Vol.2 - T1419 T1419 debuted in Japan and Korea at the same time! What is the wonder of Korean members that Japanese members felt?

Released January 16, 2021

MOMOLAND's MLD Entertainment's new boy group, T1419, will debut on January 11, 2012. MLD, global IT company NHN, and Sony Music have teamed up to create a new group with the goal of debuting simultaneously in Korea, the U.S., and Japan. They have been undergoing intensive training in a systematic way, and have a wide range of talents including visuals, vocals, rap, performance, production, and multilingual skills. Kstyle had a direct hit on them just a few days before their debut! In the second part of the interview, they talked about their debut song, the secret story of their debut, and their daily life.

**――What kind of activities do you want to do in the future?**

NOA: I want to stand on a big stage, go overseas, and do various activities, but most of all, I want to meet our fans as soon as possible.

ZERO: We can't meet our fans and show them our performance at this time, but we're aiming for global activities, so after this time, we'd like to go to Japan, Asia, and other regions to interact with our fans.

SIAN: I really want to meet our fans. I'd like to show my stage performance at concerts and music broadcasts, and I'd like to talk to them directly and feel firsthand that so many people are supporting us.

KIO: Looking at the comments on SNS, I can see that there are many people from Japan and overseas, so I can't wait to go. I can't wait to go there. I want to go abroad and work as soon as Corona is over.

LEO: We Japanese members haven't been to Japan for almost a year. We can't see our families and we can't see our fans, but when Corona is over, we want to have a big concert in our home country of Japan.

GUNWOO: The only way I can communicate with my fans is through SNS such as V LIVE, YouTube, and Instagram. I think it would be great if we could actually see the faces of our fans, but it gives us strength when they send us their love and support in various ways. When I see a picture of us with our icon or a board with our names on it, it makes me realize that we are finally going to make our debut. Also, doing this kind of interview makes me think that we're finally going to be out in the world, so I'm very excited about our debut.

**――What kind of artist do you want to be?**

NOA: We've received a lot of inspiration from our seniors who have already debuted, so we want to be able to inspire our juniors who are about to debut.

GUNWOO: I hope that people will get to know us not only on stage but also through our various activities such as variety shows, movies, and dramas, and that they will see the diversity that each member has. Personally, I think that MOMOLAND is a great variety group, and as their junior members, we would like to inherit their variety skills. You can see us in our variety show "Daily Us," so I hope you'll watch it and see how interesting we are.

KEVIN: Gunwoo and Kairi in particular have an outstanding sense of variety!

**"You want to go to Osaka, where the Japanese members used to live!"**

**――Korean members, where do you want to go when you go to Japan?**

ON: I definitely want to go to Tokyo and Osaka. And hot springs. It doesn't matter where, but I really want to visit a hot spring in Japan. Where else would it be? A place famous for green tea. Kyoto? I'd like to go there. I love green tea.

SIAN: First of all, I want to go to Osaka, where the Japanese members used to live. I also want to go to Kyoto. I want to see the historical places that I've seen in books since I was a kid.

NOA: The Japanese members say they will take me to interesting places when we are able to work in Japan, so I'm looking forward to it (laughs).

**――**Please tell us the places and foods that Japanese members recommend in Korea

KAIRI: The food in Korea is just delicious. My favorite is Budae jjigae, which is really delicious, so I highly recommend you try it. I would also like to recommend shopping in Korea, as there are many fashion items that you cannot find in Japan. I think it's fun to walk around eating and looking at clothes and cosmetics.

ZERO: I basically can't eat spicy food, but there is a restaurant that serves non-spicy Budae jigae, and it's delicious. When I go out to eat with the members, I try to choose something that doesn't seem too spicy. Sometimes the members give me a bite to eat, but I can't eat it because it's too spicy (laughs).

ON: Chicken is recommended in Korea.

KAIRI: Ah! Yes, chicken too! There really are that many delicious foods, and I'd love to give you more recommendations, but there's no end to it. Also, when you think of Korea, you probably have an image of spicy food, but as Zero-kun says, there are many delicious foods that are not spicy.

**What did you find strange about Japan and Korea? "The Korean people..."**

**――What do the Korean members find strange about the Japanese members, and what do the Japanese members find strange about the Korean members?**

LEO: I thought that Korean people really eat a lot of spicy food. When I first came to Korea, I couldn't eat spicy ramen at all, but when I looked over to the side, I saw that the Korean members were eating it with great gusto, so that was strange to me at first.

