– tetsu-san, do you believe in fortune telling, such as for blood types?(1)
[Hmm, there are so many different kinds of fortune telling, so as a general rule I don’t. I’m more likely to believe something with figures behind it. Blood types are like that, right? I only found out my blood type about five years ago, though.]
– That recently?
[It was the first time I had a complete physical. When sakura got arrested for drugs. Of course, we were all suspected too, the band members. So they had us take a physical examination. Well, part of the physical was taking a blood test, a urine test, and so on. That’s when I first discovered I had type A blood.]
– So you never got tested as a kid.
[They didn’t do that in my area. Wonder why not?]
– What were your thoughts when you found out you were type A?
[My parents’ children are all either A or O, so I had thought I’d be type O.]
– Why was that?
[It’s just… I kinda don’t like type A (laughs).]
– Ahaha! Because it’s the most frequent in Japan?
[Yeah. Besides, they’re said to be methodical and precice, right? I don’t like that description.]
– Which blood type would you rather have?
[Type B (laughs).]
– Ahaha! I think I understand.
[Well, I’m not really sure what they say about type B, but to me type B means being able to say and do as much you want, that sort image. I’ve been envious of that.]
– I see. But if you were type B, then that would mean you weren’t one of your parents’ children.
[That’s true. That might actually be kind of cool. There’d be a reason for it? Or something. (laughs)]
– Ahahahahaha! I can kind of relate to that. So then, since you found out what blood type you are, are you more aware of blood types than you used to be?
[I guess I am. There was something I saw on TV before, where kids were sorted out by blood type by letting them play freely and seeing if any characteristics popped out. And then, as expected, the type A kids played politely, lined up everything in neat rows whether it was their toys or their shoes (2). Compare that to the type B kids, who tossed their shoes wherever, scattered their toys, and were generally the noisiest. That’s pretty much what their blood types predict, isn’t it? I thought it was quite accurate. I don’t have any reason to criticize type B, do I?]
– You’ve admired it so long, too.
[I did. I like the concept of type B. It’s interesting in ways that type A isn’t. Type A and type B don’t generally get along, right? I think I can get along with type B people. I’ve got a lot of type B people around me. That might mean type B people are more fun. If I think “Oh, this guy must be type B,” then I’ll say somewhat intense things around him (laughs).]
– That sounds a bit worrisome (laughs).
[Yeah, yeah. I must say about twice, three times as much stuff, and it’s more fun that way.]
– By the way, what do you think of type O?
[I don’t really know. To me, type O and type A aren’t that different.]
– How about type AB?
[It’s a mystery. Because it’s a combination of type A and type B traits. They change every day. They probably change every three minutes.]
– Is there anyone like that? Around you.
[But, maybe AB people aren’t all like that. All the type AB people I know are, though. A lot of them are friendly, so they’re easy to approach.]
– This is a very ordinary question, but what are your favourite foods?
[Basically, I like Japanese food. Such as sushi and fish. All sorts of Japanese-style culinary productions. After that, maybe Italian.]
– Conversely, is there anything that you absolutely refuse to eat?
[Anything involving internal organs. I’ve always hated that. When I was a kid, I wouldn’t eat onions. Now, I love them, though.]
– How did you overcome your dislike of onions?
[It’s not that I particularly tried to overcome it, I just happened to eat them once in a while and naturally got to like them. By the way, I used to hate Japanese food. So when my family took trips to onsen (1) or something, I didn’t have anything to eat (laughs).]
– (laughs) And now, what are your typical eating habits like?
[Let’s see… My wake-up time varies a lot, and I don’t usually eat right after I get up. Only after four, five hours. Eating two meals a day is plenty for me. And sometimes I only have one meal.]
– Do you sometimes go without eating?
[I don’t do that. I’ve always been against not eating. Same goes for not sleeping.]
– tetsu-san, you certainly don’t cook for yourself, do you? Do you not take coffee or tea, either?
[I don’t. When I’m at home, I usually drink mineral water, and sometimes carbonated water. And sake, when it’s late. I don’t usually drink coffee or tea. Only a few times a year. How to put this… it doesn’t taste good enough to make any myself. Also, if I pour myself a drink from the kettle, I know I have to clean it afterwards, and that’s too much trouble for me. I’m the type to solve a problem with money when it’s possible (laughs). If I feel like having tea, I can just go to a café, and when I’m hungry, I just go pick something up. So, I usually eat out.]
– So, you don’t have your meals delivered?
[Sometimes I do. Like for Chinese or for pizza. They don’t bring servings for one, so I take what I have left and parts of my next meal, and then mix them. For example, parts of my lunch and dinner. I combine my options. When I’m relaxing at home, I end up not wanting to go out to eat. Ultimately, it’s a pain.]
– (laughs) Haven’t you ever tried to cook?
