Billboard Japan

Since 2007, Billboard’s Women in Music event has honored artists, producers and executives who have made significant contributions to the music industry and empowered women through their work as Woman of the Year and other awards. Billboard Japan launched its own WIM initiative in 2022 and has been featuring various women in the music industry in a string of projects, one being the interview series highlighting trailblazing women in the industry.
UA is the next guest in the series. The singer is set to perform at the Billboard Japan Women In Music Vol. 0 event to be held at Billboard Live Osaka on March 3. Since her debut in 1995, the Osaka native has released numerous hit songs including the massively popular “Jounetsu” (“Passion”) from 1996 and continues to take on new challenges as an artist today. In her private life, she’s the mother of four and is based in Canada. The 50-year-old songstress looks back on her career and shares her thoughts on balancing career and private life in this new interview.

What kind of women did you look up to when you were a child?

UA: I saw lots of people on TV, but when I was little, I looked up to people who were closer to me, like my aunt who used to take care of me for a while. She was funny and charming, and her presence really helped me at the time.

The first artists I became a fan of were Aretha Franklin and Janis Joplin. I found out about Aretha when I was a teenager, fell in love with her voice, and collected her records. Information wasn’t readily available back then, so I didn’t know anything about the kind of life she’d led. I was strongly drawn to and admired her voice and singing prowess. I first came across Janis in a movie theater when I saw footage of her singing at a big festival. I was shocked as if I’d been struck by lightning and cried on the spot.

These two artists helped me realize that there are two kinds of people in the world: those who sing on stage, and those who watch them. I began thinking that I’d like to be one of those who sing on stage if possible.

So I do have that kind of fan mentality, but I also feel that I don’t know who those people really are. For a long time now, I’ve thought that although I might be a fan of someone, there really isn’t anyone I can say that I wholeheartedly admire for their personality.

If not any specific person, do you have a definition of your ideal kind of woman?

People are fragile and change easily from day to day, and nobody is perfect in the real world. That’s why I feel good when I meet people who have the ability to accept and the ability to listen and enjoy doing so. I guess that’s the kind of woman I admire.

The direction I’m headed as the person I am when I’m with my family and friends and as UA the artist who expresses things is different. So I think maybe the kind of woman I aspire to be as an individual and the kind I admire as UA are slightly different.

The person you are at home and the artist onstage are heading in different directions. That’s an interesting observation.

For the past 27 to 28 years I’ve been wondering what it’s like to maintain a good balance between the two, and feel like I’m still in the process of working on it.

You became a fan of Aretha Franklin and Janis Joplin in your teenage years and went on to make your debut as a singer on stage. Your hit single “Jounetsu” came out in 1996, and the following year you gave birth to your first child, (actor) Nijiro Murakami. You then formed the band AJICO with Kenichi Asai in 2000, so looking at the timeline alone, it must have been a very eventful time. How did pregnancy and childbirth affect your career?

Looking back chronologically like that, it certainly was a turbulent time. [Laughs] But you see, I’m actually the type of person who insists on taking adequate time off, so after making an album and touring with it, I was allowed to take a proper break. I knew from the beginning that I’d burst if I kept working all the time. I was still young when Nijiro was born, so I think I took about three months off, then started easing back to work.

I witnessed something so pure and beautiful and clear in (Nijiro’s) new life. Also, some horrific incidents happened (in Japan in 1997), and it felt like the world was changing rapidly. The single I released before childbirth was “Amai Unmei” (“Sweet Destiny”), a song with lyrics about wanting to leave things up to a “sweet” fate, but after childbirth, I wanted to sing about a dystopian world in a vivid way, so “Kanashimi Johnny” (“Sad Johnny”) was born.

The experience of pregnancy and childbirth and the time I was able to put into it were like gifts to me. He was my first child and raising a child was a real challenge. I kind of feel like I inconvenienced Nijiro, and would like to apologize to him for some things now. In any case, the experience was like being allowed to practice becoming a parent while still being a kid myself.

When someone’s career is interrupted by pregnancy or childbirth, it’s sometimes interpreted in a negative way, but I think it’s lovely how you describe the experience as a gift that worked out positively. Has being a woman influenced UA in other ways?

I’m the type of person who thinks that I’d like to be a woman even if I were to be born again. Even now, I feel like I’m able to sing because I’m a woman. If I’d been born a man, I might not have chosen to sing, though I can’t say for sure because I’ve never been one before. Men are so unknown to me, and I’m constantly presented with themes to think about from my partner.

