Sugai Yuuka (Yukka) / 1st Generation

Video from the equestrian competition Yukka was in last fall will be on Japanese TV next Saturday, January 14.

 

It's like "silver spoon" all the way.

 

So nice that her fellow keyakis came out to root for her!!

 

True. Supposedly a classmate when she was ten or so suggested she try riding, and several people in her class rode. But just because her family has money doesn't mean her life is easy (except for financially, lol). Her family may have a second home in Karuizawa, and she may have gone to an aristocratic school and college, but when she decided to become an idol her equestrian teammates -- especially the team captain -- were apparently really upset. One of the early things she said on KeyaKake was to apologize to them. She has said that she was never able to speak up in front of others before, and that she has become much stronger over the time since she joined K46.

This brings up the point that -- unless this is a false report, which it very well could be; I only see it on a matome site, and not any official site -- there may be an interesting episode of KeyaBINGO coming up the Tuesday after this one. Supposedly they hired an appraiser to find out how much Sugai's family's home is worth -- and to compare it with Sasaki Mirei's family's home. The Sugai home is supposedly in a ritzy neighborhood on the border of Tokyo and Kanagawa called Den-en-choufu. And the Sasaki home is supposedly in Ashiya, another ritzy neighborhood between Kobe and Osaka.

Spoiler: real estate value

The result supposedly was that both homes are worth about 300 million Yen (US$3million). Actually, I'm not sure this qualifies as all that expensive in Japan, lol.

The main reason I don't really believe this interesting report is that it would be an invasion of both families' privacy, and I don't think Sakamichi management would allow that to happen. From a couple of things in her blog, however, I am prepared to believe that Mii-Pan's family is well-off, too. I suspect, however, that they may not be quite as aristocratic as Sugai's family. I really like Mii-Pan, who seems like a very solid and capable person, but she doesn't seem to have the courtly manners of Sugai. Of course, she's four years younger.

Here are some fairly exciting pictures of Sugai and Manaka from the February issue of BOMB magazine. More at keyakizakamatome.tumblr.com:

 

As far as I know, Nogizaka's Nanamin was intending to talk privately to Bananaman in her graduation episode special to talk about her family background without money and her only wanting to get her brother into college, but it was broadcast, much to her anger. And well, in this way, it's actually been monetized.

There are more examples, such as when Risa's family background was 'pressed' out of her on KeyaKake, families being called during the show (or at least the recording being played during the show) to answer questions, it goes on and on. Japanese showbiz isn't nearly as gentle and proper as it looks like, if something can be monetized things like privacy and workload don't matter a lot.

Sometimes however I was wondering whether Yuuka's Ojousama anecdotes were some sort of producer-induced because when she was really serious about not wanting to be called Ojousama, she would just have been quiet about the Karuizawa holiday house or recommend something else instead of the buffet of a top notch hotel, lol. All her efforts to turn down this image have backfired so much that I wondered whether it's on purpose.

 

I've wondered that, too. At the moment, what I'm thinking is that she has finally seen the light and realized that the image is good for her, and good for Keyakizaka, so she is not resisting much any more.

 

yep, and she took her karuizawa house pictures and gave them to keyakake production team. I guess she wanted to show off a bit, but I believe it's unintentional since most of her social circle probably as rich as her, she wouldn't know that giving a bit information about her wealthy status would cause shock in keyakake lol

 

here is an old video of Sugai-sama on horseback riding in 2014


if the video does not show watch the video here

 

There's a report today that the video on Saturday will include a view of her falling from the horse during training. Someone said that's normal, and I guess it is, but it seems like a long way to the ground.

 

Superman (Christopher Reeve) was paralyzed from a fall while competitive show jumping.

I wonder if at some point management asks her to curtail it, kind of like how sports teams will sometimes put clauses in players contracts against things like motorcycle riding or skiing.

 

Sugai-sama's turn for a recommended book.

https://otocoto.jp/special/keyakizaka-bookstore006/

 

Heart skipping pictures.

She glowing just with her smile!

 

...Sugai-sama crying pic
..

yup. she's still looks beautiful.

 

I like Yukka talks about horses passionately, like

- I became not able to live without horses when I started horse riding in the 5th grade of elementary school
- I want to write the graduation thesis about horses
- Sometimes I think how people can repay for horses
- I thought about what the happiness was for horses

 

Pretty sure the list would increase if she is given more writing space.

 

Some cut from TBS "Fire Sports Festival TV SP" Brilliant horse riding figure

http://www.bilibili.com/video/av8010129/

EDIT: full ver
http://www.bilibili.com/video/av8010174/

 

if the video does not show watch the video here

I just watched this. OMG. Sugai-sama in full riding gear is awesome! She's at the same time beautiful, graceful, regal and hot. Dang! She really is a princess. And her performance in the event is great, too. The way she recovered from the fall during training is also great, although seeing her crying is heart breaking. She definitely earned my highest respect.

 

what you said instantly reminded me of a 2pac song that goes "Baby don't cry, I hope you got your head up. Even when the road is hard, never give up". I think it somewhat fits the situation.

 

The horse-jumping show was fantastic. What a figure she cuts. I couldn't help thinking that the publicity for K46 was priceless. The gasps from the audience for both her riding and for her cool performance as an idol (and for K46's huge sales) were wonderful. And like me, they seemed impressed with the K46 slogan she leads the chant for before performances: "humility, kindness, the bonds between us" is a moving statement of Japanese (and human) virtues. Perfect for a show watched by Japanese adults. (As long as they didn't turn it off in disgust after the previous feature, where an American woman defeated two separate Japanese men in judo.)

One thing that struck me was how she became the quiet, insecure junior again, after being the important senior she is in K46. Effective as it may have been, I didn't like hearing the coach berating her. To carry through a jump, she has to feel not just that she herself has confidence, but that the horse has confidence. And this was a new horse to her. For whatever reason, she couldn't ride her beloved Wolfram, and had to ride a different horse.

If she continues with show-jumping, she will just get better: she had never competed in jumping before, and had only three weeks to go from absolute beginner to competing in the Japan Open, with a place in an international tournament on the line. And she reached the thousand-point mark she and her team captain (former pop singer Kahara Tomomi) were aiming at.

@miyako-dori -- "I thought about what happiness was for horses." What a great, humane statement from Sugai-sama.

 

Reaching number 7 overall as a first timer, with an unfamiliar horse who's also inexperienced, is excellent achievement by any standards. My respect and admiration of Sugai-sama jumps up by leaps and bounds. Amazing princess.