NOA: Koreans don't often go out to eat alone, but the Japanese members do, and when I asked them about it, they said it made them feel more comfortable. So there is a culture of eating alone in Japan.

GUNWOO: At first, I felt that it would be better to eat delicious food with the members, even though we are all here to achieve the same dream. (laughs). (laughs) But when I went to ask them out for dinner, all the Japanese members were already gone (laughs). So I asked around and found out that each of them had gone out to eat chicken or curry. I thought, "Why? I thought, "Why?" But then I heard it was easy. I thought, "Why?" but then I heard it was easier. Now we enjoy eating alone too.

ON: Now that the Japanese members are speaking more Korean, I'm studying Japanese very hard, but sometimes the Japanese members say things in Japanese that I can't imagine. For example, the other day Kio said "subtle" to me, and I thought he meant "subtle" in Korean, so I said, "I didn't know you could use that word. Where did you learn it? Kio said, "It's pronounced similarly in Japan. That's what I've been hearing a lot, and it makes me wonder. I think it's strange that everyone can communicate with each other in both Korean and Japanese to some extent now, isn't it?

KAIRI: Leo, Zero, and I are all from Osaka, so it's funny and cute that the Korean members have taken on the Osaka dialect.

ZERO: At first, we didn't understand each other's language at all, but Gonu and I could speak some English, so we were able to communicate in English. When I think about it, it's really strange how things are now.

ON: It's also strange that we use the word "I love you" differently. In Korea, you can casually say, "Brother, saranghae yo," but in Japan, they don't say "I love you" unnecessarily. That's why I thought that the Korean "saranghae" and the Japanese "I love you" are used in different situations.

**Episode at the dormitory: "Even though there are nine men living together..."**

**――I heard that you are living together, what kind of room assignment do you have in the dormitory and how do you spend your time?**

KEVIN: There are three rooms, one for the manager, four for Gunwoo, Leo, Sian, and On, and five for Kairi, Zero, Noa, Kevin, and Kio.

LEO: We can't go out at the moment, so we all stay at home together. We all ate chicken together on New Year's (laughs).

**――What was the episode at the dormitory?**

ZERO: It was more scary than funny, but the other day I was sleeping on the bottom bunk and Kairi was on the top bunk, and an iPad fell from the top (laughs). Normally it would have fallen on the floor, but somehow it landed next to my head, which surprised me. Sometimes pillows also fall. Kairi is not very good at keeping things tidy.

KAIRI: That might be a little bit of it, but my bed has gaps in it. Ah, but I'll organize it properly (laughs).

ON: I think we're pretty clean for nine guys living together, but with our busy schedules we don't have much time to keep things tidy, so interesting things happen. Things like Zero's pants coming out of Noa's bed, Leo's t-shirt coming out of my closet, things getting mixed up and lost, and so on.

**――Who is the best at organizing?**

SIAN: Me and Kevin, I guess. But in general, we're all pretty good at keeping our things in order....... (and looking at Kairi).

EVERYONE: (laughs)

KAIRI: As for me, the ice cream that I left in the freezer recently disappeared! I don't know who did it, but sometimes drinks and ice creams go missing little by little (laughs).

**What each member likes, and why their Japanese is so good...**

**――Noa, your specialties are rapping and dancing, but which artists have influenced you?**

NOA: I've loved BIGBANG since I was a kid, and I still look up to them today.

**――Sian, your specialty is flexibility, can you tell us exactly how flexible you are**?

SIAN: I'm not that flexible, but I think I'm flexible for a man. I stretch very hard, and I used to dance before, so I guess I'm flexible.

**――What do you do to maintain your flexibility?**

SIAN: I have to keep stretching every day.

KAIRI: I stretch before practice, and if you look at Brother Sian, he can easily open his legs 180 degrees, and he stretches to do things that I think people would never be able to do. That's how flexible he is.

**――Kevin, fencing is one of your specialties, have you participated in any competitions?**

KEVIN: I started when I was in the first year of junior high school. Fencing is divided into three disciplines: Fleurette, Epee, and Sable, and I played Fleurette. I didn't participate in many competitions because I didn't start until I was in the second year of junior high school. I've loved exercise since I was a child, but fencing looks gorgeous, and every boy dreams of fighting with a sword (laughs). (laughs) I started fencing because I thought it would be cool.

**――ON, you speak Japanese very well, how come you are so good at it?**

ON: Before I started learning Japanese with the other members, I had studied hiragana and basic words, so I was able to learn a little faster. I also like Japanese dramas very much, so I learned by watching them. But now I'm learning more by talking with the Japanese members than by watching dramas. Kairi talks to me in Japanese, and I reply in Korean, so I've gotten pretty good at listening to all the members.

