sugizo post this on face book
talking about his book
My first book in some time, SUGIZO: Half a Stormy Lifetime of a Man Loved by Music, went on sale on April 14. The rather grandiose title is somewhat embarrassing, but I think it turned out to be a very interesting book and I hope you try reading it. In order to show what kind of book it is, I’ll post the preface as is below.
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It’s been 14 years since I published my last book like this in 1997. Furthermore, the work gathering information for that book was done several years before that. In other words, for a long time I refused to disclose any more of my interior self or daily life. I also continued being significantly transformed over and over during this long period. I experienced numerous successes and frustrations, my overseas activities increased remarkably, I was married and divorced, was blessed with a child, and lived through a cycle of various positive and negative things. I came to close my heart in a different way than I had during my twenties. For the past seven or eight years especially, I’ve lived in such a way that I shut myself out from the exterior world. Perhaps music was the only way that I opened my heart to the outside.
At least, that’s how things were until publishing this book. It is not an autobiography; I definitely haven’t reached a level at which I could publish an autobiography, and I’m always wondering who would even be interested in or want to read about the half a lifetime of one rock musician, or hear his private anecdotes. Furthermore, for a long time I wasn’t interested in looking back at the past or putting myself forward any more.
Having received passionate entreaties from many people including writer Hiroko Yamamoto and the staff at Kodansha, I decided to publish this book after long and careful consideration. For the past few years I’ve been expressing my intentions and will on my blog and wasn’t at all interested in revealing my private life, so at first I didn’t see any need to put out a book of my own. But over several years my reason for expressing myself has changed gradually, probably since LUNA SEA’s One Night Déjàvu concert in 2007. I would like to convey this to posterity, having changed from my past way of being in which everything was about my expressions and announcements of my existence, and to share my experiences. I no longer think that arrogantly craving the limelight is a beautiful thing. The road up until that point was full of twists and turns that can’t be explained in a simple way, so I’ve put the details in my book. Right now I strongly think that it would be very meaningful if these experiences I’ve built up over more than 40 years of living could provide even the slightest support for somebody’s life.
Nothing would make me happier than if something within me could serve as wisdom to help illuminate the future of people younger than me, become a positive incentive that provides energy to people older than me, or serve as a bridge with foreign countries. That’s how I’ve come to understand the reason for me and my expressions to exist. I’m still right in the middle of learning and growing, but I would be honored if you could feel my current view of life and sense of spirituality from this book. It would also be wonderful if at the age of 60 I’ve become the type of person who can be of use to the world, even with one autobiography.