Last updated: September 22, 2009

Translation by: Adrienne Weber
Edited by: Aiichi

Issue Release: May 13, 2008
Original Japanese text property of Rock and Read magazine

This is a really long interview, and there are a lot of notes at the bottom, but don’t let that dissuade you, because it’s a fantastic interview.

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I want to do things the way only I can do them. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not Visual-Kei.

You’re in your 20s, which means that the musical genre of Visual Kei has existed for as long as you can remember. Japanese bands wearing flamboyant make-up began to appear in the late 80s, and by the 90s some of the bands were calling themselves Visual Kei. Who were the first Visual Kei artists you listened to or watched?

X, Luna Sea and Kuroyume. I think I talked in the last interview (Issue 004) about how I’d planned to make my living playing soccer. When I was playing soccer, I got into western music through the people around me. So I didn’t really come across Visual Kei until I had quit soccer and started to think about being in a band. So I didn’t actually start playing music because I looked up to someone or wanted to be like someone, I start music to fill the void left by soccer. Just like now, I wasn’t playing the guitar because I wanted to be in a band, and I wasn’t being a musician just because I wanted to play the guitar. I want to live, and that’s where music comes in, and my guitar is my tool to play music, and that’s where my kind of Visual Kei comes in as my style. I first found out about Visual Kei because the brother of a friend of mine was really into it.

What did you think was so cool about it?

At first I thought Visual Kei was scary. Even though I wasn’t scared of KISS. (LOL)

But KISS also wears crazy makeup.

Yeah. (LOL) But Visual Kei has this from the L.A Guns, or Metallica, or Pantera or something like that. It was just what I was looking for at that time – something shocking with an edge. Like, Yoshiki-san, his hair was completely standing up. (LOL) At first that edginess, that poisonous feeling gave me a kind of culture shock. I think the think that separated Visual Kei from other western or Japanese music is that it was very conscious about being alluring. What I mean by that is, whether or not it made you dream. Not just the edginess or the poisonous, dark side, I just thought that way it let you dream was really cool. The way the bands made themselves into ‘characters’ to "allure." The kids my age that I was hanging out with were into Hi-Standard or the Blue Hearts, and that was when the Japanese mixture bands were coming out, so some kids were only into hip hop. But I guess in Visual Kei I felt this sense of entertainment and originality I didn’t feel from anything else.

Did you have any friends who were listening to Visual Kei?

No, I didn’t. (LOL)Visual Kei wasn’t big with the people I knew. I was really the only one. So I guess it’s kind of the way it is now. I like Visual Kei, so it influences me, but the people I hang with are mostly into Rock. And we all dressed differently. Some people dressed like hip hop or rock. Even back then, I used to do my nails and spike my hair up. When I was hanging out, genre didn’t really matter.

You must have been a strange looking group. Like a real mix of people.

We were. (LOL) But come to think of it, it’s pretty much like my current crew the Kavki Boyz.

You dressed like that all the time, which meant that Visual Kei wasn’t just some hobby for you.

Right. It wasn’t. It was like Visual Kei = me. (LOL)

You were Visual Kei from a young age.

It was just…cool. And it was different from what the people around me were doing.

The teen years are when people see being different from others as a sort of status, don’t they?

Yeah. But I still feel that way. (LOL) The style was a way to express myself. And that’s what was so cool. I think I’ve mention this before, but I used to go to see Jap-Core shows a lot in Osaka at Fandango or Banana Hall, and the cool older guys would ask me what kind of music I did, and I was like, ‘Visual Kei, man!’ (LOL) Those places were kind of scary, but they were so cool. I was drawn to that different culture, but I always had my roots in the aesthetics of Visual Kei. Of course at the time I just thought it was cool, nothing deeper than that.

You came to Tokyo and joined D’uele Quartz at 17. Was D’uele quartz already a Visual Kei band?

That’s right. One of my senpai passed away and things got confusing, and I was kind of messed up in my head so I just wanted to get out of there. (See issue 004) That’s why I went to Tokyo. I was only 17. I didn’t have anything, no money or anything. So, I went to Tokyo and I just hung out. But while I was wandering around, I was actually looking for some kind of purpose. I started going to shows, and people started talking to me, shit about becoming a model, or debuting as a solo artist. (LOL) And one of the things someone came up to talk to me about was D’uele Quartz.

