It's what a JE intern writes about Yamashita and Toma's relationship, douzo:
Brothers by fate and not by blood:
Yamashita Tomohisa and Ikuta Toma
June 19, 2009
The reason why I didn’t put Ikuta Toma in my BFF post is because he isn’t a BFF. He is way more than that. Sometimes, after people ask me if I know any of them are gay, I think in my head that if Yamashita were ever a homosexual / to fall in love with a man, Toma is definitely in a very dangerous position. He and Yamashita share such a special bond that I don’t think any word in the English language, in fact in any human language can suffice it. It is something so rare that let alone in the industry, it’s hard to find friends like these in our world.
Yamashita met him as soon as he became a Junior. It wasn’t an instant click, Yamashita thought of him as a senpai and that was it. Then, (some of the staff still remember this) one time when they went for a photo shoot by the river, Toma apparently pushed Yamashita down the quick-flowing river by accident, the staff were COMPLETELY freaking out (it’s only things like these that you remember, eh?), though Yamashita had some wounds and Toma was shouted at until he got deaf, the accident sort of made them feel this ‘equality’ between them.
Soon, no more ‘Ikuta-kun’, in fact, forget about the ‘kun’ and the use of the ‘-masu’ and ‘desu’, it was just, ‘Toma!’ Yamashita was more accustomed to act like a kid around Toma. He would get harder to deal with, throw tantrums, get lazy… But Toma would always bear with it, though sometimes getting to the point when he couldn’t deal with it anymore… ‘YAMASHITA, KORA!’ Then Yamashita, who was/is NEVER the type to apologise, would actually go and say, ‘gomenasai’. Quite a shock to the Junior staff and indeed to the Juniors themselves. You don’t see Yamashita looking so relaxed around anyone else, even now, it’s as if the sky can fall down and Toma would somehow catch it. Or they’ll just die together.
The thing with Yamashita is that he can get seriously possessive, which doesn’t happen very often at all, the only ‘thing’ the public knows about is Toma. Don’t know about now, but back in the Junior days, literally when the two of them were together and someone else went to join the conversation, Yamashita would actually make sure he did or said something to make that person leave. In fact, I think he admitted it at some point, openly, that he hated it and also he hated seeing Toma acting good friends with another person right before him. You know what that sounds like? Sou, a jealous girlfriend or a kid and his most-favourite toy. But Toma seemed to have understood his actions and he never fought with him over it. Perhaps, Toma was his first best friend ever. His Junior high days sucked major, he moved around during primary school, maybe, he just wanted to cling onto a friend before anything could happen, cling onto some sort of shelter. He has deep insecurity inside him, that’s why he needs his friends to be 100% truthful and loyal, which also explains why he finds it so hard to date someone seriously because it is deeply rooted in his mind that girls come and go easily, but friends are for life.
And indeed was Toma always there. They did every show together, attended lessons together, spent their summer/ winter holidays doing back-dances for their senpais together, did the same magazine interviews and photo shoots together, shared the same room during their ‘business trips’… (how am I supposed to call those trips then?) He has nothing to worry about when Toma’s there. Toma fixes everything. He tells him which room to go, what time he has to arrive, where the camera is, how he should treat his Mom, what he should say on stage… I think Yamashita secretly finds a sort of brother-father figure in him and I doubt any of them realises this. He knows that he can talk to Toma about anything and he will always be on his side, backing him up. They don’t have to ask each other, ‘did you watch my show last night?’ because they know they had. It is automatic to show support for each other. Yamashita would go and watch Toma’s stage productions, sometimes even bringing along his Mom; Toma would always go to a NewS concert and go visit backstage. For each others’ birthdays every year, they have to do something alone together, even if just a 20-minute lunch stop in the ramen shop is fine.
They’ve got to the point that they can’t fight anymore. It’s this trust they have in each other which is utterly unbreakable. They naturally get into a really good mood when they’re around each other. It’s ‘weird’ (it’s not weird, I just can’t find the right word). It’s as if they have exchanged half their souls that they have managed to get to this level of mutual understanding without words.
It’s the things that they’ve gone through together which make them such great friends. Back in their Juniors days, a crazy fan tried pouring some acid onto Yamashita as the Juniors left the building and only God knows why, but Toma automatically went in front of Yamashita to cover him. The staff freaked out (why do we always have to freak out over these life-and-death matters? Isn’t this meant to be an office job?), the Juniors freaked out, Yamashita freaked out and Toma was rushed to the hospital. This is exactly what I mean when I said ‘they have exchanged half their souls’.
When NewS suddenly came along (total disaster, another book on that probably), Yamashita’s world broke apart. You see, with him, his life then had been pretty much the other way round. Your chilhood full of love and security from parents and friends, then as you grow up, you learn to face harsher things and deal with them. For Yamashita, he dealt with hardships as a kid and only found shelter in his teens. Thus when NewS came out, he wasn’t as prepared to face the challenge as he might have been. He was cared for so much as a Junior that NewS was ‘Mission Impossible Level 100′.
