Thread by @vbnippon_ENG

[ENG - rough trans]

Yuji Nishida - Web Sportiva
; thread

Article: sportiva.shueisha.co.jp/clm/otherballg…
Published: September 7, 2021
Written by Mikari Nakanishi

@volleyball1301
#西田有志
#龍神NIPPON

⚠ NOTICE ⚠

If you have any issues with me translating JP men's vb articles who only have basic Nihonggo knowledge, uses (reliable) online translating tools & thorough research, do not proceed on reading my translations. You know where the exit button is.

Yuji Nishida, men's volleyball player, is the topic of his first book. He will keep sending out messages for the fans in his new home, Italy.

Yuji Nishida, who played an active role in the Tokyo Olympics and helped the Japanese men's volleyball team reach the final eight for +

the first time in 29 years. Due to injury, he will not participate in the Asian Championships starting on September 12, but he is aiming to make further progress with his new club, Vibo Valentia of the Italian Serie A. +

On September 7, he reported via SNS that he had arrived in Italy, his new home.

To learn more about Nishida's volleyball life and current activities, Sportiva started a series of articles titled "Gamushara Volleyball Life" in June 2020. The article, featuring interviews with +

Nishida himself and others, drew a huge response and was published as a book, "Ace no Shodo" (Shueisha), in July of this year.

(Note: Gamushara/がむしゃら can be translated to either reckless or daredevil, kind of defining Nishida)

In order to publish the book, I interviewed his parents again, his former JTEKT STINGS teammates who became his colleagues, and the representative setter, Masahiro Sekita. The conversation with Kunihiro Shimizu and Masahiro Yanagida also became a hot topic, and a second edition +

was decided. To commemorate the occasion, we asked him about his first book, as well as the future of his SNS and YouTube activities, which he has been actively involved in.

- First of all, congratulations on your first book, Ace no Shodo, being reprinted!

Nishida: Thank you very much. But when I first heard about it, I didn't really understand what a reprint was... It's a good thing, isn't it (laughs)?

- Since the book is being reprinted, it means that it is being read by a lot of people.

Nishida: Thanks to all the fans who +

picked up the book. I'm honestly happy, and I want to say thank you again to everyone.

- When you introduced your book on your own SNS, you got a lot of responses from many fans.

Nishida: I was surprised. Some people said, "I've already read it!", There were also people who +

learned about the book from there and said, "You have a book coming out?". I hope that this (reprint) will be an opportunity to catch the eyes of even more people!

- At the beginning and end of the book, there are illustrations by Furudate Haruichi of the popular +

manga "Haikyu!!" which Nishida is a big fan of. What did you think when you saw that?

Nishida: Well, I was really happy. The first picture of me serving was drawn in a cool way, and at the end, I got two shots with my favorite character. I was amazed that such a thing could +

become a reality. I felt like I could be a character in "Haikyu!!" and that was exciting.

- By the way, have you tried reading the book yourself?

Nishida: I've already checked the contents of the article on the web, so I read it from my parents, teammates, Shimizu-san, +

Masa-san (Masahiro Yanagida), and Sekita-san.

- There are episodes from your childhood by your parents, and there are plenty of precious photos to go along with them.

Nishida: It seems to be a topic of conversation at my parents' workplace and elsewhere. +

In fact, my parents seem to be the ones who are actively talking about it (laughs). I feel a little embarrassed when I see pictures of myself as a baby. But my parents & others who have known me for a long time see those photos & contact me, saying 'This brings back memories.'

- There are also comments and photos from teammates of JTEKT, the team you belonged to. Setter Sota Nakane, who retired after the 2019/20 season and is now a teacher and coach of the men's volleyball team at Seijo High School, +

also shared stories and messages from his time with the team.

Nishida: Nakane-san, who joined the team as a college graduate, was older than me, but we joined the team at the same time, and we debuted in the same game when we were unofficial players. Although we only played +

together for a short time, I think we had a great time together.

Nakane-san is now a teacher and the coach of the volleyball team, a position we could never have imagined. It must be really powerful to have to think not only about yourself but also about your many students in +

the midst of the difficulties caused by Corona. This time, Nakane-san gave me words of encouragement in the book, and I want to do my best to give him courage from Italy.

- Now that your trip to Italy is getting closer, how do you plan to tell people about what you've been doing on SNS and Youtube?

Nishida: I already talked about it on my Youtube channel, and I'll probably talk about it less frequently, but I'm going to continue sending +

messages. Of course, there are many things that you will not understand until you go to Italy, such as the environment and the rhythm of life. Even so, I will have fewer opportunities to be in front of my fans than I do in Japan, +

so I want to think of various ways to compensate for that.

- At last month's Instalive, you also announced that you would be creating a fan club by the end of the year. What made you decide to set it up?

Nishida: Personally, when I think of a fan club, I think of it as +

a 'supporters' club' because I have an image of "supporting a wide range of activities of celebrities and other people". It may just be a matter of using different words, but I hope that people will support me more simply as a "volleyball player."

I still have a long way to go in terms of what exactly I'm going to convey, but for example, I'm going to propose my own way of looking at volleyball. We would like to think about this in terms of making the competition more enjoyable and allowing people to learn more about it. +

It may take a very long time to make that a reality, though. But I'm still trying to shape it, and I'd be happy if you could learn volleyball with me!

[end]