You’ve raised boys, though. Any discoveries through that experience you could share?

I have four children. One is a girl and the rest are boys. I try not to say unreasonable things like (act a certain way because) “you’re a boy” or “you’re older” to my boys, and try to tell them how they should be as people instead of their gender. But I do think I have a special empathy for my girl.

You mentioned earlier that you sing because you’re a woman. Were there any difficulties you faced as an artist or in other areas of your daily life because you’re a woman?

None, really. I don’t know why… but I’ve never felt that way. I think I’ve been very fortunate as an artist. I didn’t have much of an amateur period, and it was like I made my debut just when I became seriously involved in music, so I didn’t understand anything. I was always struggling to create each work. There was pressure and I was always nervous, but I faced it and overcame it, and then I’d spread out another blank sheet of paper in front of me and write another song. Looking back now, I had no other choice. But it seems to me that I didn’t make a single mistake along the way. 

On the year-end Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart for 2022, 58 of the top 100 acts were male, 27 were female, and 15 were mixed gender groups. What do you think of this result, given that there are many great female artists in Japan?

I think one way of interpreting this result is that the power of women who are fans of the opposite sex was strong, rather than any lack in capabilities of female artists. Even within my circle, it feels like there are lots of women whose drive to support their favorites across generations is powerful.

That’s a really interesting take. Based on what you’ve said so far, what do you think is needed to make it easier for women to thrive in the music and entertainment industry?

This isn’t limited to the music industry, but for the time being, the functionalities of men and women’s bodies can’t be changed. You can choose how you live, but you can’t choose the function of the body you have, and it’s not easy to change. I think the reason why people choose not to have kids based on their careers (in Japan) is because the government doesn’t provide enough support and security during the period of having and raising children. I’m personally glad I was able to experience pregnancy and childbirth, so I wish that an environment where more women can feel more positive about choosing to have children would be put into place. It’d be nice to have a system that allows women to move on to the next step in their lives while experiencing these things instead of thinking “pregnancy and childbirth = career interruption.” I think this is a national issue, not a music industry issue.

—This interview by Rio Hirai (SOW SWEET PUBLISHING) first appeared on Billboard Japan

The relationships between artists and music fans are growing more diverse, involving streaming and social networks. Universal Music Japan has a team dedicated to exporting music overseas: the Export Marketing Team.
The team’s objective is to provide more strategic support to Japanese artists being listened to outside Japan. Ever since its formation, it has constantly updated the company’s strategies for supplying the increasingly competitive global market with music from Japan. It is truly an organization for the streaming era.

Billboard Japan spoke with Hajime Isogai, General Manager of Export Marketing, about Universal Music Japan’s overseas strategy.

Jay Kogami (JK): What is the role of the Export Marketing Team in Universal Music (UMJ)?

Isogai: We rapidly identify and analyze how Japanese music and Japanese artists are being listened to outside Japan, and we discover signs of changes and opportunities for increasing plays. As the leader of the team, I guess my role is to systematically build an approach for thinking about potential measures. Every day, we’re thinking about how we can respond to daily trend movements.

JK: Could you share an example of a specific Japanese artist that you’ve performed export marketing analysis for?

Isogai: Some interesting movement we saw in 2022 involved Fujii Kaze’s “Shinunoga E-Wa” and SEKAI NO OWARI’s “Habit.” Of course, they’re both excellent songs, but they’ve also become well-recognized around the world through social media. “Habit” first started buzzing in Latin America, in countries like Peru and Mexico, and view numbers started climbing. It spread from there around the world. Seeing a song take off from Latin America and spread worldwide from there was something new for us. Fujii Kaze’s “Shinunoga E-wa” spread through use in Thailand in sped-up UGC on TikTok, anime MADs, and K-drama highlight videos. From there, it hit the Spotify viral charts, and in a flash it had spread around the world.

JK: Do you think that Japanese music owes its worldwide acceptance to the overall high number of young social media users overseas? Or is it limited to specific countries or regions?

Isogai: Rather than compartmentalizing along the lines of age or region, I think it’s essential to look at the cultural backgrounds of music fans. For example, Japanese anime is well-established and accepted worldwide. However, that doesn’t mean that anime tie-up songs always take high places on Billboard’s global charts. There are foundational cultures of accepting music that vary by region and age range. When looking for ways to approach overseas markets, it’s important to investigate and examine their underlying cultures.

