“Ono〜re no〜 yowa〜sa ni〜〜

iki〜 no ne〜 wo to〜mete〜〜・・・♪♫“ (RIDE OR DIE)

Beep…
Yes, hello…

Um… who’s this??
Ah~… it’s you!
No no, I didn’t forget.
Normally,
I don’t get calls from you so
I was just a little surprised.

Eh?
“You’re still awake at this time of the night?”
… you ask…

I can ask you the same right?
What on earth are you doing,
until this late into the night.
Work has ended right?

Otsukaresan (Good work today).

Right now
I’m checking the video of the MV for the new song.
The MV’s editing is also done in my studio.
Looks like it’s not close to being done yet…

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Eh?
“I saw your new artiste image.
I was surprised with how otherworldly you looked!!”
… you say…

You…
Is that supposed to be a compliment?
Or are you dissing me?

Well,
whichever it is, it’s fine.
Because this time’s image
is an important image for the LAST VISUALIVE.

It’s got a pretty scary feel right?

The human me is completely exhausted though.
I’ve got to do this editing work
and the recording at the same time.

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Eh?
“What kind of feeling does the completed MV evoke?”
… you ask… …

It’s getting quite dangerous.
Pretty cool.
It will make you want to watch the LAST VISUALIVE soon…
That’s the kind of completed footage it is.
That’s why, I have to hurry and finish it…

Eh?
“This time,
did you return to Japan just for the MV?”
… you ask…

Nope,
I came back to Japan for a few days
for the filming of a CM and
other different shoots.

When I got back a few days ago, I went straight into filming.
I was quite tired but,
it was great that we managed to film a good one.

And also because it ended earlier than expected.

Eh?
“Did you start filming from morning as well this time?”
… you ask…

Nope,
this time it started in the afternoon.
In the morning I had another meeting,
so after that ended,
I headed to the filming studio.

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When I entered the shooting location
they’ve already prepared to be ready to shoot at short notice.

The setup for the scenes here
were really fast.
And, right after I sat down the camera test started.

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Then, when it started
the program list was a little late though.
In the blink of an eye,
the time of the program was rewound and we proceeded with filming.

Eh?
“What’s this program you mentioned?”
… you ask…

The program is…
Um… How should I explain it…
Well, it’s like a schedule
and a progress table and a plan layout put together.

When filming,
be it a drama or a movie,
you film according to a story line or flow right.

Basically,
you start filming from what you can film first,
and pretty much make it in a way
that has a good efficiency to it
and fits well with how the technical staff works.

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Of course,
when there are multiple actors involved,
the schedules of the number of actors’ are also included,
and the program becomes like a life.

Well, in terms of a CM, basically,
when I’m the only one doing it, the program is such that
cameras and the technical staff
can do their settings earlier.

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That’s why,
as much as possible the waiting time well be kept short but,
that means that the program has to be well assembled.

Eh?
“If that’s the case, are there times when you keep having to wait?”
… you ask…

Yeah.
Usually in such situations,
the end time written in the program
will typically say that if things go well they’ll push for 2 to 3 hours.

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You’ll be surprised.

Until now, NHK is the one that stretches with the program the most…
During the filming of the historical drama「Fuurin Kazan」,
that was something that surprised me…

Well, it seems like its something that’s said a lot about historical dramas.
My end time was scheduled to be 8 at night.
Then, it becomes something like,
when I get to the filming location in the morning
I don’t see any filming schedule at all!

「Huh? What now?」

Even if I asked that, everyone said they had no idea.

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「So, I’ll come back later?」

I said things like that too but
they started telling me to “wait in standby!”.
So, I just waited in standby for long periods of time.
When I finally got told “It’s about time for you to get made up!”
that was about 2 hours later.
Then, after I put on the armour and the kimono,

「Please wait in standby!」

was what they told me.
When I asked “how long?”, no one knew.
In the end, I kept taking off and putting on
the kimono over and over again through out but,
we didn’t progress at all.

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In the end,
I believe it only ended the next morning at 9…

That is,
to date, what they call the 2nd longest record
for a historical drama though.
I’m supposed to report that next day at 10 in the morning so
it’s just another hour away until then right?

In other words,
the program was rearranged again.
As that caused a whole week to get displaced, it was quite a hassle.