[I haven’t done any that can really be called cooking, but I’ve made meals. Like making prepackaged curry where you just need to add hot water.]
– Oh, so you eat that sort of thing. That’s a bit surprising.
[Yeah, but only when it’s an emergency. If I don’t want to go out, and it’s too late at night for delivery, but I’m huuuungry, that’s the only time I’ll eat it. I always keep something ready to eat around. Like a packed lunch or something. Once I even ate raw rice. But how long ago was that? It’s like, there was absolutely nothing else left (laughs).]
– Somehow, you give the impression of being quite a gourmet, tetsu-san.
[Is that so~. I’m a gourmet? I’m certainly happy when I get to eat delicious things. It’s one of life’s little pleasures. But ever since I started living on my own, I’ve thought convenience store bentou (2) was “good”. Since I was in my teens. Now I don’t eat convenience store bentou quite so much. Even though they should be making much tastier ones now than back then.]
– When did your tastes start to broaden?
[I must have been around the time I turned pro. I was taken to all sorts of receptions, and I got to eat great food at every tour location. I think that’s what made me broaden my taste a bit.]
– Do you remember any foods that made you exclaim “This is great!” when you first tried them?
[Let’s seeee… there was the sushi from that sushi place in Aoyama. Someone from the record company took me there not long after the debut. It was so good that I thought it was the only thing deserving to be called sushi. It was a great piece of information. I didn’t like sushi much until then, but that made me love it. I didn’t have much money at the time, so I only had that. Then, when I went to Kouchi, I had katsuo no tataki (3), and tonkatsu ramen (4) in Fukuoka. Later, in Osaka, there was this little food shop near where I used to live that had a set meal called “Denbee”. It’s a tiny little store where you have to sit at the counter, run by an old couple. There was a looong delay before my order came out. It must have taken more than 30 minutes (laughs). Their food was delicious. But they’ve gone out of business since then.]
– Did they make something exceptionally delicious?
[Their katsudon (5) was the best. I’ve yet to find better katsudon anywhere. I think the reason it took so long was that they were preparing it very carefully. Their prices were a bit high. Still lower than 1000 yen though.]
– Well, it sounds like a nice memory. After all, food is important to you, isn’t it, tetsu-san?
[That’s right. It’s part of why I try so hard at work. It’s a fundamental human desire. You know, I haven’t eaten anything yet today. …… Ah~ I want some yummy shabu-shabu(6) (laughs).]
-Interviewer : Harada Sachi
Translated by Natalie Arnold.
[Hmm, there are so many different kinds of fortune telling, so as a general rule I don’t. I’m more likely to believe something with figures behind it. Blood types are like that, right? I only found out my blood type about five years ago, though.]
– That recently?
[It was the first time I had a complete physical. When sakura got arrested for drugs. Of course, we were all suspected too, the band members. So they had us take a physical examination. Well, part of the physical was taking a blood test, a urine test, and so on. That’s when I first discovered I had type A blood.]
– So you never got tested as a kid.
[They didn’t do that in my area. Wonder why not?]
– What were your thoughts when you found out you were type A?
[My parents’ children are all either A or O, so I had thought I’d be type O.]
– Why was that?
[It’s just… I kinda don’t like type A (laughs).]
– Ahaha! Because it’s the most frequent in Japan?
[Yeah. Besides, they’re said to be methodical and precice, right? I don’t like that description.]
– Which blood type would you rather have?
[Type B (laughs).]
– Ahaha! I think I understand.
[Well, I’m not really sure what they say about type B, but to me type B means being able to say and do as much you want, that sort image. I’ve been envious of that.]
– I see. But if you were type B, then that would mean you weren’t one of your parents’ children.
[That’s true. That might actually be kind of cool. There’d be a reason for it? Or something. (laughs)]
– Ahahahahaha! I can kind of relate to that. So then, since you found out what blood type you are, are you more aware of blood types than you used to be?
[I guess I am. There was something I saw on TV before, where kids were sorted out by blood type by letting them play freely and seeing if any characteristics popped out. And then, as expected, the type A kids played politely, lined up everything in neat rows whether it was their toys or their shoes (2). Compare that to the type B kids, who tossed their shoes wherever, scattered their toys, and were generally the noisiest. That’s pretty much what their blood types predict, isn’t it? I thought it was quite accurate. I don’t have any reason to criticize type B, do I?]
– You’ve admired it so long, too.
[I did. I like the concept of type B. It’s interesting in ways that type A isn’t. Type A and type B don’t generally get along, right? I think I can get along with type B people. I’ve got a lot of type B people around me. That might mean type B people are more fun. If I think “Oh, this guy must be type B,” then I’ll say somewhat intense things around him (laughs).]
– That sounds a bit worrisome (laughs).
[Yeah, yeah. I must say about twice, three times as much stuff, and it’s more fun that way.]
– By the way, what do you think of type O?
