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TEAM SAKUSAKU presents – Favorite Collections - Vol.11 is brought to you by Ayaka Wada from the idol group "ANGERME," and continues from the previous installment Vol.10!

>> Click here for part 1 of the interview >> TEAM SAKUSAKU presents - Favorite Collections - Vol.10 ANGERME Ayaka Wada - Interview (Part 1) -

How do you want to approach art from now and into the future?

Art gallery catalogues and handbooks written by professionals can be quite hard to read. I study art at an academic level and some of these books are difficult even for me. So that’s why I thought to explain things to everyone in simple terms myself and become someone who can share with people the greatness of art. But I won’t get into that completely until I hang up my idol boots for good. Until that day, I’d like to find a balance between the two and try to teach people about art while I’m performing as an idol.

When I enrolled in university I put out a book called “Otome no Kaiga Annai” with the help of producer Sakurai-san and many others, but when I graduate I’d like publish another, this time produced entirely by me. I’m in my fourth and final year of university at the moment, but I still have a bit of studying to go before I’m ready for another book (lol). I received a lot of feedback about art galleries from fans after releasing my first book, and I was thrilled that people even became fans after reading the book. I love Buddhist statues as well and one day I hope to put out a book about these, too.


When I’m a bit older…around 35 or so, I’d like to pick up art for myself. At the moment I’m studying what’s called fine arts by looking and learning, but at some point I’d like to be on the creating side and actually start taking part in art projects. I’d like to get involved with town revitalization and help people life even fuller lives through art. I’d also like to become a philanthropist (lol). I want to use the money that I’ve worked hard to acquire and put it back into art.

I want Japan to become a country that’s even more abundant in culture, where you can always feel culture close by and where people can visit art galleries without hesitation. But that’s a goal for when I’m much older! So around 50? (lol) When I’m 60 or 70, I’ll be admiring my art collection in my tea house. Maybe I’ll turn my tea house into a museum in the end. I’ll leave a note in my will to those closest to me, “Make sure you never sell this one!” (lol)

Another goal is to visit art galleries all over the world. If I had to pick where to go first, I would go to see the Manet’s at the Musée d'Orsay in France. I love his works!

Speaking of art galleries, the National Museum of Western Art in Ueno has received World Heritage listing.

The Museum of Western Art made a big impact on me when I visited for the first time as part of my summer vacation homework in elementary school – I remember it clearly even when I visit to this day. It wasn’t until I was in high school that I really started to take an interest in art, though…
Research has been done to show that people who visit art galleries as a child continue to visit them when they’re older, but those who don’t go as a child tend not to go as an adult either. So I’m really glad that I went that time when I was in elementary school! It’s now a commemorated museum of art so I hope that this becomes an opportunity for the museum to receive more media coverage and special feature articles. I look forward to the day that the Museum of Western Art starts attracting more attention and even more visitors through its doors.


Do you have a final word for the asianbeat readers?

To all the people in Fukuoka, I want you to visit the Kyushu National Museum! I’m yet to visit myself…but maintaining the right levels of temperature, humidity and light at art galleries and museums is a difficult enough task in itself, yet the Kyushu National Museum is glass-sided, so the structure alone is unique and makes for a very alluring and dynamic exterior. The exhibits rotate regularly, too, so it’s definitely worth a visit!

To all the readers overseas…I meet a lot of foreigners in my travels around to various temples. When I was in Kyoto just recently, I took a whole bunch of photos for a family who were also sightseeing there (I think they were Chinese). Whenever I go to look at ukiyo-e paintings at museums and galleries, there are always a lot of foreigners!
It makes me happy that people have such an interest in Japanese temples and art. I’m hooked on Chinese pottery at the moment so I’d love to go to China and see it in its place of origin, and I want to travel around to various countries and regions and start collecting pieces from everywhere I go, too.

And what are you going to do with the collection of works you’ve amassed?

Put them on display in my tea house!! (lol)