This is a radio interview mainly of Koichi Makigami and Masamichi Mitama, at the time bassist/primary vocalist and guitarist/secondary vocalist respectively of Hikashu. Susumu Hirasawa is present as well, but takes on a background role. It was translated and transcribed by Frizzle Sizzle, who also wrote most of the footnotes, kindly offered it for this blog and helped out on research afterwards.

Music Night Talk (音楽夜話, Ongaku Yawa) was a radio show hosted by singer-songwriter Hitoshi Komuro. It was broadcast on Monday to Friday nights for 15 minutes a night by JFN’s flagship FM Tokyo station from the late-’70s through the mid-’80s. A TV revival, also hosted by Komuro, started broadcasting on Tokyo MX in 2014 and runs to this day.

The interview was broadcast through the week of 31 March to 4 April, 1980. By this point, Hikashu and P-Model were built up by the media as part of a “Big 3 of Techno” (with Plastics), and due to that these bands were often coupled together for radio/TV/press features like this one. Both bands had experimental recordings that would only get released in the ’90s (Pre P-MODEL/Pre Hikashu), a debut album already released (In a Model Room/Hikashu) & being promoted through country-wide tours, and a sophomore follow-up to be released later in the year (Landsale/Summer). This interview was made primarily to promote Power ’80, a high-profile show where they shared equal billing.

Since this was originally a conversation made for split-out radio broadcast, I have cut out segments made due to the particularities of the format that feel redundant in a written out transcript, such as all greetings and farewells with the exception of the first and last ones (comments made by Komuro or the guests are kept in) and explanations for listeners that didn’t tune in at the beginning of the broadcast. I have also adapted some parts for a less cumbersome reading.

Susumu Hirasawa: At first, when I heard you call him “Mitama, Mitama”1, I thought it was some kind of pun.

Hitoshi Komuro: [laughs] A pun!

Masamichi Mitama: People often ask me if I’m joking or if I’m parodying something.

Koichi Makigami: When he said, “I go to Taisho University”, he was asked, “Is it a parody of Meiji University?”2

Everyone: [laughs]

HK: This week, we have guests with a mysterious atmosphere. Today on Music Night Talk, Koichi Makigami and Masamichi Mitama of Hikashu, and Susumu Hirasawa of P-MODEL. We call your kind of music Technopop, which is probably not the word you want it to be called. But anyway, we are going to listen to some so-called Technopop. Thank you for coming to the show; Koichi, Masamichi and Susumu.

SH/KM/MM: Thank you for having us.

HK: Mr. Masamichi Mitama, we were talking about your name before the show. It has extraordinary characters!

MM: Yes.

HK: Umi (海, ocean) and…

MM: Rin (琳) as in Korin (光琳) Ogata3, Ou (王, king or gem) and Hayashi (林, woods).

HK: Ou (王) and Hayashi (林). And how do you write “Masamichi”?

MM: The Chinese characters Tadashii (正, right) and Michi (道, way).

KM: [laughs]

HK: That’s an extraordinary name!

MM: It comes from Hasshoudou (八正道) in Buddhism. It means eight right ways.

HK: Wow!

MM: I’ll spare you the details on that, but that’s what it means.

HK: So you have achieved the eight right ways.

MM: Yes.

HK: Oh my goodness!

KM: [laughs] That’s awesome, man!

HK: So you were born in a Buddhist monk’s family?

MM: Yes, I was.

HK: So, Mr. Mitama, are you going to be a Buddhist monk in the future?

MM: I might become one if I have nothing else to do.

KM: [laughs]

HK: Is being a monk something you do when you have nothing else to do?

MM: No, that’s not it. Er, the point is, well, that’s not what I exactly meant…

HK: [laughs] I seem to have made Mr. Mitama feel uneasy. Maybe I shouldn’t dig into it any further4.

Ah, at the beginning of the show, I called your music “Technopop”. We should be clear about what Technopop is. As Hikashu and as P-MODEL, when you are called “Technopop” musicians, do you feel like that’s not completely accurate?

SH: Yes, I guess you can say so. First of all, what is Technopop anyway, do you know? I don’t know.

KM: When we’re playing, we don’t have terms like “Technopop” in the back of our heads. I think we are just playing the music we want to play. We’re like that. But, well, “Technopop” is probably the easiest thing for people to call our kind of music.

