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Taiji on the hide summit

Sirimono · 5708

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Offline Sirimono

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on: May 05, 2008, 07:11:38 PM
You people all know his blog, now go and translate for me what he says about it!!!

I think it's pretty sweet that he went there... and he's doing the proper cool way of attending to such. Being in the celebrety lounge, enjoying food and Kirin beer (which i've tried and even as German I must say, it's awesome)



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Offline Hollywood

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Reply #1 on: May 05, 2008, 07:34:06 PM
My friend is pretty busy these days, but I'll see if he has time to translate it... though if someone else wants to translate, that's cool, don't feel like you need to wait on my friend. :P

By the way, according to my friend, Dynamite Tommy says (in the Attitude blog) that he dragged Taiji there against Taiji's will, and Tommy thinks that Taiji seemed to be thinking of hide while he was there.

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Offline merle

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Reply #2 on: May 05, 2008, 08:57:54 PM
Taiji says that he could see guys from Ladies and Tokyo Yankees, speaking of "old good time"..



Offline verisimilitude

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Reply #3 on: May 06, 2008, 12:29:39 AM
My Japanese skills aren't great enough to provide a verbatim translation I'd feel comfortable posting, but besides what was mentioned earlier, he basically says:

He went with Tommy "by chance" (basically corroborating that he was dragged, lol).  He was able to pray for HIDE's happiness in the next life, and participate in saying "Thank you."

Afterward, he went out to eat with Tommy and they talked about the future.  He says it was a day he will never forget.

And then he just basically just thanks everyone.



Offline Sirimono

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Reply #4 on: May 06, 2008, 05:35:54 PM
Quote from: "verisimilitude"
My Japanese skills aren't great enough to provide a verbatim translation I'd feel comfortable posting, but besides what was mentioned earlier, he basically says:

He went with Tommy "by chance" (basically corroborating that he was dragged, lol).  He was able to pray for HIDE's happiness in the next life, and participate in saying "Thank you."

Afterward, he went out to eat with Tommy and they talked about the future.  He says it was a day he will never forget.

And then he just basically just thanks everyone.


thank you for that. well I wouldn't really have wanted to go in his place either... but it's nice that he did it anyway and kinda enjoyed it, it seems



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Offline Brusiiri

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Reply #5 on: May 06, 2008, 05:39:52 PM
I don't know if this is the right thread to ask but I'm gonna ask anyway.

Are Taiji and Yoshiki still feuding about the same thing that led Taiji's departure from X? Musicaldifferences and breaking into US. Could someone elaborate.


Offline Hollywood

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Reply #6 on: May 06, 2008, 06:11:18 PM
Quote from: "Brusiiri"
I don't know if this is the right thread to ask but I'm gonna ask anyway.

Are Taiji and Yoshiki still feuding about the same thing that led Taiji's departure from X? Musicaldifferences and breaking into US. Could someone elaborate.

My take on it:
I doubt that it's a "hot" feud anymore, but I also doubt that they're very good friends or would purposely seek out each other's company.

In his autobiography, Taiji seems to have mixed feelings about Yoshiki.  When they met at hide's funeral-- this was after Taiji's homeless years-- Yoshiki paid for Taiji's expensive dental reconstruction (he was missing four front teeth and couldn't properly move his jaw), and though Taiji seems extremely and genuinely grateful for that, elsewhere in his book the "mixed feelings" are pretty obvious.  (And for a guy as proud as Taiji, I can imagine that-- while I'm sure he is truly grateful-- it might be somewhat humiliating as well to appear before the guy who kicked you out of the band while in that kind of condition, and then have to rely on his charity to get it fixed.)

There's also an interview with Taiji and Shu (Cloud Nine guitarist) on JRR where Taiji is very clear that he sees X and X Japan as two different things, and considers himself a part of X but not of X Japan.  Possibly also relevant is how, in the same interview, Taiji and Shu are very clear about not being visual kei... keep in mind that Yoshiki lately is involved with a lot of visual bands.

And of course, he didn't perform at the hide memorial summit.  Whether Yoshiki didn't invite him, or whether Yoshiki DID invite him but Taiji said no-- either way, it seems that lingering "issues" between them are likely.  And I can think of a lot of reasons both for Yoshiki to not want to invite Taiji, and for Taiji to not want to go.  (Can you imagine being an opening act for the band you were kicked out of?  Ouch.)

And now there's this blog post, where Taiji would not have gone to the hide memorial summit if it weren't for his friend Dynamite Tommy, and in my opinion what Taiji DOESN'T say in this post is at least as interesting as what he DOES say.  He doesn't mention a single word about X Japan.  He talks about how great it was to see his old friends from Ladies Room and Tokyo Yankees-- but no mention of meeting up with any X Japan members.  I'm going to assume that means he didn't, since if he did, it seems that he would have mentioned it.