JK: Have you made any new discoveries that could overturn past stereotypes or conventional wisdom with respect to the kinds of cultures or environments that welcome Japanese artists and Japanese music?

Isogai: I think we need to reexamine our assumption that lyrics have to be in English. When one particular Japanese song became a viral hit in Southeast Asia, local staff carried out a study and found that one of the reasons for the rise in the number of videos using the song was that “the lyrics are good.” It was a deep love song with lyrics in Japanese, so we were surprised to find out that one of the reasons it resonated with locals was the lyrical content. It really brought home the fact that language barriers and national borders don’t prevent artists based in Japan from reaching listeners and users worldwide.

JK: How do you feel that the Universal Music Group’s strengths have changed with respect not only to Japanese music, but also to capturing overseas market share?

Isogai: I think that, as a global music company, our teams around the world are better than ever at directly working with each other when we discover potential hits, wonderful talent, and creative people. In the past, when aiming to create an overseas hit, you’d have to sign a contract with the local label and ship and sell products. Now, with digital services, we can deliver music across borders, without being concerned with language barriers. That’s making it more important than ever to share information, so that we can understand the pioneering cultures in each country. Having marketing teams in each region is an even greater strength for us in terms of creating paths for international success.

JK: Is there any overseas marketing or any key trends that you would like to work with?

Isogai: With TikTok, Spotify, YouTube, and the like, you can see the numbers change in real time, so you can see data on the number of fans, listeners, and the like. I always keep in mind the process by which these things happen: things take off on social media, get played and shared on streaming services, and then spread around the world, attracting more and more fans. Specifically, physical products like CDs start selling outside Japan, and we start providing fans with tangible ways of expressing their appreciation of their favorite artists. I think one of the missions of a music company is to provide fans with ways of supporting the artists and music they love. I don’t think this trend is limited to Japanese artists, but can also occur overseas as well.

JK: So you’re creating different physical products from zero in different regions?

Isogai: Well, for example, the VTuber Mori Calliope already had a lot of fans in the U.S., so she consulted with a team in our head office and we’ve started selling her merchandise through an American e-commerce site (the U.S. Universal Music store). The number of fans that bought her titles with additional included merch was even higher than we expected. I think that we’ll be seeing lots of similar approaches being developed in the future.

JK: Are there any fields you’d like to take on, or any that you see as challenges?

Isogai: A lot of successful songs are anime tie-ups, so I’d like to increase the number of artists who become popular without any anime tie-ups. That poses a major challenge, but, in that sense, I feel like Fujii Kaze has opened a new door for artists from Japan. His success on TikTok and other social platforms led to a rise in the number of monthly listeners on services like Spotify and created an environment in which it was possible to pitch him for major editorial playlists like Spotify’s “New Music Friday.” It’s still not an easy process, but it’s started to prove effective.

JK: What are the Export Marketing Team’s targets for 2023?

Isogai: We have a few. One is our approach to cultures like the utaite (cover vocalist) and VTuber culture. I think there are a lot of latent or potential fans around the world for Japanese cultures like these. Mori Calliope, who I mentioned earlier, was looking at expanding into the overseas market from the very start, and she signed with EMI Records. I feel like in 2023 we’re going to see even more of these kinds of overseas connections that span label lines. The value of our Export Marketing Team lies in the fact that we can spring to action and provide flexible support and proposals when artists or staff have even a little bit of interest in working on the global stage.

–This interview by Jay Kogami first appeared on Billboard Japan.

Japanese dancer Maasa Ishihara sat down with Billboard Japan for its Women in Music interview series. The initiative launched last year in the same spirit of Billboard’s annual Women in Music event that began in 2007, and the Japan-based project also aims to celebrate women who continue to break new ground in music through various contents including interviews, live performances, and panel discussions.
Ishihara is a performer based in the U.S. who has shared the stage with some of today’s top artists including Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande. While she has enjoyed success in recent years, she almost gave up on her dancing career at one point and made a fresh start in the U.S. after moving there when she was 21 years old. Here, she shares some personal routines she uses to stay grounded in the highly competitive entertainment industry, and talks about the importance of accepting each other’s differences. 

You’ve built your career outside of Japan, but what was your childhood like? If there were any women you looked up to growing up, could you tell us about them?

