i like just the way you are

Whilst she is presently in the same city as me, I thought I should take a moment to talk about former Team 8 member, Yokoyama Yui.



Not to be mistaken for the similarly name yet slightly differently spelt former member, Yokoyama Yui, who graduated in December 2021, Yoko-chan joined AKB in 2014 as Team 8’s Aomori representative, joining the group alongside Kuranoo Narumi, Oguri Yui, Oda Erina, and many others we’ve already spoken about here. Together, the team debuted with their revival of PARTY ga Hajumaru yo, going on tour together soon after, taking AKB out into the cities and countryside beyond Akiba anew.

By 2017, she had earned herself concurrent membership of Team K as part of management’s plan of taking the popularity garnered by the team and drawing that back into the existing teams, soon amusingly finding herself oft reported of as ‘Tano Yuka’s daughter’. With their reputation of being athletic and sporty, I always thought K was a good fit for Yoko-chan given her passion for dancing, yet it wasn’t until 2021, the year she graduated, that her talent really made an impact on me.

A lot was going on during the release of Nemohamo Rumor! Almost immediately after the announcement of Kashiwagi Yuki’s WACK collaboration, she was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome prompting a seven-hour operation and a long recovery time. Because of this, aspects of the new single had to be reshuffled with Yukirin unable to participate in the demanding choreography for the song. Yoko-chan stepped in, filling in for Yukirin’s parts during early performances, and whilst initially this happened without comment, a performance in which she wore a facemask due to having a cold on the day soon sparked a whole conversation online, the mask lending her air of mystery and later becoming a part of her outfit for future performances. Far from being a Team 8 aficionado, certainly this was the moment that really made me sit up and take notice, Nemohamo Rumor as a whole striking a note that continues to ring even now, and I feel a sense of regret that it took so long for me to notice the hard work that Yoko-chan was putting into making the group what it was, not just in terms of her Team 8 history but in how her dancing and talent shored up the group during the rough waters of these years, how her talent was instrumental in reminding others of AKB’s primacy as an idol group, constantly working hard, constantly improving. Whilst a member of Team 8, she appeared in a number of plays with her peers.



Following her graduation, she has continued to appear on stage, staring in an adaptation of Frankenstein in both Osaka and Tokyo in 2021, appearing as central character Lily in a production of Spy Room, which has a great premise even if it doesn’t always follow through, and, at last, as Usagi Tsukino for the performances of the Sailor Moon convention set piece, The Super Live, now just having wrapped up at KOKO in Camden. I have some mixed feelings about this performance and the way it was handled and how much the tickets cost, but I have faith this won’t be the last time we see Yoko-chan on stage and hope it won’t be the last time we see her in the role of Usagi.

To say that I am envious of Kashiwa Yukina’s career path is an understatement. In 2005, she appeared as Rose, one of the three pivotal Watchdogs in Amemiya Keita’s GARO. In 2007, she appeared as Negi Springfield alongside fellow future MomoClo member, Wagawa Miyu, in Stardust’s live action Mahou Sensei Negima! adaptation, which I am immensely fond of, just in case you didn’t already know from prior comments. :p



In 2008, she passed the auditions for the nascent Momoiro Clover and you can hear her voice on debut single, Momoiro Punch, even if she had left the group by the time the music video was filmed and the group’s later major debut in 2010. Also of note is the fact that Takai Tsukina was briefly in the group before their debut, also briefly joining SKE48 as a member of the first generation. Let’s talk about her soon!
Whilst membership of MomoClo didn’t work out for Yukina, she also didn’t waste too much time treading water, having had a somewhat successful career as a child actress whilst with Stardust and eager to continuing working in the entertainment industry even after her contract with them expired. On 21st August 2011, Yukina passed the auditions for AKB48’s ‘official rivals,’ and, with a flurry of Sony money, Nogizaka46 debuted.

Yukina’s tenure with the group mostly mirrors my early interest in Nogizaka, her appearance on B sides of singles running from Guru Guru Curtain to Girls’ Rule in 2012, which is the last single I really was invested in as I felt that Ikoma Rina—who would also go onto play Negi Springfield in the 2018 Negima! stage play—was being increasingly sidelined and I felt annoyed. Consigned to B sides, never quite able to make it into the senbatsu for singles, and the one time she stood a chance—Seifuku no Mannequin—having to bow out due to entrance exams, Yukina must have been infinitely more frustrated. Studying kept her from appearing in more than a single episode of Nogizaka’s variety show, NOGIBINO!, which also did not help her find her audience. Yet despite this, she stayed in the group for another year, finally graduating in 2013, and continuing to appear in small roles until, in 2022, she left her management company and announced that she would now be looking at working outside of the entertainment industry.

During Seifuku no Mannequin’s release, Yukina wrote on her blog that she wasn’t frustrated about missing out on the senbatsu, that there were other chances as an under member and she would continue to pursue them, but I feel frustrated for her. I know it’s pointless crying over spilt milk, but Yukina’s career is exemplary, her hard work and talent undeniable, and yet still we have to wrap up this entry on such a sad note. From her blog entries and what remains of social media, it is clear that she was serious about engaging with fans, claiming to never forget a face at handshake events and putting in as much work with public appearances as she did on screen. Whatever work Yukina does next, I hope she embraces it with as much ambition and passion as she did during her time in the entertainment industry.