Translated from original text by Chie Tagami, originally appearing in Shoxx vol. 119, January 2003.
Audience
Fans
"Absolutely, I am grateful for them. There was a time where I did free live shows open to the public where no one showed up at all. We did those free lives, though there were people who came to see us at our usual shows when it seemed that no one was going to show up. Among those people, there are still some who have been coming to see us forever and still do so today. Back then, we weren't that popular, though it wasn't because we weren't any good (Laughs). The songs themselves have really come into their own, too. I really think that the fans save us."
Bond
Something That You Feel Restricted By
"Though I try not to pay much attention to people's eyes on me while I'm out, that means I also don't put much thought into my appearance when I go out on my usual errands. The only reason why I do is when my staff tells me something like "Since this is a public radio broadcast, put on some nice clothes." Hearing them say things like that is just really irritating and awful for me. I say to myself, "Isn't it wrong to judge people?" There's that guy, Clark Kent, right? If something happens, he goes into the telephone booth, and becomes Superman. The reason he does it is so that when he's walking around doing average things, the people around him don't think for a second that he could be that guy, Superman. I think sometimes it would be nice if I could do the same thing."
Child
A Moment Where You Feel Like A Child
"I really don't feel much like a child anymore, maybe because I'm self-conscious of the fact that I'm getting to be a middle-aged dude. (Laughs.) Some time before now, I was watching the video they filmed at the Budokan, watching myself running around the stage, and somehow I still felt a little old. I have no spring in my steps. I feel like, "Wasn't I just a bit more of an explosive personality back then?" Eh, if I were to say it bluntly, there's still that part of me that likes tits, isn't there...I guess that's because you can't have your mother's milk forever like you could when you were a baby, huh? Then, I guess there are those times when I'm at the video game store, searching for a certain game amongst all these kids..."
Dear
The Thing Most Important To You Right Now
"Hmm, I wonder. Actually, I really don't say "This is the most important thing to me" in regard to material objects. Though as far as musical instruments go, my guitar and my bass are both important, I guess. I wonder what else is important...? I suppose it would be my hard disk. Even though I call it my "hard disk", it's really the data on it, though, isn't it. If it got erased, that would be the worst problem for me right now. Maybe it's okay for me to say that it's kind of like a pet that I'm keeping. Though, it's nice to be able to say that I love it just for what it is. Even though that's a little bit of an awkwardly phrased opinion (Laughs). And then...oh, yeah, it could be that the environment I'm in right now lets me have the most fun doing what I do, being in that place where, just like when we were on the indies, I could just do all sorts of things without knowing why. Now I say a phrase like that, and there's someone there to make decent sense of it, and so I do what I do so that everyone can get some kind of joy out of it. We all have our say in all of this, too. So, maybe the situation I'm in right now to make it so that I'm able to do my work is the most important treasure to me..."
Eden
Your Personal "Heaven"
"I really like to stay at home and don't go out much, so my home. When I'm at home, I don't have to think about how I can make the overall atmosphere of the place comfortable to me, after all. Basically, I like places that don't have a lot of objects in them. I suppose it would be well enough to say "the stage" in response to this question, but that's just dull, isn't it? (Laughs.)"
Fantasy
An Image of Your Ideal Future
"I suppose that when I'm an old man, I won't have anything to do at all. So, maybe I'll go and have a great time building plastic models and remote control cars in Okinawa. Then, in the case that I'm not in a band anymore, though I still want to perform music, it'll be okay to make public appearances still, too. As far as Janne Da Arc is concerned, I have an image of myself as a part of that which is the best thing for me...because I think that my place as "Janne Da Arc's yasu" is the best thing I've ever made for myself in my entire life."
Guilty
The Biggest Regret in Your Life So Far
"The arson...(Laughs.) When I was in middle school, I was living in an apartment next to a river. Right next to our apartment, there was a golf course. Though the river went through the golf course, when autumn came, if you went into the course and started a fire, the flames would spread very quickly. My friends and I would take firecrackers over there, jump up when they exploded, and put out the flames as fast as we could. Doing that, for a long time, was a lot of fun for us. One of the old ladies from the complex came out of her apartment, wondering what was going on, and she was so angry (Laughs). Then, there's something else that I regret the worst of all. On the way home from school, there was a pet dog that everyone took care of. He was shut up in a kennel, though. After about an hour or so, my older brother came and let him out. Even thinking about it now, it still makes me sick to think what might have happened to him...even though the next day we found the fleas that he'd been carrying around."
