– After graduating from high school, I understand you immediately started your search for band members while working part time jobs. Was that period difficult, in terms of lifestyle?
[No. Not really. I had all sorts of jobs. I went to band practice at night, and other than that, I was always working, so around then…… I had money. So, I don’t remember much hardship (laughs). It didn’t feel like I was a poor guy (laughs).]

– What kind of places did you work at?
[Record… no, CD stores, these days. And a variety store that sold lots of accessories and things like that. That was a really interesting shop. All the employees were either musicians, or they were girlfriends of guys in bands. Nobody else worked there (laughs), so that store was a little different.]

– It seems it drew in music lovers. How did you come to have the opportunity to work in that eccentric shop?
[That was because the CD shop I had worked in before was in the same fashion mall as that variety store. Saying fashion mall sounds so old (laughs). The stores were close to each other, so I met the other employees, knew who they were. That sort of thing. But eventually, fans of my band started coming to that CD shop and that variety store. So after a while it got a bit hard to work there. I worked away from the customers for the last two or three months. Going to factories, or killing time changing the light bulbs (Both snicker). It was all just to cover my lifestyle expenses.]

– Killing time by changing the light bulbs (laughs). You said you worked to finance your lifestyle, so wasn’t it hard on you before, when you had to work in places that didn’t have any relation to music whatsoever?
[Well, when I could get away with not working, I didn’t work. I always wanted to sleep, or goof off. But I had to make enough money to live on, so I worked.]

– When you worked in the CD shop and the variety store, you did customer service in both, right? When you actually did that sort of work, was it harder than you had thought it would be?
[It wasn’t any worse. I’m short tempered (laughs). I had lots of fights with the customers who came to where I worked. I never forgive a shoplifter. If I spotted someone shoplifting, anyway, I’d chase them down and drag them back yelling “The hell you doing?!” (laughs). But seeing how things are now, I wouldn’t be allowed to do that, right? That’s a slap in the face.]

– Why did you feel so strongly about shoplifting, to the point of putting yourself at risk? Of course, stealing is wrong, but as a part-time employee, you could have thought “What a pain…” and pretended not to notice. Yet, you wouldn’t let yourself do that.
[Yeah, but, if merchandise went missing, it’s us who’d get replaced. For instance, at the CD shop, I think these days they manage everything by computer, but when I worked there during high school, they didn’t have computers, so we had to wrap the CDs individually in transparent bags and put a card in. That card had all sorts of fine print on it. If we lost it, we had to start writing up the card from scratch again, and it was just awful. We had to write it correctly. It was even worse when we didn’t realise something was missing, because we couldn’t always order more of that product. All that happened was that when we took inventory, the numbers didn’t match up. Anyway, when I had those jobs, shoplifting pissed me off. So whenever I spotted someone stealing, I dashed like mad, so lots of people got caught at that store.]

– Like a hot-blooded thief killer. That’s kind of cool (laughs).
[First, if I spotted someone shoplifting inside the store, I’d loudly say they were gonna get caught the moment they left. Because some people try to dash out of the store and run away. Then I’d follow them and catch them. It was fun using teamwork to catch the shoplifters, too (laughs). The other staff, my friends, would keep an eye open and let me know “Ah! He’s back!” or “They’re about to leave!” We caught them by working together (laughs). Now that I think about it, work was pretty fun~ (laughs). Working at the CD shop and the variety store, I didn’t only get to know the other employees. I ended up making friends with people working at the other stores in that fashion mall, too. Ah! That’s right. It’s not as amazing now, but, that CD shop had “The highest amount of Dead End sales in the nation,” they said. Still, I worked there. And then, we even had MORRIE-san come by. Lots of musicians came, since that store was used as a stop on promotional campaigns.]

– When you met a member from your beloved Dead End (1), how did you feel? Your heart must have been pounding.
[Actually, the first one of them I met was (CRAZY COOL-)JOE-san. It was while I was working the counter in that CD shop. All of a sudden, he was in front of me (chuckles). Someone I’d thought “He won’t ever come~” about, suddenly showing up in front of me. At the time, I said “I’m a fan” to him. And later, MORRIE-san came. And YOU-chan came into the shop when I was working the video concert section. I think that must’ve been the time I went out for drinks with YOU-chan (laughs). Since I was working in that kind of store, I also went to a lot of live shows and stuff. Once the show was over, I’d go backstage and get to know people. Of course, I went to see Dead End. sakura was backstage, too (laughs). Of course, we didn’t know each other back then, so we didn’t recognize each other. Then later, when we were talking, I asked “sakura, was that you backstage?” and he said “Yeah, yeah!” So even before we knew each other, we’d actually been in the same places.]

– While you were leading this kind of life at work, you were also searching for band members. What kind of people did you originally have in mind, when you started that search?
[Good looks, and also a certain degree of technical talent. That kind of person.]

-Right from the start, you had atrociously high standards (laughs). How did you go about recruiting people who had those qualities?
[I passed through all kinds of live houses. Then, I sounded out the people I’d gotten friendly with. And they introduced me to people they knew. Then, when someone caught my eye, we’d go to a studio and have a session together.]

– You must have done that many times before you found the members of L’Arc~en~Ciel. Please tell me about how you found them.
[When I first met the guitarist, hiro, we were introduced by Sammy-kun, from Billy & The Sluts(2). I don’t remember how I got to know Billy, though. One day, Sammy-kun spontaneously came to the CD shop while I was working and said “Still lookin’ for a guitar? Cause I know a good one.” He gave me a memo with the kid’s phone number on it. So I tried calling. That’s how we met. And then, how did I meet the drummer, pero…….? Ah! I went to a Zi:KILL(3) live. To watch the show. I was arm wrestling backstage with other band guys, when I mentioned “I’m starting a band, myself.” or something like that (laughs). I was always doing that sort of thing. When I was at that Zi:KILL live, one of the guys next to me asked about my band, and we started talking. We talked quite a bit, and he told me “The band I’m in now is breaking up, so I’m looking for a new one.” It went like “What do you play?” “Guitar.” “I’m bass.” And we exchanged phone numbers. Then eventually, on the phone, we planned to meet up at a studio, right? I can’t remember if I asked him or if he asked me. Anyway, we went to a studio. That kid brought another guitarist with him. They had the twin guitars, and they were looking for people to do the bass, vocals, and drums. That kid was. pero-chan came to that studio, too. A lot of different bassists and drummers showed up. We just played around a bit, that’s all. Then we decided to come back to the studio another day. The next time I went, that kid had brought two people : pero-chan and hyde (laughs softly).]

– You had gone to the studio for a session, and unexpectedly met hyde-kun.
[Yeah. There were five of us at the studio. By then I had already recruited hiro into my band. Our vocalist was going to be a guy called MATAROU, but now he’s the drummer for The Willard (laughs). He played drums for test-No. too. (4)]

– From vocalist to drummer, that’s quite a change (laughs).
[He started out as a drummer, though. So, I got that group into the studio a few times, but things never really took off. Musically, and just in general. And then, hiro and I started saying “Let’s go with a different band.” I thought “You know, those guys who came to the studio, the vocal (hyde) and drum (pero-chan) are pretty good,” so I talked to them. But pero-chan and hyde were already in a different band. So I went to see their show, thinking “Wouldn’t they be better off working with us?” It was impolite of me (both laugh). Again, I said “Come join my band.” Until that band was over with, hyde couldn’t say “Okay.” It was hyde’s band. Even if he had joined us, there would have been too many things to organize and plan for. But then, after many months, we finally got together. Me, hiro, pero-chan and hyde came together with the name “L’Arc~en~Ciel.”]

– Naming your band L’Arc~en~Ciel, that isn’t exactly something that jumps to one’s mind when it comes to thinking of band names. How did you think of it?
[The four of us got together, and we had to think of a name before we could start doing shows, so we used the name I came up with. I thought hard about whether a simple name would be best or not. At first, I tried to find a simple name, but I didn’t find anything that worked. It’s long, but seeing it written out has an impact that makes it memorable. That’s part of why I thought L’Arc~en~Ciel was a good name. With brands of clothing, too, intricate names work because they’re recognizable. I felt that L’Arc~en~Ciel was a long word to remember, but I thought that was all right. Written down, “L’Arc~” jumps out at you, right? Because of the balance between the capitals and lowercase letters, and because of the “‘” and “~” (laughs).]

– I can see why you think so. Certainly, those symbols catch the eye. If you were to do things over, what do you think would make a good band name?
[Hmmmm….. I still hear people say “Shell” (5) (Both laugh). Shell as in shellfish, or Shell as in the gas company. It isn’t an English word, it’s “Ciel” in French. The closest approximation of the French word would be “Sieru,” and I don’t think anyone would misread that as “Shell.” But when you type in katakana, the “e” in the font itself looks small. Even when you make sure it’s full-sized, it still looks like a small one. That’s why even now, some people pronounce it “Shell.” Isn’t that incredible? We’ve sold millions of CDs, been on NHK’s Kouhaku(Utagassen)(6) three times, and still people can’t say our name right. Does that happen to anyone else?]

– Probably not.
[Why can’t they learn the proper way to say it? It’s kinda sad (bitter laugh). Just sad. We even made commercials about it, you know? We hate that enough to spend money on commercials, telling people that “It’s L’Arc~en~Ciel,” but they still say “L’Arc~en~Shell.” Lately, I’ve found that to be annoying, but what can I do about it? (laughs). I try not to let it bother me too much.]

– Now, when your activities began under the name of L’Arc~en~Ciel, you must have wondered what would become of this band, and if you would ever take it to Tokyo. What definite goals were you working towards?
[Nothing. I didn’t put much thought into it, at the time. Really, that wasn’t until two or three months later (laughs). I guess just drawing lots of people to us at live houses, that sort of thing.]

– How did it feel when the four of you first started making music together?
[Well, everyone’s technique was at a level that exceeded my standards, so I wasn’t worried.]

– Did you feel a premonition that this band was going to become something incredible?
[No, I don’t remember any. But this was more than ten years ago (laughs).]

– Back then, who took care of booking venues and the like?
[Me and hiro. hyde made the fliers and stuff. I made a few of those, too.]

– Was it easy for you to mobilize everyone for live shows?
[It was. Right from the start, we drew in crowds for our shows. Our first live as L’Arc was on May 30th, 1991. We came on after another band, but about 130 people came in just to see us. From the next live
onward, we always managed to bring in at least a hundred people. Then, around October, we started doing shows on our own. Three hundred people came, then. In Osaka, getting that many people means you’ve got a reputation. Our reputation spread all the way to Tokyo, and major labels started approaching us around then.]

– And it had only been half a year since your formation! How did you react when you started getting approached by major labels?
[I was so thrilled~! I said “We don’t want to go major.” (laughs) Rather, we went out for fancy yakiniku(7), and once we were done eating, I told them so (Both laugh hard). “First of all, we have no intention of going major at the moment. We’re going to make an indie album first. We want to see how far we can get on our own, and we can’t find that out if we sign with a major label.” That really is how we felt.]

