Be With! Vol. 96 (December 2012)

B'z Interview

Interviewer:		First of all, I would like to ask you about the various places you have been to during the North American tour. The tour started in San Francisco. When did you arrive in San Francisco?
Tak:		The day just before the show.
Koshi:		We’ve been rehearsing in LA.
Interviewer:		Did you have the time to take a look around San Francisco?
Tak:		I didn’t go anywhere this time.
Koshi:		We’ve also been to SF last year, right?
Interviewer:		How was the climate?
Koshi:		It was colder than anywhere else here. I felt it very strongly. It’s always cloudy and gives off a cool image, but this time it was really cold, too.
Interviewer:		You were conducting the photoshoot for the desktop calendar, and apparently the hotel you were staying in had a very unique bathrobe?
Koshi:		It appeared to be a very fancy hotel, although it wasn’t exactly one of the biggest ones. I wonder if there’s a “fancy hotel” genre (laughs) I think it’s just one of the small, but well-established hotels you come across very often.
Tak:		From the outside it looked like it had already aged quite a bit, but it looks very new and modern on the inside.
Interviewer:		Among all the hotels you have stayed at so far, were there any unique ones?
Koshi:		While we were touring Japan, there was a hotel where I’d find Umeboshi prepared for me in the room. But we didn’t have a live performance near that place. We were just making a quick stop, resting for the night, and then went back on the road. What was that place called? It was a place that was very convenient for hikers... I didn’t eat them, but everyone said that they also had Umeboshi in their rooms. I’m sure you’ll find it if you search for “Hotel Umeboshi” (laughs)
Interviewer:		We will search for it. (laughs) The next stop of the tour was Seattle. It’s been a while since you’ve been there, right? The last time was during the 2003 North American tour.
Tak:		Yeah. When we were there in 2003, it was raining all day and I didn’t have a very bright image of the city. But this time, we were staying at a nice hotel at the coast. I was having dinner in a seafood restaurant near the ocean. It was very delicious. The weather was great, too. This time, I thought it is a really nice city.

—Did you do any other excursions? M: Before we went back on the road, I was exploring the vicinity of the hotel we were staying at. There was a market where I was taking a look around. I was also taking a souvenir photo of the first ever Starbucks. (laughs) On the day before the show, we were all going to the Jimi Hendrix memorial.

—It is unusual for you to do such an excursion with the band members on a day off. Did you gather everybody to go there? M: Nah, it’s not like I gathered everybody. I was there the last time and was planning on going there this time around as well. And then suddenly everybody wanted to go, too. I: There were a lot of people! M: That’s because September 18th was his memorial day.

—Is it just Jimi Hendrix’ grave or is there more to it? M: There’s more. It’s like a graveyard and it’s fairly big, too. The weather was great this time, so we brought flowers. The last time I brought flowers, the wind was so strong, that they would always be blown away by the wind.

—Was this your first time, Koshi? I: Yeah, this was my first time.

—You told us that you’ve been eating seafood. Do you get a craving for Japanese food when you’re abroad for a long time? I: We can get Japanese food here. M: No matter where you go in North America, there’s always a Japanese restaurant somewhere. I: It doesn’t matter, though. Even if there weren’t any Japanese restaurants, I wouldn’t mind. I would rather go to an American seafood restaurant than the only Japanese restaurant in the area, which is said to serve bad food.

—What kind of food did the catering serve? I: They serve local specialties. Very delicious. M: The food they served in San Francisco was really good, right? I: The Mexican food they served in New York was delicious, too.

—Does eating have an impact on your (body) condition? I: I usually don’t eat on the day of live performances. M: You don’t even have breakfast and lunch? I: I’ll eat only a little bit. In the morning, I usually eat bread and/or cereals. Just a little bit, though. Just before the performance, I eat a bit of carb food.

—Seattle and Vancouver aren’t that far apart distance-wise. How was the transfer? I: We went there by car!

—How did it go at the border crossing? I: We handed our passports to a staff member who was gathering them all. It was very smooth.

—You didn’t have to get out of the car? I: No. They were checking out our car, though.

