Happy Valentine’s Day!
It so happened that this post was scheduled to be posted on this day. And it’s about my beloved, Chinen Yuri-sama!
So, mm, this might be my last post about my feelings towards (the members of) Hey! Say! JUMP. For the previous members, you can read it here (Yabu+Inoo+Takaki), here (Yaotome+Arioka+Okamoto), and here (Yamada+Nakajima). This one is a special edition because I will talk only about Chinen Yuri. But please be warned that I might be talking so sweet here you might find it sickening. You might get fed up ’cause I might sound exaggerating or sugarcoating. Though I believe I’m not ’cause I just want to express my feelings (and yes, sometimes I get a lil too excited. Sorry.)
I mean, a fan said she got fed up when another fan praised their idols too excessively because the idols were human and not a saint. Well, she wasn’t wrong about the idols being human and imperfect, but that praising our idols “excessively” is, I think, a moot point. I mean, when we love an idol, of course we know that they are not perfect, that they aren’t a saint or an angel, that they are just human and have flaws, of course we know all of that. But of course, we’ll still highlight the good points. I mean, what is even the point of continuously talking bout their bad sides? Are you haters? LoL And, saying that a fan is over-praising her idol when you yourself are actually doing the same thing is, I believe, a bit hypocritical. Like, you do have the rights to praise your idols, and so do others. So, well, if you don’t like to hear sweet things said about an idol, I’ll suggest you not read this post because I don’t want you to hate Chinen Yuri because of what I write. That’s the last thing I want. Well, that’s not something that I want ๐
By the way, I hate to admit that I have a most favorite member actually because I really want to love them equally and I don’t want other members to feel down just because they’re not my number one, but well, they might not care anyway. Hhe I’m sure each has their own fans, ones who think of them as the most favorite. As for me, I think it’s Chinen. It’s not without reason why I think this is so. But, well, let’s talk about it, if I’m not already ๐๐ โ
Chinen Yuri. He’s the youngest member of the group. You know I want to love all members equally but when it comes to Chinen, I don’t know, he’s just so special. It’s like I want to protect him. I want to make sure that he’s happy. I’m willing to fight The Titans for him. I don’t want to admit this, but really, when we have updates about HSJ talk or post, for instance, I’d be like, “What about Chinen? What did he say? What did he do? What did others say about him?” I really want to know things about him. And when I watch HSJ videos, it’s him that I want to find and see first. I’m not sure if I’m obsessed or what, but he’s the one who can make my heart go ใญใฅใณใญใฅใณ every time. When I see him, I’m like, “ใใฎ็ฌ้กๅฎใใใใซๅฝใใใฆใใใพใใชใ” and “็ฌ้กใไผผๅใๅใไธ็ชๅฅฝใใ ใใ”. ็ฌ
Then, when I watch HSJ’s performances, my eyes are spontaneously and subconsciously looking for Chinen, like “Where is Chinen?” I want to see his expressions. I want to see how he’s dancing. I love everything about him. When he’s pouting, smiling, talking, laughing, being playful, etc. I love them all. And, when there’s a challenge or a competition or a game between the members, I really cheer for him and hope that he wins. If he loses, I feel like hugging him because I’m worried that he’d be sad. I mean I’m ok if he loses, he doesn’t have to win, I just don’t want his losing makes him sad. I want to trust that he’s grown enough to accept defeat. I guess it’s just me that’s not grown enough and think he’s still a kid. Sigh. But, ugh, Chinen is really something. I love it that when he competes, it doesn’t seem like he’s doing it because he wants to beat others, it’s not like he’s competing with others. The impression that I get is that he just feels challenged to prove that he can. It’s like he’s competing with himself as if he wants to break his own record or something. This might be only because I love him, though. But it looks to me that he’s not bothered with what others can do but he cannot. And I think this is important. When we’re constantly comparing ourselves to others, it’s hard to be happy because instead of focusing on what we ourselves can do best, we’ll keep thinking about what others do best and how we can be like them or beat them. This way we’ll lose sight of what we can actually do best, which others cannot. As for Chinen, I see that he’s really enjoying what he does, all challenges that he receives, and he’s not doing it half-heartedly, but also, he’s not overworking himself either. And I really love it. And perhaps that’s what makes him stay healthy and happy. He works hard, and he is not perfect, but he looks content. I love that about him.