Even the staff was surprised at the decision. If anyone was to debut, it was ‘Four Tops’, who were doing great because just like their name, they were the four top Juniors of their generation.
Yamashita expects his friends to be 100% loyal because that is exactly how he thinks of them. And this was basically a forced-on betrayal. Even the lie at the beginning that NewS was just gonna be a temporary one-month volleyball unit put him off, let alone when they became officially a unit. I can’t imagine how bad he felt, that guilt and regret must’ve been eating him up. He couldn’t just leave Four Tops behind when they had all those nights talking about debuting together. How was he to face Hasegawa Jun and Kazama from then on? Pretend nothing’s happened and crack some lame jokes? But something’s worse.
What was he to do without Toma? His brother, friend, companion who had been with him for as long as he could remember. How could he face him? It was dreadfully awkward. But Toma stayed as he was. He probably knew everything that was going on in that kid’s mind and he knew that the least could do was just to stay by his side, quietly. Sure he was intrigued, in fact probably angry at the fact that why they couldn’t debut together, but he thought more of his friend. His friend who would never open his mouth and say, ‘I am sad’; his friend who would always put on a face and pretend things are ok; his friend who knew that this time nobody could fix anything for him. Toma would go visit Yamashita backstage whenever he could, (at first the staff were like, ‘did he join NewS?’ But, they soon understood the purpose of it all. There is still warmth in out industry), visit his drama sets, call him out for food… It was yucky. Yamashita didn’t want to make small talk with those 7 strangers (Ryo-san wasn’t exactly a stranger) in the gakuya and he was seriously depressed and on the point of a break down. The staff actually thought he was going anorexic or something.
Yet through it all, though Yamashita suffered hard, Toma was still there.
I remember listening to some of the staff talk after finishing the photoshoot and interview of Yamashita and Toma’s first ever Seventeen special crossover interview. ‘I have never ever seen Yamashita-kun like that before. I didn’t even know he was capable of smiling like that.’
I sometimes thank the Lord that Yamashita exists. Although he doesn’t speak much, I have learnt enough on my occasional ’shadowing’ (I’m really not mocking Nakayuma’s band, ok… XD).
I often thank the Lord that Toma has managed to make a name of his own as an actor, both on stage and on screen; that he didn’t give up enduring.
But I always thank the Lord for proving to the world what friendship and brotherhood should be.
Credit : Johnny Intern
Brothers by fate and not by blood:
Yamashita Tomohisa and Ikuta Toma
June 19, 2009
The reason why I didn’t put Ikuta Toma in my BFF post is because he isn’t a BFF. He is way more than that. Sometimes, after people ask me if I know any of them are gay, I think in my head that if Yamashita were ever a homosexual / to fall in love with a man, Toma is definitely in a very dangerous position. He and Yamashita share such a special bond that I don’t think any word in the English language, in fact in any human language can suffice it. It is something so rare that let alone in the industry, it’s hard to find friends like these in our world.
Yamashita met him as soon as he became a Junior. It wasn’t an instant click, Yamashita thought of him as a senpai and that was it. Then, (some of the staff still remember this) one time when they went for a photo shoot by the river, Toma apparently pushed Yamashita down the quick-flowing river by accident, the staff were COMPLETELY freaking out (it’s only things like these that you remember, eh?), though Yamashita had some wounds and Toma was shouted at until he got deaf, the accident sort of made them feel this ‘equality’ between them.
Soon, no more ‘Ikuta-kun’, in fact, forget about the ‘kun’ and the use of the ‘-masu’ and ‘desu’, it was just, ‘Toma!’ Yamashita was more accustomed to act like a kid around Toma. He would get harder to deal with, throw tantrums, get lazy… But Toma would always bear with it, though sometimes getting to the point when he couldn’t deal with it anymore… ‘YAMASHITA, KORA!’ Then Yamashita, who was/is NEVER the type to apologise, would actually go and say, ‘gomenasai’. Quite a shock to the Junior staff and indeed to the Juniors themselves. You don’t see Yamashita looking so relaxed around anyone else, even now, it’s as if the sky can fall down and Toma would somehow catch it. Or they’ll just die together.
The thing with Yamashita is that he can get seriously possessive, which doesn’t happen very often at all, the only ‘thing’ the public knows about is Toma. Don’t know about now, but back in the Junior days, literally when the two of them were together and someone else went to join the conversation, Yamashita would actually make sure he did or said something to make that person leave. In fact, I think he admitted it at some point, openly, that he hated it and also he hated seeing Toma acting good friends with another person right before him. You know what that sounds like? Sou, a jealous girlfriend or a kid and his most-favourite toy. But Toma seemed to have understood his actions and he never fought with him over it. Perhaps, Toma was his first best friend ever. His Junior high days sucked major, he moved around during primary school, maybe, he just wanted to cling onto a friend before anything could happen, cling onto some sort of shelter. He has deep insecurity inside him, that’s why he needs his friends to be 100% truthful and loyal, which also explains why he finds it so hard to date someone seriously because it is deeply rooted in his mind that girls come and go easily, but friends are for life.