– You had major labels extend invitations to you, yet you went up to them and said “We’re going to make a CD first, then become pros.” You kept calm.
[No, no. We hadn’t put enough songs together yet. We weren’t ready to make an album yet, at that point. I thought it was still too soon even for an indie album. Really, we’d only formed half a year earlier. But how long did they think we’d been active? We were giving out free videos at our gigs. At Nanba Rockets and Shinjuku Loft. We made Rockets into our homeground. Rockets had it’s own label. For indies. They said to us “You won’t leave, will you?” As we got to be better known, we never heard anything like “Well, we can’t quite…” from the people at our homeground (laughs). We told them “Once we have a few more good songs, we’re leaving,” and took off from that place. But, they wouldn’t give up. Next time, they said “Fine, why don’t we put out a video for you?” and made us that offer. However, we didn’t like the idea of selling things, so we said “We don’t want you to sell anything, but if you make it a free video then it’s okay,” and tried to get away from them that way. They made a free video of one of our gigs. They were kinda restrictive, so it was hard to get along with them, in the end.]

– So those were the circumstances behind the making of that free video.
[Right. We didn’t want it made at all. We absolutely didn’t feel like we had to release something quickly. You know how you can feel “It’s too soon” about normal things? Our music just wasn’t ripe yet. We wanted to release something only after it was ripe enough.]

– You had been approached by major labels. Had you come up with a vision of how your major debut was going to go?
[No. It’s not that I was avoiding the thought, I just wasn’t thinking much about it. Besides, our music still had quite a way to go, so I wasn’t looking that far ahead. Not even imagining it. And I was just in my early twenties.]

– Moving on, how did ken-chan come to join the band?
[That was later, as our music was just about ripe. We started talking about putting out an indie album, and we were going to do the recording for it. It was with a label called Night Gallery. That’s who Dead End made their indie records with. So, I definitely wanted to work with Night Gallery (Both laugh). And then, right before we were going to do the recording, about a week before, our guitarist, hiro, quit. So I went to ken-chan, saying “My guitarist quit. Wanna join my band? We have a recording to do soon, so come on!” (laughs)]

– So, he joined you when you were in quite an awful situation. But how did you invite ken-chan?
[How indeed…… It was the day of our last live show with hiro. After the show, that was the day I called ken-chan! And after the show that day, at dinner with the other members, we talked about what to do about our guitarist. hyde knew about ken-chan, too. We’d talked about how I had someone like him for a childhood friend. I played a demo tape or something that ken-chan had made, and hyde said “ken-chan’s pretty good!” So, we kept talking about it until the middle of the night. Of course, this was all before cell phones (laughs). ken-chan was an ordinary university student at the time, and if I’d called him in the middle of the night, he would’ve sleepishly said “I don’t wanna,” so I waited until morning. In the restaurant. Then, around 8 or 9 in the morning, I thought “He must be awake by now” and called him. “My guitarist quit, so do you wanna join? We have a recording to do,” I told him. ken-chan was going to university in Nagoya, so he was living in Nagoya. Of course, we talked about how joining L’Arc = moving back to Osaka. “I don’t think you can make up your mind right away, so think about it for a day or two before answering,” I said. I called him back two days later. “Did you think about it?” I asked. “I know. Let’s do this together,” is what he answered me with. ken-chan came back to Osaka. Before he got back, I tried desperately to find him a place to stay (both laugh hard). Then I said “It’s settled, ken-chan.”]

– You had until he arrived to find a place for him. It must have taken incredible effort to pull that off.
[I was looking for a place that was better than what I had! (laughs) For ken-chan.]

– Just because you had such high expectations for ken-chan.
[Actually, ken-chan had just about decided on a job, at that point in time. So, there were big changes going on in his life, probably.]

– Such as deciding to join L’Arc. And so, ken-chan returned to Osaka. Did you go record that album as soon as he joined?
[We started the recording. And we almost finished it. We worked on recording it until only the mixing was left to do. Lots of stuff happened before the recording, and we had all sorts of problems during the recording itself. Eventually, I started feeling rather anxious about putting out an album with Night Gallery, to the point that I was saying “I don’t want to release this album.” However, we had made plans to release a single before the album was supposed to come out. Then, the discussion turned into “The magazines are already printed. We paid this much for the advertisement. It’s cost us this much for the recording we’ve done so far. What are we going to do about that?” But I kept saying “I don’t want to release it.” The company replied “Then, we will no longer deal with you. Send in an attorney.” “If you are willing to pay for everything described in our agreement, you do not have to release anything, but otherwise we will retain the rights to sell it,” they said. And so, we couldn’t help releasing the single. Rather than have it be sold, I think I would have prefered to pay for everything in the contract, but there was no way we could pay for that. That must have been around October. Then they told us “If you do not have the remainder paid for by the end of this month, we will hold the rights to the album and begin selling copies.” I had no idea what to do. Financially, this was in the range of two to three million yen. “There’s no way we can pay that much. We might be done for……” This was on the 28th, 29th of October. I remember those days quite clearly. Especially one evening. I was at home, sinking into despair, when the phone rang. The phone rang, and I answered it. “This is Ooishi from Danger Crue (the company L’Arc is affiliated with).”]

– Wow~! What incredible timing. Had you been contacted by Danger Crue beforehand?
[Not at all. But, of course, I knew who Danger Crue were. I didn’t know that this Ooishi guy was the boss, though, so I wondered “Who is this guy, anyway?” (laughs). Earlier, Matoba-san from ‘Rockin f’ (A specialised music magazine) had talked with me. Matoba-san and I had become quite good personnal friends. At the opening of the AION (8) exhibition hall, that Matoba-san asked me “Lemme hear your music~.” There hadn’t been a single L’Arc demo tape sold yet, so I had him promise “Make absolutely sure you don’t let anyone else hear it,” and I mailed one of our demo tapes to him. But Matoba-san did let other people hear it (Both snicker). Ooishi-san heard that tape, and called me, saying “I heard some of your music, and your sound interests me. Would you like to meet with me?” Me, I was just thinking “Lucky~!!” I said “Absolutely. I’ll go to Tokyo in the morning.” My car flew all the way there.]

– Being able to say “This is it!” and have the insight to make that decision on the spot must also be a part of your talent.
[That time, the day after the phone call from Ooishi-san, the whole band piled into my car and ran off to Tokyo. There, we explained everything about the situation we were in. We told them “We’re in trouble.” It turned out Ooishi-san was originally from Kansai, and so he knew Night Gallery’s president. Ooishi-san worked everything out. Everything was smoothed over, and then we signed with Danger Crue.]

– …… (Speechless). Such incredible timing, coincidence, and luck. It really seems as though fate itself was changing everything for the better.
[It was incredible. Dramatic. It was by amazing coincidence that I met the other members, and that we started this band together. Then, when we were in horrible trouble, we happened to meet Ooishi-san. Matoba-san, too. Even though I made him promise not to play that tape for anyone else, I’m glad he did (laughs). So many important coincidences. It’s so dramatic!]

– That kind of sweet coincidence makes for impressive drama. It can be felt that this band named L’Arc possesses a certain “destiny.”
[Doesn’t it~? I really think we do.]

– When you arrived in Tokyo and showed your face at the Danger Crue offices, what was your first impression?
[First, Ooishi-san and Kadoma-san came out to the front office. They were wearing black suits, and drove the same Benz SL as now. I thought “Woah! Yakuza!!(9) They tricked us. This sucks!” to myself, at first (both laugh). Then, Ooishi-san asked us “Why don’t we start things off with a meal?” I drove the L’Arcmobile, a little bucket of bolts with all of us crammed in, right behind that huge Benz. We were going “Now what? Wanna run away? Where are they gonna take us?” and stuff (Both laugh hard) the whole way there. And then, we end up at this totally normal family restaurant (laughs). It was called Forks. I remember. Anyway. Once we got there, Kadoma-san got in first. He was singing “Tatatataa~,” taking small steps as he went to get us some seats. While he did that, we were waiting by the entrance to Forks, and I bumped into another customer. I yelled “Ah!” (his eyes go round, as if he’s just heard a gunshot) and my eyes went wide. Seeing that, it’s like “So they ARE Yakuza!” (Both crack up laughing). Kadoma-san was a celebrity. I’d gone to Anthem (10) lives and stuff, so I knew he was nicknamed “Death.” “This guy is Death! He’s Death!” I said. Then, during the meal, we explained our situation. We also talked about why we didn’t want to release the album. Then Ooishi-san offered “Why don’t you try recording the same songs over again?” That’s how it went, which led us to recording it for good.]

– Might you be talking about DUNE?
[That’s right (laughs). But just as we were getting ready to record the good version of DUNE, our drummer quit.]

– After that, the new drummer you found was sakura-kun.
[Right. In October, I was in Tokyo talking with Ooishi-san. We were planning to do the recording just after New Years. So, for the rest of that year we were rehearsing in Osaka. We were going to come to Tokyo after New Years just for the recording itself. At that point, everybody knew who sakura was. He was with Harem Q (11), as a support drummer for them, so I thought “Since he’s not an official member, maybe he’d be willing to join us if I invite him.” (laughs). I forget how I managed to find out how to contact him, but I gave sakura a call. We talked, and he said “I’ll be in Osaka for two or three days helping out with this band, so let’s meet up while I’m there.”]

– See, there’s another marvelous timing coincidence. You called him and he just happened to have a show in Osaka right around the corner. It really is dramatic, how events played out.
[So, four of us went to see that live. Me, ken-chan, hyde, and Kadoma-san. After the show, we went out for dinner and decided “First, let’s try going to the studio together.” And so, the next day, we went to the studio right away. If I remember right. We played together a bit, and everyone was saying it sounded good. Then we talked, and he said “I’m with you.” From New Year’s onwards, we were living in a Tokyo Weekly Mansion (12) and recording DUNE.]

– Considering how much trouble you had already gone through, you must have been thrilled to finally finish DUNE, right?
[Yeah, we were. We went through a lot to get that far.]

– From the point where you started going back and forth between Osaka and Tokyo, like when you were trying to find your new member, didn’t you think it would be easier to shift your base of operations to Tokyo?
[Not at all. Cause, there was no point in doing that. As far as we were concerned. We weren’t particularly trying to become pros. DUNE was released as an indie album, so whatever happened we could think “Wow, great,” and then maybe think about the possibility of making a career of it. Releasing DUNE wasn’t a specific goal, and I don’t think we were talking about going major during the DUNE period.]

– It wasn’t one of your ambitions to work towards becoming pros.
[During that phase, I personally wanted to make our situation a bit better. That kind of feeling, you know? That’s how I felt. When we first formed, we could only have shows in tiny little live houses. So, then, I was thinking that it would be nice if we could get enough spectators to fill up an entire hall. For recording studios, too, at first we didn’t have much money, so the timing was tight. And so, I wanted to be able to schedule more time at the studio to make better recordings. And I thought it would be nice to get a better studio, too. That’s not really restrained to the music life, is it? If you live in a small place, you want to get a bigger place next time. I think it’s the same sort of thing.]

– Rather than run off with the first major label that caught your eye, you wanted to be sure of things, looking over each step carefully before progressing to the next one.
[Like I said, I wasn’t at all thinking that I wanted to become a pro. It was only when I personally felt ready to take a step up that I did so. That is how humans think, isn’t it? I did realise that the way things were going, if I kept taking these steps, I would end up being a pro musician. I think humans are creatures who constantly seek to improve their own situation. I think that’s what I was doing.]