Ah, sorry this got so long.  It's (obviously :P) a topic I find interesting.

Anyway.  Personally, I see no evidence of a hot feud, but I see a lot of mixed and likely complex feelings, and a lot to indicate that they have gone their separate ways and will probably keep it that way.

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Offline Brusiiri

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Reply #7 on: May 06, 2008, 06:22:01 PM
Quote from: "Hollywood"
Ah, sorry this got so long. It's (obviously Razz) a topic I find interesting.

Not at all  :D

Thanks. You mentioned a lot of things that I didn't know and they help me to understand better this Taiji-Yoshiki relationship.


Offline Zwanster

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Reply #8 on: May 06, 2008, 08:18:18 PM
Pretty interesting stuff, I think its quite sad that there isn't much connection between Taiji and Yoshiki but I guess it's to be expected what with whats going on. I always wondered whethered Taiji kept in touch with Pata though, I don't really know why, just thought it was a possibility.



Offline Sirimono

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Reply #9 on: May 06, 2008, 08:39:32 PM
@ Babak

I don't know if this is the autobiography hollywood means, but this is a translation of a book Taiji's written about X stuff, especially hide, I think ^^;

Link

"The face of a beautiful angel and the face of a grieving devil. I believe that those two faces, so hard to live with, make up the human being that is Yoshiki."

"Our Oyabun (Yakuza boss)! Our boss! The fastest drummer ever! Gripping us all!" (source)

about the topic: I mostly agree with Hollywood.
I actually was kinda thinking of Yoshiki and Taiji living in a... friendly ignorance to eachother.
I think they sorted the old problems out, but I don't think that they will ever get over it and i don't think they want...



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Offline Hollywood

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Reply #10 on: May 06, 2008, 08:54:56 PM
Oh, thanks guys, glad you found it interesting. :)  (And by the way, I want to make it really clear that the conclusions I drew are just my own theories, based on the "evidence" I listed there.  I'm not Yoshiki or Taiji and I can't really know what they think of each other, etc.)

Quote from: "Babak"
If you ever got some time to waste, would you ever consider wasting it on writing a quick summary of what Taiji wrote about X Japan (and it's members)?

Sure!  If you don't mind, I'm going to err on the side of caution and say too little rather than too much, since he wrote a LOT on the subject-- also because I haven't yet managed to read the whole thing.
So, with that said...
hide: Taiji was REALLY impressed by hide, to an extent that sounds nearly worshipful at times.  He seems to think that he could never be as cool, great, etc. as hide was.
Yoshiki: Complex, mixed feelings.  He's critical of Yoshiki at times, though also seems in some ways impressed by him, sometimes at the same time.  It seems to be a love-hate thing, and he talks about how Yoshiki is a combination of some very good points and some very bad points.
Pata: He says that Pata was his complete opposite, pretty much because Pata was calm and didn't argue.  Unless the Yomiuri Giants (baseball team) lost a game, in which case Pata would be in a terrible mood.
Toshi: Uh... haven't yet attempted to read (nor have any friends explained to me) the Toshi part yet, sorry.  But apparently Toshi was X's treasurer and money manager in their indies days.
X: X meant A LOT to Taiji.  He gets very nostalgic over their early days and the good times they had together, etc.  (I think this is also corroborated by his comments about X in the JRR interview.)

EDITED TO ADD:

@Sirimono, yeah, that's the autobiography I meant. :)

@Zwanster, I know what you mean about Pata, and he does seem to be in touch with Pata at least, since they appear together in some kind of promotion clip for the upcoming "Attitude" movie.  Camicat can tell you more though, she knows more about Attitude than I do.

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Offline VioletCamicat

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Reply #11 on: May 06, 2008, 10:42:00 PM
Oh, actually I don't know that much about ATTITUDE either.
What I know is, that Taiji is the music director or something like that for this movie. Yeah and he's hanging around a lot with Tommy now because of this.
Well, at least he's not alone, haha!

As for the Taiji x issue: All in all I think I see it the same way Hollywood explained it here. I don't think that Yoshiki and Taiji are enemies. I'd guess they just don't know why to do stuff together and what to talk about.
There are times in life when one should let the past rest and take more care for the future. This all has been a hard time for Taiji back in the 90s - I think he wants to have that chapter closed now.

