– You have a strong image as a “lover of beauty,” you know.
[I do have that image. In reality, I’m not like that though.]

– You can actually relax when your room is messy, you’re that kind of person?
[No? I relax more when things are clean, but it doesn’t have to be that clean, at my place. I have a lot of stuff, so it gets scattered. And so, even though I think having things be neat and pretty is admirable, I wouldn’t call myself a lover of beauty. Really, living in a hotel would be ideal. Having only the minimal necessities…… that sounds ideal, but of course that’s not sensible (laughs).]

– You actually admire a non-sensible lifestyle.
[Yeah, I do. It’s something I think about sometimes. For work, I have a lot of baggage, right? I’d take it all, rent a bigger warehouse, and keep it there (laughs), then go live in a hotel, that’d be fun. I even calculated a way for it to be cheap, cheaper than my rent (laughs).]

– Really?! Wouldn’t that be nice! So then, why don’t you do it?
[Yeah? But, after all…… I won’t throw stuff away, will I? I mean, if my stuff was in a warehouse, when I decide that “I don’t want this anymore” I have to go get rid of it, right? That would be such a pain……]

– Wahahaha! I see, I see.
[But, if I thought it over calmly for a looong time, looked at everything I own one thing at a time, and asked myself “Do I really need this? Do I need it to live?” I’d find nothing but stuff I can live without. I could probably live with just a few instruments and my computer.]

– That might be so. All the more reason to try it (laughs).
[It’s so simple. I wouldn’t have to clean, and when I got hungry I could just call room service. If I had a bit less baggage I’d really do it.]

– By the way, don’t you find it enriching to have things you like all around you?
[No, but, now, there are quite a few designer hotels, aren’t there? I think that’s not a problem at all.]

– The problem is baggage.
[But, well, I’ve moved so often, and I think from all that moving I’ve learned to cut down on luggage. This way, I wouldn’t even move once…… It’s been almost ten years since I came to Tokyo, and if I’d lived for ten years in the same place, I think it would have been awesome. I’d rent out the mansion next door to mine, and the next one down and so on.]

– So the whole floor would be yours, tetsu-san (laughs). How are your friend’s homes? When you go over and things are messy, does it bother you?
[It does. When someone’s house bothers me, it makes me want to clean their house.]

– It does! How come?
[I guess it’s because I can judge it calmly. I don’t get strange ideas, and I can see things calmly and ask “You don’t want this, right?” or “Wouldn’t it be neater if you did this that way?”]

– That means you could be irresponsible, too (laughs). But you don’t actually do much of that for yourself, do you?
[That’s why I’m not a lover of beauty. I’m a type A, so sometimes I have moments where I want to clean excessively, make everything pretty. Really, that happens several times a year.]

– If you start doing that, do you do it thoroughly?
[I do. But, that condition doesn’t last long. Just two or three days.]

– Even though you seem like you do a bit of cleaning every day. Like hanging up your jacket when you take it off, putting things away, you seem like you normally do that.
[I’m good for nothing. When I take something off I just leave it on a sofa or chair that happens to be nearby. I try to hang things up in the closet, when I remember to. I have a walk-in closet at my place, and it’s a pain to go in there (laughs).]

– Eeeh! (laughs) That’s so extravagant! I’m jealous!
[It’s inside my bedroom, but when I go into my bedroom I just leave things on the chair in there, like jackets or whatever. Opening that second door, going in there, I know I only have to walk a few steps extra, but it’s still a pain. Oh, and there’s a chair in my walk-in closet.]

– Ahahaha! I can see where this is going.
[Even when I go into the walk-in closet, I should put things up on hangers, but I just leave stuff on that chair instead.]

– Why not put things back where you found them? I understand. I’m the same way with CDs, but later when I feel like listening to a certain CD, I can’t find it, so you probably can’t find the clothes you want to wear, either.
[Yeah. And I forget, like “Oh, I have this CD?” Or I’ll buy the same CD two, three times. “I had it! Damn~” (laughs)]

– Would you like to improve that aspect of yourself?
[How I’m so sloppy? …… Mmmmm, well, that’s how it is, right? At the moment, I’m thinking “I gotta do things properly” but there’s no way I’m actually that horrible (laughs).]

– Interviewer : Honma Yuuko
Translated by Natalie Arnold