Interviewer: Hiroko Yamamoto

- When have you thought "Oh dear, I'm dirty!"?

u~m...when I became an adult and had lived as a part of society for a while I ran into a lot of different things very quickly. As a child I would say anything that came to my head until I began gathering knowledge and I started becoming more intelligent, but when I look back on it there are times when I think I was impure...as the years rush by I feel like I'm rotting away (laughs). Already, it's all black. My body, it seems (laughs)*.

- Yeah, we certainly don't think "If I say this how will everyone else react?" when we're kids.

Well...perhaps children have their own way of thinking, but then they become increasingly more calculative. That means their way of thinking broadens so it's not a bad thing but still, there's something good about they way children think. I want to become an old man who still has the heart of a child...but that's already been squeezed out of me so it'll be hard (laughs).

- Hahaha. Already squeezed out?

Well, um, when you grow up you have to follow a planned appearance and set of principles, stuff like that.

- An outward appearance and principles, ne?

Yeah. Nowadays you can't be a part of society based on your true intentions alone. I realized that from the experiences I had, which worries me.

- Comparing being an artist to being a typical member of society, is it a position were you have to have relatively few motives and set principles?

No, it's not that. I don't know if people think that being a in a band means having an image like "I like music and I do whatever I want to; let's go live it up, rock and roll!" or "Let's get drunk and go on a rampage, baby!", or things like that (laughs), but really there are a lot of specific things to being a musician. I imagine it's the same with any job. Even being homeless has its complications. As an artist, when I become attached to a record company, that means that I am an employee of that company. It's "Greet people properly" and all that. They're always saying I'm rude (laughs).

- They say you're blunt?

Yeah. (will ask sensei about this sentence). Reticent people seem like they have an angry or indignant image. But it's actually a lot more subtle than that.

You say it as if you don't speak for just yourself (laughs). Perhaps that kind of thing gets rubbed out by society?

I think so. When

* "hara ga kuroi", literally "my stomach is black," means someone is a bad person. So if he's all black then...