Hundred
100
"The 100th live show, you mean? I was a little surprised that there were so many people criticizing that we didn't play any songs from the indies period with the exception of "Stare". But, I didn't think that it was impossible. Of course, the fans who have been with us from the beginning would have been really happy if we would have played indies songs, but to me saying that those songs are the best we've got is a really bad thing. During the encore we played a bunch of songs, and to say that we could have played the older songs to really get the crowd going, I really think that it's awful to restrict ourselves to the previously established harmony that we have. Also, I was really sad that people held that kind of expectation for us. I thought, 'what, are the new songs not good? Don't they get you going, too?'"
Independent
Living Alone
"I started life on my own 4 years ago, but from the beginning there were things about it that I was thankful for. But, I'm much more comfortable living alone, and I don't really think of myself as lonely. So, I don't really think much about having a significant other, either. However, there are things that are inconvenient about it, too. Making payments through the bank, getting things delivered...there's no one around to help you do all of that stuff. But, I do live with my dog. My dog is very special to me, as awful as that may be. (Laughs.)"
Joke
About "Laughter"
"There were more things that made me laugh when I was younger. Maybe I was happier back then...(Laughs.) My father had a lukewarm personality, and wasn't really the type of person to tell a lot of jokes. My brother and I, though, in contrast, were always saying nothing but really stupid things. But, at this age, I've gotten to where I don't tell very many jokes anymore, and I think that in the end I really am his child, after all. (Laughs.)"
Keyword
The keyword that describes your new album is...?
"Since we're still in the trial-and-error stage, I really can't say for sure yet. Though it would be nice to have such a solid image of it, thinking about it now, the image of something that isn't completed yet is the most boring image of all, right? It's really tough..."
Lady
Your Ideal Woman
"Generally, I hate women who have no common sense. Those women who can't do so much as say hello, or say "Thank you" or "I'm sorry" are no good either, even if I'm not saying so thinking about someone as a possible girlfriend. I don't want to talk to someone like that. Now and then, there are people out there who completely misunderstand you. Then, there are those who can't stand up in front of men, and those are no good either. As far as dealing with their friends go, those women who can naturally hold their own in the realms of men are nice to have around. Those who think, "Huh?! You're going to go out with that guy?" "What will everyone think if you hang around with someone like him?" If a woman backs down due to the opinions of people like those, would she not also back down if someone were to say that of me?"
Mystery
Something Strange You've Been Able To Do in the Band, Recently
"We mentioned this at the Budokan live, but I went out to eat with ka-yu. He's the person in the band that I'm closest to, though. But, to me, I'm not really the kind to go out on the town or anything very often, either. I'm terrible at refusing things, and if you do refuse something like an invitation, it makes people upset, right? So, I think I'm gradually getting better at balancing that. shuji gets really excited after work every once and a while, and says, "Let's go out for yakiniku or something!", and I just say "Oh, geez..." and refuse, and then end up going out to play pachinko instead. I'm really cold, aren't I...?"
Nightmare
Something That Really Scares You
"I suppose having to show Hajime-san my lyrics, since I always feel my heart jump into my throat whenever I ask him, 'and the lyrics...?' Hajime-san is really stern when he's angry. "What will he say about it so far? Will he really hate it in an aesthetic sense?", something like that. But, that's not restricted just to Hajime-san. The time when I finally let people hear my songs is the most terrifying time of all. But, I guess it's like that for everyone who is in a band, though..."
Off
What you do, and want to do, on your days off
"I get to the point where I just don't want to think about anything. Usually, people say that they want to sit around the house and do nothing, but end up doing something around the house anyway, don't they? As for me, if I say I'm not going to do anything, I really don't do anything at all. Other than what I do in the band, I'm a lazy bum (Smiles bitterly). Lately, I've just lost my ambition despite the fact that I used to go out all the time...it's a cycle, isn't it...the cycle of an old guy...(Laughs)."
Part
The Role You Have in "Janne Da Arc"
"I'm the organizer of everything. I find out what everyone wants to do, and I relate that to the staff. I think that if someone without a strong desire to do what they wanted to do tried to take on that job, everyone's feelings of that they're being made to do things would just get to be too much. Me, though, I think I'm pretty terrible at telling people how to make peace with me."
Quirk
"I can pick up the scent of anything. Especially the scent of SALA, which I like a lot. I've liked it for a long time, but whenever I smell it I immediately know what it is. Every once and a while, shuji smells like SALA, too! Though I told him, "Hey, you, you use SALA!" (Laughs.) Then, I have a thing for people's earlobes. Just like my love of breasts, I seem to have picked up that one when I was really little, too. When I was in kindergarten, the kid that I was staring at told the teacher on me. When we were in school, I had a bit of a thing for ka-yu's earlobes, too, but when he got them pierced, I didn't feel that way anymore. I guess it was because I met kiyo, and it moved on to kiyo exclusively after that. It just progressed like that on its own."
