RUKI A TO Z INTERVIEW [Stuppy 2014 June Vol.1] 〜part 2
O - OVERSEAS: Do you like it overseas?
Overseas? I guess, there are lot of places to be discovered. I don’t think I’d wanna live there. I love Japan. And it’s so clean, too. I don’t really like the toilets or the smell of the rooms abroad, you know.
What if it were just for a short term study abroad?
Perhaps Hawaii or South Korea. Some place that’s not too far away from Japan.
P - PHONE: The people you often call?
I don’t. I guess, guys do have that image that they don’t talk on the phone so much. As for girls, I really wonder why they always have those long phone calls? That’s a mystery, isn’t it? I guess it’s cause for guys the phone is just a tool to get in touch with people.
Q - QUIET (silence): Are there times you wish for silence? Or times you want to be alone?
When we’re recording, there are usually a lot of staff members around, but I’m really good at fading them out and being alone in my head. Also when we’re rehearsing, I can make myself feel like there’s no one but me.
But that doesn’t mean that you’re rejecting everyone, right?
Yeh. It’s not like I’m in a bad mood and don’t let people near me or that I make those kinds of situations worse, but it’s strictly my own affair, an issueinside myself. I’m the type of person that can quickly switch inside myself, so I don’t expressly ask for silence or some alone time.
R - ROOM: What’s the ideal house/room for you?
I don’t just want one big room, I want several of them. And I want them all to be different. A distinctive room for my hobbies, a room where it would be easy for me to work, a bedroom with a night sky, a homey living room and I’d want a Japanese-style room where I’d pay a lot of attention to the finest details. Something like that would be nice. I guess, above all I really want that unique Japanese-style room. And this has nothing to do with it, but lately I’m interested in Japanese swords and I’m extremely into those I watched on Youtube. So, I guess I also want a room for a Japanese sword collection.
S - SMELLS: Are there any smells you like?
There are. The smell before winter comes. I really love the smell of fragrant olives. Or whenever I smell that sweet smell that’s in the cold, icy air, the words “Aah, it’s almost winter!” just leave my mouth instinctively. And I also love that tender smell before spring comes.
T - TEAR: When have you cried lately?
Recently, when we were on tour, I watched a program on hide-San on Youtube and cried. I was watching it while thinking “it’s really been so long already, huh…”. While I was watching, I remembered a lot of things and thought of my own age (?) and I spontaneously ended up crying. I was surprised myself. the tears were just streaming down my cheeks.
Was that a LIVE?
Yeh. a LIVE. (?) I dunno, I just ended up thinking about many different things. like “I wonder, what hide-san was thinking”.
U - UFO: Do you believe in UFOs?
I don’t just believe in them, I’ve actually seen one. It’s true. It wasn’t a mistake in my vision or something.
Wasn’t it just a light reflection of something?
No. You would think that. Like, this must be a mistake. There was some shining and it disappeared. Besides, it wasn’t just one, you know. There were 4. A strong red light went on. It’s true, I swear. I wasn’t alone when I saw it, my parents saw it too. It wasn’t seaward side, but toward the mountains. And it didn’t make the sound a plane would have made. That was definitely a UFO! But you know, even though I believe in UFOS, it’s hard to think that there are other people living in the universe.
Well, that UFO has to be run by someone, right?
That’s why it’s so mysterious, isn’t it?
That way of thinking is what’s so mysterious.
No. That’s not what I mean. Let’s assume there really are people living in the universe, do you think they’d be able to drive/operate a UFO?
Well, UFOs are flying cause someone is able to operate them, right? Though that was never the topic of those talks that unfold controversy and debates, I think (laugh).
No, this is actually quite an important and essential matter. They say, there are a lot of creatures in the deep see that we don’t know anything about yet. Did you know it’s said that there are human-shaped creatures in the deep sea? No matter how you look at it, it’s sort of combined (laugh) with something like “wouldn’t it be super scary if creatures like that really existed?” (?) But I personally love creatures like that. I can’t help it, I’m just really interested in freemasonry like that, that’s why.
V - VALENTINE: A valentine’s day memory?
Hmm, I think I just received the usual. That obligatory gift-chocolate (as opposed to chocolate given to a boy out of genuine sentiment).
Obligatory gift-chocolate?
