Here's the first of five entries in a little Arashi lyricspam! :o I've had a few songs sitting on my desktop for weeks or months that were sort of partial requests, another that was a more recent request, and one that I started to translate on my own AGES ago and just now dug up again and finished... so I figured it could join the party as well.

That'll be the one I start with tonight, as well: Yokaze, a concert-only solo by Aiba Masaki and probably the first Arashi-associated song that I truly liked. Probably because it has more of a moody rock & roll feel than most of their songs, and rock is a little more to my tastes. Also because, once I got to know these lyrics, it confirmed what I already knew: if Aiba really did write this, he IS a genius in disguise. T_T

Anyway... here it is:

Arashi (Aiba Masaki) - Yokaze (Night wind)


Meijidoori ni tsuranatta
Kuruma no hitotsu kara miageta
Semasugiru sora o nagareteru
Shiroi kumo ni oikosareta

Atari wa sepia iro da kara
Yuugata ka mata wa yume no naka
Teeruranpu o oikakete
Boku wa futatabi hashiridashita

Itsu made mo aru to omotteita
Kagirinaku aru to shinjiteitanda

Akai kawa ni natte oikaketeita
Shiroi kumo o otte hashitteitanda

Monokuro na yoru no kaaten ni
Oitsukareta koro no sora ni wa
Kimi no sugata wa mienakute
Boku wa shibaraku tachitsukushita

Hito wa tomaru na to iu keredo
Kotae o mitsukero to iu keredomo

Kurai sora no naka de afureru kurai
Kuroi kaze ni natte afureru kurai de atta

Meijidoori no hodou kara
Kusunda sora o miagetara
Kioku no you ni futashika na
Hiyowa na hoshi ga hikaridashita

Atama no sumi ni nokotteita
Wasurete shimaeba raku datta koto mo

Hidoi hito ni natte shikireru kurai
Hiroi koto o itte mayoeru kurai

Kurai sora no naka de afureru kurai
Kuroi kaze ni natte afureru kurai

Yoru no kaze ni natte...
Yoru no kaze ni natte...
Yoru no kaze ni natte...


I looked up from one of the cars
Lined up along Meiji Street
The sky looked too narrow
Its drifting white clouds passed me by

Since everything around me was sepia-colored
I don't know if it was evening or if I was dreaming
Chasing after the taillights
I took off running again

I thought it would be there forever
I believed it would go on endlessly

I became a red river and chased them
I ran after those white clouds

When the monochromatic curtain of the night
Had finally caught up with me
I couldn't see you in that sky
So I just stood there for a while

They say I shouldn't stop, but
They say to find an answer, but still

In the dark sky, to surpass its boundaries
I became a black wind that could surpass its boundaries [1]

I looked up at the darkened sky from the sidewalk of Meiji Street
Uncertain as a memory, the fragile stars began to shine

It all remained in a corner of my mind
Even the things it would have been easier to forget

I became someone cruel enough to take charge
I said things profound enough to confuse

In the dark sky, to surpass its boundaries
I became a black wind that could surpass its boundaries

I became the night wind...
I became the night wind...
I became the night wind...

For the first time in ages, have a footnote! >.>

[1] The "afureru kurai" bit drove me crazy for the longest time before I figured it out. And then I spent forever trying to make it sound right in English. >> Basically, afureru means overflow... but how does wind overflow? Here's my interpretation: it goes back to that bit in the first verse about the sky being too narrow, too confined. He became a wind that could surpass the boundaries of that narrow sky. Make sense? Amazing how Japanese can express this whole concept in a simple little phrase like "afureru kurai," yet it took me ages to whittle out an English equivalent that was less than a paragraph long... which I ended up writing out anyway, in the form of this footnote. :p

Disclaimer: This song belongs to Aiba Masaki Arashi Johnny & Associates Johnny Kitagawa, not me. I only take credit for the romaji and translation. I'm just a fangirl trying to make J-music a little more accessible to Americans. No copyright infringement is intended. Please don't sue me - I'm already broke. T__T