Utahiroba Jun in Quick Japan volume # 107 (Part 2)
Part 1 is located here. This is my first time translating anything like this, so please forgive any mistakes!
QJ: You started off as a fanboy, Mr. Utahiroba, gazing so longingly at the stage that visual kei was even the theme of your university graduation thesis! Did you just not have the courage to join a band?
Jun: In the first place, the idea of standing on stage never entered my mind. Listen, if you’re the kind of person who sees an idol on TV and wants to be one it’s already in your nature to want to be an idol. That wasn’t me.
QJ: And you had no curiosity about the relationship between the people on stage and those in front of it?
Jun: “The shining people are up there and the ordinary me in the crowd watches them.” I thought that was the way things were supposed to be. I didn’t think of going on stage but pretty things, perfect things, beautiful things all had an effect on my personality development and shaped the standards by which I judge things.
QJ: As somebody who truly understands the feelings of those on both sides of the stage, Mr. Utahiroba is really a rare specimen...
Jun: Most certainly! There aren’t many of us, especially those who get to join the inner sanctum of the scene they love. (grin)
QJ: And furthermore, as a member!
Jun: Maybe it’s just that I’m really in tune with my surroundings because when I saw Golden Bomber play, it hit me like a shockwave. On my Mixi wall [like a Japanese-only Facebook - Neko] I was like “Amazeballs!!” and the next second I sent them a message saying I wanted to join the band.
QJ: Do you feel that sense of a “special something” about Golden Bomber?
Jun: Well, if we’re talking about me, I have no creative ability whatsoever, so anybody that can dream things up and make them real is like a god to me. But even uncreative me has a talent - I’m better than others at quickly recognizing creative and talented people. That I found Kiryuin Sho is one example.
QJ: So, for Autumn Leaf, too, you’ve gathered people using your talent?
Jun: You could say that. The entire staff are people who gave off a real sense of possibility at the interview. More than a few seemed to really want to debut immediately, as if they were depressed with their everyday lives. I wanted to do something for that kind of person - a person whose circumstances reminded me of the starting out “fanboy” me - and, possibly, to give a message to the people facing the stage.
As for the cheerful, straight-living people, I’ll never become one. If I was, I’d never come up with the idea for the cafe and I’d never have joined a band, you know? I’d never have the feeling of working to fulfil my desires. So, being a bit warped is good, I think. Being warped can be beautiful and amazing, too. A sheet of clean white paper with only a single line drawn on it is somehow kind of boring. Throw on some colors and they’ll run together, but if viewed from a distance, you can still see that one line. That kind of thing is beautiful; that’s humanity, I think.
QJ: Mr. Utohiroba, you’ve said you like beautiful things and ikemen but if you look at both, the outer surface seems more important than the inside, don’t you think?
Jun: Perhaps there are many times I’ve judged things without seeing the inside. They say you’re not supposed to judge people by their appearance but, in the end, I think we all do it. Ikemen, too, are judged as ikemen based only on their appearance. Therefore, if you categorize somebody as an ikemen, you can’t help but see them only as an ikemen. Even though the ikemen is a person, you don’t see the “personality.”
It’s kind of like a type of racism, ikemen discrimination.
QJ: So, you’re saying that if somebody is an ikemen, you’re unable to see the person inside?
Jun: Yes, that’s it. When you see an ikemen, you’re like “He’s really an ikemen” or “Meh, he’s nothing special” or “Dude is sexy!” or “He’s so unpopular.” Take 100 people, some are going to be seriously unappealing but somehow still have the appearance of ikemen.
QJ: That’s true. From the standpoint of the non-ikemen group, it’s a difficult thing to understand.
Jun: For example, before Kyan Yutaka joined Golden Bomber, he was really troubled about what to do about his appearance. Darvish Kenji is the essence of stupidity, so he just naturally surpasses everybody in this area. Kyan Yutaka wanted to do something interesting with his appearance but he was hindered by his teenaged good looks and was unable to become outrageous looking. Perhaps it was that contrary reaction that led him to Golden Bomber. As for me, my gloomy nature led me on a completely different path, but the contrary result of joining a band was the same.
QJ: To earn a place, you had to show some potential though, right?
Jun: Sure. And because me and Kyan Yutaka struggled to reach our places in Golden Bomber, we’ve come to make the best our warped natures. So, I thought if there was a place where people who appeared to be in similarly troubled circumstances could be affirmed and could exist like ordinary people, it would be good. That was why I made Autumn Leaf.
