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So I hear that during your tour in LA this year, you were asked to be a part of a movie. What was FC’s role in it, and when is it going to come out?
The title of the movie is “Manband”. I’m told that it’s a comedy about these two successful music promoters who are like two generations apart and together they promote “Boybands”. However they wind up going on this mission to find the next big thing which they decide was going to be a “Manband”, which is a Boyband made up of middle aged men. Anyway, on their journey they encounter all these other bands, and we are one of them that didn’t make it!! (hahaha)
Man, that was a work out. It felt like I was training for the Olympics in a Russian Acrobat team or something. I knew that they were going to have us perform a number of times, but I don’t think I’ll experience that kind of work out again. Also, we had these ladies that danced around us during the shoot. They were shaking their boobies and having a good time, but I kind of felt bad that they had to keep on shaking them for so long. Que Que Cola, the biggest playboy in Nagasaki, was not that enthusiastic about this whole shooting thing initially, but I think it all changed when these boob shakers joined us. He looked like he was having a little more fun after that.
The movie is suppose to come out in late spring or early summer 2004.

You have a new album coming out soon. How is this album different from the last one?
Well, until now we usually recorded songs for people that left the band as a gesture of “Thank you” and “Good job!.. ” It was to show appreciation, you know. But now, we are focused on making albums for the fans that keep on growing. We record the album to make our fans happy, and so that they would listen to it over and over again. So the focus has shifted from being friends and family oriented and appreciating, remembering the past to fan oriented, thinking about the future of our fans. Our notion of sound = song, has also become more important to us. In the past, we recorded songs that were sung really loudly, like our live shows, and just altered the volume for balance. These days I am really listening to the things my staff members tell us, and taking our fans’ opinion into consideration and really thinking of the balance of the recording. I try to be as objective as possible. I guess you can say I have become a little less experimental in that sense, but I think that is debatable. Only god knows what I’m doing….

You have been a very important and influential Radio DJ in Nagasaki for many years now. What sort of music do you play on your program, and what is the focus of the program?
Rock, Jazz, Ethnic, Hip Hop, Lounge. Basically all genres from all over the world. I put on anything that really stands out, and I play about 8 to 9 new and interesting things that I pick out for this weekly show. Even old songs, I treat them as new. In between songs, I do my own comedic stunts, but these days I am so busy with FC, that I sort of randomly throw in pieces from famous manzai groups and rakugo (both are traditional forms of Japanese comedy) and make a unique mix for the in-between song times. So basically, my show focuses on eclectic collections of music and comedy. We also have this little time slot in the program where we do a musical shiritori. [Shiritori is a Japanese game where people go around in turns, constructing a sentence or word based usually on the last character of the word that was used by the previous person. The game ends when someone uses a word that ends with the phonetic sound N by mistake.] We do this with songs in our program. For example, say there was a song Mick Jagger was singing, and it contained the word "hey". Then I will loop and mix the "hey" part of the song, and it will go on to a song like "Hey Jude" by the Beatles. It’s so stupid. That’s why it’s awesome. This game has been going on for years. I think it qualifies to be on the Guinness Book of World Records. Haha
The title of my program is called "Hard Boin" Boin is a term in Japanese used for women with large breasts.
My focus in doing this program is to get as diverse audience as possible. That’s why I really don’t worry about genre. As long as the music is really good. I also avoid any major artists who spend a lot of promotion money on their record. I want to give music that doesn’t usually get radio play a chance. I am also trying to get my listeners to open up to wider variety of music. It gives you the chance to meet more people, to understand more cultures, and to be more accepting of differences. I really believe that this is a first step towards a more peaceful world.

