◆My life before my record debut
- What were you planning to do after high school graduation?
When we were in the last year of school, most students started taking exams and had decided
to go to college or start working, but I did not know what to do. To tell you the truth, I had no idea about
my future. And I was lazy, so I did not take any college entrance exams. I decided to go to an
English business school in the meantime to think about what I really wanted to do while studying
my favorite subject. That kind of easy-going manner didn't encourage me to keep going to school.......
- I don't think it would.(laughing)
I had no strong desire to go to school. So when I was about 18 years old, I started skipping classes
and started going to the music cafe 'Jean-Jean' (*1) in Shibuya.
- Did you just go there to audition?
Well, the cafe 'Jean-Jean' was like the Olympia Theater in Paris to us in those days. It was an
attractive venue for us. I don't remember how I got started, but maybe I had an audition there.
I guess that somehow I made it. Then I sang there once or twice a month after that.
- What kind of songs did you sing there?
As usual, I sang 'Donna Donna' always in the same style. Besides that, I sang some Beatles
songs, and also 'House of the Rising Sun', mostly popular songs that everyone liked. I could
not express myself in song very well at that time. I just sang as a hobby, often singing popular
songs for my friends and relatives.
- I heard that you started writing lyrics in Japanese because the English wasn't working.
There was a radio program which used to be broadcast from a supermarket. I sang English
songs there. At that time, I noticed that the audience could not understand what I was saying in
English at all. These kinds of songs that tell stories really need to be understood to be enjoyed.
Then I realized that singing in Japanese was very important, so I started using Japanese. I never
asked other composers to write scores for my songs. I stubbornly continued to write songs
completely by myself. I did not care that my songs did not become popular, but it was important
for me to keep writing about my life in Japanese. So I wrote some songs like
'Nawatobi(Skipping rope )', 'Ame (Rain)', 'Shojo(Girl)', and ' Anata wo oikakete (Searching for you)'
at the beginning. I wrote songs about my childhood.
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