QJ: You started off as a fanboy, Mr. Utahiroba, gazing so longingly at the stage that visual kei was even the theme of your university graduation thesis! Did you just not have the courage to join a band?
Jun: In the first place, the idea of standing on stage never entered my mind. Listen, if you’re the kind of person who sees an idol on TV and wants to be one it’s already in your nature to want to be an idol. That wasn’t me.
QJ: And you had no curiosity about the relationship between the people on stage and those in front of it?
Jun: “The shining people are up there and the ordinary me in the crowd watches them.” I thought that was the way things were supposed to be. I didn’t think of going on stage but pretty things, perfect things, beautiful things all had an effect on my personality development and shaped the standards by which I judge things.
QJ: As somebody who truly understands the feelings of those on both sides of the stage, Mr. Utahiroba is really a rare specimen...
Jun: Most certainly! There aren’t many of us, especially those who get to join the inner sanctum of the scene they love. (grin)
QJ: And furthermore, as a member!
Jun: Maybe it’s just that I’m really in tune with my surroundings because when I saw Golden Bomber play, it hit me like a shockwave. On my Mixi wall [like a Japanese-only Facebook - Neko] I was like “Amazeballs!!” and the next second I sent them a message saying I wanted to join the band.
QJ: Do you feel that sense of a “special something” about Golden Bomber?
Jun: Well, if we’re talking about me, I have no creative ability whatsoever, so anybody that can dream things up and make them real is like a god to me. But even uncreative me has a talent - I’m better than others at quickly recognizing creative and talented people. That I found Kiryuin Sho is one example.
QJ: So, for Autumn Leaf, too, you’ve gathered people using your talent?
Jun: You could say that. The entire staff are people who gave off a real sense of possibility at the interview. More than a few seemed to really want to debut immediately, as if they were depressed with their everyday lives. I wanted to do something for that kind of person - a person whose circumstances reminded me of the starting out “fanboy” me - and, possibly, to give a message to the people facing the stage.
As for the cheerful, straight-living people, I’ll never become one. If I was, I’d never come up with the idea for the cafe and I’d never have joined a band, you know? I’d never have the feeling of working to fulfil my desires. So, being a bit warped is good, I think. Being warped can be beautiful and amazing, too. A sheet of clean white paper with only a single line drawn on it is somehow kind of boring. Throw on some colors and they’ll run together, but if viewed from a distance, you can still see that one line. That kind of thing is beautiful; that’s humanity, I think.
QJ: Mr. Utohiroba, you’ve said you like beautiful things and ikemen but if you look at both, the outer surface seems more important than the inside, don’t you think?
Jun: Perhaps there are many times I’ve judged things without seeing the inside. They say you’re not supposed to judge people by their appearance but, in the end, I think we all do it. Ikemen, too, are judged as ikemen based only on their appearance. Therefore, if you categorize somebody as an ikemen, you can’t help but see them only as an ikemen. Even though the ikemen is a person, you don’t see the “personality.”
It’s kind of like a type of racism, ikemen discrimination.
QJ: So, you’re saying that if somebody is an ikemen, you’re unable to see the person inside?
Jun: Yes, that’s it. When you see an ikemen, you’re like “He’s really an ikemen” or “Meh, he’s nothing special” or “Dude is sexy!” or “He’s so unpopular.” Take 100 people, some are going to be seriously unappealing but somehow still have the appearance of ikemen.
QJ: That’s true. From the standpoint of the non-ikemen group, it’s a difficult thing to understand.
Jun: For example, before Kyan Yutaka joined Golden Bomber, he was really troubled about what to do about his appearance. Darvish Kenji is the essence of stupidity, so he just naturally surpasses everybody in this area. Kyan Yutaka wanted to do something interesting with his appearance but he was hindered by his teenaged good looks and was unable to become outrageous looking. Perhaps it was that contrary reaction that led him to Golden Bomber. As for me, my gloomy nature led me on a completely different path, but the contrary result of joining a band was the same.
QJ: To earn a place, you had to show some potential though, right?
Jun: Sure. And because me and Kyan Yutaka struggled to reach our places in Golden Bomber, we’ve come to make the best our warped natures. So, I thought if there was a place where people who appeared to be in similarly troubled circumstances could be affirmed and could exist like ordinary people, it would be good. That was why I made Autumn Leaf.