Resistance
The One Thing You Refuse to Submit To
"I never listen to people who, no matter how you give them a just argument for doing something, refuse to amend their actions, or those people who can only criticize something and never offer any solution. When I don't give in to something, I suppose you could say that it's just something that happens on its own. It's just my way of declaring my intentions from the beginning."
Stare
The Thing You've Been Most Interested In Lately
"I've been wondering when it is that humans start feeling sexual desire. I think it's probably because since I've been seeing myself as an old guy, I feel as if I don't have as much desire sexually anymore. Certainly, I've been researching those around me, though as expected the decent into all of this has been a little quick for me. But, for some reason, girls don't want to take my phone number, somehow, that's a bad thing to give them, now. When I give it to them, they say, "Oh, no, I can't!" or "You shouldn't just be giving that out, you know...!" It really pisses you off, doesn't it? It's okay to for them to allow themselves to be seduced, but they can't seduce someone themselves. So, even when I'm with a girl, I'm just not in the mood. So, I guess it would be better to say "Hey, if you ever get in the mood to do me, let's just do it." Though I guess that would just be them trusting in my knowledge as someone from Osaka to show them around or something. (Laughs.)"
Today
Your Impressions of Today
"It's been fun. It progressed really quickly, too. Generally, I don't really like photoshoots very much. But, I suppose we did get some good shots out of today, didn't we?"
Uncover
Please reveal one secret
"I don't really have anything to tell that I would call a secret, but I cut my hair recently, making me look really young, and I turned 27 while getting in a fight at the pachinko parlor. Thinking that I was getting a cold, I got up to leave, and I ran into someone, and I said, "Hey, you. Let me through." Eh, one of the employees stopped me before anything happened, though. I could see that he thought he was really letting me off easy. Though, you know, even though it would have been well enough just to say "sorry" and go on my way, I think I let him off pretty easy myself. (Laughs.)"
Vanity
A thing or moment that makes you feel really shallow
"On my days off, I go to a manga-kissa [1] at around midnight, eat there, read some manga, and go to sleep. Then, when it hits around ten in the morning, I leave the manga-kissa and head over to the pachinko parlor, and after that go back home. Then, there have been times when I've gone over to the manga-kissa at midnight for three days at a stretch, and ask myself, now how many manga have I read? (Laughs.) I don't feel like a deep individual at all. So, after being gone for about three days, I go back to my room again, and my laundry is strewn everywhere, the room's a mess. When I see that, I ask myself, "What the hell have I been doing?" and then I just feel terrible."
Will
The Thing You Wish For Most of All Right Now
"I want the album I'm working on right now to be a good one. To write good songs, and if I get good results from that, then we'll be able to do a lot of really good dates on tour. Then, I would really like to work toward figuring out, with the other members, where we all stand as Janne Da Arc and through that start being able to go into production of our own work."
X-Mas
How will you be spending Christmas this year?
"I suppose I'll be in rehearsal for the fanclub show. When it comes to events like that, I never get sick of doing them, year after year. Even though we always spend Christmas with just the five of us, it's a great life as a rock band to be able to invite tons of hot young ladies, too. (Laughs.)"
Year
The Year 2002
"This year was one where I was thinking about a lot of things. At one time, thinking about things like "Time in Janne Da Arc" or "The Principles of Janne Da Arc" became something that I really didn't want to deal with at all, and because of that there were times when I didn't want to write any songs. But, when I was working outside of that as a songwriter, I was saying to myself that the songs I was writing were "Janne Da Arc-like". And then, when I was able to release those songs that I was working on for people to listen to, I received a lot of very favorable reactions to them, too. At those times, I was able to think, "Ah, it's all right working like this after all...", and the other members, too, were saying with complete honesty, "Isn't it fine just the way it is?" Now, I've finally become able to think that maybe the assessment of a song being "Janne Da Arc-like" isn't so bad after all. This year, the other members of the band and I have talked about a lot of things, and I feel like this last year has really been one where we've been able to grow beyond the point where we started."
Zero
Starting Point
"I started a band thinking that I was going to make songs that I wanted to listen to. Even though one should always begin with that intent, and I've continued to work with that in mind, I lost sight of that starting point a little bit after we made our debut. However, since the songs we've been doing so far are still ones that I've given my approval, I think that this next album will really be able to move beyond the restrained condition we've been in to this point."
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[1] A kind of coffee shop, rather common in Japan. Open at all hours of the night, they have an extensive library of manga available for reading, and allow patrons to stay as long as they like.