**――What kind of dramas do you like?**

ON: I've seen most of the dramas starring Satomi Ishihara.

**――What is your favorite Japanese word?**

ON: The word "love". I don't know why, but I think it's a very beautiful word. Also, "flower" and "rose. I like words that have beautiful meanings as well as words.

**――Gunwoo, when did you learn to play the piano? When did you learn to play the piano and are you planning to use it in the future?**

GUNWOO: I started learning when I was five years old. My mother is a piano teacher, so even as a baby I liked to sit at the piano and play with the keys. My mother saw this and thought, "She likes the piano," so she taught me. I have never felt stressed about learning the piano, and since there is a piano in my practice room, I play it whenever I have time. I'd like to play the piano on stage someday, and I'd like to make my fans happy by showing off my cool piano playing on YouTube.

**――LEO, English is your specialty, how did you learn it?**

LEO: I'm not so good at it that it's a special skill, but it's my dream to work abroad and I wanted to study in an English-speaking country. So I was interested in English, but since I was going to come to Korea, I studied Korean first. Now that I can speak Korean pretty well, I'm studying English. I need English to communicate with overseas fans, so I'm taking English lessons 4-5 times a week at the office.

**――ZERO, soccer is your specialty, have you been playing since you were a child?**

ZERO: I started when I was in kindergarten and played for about 10 years, until I was in the second grade of junior high school.

**――**Who is your favorite soccer player?

ON: Neymar~.

ZERO: (laughs). All the members know him, but he is Neymar, the Brazilian national team player. The way he dribbles is very light, and I think he's really cool.

**――**Kairi, since your specialties are dancing and singing, please tell us about your favorite artists.

KAIRI: Jun. K of 2PM, because his voice made me dream of becoming a K-pop star, and I admire him a lot.

**――Kairi, youdon't really have a secret, but I do know that you always have a smile on your face.**

KAIRI: I haven't really thought about it, but when I feel like I'm having a hard time, I go on line with my mom, chat with the members, or recently I've been reading letters from fans to refresh myself. Then I can smile again.

ON: (In Japanese) Kairi, you smile even when you're sleeping.

ZERO: That's true (laughs). One day, when we were having a really hard training session in the morning, I looked next to Kairi and he was running with a big smile on his face (laughs).

SIAN: (In Japanese) That's a little scary (laughs).

KAIRI: (laughs)

**――Kio, you are very good at Rubik's Cubes, why did you decide to try it? Why did you decide to try it? How fast can you clear it?**

KIO: When I was in the first year of junior high school, I happened to see a video on YouTube of the world's best Rubik's Cube person. At that time, I started with a Rubik's Cube that I bought at a hundred-yen store just to pass the time, but I gradually became addicted to it, and I've been doing it for about two to three years. The fastest I can do is about 16 seconds.

**"You want to talk to your fans in Japanese someday!"**

**――What are your future goals?**

GUNWOO: The representative of our agency always tells us that we need to be happy in our future activities. So we want to be a group that can enjoy any activity. Our goal is to become a group that can reach the top of the idol world.

**――There are many fans in Japan who are waiting for your debut. Please give us a message.**

NOA: (in Japanese) I love you!

KIO: I don't have a chance to see you in person right now, but I hope to see you on YouTube and V LIVE as much as possible. I'll do my best!

GUNWOO: (In Japanese) We're making our debut, so please love us a lot!

LEO: After Corona is over, we'll be doing a lot of activities in Japan, and I hope to be able to interact with a lot of fans at that time.

KEVIN: We've been waiting for our debut ourselves, and I'm sure our fans have been waiting for us too, so we're really grateful. We hope that the current difficult time will pass soon and we can talk face to face soon. Please look forward to many more activities!

ON: Our fans in Japan comment on our SNS and send fan letters to our office, and we read all of them. When things get better, we hope to have the opportunity to go to Japan and return the favor with good music and performance. We are also waiting for the day when we can meet you, so please be sure to wait for us. First of all, we will be making our debut in Korea, so please give us a lot of attention and love.

ZERO: I can't go to Japan right now, but there are many people who write comments on Twitter and Instagram in Japanese, and I'm so happy to see them because I'm Japanese. I'm really looking forward to meeting you in person one day and talking in Japanese. I will practice hard until then, so please wait for me. Thank you very much!

**取材：安部裕子 / 尹秀姫**

**Interview: Yuko Abe / Hidehime Yoon**