– Of course, every human being wants to progress. However, in the story of L’Arc you’ve told so far, the people you met, the unbelievable timing and coincidences, the way incidents were so perfectly connected, the result of it all led you to progress in ways that others cannot. It truly seems that above and beyond your own efforts, something else was at work.
[I’ve always been lucky. I got as far as I did in life because of that “luck.” Lots of luck, and the rest was effort. It feels like that’s how I got where I am now.]

– Ooishi-san called you with excellent timing, your fortunate meeting at the AION opening, it really does seem like luck is what ties all of it together.
[But, like I said before, there’s a certain amount of effort required, too.]

– Concretely speaking, what do you mean by that?
[To have Ooishi-san listen to that demo tape, and have him take an interest in our music because of it, I had to put together some bass work, first. I went to AION shows, and even to the opening of that hall. If I hadn’t met Matoba-san from ‘Rockin f’ there, that demo tape never would have been passed along. There was luck involved in my going there, but I worked at it, too. To a certain degree, some people are lucky and others aren’t. That applies to people, and to places too, I think. So, it’s possible to work on improving your luck a little. I can’t give any concrete examples of how to do that, though. In my case, for example, I went to a lot of lives and got to know a lot of people that way, and that kind of effort ended up leading to good results. Back then, I was doing all the management work for the band. I got another phone, in addition to my private home line. I called it the “L’Arc~en~Ciel contact” office. Of course, that’s the phone number Ooishi-san called me on. I had a seperate mailbox set up for it, too. Having the mail forwarded to my home wasn’t cool, because then the fans found out where I lived. So it wouldn’t be cool to have the same phone for the band and for private use, right? I wouldn’t know which way to answer it, either. Act as if I had a lot of staff? I was doing it all on my own. That was another kind of effort. Because I worked on that aspect of things, I think I made some important connections. Besides, however many demo tapes we made, no matter how great the music on them is, we’re not constantly making music. If people could just go ahead and contact us directly, like for example, at a member’s home, we wouldn’t really want to answer the phone, right? I had a phone just for that, and an answering machine and fax, too. Because of that, I didn’t have to worry about answering the phone wrong. When I answered the contact phone, I always got a chill down my spine, and answered saying “What is it?” or something (laughs). Not a good way to answer, is it?]

– I see (laughs). Has your opinion on luck and effort stayed the same, or has your viewpoint changed since that era?
[It’s still the same.]

Interviewer : Toujou Sachie
Translated by Natalie Arnold

1. Dead End has been mentioned in many previous chapters. The four members are MORRIE (vocal), YOU (guitar), CRAZY COOL JOE (bass) and MINATO (drums). Go back.

2. Billy & The Sluts were a Japanese indie heavy metal band who were successful enough to release an album. Go back.

3. Zi:KILL were quite a famous band from the early 90s, who have since disbanded. Interestingly enough, yukihiro’s debut as a drummer was with this band. Go back.

4. The Willard are a rock band still active today. test-No., who MATAROU also did some drum work for, includes RYO and DEN as guitar and bass, respectively, as well as sharing the vocals. These latter two are members of ZIGZO, formed by sakura after he left L’Arc~en~Ciel, with that group’s vocalist being TETSU of Malice Mizer’s early days.Go back.

5. In Japanese, L’Arc~en~Ciel sounds like “Raruku an Shieru” when read from katakana. The “Shie” part is often misread as “She” leading to the “Shell” mispronunciation. The “Sieru” version is written with a katakana combination that does not naturally occur in Japanese. The sounds “She” and “Sie” are both written by combining the symbols for “Shi” or “Su” with a small “e” that transforms the vowel sound. A normal sized “e” is not always easy to tell apart from a small one, hence the possible confusion. Go back.

6. Kouhaku Utagassen, meaning “Red White Song Battle,” is a New Years special broadcast annually. Famous artists are split into two teams, red and white, and their performances are judged by other celebrities. Being one of the artists on a team is considered a sign of incredible success. Go back.

7. Yakiniku, also known as Korean Barbecue, is a meal where cuts of meat are grilled at the table, as one is about to eat them. The fancier the meat, the more expensive the meal.Go back.

8. AION is a company based in Osaka that makes industrial materials, such as sponges. Go back.

9. Yakuza are the Japanese mafia. Black suits and driving expensive cars, like the Benz, are sterotypical Yakuza traits. Go back.

10. Anthem were a Japanese power metal band that started in the 80s and were successful for a long time. They went through many member changes, but have been active intermittently during the 90s and even during the last few years.Go back.

11. Harem Q actually released an album while sakura was drumming for them. This album was called ‘opium’. Go back.

12. Weekly Mansions are pre-furnished apartments, often quite costly. They are rented out on shorter terms than regular apartments, hence the name ‘weekly’. Note that in Japanese, a mansion refers to a large apartment rather than a large house.Go back.

– You like clothes, don’t you?
[Let’s see~, I do like them, but I wouldn’t go as far as to say they’re one of my interests.]

– But you seem to be well aware of what looks good on you.
[No, I just buy what I like. But the thing is, I don’t make good use of what I wear, really. I have a habit of buying tons of clothes. As soon as I hand over my money, something a little different will catch my eye. Not a colour like black, but a rare colour. That’s what I’m after when I shop.]

– Speaking of which, when you were little, you must have been a trendy kid?
[Well…… I ended up being trendy. People around me told me I was.]

– Also, when your mom bought clothes for you and you didn’t like them, were you quick to say so?
[Hmm, yeah, that sort of thing did happen. Early on in elementary school? When I went shopping with my mom, I picked things out myself. By the time I started middle school, I was only wearing what I chose for myself.]

– What kind of clothes did you like when you were in middle school?
[I don’t think it was that different from what I like now. Pop-ish things, cute things. Well, the times have changed, so different things are out now, but the style of things I like hasn’t changed. I was flashy, in middle school. Leopard prints, animal prints, I had lots of those. And fake fur coats and jackets, too.]

– You certainly made a gorgeous middle schooler (laughs). Did you wear rubber soles back then?
[In first year of high school…. or third year of middle school? They were expensive for me, back then. So, I wore battamon ones, not George Cox ones or anything like that(1). You know, if you only have one of the real thing and you wear it every day, it’ll wear out fast (laughs). Genuine rubber soles wear out really quickly, believe it or not. Battamons take longer. Their soles are made stronger.]

– Oh! I didn’t know that! You used your allowance to buy those, right?
[That’s right. I didn’t have anything but my monthly allowance, basically. I’d save my New Years gift money, then get by on that. Oh, and I worked a little, too. I did some newspaper delivery.]

– When you were that age, tetsu-san, was anyone a sort of fashion leader for you?
[I guess the first were Duran Duran? During the New Romantics phase(2). That was in middle school, first and second year. By the end of second year, I was in a band myself, and I was into hard rock and heavy metal. I wore tons of skin tight, slim pants. It was the style, really~. Glam (rock) style.]

– Now you aren’t caught up in those things, you have your own original fashion sense.
[No, that’s not right. Its just that the brands I like change with each era, just like what’s popular in the world changes. I think that’s more or less it.]

– Do you keep up with what’s popular?
[I wouldn’t say I keep up, but to a certain degree I have to read up on the era, so I think I want to know what’s going on. It’s not that I actively work at it, at knowing what’s going on; I make my own choices.]

– Then… please tell me more about how the brands you like have changed.
[Let’s see, when I was in high school, Hysteric Glamour (3) was a big thing, I rather liked it. And Vivienne (Westwood) (4) too. But it was expensive for me, in school. Then, my early 20s were bad, weren’t they? Luna Matiino, Arrston Volaju, Gaultier and so on(5). Expeeeensive foreign stuff. All black, dressed like a host or something (laughs). In my teens, I had an eye for expensive things, even though I couldn’t buy them. Once I had a chance to dress like that, I started liking more casual clothes. I went back to Hys and the like. For the last two, three years, I’ve liked Number (N)ine, UNDER COVER, Dior (Homme), RAF SIMONS, D&G (6). And of course Vivienne. That sort of thing~]

– It seems you’ve gone back to taking it lightly, now, compared to high school. Do you still have any of your old clothes from that time?
[I kept some things. There are clothes I bought ten years ago that I still wear once in a while.]

– Do you think you’ll always buy the same kind of clothes as you do know?
[Hmm, I don’t think ahead like that. I think I’ll just pick out what I like at that particular time.]

– What do clothes mean to you, tetsu-san?
[The way I see it, wearing clothes you like is a way of bracing yourself. It affects your mood. Even though it’s said that “Appearances don’t determine a person,” it’s a fact that a lot of the time, you’re judged on how you look at the moment. For example, you can be sloppy on the inside, but if you dress yourself up a little you’ll be seen as a neater person (laughs). As an unexpected twist, I think that’s a good thing when used effectively.]

Interviewer : Harada Sachi
Translated by Natalie Arnold

1. George Cox is a brandsof shoes. George Cox is a more internationally famous brand. Battamon is a Kansai dialect word for an imitation product, meant to cheaply replicate a brand name. Go back.

2. The New Romantics Boom and Duran Duran were first footnoted back in Chapter 5. Go back.

3. Hysteric Glamour is originally a Japanese brand, started in the mid-80s, but is now popular overseas too. They make glam punk type clothing. Go back.

4. Vivienne Westwood is a British brand named after it’s first designer, who is moslty responsible for starting modern punk and new wave fashions. Her fashion, jewelry and perfumes are very popular around the world. Go back.

5. Luna Matiino was a brand of men’s clothes, typically worn by the long-haired gothic type. It doesn’t seem to exist anymore. Arrston Volaju is a Japanese brand. Gaultier, short for Jean-Paul Gaultier, is a French designer. Go back.

6. Number (N)ine is a Japanese brand. So is UNDER COVER. Dior Homme is French. RAF SIMONS is based in Belguim. D&G stands for Dolce & Gabbana, an Italian brand. Go back.

– What criteria did you use to choose a high school?
[Nah, I just went. Educationally (laughs).]

– What sort of clubs were you in once you started high school?
[None. Just like in middle school, I was in the go-home club.]

– What sort of changes were there in your lifestyle, going from middle school to high school?
[I got more serious about wanting to start up a band. The rest didn’t change. The “must cram” feeling got even stronger, in high school. It felt like I was constantly at cram school.]

– You felt like high school and cram school were merged together, then.
[I didn’t spend that much time thinking about “school” in general. I remember wondering why I was supposed to worry about it so much. Education until middle school is required by the national government, but after that, you’re free to choose whether to go to high school or not, aren’t you?]

– Certainly, that’s the case for high school.
[I decided on my own. Still, it felt like it was all cram school. Personally, I figured that since I chose to go to high school, I would stick with it until the end. Basically, I didn’t think that I’d need what I was studying at all once I got out into the world on my own. Especially so during high school. So then, the reason I willingly chose to stay in high school until the end, even though I thought it was useless, was that I wanted to see if I had enough perseverance.]

– It wasn’t to test your learning abilities, but rather to test your perseverance. I don’t think there are many people who go to high school with that kind of mentality. How did you come to think that way?
[Because, if you go to high school and say “I hate this! I quit!”, you’ll find that once you start working in a business, there’s lots more to hate. In school, it’s still safe to say “I hate this, I hate that, I’m gonna quit,”, but in business, I don’t think you can do anything about it. Then as soon as you find something slightly disagreeable at work, you’ll say “I quit!” right away. And then, you won’t do any work. So, even though I hated high school, I stayed in just so I could test my own willpower and perseverance. For instance, if a teacher I hate says something nasty to me, and I can endure it, well, when I get a job somewhere, there will probably be people like that, there, too. I think that treating high school as training for that kind of thing is a good way to look at it. Lastly, when it comes to having graduated high school, I don’t think you can do anything if you don’t at least have that academic background, can you?]

