An interview with the vocalist Ryutaro from the band Plastic Tree, on the show ‘Hotwave’. I’m afraid I’m not sure what year this interview is, but I think it’s a little old. If anyone could fill me in with that I’d be grateful
In this clip, Ryutaro talks about the band’s recent activities at the time, his dislike for summer, as well as the male presenter’s obsession with Ryutaro’s appearance! To be honest there may not be that much content within the interview itself, but I think we get a better idea of Ryutaro’s reserved, but sweet character.

Enjoy!

Presenters: Good evening!
Ryutaro: (bows) Good evening!
*Male Presenter: Long time no see! It’s been about 6 months…?
[*continued as 'M Presenter']
Ryutaro: Yes. Long time no see!
M Presenter: As always, you have such beautiful skin.
Ryutaro: Oh no, I wouldn’t say that…!
*Female Presenter: (laughs) You do seem to take good care of your skin! (gestures to M Presenter’s half-empty beer glass) It’s going down well!
[*continued as 'F Presenter']
M Presenter: Ah, I drink really fast! Oh, where are the other 2 [members] today?
Ryutaro: The other 2 are…practising, I think.
M Presenter: They’re rehearsing?
Ryutaro: Yes.
M Presenter: What are they rehearsing for? Is it for a tour -
Ryutaro: – tour rehearsal, yes. We’ll be doing a tour soon, so.
M Presenter: Is it going well?
Ryutaro: Yes. We were supposed to start [rehearsing] from today, *so I’m joining them after this [show].
[*this could be a mistake due to my mishearing]
F Presenter: Oh, you’re going after this, then?
Ryutaro: Yeah.
M Presenter: Aside from your rehearsing for your tour, I heard from some secret source that you’ve also been composing…?
Ryutato: Oh yes, we have. I can’t believe you know, it’s very sneaky of you.
M Presenter: “Sneaky”? (laughs) Well, I’m afraid you can’t hide it now!
Ryutaro: No, I can’t!
M Presenter: What are you composing songs for?
Ryutaro: Ah, it is…for an [new] album.
M Presenter: What? An album?
Ryutaro: It’s for an album -
M Presenter: (to F Presenter) – we didn’t know anything about it, did we?
F Presenter: Oh, well I actually met Ryutaro the other day and he said they were currently recording – I actually knew a little bit of what was going on.
M Presenter: Does this mean that you’ll be releasing this album after you’ve f-fin-finished your tour? (stutters over words)
Ryutaro: Yes – (to M Presenter) are you ok [not too drunk]?
M Presenter: (laughs) I’m not that drunk, thank you for worrying!
Ryutaro: Well, the tour -
M Presenter: – you suddenly look prettier than before! [suggesting "beer googles"]
Ryutaro: Oh no no no! (small laugh) You look a little pink [flushed]! (laughter)
M Presenter: Sorry, where were we? Something’s going to happen after your tour?
Ryutaro: Yeah, we decided we wanted to release an album.
M Presenter: At last, an album. Around September?
Ryutaro: Yes, at the moment we’d like to plan on releasing it in September.
M Presenter: I know a lot [of information], don’t I?
Ryutaro: You really do, don’t you? Sneaky.
M Presenter: I apologise! Speaking of September – your NHK Hall gig, sold out!
Ryutaro: Yes.
F Presenter: It’s great, isn’t it? That their tickets got sold out so quickly!
Ryutaro: Yes. It did make us very happy.
M Presenter: How about you give a thank you message to your fans?
Ryutaro: Yes. (looks around) Which one [camera] is it? Oh, this one? (long pause) ….thank you very much (bows)
Presenters: (laughs)
F Presenter: That was very typical of you!
M Presenter: I was wondering what you were going to say -
Ryutaro: I thought I’d be straight to the point.
M Presenter: So during the summer you’ll be doing your tour across Japan?
Ryutaro: Yes. [our gig at] The NHK hall was actually decided beforehand. A lot of things happened with the band last year, but things have taken a new shape, so we thought we’re ready for a long tour. And we thought we’d try in the summer.
F Presenter: But you don’t like your summer, do you, Ryutaro? Didn’t you hate it?
Ryutaro: Hate? Hmmm…well, I’m not so good in it [the summer].
M Presenter: Cause your skin is so *beautifully pale, right?
[*the word he uses here is "bihaku" which literally is translated into Japanese has "Beautiful white (skin)", which although may sound odd in English, to have pale white skin is seen as beautiful in Japan and many Japanese women crave for it]
Ryutaro: What? …well, I don’t know if I’d say I have pale beautiful skin, but -
F Presenter: (to M Presenter) – that had nothing to do with it! (laughs)
Ryutaro: (laughs)
M Presenter: I just wondered if you get sun burnt.
Ryutaro: Ah…well I do avoid the sun.
M Presenter: Your skin also looks very smooth.
F Presenter: Ok, enough talk about skin!

