NEWS. This group has been consuming me for the past 2 years or so and I don’t regret it at all. I have grown with them in during this time as they have grown and evolved into new NEWS and I couldn’t be prouder of them as I am now. I feel like we have grown together and we have learned together and my bond with them has strengthened. I wasn’t there through the Uchi and Kusano scandal (I didn’t become a fan of Johnnys until Fall 2008 ) but I was there through the period of 2009-2011 where they had limited releases and fans were becoming restless. I sat there thinking that they would come back someday bigger and better and I would be there every step of the way. Then Yamapi and Ryo left the group and I didn’t know what to think. I honestly didn’t know how NEWS would fair being 4 members, but they ended up fulfilling my wishes and more. Now if someone asks me what I feel about Yamapi and Ryo leaving the group, I would say it was sad but NEWS is so much stronger for it and the fans are so much stronger for it as well.

In someways I don’t even know how to put my feelings into words right now. a haha.  I just love each and every member. So I guess I will write a message to each them.

To NEWS: Thank you. I don’t even know what else to say but Thank you. You have given me energy and power that no one else has from your activities and I am a better person for it. You helped me find my dream and I moved half way across the world because of that dream. You have been by my side in all the hard times, cheering me up with your music and your activities and that means so much to me. You also have been the reason I have met some of my good friends and I couldn’t have gotten through the hard times without them either. I have never met you in person, but I truly feel like you are like best friends to me who support me and I support you. I can tell you love your fans so much and because of that, we love you as well. I was so happy for you and I am so grateful to have been there when you stood in Tokyo Dome after 3 years and I was just as happy for you as you guys were. Congratulations on 10 years, NEWS. You deserve it.

To Masuda Takahisa: Massu, you are my favorite person in Johnnys hands down. I love your smile and your energy (and even your awkwardness at times that I love so much) and your passions and through that, I have found mine as well. Please keep working hard and never let that smile and energy fade. It gives me immense joy when I see what you have accomplished and it motivates me to work harder towards my dream.  You are the one that inspires me to do what I want with my fashion and not be afraid to get into things that might seem strange or childish to others.  I have seen you change over the years and you have just grown in passions and become an amazing adult (though I am not one to talk because I just became an adult myself and I am only 23). I hope I can continue to grow with you and see you accomplish even more in the years to come.

To Koyama Keiichiro: Thank you for taking on the difficult task of becoming new NEWS’s leader. They needed someone to bring everyone together and you were the perfect one for the task. You may be bullied by the other members, but they truly cherish you and know that you are like the glue that holds NEWS together. You truly are the one that brings NEWS together for me. You are not perfect and thats why I love you as NEWS’s leader. You are like an older brother to me, encouraging me and gently telling me that everything will be okay and tomorrow will be a better day. You know how to make us fans smile and encourage us and you cherish each and every fan. Someday I want to just hug you and tell you how much that means to me.

To Kato Shigeaki: Shige, you are the one I look up most to in NEWS, despite Massu being my favorite. I feel connected to you somehow because I feel like we have grown in a lot of the same ways over the years (you doing so before me of course).We both lacked that confidence and thought that others were better than us, when we are fine just being ourselves.  In the past few years, I have seen your confidence grow 10 fold, no …. 1000 fold, and I couldn’t be prouder of you. That encouraged me to become more confident in myself and what I love. You also challenged things that you didn’t think that you could do and I am trying to embrace that as well and get outside of my comfort zone and do things I am not used to doing. Thank you for inspiring me to do my best and be a more confident person, Shige.

To Tegoshi Yuya: Tegoshi, you might not be my favorite member of NEWS, but I sure respect your confidence and how you are not afraid to do much. You encourage the fans in more of a straightforward way than the others. I might not agree with the way that you do things sometimes, but you certainly don’t care about other’s and do you own thing, so I really respect that a lot. You give us fans endless smiles and adoration that some of the other members are sometimes too embarrassed to do and that really encourages us fans to know that you guys truly do love us. Continue to be that soccer loving geek and keep on shooting those soccer balls!

I know this isn’t much of an anniversary post, but I wanted to convey my feelings to them somehow. NEWS, congratulations on 10 years. I will always be your fan and I will be with you from years and years to come.