A circle of friends connected by gootouchi! The “FIST BUMP” corner of the radio program “GRAND MARQUEE” features people who live and enjoy Tokyo in a relay format.
On October 3, JIN TOSHIO, a composer and professional cheering artist, will appear. We asked him mainly about his path to becoming a professional cheerleader and his tips on how to make a cheer song.
INDEX
Joined a private professional baseball cheerleading squad from the first grade of junior high school
Celeina (MC): Let me start with a profile. JIN TOSHIO is a composer and professional cheerleader born in Tokyo in 1980. He has been active as a private cheerleader for professional baseball since junior high school, and became the official cheerleader for the Chiba Lotte Marines baseball team in 2010, and later served as the cheer producer for the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles from 2018 to 2021. In addition to professional baseball, he has composed cheering songs for various teams including high school baseball, adult baseball, basketball, soccer, and soccer, and has also expanded his activities to include game music and providing songs for idols.
Takano (MC): I have so many questions.
Jin: My profile is so long, it’s suspiciously long (haha).
Takano:I’m curious about your profile. First of all, you have been a member of the cheerleading squad since junior high school.
Jin: I was a pitcher in youth baseball, but I thought I would never be a professional baseball player. Besides, from that time on, I thought it was more fun to cheer and make noise with everyone than to play baseball, so I joined a private cheer group from the first year of junior high school and played the trumpet.
Celeina：You have a solid career plan.
Takano: But you have a great cheering career, don’t you?
Jin: That’s a long time.
Celeina：When I hear the word “cheerleading squad,” I have an image that it is a group of people who move their bodies vigorously and cheer loudly.
Jin: Of course, that’s what we did.
Takano: Also, cheering for baseball is impressive in terms of songs. Were you also involved in composing music in the cheering squad?
Jin: At first, I was thinking of harmonies for cheering songs for various players. As I was thinking about it, I was a cheeky junior high school student who started to actively suggest melodies that I thought would be good.
Takano: It’s amazing that you started in junior high school.
Celeina：Wow, you are an artist.
Takano: From there, you started to compose your own music as well.
Jin: Yes, that’s when I became interested in it. I used to take piano lessons, but I didn’t really like practicing. But once I started coming up with my own support songs, I became interested in a lot of things and wanted to try new things.
Celeina：You are a professional cheerleader by profession, aren’t you?
Jin: Strictly speaking, I am not sure if I can say that I am a professional cheerleader, since I am now also doing other jobs besides cheering, such as taking requests to compose music and teaching at schools, but until two years ago, I was earning my living by cheering and creating music for companies and teams.
Takano: Cheering is something that is not easily turned into a profession, isn’t it?
Jin: Yes, I thought it would not.
Celeina: You are the first Japanese to do so, aren’t you?
Jin: I don’t know if it’s the first time or not. …… Well, it’s the first time (haha).
Celeina: Let’s say it.
Takano: What kind of path did you take to become a professional?
Jin: There was a time about 20 years ago when I was studying in Korea, and there were people who were asked to support professional baseball in Korea as professionals. I had a vague idea that it would be nice if this happened in Japan as well, but after about 10 years as a private cheering group, I realized that I would never become a professional even if I did this, and there was a period when I stopped for a time.
But one day, the Marines asked me if I would like to be a cheerleader as part of my job, and later I received an offer from Rakuten. So now I’m creating original support songs for various schools and companies, as well as for “Ametalk!”‘s “comedians who love high school baseball.”
Celeina: Thanks to Jin-san, the status of cheering groups and cheering artists is improving, isn’t it?
Takano: To boost the cheering culture.
Jin: There are actually a few people like that at Rakuten right now, and I think it would be a good dream to become such a dream. I may have exaggerated a bit.
Takano: But support is very important.
Jin: When I was a member of a private cheering group, I thought it would be nice to have something like a next goal, so I am glad that I am now able to communicate such a goal.
