Tetsugaku 58 : Shopping
– Speaking of shopping, you list it as one of your interests, don’t you, tetsu-san?
[Not so much recently. But I used to, in the past. Um, this might be a bad way of saying it, but lately there hasn’t been anything I want (laughs). Maybe I already have it all. Anyway, I have too much stuff, I want to cut back. Since I keep moving into bigger and bigger places, the amount of luggage I have keeps going up. There was a time when I’d have wondered how it’d be possible to have so much stuff. If I calmly looked at every item one at a time, I’d find it’s all stuff I don’t really want. Stuff I don’t use, stuff that’s still sitting carelessly in the paper bag I bought it in, I’ve got tons of stuff like that. I never opened it. I don’t even want it anymore. I want things to be simpler. But, it’s been more than I year since I started thinking this way, and I’ve still got all that stuff, and even more stuff, too (laughs). I’m not properly organised yet. I’ve still got lots to get rid of.]
– But, going back to how you used to say it was a good hobby, did you enjoy shopping?
[Yeah, until about three years ago, I loved shopping. Especially when I went overseas. I got to go overseas for work, and I’d come back with twice as much luggage as I’d left with (laughs). I let out my stress that way. After all, I can’t walk around in foreign countries the same way I do at home, or shop the same way, so when I went abroad for work, I got wrapped up in my shopping. Then, since I don’t go shopping much when I’m in Tokyo, I’d buy something thinking “They don’t sell this in Japan,” then I’d get back and hear “They sell that in Shibuya.” And if I was thinking “It’s cheaper overseas, isn’t it?” the price wouldn’t be any different. The hard part was bringing everything back with me (laughs).]
– Were you greedy when you were little?
[I guess so, back when I was little. Like for Gundam models. I wanted to get the whole set of Gundams, but they made too many so I gave up half way. But, if I were to go back to my parents’ home, there would still be some there. Ancient models from back when Bandai was still using the Banzai mark. Ones they don’t make anymore. They must be rare by now, right? Other than that…… not really. Maybe for remote-controlled cars. They started making those when I was in my third year of elementary school. The finished RC cars were so slow, weren’t they? That’s why they could never satisfy me. I got the ones from a kit instead.]
– You didn’t play with the pre-assembled ones but got the ones that come as a kit? In elementary school? That’s rather early.
[Everyone around me built kits. My only close friends were two, three years older than me, though. Those senpai all had “Tamiya” model cars. But for some reason, all of mine were from the maker “Ootaki”, see, even back then I liked being different (laughs). Like, “I don’t like Tamiya. Everyone’s got Tamiya.” Everyone had Sanwa propos, but I had a Futaba one. (1)]
– I see. Now that brings back memories. Now, moving on, you must have gradually started spending more and more money on clothing.
[I think I started spending money on clothes around the time I started getting into rock. Around year two or three of middle school. Wearing slim pants, bleaching my jeans, stuff like that. I bleached them in the bathtub. Scraping them with little rocks (laughs).]
– If you started listening to rock in your second year of middle school, I imagine instruments must have been next?
[That’s right. I bought some instruments. But, mostly it was stuff people I knew had and were selling off. Mainly that. Cause I didn’t have any money.]
– I see. Then you buy rather more instruments now.
[I buy tons of them now. Incredibly many.]
– When you buy instruments, I’m sure you must take sound quality into consideration, but do they also have value for you as a collector?
[Yes they do. Well, I buy ones that sound good as well as rare ones for my collection, I keep a balance between both kinds. I have some that sound incredibly good, and I also have some collector’s items that are rare in the world.]
– So, how many do you have now?
[Putting basses and guitars together, I have over 100.]
– Do you also use the ones you bought as collector’s items?
[Yeah. I use them for recording, the vintage ones. I don’t want to use them on stage though. When I want to change the tone of a song, I fly through my instruments, trying out different basses. But, of course, I have a basic set of main basses and I usually use one of those ten or so. They’re my primary weapons, but I’m always thinking of looking for a new addition to the line. That’s what I was thinking of doing before heading into the recording this time, but I didn’t find any that really worked. Then, I found a new one and bought it midway through recording. Now, there’s only a limited number of basses in Japan. They don’t bring that many into the country. The goods aren’t coming in. Anyway, I went around talking to people at all sorts of agencies, but they didn’t have any in stock, so they let me play everything they had on display in the store, and even let me bring them to the studio. I picked out what I bought from those.]
– They allowed you to take what you wanted.
[Of course they did.]
– I see. Well, I suppose buying instruments doesn’t feel like real shopping, does it? It’s an important part of your work.
[Yeaaah, I guess so. But, at the time I was doing the most shopping, I was buying one every week (laughs).]