You’ve talked about this before: You spent a night making a song, and when you played it for the band, they asked you to join, right?

Yeah. I was pretty weak, thinking about it now.

Weak!?

I mean, I was tough against uneasiness and that sort of thing, of course. Because I had so much hope. But I wanted to be somewhere that felt comfortable to me, mentally… I think in that way, I was a little weak. The members of D’uele Quartz were really nice, and really warm. You always come with a preconceived notion of a big city like Tokyo, you know? But the other members were all from outside of the city too, and they were really good, warm people. Especially compared to the industry people I’d met. (LOL) Like, someone can take you out to a fancy restaurant and talk to you about becoming a model, but it all seems kind of fake, you know?

You wondered if you might come to a bad end?

Right. But the guys from D’uele Quartz were really nice people, and so I decided they were safe. (LOL) And that’s why I threw my lot in with them. So then they started talking about going into the studio, and I listened to the songs they’d already written. But they didn’t click for me, so I told them I would go into the studio with them if they’d dump all the old songs and let me write new ones. So they agreed, but after I joined they kept playing the songs. They became like their theme songs. (LOL) But the band was really warm.

So you began to do shows as a Visual Kei musician with D’uele Quartz. As you started to have a connection with fans at shows did that give you an even greater sense of belonging and love than you’d gotten from the band?

That was huge. I didn’t have any background in Tokyo, so I was starting from scratch. No matter what you’re dealing with, going from zero to one is always the hardest step. I think you feel it most when you’re in a band or doing something else creative. If you can get to one, things move pretty quickly. Like, from one to two, and two to four, and then to eight and sixteen. But going from zero to one is really hard. It’s the same with making songs, but creating something from nothing is the most difficult. Because you can’t do shows if you don’t have an audience, after all.

It’s hard to get people to listen.

Right. After I joined D’uele Quartz, I helped them take that first step. Of course, the band had gotten to that point, too.

Did you start to think you’d make your living with Visual Kei?

Umm…I don’t think I did at that point. I only thought about how to take hold of my own individuality, how to make something that only I could make. Really, as the band’s composer – [Rest of this is cut off]

I think it’s more dangerous to try to do something that only you can do. I mean, as long as you put on makeup and spike your hair and wear black, anyone can be Visual Kei.

Right.

Isn’t it a little bit of a contradiction to try and establish your individuality and who you are in a scene like that?

No. Because when I was back in my hometown, I stood out simply by being Visual Kei. (LOL) So in a way Visual Kei was like my proof of identity.

In Kobe, when you used the stage name of Dokuro (‘Skull’) (See issue 004)

That’s right. (LOL) For me, it was like I was screaming my own individuality. But then when I entered the Visual Kei scene for real, everyone was Visual Kei, it wasn’t part of their identification. (LOL)

So you had to be someone who stood out from that.

Right. And my first impression of the scene was ‘The Visual Kei Scene ain’t that great.’ Of course, neither was I. (LOL) Once I got into the scene and took a look around, from both a musical standpoint and from the standpoint of staging and all of that, I thought, ‘I can totally do this.’ (LOL) So at the time I put all my energy into how I could be cool, how I could shine on stage and get drunk off myself. I had a very narrow vision.

That bit about getting drunk off yourself…there are a lot of narcissists in Visual Kei, aren’t there?

That’s true.

Only, the expression of Visual Kei has always tended towards the extreme, and the gaudy, and I think that they were trying to make something that was different than what everyone else was doing. BUt once the genre of Visual Kei was established, people began to look more to their peers and do what was selling.

Yeah.

I think that the Visual Kei style became less individualistic and more like a uniform.