What are the most common requests from your listeners?
I really don’t get that much requests concerning music. I get a lot of questions because my selections are so unusual. A lot of people ask me about the songs on air, and how they can purchase it. It’s gotten to the point where I cannot answer all the questions anymore, so from time to time, I have to put on songs that are somewhat known. I really would rather not do it, but right now, I just don’t have enough time. Sometimes people ask me why I don’t put FC songs on air, but the truth is, I am a shy guy. Hahaha. I hesitate to. But since many have been asking, I think I may start to do it more often this year. Hahaha

Besides FC and the radio show, you have done many other interesting things that have really inspired the young people in Nagasaki. One of them is this lecture that you call "The Study of a Turn Around". Can you briefly tell us what this is?
Well, if you put the words "The Study Of" in front of anything, it sounds academic. Like "The Study of Rock", or "The Study of Fucking", you know. "The Study of a Turn Around" is basically my theory that when people are in a desperate state, their originality comes through.
First of all, I want people to understand that when you look like you are at a disadvantage, a person’s true individuality comes through to compensate for whatever seems lacking. It’s the perfect chance to think about other alternatives you have never thought of before. So in that sense, a person at a disadvantage is a lucky person.

To be even more specific:
- When put in a very "embarrassing" situation, one should regard it as the situation being "unusual" and be that a source of confidence.
- "Embarrassment" is a source of new findings and power.
- The opportunity to have different experiences from those that are regarded "advantaged" can be regarded as "superior".

Does this make any sense?
For example, if you are right handed, and your right arm breaks, you have no choice but to use your left, which situation allows your left hand to be stronger. That’s not to say that you should go running around breaking your right arm. Hahaha. But you know what I mean…
In the same sense, FC is from Nagasaki, one of the cities that was bombed by the US with an atomic bomb in Japan. Nagasaki is also the most eastern part of Japan. For FC’s rock to come out of Nagasaki, and for us to be touring the US also applies to the "Turn Around Theory" in some sense.

How did this theory come about?
Well, I am in the process of making a demo video on this that will explain everything easily, but I will give some examples out of this video.
Scene 1:
It was a beautiful Sunday. I was whistling Penny Lane by Beatles and walking down the street when I noticed a man walking at an enormous speed from behind to pass me. I thought to myself "where is this man going in such a hurry on a Sunday afternoon?" At that moment, the man tripped on an edge of a manhole that was protruding from the street, and was about to fall on his face as he struggled to stay up, balancing his weight with his two arms, face almost touching the ground. As he manages to recover from this close call, the man all of a sudden starts to jog. He ran like a marathon runner, with great posture and great speed, as if to say that he had meant to do this all along. Obviously he knew that I was right behind him watching the whole thing take place because he passed me. I could not control my laughter. The next thing I knew, a bus came by and stopped at the curb, in which the man headed straight to, still running all the way into the bus.
Of course there is no way for me to tell if the man had initially wanted to get on the bus or if this was an adlib, sort of thing. He certainly was not looking to see where the bus was headed. Maybe he already knew. I don’t know if he even made it to his intended destination. However, if he did manage to get to his destination, it was a success. The little embarrassment earlier had caused him to run and catch the bus that had just arrived and wouldn’t have made it to if it wasn’t for the running. Plus, it was a very insightful day for me.
The reason I ended up lecturing this theory at a local university was that because of the awful economy in Japan, a lot of local university students were having a tough time with their job search, and the mood around the campus was generally bleak. The percentage of graduates not being able to get a job was 30%. There were many that developed depression. The university was desperate to do something that would cheer the students up. Since I was a graduate of this school, someone had heard about me saying that there is this guy whose not very smart, but has a lot of energy…hahaha… and I was called upon to talk to the students. At first I didn’t want to do it, because the truth is, I have a lot of energy BECAUSE I’m stupid. Hahaha…So I ended up lecturing in an Economics class…for some reason. But I had no idea there were 450 students that would be attending…I even had to correct all 450 reports…Man that was tough. It took me 6 days just to read them all.

Is there anything you want to say as a closing comment?
No one can imitate FC. We are a band that expresses the balance of tension and alleviation and no other band does that. I am beginning to see some bands in Texas who seem to be trying to do what we are doing, but it’s not going to work. The secret is in the Nagasaki Chanpon we have every week!! I recommend it to all of you!!  X

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