I was born in Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture (in southwestern Japan). During my early elementary school years, I saw (J-pop superstar) Namie Amuro on TV and became obsessed with her. I wanted to be like her. There were no dance schools in my neighborhood, so I started singing and dancing by following her example, and that’s how it all began. Back then it was rare to see a female artist performing on stage with backup dancers (in Japan), and I’ll never forget that electrifying feeling when I first saw her.

I always thought I felt that way about Amuro because she represented a kind of tough woman that didn’t exist around me growing up, but recently I’ve come to realize that my mother was also a woman with inner strength. My mom wasn’t a very chatty type of person, but she always quietly watched over me and supported me. The reason why I’ve been able to come this far longing to be like Amuro is probably because strong women felt familiar to me since childhood, thanks to my mom.

So you’ve always admired women with inner strength, from those close to you to stars you saw on TV. Has that feeling been consistent then and now?

Basically, yes. I’ve lived in the U.S., where people with dreams come from all over the world, and have made a living in the entertainment scene where things can change dramatically in a year or two, so it was really important for me to be resolute. In my 20s, though, there were times when I became unsure of myself and struggled to become something I wasn’t. But ultimately, things like magnetism and strength are things you already have, so you just have to look for what you have and hone them. Now that I’m in my 30s, I’ve harked back to my roots and feel a renewed admiration for women like my mom and Namie Amuro.

You went to the U.S. by yourself and won your place in the entertainment industry there. How did you remain consistent? Do you have any tips or tricks you could share with us?

I adopted a lot of different methods until I settled into my own way of doing things. Starting from trivial stuff like, “Do I drink warm water or coffee first thing in the morning?” I eventually found my way to meditation. I think it’s really important to have a morning routine to get yourself into the right frame of mind for the day. When I wake up, I first keep my eyes closed before I pick up my smartphone and try not to think about anything. It’s actually hard not to think about anything. But I make a conscious effort to set aside 10 minutes to do that each day. When I reset myself like this, I can think, “What happened yesterday ended yesterday. I don’t know what today will be like, but I’ll give it my all.”

Therapy is also important. In Japan, the concept of mental care isn’t very familiar, but in the U.S., mental health counseling is common. People go to the gym to become physically fit or to the hairdresser to get their hair styled, right? In the same way, people go to therapy to treat their mental health. It’s important to take care of your mind as well.

So you learned to control your own mental wellness through meditation and therapy?

Yes. Life has its ups and downs, and we all tend to focus on the bad. But you can’t change something that has already happened. So letting it slide for the time being is effective. Even if you feel like you’re still in the midst of a difficult situation, try setting the problem aside and think about what you can do towards the future. And try to “stay ready” instead of “getting ready.” Then once the wave of difficulty passes, you can immediately seize the next opportunity. I try to be in that “staying ready” state both mentally and physically.

Your words are convincing because you’ve really seized those opportunities. Do you think being a woman has affected your career in any way?

Yes, being a woman and a foreigner in the U.S., I’ve felt the effects of various obstacles. It’s a tough industry for a woman to survive as an artist. Sometimes we’re regarded as sexual object in inappropriate situations by undesired people, or we’re underestimated or belittled for being a woman. Even if I was “staying ready,” I wasn’t allowed to stand at the starting line at times. Racial discrimination also persists. For example, no matter how hard I try to speak English, I’m not a native speaker and my pronunciation isn’t great. And because of that, I’m seen as being immature. I can’t count the number of times I felt mortified because people wouldn’t take me as seriously as others no matter how I sincerely I try to communicate. These kinds of things have been going on for a long time in general, but with the #MeToo movement and other reasons, the public has finally become aware of such problems in recent years and moments when minorities have their say are more common now.

Do you feel those influences in the entertainment scene?

I think you can sense the energy of creators trying to break down gender stereotypes in performances. While this is something that’s been done for a while, I get a sense that people are trying to pursue another level of open expression in recent years.

It feels like the number of artists who defy the boundaries of gender is gradually increasing in Japan as well. Likewise, the number of women who speak out and those who support them are increasing as well, but there still seems to be a lot of resistance.

Since moving to the States when I was 21, the biggest change from my days in Japan has been the daily contact with people of various races, backgrounds, faiths and genders. Being born in Japan and growing up in an environment where most of the people around me were Japanese, it took me some time to accept, understand, and coexist with those various differences. I realized that the things I thought were normal up till then were only a fraction of the many ways thinking and values that exist in the world, and felt the need to completely reset the things I thought were a given. I needed to understand, learn, and acknowledge those things that are different from me. When I shifted my way of thinking to “everyone is different and everyone is good,” my perspective broadened. Not only did I learn to accept differences, but I also began to spend time looking into myself, which led to a new awareness of my own identity and the beauty of Japan.

