Magazines: Rock & Read feat. Aoi from the GazettE Pt. II

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Hi everyone!

We're really glad that all of you liked the first part of this interview. Of course as promised the second part is now up for grabs! Aoi's childhood stories get more and more interesting.

Excited? Haha I hope so!

On with the interview!

Rock & Read Vol. 004 Featuring Aoi Part II

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I: I wasn't expecting that. From your current image, it makes me imagine that you were a mature kid who played at home.

A: There were a lot of people around me who were the type that didn't study. “Hey, let's go play!” was the kind of atmosphere we had.

I: But things like swimming in the sea and fishing are very healthy activities right.

A: Absolutely. That's totally different from now, when the band doesn't have much going on, all I do is stay at home. (laughs)

I: Other than playing at the sea, what other things were you interested in?

A: I was part of the baseball team.

I: Did you play in the Little League?

A: In elementary school I did softball, so, yes, I was in the Little League. My friend asked me to join, and that was around 4th grade. I wasn't really good at it though.

I: What was your position?

A: Catcher.

I: Again! Something unexpected! Did you have a big build?

A: I was small. Previously, I learned this (the stance where you put your hand on your hip = get the person on first base). I only did it once, and I had to stretch my arms (laughs). I was really tiny back then.

I: What kind of catcher were you?

A: I just stuck with being a defensive catcher~something like that(laughs)

I: Did you play softball all the way up to 6th grade?

A: Yup~all the way. I also started kendo around 4th grade. My friend did kendo, and I thought holding the shinai while walking around looked cool. I mean every kid likes that sort of thing right? That was probably the reason why I did it.

I: You continued kendo for quite a bit right?

A: Yeah. I went to the dojo in my town up to 6th grade and also played soccer everyday at school during break time.

I: Was that around the time of Captain Tsubasa?

A: Yeah~Captain Tsubasa was great! I was usually the manager (laughs). I borrowed a ball from the school for practice, but I did that without permission (laughs).

I: Were you busy everyday?

A: I felt like I was, I practised kendo on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays, and softball was Saturdays and Sundays. But I thought of it as a fun kind of busy. I had a lot of physical strength to waste during that time, eh.

I: Did you like studying?

A: Honestly, I was bad at everything (laughs), other than the important subjects...I really liked fine arts and arts and crafts. Maybe I'm just not good at things you have to learn in school. When it comes to arts and crafts, you just give it some thought and express it, right?

I: As in, by using one's imagination, you can create something. Have you gotten any prizes in arts and crafts or fine arts?

A: I've gotten a prize for arts and crafts in my hometown before. I think it was around 4th grade. I made tape cutters and there were those tape dispensers, right. I shaved the wood, making the shape, and, with a sculpting knife, I carved out the design of the dispenser.

I: Wow! Awesome!

A: But it was just in a small town.

I: But you were the one that won the prize among all those other kids right. So that's awesome.

A: I guess so? That's been the only prize I ever won though, both before and after that incident (laughs).

I: Anyways, onto a different topic. What was the subject you hated the most?

A: Math and Japanese. How should I put it...it was a pain (laughs). I thought it wasn't something that was that important, and I didn't do the homework (laugh). Seriously, I never did the homework, not even once. There was one morning where I thought, “I'm screwed!”, so I went to school and copied off of someone who already did the homework.

I: Since it was like that, you probably made the teacher angry a lot of times.

A: It wasn't a lot of the time—more like all the time. I used the excuse, “I did it but I forgot it at home” but since my house was close by I was told, “Go home and come back with the homework!”, and then I'd go, “I'm sorry”(laughs). During the first half of the class the teacher would always be angry and because of that and we weren't able to continue class. Well...I thought homework was seriously annoying because I had to do it all the time. Kids are really busy you know--we have to play, we have to eat, and then we're told to sleep early.

I: Did your parents nag at you?

A: They did, but I didn't give them a response and very cleverly made my escape (laughs). I was the kind of kid that didn't like to deal with these troublesome things.

I: You were really a kid who had your own knack for doing things, weren't you?

A: I wouldn't say it was to that extent, but I was just a kid that did the things I liked. In other words, I'm just a very ordinary kid that you can find anywhere (laughs)

I: Really? There aren't that many kids out there who can make their teacher angry for an entire first half of a class though, you know (laughs). You might not have realized it, but didn’t you seem like a notable student in your class?

A: You could put it that way (laughs) I wasn't a leader or anything, but I was always with my friends. Other than the memories of playing with my friends, I don't remember studying much in elementary school.

I: What kind of personality did you have as a kid?

A: I'm not much different from now, other than studying if I couldn't do anything properly or well it's unacceptable to me. I don't want to lose to anyone.

I: You really hate losing.

A: Yeah, and with kendo, no matter what, there are always people who never win. But because I didn't want to lose, I practised a lot. I went home and did practise swings, and yet I still didn't win.

I: What about in tournament?

A: Aah~I did. I've won only in an individual match before.

I: Oh, so you've won once!?

A: Yeah, I did. Definitely, there was the me who never won, but that me ended up winning. I only won that one time though, which is why I have one gold medal. The group always won, and that was our team.

I: Were those who didn't win also in the same team?

A: Yup, they were in the same team. We were part of the Tanaka Dojo. It was next to a Chinese restaurant, and you could always smell something nice (laughs).

I: At that time, what was your dream?

A: I wanted to be a bike racer.

I: Up to now we've been talking about careers that have no sort of relationship (laughs). Why again?