F Presenter: The fact that you, Ryutaro, and Akira have gone blonde, and Tadashi has kept to his black hair gave me a sort of “fresh image” to your looks…
Ryutaro: Ah…well, people do change, I guess. In appearances!
F Presenter: What about changes to your character [personality]?
Ryutaro: I haven’t changed one bit. None of us [band members] have.
M Presenter: I sometimes meet with Ryutaro [and the other members] and go drinking, but they haven’t gone *big-headed at all. They’re very down to earth.
Ryutaro: Ah…it’s cause we have no reason to be *bigheaded! (laughs)
[*in the show, they all actually say "like this" and put their fists to their nose. This action in Japan means "to have a big nose", which is a symbol for someone who is very boastful or bigheaded]
M Presenter: That’s what’s great about you guys. Normally, if you’d been doing this [gaining popularity in the music industry] for a few years, it sometimes can’t be helped that you start to be come like that [bigheaded]…
Ryutaro: I see…but we really haven’t changed much at all. Even our topics of conversation haven’t changed.
M Presenter: When did you dye your hair again?
F Presenter: It was jet black for ages, wasn’t it? You were known as the one with the “Japanese-style black bob haircut” -
Ryutaro: I was, yes, for a long time.
M Presenter: When did you dye your hair this colour?
Ryutaro: Um…when was it now…
M Presenter: Has it been about a year?
Ryutaro: Ur…I’m starting to lose track of time these days! (small laugh) When was it again….
F Presenter: Wasn’t it around winter last year? When your hair was no longer black…? And slowly you started changing it from then.
Ryutaro: Well, I might end up dying it back to black again. Even I don’t know what could happen.
F Presenter: You [gestures to M Presenter] like Ryutaro’s pale skin, so you probably prefer him to have *black hair, don’t you?
[*jet black hair with pale white skin is seen as a sign of beauty in women, an image coming from the traditional, old days of edo-Japan]
M Presenter: Not particularly. I mean, I do, but I just noticed how his eyes sparkle (laughter)
Ryutaro: I mean – I think I said this last time as well – but you really say too much sometimes! (laughter)
M Presenter: Do I? I’m just saying exactly what’s on my mind! (laughs) I’m not *Ao!
Ryutaro: Ah…yeah! (laughs)
F Presenter: Was there any need to name names? (laughs) But he’s [*Ao] good friends with Ryutaro though, isn’t he?
M Presenter: Yes, you get on, don’t you?
Ryutaro: Yes, we’ve known each other for a long time.
M Presenter: I saw them do a photo-shoot together [for "G" magazine?], and it was fun watching them. They both had to face each other for one shot, in front of a low dining table -
Ryutaro: – oh yeah.
[*I think he means the guitarist Ao from the visual-kei band cali gari, as after doing a bit of research on the internet it appears that he has done quite a few photoshoots with Ryutaro for magazines. I could be wrong though!]
M Presenter: – and during that shot, they were both so embarrassed! Especially Ao! For us watching, it was really funny! (laughs)
F Presenter: Did you not get embarrassed, Ryutaro?
Ryutaro: Um -
M Presenter: – you were embarrassed at first though, but you beared it, as it was for a photo-shoot, didn’t you?
Ryutaro: – I did bear it, yes, I kept wiggling -
F Presenter: – so you wouldn’t laugh?
Ryutaro: Yeah.

F Presenter: Today’s guest was Ryutaro, thank you very much!
Ryutaro: Thank you very much.

Source: Hotwave, Youtube

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