the iconic "salt correspondence" high-five on the stage, but in fact, she jumped on Yuko backstage. I blessed her with excitement and said that my seniors should work hard in the future; in the location program, she bluntly stated that she hoped that Mina Ohba, the leader of Team 4 who had moved to Japan, would definitely return to the AKB48 theater when she graduated; Yui Yokoyama was appointed as the leader of Team A. On that day, Haruka carefully wrote a letter saying "Yuyi can definitely do it" and put it under her pillow, but was not discovered by the latter; in her last graduation performance, she finally had the opportunity to design the repertoire herself. , the opening is a piece that she once held the C position, and the second half is "I want to recreate the days when my seniors were still there in the early days." For the final encore piece, Haruka and her companions put on the clothes worn by Takahashi Minami from her graduation concert. Wearing a handsome classic uniform, she sang "River", the first song of the Golden 9th issue that year... This "Salt Princess" who seems to have no motivation and insufficient idol power is actually more powerful than anyone imagined. I love idols even more, and I look forward to and respect my career that brings strength and dreams to others. Regardless of her emotions or efforts, she is a person who usually does not like to show these. Even though this is fatal for an idol, it also makes every accidental revelation of Haruka's true feelings even more touching. She understands that her efforts and abilities are not outstanding among many outstanding companions, and she is lucky enough to achieve such an achievement. Therefore, she can calmly face her true self and insist on other prides worth holding on to. Since AKB48 is a real idol next door, what everyone sees is the real Shimazaki Haruka. She is not perfect, but she is particularly valuable - in an industry where shaping characters is the first priority, she is someone who has always been Instead of hiding yourself, you let your true self become a unique and trend-setting persona.

The book "The Little Prince" that her grandfather gave to Haruka was a very important book to her.

Perhaps this is what confuses "Paruru". She has never really understood this cruel industry and the glitz and hypocrisy that the public pursues in this noisy era. When asked why she has loved animals since she was a child, Haruka answered like this -

Just like the people who label Haruka as "salty" and "anti-traditional", how many of them really understand her? What about the inner one? This is the mysterious magic of Shimazaki Haruka. She used an idol experience that was neither long nor short to change her life and the industry's perspective. She is just an ordinary girl, and the most extraordinary thing is her unabashed ordinaryness and truth. Just like some kind of cute little animal, people may have difficulty understanding her true heart and can only define and label it based on their own guesses. These labels once made her successful, but also restricted her further development. This is not Haruka's own problem, but a contradiction naturally brought about by the idol profession - on the one hand, fans admire the professional spirit of being an idol who is full of energy at all times, but on the other hand, they are resistant to the fact that this energy and smile are due to service awareness rather than service awareness. From the heart. That’s why a real existence like Shimazaki Haruka is so special. She may not be outstanding or passionate enough, but there is a certain innocence and beauty inherent in the nature of life that anyone can produce without words or explanations*** Ming's treasure. Everyone is surprised by the salty taste of salt, probably because they are fed up with the same, artificial and subtle sweetness. Only when they discovered the truly natural rough taste did people understand the charm of freshness and innocence—salt is the key to taste, and rareness is the most precious thing.

After all, everyone who has ever tried their best to live out their lives is an idol who is born with pride.

The first generation of AKB who can make ordinary girls look forward to it so much, now only the last one is left. She has not left yet. She is the witness, witness and guardian of this group's legendary story.

Next issue: "Fine Coast South - No If"