A: We started first talking about me tagging along on my sister's dates right? It was related to that. My sister's boyfriend had a bike and he often let me take it for a ride. And it felt awesome~!

I: Did you like going against the wind?

A: Yeaah~ I thought it was really cool. That's why I usually went to Suzuka Circuit to go racing. Sometimes I asked my parents or my friend's parents to take me there.

I: Ah, you really wanted to be a racer, didn't you. How long did you have that dream for?

A: Up to around 1st grade of junior high. I thought about making a living as a racer, but then at that time I came across the guitar and my dream of being a racer vanished.

I: Let's talk about music in more detail later on. How did you spend your middle school days?

A: It was...club activities, club activities, and club activities! Oh, and also the baseball club. When I was in primary school, I was part of the broadcasting committee and the guys that were part of that committee with me all went, “Hey! Let's join the baseball club!” and so we joined (laughs).

I: While you were being asked to (laughs)

A: But during that time “Slam Dunk” was popular and I felt like I wanted to do basketball. Since I was asked to join the baseball club I thought, “Yeah...why not.” (laughs)

I: So you were pretty close with your friends in the broadcasting committee (laughs).

A: Yeah, and it also felt like if you weren't tall enough you couldn't be in the basketball team. During the time I entered middle school, I was still pretty small, which is why I thought about joining baseball.

I: Was that the reason why you busied yourself with baseball everyday?

A: I played baseball everyday. I really liked baseball.

I: Was the baseball club a strong one?

A: No...we were weak. We finally were able to go to the prefecture tournaments in the third year.

I: But since you're competitive, didn't you practice really hard?

A: I wasn't very good at it, and, for some reason, I never got better at it, but I did like it.

I: What was your position?

A: First position as pitcher, and the reason for that was because it was the easiest position (laughs).

I: So, the reason you chose the position was kind of...dishonest? (laughs)

A: I was really bad at it, so choosing the easier path is a bad habit I have (laughs).

I: Changing the topic a little, isn't baseball—though this has nothing to do with it being popular—a club activity that's popular with the girls?

A: Oh, is it? I don't really remember...but I don't think it was (laughs) In my school everyone had to join club activities, and there also weren't any cute girls around. There were only the girls' ballet club and the girls' basketball club, who did exercises like running around outside. That's the time when things got exciting and also when everyone on the baseball team would be excited (laughs). If there were no signs of girls, we'd skip practise (laughs). Yeah...that's the kind of guys we were and probably why we only got to the prefecture tournaments (laughs).

I: Since you got so excited when a girl ran in front of you, weren't there love affairs popping up everywhere?

A: My middle school was a combination of the kids in my town and the neighbouring town. There were girls I hadn't seen before...so of course I was excited. Girls start to feel like this around this age too, don't they? Things like, “I like so and so”. It has nothing to do with whether or not the guys wants the relationship or not. When it happens it happens.

I: Like the girls get you to go out with them by force (laughs)

A: Yeah, yeah.

I: Did you also become a victim of this kind of girl?

A: I wonder about that too (laughs). Well, there was the feeling that the girl was trying to get to know me and hang out with her.

I: It's what they call experiencing a first relationship in junior high school, right?

A: Yeah (laughs). It was like...tearing a page out of a notebook and then writing a note. The note would then get passed around during class. It was a really innocent kind of feeling.

I: Did you date?

A: I didn't. When you're in junior high you get busy too right. It's much busier than elementary school. There are club activities, hanging out with guy friends....and since I'm that busy I don't pay attention to things like dating. So when I think about hanging out with people, it's the feeling of being with my close friends. We did things like exchanging Christmas gifts and exchanging key chains which we attached onto our bags.

I: Did you get any chocolates on Valentines?

A: Well...I tried to accept it, but I was too shy, so I couldn't. So I went back home without receiving anything. The girl was from another class, and although she went out of her way to my class entrance, all I said was “Ah, no, it's okay.”

I: You said it nicely, but that was harsh!

A: Nooo! I was way too embarrassed! I felt really bad!

I: Were you really shy when it came to girls?

A: I was a super shy boy! I'm really bad with that kind of thing. I thought it was much more fun hanging out with my guy friends than girls.

I: In junior high, most boys start becoming a little rowdy right, what were you like?

A: Around the 2nd and 3rd year of junior high, I stayed out late. Things like going out biking, even though the bike wasn't mine. My hometown is really open minded, there were bikes that were parked with the keys still there (laughs). Or when the seat is put up the keys would bet left there and then we'd spin around saying “Let's go!” to everyone. We were also close with the guys at the local police box.

I: (Laughs) So you did those kinds of things!

A: And also things like looking at porn mags on the tetrapods* and smoking. Well...everyone's done things like that (laughs).

*In case you guys don't remember , tetrapods are these weird looking things.

*End Part II*

Dun dun! That's it for this segment! What did everyone think? After I read this section I thought “Damnit Aoi, not doing homework, copying other people AND making the teacher angry all the time...riding other people's bikes, reading porno at the beach...my god you're so annoying and rowdy!”

Haha...no I kid, I still adore him.

So the question is...what do you guys think? Was this your image of Aoi as kid?

Please tell share with us your thoughts in the comments!

We look forward to reading them!

Till the next part!

クマ★Ｇ

[My comment. I'm kinda embarrassed to admit this, but I started kendo for the same reason as Aoi. "It just looked cool" seemed like a good reason at the time...AND, I've also only won 1 medal--a bronze. lol It's good for drunken showing off--not that I ever drunkenly showed off anything before. -B✿ ]

Posted in: 2011,Magazines,RockandRead,the GazettE