– I see. You made the decision while looking ahead at your ultimate goals in life. Then with that in mind, you started high school. What was your homeroom teacher like?
[The homeroom teacher for my first class was a male. He was young, so he was close to our age, and he was easy to talk to. And he had a sense of humour. Without that, we couldn’t have had fun, right? He wasn’t the kind of teacher who taught anything out of the ordinary though, so after graduation I forgot everything I learned from him. In the end, it’s the humourous teachers you remember more, isn’t it?]

– Did your homeroom teacher give you any advice about your wanting to start a band?
[His stance was to neither discourage me nor encourage me.]

– Since you wanted a band that badly, surely you must have met some opposition?
[I didn’t. There wasn’t any, but some people did see me badly. “There’s no way you’re ever gonna pull it off,” they said. When I used “I have band practice” as an excuse not to do something or go somewhere, the usual reaction was “That’s totally pointless. You ain’t gonna feed yourself with a band!” and things along those lines.]

– In your high school days, did you still go to your senpai’s house after school, where you, the senpai, and ken-chan would hang out listening to records?
[By the time I started high school, we weren’t doing that anymore, really. Senpai and ken-chan both went to a different high school. They were in a different grade, and they couldn’t spend so much time goofing off the way we did in middle school. We each ended up in separate bands. With our respective school buddies. So, it was only occaaaaasionally that I’d play music with my childhood friends.]

– Holding band practice and renting studios costs money, doesn’t it? Were you already working part-time jobs by high school?
[I was. In fast food. Making taiyaki and yakisoba (1). Japanese fast food places. I always followed a manual, so if you asked me to make some now, I wouldn’t be able to (laughs).]

– Your high school allowed part time jobs, then (2).
[It was against the rules, actually (laughs). But my parents were the type to say “Get a job. Never mind their rules.” (laughs). In the end, the Japanese constitution is more important than the school rules. As long as it’s within the law, little things like breaking one school’s rules don’t really matter, do they? Would they have arrested me for that? In my family, we did things our own way. I think that might be why I go against the stream (laughs). I didn’t do anything legally wrong. I didn’t smoke, I didn’t shoplift, I didn’t even ride a motorcycle. I mean, I just had a job, and what about those guys who were smoking?]

– Who were the members of the band you had in high school?
[We had members who came from a different school. You know how they have amateur nights in live houses sometimes? I’d go to watch my friends’ bands on those nights, when they played. I had lots of opportunities that way. That’s how we ended up forming that band.]

– By the way, what name did you use for that band?
[Byston Well. I picked it. I took the name from an anime I liked. Anime fans will get it right away.] (3)

– What kind of band was it? Both stylistically and in terms of people.
[We were a group of four. The life of that band was doing covers of Dead End. We had a few original songs, later.]

– Did you write any songs, back then?
[I wrote a few tunes. But what I wrote was really second string stuff for this band. Strictly speaking, I had changed the band’s name. At first, it was called Prisoner. Then, their bassist quit, and I joined the band. Until I joined, they had been doing covers of Reaction(4). And some of Sniper! too, but then I said “I like Dead End” and pretty soon we started covering Dead End instead (laughs). And, “Since I’m in now, wanna change the name?” Then I got the band name changed to Byston Well. In that band, even though I was the last member to join, I ended up becoming the leader (Both share a big laugh), before I knew it.]

– You don’t feel you took over the band, now do you? (laughs)
[So anyway, our guitar player wrote songs. I still think they were pretty good. There really weren’t many high school bands around who were playing original stuff. Around there, anyway. That band had good tunes, and good technique too. That’s why I joined them. Until then, I thought I was going to have to manage my members. “You be drums” or something like that. But I didn’t have to (pained laugh). “You guys are great doing what you’ve always done.” That’s what I figured when I met them. We became good friends. It started with “We’re lookin’ for a member” and “I do bass.” And then a little while later we had a talk on the phone. “Our bass just left, so you wanna join?” was the gist of it. I went “Lucky~!” (laughs). Really, I was, suddenly finding a bunch of talented people, and doing a band with them. I think that was in first or second year of high school.]

– Were the members classmates of yours?
[Actually, they were a grade or two below. But when I first met them at a live house, I thought they were older. Cause they were so good. They were doing covers of Sniper and sounded exactly like them! I figured they were young looking university students. Oh, and they had blond hair, even (laughs). And they were using incredible equipment. I think the drum kit had a double bass; anyway it was an expeeensive looking drum kit. And the guitarist was using a Marshall (amp) too. Looking at that equipment, and at their technique, you wouldn’t have thought they were in high school. I thought “They gotta be older,” but they turned out to be younger (laughs). But I still felt lucky to get to join their group.]

– And once you were in, before they knew it you were injecting them with your own chosen colours (laughs).
[Yeah, yeah (laughs). Maybe that’s why the members left (both laugh). Since they didn’t like my way of doing things, two members left at once. The guitarist and drummer. So then, I got ken-chan to come be the guitarist.]

– Wha! You were in a band with ken-chan back then?
[Yep. But my asking ken-chan to come join that band wasn’t the beginning of L’Arc (laughs).]

– Is that so? That’s the first time I’ve heard this story.
[Yes! Well, I am telling it more politely than usual (laughs).]

– But how did the incident where two members left at once come about?
[Well, they’d been in a quitting sort of mood for a while before that. Before, there was sort of two-against-two atmosphere. Then they said “As soon as we’re done here, we quit.” The last thing we did was enter a contest, and we were the winners. We appeared in the next Kansai-Shikoku-Okinawa rally (laughs). And they put us on TV too. There was a misunderstanding concerning that. It was an hour long program, but in the end credits, they had a close-up of me, only (both laugh). Why did they use a shot of me? Don’t they usually take close-ups of the vocalist? But instead of showing our vocalist, they picked me. And they only did that to our band.]

– It’s impressive that you won that contest, and even more impressive that you got that close-up shot.
[Anyone who saw it must have wondered who it was! (laughs)]

– Yes, yes, I understand your feelings.
[“They’re turning me into a representative of Japan, next they’ll be wanting me to go to the World Cup.”]

– Suddenly, the topic jumps to soccer (laughs).
[Well, soccer’s a good example, since you can get the same sort of misconception. “Without doing much work, you can somehow get turned into a pro.” In the end, no one’s going to be cheering (laughs). That’s the misconception. I think I’m happy with the results, though. If we had really become pros that way, I think we would have ended up as rotten people. Besides, none of us had been serious about becoming pros, yet. But looking back on it now, the people who’d been doing the image editing were incredibly good. That boy they did a close-up of turned out to be tetsu of L’Arc~en~Ciel (laughs). And so, once the contest was over with, the two of them left, our drummer and our guitarist, who had also been the main song writer, and then ken-chan joined us. And then we got a good, reckless drummer to join. They called him the local Higuchi Munetaka (5). After winning that contest, I wanted us to power up even more. With ken-chan and the new drummer there, we were able to pull it off ideally. Powering up the band. ken-chan was writing songs, so we started playing those, too. Somehow, a few songs from back then turned into songs that L’Arc used to do (giggles). Which songs, again? …….. They’re songs we played a long time ago, and I’ve forgotten the titles.]

– Wow! Do you really have songs from so long ago?
[We do. That band was the prototype phase. Then ken-chan had to go off to school, so he quit. Left that band. It’s not that we had serious discussions about him quitting or not, I think it was just that he was going to be busy with school (laughs). And that band was just a hobby. So, we changed guitarists again. I think we went through two other guitarists after ken-chan, and neither one was any good at writing songs (bitter laugh). That’s how it was. Since it was necessary, I wrote a few songs, too. That was around third year, or maybe right after the end of high school. “I could write better songs than what he’s making.” That was my first opportunity to write songs. Until then, we were doing hard rock, heavy metal music, so in my view writing songs was something the guitarist is supposed to do. On most of the albums I was listening to at the time, the guitarist wrote the music. Though sometimes, one or two songs on the album would have been written by the bassist. But I always figured those were on the part of the album that no one cared about (both laughed). That’s generally how it was.]

– How did you go about writing that first song?
[I started with the guitar riff. The first one I made went “Gaaga, gagagagah!” with the sound of a black metal riff. It was a crawly feeling song (laughs).]

– When you composed that song, did you also write the lyrics for it?
[I didn’t. I thought that the vocalist had to write the lyrics, at the time.]

– What happened to that band, later on?
[Eventually, nobody wanted to play guitar for us. The music wasn’t the same anymore. In terms of technique, we couldn’t get anyone who played as well as our first guitarist. “No good.” Naturally, we split up. After that, I decided I wanted to start a band from scratch and started looking for members. That would turn into L’Arc~en~Ciel.]

– You said your band naturally split up. Was that around your high school graduation?
[I think it was. A bit after graduation. I don’t remember much of what happened. In the later days, we weren’t doing many lives anymore. But when we did do lives, we pulled in a few customers. My face was well known, locally (laughs).]

– Before you graduated, what were your plans for after high school?
[Back then, I didn’t have any specific goal for my future. Any sort of job, at least. I just remember that I didn’t want to give up on my band. I still wanted to be in a band, so I graduated with the idea of being a freeter (6) while working on that.]

– Then you mean that you went through your high school graduation without having any idea where you were going to end up working?
[That’s right. I was the only one who graduated in that situation (laughs). Everyone else had decided on a career, or picked out a school. I was the only one who hadn’t decided anything. I’d had a part time job the whole time. So, after the ceremony, after high school graduation, I wasn’t just working after school, so I put myself on a job rotation, so my “morning come-in time” would always change. That was the biggest change in my life after graduating.]

– Since you were the only one with no plans for a career, didn’t your teachers talk your head off about it?
[They talked to me. My homeroom teacher never said anything, but other teachers said “There’s no way you can live on your music. Try a bit harder. After graduating, you need either more school or a real career.” They were always telling me things like that.]

– What did you answer when your teachers gave you that talk?
[“First of all, I can’t decide right now what I want to do for a living. I’m going to be a freeter while I look for what I want to do, and that’s good enough for me.” is what I said. I figured if I found a part-time job I wanted to stick with, I’d do that. Or if I discovered something I wanted to study, I could go back to school. While doing that, I was also searching for new band members, and that’s when I met hyde. L’Arc started up, and that leads us to the present (laughs) or that’s how it feels.]

– You can’t suddenly skip to the present (laughs). When you were thinking about your life after high school, you had no interest at all in going the way of higher education and applying to university?
[Hm. Somehow, I didn’t like the idea of doing something that would have me living off my parents after graduating from high school. Whether it’s university or trade school, the student life is pretty fun, isn’t it? Calling yourself a student is a sweet title. I realised it would be the most fun, but I didn’t think my parents would accept that explanation. And I didn’t like the idea of them wasting money on me. But looking back on it now, I realise my parents probably thought that my being a freeter was worse (laughs). But even if I had gone to another school, I probably wouldn’t have studied. And if I’d stayed at home, I’d have done nothing but band stuff. So I concluded that moving out and being a freeter was the best path, for me.]