Chinen is super shy. Haha It makes him really cute. I mean, he’s already cute without it but his shyness makes him much cuter. Whoever people love the most in Hey! Say! JUMP, I think they’ll agree that Chinen is the cutest and the most adorable. I don’t know, every time I see him, I always scream, “ๅฏๆใ!!!” He’s so adorable. And when I see him, I always smile because, I don’t know, he’s got these vibes that make me happy. And I don’t get the same excitement and happiness when I see others. I mean, of course I’m happy to see the others too but when I see Chinen it’s just different. He’s ไธ็ชๅฏๆใใงใใไธ็ใฎไธ็ชๅฏๆใไบบใ ใจๆใใพใ!!! Even when he’s acting angry, I still think that he’s cute. Goodness, I feel bad about this but I can’t help it. I really think that he’s the cutest, and everything he does is cute. And his cuteness gives you this vibe, in which whatever he does you’ll always forgive him. He’s got this charm that makes us want to spoil him. That’s how cute he is. Well, yes, he looks a bit insecure sometimes but I can see that he puts up with it. He handles it very well. I might be wrong, though. I mean, he’s the smallest/shortest in the group. While it contributes to his being the cutest, I wonder if it might affect his confidence to some extent. But I’m happy that he’s not resenting it too much. He might be the shortest and perhaps that makes some people look at him only as a kid or not take him seriously, but really, he’s got a lot of strengths. He’s the kind that acknowledges his weaknesses and focuses on his strength. At least that’s what I see.
Also, he’s the most athletic in the group. He loves sport. I love guys who are sporty or good at sports. I don’t know, I kinda associate sport with health so people who do sport must be healthy and I love healthy people. But let’s go back to Chinen. Sometimes I wonder why he doesn’t become an athlete because, really, I’m sure he can do a lot of sporty stuff if he just trains. However, I’m glad that he isn’t an athlete. Haha I mean, if he’s an athlete, I won’t be able to see him as often and perhaps I wouldn’t know him. I’m glad that he is who he is now, an idol, entertaining people while being happy himself. And, oh, he loves dancing! I read that he learns HSJ dancing moves the fastest among the members. And, I don’t know, when I see him dancing, it always looks like that he’s enjoying it. He looks excited and enthusiastic and it all looks so natural, and that makes me really happy. I don’t know, but, I find such excitement and enthusiasm really energizing. He looks relaxed but also excited. He looks a bit carefree but professional. It’s like he just does what he has to do and doesn’t feel burdened by it. And he does it in a cute and cool way. I mean, how can someone be so cute and cool at the same time? ๐๐๐
Chinen is smart, of this, I have no doubt. He learns so fast. There’s this one time where they “tested” the members on using keigo/Japanese honorific and humble expressions (and I just learned about it in my Japanese class!) and he gave a short speech for that and got the highest score! And I’m really happy to see how delighted he is when he gets the highest scores, if he answers a question correctly, or when he wins a challenge/game/race. He looks so pure and genuine; it’s like you can see his eyes sparkle with happiness and it makes you happy yourself. And about his being smart and a fast learner, I think if HSJ really wants to go more global, in addition to Keito and Yuto’s speaking English, I think they should invest on Chinen. I kinda want to teach him English, really. I’m sure he’ll learn fast. If he puts his mind onto it, he’ll make it. He just needs a little push. He might be the shy type, but if he’s trusted with a mission, I’m sure he’ll build his confidence and clear it.
And, I might have said that I love Yamada’s voice before. That’s true. However, Chinen’s voice is so distinct. When I listen to HSJ songs, even when it’s only for the first time, I think I can recognize which voice belongs to Chinen. And I’d be like, “Kyaaa, it’s Chinen!” and simultaneously imagine his pure, cute, and genuine face. And I smile. I feel happy. Love is really strange, eh? But I can’t help it. I keep finding things about him wonderful. For instance, the fact that he idolizes Ohno-kun from Arashi. He’s so open about it. He’s not trying to hide it or be cool or something. He shows us that he’s just like us his ordinary fans that can be “excited” over idolizing someone. I love it. And I’m really happy to know that he’s finally got to act in the same movie with Ohno-kun as well as doing an ad with him together. He must be very happy and I’m really happy for him. (God, I’m super excited when I’m talking about him ๐ญ๐ญ๐ญ).
In addition, I don’t know how I’m gonna support this claim, but I think he’s polite, respectful, optimistic but also logical and realistic at the same time. And I especially love it when he shows his childish side. He’s really like a kid. I don’t mean to say he’s childish or such. Because even though he looks like a kid, he can be quite mature too, and surprisingly I get this impression often from when he’s off-camera. So, ok, dang, he’s really like a kid.๐๐ญโ But I really love him. I mean, if I don’t love him, I won’t be trying to make up all these reasons, right? I won’t be happy just by seeing him or listening to his voice, right? But I am. So, mmm, if I marry another member, can I adopt him, please? Haha I’m not sure if I love him as a girl loving a man, or a sister loving his brother, or a mom loving his son, but I don’t really care. He makes me happy, that’s what matters.
