The Positive Girl – Rina Chikano

Rina Chikano, JKT48 New Member, A Positive Girl More Than Expected!

There are nearly 300 members in AKB48 group. Who do you think is the most positive persona among those characters? There is a certain member with an extraordinary positive frame of mind. Her name is Rina Chikano (21). She announced her move from AKB48 to JKT48 one the day of “Grand Cabinet (Dai-Sokaku)” reformation in February. We had a private interview with her and managed to get her true opinions regarding her situation.

She is in the fifth batch of AKB48 members intake, but she has not been lucky in her career. She entered all the general elections (Sousenkyo) from the first-time, but she lost in every races. And her recent catch-phrase is somehow self–deprecating humor, like “My allotted time for a handshake event is same as a trainee’s time. Why?” Judging from those words, you may think that she worried about her future in AKB48 and escaped from the hard reality, but it is not true. She is not a pessimist at all. She is a really positive girl just like her group’s songs.

“I think that my transfer to Indonesia will give me a lot of different experiences and possibilities. Of course, I can learn foreign language. I often hear people said that my face is very exotic (laugh) My life in AKB48 or what happened in the handshake events got nothing to do with my transfer this time.”

She made her own decision to go to Indonesia free from the opinions of others. She says that she is at the age of making her own decision, as she’s already more than 20 years old.

“I have been in AKB48 for nearly 7 years. Vaguely, I’ve been thinking… it’s time to think about my graduation. And I imagined that the Grand Cabinet this time would be a group-wide shuffle, and I thought it would be very interesting to transfer to JKT48 and put myself to the test. So, just one week before the event, I told one of the staffs about what I feel and I got an approval from the management. I decided for myself without consulting anybody. Everybody was really surprised by my announcement and my mother and father went panic!”

In this way, Chikano had explained to us the story about the transfer. Anyway, her sudden announcement knocked the breath out of the other members.

“Just after the announcement, everybody came rushing to me and wanted to know if I was okay, especially Mariya Nagao, my best friend. She was devastated a little bit. But, I am okay, I have no qualms at all. I don’t know why, but I feel confident. I want to learn Indonesian and show Mariya my new life in Indonesia as soon as possible, so she will be relieved to see me doing well.”

She never been to Jakarta and there’s no exact date of when the move will be set in motion. She can’t speak Indonesian at all so far, but she still exudes self-confidence.

“Still, there are a lot of things that I don’t know, but I can hardly wait to join JKT48. I believe I can soon break the language barrier. I think I can quickly form friendships with the members because I am not shy meeting with new people.”

Also, JKT48 has just started “Sousenkyo”. She didn’t become a candidate this year, she really want to stand next year. She declares that she want to get to the top on her blog. But…

“I’ve said too much maybe. Because Melody, the captain and the center, seems so superb! And Harugon came in third this time. But I would like to be in the top ranks! And I won’t be back to AKB48 again. I want to enjoy my activity and to become a success in JKT48!”

We admire the way she has her life goals clearly on focus, in fact, she is more than meets the eye! And she seems to have no worries. As she said with a smile, “I am strong!”

But when we asked a meddling question, “Didn’t you have any worries when you were in AKB48?” We got an unexpected reply from her.

”I worried all the time! I’m not satisfied with where I was, and I always struggled to learn dancing and singing every day. My dancing was terrible! So I was scolded by not only the dancing instructors but also the wardrobe crew all the time! (laugh) And also my MC was so terrible, I don’t even know what I was talking about at MC!”

But for all of that, she is still positive.

“I always soon forget any kind of noises. I never feel like quitting. I love AKB48 so much!”

She has a great power of positive thinking.

At the end of the interview, “Is that it? More questions, please!” she said with a smile.

Okay, we will follow your great challenge in Jakarta. Good luck, the most positive girl in Japan!