And indeed was Toma always there. They did every show together, attended lessons together, spent their summer/ winter holidays doing back-dances for their senpais together, did the same magazine interviews and photo shoots together, shared the same room during their ‘business trips’… (how am I supposed to call those trips then?) He has nothing to worry about when Toma’s there. Toma fixes everything. He tells him which room to go, what time he has to arrive, where the camera is, how he should treat his Mom, what he should say on stage… I think Yamashita secretly finds a sort of brother-father figure in him and I doubt any of them realises this. He knows that he can talk to Toma about anything and he will always be on his side, backing him up. They don’t have to ask each other, ‘did you watch my show last night?’ because they know they had. It is automatic to show support for each other. Yamashita would go and watch Toma’s stage productions, sometimes even bringing along his Mom; Toma would always go to a NewS concert and go visit backstage. For each others’ birthdays every year, they have to do something alone together, even if just a 20-minute lunch stop in the ramen shop is fine.
They’ve got to the point that they can’t fight anymore. It’s this trust they have in each other which is utterly unbreakable. They naturally get into a really good mood when they’re around each other. It’s ‘weird’ (it’s not weird, I just can’t find the right word). It’s as if they have exchanged half their souls that they have managed to get to this level of mutual understanding without words.
It’s the things that they’ve gone through together which make them such great friends. Back in their Juniors days, a crazy fan tried pouring some acid onto Yamashita as the Juniors left the building and only God knows why, but Toma automatically went in front of Yamashita to cover him. The staff freaked out (why do we always have to freak out over these life-and-death matters? Isn’t this meant to be an office job?), the Juniors freaked out, Yamashita freaked out and Toma was rushed to the hospital. This is exactly what I mean when I said ‘they have exchanged half their souls’.
When NewS suddenly came along (total disaster, another book on that probably), Yamashita’s world broke apart. You see, with him, his life then had been pretty much the other way round. Your chilhood full of love and security from parents and friends, then as you grow up, you learn to face harsher things and deal with them. For Yamashita, he dealt with hardships as a kid and only found shelter in his teens. Thus when NewS came out, he wasn’t as prepared to face the challenge as he might have been. He was cared for so much as a Junior that NewS was ‘Mission Impossible Level 100′.
Even the staff was surprised at the decision. If anyone was to debut, it was ‘Four Tops’, who were doing great because just like their name, they were the four top Juniors of their generation.
Yamashita expects his friends to be 100% loyal because that is exactly how he thinks of them. And this was basically a forced-on betrayal. Even the lie at the beginning that NewS was just gonna be a temporary one-month volleyball unit put him off, let alone when they became officially a unit. I can’t imagine how bad he felt, that guilt and regret must’ve been eating him up. He couldn’t just leave Four Tops behind when they had all those nights talking about debuting together. How was he to face Hasegawa Jun and Kazama from then on? Pretend nothing’s happened and crack some lame jokes? But something’s worse.
What was he to do without Toma? His brother, friend, companion who had been with him for as long as he could remember. How could he face him? It was dreadfully awkward. But Toma stayed as he was. He probably knew everything that was going on in that kid’s mind and he knew that the least could do was just to stay by his side, quietly. Sure he was intrigued, in fact probably angry at the fact that why they couldn’t debut together, but he thought more of his friend. His friend who would never open his mouth and say, ‘I am sad’; his friend who would always put on a face and pretend things are ok; his friend who knew that this time nobody could fix anything for him. Toma would go visit Yamashita backstage whenever he could, (at first the staff were like, ‘did he join NewS?’ But, they soon understood the purpose of it all. There is still warmth in out industry), visit his drama sets, call him out for food… It was yucky. Yamashita didn’t want to make small talk with those 7 strangers (Ryo-san wasn’t exactly a stranger) in the gakuya and he was seriously depressed and on the point of a break down. The staff actually thought he was going anorexic or something.
Yet through it all, though Yamashita suffered hard, Toma was still there.
I remember listening to some of the staff talk after finishing the photoshoot and interview of Yamashita and Toma’s first ever Seventeen special crossover interview. ‘I have never ever seen Yamashita-kun like that before. I didn’t even know he was capable of smiling like that.’
I sometimes thank the Lord that Yamashita exists. Although he doesn’t speak much, I have learnt enough on my occasional ’shadowing’ (I’m really not mocking Nakayuma’s band, ok… XD).
I often thank the Lord that Toma has managed to make a name of his own as an actor, both on stage and on screen; that he didn’t give up enduring.
But I always thank the Lord for proving to the world what friendship and brotherhood should be.
Credit : Johnny Intern
p/s: minna-san, what do u think bout this? ma, I'm so touched by their friendship..