But, oh, if I remember correctly, Chinen is the reason I’m so into Hey! Say! JUMP. I think it began with the anime that I watched: Sword of The Stranger (it’s an old anime (from 2008) but I watched it only recently). I love voice acting/actors so after I watched it, I looked up the voice cast because I fell in love with Kotaro’s cute voice and I found that Chinen was the one who voiced Kotaro, the main kid lead. Then I looked him up and found that he played in movies too, some of which I have happened to watch and I was like, “Wait, he played in this movie. I watched it. I loved him as well.” And I found he’s actually more active as a Hey! Say! JUMP member and so, you know, I look them up, I get to know them more, and well, while the English proverb says “familiarity breeds contempt”, in Javanese, it’s quite the opposite: “Witing tresna jalaran kulina” meaning “love grows out of habit.” So, yeah, because I’m getting used to Hey! Say! JUMP, I feel like I come to know more about them, and so I love them.
But, really, love is strange, isn’t it? I mean, I’ve said it before, it’s really about timing and momentum. Like, HSJ has been there since 2007 but I started loving them only in 2019. And there are a lot of Japanese idol groups that I’m sure are great too, yet it’s HSJ that I love and am into. It’s like we found each other and decided to stick together. So perhaps that’s how love happens? I mean, sure you can keep on searching, I can keep on looking into other groups as well, but we don’t have all the time for all of that, right? When we get the momentum, we just decide to stay. I didn’t have that momentum with HSJ before so I couldn’t love them, but now that I’ve got the momentum, I decided to choose and stay with loving them. And when I wasn’t in love with them, they didn’t make me happy. But now that I love them, they excite me.
Oh, well, one thing that I love about loving HSJ is that I feel that the fandom is positive and supportive. At least as far as I know. I mean, we know that some fandoms can be very toxic, right? They can hate and bully the idols when they don’t meet their expectations. They keep comparing their idols to other groups. And I really don’t like that. With tobikko (it’s the name of HSJ fans), it feels so different. First, even though they might cheer for different member, they always support each other and feel happy with their good relationship. They are not trying to make as if member A is greater than member B, etc. They acknowledge that each is unique and great with their strengths and weaknesses, and I love it. Second, they are also supportive of other Japanese idol groups. Again, they’re not trying to compare or compete or insist that Hey! Say! JUMP be better than other idol groups or be the best. They’re pretty chill with HSJ’s achievements. For them, HSJ is the best and it’s enough. And even if they’re not the best (for others), they’re okay with it. At least that’s the impression that I get. So, no, they don’t throw hate comments towards other groups or idols, and I find it really great. I mean, I have my own problems in life, I don’t want to make it more complicated by thinking about HSJ’s problems and how they might be hated or such so I’m really happy because we have pretty healthy and happy fandom. But, oh, well, I’m new. And as a fan, I prefer being an “active receiver”, i.e. following other fans posting about HSJ. But I don’t really interact with them for some reasons. I love them, though. I’m happy that they love HSJ too. And of course they’ve loved HSJ longer than I have. I’m just hoping that we can continue to support each other. HSJ and the fans, between HSJ members, and between HSJ fans. Well, I guess that’s all. Nobody might read this, I know. But I’m so happy that I can pour my love for HSJ and the happiness I feel from loving them here. It took me 4 posts to write about them, it’s crazy! But I guess that’s what happens when you’re in love, do, talk, or write about something that you love? So, well, I guess that’s all. And, in case somebody reads this, I know I can be annoyingly exaggerating when I talk about HSJ, but please don’t hate them because of me. ๐๐โโ๏ธ๐
PS: I know this post has been really long, but pardon me, I just remember this and feel the need to include it here. Hey! Say! JUMP is actually taken from “Heisei” era, the previous Japanese year. Now it’s not Heeisei anymore, it’s Reiwa era now, but I hope it can continue to be the era of Hey! Sey! JUMP, or, should we change into Reiwa JUMP? *eh JK.
PPS: I also love it that Chinen is actually not wearing earrings, tattoos, or such. I don’t hate men with tattoos or earrings. Yamada loves wearing earrings and I love him and still think he’s cool. He also seems to have tatoo-like drawings too on his body and I’m cool with that. In general, however, I prefer men who are “clean”. I don’t know, I just think they look fresher and healthier ^^ And to some extent, they look more confident and content with their body. Well, I know that perhaps I shouldn’t include it here because other members might not have tattoos or wear earrings either, but, mmm, because I’m just trying to justify my love for Chinen, so maybe that’s why I feel the need to treat this ordinary thing as something extraordinary. Hhe But, please, don’t hate Hey! Say! JUMP because of me ๐๐โโ๏ธ๐