HK: However, I can see clearly that you guys create music in a totally different way from the common styles of the past, using electronic and computer instruments and such. I find that in your music. What inspired you to create that kind of music? Did musicians like David Bowie influence you first? Or did you hear music by Kraftwerk and other similar musicians, and did they motivate you?

KM: In the case of us, Hikashu, I actually didn’t care, but two members in our band were into synthesizers. So our music came out this way, just naturally.

HK: So it wasn’t like “Yes! This is it! This is It!” but it was more like, “Hmm, that might be interesting” …like that?

KM: Yes. I thought it was kind of fun. I thought, “This sounds interesting” when we were playing it.

HK: I see. How about you, how did P-MODEL start this kind of music?

SH: I think rock music is something which reflects the feel of the times most directly; or rather, it expresses certain feelings and thoughts in order to appeal to the current environment. This is the way its styles have developed. And so, you know, we now play so-called “Technopop” because our music reflects the feelings of today’s environment naturally when we play music.

HK: I see.

SH: So it’s like, if we play today, it sounds like this. I don’t think we should be stubbornly attached to synthesizers and rhythm boxes5.

HK: So it happened naturally.

SH: Yes.

HK: When the music is closely related to the times… For example, in Hikashu’s and P-MODEL’s music, I find you have something to express through music. However, there are a lot of musicians who seem to have something to say, but they might be saying it because it’s cool and fashionable to, or they might truly have something to say. And those who send the message because it’s cool will disappear eventually. I want to figure out what your true messages are like in this week’s shows. Well, we’re running out of time to talk now. We’re going to listen to P-MODEL’s song, “For Kids”.

HK: When I listen to P-MODEL’s songs, I find your Japanese lyrics have a special kind of rhythm that suits your music. I’ve discovered a whole new world in Susumu Hirasawa’s feeling for Japanese language, listening to P-MODEL’s songs. Your songs make me feel so good.

SH: Do they?

HK: As we were talking about it last night, you use synthesizers and other instruments to create a cutting edge sound. That’s totally a new style of music in vogue, the sound of this age. What you wear, the words you speak, and everything, as well as your music, all of them are created reflecting this age and the present environment. You guys, P-MODEL and Hikashu members, your music comes as a package deal with your trendy clothes and how you look and such, I think. However, you seem to have something more than the clothes and the look. When I listen to your songs, I can feel that you have some messages to tell. As you continue with your music career, don’t you feel that you are in a very dangerous place, being in fashion and playing message-oriented songs at the same time?

KM: I agree. I’ve felt that way a lot recently. I didn’t feel that way when we started our band, but right now, “Technopop” is considered fashionable. The fans try to imitate the “Technopop” musicians and shave off their sideburns and so on to look like them. They say things like, “Technopop is the coolest kind of music now”. Honestly, I don’t like it very much. I’m naturally a plain person. I hate flashy outfits, actually.

MM: Koichi is not interested in fashion at all.

KM: I’m a fashion-challenged person. If “Technopop” has become a fashionable trend, we can probably find an important in that about this modern age. But I’m afraid that if this is nothing but a superficial craze, it will end up being forgotten eventually. That’s not what we started playing music for. So I’m making efforts and trying to go in the opposite direction.

HK: So for instance, looking at our program tonight, we have the leaders of the bands P-MODEL and Hikashu as our guests. How would this program be introduced by the media? They might jump to conclusions and say, “Oh, these are the new Japanese ‘Technopop’ musicians”. So you are not introduced as “This is Hikashu” or “This is P-MODEL”, but like “They play so-called ‘Technopop’, this style of music is currently popular”. Does it make you think that the way you are introduced by the media conflicts with what you really are? How do you handle it, Makigami-kun?

KM: Whenever we go on a TV show, the gap between how we are showcased and what we really gradually grows bigger and bigger. It might be that we’re successful because we are misunderstood. Because of that, we’ve had to put in a hundred times more effort than we used to in other places, to fill in the gap somehow. So I think we are in a very difficult phase.

HK: When you find a gap like that, you want to fix it, and you claw your way to fix it, and sometimes you find yourself that’s all you have been doing, just trying to fix the gap.

KM: We’ve been there.

SH: Definitely true. It’s difficult.

HK: You think “this is not what we wanted, we just wanted to express ourselves in music”. But you find yourselves trying to fix the gap and you end up focusing on it instead. That’s scary.

KM: I sort of expected a gap like that before starting the band, of course, but now that it’s actually there it’s surprising to see how big it is.