Definitely. You know, obligatory chocolate you get out of decency. Cause I think, when I was little a girl gave me chocolate on valentine’s day and that was certainly for status and all (?). Such is life. I remember that one time when I was in elementary school that girl from my neighborhood who was my childhood friend brought some of that obligatory-chocolate all the way to my house.
Well, if she troubled herself to come all the way to your house, it wasn’t really out of obligation, was it?
No, it was definitely obligatory chocolate. Because even though I liked “Kit-Kat” she brought me “Apollo” (laugh).
So, if it had been chocolate out of genuine sentiment she would have known which chocolate you liked, right?
Exactly (laugh). Ah well, it’s a sweet memory.
W - WAR: What about memories of fights/quarrels?
Fights, I like watching them.
That’s an unpleasant preference, isn’t it?
Ahahaha. I mean, don’t you get curious? You know, like “how will this fight be settled?” There are often people fighting in street corners, aren’t there? Whenever I see people like that, I always end up watching them. Wondering, how that fight will end. Or you know like people who grumble and complain about clerks at convenience stores? They’re like “what the hell are you saying?” and stuff and I always think to myself “how is the clerk gonna settle the matter?”, walk into a small corner and listen carefully to their quarrel (laugh).
Ok, this hobby is getting more and more unpleasant as we’re going along (laugh)
Ahahaha. yeh, it’s true (laugh). But you know, it’s not like I feel good about fights. But isn’t it amazing that you can feel reluctant about something that has nothing to do with yourself? It’s something that’s not happening in regard to yourself and you still get such an uncomfortable feeling, I just think, it has a really negative aura.
So you end up analyzing that too?
Yeh, I do. Like “that clerk is being talked to like this but what is he/she thinking?” Basically, I just love thinking and reflecting on things, you know (laugh).
X - X-DAY (that one day): What is the X-DAY according to you? For example, the day you will die or get married or your children are born?
Rather than my own, I may more often be thinking about Japan’s X-DAY. What will happen? In terms of economics I just feel that whatever will be will be, but like various environmental destruction issues, you know. I mean, it’s in the news and people make much of it but there’s always some things that are not reported. It’s like “Huh? What ever became of that discussion?” and it’s just left to chance. Kinda looks like people are waiting for it to weather and the memory of it to fade. That’s scary, isn’t it? Like “what will happen? and if there’s a big issue that concerns the world they wouldn’t just hide it, right?” Occasionally there are times when I get really frightened. It’s not like that X-DAY will come closer before we know it and they will suddenly announce it, right? Still, I don’t think that while we are alive it will get that far but I think about what will happen in the times of the children that are being born now and it sure scares me, you know.
Y - YET: Something you still couldn’t clear/purify until this vey day?
I guess, I still wasn’t able to produce music that made me think “now I can quit.”
And after you’ve achieved that, you’ll think “now it’s ok to quit”?
hmm. there are places when I think “what do I treat as an achievement?”, but there also those where the summit is not clear and unknown, so this is kinda difficult (?).
Z - ZOO: The CD jacket of BEAUTIFUL DEFORMITY was covered with animals, wasn’t it?
Right. That last film we showed at the end of our LIVES during the BEAUTIFUL DEFORMITY tour made a samsara (endless cycle of death and rebirth) kind of impression, an image where the 5 bodies got entangled in. You know, like being in a loop.
I see. So it was also a representation of life then. By the way, do you like animals?
I do, I love them. You know how animals can’t speak? (?) That’s really cute, isn’t it? Like they seem as if they want to say something. I think that’s just really cute (?). Like when they just look at you in silence and wag their tails. I end up thinking “what is the little guy thinking wagging its tail like that?” I don’t think I’d find them as cute if they could speak fluently, you know.
Ahahaha. That’s a typical Ruki-ish way of thinking.
Also, there’s an animal that really caught my eye lately. The fennec (shows a picture he saved on his phone)
What’s that? A cat?
No, it’s a fox. It also wags its tail, this one. It’s like the cutest parts of a cat and a dog combined, right? And the ears are big and cute, too. Makes you think “is there really an animal that picks the best parts of both!?“ It’s too cute, isn’t it? You know, now I wanna go to a zoo that has fennecs. That’s my number one dream right now (laugh). Reptiles, however, are impossible. So are insects. I like ugly animals. I always end up wondering what they think about having been born with this face?
The outcome? You’re still thinking about it, huh (laugh)
Yeh, I am (laugh).
[note: I marked the one’s I was kinda confused about with a (?) but other than those it should be fine ^_^]
