VOL.93／94 第 12 回 Yuri Nakamura／第 13 回 Hitoshi Okamoto

From music freak magazine Vol.93 / Vol.94

word scope in M.F.M — Episode 12

The new single “スパイラル” arrives August 14; see pp.2–3 for details. Have you heard the compilation *GIZA studio MAI-K&FRIENDS HOTROD BEACH PARTY*, featuring vocalist Yuri Nakamura? The performance by these members, “MAI-K & FRIENDS HOTROD BEACH PARTY,” finally begins July 26, and Nakamura will of course participate. She took a moment from her busy schedule to join this column.

Photo caption: Resting between shots for the “スパイラル” music video.

Sticky beginnings

It is hot every day. How is everyone? I am still doing well.

I have recently become obsessed with something made from “meat from the fields”—natto made from soybeans.

I add dashi seasoning and mustard, stir it about a hundred times, and eat it. It is delicious, and I have become completely hooked.

I also add an egg and fry it. The outside becomes crisp and the inside sticky, which is delicious too. I recommend trying it.

Recently the company held a hand-rolled sushi party, and there was natto in the filling too. Everyone taught me various new ways to eat it. They said it is good with mayonnaise and also good with grated daikon. I will try them immediately.

This natto fever probably will not go away soon. Everyone, please try it too...

Well then, Bye-Q.

word scope in M.F.M — Episode 13

The new single “スパイラル” is receiving a good response, and GARNET CROW is now busy rehearsing for its first concert, *GARNET CROW LIVE TOUR 2002 〜first sound scope〜*, in October. This time guitarist Hitoshi Okamoto appears.

Photo caption: During a break in the shoot.

Hitoshi Okamoto

Hello, I am Okamoto. It has become a little cooler and the days are more comfortable. How is everyone?

Recently GARNET CROW went to Tokyo to promote the new song. By the way, I visited Tokyo Tower for the first time in my life—I am a country boy, after all. It should not be anything unusual by now, but we still waited twenty minutes for the elevator. The weather was beautiful, though, and the view was wonderful.

Promotional activities like this give you opportunities to be interviewed. You may have vaguely thought about something or roughly defined it in your mind, but when someone asks you to say it out loud, it becomes difficult.

This time too they asked, “Finally, what is music to you?”

That question goes straight to the core. It is difficult. What is it? A joyful sound? Air? A lover? Life? Medicine? Self-expression?

Each could be true, but none is complete. If it could be explained so simply, there would be no need to struggle with it. Several embarrassing answers then appeared in my mind, but in the end I said what I was thinking at the time. Once again I felt how difficult it is to convey what is in one’s heart accurately through words.

Another common question is the “desert-island CD”: if you could take only a few CDs to a desert island, which would you choose? That is not difficult to answer, but when I get home I always think, “I should not have chosen that one; I should have chosen this one instead.”

Never mind. It is not as if I will really take them there. In my case, I would take a gas stove. I would probably make that kind of comment to myself too.

That is roughly how my days pass. GARNET CROW is currently rehearsing for its first concert, so please come and enjoy it.