That’s very true. But that happened not just with Visual Kei but with the Punks and the rappers too. In a way it’s very similar. But now that so much time has passed, I don’t think there are many narcissists in Visual Kei now. Looking around, I think there are a lot in other fields, like dancers or DJs. Recently I did a photo shoot with our painter and the bassist from RIZE, and those two started doing their makeup in the middle of the shoot! (LOL) My crew is all pretty unique, individual people. For me, being a narcissist is about how much interest you take in the way you are, how important that is to you. Like, the way you want to be. I think it’s all connected to life and how you live your life.

Yeah, but I think Visual Kei became un-individualistic. And now that the Visual Kei look is like a uniform, putting it on can actually rob a band of its individuality, and make it harder for people to see the important things.

Yeah, yeah.

Sometimes I even wonder how many people are really doing it because they think it looks cool.

Me too, but I think we’ve all been followers, once the Visual Kei genre was already out there.

But miyavi, you used to listen to Western music, so it’s not really like Visual Kei was your only roots. I’m surprised you never left Visual Kei.

If I’d only be half assed about it, I probably would have. In a way it would have been easier.

So why didn’t you?

Because it felt like running to me. Also there were so many kids who had been encouraged by that scene and were a big part of that scene. There were a lot of kids for who had found a kind of home in the Visual Kei culture. And in a way, I existed because of those kids. That’s how it was when I was in the band, and that’s how it is now. You can talk all you want about how you’ll keep playing even if you lose your audience, but in the end, you can only play if people come to see you. It’s that way of thinking that makes me consciously put something popular in with the innovation, and something easy to understand in with the new in my music. Even if I’m doing what I want to do, if I can’t get that across to people, it’s counterproductive. Also, I always want to present the vector of how I’ll evolve to those kids.

At any rate, the fans were a huge part of it. Not something about Visual Kei, for myself as a person. But I’m not going to do something I don’t want to do just so I don’t betray their expectations. I’m always drawing that borderline for myself. And basically, I could never grow to hate Visual Kei. (LOL)

You must love it.

Ever since my major debut, and even now, when someone from another scene, like R&B or hip-hop, or punk, asks me ‘What do you do?’, it feel good to b tell them, ‘Visual Kei.’ (LOL)

Hmm… I don’t know if that’s because you’re miyavi, or because of your age. Lately there are people who are hesitant to declare themselves Visual Kei, don’t you think? Especially people over 30. They’re starting to say, ‘I’m not Visual Kei.’

Yeah, that’s true. I’m sure that the era is a factor here. Of course I don’t plan to put myself on the shelf anytime soon, but when I call myself Visual Kei, it’s all about the music or my playing. If I didn’t have all of those factors, I don’t think I could call myself Visual Kei anymore either. But words take on a life of their own, you know? Sometimes people call Neo-Visualizm ‘Neo Visual Kei’, and take it as something other than it is, where I’m like ‘No, that’s not what I mean!’ (LOL) So even the word Visual Kei has taken on a new meaning for some people, and I do understand wanting to distance yourself from that new meaning. But for me, that would be running away. Also, like I think it’s disrespectful to just take all the good things from Visual Kei and then quit being Visual Kei the second it starts to have a bad image. I love Visual Kei. But I think the important thing is how much you can feel that at a fixed temperature, how long you can say that at a fixed temperature. What I mean is it’s not the same as saying you love Visual Kei when Visual Kei is all you know. I think the real meaning comes when you know about other cultures and other worlds and you still say ‘I’m doing Visual Kei because I love it.’ That’s the moment it becomes common sense. That’s one of the reasons I do things with people from other scenes, and it’s because I have my crew that I can do Visual Kei. (LOL)

Right around when you debuted, you starting calling yourself New-Visual. In other words, a new kind of Visual Kei. Were you saying New Visual with a clear idea of what made it different from the old Visual Kei?

To be honest, when I first said that I was just kind of vague about it. I thought the same thing, I think. I looked around and all the bands seemed the same. But I wasn’t in a position to criticize, I mean, that’s the Scene, and that’s fine, I mean that’s what’s good about it. Even now. Visual Kei should just be Visual Kei. But I want to do things my own way. But for me, that didn’t mean that I wasn’t Visual Kei. I turned it into a question of what were the parts that made me dream, not to just think within the Visual Kei that had been created by someone else, but to establish my own dark and aesthetic world view: to make my own style based on my own view and my own values, presented in a way only I could do it, and call that ‘Neo-Visualizm’. Like I said earlier that edginess of Visual Kei gave me all sorts of dreams. But there’s no meaning in just copying the superficial things like that edginess, I wanted to find the heart of it all and evolve that. And that’s when I started talking about Neo-Visualizm.