– You decided on your own that you would live as a freeter, but how did your family react when you first told them what you were going to do?
[We’re pretty laid-back at home, so they didn’t say anything. But, if by age 23-24 I still hadn’t reached any sort of conclusion about my future, it would be too late. Whether it’s studying or getting a job, the older you get the harder it becomes. It was like “Make sure you decide what you’re going to do with your life before you turn 23.” Or something like that. My parents said that, and I felt age 23 was a good target. At the time.]

– You weren’t going to be a freeter forever, you had decided yourself that it was only for a set period.
[That’s right. …..To tell the truth, until graduation I had been thinking about more school.]

– Ah, did you?
[Going to school would have been easier. However, it was around then that my friend died. That’s when I thought “No waaay am I going to another school.” Also, once in a while I’d run into my senpai, who was in university at the time. When he told me “I think you should come to my school,” I told him “No way.” “I’m not going to waste my parent’s money on it.” And so, I gave up on schooling.]

-Interviewer : Toujou Sachie
Translated by Natalie Arnold.

1. Taiyaki is a fish-shaped pastry usually filled with sweet bean paste, though sometimes it can be made with other fillings. Yakisoba is a fried noodle dish that can include all sorts of toppings, but in plain form only includes noodles and sauce. Go back.

2. In Japan, many high schools have rules against students taking part-time jobs, based on the principle that these jobs can prevent them from spending enough time on their studies. Go back.

3. Byston Well is taken from the anime Aura Battler Dunbine. It’s the name of the world where the series is set. Go back.

4. Reaction were a rock group active in the 70s. Sniper were a rock band from the 1980s. Go back.

5. Higuchi Munetaka was the drummer for the famous Japanese band LOUDNESS, who were referenced in earlier chapters. Go back.

6. A freeter is a strange engrish word that refers to someone who is not a student yet who has no real career path other than part time work, in shops and the like. Go back.

– By middle school, did you know what you wanted to be later on?
[In middle school, well…… I remember kinda wanting to run my own store. It would have been either a toy store, or a fancy goods store. Fancy goods, that has an old-sounding ring to it (laughs). I didn’t want to be a salaryman, but in middle school I didn’t have any other ideas besides maybe running a store.]

– Was your middle school somewhere you could walk to from home?
[I went on my bike. But, actually, I was close enough that I was supposed to come on foot, so I’d ride my bike halfway, find somewhere to park my bike while I was at school, and then walk the rest of the way.]

– What kind of clubs did you join during that time?
[I didn’t join any. Just the go-home club(1). At one point, I did join the baseball club. I didn’t have a choice. The soccer club had gotten disbanded. So I tried the baseball club, but I didn’t go much. Soooometimes I’d say “I’m bored, maybe I’ll go to the batting center,” so I’d go borrow a bat from the baseball club. Besides that, I never practiced, but I was a great hitter (laughs). Even got home runs. When I did that, the teacher in charge of our club couldn’t find anything to say to the guys who practiced to exhaustion every day. Since the guy who only showed up once in a while, for the hell of it, was hitting better than the guys who put everything they had into the sport. I must have been a problem for that teacher. Besides, I was already putting all my youthful energy into dashing home as soon as classes were over.]

– What was your reason for rushing back home so quickly?
[I actually don’t really remember what I did when I came home (laughs). What I do remember is that a senpai, two grades above me in the same middle school, lived across the street. I used to go over there to play. I’d come home from school, dump my stuff in my room, and then head over there right away. Sometimes I didn’t even bother going home after school, I’d just go straight there. And, ken-chan came over to that house, too (laughs). During middle school, me and that senpai and ken-chan hung out together. Around supper time, we’d each head back to our own homes, or something like that.]

– When the three of you got together in that room, what did you do?
[We hung out and listened to records. When something new came out, one of the three would buy it. We’d all listen to it, talk about it, then go “Who’s gonna buy the next one?”. With the three of us buying different things and borrowing each other’s records, we got to hear a lot of stuff, didn’t we? And we took turns going out to buy them. It was an effective way to use our pocket money.]

– What was the new music you were buying back then?
[Scorpions were huge back then. Micheal Schenker (Group), Whitesnake(2)…… That was a good time for heavy metal and hard rock.]

– You could say that you are the way you are now because you had gone through that lifestyle of collecting and listening to music.
[That has some truth to it. But I liked to listen to music even before that, ever since fifth or sixth year of elementary school. It was around middle school that I got into hard rock and heavy metal, though. The first time I touched an instrument was at that senpai’s house. He played guitar.]

– Was that the first time you were in a band?
[That was in middle school. But that was just friends playing together rather than coming together as a band. The most we did was put on a show at the school bunkasai (3)]

– How were your study habits during middle school?
[Besides school, I went to cram school, and I had a private tutor. I guess that covered it.]

– A private tutor! Did you get good grades?
[Not really. I hardly studied at all, in middle school. But I had to get ready for high school entrance exams somehow, so my parents got me the tutor.]

– I see (laughs). In middle school, you start new subjects, like English. Did you take much interest in learning English?
[English, well, I hated my English teacher~ (bitter laugh). Since I hated my teacher, I ended up hating the subject, and I really regret that now. I wished I’d tried harder with English, so now I find myself wishing I’d had a better teacher. That school’s English teacher was a person I couldn’t accept anything from. Also, that teacher wasn’t originally from Kansai, so I never got any of his jokes(4). It was a man. I must not have been very humane with him.]

– Then, your teachers had a huge influence on whether you liked a class or not.
[Absolutely. That’s why I think people should think carefully before becoming teachers. How are you going to go about teaching?]

– But before becoming a teacher, you need to take education courses at a university and successfully graduate in order to get a teacher’s certificate. Furthermore, you need to pass the teacher’s qualification test, and then find a school that has an opening.
[You can get through that whole process just by studying. People can still become teachers without a shred of human personality! If you’re a little brainy, you can probably get far by studying, but I think a lot of teachers do that and still fall into the “Not good with people” category.]

– On the other hand, have you had any teachers that charmed you into thinking they were wonderful people?
[My cram school teacher, and one of my regular school teachers. And my high school homeroom teacher was good, too.]

– How was that impressive teacher from middle school?
[It wasn’t my homeroom teacher or anything; I hardly had any contact with him. But, he was interesting and came during recess, for fun. He was a male teacher, but he really fit in with the students (laughs). So much that we’d ask “Are you really a teacher?!” I liked that about him. He did lots of extracurricular work and clubs after school. Those activities were linked to classes, so everyone had to participate in something. Whenever that teacher was there, I went to club meetings (laughs). Like I was following him. I think it was in third year of middle school? That teacher started a volunteer club. When I asked “What’s a volunteer club for?” he said “It’s dumb! I really wanted to call it the ‘walking club’, but if I made a club like that, the other teachers’d be pissed off, so the volunteer club walks around town picking up trash. That’s just what it’s called. Really, all we do is take walks!” (Both laugh hard). So, I went for walks with that club every time. We’d pick a path for the walk, like around the school, or to the train station. And if we happened to find trash along the way, then soooometimes we’d pick it up (laughs). The teacher said “That’s good enough!” (both laugh). Great volunteer club, isn’t it?]

– Was your middle school uniform a normal school uniform?
[It was. I wore the short jacket. And slim pants. I was picky about that.]

– I can imagine (laughs). What about your bag?
[It was thin, but didn’t always look that way.]

– Of course, you didn’t take your textbooks home, did you?
[I left them all at school, probably (laughs).]

– Where did you go for your end of middle school trip?
[We went to Kyuushuu. On the Shinkansen (5). We stayed next door to this lady’s house. She came over to talk with the girls, saying things like “It looks like XX has a crush on ya.” (both laugh) “Whaddya mean?” “Well, it’s hard to explain…” and so on (laughs).]

– What were you like in class, during middle school?
[A plain kid. I didn’t stand out.]

– Was bullying ever a problem for you?
[It was never anything serious, but I did get teased a bit.]

– Do you think bullying in schools had a different meaning then compared to how things are now?
[I think serious bullying was a problem then, same as it is now. But at my school, we never had a problem serious enough to lead to someone’s death.]

– Would you say it was a pretty severe era for school violence?
[There was some regular violence in my school. It was normal to see broken windows. I contributed to some of it, actually. But, I’ve been on the receiving end, too. Looking back now, it really wasn’t much. But, the way it happened was that a group of people ganged up on me, specifically intending to pick on me. I don’t think it was all that unusual. I guess it can’t be helped. So, I don’t think there’s been much change since then in the degree of violence and bullying that goes on in schools. I think the shady stuff that happened back then still goes on these days. Anyway, I can’t say I’ve never been picked on. I did some bullying, and on the other hand, I got bullied. Maybe that’s part of what makes people stronger……. That’s why I can understand what both sides go through.]

– These days, lots of kids suffer because they get picked on. Now that you’re an adult, are there any words of advice you could offer them?
[Hmm…… First of all, don’t ever consider suicide. Taking your own life is the one thing you should absolutely never do. Maybe your situation seems so horrible that you’re contemplating doing that, but even so, you absolutely cannot give up and die.]

– So your message is that no matter how bad things get, never commit suicide.
[There are always excuses for why bullies pick on people, and there are reasons why their victims are the ones being picked on. I can’t offer any explanations for it, though. I really think bullying is a case by case thing. Some kids will kill themselves anyway, even if you say “Don’t die over something this trivial.” Other people get the same treatment and only go as far as saying “The bastards doing this to me are too cruel to be called human.” It’s case by case, so I don’t think it can be solved so simply. Still, I think you should never go as far as taking your own life.]

– That goes for everyone, not just people who get bullied, right?
[That reminds me, I saw something on TV about bullies who actually killed someone, by lynching. The victim’s parents were on TV, too. There were a lot of people involved in the incident. Those kids are adults, by now. They committed murder, but since it happened when they were underage, they can live a normal life, going about their business as if nothing had ever happened. But that means they’re going about life without having had to make up for what they did to that kid; they didn’t even have to present themselves to his butsudan (6). The assailants’ parents moved on, too. Their excuses were even worse. “It’s already happened, so there’s nothing we can do about it,” they said. That’s what they said to the victim’s parents. “Your kid will have another life, now. Don’t keep bringing up the past and dragging our kid down.” And they just murdered someone, didn’t they? Can you believe that?]

– I would have to say that’s crazy.
[So, if the parents are like that, it figures they raised that kind of kid. The parents were responsible, and so were the teachers. They didn’t raise a human being. That’s why I think you shouldn’t have kids thoughtlessly. Honestly, don’t have kids if you aren’t going to dedicate yourself to raising them. I don’t think unprepared people should have kids.]

– In reality, it’s difficult to realize the extent of the responsibilities involved in raising a child.
[That’s true. But I think that if you don’t raise your kids properly, it’ll come back to haunt you when they’re older. When raising a kid, I think their education until about age three is critically important. If you neglect that, there will be a cost, and I think it will manifest itself in that child’s future life. I think that if I were ever to become a father, I’d shower the child with love.]

-Interviewer : Toujou Sachie
Translated by Natalie Arnold.

