好きこそものの上手なれ　気負いなく、楽しみながら読んでみよう！

　Whenever actress and singer Risa Junna visits New York to watch musicals, she always makes sure to take home a little piece of Broadway with her.

　"These are treasures to me," said the former top heroine of the Takarazuka all-female musical theater troupe and the English voice actress for the main character in the popular anime series "Little Charo" aired on Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK), holding up several copies of Playbill distributed at various theaters.

　"I can't seem to throw them away, so there are so many at home!" Junna said. She said the pamphlets are precious mementos, and the theatrical reviews, listings and profiles of cast members serve as reference materials for her.

　The pamphlets are also important reading material for Junna.

　"Even in Japanese, thick books tend to be intimidating at first. What's important is not to push yourself too hard, but to try to pick up something you like and enjoy it," she said.

　The same thinking applies to reading.

　Whenever she reads, Junna said that she tries not to get bogged down over small details.

　"I just read through, even if I don't understand what's written at first. Eventually, after reading I try to imagine what is written, and then look up the parts that I don't understand later using a dictionary.

　"The important thing is not to stop, but to move ahead. Otherwise, you'll get stuck forever," she added.

　Junna said she always had a love for English particularly since ap-pearing in films. But after starring in "Midnight Fly," a Hong Kong movie, she decided that she needed to brush up her English skills. After consulting with her management office, she spent a month studying at a language school in New York.

　That experience apparently paid off as in 2008 she was chosen to play the lead in "Little Charo," an adventure involving a Japanese dog who is separated from his master and becomes lost in New York.

　"In the beginning, the staff told me to 'speak English more like a Japanese' so I could still keep up with the other cast members," recalled Junna. But like Charo, who slowly but steadily develops his conversational skills through exchanges with the local canine population, Junna saw the bar raised.

　"With longer sentences, I had difficulty getting the right rhythm," she recalled. The harder she tried to read the script, the more difficult the situation became. It was then that she received an important piece of advice from her instructor that would help shape her thinking toward English.

　"I was told that no matter how hard I tried, there was no way I could become a native speaker. At first, those words hurt. But I realized that I shouldn't be too hard on myself. After all, I'm Japanese."

　Junna said that the key to success is to take things one step at a time.

　That does not stop her from being ambitious: She says she often buys paperbacks of favorite movies and plays to read.

　"Eventually I would like to be able to read them thoroughly," she said smiling.

• take…of　〜の思い出を持ち帰る
• Playbill　劇やミュージカルの情報誌。ここでは各劇場で配られる、上演作の紹介などを掲載したプログラム
• memento(s)　記念の品
• listing(s)　上演スケジュール
• intimidate(-ing)　近寄り難い
• get...over　〜で泥沼にはまる
• pay(-id) off　報われた
• keep up with　〜についていく
• local…population　地元の犬たち
• saw(see)...raised　求められるレベルが上がるのを感じた

純名里沙（じゅんな・りさ）
1990年、宝塚歌劇団に首席で入団し、トップ娘役として活躍。宝塚在籍中の94年、ＮＨＫ朝の連続テレビ小説『ぴあの』に主演、主題歌も歌う。退団後も、香港映画『夜間飛行』に主演、歌った歌が、台湾のベスト・オリジナル・フィルムソング賞（金馬奨）を受賞。現在NHK教育テレビ『リトル・チャロ東北編』でチャロ役を好演中。2013年1月18日に東京芸術劇場コンサートホールで上演される『ファンタジーオブシネマ0スクリーンを飾った名曲たち』に出演予定。