In a way, that was the moment you really girded your loins.

That’s right. Hide-san was huge for me. I might have talked about it before, but he actually made a huge impression on me. In Japan, if your band breaks up and you go solo, as a guitarist, as Visual Kei, there’s only so much you can do. So in a way I was very conscious [of him], and for a while I even tried not to watch him. So that I wouldn’t be conscious of him.

Because you’d be even more influenced by him?

That’s right. But the more I tried not to be conscious of him, the more conscious of him I became. (LOL)I mean, just by trying not to watch, I was already thinking about him. I didn’t know what to do. But when you compare Visual Kei with blues or hip-hop, things that have their roots in world music, it’s just from the small, limited culture of Japan. But I felt dreams in what he was trying to do with it. And because of those dreams, I…I can’t explain it very well, but…how I should be as the next artist. As an artist from the next generation, thinking about the person I’d been influenced by. I didn’t want to just do the same thing he had done, of course. But I had to take up the baton in regards to giving people dreams. It was a question of how I should do that. And so Neo-Visualizm was my answer to that, in a way. But yeah…I’ve never said that much. No, I couldn’t say it. Hide-san has such passionate fans, and I don’t want to destroy any of that. Like I said on my album, ‘People die when they’re forgotten.’ But if you don’t forget them, they live on in your memories. So Hide-san lives on inside all his fans, he still exists in the present for them. And the imagination is endless. Everyone can have their own idea of what would have happened and what he would have done. So it was a huge battle for me. That’s why I went out into the world. It’s just a small thing, but doing a show on the beach with street performers, and playing with blacks in the jazz bars, it all felt like something I had to do. Like, I couldn’t lose, as an artist of the next generation, or as a Japanese person. That’s part of it all. I mean that in a positive way.

I see. You’ve taken on the responsibility for Visual Kei.

Somehow, I just took it on, without asking anyone else. (LOL)

And it would be rude to Hide-san’s fans to do the same things that Hide-san did, knowing that he did them. That’s why you need to build something new.

That’s right. But to be honest, there was a time when I ran from that. The staff I worked with had been part of the crew who made X-Japan’s concerts, or had been Hide-san’s staff, and…it was always there, somehow.

I understand. The staff also wanting to entrust it all to you.

Right, and they meant it in a good way. And I could feel that the staff felt that way.

Before your major debut, when you still wrote songs with an electric guitar, I felt something similar, musically to Hide-san.

Of course there still is something similar. But going solo and making music all this time, and making my major debut, then picking up an acoustic guitar and doing ‘dokusou’, people asked me, "You’re a solo performer now, why do you make such a big deal about doing Visual Kei?"

And it kind of shocked me. And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s okay. I can just be myself.’ And then, for the first time, I was able to visit Hide-san’s grave. Before that I could never go.

You became honest.

I felt like something relaxed inside me. And then I went to LA. And all sorts of things there made me really think about my own identity, and this is how I turned out. (LOL)

To switch from electric to acoustic, and add some percussion with the gigpig, and play music by yourself.

Yeah. Analog, rather than digital. I decided I really wanted to battle with, uh, my skills.

Did you come to think less deeply about what you’d taken on?

That’s right. I think in a way, from that moment on I stopped thinking about my position or presence within Visual Kei.

You mean you stopped comparing youself to others?

Yeah. Because Hide-san was huge for me.

How did you feel when you visited his grave?

Hide-san is the one member of X-Japan that I hadn’t met. So even for me, I just have this image of him. And that image is endless. So for me, Hide-san can do anything. He’s perfect. Someone with no flaws. But what I felt when I went to visit his grave was ‘Oh, he’s only human.’ I don’t mean that weirdly, just like, he was just a person who lived his life, and left a lifestyle as his legacy. That’s what I felt.