[I don’t really know. To me, type O and type A aren’t that different.]
– How about type AB?
[It’s a mystery. Because it’s a combination of type A and type B traits. They change every day. They probably change every three minutes.]
– Is there anyone like that? Around you.
[But, maybe AB people aren’t all like that. All the type AB people I know are, though. A lot of them are friendly, so they’re easy to approach.]
– This is a very ordinary question, but what are your favourite foods?
[Basically, I like Japanese food. Such as sushi and fish. All sorts of Japanese-style culinary productions. After that, maybe Italian.]
– Conversely, is there anything that you absolutely refuse to eat?
[Anything involving internal organs. I’ve always hated that. When I was a kid, I wouldn’t eat onions. Now, I love them, though.]
– How did you overcome your dislike of onions?
[It’s not that I particularly tried to overcome it, I just happened to eat them once in a while and naturally got to like them. By the way, I used to hate Japanese food. So when my family took trips to onsen (1) or something, I didn’t have anything to eat (laughs).]
– (laughs) And now, what are your typical eating habits like?
[Let’s see… My wake-up time varies a lot, and I don’t usually eat right after I get up. Only after four, five hours. Eating two meals a day is plenty for me. And sometimes I only have one meal.]
– Do you sometimes go without eating?
[I don’t do that. I’ve always been against not eating. Same goes for not sleeping.]
– tetsu-san, you certainly don’t cook for yourself, do you? Do you not take coffee or tea, either?
[I don’t. When I’m at home, I usually drink mineral water, and sometimes carbonated water. And sake, when it’s late. I don’t usually drink coffee or tea. Only a few times a year. How to put this… it doesn’t taste good enough to make any myself. Also, if I pour myself a drink from the kettle, I know I have to clean it afterwards, and that’s too much trouble for me. I’m the type to solve a problem with money when it’s possible (laughs). If I feel like having tea, I can just go to a café, and when I’m hungry, I just go pick something up. So, I usually eat out.]
– So, you don’t have your meals delivered?
[Sometimes I do. Like for Chinese or for pizza. They don’t bring servings for one, so I take what I have left and parts of my next meal, and then mix them. For example, parts of my lunch and dinner. I combine my options. When I’m relaxing at home, I end up not wanting to go out to eat. Ultimately, it’s a pain.]
– (laughs) Haven’t you ever tried to cook?
[I haven’t done any that can really be called cooking, but I’ve made meals. Like making prepackaged curry where you just need to add hot water.]
– Oh, so you eat that sort of thing. That’s a bit surprising.
[Yeah, but only when it’s an emergency. If I don’t want to go out, and it’s too late at night for delivery, but I’m huuuungry, that’s the only time I’ll eat it. I always keep something ready to eat around. Like a packed lunch or something. Once I even ate raw rice. But how long ago was that? It’s like, there was absolutely nothing else left (laughs).]
– Somehow, you give the impression of being quite a gourmet, tetsu-san.
[Is that so~. I’m a gourmet? I’m certainly happy when I get to eat delicious things. It’s one of life’s little pleasures. But ever since I started living on my own, I’ve thought convenience store bentou (2) was “good”. Since I was in my teens. Now I don’t eat convenience store bentou quite so much. Even though they should be making much tastier ones now than back then.]
– When did your tastes start to broaden?
[I must have been around the time I turned pro. I was taken to all sorts of receptions, and I got to eat great food at every tour location. I think that’s what made me broaden my taste a bit.]
– Do you remember any foods that made you exclaim “This is great!” when you first tried them?
[Let’s seeee… there was the sushi from that sushi place in Aoyama. Someone from the record company took me there not long after the debut. It was so good that I thought it was the only thing deserving to be called sushi. It was a great piece of information. I didn’t like sushi much until then, but that made me love it. I didn’t have much money at the time, so I only had that. Then, when I went to Kouchi, I had katsuo no tataki (3), and tonkatsu ramen (4) in Fukuoka. Later, in Osaka, there was this little food shop near where I used to live that had a set meal called “Denbee”. It’s a tiny little store where you have to sit at the counter, run by an old couple. There was a looong delay before my order came out. It must have taken more than 30 minutes (laughs). Their food was delicious. But they’ve gone out of business since then.]
– Did they make something exceptionally delicious?
[Their katsudon (5) was the best. I’ve yet to find better katsudon anywhere. I think the reason it took so long was that they were preparing it very carefully. Their prices were a bit high. Still lower than 1000 yen though.]
– Well, it sounds like a nice memory. After all, food is important to you, isn’t it, tetsu-san?
[That’s right. It’s part of why I try so hard at work. It’s a fundamental human desire. You know, I haven’t eaten anything yet today. …… Ah~ I want some yummy shabu-shabu(6) (laughs).]
-Interviewer : Harada Sachi
Translated by Natalie Arnold.
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