Halfway through, Ogata Ken-san’s health got bad too…
it was really tough.

Now it’s become a funny story but,
in reality the staff rotating at the location
probably found it unbearable…

Well, this time’s
the filming of the CM for the【Premium Marbled Oyster Mushrooms】
went quite smoothly.

So, again, just like that I headed toe another shooting location
and started another shoot.

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This time, during my stay it feels like it’s been shoots everyday,
and doing recordings in between those times…

I had a shoot at ROEN too.
I think it was a shoot for a photobook…
Pretty good pictures were shot.

I’m already 42 right?

『I wonder until when can I still remain unchanged in photos…』

That thought occasionally crosses my mind.
Amongst the world’s aging actors
and artistes
there are people who use the word 【deterioration】
as an expression.
The media also creates a fuss by throwing around the word deterioration.

I think that are many who
give a lot of harsh critics about others’ looks
aside of their own faces.

Eh?
“Is GACKT-san deteriorating too?”
… you ask…

Hey hey!!
Don’t you start using words like deterioration.
Well,
because I’m aging,
the number of wrinkles have increased compared to the past.

But, y’know.
To age is not the same as to deteriorate.

In the first place,

the words【to mature】,
and the words【to pile up the years】,
originally have different meanings right?

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When we say【to mature】,
we remove the things we have to do
from all the “baggage” we’re responsible for
and leave them somewhere.
That’s why,
it is inevitable that with the reduced burdensome baggage,
you’ll first feel at ease.

But, if you realise
aren’t there many people who lose their spirit
when they leave even their【dreams】behind somewhere
within their important “baggage”?

To pile up the years,
is to do filing
for each of the “documents” that you’re responsible for
which have piled up on your desk.
The documents would have piled up like a mountain.
The things that you have to attend to will increase a lot.
That too comes year by year.

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But,
if everyday you read and arrange
those documents that have piled up,
when you realise what you have to take care of now,
and what you should do,
you will find skills and abilities that you never thought of when you were younger,
and a firm self-confidence that has been cultivated over the years
within yourself in overflowing amounts that you didn’t even know of.

That’s what it is right?

Indeed,
I’m 42 this year.

If youth is counted in numbers,
and winning is decided on how low your number is,
I would’ve lost.
If you think that more problems are captured as your age number goes up,
and that those who hold a younger age number are at an advantage,
that is probably true.

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But y’know,
if the actual results of the accumulation of experience per age
is switched with the age as a number,
I won’t lose to anyone in this.
I don’t feel like I can lose to others who have the same age number as me.

But that’s true right?
The large mass of experience that I have,
definitely exceeds the people who function at normal hours only.
Considering I sleep only 3 hours a day,
compared to anyone else,
I’ve definitely experienced more things.

And,
this I can frankly say.

I strive harder than anyone else.
Because I hate to lose.
To the extent where one will think I’ve got bats in the belfry,
I fight everyday like my life is on the line
with the thought deep in my heart that
I don’t even want to lose to a me who is even a tiny step ahead of myself.
I’m still like that even now.

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Exactly, that’s why.
I’m always building up.
I work hard and cultivate self-confidence and experience
onto my own weak mind.

And,
even if there are lots of unforeseen troubles coming up
from the irreplaceable experience that I get from there,
I can become much nicer to others too.
When you realise it, that’s how it’s become.

This is
even to the younger, sharpened me,
something that was quite unimaginable.

As you should know,
life doesn’t only have good things happening.
Instead,
you can even feel like
painful things happen more often than not.

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But, because of that,
it makes me want to deliver and create more
that can make people smile
and make them feel happy from within their hearts.
I’ve become abundant with ideas.

If this is included
in what we call my【deterioration】,
then I welcome being greatly deteriorated.

Furthermore,
instead of writing that I’m in【deterioration】
it’s more like I’m right in the midst of being in a fierce【full bloom】.
In the life of GACKT,
I can say with full confidence that right now I’m at the【strongest and craziest】time.

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Well then… I guess it’s time to return to work.

Though I think it won’t end until morning.
You should go to sleep soon too.
It would be nice to have good dreams.
I’ll see you in your dreams.

We’ll continue this conversation from there.

Good night.

GACKT

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Source: OH!! MY!! GACKT!!

Translation: GACKT ITALIA Team

© GACKT ITALIA