HK: [laughs]

SH: I had imagined certain kinds of misunderstandings the audience and the media would have about us beforehand, but when I encounter misinterpretations about us that I’d never expected, I don’t know how to handle them. I end up preoccupied with them all the time. When I’m like that, I can’t create anything good. It seems like it would just lead to more misunderstandings.

HK:Well, it sounds like we’ll be having this problem forever. Now, let’s listen to a song by Hikashu, it’s called “Love Treatment”.

HK: Listening to your songs, I thought, I’ve been wanting this kind of songs. I don’t mean this kind of sound though, I mean, I wish songs with these concepts would have come into being earlier, during the time of the Japanese Folk6 and New Music7 musicians earlier. However, a musician like you didn’t appear among them, unfortunately. I should say, I regret that a lot.

HK: If the New Music musicians had been aware that New Music and Kayou-Kyoku8 would be categorized in the same genre eventually, they could have made efforts to create a more unique and firmer genre, clearly distinguished from Kayou-Kyoku. But in fact, even though many New Music musicians have kept a sense of superiority because they can do something unique (they can write songs as well as sing & perform, unlike Kayou-Kyoku singers who only sing), they have ended up doing the same thing as Kayou-Kyoku after all. That’s what I regret about them greatly.

KM: So all they have now is their sense of superiority. [laughs]

HK: Yes, really. That’s what I regret about Pop and New Music. By the way, I want to ask you; Makigami-kun, Mitama-kun and Hirasawa-kun. What do you think about other musicians and their music in genres like yours; for example, Kraftwerk? I said it because it’s the only group I know in this genre. Do you like them? What do you think about Kraftwerk?

KM: For me, I feel neutral about Kraftwerk. But some members of my band love them, so we covered their song, The Model. I prefer music that makes me feel humanity and strength.

HK: I see.

KM: I like Free Jazz musicians.

HK: Ah, I see.

KM: The recent Free Jazz and Free Improvisation music scene, the music which makes me look at myself apart from everything else objectively with a cold eye. I like such music.

HK: Mitama-kun of Hikashu, how about you?

MM: Well, Kraftwerk is…

Everyone: [laughs]

HK: I don’t want to force you to talk about them, though.

MM: I like Kraftwerk in the same sense that I like Astro Boy. I see “the future world imagined in the past” kind of thing in both of them.

KM: The future world imagined in the 1940s.

MM: The future world described in Sci-Fi novels of the 1940s or so. In that sense, I like Kraftwerk, but it’s not like I admire them very much or something.

HK: [laughs] How about Hirasawa-kun of P-MODEL?

SH: I have no strong feelings one way or the other, but a rather calm feeling about them. I listen to it as BGM. I find it’s very nice to listen to, going along with my current lifestyle and environment, and pleasant too.

HK: It’s really pleasant, isn’t it?

SH: Yes, it seems like it’s something pleasant on a physiological level. I don’t know what they intend to do with their music, but for now, that’s what I feel about Kraftwerk.

HK: Do you have any favorite musicians from abroad?

SH: Right now, eh, Public Image Ltd. Do you remember the Sex Pistols from the past? Johnny Rotten from that band now goes by his real name, John Lydon, in it. And I love it, like it’s the only thing I can listen to now.

HK: What kind of music do they play?

SH: Well, how shall I put it. In general… It “doesn’t come toward me”. The music doesn’t come toward me, direction-wise. Usually the musicians and the listeners face each other, right? But in Public Image’s music, there’s no such direction.

HK: They don’t have it?

SH: The music they play doesn’t actually have that direction. They don’t play it toward someone or something. It’s not like someone got up on the stage and started playing, but like someone started playing anywhere at all.

HK: Ah-ha, ah-ha.

SH: I don’t know if I described it well enough that our listeners understood or not, but anyway, their music doesn’t have the one-way direction of communication like musicians and their listeners normally have. That’s why they are so revolutionary, I think.

HK: Ah, hmmm. So, what would you call it? Is it different from anonymity? Is it a matter of existence?

SH: Yes, I suppose so. I think it’s different from anonymity in the general meaning. How should I put it? It’s not like one unknown person in a big society, but an unknown figure acting as all the people in a big society…

HK: To put it plainly, they are not saying something like, “It’s me, it’s me”, right?

SH: Right.

HK: Oh, now you have me interested. Everybody wants to say, “this is me” normally.