It’s not easy for anyone to accept people and things that are different from themselves and the unknown that they’ve never experienced. It’s scary. But taking that first step and experiencing a 180-degree change in the way I see things was an extremely valuable life lesson. I feel that if people around the world could accept and respect each other’s differences, we’ll be that much closer to world peace.

Check out an exclusive playlist of empowerment songs curated by Maas Ishihara below.

—This interview by Rio Hirai (SOW SOWEET PUBLISHING) first appeared on Billboard Japan

ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION recently released their 30th single, “Karma.” The band wrote the song as the opening theme for the latest season of the TV Tokyo-produced animated series BORUTO – NARUTO NEXT GENERATIONS, which began last month. The theme of the song is how the two protagonists are buffeted by fate, but the lyrical world of the song is also a reflection of how we all feel in this age of uncertainty and confusion. The heavy but constrained melody and the sound production are new territory for the band.

Shortly after their major-label debut in 2003, their song “Haruka Kanata” was chosen as the opening theme for the second season of NARUTO. “Karma” marks their fourth musical tie-in with the NARUTO series. NARUTO has been inextricably intertwined with the fate of AKFG. Billboard Japan spoke with the band about the song’s appeal, the highlights of their new single’s B-sides and more.

Gotoh: NARUTO really means a lot to us. In particular, our 2002 release “Haruka Kanata” was a major turning point in our careers. At the time, there wasn’t really an established culture of using music from rock bands as the theme songs of animes. I’m sure it must have seemed strange to some rock fans. However, Japan was producing high quality animation that was gaining attention around the world. We thought that when NARUTO was put out on the world stage, we’d be able to go right along with it. I remember feeling “this is a wonderful opportunity” when we got the offer.

Kita: Yeah, now that you mention, I feel like we approached it really carefully. Like, we set aside time for all of us members to discuss it. At the time, we didn’t know what kind of image this would create for the band.

Yamada: When we’ve played “Haruka Kanata” or any of our other NARUTO songs overseas, the reaction has just been immense. Everyone sings along so loud it feels like they’re going to drown our our actual performance. It’s made us realize how well our music has been received overseas. In a sense, it’s like NARUTO has been our partner through the years.

What is the appeal of NARUTO and BORUTO?

Ijichi: I’ve been a long-time reader of the two series, and they’ve been consistently good the whole time. One of the things I like about them is that there are elements that are fun for kids and elements that adults can enjoy.

Gotoh: With BORUTO, Masashi Kishimoto has passed on the baton of illustrating the comic to Mikio Ikemoto, but the characters still have the same appeal, and the comic is packed with ideas. BORUTO starts with a heartbreaking scene, and through the story it’s hard to find any signs of hope. NARUTO was also a pretty hardboiled comic, but I feel like BORUTO draws you in even more. Either way, the story is far more complicated than when we first started reading NARUTO in Weekly Shonen Jump (laughs).

When you’re asked to write a song for a show, how do you reflect the show’s world in the song?

Gotoh: For any show, not just NARUTO, I always do a ton of research. That’s because I want to read the original comic and write a song that’s truly inspired by it. As for our latest song, “Karma,” the comic isn’t finished yet, so we had to write the song without knowing what would happen next in the story. My hope is that the main characters can overcome these obstacles being thrown at them by “fate,” as it were. As I touched on a second ago, in the first episode, Boruto and Kawaki face off and fight each other as enemies. The story is going to circle back to that at some point. I racked my brains about what kind of story would lie beyond that face-off between the characters that the comic opens with.

Do you think there’s a message in there for modern society?

Gotoh: Yes, I do. In the modern world, it isn’t easy to set down your burdens and try to shoulder new burdens. I feel like you can really see the growing disparity in wealth, and that wealth disparity is becoming even more entrenched. Parents’ economic situations are being passed on to their children. The “winners” keep on winning and the “losers” keep on losing. There’s a feeling of disgust with the state of the world, and at the same time a desire to break through these barriers and overcome these problems. I think the feeling of entrapment in the world of NARUTO and BORUTO shares a lot in common with the sense of entrapment I feel in our own modern world. We’re living in a society with that same antagonism and division as in that first episode of BORUTO.