1. In Japan, middle and high school students have tons of after-school club activities available to them. These can range from sports to student politics to volunteering and even more. Almost every student joins at least one club. Those who choose not to are said to be in the go-home club, because they go straight home after classes. Go back.

2. All these artists were mentioned and footnoted back in Chapter 05. Go back.

3. Bunkasai, which translates as “cultural festival,” is a yearly event in Japanese schools. Students put on shows, either with friends, with their clubs, or with their classmates. People living near the school are invited to attend and enjoy the student’s shops, decorations, and performances. Go back.

4. Kansai, the western side of Honshuu, Japan’s main island, contains Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto, and many smaller cities. It has its own distinct dialect, which is especially prominent in Osaka itself. Also, it’s often said that people from Kansai are better comedians than any other Japanese. Go back.

5. Also known as the bullet train, these incredibly fast trains can reach speeds of 300 km/h. They connect Tokyo to all of Honshuu and even to the north tip of Kyuushuu. Go back.

6. A butsudan is a Buddhist altar kept in one’s home. They serve to commemorate deceased family members. Offerings to the Buddha can be placed there, as it serves as a place of prayer. Keep in mind that the Buddhist faith believes in reincarnation. Go back.

– You don’t smoke at all, right?
[That’s right. I never have.]

– Isn’t that rather unusual? For a man. Do you have smokers around you?
[I do. Quite a few. Until recently, ken-chan didn’t smoke either. He took it up about five or six years ago. ken-chan and I grew up together, and we’ve been in the band together for a long time, too. For the longest time we were the only two out of all the members who didn’t smoke. Also, the drummer we had in the past didn’t smoke, and neither does the president of the record company L’Arc is associated with.]

– How unexpected. tetsu-san, does anyone in your family smoke?
[Nobody smoked at our home.]

– I suppose that must have been a large influence, right?
[It might have been, but basically, I hate the smell of it. I don’t even like perfumes. Especially since the scent of tobacco clings to clothes and hair, it really stinks doesn’t it? I hate that.]

– So then tetsu-san, you’d be a bit harsh with a girl who smokes, wouldn’t you?
[I fundamentally hate it. I don’t think it’s cool, and if I had a girlfriend who was a smoker, I’d want her to quit. Otherwise, she’d have to go smoke somewhere else, where I’m not around. Doing that would make it painful to be together. If she didn’t quit, it would mean she likes smoking more than she likes me.]

– But, I’d have thought that by the time you got to middle school, some of your friends would have started experimenting with smoking. Didn’t they ever tell you “Have a smoke?”
[It happened, but even though they said things like that, I just refused. Eventually, they got the message that “This guy don’t smoke” and stopped asking. One thing I hated was how everyone hid their smoking. From their parents and teachers. I never saw anything cool about it, at all. Also, everyone who started smoking always said that it tasted horrible, right? I’d ask “Is it good? How’s it taste?” and they’d say something like “I can’t stand the flavour, but I’ll smoke cause it’s cool.” To me, that was incredibly uncool. They were doing that just to look good. That sort of thing isn’t cool, don’t bother with it. So, I’ve never ever wanted to smoke.]

– I understand completely.
[And then, the school toilets would be full of smokers in hiding. Those guys were like “Hey, you smoke too?” to anyone who came in…]

– Ah, so they were the Nobita-kun(1) type of kids, weren’t they?
[Yeah yeah yeah, actually, that’s insulting for Nobita-kun (laughs). Yeah, and wasn’t it mostly the kids no one wanted anything to do with who tried to be cooler by smoking? And then those kids were happy teacher’s pets. But actually, they were smoking in secret. “The hell? You smoke too?” or something. Seeing that sort of scheme didn’t make me think smoking was cool.]

– There aren’t many kids who see things as objectively as you do, tetsu-san.
[That’s not true~, there might be some who take the simple approach about what’s cool. In some ways, I’ve been warped, and I approach things diagonally. There are things the world considers right that I simply don’t agree with, and there are things considered cool that I simply don’t agree with, either. Whatever it is, I start by questioning it. “Is this really cool?” “It it really fun?” I can only respond to things that make it through my personal filter.]

– You’ve been that way since you were quite young, haven’t you?
[Yeah. I don’t like letting people lead me astray. You could say smoking doesn’t count as leading astray because people say it’s alright, but try asking the non-smokers who have to put up with smoke. How many cigarettes does a non-smoker inhale just by being in the same room as smokers? Having the smell cling to your clothes, bags, and hair is bad enough, isn’t it? And it’s dangerous to walk and smoke. Right now, in Japan, the mentality is that the non-smokers should shoulder the burden, but I think it should be the other way around. Smokers should take non-smokers into consideration when they’re going to smoke.]

– You’d like to see more non-smoking areas in Japan, then.
[That’s right. I think that’s the way developed countries are heading. It used to not even be prohibited in hospitals, right? It’s nothing like that in America. A lot of Japanese think they’re acting like Americans by smoking everywhere, but actually they’re ahead in banning it. Right now in America, it seems not smoking is being promoted, so non-smokers are the cool ones. I think I’d like Japan to learn a lesson from America as far as that goes.]

-Interviewer : Harada Sachi
Translated by Natalie Arnold.

1. Nobita-kun is the main character of the incredibly long-running children’s series Doraemon. The basic premise of the show is that Nobita-kun was so incompetent in life that his future descendants sent a robot back in time to help make him into less of a failure. Go back.

– Was there always music in your home, growing up? If your parents liked music and constantly had records playing, maybe that had an influence on you.
[It wasn’t like that at all. My parents were the kind of people who never listened to any music. They’re still like that.]

– Did you take any music lessons, like for the organ or piano or something?
[No, I didn’t. We had a piano at home, but I could never play anything beyond ‘Nekohunjatta’(1).]

– I think you would have been in fifth or sixth grade when when music programs like ‘The Best Ten’ were becoming popular.
[That was earlier, actually. When I was starting elementary school, I watched ‘Best Ten’ every week. Rather than say I watched it, it’s more like that’s what was playing on our living room TV. I moved forward with music on my own, when I started listening to radio and buying records around fifth and sixth grade. Before that, I only heard about music shows when they naturally made their way to me.]

– A lot of popular songs were very typical of that era. Of the popular songs you heard back then, are there any that left a lasting impression on you?
[I like Sawada Kenji, Julie, a lot. That was probably around third or fourth grade. After all, his looks were awesome!]

– Was the first record you bought one of Julie’s?
[I don’t think I got as far as buying his records.]

– Did you ever sing one of Julie’s songs in front of an audience?
[In elementary school, during a recess, I got up on stage and did a Julie impression (laughs). I didn’t go alone though. A friend came with me.]

– Did you enjoy your music classes in school?
[I hated music class. Music isn’t something you can appreciate that way.]

– So, around fifth and sixth grade, you began to actively seek out music to listen to. What was the first music you had an opportunity to listen to?
[It was probably YMO. Or Ippudo or something. They were on TV or radio; back then everyone listened to the radio, didn’t they? And YMO and Ippudo were popular then, right? So of course, it was normal that their music would get to me, too. Until then, all the music I heard came from idols who were on TV alot, or from checking the hits on the radio. When I first heard YMO and Ippudo, I felt they were refined, or polished. Even though I was a kid. In terms of fashion, and of the music they made too, they still seem different from anything else out there, don’t they? Then, around the start of middle school I gradually bought more and more records. That time was the New Romantics Boom, so that’s the kind of music that was in. I listened to Duran Duran and stuff, I think.](2)

– Duran Duran certainly were exemplary of that boom. Also, they were the most popular.
[After that, there was a metal boom around the world. Ozzie Osbourne and the like would play regularly on ‘MTV’. We had the L.A. Metal Boom, too(3). With Mötley crüe and Ratt and stuff. That sort of music was getting to be common, and it played on ‘MTV’, which made it more popular. I listened to that kind of music. That’s what got me to listen to hard rock and heavy metal. At first, it was all western music, but then I found out there were Japanese bands like that, too. I got into Japanese metal, like Loudness, Earthshaker, or 44Magnum. Then, I eventually found out about the world of indie music, and started listening to some of that. That must have been around my first or second year of high school. Then I discovered Dead End. Dead End wasn’t one of those popular bands that were on TV.]

– Did you ever encounter any music that had more impact on your life than Dead End?
[Not by a long shot. Knowing them has put me through more emotions than anything else.]

– Do you feel encountering music has caused big changes in your own life?
[It has. Once I encountered music, I started playing some myself, and that led to making my own music. And so, that’s why I do this kind of work now. Of course encountering music changed my life. It’s the one thing in my life I’m passionate about. The one encounter I feel so strongly about …… I’m incredibly glad… that I can say it was music.]

– Even though it was such a powerful encounter, you couldn’t have known if it would ever stop being a hobby, if you would ever turn pro. What do you think it was that made things turn out the way they did?
[A little effort and luck. It’s probably a bit different than in sports. There, you can probably make it on pure skill. But in music, skill alone won’t be enough to make you a pro. Being cool won’t be enough. In the end, it’s a question of balance between many things, especially talent and luck. Even if you’re lucky enough to become a pro, you could get stuck with very controlling, restrictive people. I think that’s where luck is most important.]

– What advice would you give to people who are currently trying to become pro musicians?
[Nothing. It’s not like what you’re dreaming about. How about “Give up”? (bitter laugh). It’s just that if you don’t have the skill, it’ll be harder than getting into Toudai(4). Getting into Toudai, you can pull that off just by studying, studying, and studying, right? But with music, you have to practice and practice, even after you become a studio musician.]

– It’s about as likely as winning the lottery, right? The odds of success, I mean.
[That’s right. That’s why I’m deeply grateful, even for the stormy parts (laughs).]

– Hold on to that sentiment.
[So, you know, I don’t let myself get too wrapped up in ecstasy. It’s the entertainment business. I’m extremely happy that I’ve been able to get this far with music. There are people I want to make music for, and that motivates me. I’m truly happy.]

-Interviewer : Toujou Sachie
Translated by Natalie Arnold.

1. Nekohunjatta means “I stepped on the cat”. It’s the title of a simple piano tune that serves as an easy piece for beginners. Go back.

2. All these artists were mentioned and footnoted back in Chapter 05. The New Romantics Boom was also explained there. Go back.

3. The L.A. Metal boom was thrash music, which is essentially any fast metal-punk fusion with no screaming. Mötley crüe and Ratt were typical of the style.Go back.

4. Toudai, short for Tokyo Daigaku, is the name of Japan’s most elite university. It has an extremely difficult entrance exam, and only admits the brightest of high school graduates. Go back.

– When you were in elementary school, what did you want to be when you grew up?
[Growing up… everyone has to be something when they grow up, right? We all need to get a job and live independently. The only thing I knew was that I didn’t want to become another salaryman. Since the very beginning of school.]

– What could have made you think that way?
[Ever since I was little, I didn’t want to have the same stuff as everyone else, I didn’t want to look like everyone else, I didn’t want the same haircut as everyone else……. I didn’t like any of the big trends. Somehow, I did things differently. But I wasn’t exactly trying to get attention. Actually, I’m pretty shy. But, for some reason, it was natural for me not to gently go along and agree with what everyone else said. I had different tastes, compared to the people around me. I wasn’t choosing to be different so that I’d stand out, I just naturally always preferred different things. So I didn’t want to have a job that followed that salaryman pattern, getting up at a set time every day, going to work, coming home at a set time, and repeating the same cycle every day until the weekend. I didn’t have anything in particular in mind as a goal for when I grew up, but I was absolutely sure that I didn’t want to be a salaryman.]