Did it make you think about how to live your own life, and how to proceed?

Yeah. I can’t be like Hide-san, after all. But maybe I can do something Hide-san couldn’t do. Whether it’s my life style or my playing style. I’m in the middle of figuring that out. And I want to take on the world as a Japanese person. I think that lifestyle is connected to ‘Neo-Visualizm.’

Speaking about the world, in the last 2 or 3 years Japanese Visual Kei has gotten really big in Europe. This means that you’ll have more opportunities to do things in other countries. Does the popularity of Visual Kei in the rest of the world excite you? Or do you feel something different?

Actually, I don’t feel excited. Of course I’m really happy about it, and it’s a big honor, but at the same time it make me feel like I really have to pull myself together. I need to have something that I can really truly be proud of. And besides, nowadays, the word ‘world’ is taken for granted. I mean, I went to Asia on my first tour, and I was always prepared to go to Europe and the US. That’s the era we live in now, and I think it will become standard. I think it has to. That’s why as Japanese artists, we need to think about how we’re going to be. It may be getting popular in other countries but it’s still not a main feature of the mainstream market overseas. As a culture, I think it occupies the same space as it does in Japan. I think that’s fine, but I want to bring it to the point that people who usually listen to pop or hip hop or funk know that there’s this Visual Kei culture in Japan. And of course I want to continue to maintain the vector for the kids overseas who are fans. Also, I think that the way of looking at Visual Kei in the US and Europe and Asia is different. In the US the image of Visual Kei is very strongly tied to anime culture. In Europe, of course there’s the anime thing, but they see Visual Kei as a Japanese extension of Goth and Metal and other musical genres that are already popular in Europe. And usually in Asia it’s seen as just part of J-pop. Well, there are all sorts of ways it’s seen, but because there are fans waiting for it, it’s really important to build a conscious identity. If we just try to coast by on the sudden popularity, things will end up just like they did here in Japan. The good and the bad will all get mixed up and it will sadly retreat. And I think that would be really sad. So I hope we can bring it a step further than the sudden popularity. Just take it one step at a time…Me in my own way and they in theirs.

You can tell you’ve been doing Visual Kei for a long time, the way you can analyze it so calmly.

I’m kind of an old fart here. (LOL) The kids my age are part of the next generation, and the kids from my generation of Visual Kei are older than I am.

Oh, in terms of your career?

Yeah. (LOL) Yeah, I almost want to put it in bold letters and a huge text size: I’m pretty fresh. (LOL)

As an artist, don’t people have to call you ‘Nii-san’? (Older brother? (LOL)

Yeah. Nii-san. But that’s no good. (LOL) But I have had a long career and I do get along with the newer bands.

So, in your opinion, what’s Visual Kei’s weak point?

Hmm…I guess how insular it is. But that can also be its strongest weapon, so I can’t really generalize.

You mean only special people can get enter the scene? You mean it feel comfortable?

Of course. And that’s why I didn’t want to depend too much on that. So I performed at an event in secret, at this totally hardcore underground show in full makeup. (LOL) It was a really core event, but I did have fans come to support me.

You played with all those dangerous people?

There really was this totally dangerous aura! (LOL) But partially I did it because I like playing an away game, so to speak. It felt the same as when I used to play at Jap-core shows, and it was a good experience for me to get out there at an event like that and be like ‘I’m Visual Kei’, and I was doing it as if it were part of my training, the same way I’d do a street show. But my fans still came to see me, in this arena that was totally out of their comfort zone, and supported me, and really encouraged me. So it was away, but in a way it was like a home game.

When you’re in a place where you’re always protected, it’s hard to realize your own weakness.

Right. And I think that bringing that at home feeling too much can lead to weakness and frailty on the part of the performer. Because I do have that myself. That’s why I want to go places I’ve never been before. That’s the reason I do street shows so often: to see how far I can get on just my musical abilities in a place where no one knows who I am, where they don’t start screaming (LOL) when they see me. I think Sugizo-san and I are very similar in that respect. He performs at all sorts of festivals and works with artists from all sorts of genres. We can relate on that level of wanting to fight in an unforgiving environment, in a way that’s not related to our ages or our careers, and I also respect him for that a lot.