I feel like that sense of “entrapment” is also reflected in the heavy but constrained melody and sound of “Karma.” The part that really sticks out to me is the four lines of the bridge: “The reason we’re alive/Must be part of that modest dream/If it gets crushed underfoot/It plays right into the hands of those that have cursed our world.” What are you trying to express through these lyrics?

Gotoh: Right now, everybody is just all looking down on each other and ridiculing each other. When I see that, I just think, “Is this really enriching our lives?” The people that held the World Cup made more than the athletes that played in it. Over 6,000 people lost their lives in Qatar in the construction of the stadium and surrounding infrastructure. I just keep thinking, “Can’t we make a world a better place?” I’m not blaming anyone. I just wonder why we can’t praise each other and encourage each other. If we don’t, we’re just “playing into the hands of those who have cursed our world.” One of the things that’s incredibly reassuring is that I have people who stand with me. It’s wonderful that I’m in a band. From my position as a member of a band, I feel like if everyone could just get together on weekends and enjoy each other’s music, we could make it in this world without losing hope. I want everyone to realize and appreciate the value of the relationships they have with each other. That’s what I was thinking about when I wrote the lyrics.

The B-side of “Karma” is “Weather Report,” which was written and sung by you, Kita. It’s a refreshing song, but the lyrics are quite serious. It’s about interpersonal relationships that never progress.

Gotoh: “Karma” is a song about the relationships between us, no matter where life may take us, so in “Weather Report” we wanted to sing about relationships that are in a rut, never coming together. When I wrote the lyrics, I was thinking about how tire tracks never cross unless you make a U-turn. Ken (Kita) would be singing, not me, so I thought it might be good to have a sweet love song, which is different than the kinds of songs I sing. We’ve had other songs like that, too. When I’m not the one singing, we can be a bit more free in deciding what the theme of the song will be.

“Nissaka Down Hill” feels like a followup to your 2008 album Surf Bungaku Kamakura. What led you to go back to that approach?

Gotoh: It’s a power-pop song with power chords, octaves, and unison, but there are also some unusual chord progressions here and there. It’s a really fun song to play with the band. I wanted the feel to be like Weezer’s “El Scorcho.” With Surf Bungaku Kamakura, we were thinking about Weezer’s first album. The title, after all, came from “Surf Wax America.” This time, we want an album that has that Pinkerton sound. It’s like half parody of the 1990s, but half sincere. That’s what pop music should be like, right? We’ve basically applied that style, but matched it up our own sensibilities and made changes to update it for our times.

What were you all trying to set out to do with your sound design approach?

Ijichi: We recorded all of “Weather Report” in a single take. Lately we’ve been trying to finish our songs in as few takes as possible. Up until the day before the recording, we spend a lot of time thinking about it. But then, on the actual day of the recording, we want to get takes that are as fresh as possible. Our goal when we recorded this song was to get it in three takes or less.

Yamada: “Karma” is a tie-up that we wrote on request, so we wanted to make a song that had the AKFG feel we’ve established over the years, but the B-side songs were all very challenging. “Nissaka Down Hill” is a power-pop song, but it has a different feel than any of our past songs. There are only three songs on the single, but I think there’s really a lot there.

Kita: Going back to the “Karma” lyrics for a second, Gotch had already pretty much nailed down those four lines from the demo stage. The bridge evolved over the course of a jam session by the four of us, and Gotch changed up the melody along the way, but that core remained all the way through the finished song.

Gotoh: You said the song had a “constrained” melody, and, you’re right, we tried to avoid having a really soaring chorus. If it had that kind of chorus, we wouldn’t want to perform it live. It would just be too hard (laughs). With “Karma,” we were traying to create a “sustainable emo sound” that simmers and builds up, not one that really takes a physical toll. We’re almost in our 50s, after all (laughs).

A lot of people passed away in 2022, the pandemic continued unabated, and every time you thought the world situation couldn’t get any worse, it did. Hopefully 2023 is a good year.

Gotoh: I really hope so. So many terrible things happened in 2022. For example, if the World Cup had been a less corrupt event, Messi’s win would have been so much easier to celebrate wholeheartedly, but the information that came to light made that impossible. I just want to always try to live a better life. Every time I meet someone, I remember that, and we try to create a better mood wherever we go. We’ve got a lot of concerts coming up, so we’ll keep trying to do our best in 2023.

—This interview by Takanori Kuroda first appeared on Billboard Japan