– You said you weren’t trying to stand out, but you also said you knew you were making different choices than everyone else. When did you first start being conscious of that
[I noticed it in elementary school. My pencil cases, shitajiki (1), notebooks… I wouldn’t use anything except the ones I liked enough to pick for myself.]

– Did you choose what to buy for yourself at that age?
[I can’t say I shopped for myself, because at that age, your parents have final say in what gets bought, don’t they? But, if I didn’t like something, I’d say “No! Don’t want that.” (laughs) My parents, they were just glad I was studying. “This kid won’t use what we buy if he doesn’t like it, so we might as well let him choose.” Sometimes, they’d buy something they thought I would like. I just wound up repeating “No! I’m not gonna use that.”]

– Did you go to school in a group?
[Yeah. I walked to school with the other kids.]

– What style was your uniform?
[The top was a blazer. I think the bottom was shorts…. There were long pants, too, but I only remember wearing the short ones.]

– Somehow, I can imagine that! (smiles)
[I wore jeans, too (laughs).]

– Whaaat? You went to school in jeans?
[I think jeans were OK, at that school. I think as long as you were wearing the blazer, they didn’t really care what pants you wore with it. Oh, and when I wore the jeans, I told everyone “I want you all to call me the undercover cop.” (both laugh). And I always wore red underpants when I went to school. But my parents said “Don’t wear that, it’s too flashy.” That made me upset (laugh).]

– Why did you want to wear red underpants?
[Because Toshi-chan (Tahara Toshihiko) (2) wore them on TV! (laughs) I must have seen that and thought “Red underpants are cool!” or something like that. But my parents said “No, it’s too flashy,” right? But it’s not like there was anything in the school rules that said “You may not wear red underpants,” so I was upset.]

– I see. Did you enjoy the elementary school life?
[Well…… I guess so (laughs). At that age, going to school every day is fun, isn’t it?]

– Did you start going to cram school (3) during that period, and do you remember anything you learned back then?
[I did go to cram school. I think I went to two, over that whole period. I went to Kumon. Even though I thought “This is pointless,” I went anyway. “All they do is pass out printouts! Easy cram school.” (laughs) I mean, they just expected us to learn from printouts. All the teacher did was mark them. Really, really! (laughs) So even though I went to cram school, it really felt more like after-school playtime. I don’t remember a single thing I learned~. The teacher was a hysteric old lady. I really didn’t like her. But, I only went there for one or two years. The cram school I went to later on had a much better teacher. Did the job properly. That teacher put enthusiasm into teaching. Also, the school was run by just that one teacher. We got to hear a lot of stories that weren’t related to studying. That made it more interesting. But, that teacher passed away. A little while ago. I kept going to that same cram school past the end of elementary school, into middle school. It was around middle school that I started wanting a band. When I was busy with band practice, I’d say “I’ve been kinda busy, so I didn’t do my homework~” or something. But the teacher at that cram school really was a good one. That teacher even started calling me “Tamasaburou.” (4) Because, I was growing my hair out and it was getting long. I must have looked so girly (laughs).]

– I can imagine a voice saying “Tamasaburou, did you do your homework?” (laughs)
[Yeah, yeah (laughs). No one but that teacher ever called me Tamasaburou.]

– Going back to elementary school, when you went with your parents to buy clothes, did you choose everything they bought for you?
[That’s right. I thought that was the obvious way to do things. But isn’t that how all kids are these days? When I see my nephews or my friends’ kids, when they don’t like something they say “Don’t want it!” Even two and three year-olds do that, don’t they? I think kids today choose for themselves.]

– Now about your parents. Parents buy things for their kids that they would like if they were kids themselves. They imagine “If I buy this, they’ll be surprised, they’ll be happy,” when they buy those treats.
[That’s just the parent’s ego, isn’t it? It’s the same as with a pet dog or cat. If you decide to dress them up, it’s because you wanted to. I think it’s the same thing with the parent’s ego.]

– I see. So, what kind of games did you play when you were in elementary school? Boys like to make forts and things…
[Yeah, yeah, I built secret bases! I also did rollerskating, and was in a gang of bikers, with bicycles.]

– That’s the first time I’ve ever heard of bikers on bicycles. (laughs)
[We were the bicycle biker gang. And I was the leader! We took our bikes to the smaaaaallest alleys we could find and zoomed around as fast as we could. With lots of squeaky noises. ……That was kinda dangerous, wasn’t it? (laughs). Looking back now, I don’t think we had too many accidents. Still, we were pretty reckless. We mostly crashed into ditches and gutters. It was still a dangerous game, though. That’s why I wound up with a ton of little injuries. I bled a lot (laughs).]

– Where did you make your secret bases?
[In the places where they kept construction materials, or in vacant lots.]

– Did you keep your secret treasures there?
[Yeah, I did (laughs). But I can’t talk about it to anyone except that group of friends.]

– Were you the type who was serious about schoolwork?
[Not really. But there was a time when I was really fired up about studying. Around third grade. It was like studying became my hobby, at least for that little while (laughs). It was a short phase, but it was intense! I went through tons of pencils and erasers! Cause I was studying so much. During that phase, a new eraser would last me about a week. You could say it was my studying boom, that one moment in my life. (laughs)]

– What was it that triggered your studying boom?
[I’m not sure what started it, and I’m not sure what stopped it, either (laughs). But that could very well be the time I studied the most in my entire life (laughs).]

– Summer vacation is longer for elementary schools, so they gave a lot of homework, didn’t they? Did you do your homework and assignments at the times you were supposed to do them?
[No way! Either I wouldn’t do it, or I’d just barely do it. Or I’d cram it all into the last three days of August. That’s how I was.]

– Which subjects did you like most? For example, what did you think of phys ed?
[I didn’t hate it… but I did hate having to get changed for it (laughs).]

– I thought you’d have been good at phys ed.
[I had good reflexes, so I was one of the fastest runners in my class. And I was especially good at those floor exercises we did in gym class. There was a lot of gymnastics involved in those, right? Sometimes the teacher said “Go show everyone how it’s done,” to me, and I went up in front of everybody. I guess my form was pretty. For the vaulting horse, it wasn’t so much my jumping, but rather my landing form that was nice, or so I was told.]

– Even though you weren’t taking gymnastics lessons?
[Yeah. I guess it’s one of my talents. It wasn’t something I learned to do by practicing a lot.]

– Were you on any class committees?
[Only in high school. Not in elementary or middle school.]

– One of the fun parts of elementary school is that they provide lunch. How was your school lunch?
[It was good. But, I was pickier about food back then. Fish, onions, peppers… I hated bitter food, so I’d eat everything I liked but leave that part. But I had a mean teacher. After lunch, it’s supposed to be recess, but that teacher made us stay in our seats until we’d eaten everything. I felt sorry for the girls who couldn’t eat any more. There were always kids like that. But then again… was it really mean spirited? These days, doing something like that would cause trouble. But back then, lots of teachers did it, didn’t they? Lots of teachers would be considered a bit crazy these days. I don’t think today’s teachers are better, but there used to be a lot of bad teachers.]

– Do you remember what your favourite lunch was?
[Curry noodles. I think I liked that.]

– Oh, and where did you go for your end of elementary school trip?
[We went to Ise.]

– What kind of student were you, in the classroom?
[The kind that doesn’t stand out, probably. I didn’t really want to stand out, but I guess I stuck out inconspicuously (laughs). I wasn’t first, but I liked coming in second or third.]

– Which of the anime you saw in elementary school left a lasting impression on you?
[I hated [(Uchuu Senkan) Yamato]. I liked Matsumoto Leiji’s [(Ginga Tetsudou) 999], but [Yamato] left me cold (5). I didn’t get it. “This is stupid!” “There’s no way anyone would do that!” I’d say (laughs). I liked the movie version of [999] more than the TV series. Other things I liked in elementary school was [(Dr. Slump) Arale-chan] and [Pataliro] (6). I loved those! Now that I think about it calmly, Arale-chan is my ideal woman!]

– She’s small, smart, has a sense of humour, and she’s cute, too.
[I have a glasses fetish, so I like girls who look good with glasses.]

– Looking back on [Pataliro], it was a surrealistic anime, wasn’t it?
[It had gay characters way back then (laughs). But there were a lot of old anime like it. [Sasuke] and stuff like that scared me (7). I saw it in the early years of elementary school, so maybe it was just the theme music that scared me.]

– What did your room look like? For example, did you have posters of idols you liked, or just wallpaper instead?
[I had posters of anime I liked. But, you know, there really weren’t any idols I liked.]

– Did you have puramoderu for decoration? (8)
[I had GunPura (Gundam Puramoderu) here and there, for decoration. I wasn’t really collecting them, but I did end up with quite a few of them.]

-Interviewer : Toujou Sachie
Translated by Natalie Arnold.

1. Shitajiki are usually called pencil boards in English. They’re boards of plastic, smaller than most sheets of paper, used under pages in order to have something stiff to write on. Often, they are printed with images, so some people even start shitajiki collections. Go back.

2. Tahara Toshihiko was an actor/singer who got his start fairly early in life. His official site has more information. Go back.

3. Cram schools, called juku in Japanese, are prep schools aimed at getting students better prepared for entrance exams later on in their education. At the elementary school level, they mostly focus on giving kids extra tutoring. There is no negative stigma associated with this tutoring. In fact, it’s usually the smarter kids who take these lessons. One of the best-known juku in the world is Kumon, which has expanded its service to most of the globe. Go back.

4. Tamasaburou was the name of a kabuki actor famous for his convincing portrayals of female characters. The name has come to be associated with long-haired pretty boys, and many such characters in anime and manga are thus called Tamasaburou. Go back.

5. In English, Space Battleship Yamato. It and Galaxy Express 999 were both directed by Matsumoto Leiji and were quite popular series. Go back.

6. Dr. Slump Arale-chan was the first anime series to be based off Toriyama Akira’s manga. Later, better known ones, are the various Dragonball series. Go back.

7. Pataliro was a romantic comedy aimed at girls, often credited with being the first anime to feature homosexual characters. Sasuke was a ninja anime that would have aired earlier than the other titles mentioned. Go back.

8. Puramoderu comes from the English “Plastic Model”. They’re those plastic model kits based on various robot anime. Gundam ones are probably the most common kind. Go back.

– About your first love : what kind of girl was she?
[First love……? What do you mean by first love?]

– I mean, the first time you had a crush on a girl.
[Ah…. Um, well, I don’t remember~ (laughs). I think the first time I thought a girl was cute was back around preschool or elementary school, though.]

– Did you have a crush on your teacher?
[I had no interest in my teachers. Even the youngest teachers are at least in their twenties, aren’t they? To me, at that age, a woman in her twenties was already an “old lady,” you know? (laughs) I had no interest in those old ladies.]

– Do you remember what kind of girl you found cute?
[She was a short girl. Short was cute for me.]