—During the last tour, a lot of planes were running late, and you had to spend a lot of time at airports. How was it this time? M: They were all on time. But, after we came to Toronto and New York, we had to change locations a lot. I: That’s because we were staying just for a day, before getting on our next flight. Airports are really tiresome, right? M: That’s because all that paperwork takes so much time. I: We also went to Canada, so we had to cross the border, too. AIR CANADA was really cold! Not Canada itself, but inside the plane! I was like “How much more are they going to cool us down?” (laughs) The air conditioning was turned off, but there was a small gap between the window and the air conditioning, where the wind would keep blowing! I wondered why nobody complained about it. Everybody around us was like “It’s cold! It’s so cold!” (laughs) M: It was pretty cold, for me, too!

—The flight attendants wouldn’t do anything about it? I: They couldn’t because it wasn’t coming from the air conditioning. They apologized that it was very cold, but said, that they couldn’t do anything about it. But, there were even people on the plane with short pants... (laughs)

—Even such people are... (laughs) I: The perception of temperature is different for other people, after all? They’re wearing light clothing over there.

—There has been some free time between the Vancouver and Toronto show. What did you do during that time? I: We went back to LA. The band members chose to stay, though. M: I went golfing for a day.

—Having a place to return to, were you able to replenish your energy? M: I’m really able to calm down. It’s almost the same as returning back home. I didn’t have a lot going on, so I was able to relax.

—During that time, Koshi also celebrated his birthday, right? I: I invited everybody to dinner in Vancouver. I didn’t know that there was such a nice Italian restaurant in Vancouver. M: That was a really great place. I: I’ve been to Vancouver a several times, but this one was the best so far. I was told that there weren’t any more places. That’s why I didn’t think there was a place like this.

—In one of the pictures in the desktop calendar, you’re embracing a pair of shoes. I: Tak gave them to me.

—You prepared the present in Japan? M: Yeah. I prepared it in Japan and brought it with me. I: I see! Thank you very much.

—You also got a coupon for an iPhone 5, right? I: I wonder when I’ll receive it? I hope it’s not an iPhone scam?! (laughs) M: A coupon? I: I get an international version of the iPhone 5 in exchange for it. The band members gave it to me. But after that, they said there is nothing new about it... Everyone: (laughs)

—There are already rumors about the release of an iPhone 5S. I: Really?! M: What?! iPhone 5S? (laughs) I: Well, the next one is going to come out soon enough anyway. Generally speaking, new models aren’t really that different from their predecessor.

—Was there a change in climate when you went from L.A. to Toronto? M: It was surprisingly cold in Toronto. I: I didn’t go outside, so I didn’t know, but I didn’t feel that this place was very cold. It was very hot in L.A. though! It was freakting hot all the time.

—What about the time difference? M: The 3 hour time difference was a huge change for me. I wasn’t used to the timezone L.A. is located in, so I used to get up at 2 in the night very often when I got back to L.A.. I: You were always asking “Could you sleep last night?” in the cloak room.(laughs) Thanks to the time difference, I was always sleeping until noon. I didn’t know I could sleep that long! (laughs)

—You usually don’t sleep that long? I: No! M: I can’t sleep that long, either. I: When I woke up and looked at the clock, I thought “Wow! I slept that long!” (laughs)

—Looks like that’s because of the time difference (laughs) What did you think of Toronto as a city? M: I was going to the same restaurant for two days... Oh yeah, I also went to Niagara Falls. On the day of the show, in the morning.

—Were the Niagara Falls close to the venue? M: No no, it was a two hour drive.

—On the day of the show?! M: I had no other chance to go there? I was thinking of going to see it just for a bit (laughs) It was amazing! You’ll be surprised about nature’s power. I sent a post card from there just lika a normal tourist. (laughs)

—(laughs) You could also get closer to it in the basin nearby, right? M: There were boats! I didn’t get on them, though. I: Won’t you get soaking wet there?

—They give you rain coats to wear, but it’s almost useless. I: How close can you get in the basin? M: Up to the point where the water comes down from the waterfall. I: Isn’t that dangerous? (laughs)

—The froth is also very intense. I: You’ll get wet, won’t you! M: I don’t want that~.

—You won’t be able to take any pictures. M: Of course not. (laughs) Your camera will die.