SH: Yes. And I find such kind of music extremely annoying.

HK: [laughs] But that’s really a hard thing to do, not talking about “I” or “me”. But I also think, how nice it would be if I could be like that, for sure.

SH: For me, that’s the ideal way to be right now.

HK: If you try to be that way, when you examine yourself, don’t you notice you are actually thinking “me me me…” against your will?

SH: Yes, you’re right. I hate that part of me. So I always try to deny that part as much as I can.

HK: I see. Well, after such a conversation, it will be nice to listen to a song now. The song we are going to listen tonight is… Do you pronounce it “Pinky”?

SH: Yes9.

HK: Here’s “Pinky Trick”.

HK: Well, when we decide to do something, we stick to it, but that doesn’t mean we always come to a conclusion. On the contrary, we often just end up caught in the mud. This week, I think we should keep on sinking into the mud.

Everyone: [laughs]

SH: We’re going to do it all over again.

HK: The whole thing?

SH: Most of it.

HK: Oh, goodness.

SH: Well, the mixed down sound in the studio was so different from the sound of the audio players common people usually have. I assume our target listeners are going to play our songs on inexpensive audio players. The tracks we have now, mixed in the high-quality studio, won’t sound the same on those inexpensive players. So I’m going to have it tracked down on small, inexpensive speakers this time.

HK: That happens. During the recording at a studio, you hear the music on a high quality machine and you say it’s OK, and later you find it sounds very differently when you play it on your cheap record player at home.

KM: Sometimes you find it sounds totally different from what you thought it would sound like.

HK: That makes me think… When you put your message and feelings on the songs in your record, it would be right to think the listeners probably don’t interpret your music in the way you expect them to.

Everyone: Yes.

HK: You never know what kind of audio players they play your songs on.

KM: Come to think of it, it is almost the same as when you introduce yourself, it’s so difficult to make you fully understood.

HK: Yes. What shall I introduce myself to a person who has never heard of me? I’d have a little trouble. If I say, “Hello, I am Hitoshi Komuro. I am a singer”, it doesn’t explain what I really am, yes. Likewise, we musicians take listening to music on a stereo set for granted, but a lot of people still play music on monaural tape recorders.

Everyone: Yes.

HK: If you record your music with an emphasis on listening to it on a stereo set, the listeners might actually hear a very different sound. On the other hand, if you clearly state that you want your listeners to play your music on a hi-fi player and make it your policy, that’s fine, too. But unless you do that, it’s a really difficult thing, I think.

SH: The staff in record companies and the participating workers around them, they just start recording under the assumption that the listeners will listen to the record on a stereo set. That’s the problem. Many people still listen to music on radio-cassette recorders.

HK: Yes, you’re right. So, you are now successful as musicians; the characteristics you want your listeners to recognize, are they the same as what the record company staff recognizes?

KM: I don’t know that for sure.

HK: As Hikashu, what do you think your listeners think of Hikashu’s music?

KM: For us, even each member of the band has a different view on our own music, so I guess our listeners would have a lot of different views on us.

MM: We should consider that normal, really.

HK: For me, listening to P-MODEL’s music and Hikashu’s music, I think “wow, this is very warm and friendly music”. Tonight, we will play a song by Hikashu called “Puyo Puyo”.

HK: I thought the tabla had a pretty nice “bom, bom” sound.

HK: You’ve probably been asked this question many times, but what are the original meanings of your band names? What does Hikashu mean?

KM: “Hikashu” comes from “Sad Songs” (悲歌, hika), to tell you the truth…

HK: Ah, I see.

KM: And so to cancel out the original meaning, and to add a sort of feeling of flying high in the air, we decided to write it in katakana.

HK: I see. I understand. How about P-MODEL?

SH: Well, we’re asked that question really often, but I don’t want to say what it means, if that’s OK. What we want to make happen is to have each listener reach a clear answer in their own minds, at some point. So, I won’t tell you today, not just yet.

HK: It’s “P’s Model” anyway, right?

SH: Actually, I want you to pay attention to the hyphen connecting “P” and “MODEL”.

HK: Hmmm. That sounds like a really hard question to solve. I guess there is a reason why you chose “P” in particular.

SH: And a hyphen.

HK: And a hyphen. You are really putting an emphasis on that.

SH: You can’t overlook it.10

HK: I see. We shouldn’t overlook it.

MM: So, that’s where you will find the mystery.

