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.
INDEX
The important thing when writing a cheering song is not to put your own opinion into it.
Takano: Actually, I once wrote a baseball team song for a boys’ baseball team in Kamakura called “Young Kamakura” in this program. I would very much like to ask Mr. Jin, a professional cheerleader, what he considers important when writing a cheer song.
Jin: First of all, I don’t put too much of my own opinion into it. Responding to the client’s feelings, that’s important.
Takano: Indeed. So you do a lot of listening?
Jin: Yes, I respond to requests like, “I want to write this kind of song,” in a way that says, “You wrote it, not me. Since I am the one who actually assembles the song, I think it is very important to combine the message and thoughts that the client wants to put into the song, while at the same time making the part that is easy to understand, such as calling out the team’s name in succession.
Takano: I see. Do you have any particular approach to the melody that you take to make it sound like a cheerleading squad? You mentioned the repeated calls earlier.
Jin: I think the secret to making it sound like a cheerleader song is to put the repetitive parts and the team names and names in the most obvious parts.
Takano: I think it is important to have an easy-to-understand melody. If you make it too complicated, it’s too much.
Celeina: It is also important to have a feeling that everyone can sing along.
Jin: Yes, and it is also important to keep it short.
Takano: I wish I had met you before I wrote the Young Kamakura song. But I’m glad we were able to keep that point in mind.
Celeina: Now that we’ve talked about it, I’d like to hear the cheering song Mr.Jin’s writing. Please introduce the song.
Jin: Please listen to JIN TOSHIO’s latest song, “Let’s play Baseball”, the team song of the influencer baseball team sponsored by KONAMI.
INDEX
My perspective on baseball games has changed since I became a father.
Celeina: This song was composed by Mr.JIN. “Let’s play Baseball” that Powerful Spirits’s team song of the influencer baseball team.
Takano: I listened to the lyrics quite. I like the lyrics like, “Let’s play catch-ball with our hearts”.
Celeina: It really hits you hard. It comes straight from the heart.
Takano: It gets people excited and makes them want to sing along.
Jin: The theme of this song was to increase the number of people who play baseball and to broaden the scope of the sport, so I thought, “Let’s play baseball this weekend”.
Celeina：Do you actually play this kind of music during games?
Jin：We had a game the other day, and we used it as the scoring theme.
Celeina：When a point is scored, it is played. It’s nice, and it gets people excited.
Jin：This song is also played at the end of YouTube videos.
Takano: I really liked the electro-like approach of the intro. It’s like an electronic sound.
Celeina: I’m starting to want to watch a baseball game when I was listening to this song.
Takano: It has a stirring feel to it.
Celeina: By the way, Mr.Jin, congratulations on the birth of your child this year.
Jin： After many twists and turns in my life, I finally became a father.
Celeina：Have you made any new discoveries since becoming a father?
Jin: The other day I went to a baseball game with my daughter for the first time. I thought the cheerleaders were too loud (haha).
Celeina: Your perspective has changed.
Jin：My perspective has completely changed. I thought, “What the heck, I want them to be quiet”, even though I was doing that too. So I went to the back of the stands, and the security guards smiled at me and said, “You’re so cute,” and I discovered many new things about the ballpark like that.
Takano: If you go there again when you are older, you may be able to enjoy cheering together, and such a time may come.
Jin: In some ways I hope that will happen, but I also don’t want them to have to go through too many hardships. But I want people to know how fun baseball is.
INDEX
Publication of a book dedicated to cheering for baseball
Celeina: And Mr.Jin, last year you published a book on cheering, “Baseball and Cheering Styles: A Research Guide”, right?
Takano: You brought it today. It has a very colorful binding.
Jin: The cover was drawn by a popular illustrator named Riota-san. Please do a search for Riota-san as well.
Takano: Mr. Fujita of Total Tenboss is on the obi.
Jin: Mr. Fujita loves baseball and is very popular on YouTube these days.Mr. Fujita introduced me on “Ametalk!”. That’s why he wrote the obi for my book.
Takano: I see. Is the book about cheering for various baseball teams or something like that?
Jin: It’s not so much about cheering for various teams, but rather how to put together a cheer. For example, it talks about the instruments used in cheering, their roles, how to coordinate between the team, players, cheering squad, and fans, and what we do behind the scenes.
Takano: I’m reading it now, and it talks about the instruments used in baseball cheering, such as the trombone and tuba. It’s very detailed, like a textbook.
Jin: There are also various descriptions of the names of roles and industry terms. I also write about episodes from that time, such as the request from Kazuhisa Ishii, the manager of the Rakuten Eagles, to use such cheering goods to cheer the team.
Takano: Reading this book, which focuses on cheering, will change the way you look at baseball games.
Jin: The person who assembles the cheers also does it while watching the game, so it is difficult and not something that can be done immediately. I hope you will read this book as well.
Takano: It’s very interesting.
Celeina: “FIST BUMP” is a circle of friends that connects with good touches, so we ask people to introduce us to their friends, but who are the people that Jin introduces us to?
Jin: Yes. I would like to invite Mr. Kite, a player of Powerful Spirits, who pitched in the last game at Es Con Field Hokkaido as the starting pitcher and hit a home run.
Celeina: If you had to describe him in one word, how would you describe him?
Jin: He’s a glamorous guy.
Takano: Gleaming. Thank you very much.
Jin: He joined the team in the middle of the game, but suddenly he became an ace, and he have such a giggly power that he is going to push himself to become a hero. Please look forward to seeing Kite tomorrow.
Takano: Thank you very much. Tomorrow, I will connect to Kite who the influencer baseball team”Powerful Spirits”.
Celeina: “FIST BUMP” Today we welcome composer and professional cheerleader JIN TOSHIO. Thank you very much.
GRAND MARQUEE
J-WAVE (81.3FM) Mon-Thu 16:00 – 18:50
Navigator: Shinya Takano, Celeina Ann