Naturally I'm not him - I also can just guess. I just think that he doesn't feel very comfortable with the fact, that so many people still only see his X time. For some reason some people keep reducing him on this time which is now over since nearly the half of his life.

mod mode

And out of the chaos I heard a voice telling me:
"Smile and be happy - it could have become worse!"
So I smiled and was happy... and it became worse


Offline nage

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Reply #12 on: May 06, 2008, 10:59:54 PM
I'm going to read the biography too. It seems to be really interesting. Thank you!


May X be with you!


Offline 003chan

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Reply #13 on: May 06, 2008, 11:05:51 PM
I would say it's a "must-read". The best source of information is the one those information are about, isn't it?  :lol:  :wink:  It's very interesting to see things from the perspective of somebody, who was really there...  :wink:  Bad is that the translation isn't complete  :(



Offline Hollywood

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Reply #14 on: May 06, 2008, 11:06:00 PM
Quote from: "VioletCamicat"
There are times in life when one should let the past rest and take more care for the future. This all has been a hard time for Taiji back in the 90s - I think he wants to have that chapter closed now.

Naturally I'm not him - I also can just guess. I just think that he doesn't feel very comfortable with the fact, that so many people still only see his X time. For some reason some people keep reducing him on this time which is now over since nearly the half of his life.

Yeah, totally agree with all this.

I have to say, though, that his continued association with X is slightly his own fault, in a way-- or at least, it was a few years ago.  His autobiography is named after X (Densetsu no BANDO X no Sei to Shi = The Life and Death of the Legendary Band X), and a very large portion of it is about X.  And his photobook that came out shortly after it had "X's former bassist" (in Japanese) on the cover and spine.

BUT...  those books were 7 or 8 years ago, and at the time I'm sure he couldn't have foreseen an X Japan reunion and people incessantly commenting in his blog about how he should (re)join them. :roll:  I agree, he seems to want to close the X chapter and move on-- and good for him.

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Offline Sirimono

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Reply #15 on: May 06, 2008, 11:29:30 PM
yeah you're right about that hollywood. The books are quite long ago.
Writing books like that usually help you to get over the certain aspects to write about.
With writing down what he felt and feels about X he could finally draw a line.
I guess he'd write differently about it now, after all the years that have passed and what happened to him (he was quite young and X was for them all a big dream)

But just because time has passed and people have grown... i don't think that what he wrote then was meaningless. It shows what he felt about the people and the band itself and I hope he didn't have to think much more about it after finally putting that down on paper anymore.



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Offline Hollywood

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Reply #16 on: May 08, 2008, 11:16:59 PM
OK, this is late because my friend has been busy lately, but he finally translated the Taiji blog entry about the hide memorial summit.  He's not fluent, so READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.  (I think it's nice of him to bother doing it at all.)  But he's better than Babelfish at least. :P

Quote from: "Hollywood's Friend"

A late friend’s memorial, and...


Because of the longtime musical director’s job and
due to unexpected chance, he ended up bringing me along to HIDE’s death anniversary.

And so together with Tommy-chan
I was able to face HIDE’s memorial
I felt as though I would be moved to tears

[photo of Taiji & co. watching the show]

Although we steadily continue on,
HIDE’s time has ended...


Ladies, Yankees, etc.
I was thankful for being able to have a rendezvous with these guys from the old times

[photo of Taiji with Ladies Room and Tokyo Yankees]

For a number of reasons, I believe in Tommy-chan
Having been able to come this far, as we prayed for HIDE’s happiness in the next world
We wanted to tell him “thank you”

After that I ate with Tommy-chan
And we talked together about the future
It was very long, and it became a day I will never forget in my whole life

[photo of sky]


Thank you everyone, starting with Tommy-chan
The people I call my circle of friends are truly great guys

[photo of Taiji and friends]


Sawada Taiji

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Offline VioletCamicat

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Reply #17 on: May 09, 2008, 12:53:03 AM
:shock: Thank you very much for posting this!!!

Nice how Tommy sais, that he dragged Taiji there against his will and that Taiji sais he somehow managed to make up some time for it. :P That proud guy - of course he'd never write "Tommy-chan forced me!"

Well, I think he doesn't regret having been there. Seems he's very happy about having been able to meet some old friends and having had a good time with them (when I may belive the photos, they had a good time :P).

mod mode

And out of the chaos I heard a voice telling me:
"Smile and be happy - it could have become worse!"
So I smiled and was happy... and it became worse


Offline Sirimono

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Reply #18 on: May 09, 2008, 01:48:04 PM
Thank you and your friend so much for this!! It actually moved me to tears...



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Offline Hollywood

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Reply #19 on: May 09, 2008, 06:04:54 PM
You're very welcome, glad you guys enjoyed it (and I'll tell my friend thanks from you too). :)

Yeah, he does seem like he had a good time with his friends, huh?  I'm glad he ended up enjoying the day so much.

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