– Between elementary school and high school, behaviour towards crushes starts to change, right? Was it around then that a girl first confessed her feelings to you?
[I got Valentine’s Day chocolate. But, it wasn’t really a confession, more like just a gift (laughs). In year four or five of elementary school, things don’t develop beyond that, do they? (laughs) I didn’t hate getting the chocolate. Also, I kinda bragged to guy friends “Check it out! I got some.” On Valentine’s Day, I forget if it was inside my desk or something, but I found the chocolate. When I brought it up, one guy who hadn’t gotten any said “You bought that yourself, didn’t ya?” (Both laugh). I said “Nope! See, there’s a letter,” and showed it to him (laughs). At the time, a lot of kids didn’t get any chocolate. Only some of the guys did.]

– And you were one of those few.
[(Smiling and nodding) Yup!!]

– Around that age, boys and girls start to get interested in the opposite sex, right? In the lower grades, most boys absolutely refuse to hold a girl’s hand or anything like that. Were you that type of kid?
[No, I wasn’t. I was always perfectly fine with holding hands. There would be folk dances in gym class sometimes, right? Sometimes the girls would refuse to hold hands, too. If I was partnered with one of them, I’d just grab her hand and go “It don’t mean nothing!” (both laugh). To me, holding hands was normal.]

– So when you were partnered with that kind of person, you just went ahead and grabbed their hand. Boys like that are an incredible minority, but they do exist (laughs).
[Guess so. I didn’t like to just barely hold hands, where it’s only the fingertips that actually touch each other. It’s unnatural, isn’t it? Personally, I thought “I don’t feel anything special towards you. It’s just holding hands.” (both snicker)]

– I seee~. Were you the type who would discuss love and relationships with your friends? Like a relationship counselor or something (laughs).
[I played cupid sometimes. I liked doing that sort of thing. I guess I started doing that around middle school. I was a pretty good cupid, but it didn’t always work out. I’d say “I’ll go talk to her,” but then it would be me who would end up getting closer. To the girl (both laugh).]

– Then you weren’t a cupid, but more like a devil (laughs).
[Girls would come to me and say “I think OO-chan likes XX-kun,” and we’d discuss it, you know? But then, I’d gradually start becoming close to the girl who came to talk to me. There was a pattern like that. …….. Does that mean I’m evil? (laughs)]

– That could drive friends apart, eventually. (laughs)
[I was the bad guy (laughs).]

– Around middle school, guys and girls start to mix more……
[That’s true. I went out with a girl who looked like Eru-chan from [The Kabocha Wine](1). And she was taller than me.]

– What made you want to go out with her?
[It just sort of happened. That’s all (laughs).]

– Well, that doesn’t sound very mature~ (laughs).
[No, really! I’ve always been like that (laughs). That’s how it’s been for everyone I’ve dated. It just happens. Either it happened naturally, or we were set up by friends. I date people I happen to notice, that’s all. That’s why when people ask “Do you really love her?” I don’t know how to answer (laughs bitterly). It’s because of my casual approach.]

– I see. What did you do with girls when you were in middle school?
[We had an exchange diary (laughs). We’d trade it after school. I kept it in the basket on my bike, or ask my friends to hide it, or keep it in my desk and make sure everyone else left class before me. That’s how it was.]

– What kind of things did you write in the diary every day?
[Normal diary stuff (laughs). What happened today, and how it turned out. I don’t really remember. But, writing in it ended up being a pain (laughs).]

– Did you write “I love you” or any other love notes?
[No, I didn’t.]

– Did you go to the movies for your dates?
[Yeah, we did! We went to see [High Teen Boogie](2) (Both snicker). We went with another couple, though.]

– Did you date any girls that you had liked first and confessed to yourself?
[I’ve never confessed to anyone. Like I said, I just happened to date people naturally. But, I still remember everyone I’ve ever gone out with. I’m grateful to all of them. I’m where I am because of them (laughs).]

– Did you still keep exchange diaries in high school? (laughs)
[No, I didn’t (laughs).]

– Were you pretty popular in high school, since you had your band?
[I don’t really understand how being in a band makes anyone popular. Popularity had nothing to do with my wanting a band. I don’t understand people who say “I wanna be in a band so I’ll be popular.” (laughs). Specifically, I was in a Dead End cover band, so only people who knew about them would get it, right? I remember a lot of people saying “Ew, I don’t like this music.” Maybe we would have been popular doing a BOOWY cover band. I didn’t listen to BOOWY. Wanting to be in a band for the popularity, that never applied to me at all. It wasn’t until I got into the music world that I found out “guys in bands are popular.” So, I don’t think any of the girls I dated in high school wanted to go out with me just because I was in a band.]

– What did you do for fun on your dates during high school?
[We went to arcades, or to the park, or to the movies. And shopping! We’d go shopping for clothes together. And sometimes we went to concerts, too. Since we had the same interests, we could have fun together. On our dates. So, my high school girlfriend was a huge fan of Dead End, too.]

– You were together because you had the same interests, then.
[Liking Dead End was the biggest factor (laughs).]

– Of course, she must have come to your live shows, right?
[Yep. She put my stage outfits together (laughs brightly).]

-Interviewer : Toujou Sachie
Translated by Natalie Arnold.

1. The Kabocha Wine was a romantic comedy anime from the early 80s. Eru-chan (or L-chan) was the lead female character. Kabocha means pumpkin. Go back.

2. High Teen Boogie is a Japanese movie from 1982. It seems to be a bit of a classic, and featured many songs, some of which are still occasionally covered by new artists. Go back.

– Do you remember anything about preschool? Also, did you walk to preschool from home?
[No, I got a ride. On a bike.]

– With your mom?
[By my grandma, actually.]

– How long did you go?
[One year. Most people go for two, but I only went for one. I don’t really remember, but I probably didn’t like it much. So, I only went for the year right before I started elementary school.]

– What kind of preschool was it?
[A normal one. It was next to an elementary school.]

– Was there anything from your preschool days that left an impression on you?
[I had a friend who was really good at drawing. He was constantly giving me drawings of Mazinger Z (1). But I told him “Draw for me! Draw for me!” a lot.]

– You were probably in a class play, too.
[I think I was. I kind of remember seeing pictures of something like that.]

-Interviewer : Toujou Sachie
Translated by Natalie Arnold.

1. Mazinger Z was a children’s robot anime, with your typical giant robot piloted by teen who must save the world from evil demons type of plot. The show ran in the mid 70s and inspired a few movies, like most anime aimed at children do. Go back.

[If I’ve ever had an idol, it would have to be Billy Idol.]

– (laughs) Really?
[Really. But my first idol was probably Julie (Sawada Kenji)(1). From back when I was in elementary and middle school. On the way home from school, I’d pass a place where they had movie posters on display. They had posters for ‘Makai Tenshou’(2) with Julie as Amakusa Shiro on them. I remember thinking “Wow! Cool! I want that poster!” But they wouldn’t give me one.]

– Did you have posters of Julie in your room?
[No, I only had posters of (Lambourghini) Countachs (laughs).]

– Ahaha. What did you like about Julie?
[Of course, it was mostly his appearance. I liked men who wore make-up. That androgynous style.]

– Who were you interested in after Julie?
[Tsuchiya Masami-san (3), I think. And after him, Duran Duran. Their looks were cool, and I liked the music, too. I liked JAPAN’s (4) looks too, but I listened to their music and didn’t care much for it.]

– I bet you took a lot of those full-size portraits out of ‘Music Life’.
[Yeah, I did! And in ‘Young Guitar’ they had life size shots of guitarists’ hands. I used to compare my own hands to those. But showing their actual heads…… that was a great idea (laughs).]

– Later on, how did you progress?
[In middle school, it was Oosawa Yoshiyuki (5). The first time I saw the PV for his debut single, [Kanojou ni wa Wakaranai], I thought he was really cool. I liked the song, too. Later on it was Honda Yasuaki. (6) The Kyoukyoku boy he played in [Nerawareta Gakuen] was cool~. And after that I got into Billy Idol.]

– At last, the star’s grand entrance (laughs). But doesn’t he kind of deviate? From the rest.
[He is a little different. But I think that’s pretty cool, he’s my “anti-idol.” I thought the guitarist Steve Stevens was cool too. ……. Maybe I was more into him than Billy Idol (laughs). In middle school, I used to take a broom and pretend to play guitar like Steve Stevens. They’re a matched set. After that, I didn’t have any more idol-ish idols. I was never really the type to call myself a fan of someone, anyway.]

– Didn’t you ever have any female idols?
[Not a single one. Anyone you could name, I hated. They’re nothing but puppets acting like children. “You don’t write your own music! You don’t write your own lyrics!” I always thought.]

– You didn’t even think any of them were cute?
[No, I didn’t. I thought Kyonkyon (Koizumi Kyouko)’s type was cute, though. Asaka Yui, too. (7) But I still didn’t like them enough to consider myself a fan.]

– But tetsu-san, you don’t feel the same way about idol products, right?
[Ah, yeah, I do check out their products. Oh, I like Yazawa Ai’s manga [NANA], especially the band with Reira, Trance. (8) I wanna see something from that~. If I get the chance, I’d like to make a band exactly like that one.]

– That sounds very interesting.
[But I don’t want to do it if I’m not 100% sure there will be people listening to it (laughs).]

– (laughs) Out of all the people we’ve covered during this interview, is there anyone in particular you’d still like to meet?
[Not really. I don’t think there’s anyone I want to meet. That’s all from the past.]

– I’m sure there are a lot of younger musicians out there who have you as an idol, tetsu-san, and would like to meet you. What do you think of that?
[Well, it makes me very happy. A lot of young musicians tell me “I listen to L’Arc all the time,” or “My band does covers of you.” I’m getting old (laughs). It feels kinda strange.]

– How does it make you feel, knowing those people exist?
[Let’s see… I guess it feels cool, like I’ve really accomplished something.]

-Interviewer : Harada Sachi
Translated by Natalie Arnold.

1. Please see the old footnote from Chapter 05.Go back.

2. Makai Tenshou was an action/horror/samurai film from 1981, starring not only Julie, but also other big names of the time, such as Sonny Chiba. The title translates to ‘Samurai Reincarnation’. This movie was also the inspiration for the video game ‘Samurai Shodown’ which was also made into an anime. Go back.

3. Tsuchiya Masami was a member of the famous techno-pop group Ippudo. Again, please refer back to Chapter 05 where they were first mentioned. Go back.

4. JAPAN were a British group popular in the 70s. They were an immense success in Japan, especially early on. Later, they did collaborations with many artists, some of whom were Japanese. More information can be found here. Go back.

5. Oosawa Yoshiyuki was a solo singer. As above, he was previously mentioned in Chapter 05. The song title means ‘She doesn’t understand’. Go back.

6. Honda Yasuaki was a rock singer who later became an actor. He was a rather versatile idol. ‘Nerawareta Gakuen’ translates to ‘Targetted Academy’ and was the name of a TV drama he appeared in, which aired in 1982. His character was the ‘Kyoukyoku boy’, a term that only has meaning in the context of the program itself. Go back.

7. Koizumi Kyouko, nicknamed Kyonkyon, and Asaka Yui were both actresses and singers. They mostly appeared in TV dramas and just a few movies. Go back.

8. The manga [NANA] features two bands in its main storyline, Trapnest (aka Trance) and Black Stones (aka Blast). Actually, TETSU69 later did a song for the NANA tribute album, which was indeed for Trance. Also, this manga is being made into a movie at the time of this translation. Go back.