HK: In fact, Sherlock Holmes did not overlook this hyphen, but Kosuke Kindaichi did. That’s why the P-MODEL case of 195311 is still a mystery.

SH: But Sherlock Holmes had such a strong enthusiasm toward this “hyphen” that he had a nervous breakdown.

HK: Oh, I see, I see. And even Sherlock Holmes didn’t solve the case. I read this in a weekly magazine a few days ago, Mr. Hiroyuki Itsuki (五木寛之) wrote something like: “Nowadays, it’s the age that you find the words like ‘Fromm’ and ‘Freud’ in pop music lyrics”.

KM: I don’t think it’s so strange. You learn those names at school normally.

HK: Oh, it’s not something special?

KM: No, I don’t think I’m saying anything peculiar.

HK: What Koichi and I are talking about is Hikashu’s song which has “Erich Fromm” and “Freud” in the lyrics, right? And Mr. Hiroyuki Itsuki found it and wrote “they’re very interesting” in his essay. Well, it looks like our time ran out while I was talking about something silly. Tonight, I will play two songs in a row, one by P-MODEL and another by Hikashu. This one is called “White Highway”; is this a new single?

KM: Yes, it is.

HK: All right. And after that, “Art Mania”. I also like this one quite a bit. Here we go.

HK: This week’s Music Night Talk shows had Koichi Makigami and Masamichi Mitama of Hikashu and Susumu Hirasawa of P-MODEL as my guests and we listened to P-MODEL and Hikashu songs. In the future, I personally think it’s OK if you don’t make it big and become superstars. But but if I can ask for one thing, please don’t fizzle out.

KM: With your words in mind, in the upcoming show on April 7th (1980) at (Nakano) Sun Plaza, we want to perform perfectly.

HK: There will be a joint concert by P-MODEL and Hikashu. Ladies and gentlemen, please go there to see the. Thank you very much for joining in this show.

Everyone: Thank your very much.

HK: I really hope to see you again on this show. See you next week. This is Hitoshi Komuro saying good night.

Power ’80, the joint concert performed by the bands, was grounds for an incident involving P-MODEL, the beginning of a series of tumultuous performances throughout the year that were the result of media/identity clash touched on the interview deeply affecting Hirasawa. A translation of show reports is available here.

After the show, P-MODEL & Hikashu started drifting apart in public appearances, only performing together in two more shows in May and December of that year. Although band relationships had turned glacial, Katsuhiko Akiyama and Toshiro Sensui, founding members from both bands who had since left them, formed Here is Eden together in 1987; in spite of their pedigree and Hirasawa producing 2 tracks for their debut album, the band is forgotten in face of the members’ higher profile simultaneous roles (Akiyama returning to P-MODEL in its Defrosted incarnation, Sensui on his continuous work with Jun Togawa and Yapoos). They’d perform together one last time in 1990 at the Hirasawa-centric Error Force show.

Both bands sought to branch out: With their third offerings, Potpourri and The Human Being, gone were the bright color imagery (replaced by obscurantist and perverse art by Yuichi Hirasawa and Keichi Ohta), accessible synth melody tones and the socially conscious themes that Komuro appreciates (he himself treading similar ground, performing songs critical of the moon landing and the Vietnam War in his time).

Hirasawa’s praising of Public Image Ltd is revealing. Besides the parallels among bands12, a clear influence can be noted on the P-MODEL albums that followed this interview; Potpourri, Perspective and Another Game all take clear cues from First Issue, Metal Box/Second Edition and Flowers of Romance; from the adoption of reggae/dub playing styles/production technique, to unusual song structures and sense of space. Out of all of them, Perspective has undeniable PiL influences: The overall sound is an adaptation of Metal Box‘s, the drums have an intenser version of the “Four Enclosed Walls” sound (the “Train” drum beat in particular is pretty much a rewrite of the “Four Enclosed Walls” one) and the “Be in a Fix” demo is titled “No Bird” like one Metal Box song (the version that ended up on the album itself leans more towards the First Issue style).

Notes:

1 Masamichi Mitama’s family name, 海琳 (Mitama – 海, ocean; 琳, gem ball) is a homophone of mitama (御霊) meaning “holy spirit” or “ancestor’s spirit”. Masamichi Mitama (海琳正道) presently calls himself “Mita Freeman” (三田超人), with the common family name “Mita” (三田, three rice paddies) followed by the first name “超人” (free man, superhuman).

