What Are Those Considered to Be the Best Doing Right?

by Mayumi Natsu

ISBN978-4-7631-3362-5

223 pages / June 2014 / 1,400 yen (w/o tax)

Celebrities, businesspeople, and other successful individuals are all doing the same things.
The woman who supervised Japanese pop groups like Morning Musume and AKB48 presents in this book the work ethic and way of thinking necessary for success.

Description

To those in the know, Mayumi Natsu was not only the dance director of pop groups like Morning Musume and AKB48, but also the dance coach for Yoshimoto-Jirushi Tennen Sozai, Johnny’s, Takarazuka Revue, and more than 300 other groups of artists. She was also stage director for the “NHK Red and White Singing Contest” for over 17 years and the choreographer and director behind the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics dance at the closing ceremony that involved tens of thousands of participants. She says there were countless experiences that got her thinking while working with so many talented people.
At the starting line, there isn’t a lot of difference between people, but at some point that difference becomes great. On the one hand are those who continue on to be the best, and on the other are those who do as they please and lose out.
The question is why this difference comes about.
After 30 years of experience working with celebrities, she finally realized what “correct habits” are practiced by those who are considered the best masters for successful growth.
These correct habits are the “must for growth” not only for artists but for everybody, whether they’re businesspeople, students, or parents. And this “must for growth” is “the qualification for the ace”. This book tells us what the “the qualification for the ace” is and how everyone can get it.

But the ace is not so difficult to obtain, because it doesn’t always mean the top. The ace means “those who have self-definition, self-confidence, and positiveness”. Having those correct habits and extracting the maximum goodness from oneself to attain growth is to become the ace.

The top idols Natsumi Abe or Atsuko Maeda were not special girls. If you learn how they got “the qualification for the ace” and how they became the ace, you can be the ace too.

In this book Mayumi Natsu reveals all her experiences and secrets to become the ace with all her strength and all her heart.

Everybody has a place to shine, and this book tells you how to get there. After reading the book you’ll be full of the bravery you need to move ahead.

From the table of contents

– Why did I allow Atsuko Maeda to pass?
– Make “down time” away from others
– If something bad happens, start by asking “Why?”
– Good pride makes you beautiful, bad pride makes you ugly
– Go and find your latent potential
– Don’t eliminate your weaknesses, learn to use them
– The way successful people utilize down time is key
– It’s okay to be modest, but you can’t be reserved
– Say “thank you” even to the ones who give you trouble
– Life is not futile, and everyone has a place to shine

From the editor

I was hoping for the chance to meet and talk with Mayumi Natsu, and when it became a reality, I found her to be very nice, passionate, and zealous — an impressive woman who was different from the “fierce coach” persona portrayed on TV. This book is filled with the wonderful energy and very essence of Mayumi. I was confident about her taking on the role of writing the draft for this book. She possesses a sincerity unlike that of any other author, as she paid careful attention to every fine detail and nuance, striving to send the right message to her readers and encourage them in the right way. I am really happy to have been able to work on Mayumi Natsu’s book with her. I recommend that you read her book, and I encourage you to be touched by her message and find your own place to shine.

Author

Mayumi Natsu

Dance producer / Instructor
Mayumi Natsu was born in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1962. After going to England in 1980, she travelled to South America, North America, Europe, Asia, and Micronesia to study various forms of dance. In 1993, she received high praise for being the first Japanese dancer to perform solo at the Apollo Theater in New York. In 1998, she choreographed and directed the mass dance that took place at the closing ceremony of the Nagano Winter Olympics of that year. She was also the stage director for the “NHK Red and White Singing Contest” for over 17 years. Mayumi Natsu has been the leading choreographer for over 300 groups of artists, including Yoshimoto-Jirushi Tennen Sozai, Johnny’s, Morning Musume, Takarazuka Revue, AKB48, and Muscle Musical. She has also attracted a lot of attention in recent years for having a unique teaching style, helping talented people make great leaps in their career as she strives to “elevate human strength using one’s innate morals as a basis”.