You want to get out of the box.

Yeah. In a way, the toughness of that box is Visual Kei’s fragile point.

That’s very true. Even bands that are trying to break out of Visual Kei can’t often make it because of how strong the walls of that box are.

But I think it’s still nonsense to deny what they’ve done in the past because of that. I want them to take it with them, and break down the walls of that box.

And what is the strength of Visual Kei?

It’d have to be that unique insularity also. And it’s fragmentary way of looking at things. Like, the idea of ‘I like this, and I don’t care about anything else.’ (LOL) The lack of options. There is nothing else, so you can focus on it completely. Because in a way there’s already a set of decided values. Like, even if musically, it’s different, there’s still this theory of Visual Kei. But I think there’s a great power to make something unique there. I think it can also help it to penetrate.

But musically, Visual Kei does have a certain style. For example, the syncopation or the use of minor key melodies.

Yes, that’s true. People often say that Visual Kei has no genre or musical type, and I’ve said that myself. But what I meant was that there’s no real definition. Including the clothes. Also, talking about narcissists, lately there are a lot of people who are Visual Kei outside of Visual Kei. Like, people where I want to yell, ‘You guys are totally Visual Kei!’ (LOL) There’s a of hip hop artists like that or some of my friends who are dancers. They’ll be at the mirror forever, fixing their hair, and trying to look cool. (LOL) But in a way, that’s part of producing yourself. It’s the same in Yankee or Chima culture, where looking cool is all a manifestation of a desire to be cool, to live coolly. Like how in Visual Kei, the way they did that was the makeup. So if Visual Kei has a negative image, I want to change it. That’s what I’ve devoted myself to doing. I think the only way to change the way people see the genre is with skill and with the quality of what we’re doing. But I think everyone’s really trying as hard as they can. I mean, who am I to say that, really, but you know. (LOL)

You can say that because you’re an old fixture. (LOL)

Hmmm… (LOL) But yeah, I really do think that. The people in my generation are working really hard. I hope that even though we’re doing different things, we’re looking at the same place. Me in my way and them in theirs. And I hope we can all laugh together someday. I think that’s what Visual Kei is all about, and more than the people who quit Visual Kei, I think the people who are still saying ‘I am Visual Kei’ are much cooler. Because I’ve never stopped saying that. Well, I mean, I’ve said a lot of stuff, but I’m basically just a very contrary person. (LOL)

But maybe that contrariness is the essence of Visual Kei. Not wanting to be the same as everyone else, wanting to do something that only you can do.

Yeah, that’s true. (LOL) I really felt that doing S.K.I.N. On stage with them I felt, ‘This is it’, ‘This is how it’s supposed to be.’ I’m not talking about right or wrong, just about what I thought and what I believed, and how there were a lot of things that made me think it was perfect just the way it was. I don’t mean doing the same thing; I mean the way it was was good. Those guys built the scene because they’ve never backed down on how they thought they should be or what they believed in.

It was a group of contrary people. (LOL)

(LOL) Which is trouble in and of itself, but it’s just that we all want to find ourselves, and really be ourselves, I think. We have big egos, (LOL) but I mean that in a good way. And as an artist of the next generation, I can’t drop the ball on that; I have to really do it. And that’s why we’re all searching now for the way to do things that’s best for this generation.

Speaking of which, you’ve been very conscious of Japan in your latest work.

Basically, I always go too far. (LOL) I go to extremes. The basic gist of the album is that in the end, it doesn’t matter if we’re Visual Kei or Japanese or whatever, we’re Earthlings, we’re human beings, we’re animals, and that’s okay, really.

We’re Homo sapiens. (LOL)

Right. And that’s really okay. Like, what does race, what does skin color mean? What would happen if the world really was destroyed? If you think about that, those things don’t mean anything. That’s what I’m singing about. If you look at the earth or the human race, doing a world tour isn’t a tiny tiny thing. Like, ‘So?’ (LOL)

If you think of things that way, our lifespan is just the tiny blink of an eye.