2 Taisho and Meiji are Japanese era names of the reigns of Emperors. Both Taisho University and Meiji University are renowned universities in Japan, Meiji University being more famous than the other, but the person talked about here obviously had never heard of Taisho University.

3 Korin Ogata (尾形光琳, 1658–1716) was a Japanese painter of the Rinpa School. He is particularly known for his gold-foil folding screens.

4 A documentary about Hikashu, Winter ’81, was broadcast as an episode of the NHK cultural program Youth Square (若い広場). It contains a montage to profile each member of the band. For his segment, Mita appears in standard priest garb, performing a made-up ritual in his family temple with prayer beads, an acoustic guitar, two mokugyo, and a mokushou (both are traditional Buddhist instruments; while traditionally they are used by different sects, in practice their usage depends from temple to temple). He wears it again, with an added oil-paper umbrella, on two latter occasions: once popping out of a family graveyard in a sequence set to “Toe Isclum“, and later in a group shot to commemorate the end of recording sessions for The Human Being.

5 “Rhythm Box” (リズム・ボックス) was a brand of drum machines offered by Nippon Columbia. It got genericized and was the standard Japanese term for “drum machine” for a long time. It has since fallen out of general use, being supplanted by either “drum” or “rhythm machine” (ドラム/リズム・マシン), although it is still used in occasion, mostly to refer to older drum machines. The trademark was passed off to audio/video giant D&M Holdings, who are doing nothing with it except preventing other companies from using it.

6 Not to be confused with traditional “Folk Music” (民謡, Min’yo), “Folk” (フォーク, fohku) in Japan started under the influence of acts like Bob Dylan and Peter, Paul and Mary. Popular in 1960s and 1970s; well known singers included Hitoshi Komuro, Takuro Yoshida, Yohsui Inoue, Shigeru Izumiya, Nobuyasu Okabayashi, Kaientai, and so on. Some Folk singers sang songs with political lyrics and with pathos about life.

7 New Music (ニューミュージック): a genre in Japanese popular music. It was most popular during 1970s and 1980s. It is a combination of Folk (fohku) and Rock, but it doesn’t usually include political lyrics or pathos.

8 Kayou-Kyoku (歌謡曲)： Popular music of Japan from the 1950s through the 1980s. The popular music in and after the 1990s through 2010s is called J-Pop. Kayou-Kyoku included genres like Enka (演歌) and many other music styles, but usually composers, lyricists and singers were different people.

9 Komuro’s confusion most likely comes from the unusual way the song’s Japanese title is written out. While the Japanese titles of all other songs from In a Model Room are written out in either katakana or a mix of hiragana and kanji, “Pinky Trick” employs the Latin alphabet, with the word “pink” (桃色, momoiro) stylized as “ＭＯＭＯ色”; the “Trick” part of the title is rendered out in katakana (トリック).

10 At the time, P-MODEL would present several answers to the meaning of the “P” in their name: The package artwork of In a Model Room gives out multiple alternatives in each box and each member gave out a different answer in a feature for the June 1980 issue of Young Rock magazine. Hirasawa disclosed the meaning behind the name “P-MODEL” on an interview/anecdote collection conducted for the unreleased materials albums. From the “Postscript” chapter (currently available on the booklet of the TESLAKITE issue of vol. 2): “For our new band name, we decided on something that sounded like a newly-developed product model off a mass production line. And so, the false industrial product P-MODEL was born”.

11 Kosuke Kindaichi (金田一耕助) is a famous fictional Japanese detective created by Seishi Yokomizo, a renowned mystery novelist. His first case, The Honjin Murder Case, a novel about a locked room murder in an old family, which many people regard as one of the best Japanese detective novels, was published in 1946. The only Kindaichi case to receive an English translation is 1951’s The Inugami Clan. Kindaichi has attained some recent second-hand fame in the West with the recent anime adaptation of Kindaichi Case Files, a manga about Kosuke’s grandson Hajime.

The P-MODEL case: Here Komuro made up this story as a joke, not based on anything from fiction or reality.

12 A lead singer whose former band was a pioneer in its genre who’s outspoken about what he dislikes, an image issue leading to more experimental directions, a guitarist with a marking background in prog rock who’s an aluminum guitar pioneer, a bassist who gets kicked out of the band due to clashes and has his instrument played by the guitarist in the group’s third album, the list goes on.