I translated Sayu's speech for you guys if y'all are interested. I think it's really worth a read.
Everyone, thank you for the Sayumin call and pinklight very much.
I, Michishige Sayumi, will graduate today, Nov. 26 2014 from Morning Musume.
I hope to tell you my feelings properly so please listen. In 2002 I took the Morning Musume audition and on January 19, 2003 I became a 6th generation member of the Morning Musume that I loved so much. It wasn’t that I had an interest in the entertainment industry or even in singing or dancing but I wanted to be part of Morning Musume that I loved. In 12 years I have experienced so much. I stood on stage with the other members singing and dancing, although there were times today where I couldn’t really dance, and appeared on TV, which was new and great, and I was able to visit many places on tour.
For the first few years I had no solo parts and even though there was a spot on stage for me I began to wonder whether my existence in Morning Musume even made a difference. However the love I had for Morning Musume never changed and I was able to get to this point.
Sometimes no matter how hard you try it doesn’t go well and sometimes no matter how hard you work you don’t feel rewarded/compensated (mukumawareru). However I was able to learn from Morning Musume that even if it’s little by little you’re moving forward and I was even able to become the Leader that I wanted to become so badly.
After I became Leader it wasn’t necessarily smooth sailing and there were times where I would lose my appetite thinking about how hard everything was. But I had fans that would hold me up with their tremendous amount of love.
I think… That fans of Sayu are weird. That they’re different. I always thought of my fans as a congregation of odd people. I thought this because there were members who could sing better, dance better, and members who wouldn’t hurt their feet on such an important day like this. Plus there are so many celebrities that are much more enchanting than me but still my fans cheered me on. It’s not like I could do anything special, and today I wasn’t able to do anything well at all. The only thing first rate about me is my talking but I do think that I’m on the cuter side of the spectrum, but I’m totally the type to say these kind of things about myself. Normally, that’s not the kind of idol you want to support, right?
But, my slightly weird fans came out to support me in the sunshine, rain, snowstorms, typhoons, and even in thunderstorms. You gave your all to support me. You gave me courage, power, kindness, strength, confidence, and a sense of calm. And you gave me your love. I’m so glad I met you all. Thank you for finding me, for supporting me. *
I was able to meet all of you because I became a part of Morning Musume. You all gave “Michishige Sayumi”/my existence a reason. I was born to become a part of MM. That makes me glad that I was born. I’m glad that my fans are you and not anyone else. Thanks weirdos. Thank you so much.
And by the time I realized it not a single member that I started with 12 years ago is left. But now by my side are the 9th, 10th, and 11th generations. The time I spent with them was so much fun. We laughed a lot. But there were times when I got mad. Yet they still told me “I love Michishige-san!” and that made me so happy. I cannot help but feel a bunch of endearment for them. They are the best juniors I have ever had. I believe that they can keep doing more and more. I will continue to watch over them.
There were scenes that I’ve said a bunch of times on TV and in magazine interviews that I wanted to show my juniors but this is the scene that I wanted to show them. This is the last thing that I can pay back to them. It is because of my graduation that I could show them this but I want them to be able to hold a stand-alone concert and stand here and see this scene. I also want them to continue to see bigger scenes that I have never seen. At that time I’ll probably be part of the scenery that they’ll be looking at.**
Finally, please let me say this to all of you; thank you so much for everything up until now.
Please listen to the song that started my life. I sang this song to become part of MM. I’ll put my heart into singing this song; “Akai Freesia”.
*Sayu uses a very paralleled sentence structure that just doesn’t sound good written out but I think knowing that nuance is important
** During this part Sayu uses the word “keshiki” over and over again that literally translate to landscape/scenery. Obviously contextually she means “this venue” however I think Sayu was also meaning it figuratively about all the things a more successful group can go out and do
***Also, overall, Sayu uses third person a lot. But it’s just weird to type out.