Yeah. So it’s kind of like ‘So?’ You know? But since it is like ‘So?’ we have to take that ‘So?’ and make it ‘So!’

I have no idea what that means. (LOL)

Like, when I went looking in the world for my own originality being Visual Kei and being Japanese gave me some hints. So like, now I think that even just a Japanese pattern is really fuckin’ cool. I think the biggest reason I’m so into that now is that going to LA and performing more overseas has really made me think more about what it means to be Japanese. Going overseas really made me think that there is no one who thinks the less about the Japanese than the Japanese themselves. Of course I can’t generalize, but I think that it’s true if you look at things overall. I mean, nowadays, even if you don’t speak English or don’t know anything about other cultures, you can live your life not thinking about it as long as you don’t leave Japan.

In that way it’s similar to Visual Kei. Japan is an island nation, so we’re very insular.

Yeah, I think it is similar. Which also means that it’s very unique, which is interesting. I decided that as a Japanese person, I wanted to be more conscious of that. There’s no real element of Japanese traditional culture in the fashion of Harajuku or Akihabara, but they’re becoming the new face of Japan. I think that in a way that’s something that can become a real unique weapon in show biz. I want to focus on that in a good light, and mix it up. Because I do think at some point the walls will come down. I mean, we’ve even got a black enka singer now. (LOL)

You mean Jero-san.

Yeah. Or like a Mongolian becoming a sumo wrestler. From the point of multi-culturalism there’s nothing more wonderful than that, but the question is how should we Japanese be within all that? We have to step it up. I mean, even just within music, I feel like there’s a lot less pure Japanese now. (LOL) Like, people who are biracial or were born in California. Of course, I can’t really talk because I’m half Korean. (LOL) But it’s like, Japanese people, you okay? But back to the point, I feel like if Visual Kei doesn’t work hard, it’s going to get weeded out. Although it would be really interesting if there were some more international people doing Visual Kei. I think it might happen. It’s all up to us and how we are. I think that a stance that thinks about the world market will become standard, not just for Japan but also for the rest of the world. For both artists and fans.

Lately even the audiences in Japan seem to be more international.

Right. Like I’ll see a Brazilian flag waving around out there with the towels people bought from the merch tables. (LOL)

So your tour schedule is pretty set now. You’ll be touring until summer with a US tour, a European tour, an Asian tour and then a Japan tour.

I think we’ll be adding some more shows. Because there are a lot of places in Europe we haven’t figured out yet. Also Russia. And France and England aren’t finalized yet either. And in some countries there have been requests for me to play dokuso style. I’d like to really just do it with the new album, but…of course I’ll do it. I want to show everyone what Japanese rock is. This is only the first step. I want to do shows that will lead to the future, whether I’m in the US or in Europe. And I’ll play Japan too. This world tour is a bit of a challenge, but I’m also going to learn things. And then when I get back to Japan, I want to show everyone all the things I’ve absorbed. I want to make the shows something hopeful, something where you can feel all the possibilities of what’s to come.

You’re so good at analyzing things I’m sure you’ve thought of this, but it may actually be easier for Visual Kei to have a breakthrough overseas simply because it doesn’t have the history it does in Japan.

That’s true. And that’s why I really think it’s great what other Visual Kei bands are doing. And while I think they should continue it, the same time, compared with western music, there’s less choice in Japanese music, and I do feel the need for music that no one else can copy. That’s one of the reasons I stopped using a 7-string guitar, actually… I mean, I can’t compete with the people overseas, in terms of weight. I mean, because of their diet they tend to be heavier. (LOL) They even have a different sharpness when they dance. And you can say the same about music. So the question becomes how can I compete? With my skill. And with sensibility, and with delicacy.

Your generation may not be able to relate to this much but when LOUDNESS played overseas, people said they were like a Japanese clock in the way that their playing and their whole performance was very detailed and precise.

That’s really interesting. So people focused more on their high skills than the loudness of their sound. Wow. In my performances I want to make something that only a Japanese, that only I can do. I’m working really hard now to establish that. I did a lot of thinking about a style of playing that only I can do, and the answer I came up with wasn’t an electric guitar. Of course I love playing the electric guitar. But is it an original style? There’s only so much I can do with it…Of course if I’m playing it becomes my own style, but…I want to establish a style that no one else can copy. I wanna make people say ‘Wow, Japanese people are amazing!’ (LOL) I want to shock them, to do things that widen their perception. In a way I think too deeply about it all. About my music and about my shows.

I mean, it’s also okay to have a show that’s just like a party. But I always end up thinking about a new way to present things or what message I want to get across. I want to make music that is totally unique. I’ve got a long way to go, but that’s always my goal. But that’s how I live my life, that’s how I do things.

But when you talk about Neo-Visualizm, there isn’t much of that glamour that the word makes you picture. You need hard work and principles and a lot of mental strength.

Haha. (LOL) But the thing is, I’m not doing music because I want people to scream and fawn over me. I course I was in the very beginning. (LOL) At the time I was just like, ‘Well, I got nothing else to do, might as well be in a band.’ But I wouldn’t have kept it up if I still felt that way. I think I’m still doing this because I felt my ability to create something. It’s the same with any job: the glamorous part is really only a small part of it. 9/10ths of it is very plain. But I think the thing to do is to make that tiny percentage as glittering and glamorous as possible. I’d say that’s part of Neo-Visualizm.

But don’t you worry you’ll get tired of it at some point?

No. I don’t think I’ll get tired of it. I mean, I’m basically just doing what I want to do and living how I want to live. (LOL) If I’m still doing Visual Kei 10 or 20 years from now, I think that’s a pretty wonderful life.

Translator’s Notes

X Japan (aka X) Formed in 1982 and active until 1997, the band is widely credited for pioneering the visual kei movement.

hide: Primarily known for his work as lead guitarist of the popular heavy metal band X Japan from 1987 to 1997. He was also a successful solo artist and co-founder of the United States based band Zilch. His death the age of 33 was initially ruled a suicide, but allegations of accidental death were so persistant and compelling that it is now referred to as his ’sudden death’.

Luna Sea: LUNA SEA is a Japanese rock band, discovered by hide. It was formed in 1989, members including Ryuichi Kawamura (of ‘Love is..’ fame), and Yasuhiro “Sugizo” Sugihara, aka the Sugizo that miyavi collaborated with.

Kuroyume: LAsting from 1991-1998, the band had an extensive influence on the visual kei scene, being credited as inspirations by many of the bands of the late ’90’s visual kei boom.

L.A. Guns: A rock band from Los Angeles, California, originally formed in 1983 and continuing on today. Historically the band is perhaps most noteworthy because some of its original members went on to form Guns N’ Roses.

Jap-core: Japanese hardcore punk, also known as Japcore, refers to the fast-paced Japanese punk/hardcore genre. The original intent of Japanese hardcore was to protest the social and economic changes sweeping Japan in the 1980s.

yankee: The term Yankī is used to refer to a type of delinquent youth who often sports brightly bleached hair.

Chima: Members of a street gang
chima

Enka: Modern enka came into being in the postwar years of the Shōwa period. It was the first style to synthesize the Japanese pentatonic scale with Western harmonies.Enka lyrics, usually are about the themes of love and loss, loneliness, enduring hardships, and persevering in the face of difficulties, even suicide or death. Enka suggests a more traditional, idealized, or romanticized aspect of Japanese culture and attitudes, comparable to American country and western music.

Jero: Jero (born Jerome Charles White, Jr. in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on September 4, 1981) is an American-born Japanese enka singer. His maternal grandmother was Japanese. He is the first black enka singer in Japanese music history.　By wearing modern hip-hop street fashion and performing the traditional style of music Jero has said he hopes to help bring appreciation of enka music to a younger audience.

Loudness: A Japanese heavy metal band formed in 1981[1] by guitarist Akira Takasaki and drummer Munetaka Higuchi.They were the first Japanese heavy metal act signed in the United States, releasing five albums by 1987 and reaching the Billboard top 100.