① Hirasawa will have shows in both Tokyo and Osaka from now on because Osaka show this time was successful.
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② Hirasawa wanted Wataru Kamiryo for both Osaka and Tokyo shows because of his advanced drumming skill, but Kamiryo was not available in July for Osaka show, so Ssho and Tazz, two Ejins, were invited as additional guest musicians.
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③ Tazz was the drummer in Osaka shows, and he tried to beat as many beats on the snare drum as possible in two nights, and everybody was sure that Kamiryo will complete having 90 thousand beats in Tokyo in October.
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④ In spite of the thorough planning about the count of drum beats by Hirasawa and the guest musicians, the number of beats were short by 4000 when their last song began on the last day of the show. 4000 beats were the equivalent of 4 songs or more, which seemed impossible to be done in one song. However, Kamiryo’s great effort made it possible and they finally had 90 thousand beats.
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⑤ The dressing rooms at Studio Coast in Tokyo. There was a huge gorgeous dressing room with gorgeous couches, sofas, kitchen and even a Jacuzzi bath. But Hirasawa hated its bad taste, and he let Kamiryo, Ssho and Tazz use it. Hirasawa used a very small staff room as his dressing room.
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⑥ Robot cameras. Hirasawa had his acu puncture doctor who used to be a robot engineer, make robot cameras to shoot his shows. The first model was used in Osaka and Tokyo shows, which moved along the white line on the stage. The second model is being made now, which will move around along the laser beam, instead of the while line.
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⑦ Question: How were the drum beats counted and displayed on the monitor? : A: the sensor called Roland Single Trigger RT-30H was used. It catches even very delicate beats. The signal from the drum sensor is sent to the machine called Roland Trigger Module TM-2, and the signal turns into MIDI signal, which is sent to the LED monitor on the stage.
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⑧ Question: Why was the movie played on the second and the third days of the shows in Tokyo? A: It was the movie from the memorial package card from Osaka show. It shows the story that Hirasawa gets permission to expand the drumming parts so he will be able to achieve 90,000 beats by the end of Tokyo shows. Because Kamiryo had to do more drumming than the original songs by adding the additional solo drum parts, Hirasawa decided to play the movie in the middle of the show to give Kamiryo have some time to rest.
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⑨ Question: The Ninth Mandala show seems to have a lot of Japanese things, like Ssho meaning "pine tree", Tazz meaning "crane bird", which are the symbols of health and long life in Japan. Also, Mr. Kamiryo was wearing a Hakama (the Japanese flared pants-like garment that goes with men’s kimono). And Mr. Hirasawa’s flared pants looked like hakama, too. Did you want to make a change from your previous shows and to have Japanese feeling in this time’s show? A: I haven’t changed anything. I didn’t think like, “OK, This time’s theme is Japan” or something. I have always had Japanese philosophy in my music. This time, Mr. Kamiryo had hakama (because he usually wears it on his stage with his band, NeoBallad, who plays Japanese traditional folk songs in rock arrangement), and he wanted to wear it, and I agreed with it. He looked very nice in the outfit.
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⑩ Question: About Ssho and Tazz. Aren’t they hot in those masks? Can they see very well in those masks? A: They are not wearing masks. Those are their real heads. They, Ejin, are sub-species of humans, who are more advanced than us. Please don’t say to them something rude like, “Can you take your masks off?” or something.
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⑪ Question: What kind of concept does the new song “The Ninth Mandala” released for free on the last day of the Tokyo show have? A: It contains some parts of “Cyborg” played reverse. I used it to connect the first song of the show, “Cyborg” to the last song, “The Ninth Mandala”. It is the idea of having something like Uroboros.
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⑫ Question: What did you drink in the dressing room? A: Coffee and green tea served by the catering lady.
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⑬ Question: What do you hear through your ear monitors? A: I hear the music track, and the clicks to count the timing to start the song. But I can’t hear the voices or the noise in the audience’s floor.
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⑭ Question: Are there any difference in the new chemical-polished EVO and the old EVO? A: The specs and the the sound are the same as the original EVO, though the EVO I usually use, the aluminum, frosted silver color EVO, has different specs and sound from the origianal EVO.
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⑮ Question: Did you do any exercise during the shows which you usually do everyday? A: I did breathing exercise and the autogenic training, a kind of meditation, every day, even during the show days.
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⑯ Question: What are the square instruments with buttons Ejin were playing? A: They are Novation Launchpad used by TAZZ, and Ableton Push 2 used my SSHO. They are like keyboards arranged in squares. The difference from ordinary keyboards is they can have blinking lights on them, and also can be used as software controllers.
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⑰ Question: Why didn't the laser harp irradiate laser beams over the audience this time (like it did at Nomonos and Imium live show)? A: Because I have only the half laser modules than before, having one of the two out of order, and it is difficult to order a new one from overseas because of various reasons concerning trade regulations.
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⑱ Question: Why did you play the same songs on all shows, with just changing the orders of the songs? Also why did you choose more songs from "White Tiger Field" and "The Man Climbing the Hologram" than other albums? A: Because we had to keep track of the number of the snare drum beats, it was easy to count them, having the same songs on all shows. Also, I chose the songs with a lot of drum beats to achieve 90,000 beats, like Cyborg and Parade. And then I chose the songs to go well with these songs, and I had the final set list consequently.
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⑲ Question: I admire your beautiful hand movement when you play the laser harp. What are the songs in which you liked your hand movement the most? A: I liked the hand movements in "DUSToid" and "Logic Air Force" in other live shows. In those days, I was trying to do interesting hand movements. However, I have simplified the movements nowadays. Usually, I play the laser harp strings in the same order in all songs, only changing which hand to use so it would look like I have different hand movement every time.
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⑳ Question: Did you purchase any new equipment? A: Yes, I did. I had bought two stands for the Button controllers SSHO and TAZZ were using. But actually I bought parts from different products and assembled them. And nobody knew how to assemble them but me, which made Mr. Matsumura, the stage director mad at me.
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(21) Who made the huge Mandala on the wall of the stage? A: Mr. Matsumura, the stage director, ordered it to a stage art designer.
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(22) Mr. Matsumura was doing something in front of the laser harp during the Tokyo show. What was he doing? A: I am not sure, but he said one of the laser beams was irradiating TAZZ's Launchpad and glaring, so he wanted to fix it.
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(23) Why did you have a long interval (3 months) between Osaka (July, 2017) shows and Tokyo shows (October, 2017)? A: During these several years, it is very difficult to reserve concert halls in Tokyo because most concert halls are being renovated or rebuilt to prepare for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics in 2020. That's why we had a long interval between Osaka and Tokyo shows.
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(24) What does the name "The Ninth Mandala/Dai-kyu(9) Mandala" come from? A: The word "Kyu-man/ninety-thousand/90,000" reminded me of "Kyu-mandala", and I thought it would be nice to put "Dai/第/Number/The ...th" before it. "Mandala" (a spiritual and ritual symbol in Hinduism and Buddhism, representing the universe ) reminded me of the philosophy that doesn't put the importance of life in physically and materially achieving something, so I thought it fits my way of thinking that I don't think I should be praised for having 90 hundred twitter followers as if I have achieved something. Also, when I asked my friends what they thought about this concert title, they all said it was cool, because none of them thought religion was something uncool.
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(25) He showed a short movie recorded by the small camera called GoPro attached to his guitar, while he was performing the "Destroy" guitar performance.
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(26) Question: The stage lighting was very beautiful. Did you give some instructions to the lighting plan? A: I left most of the responsibility of lighting to the chief of the lighting team. One request I made this time was not to use the pinspot lights. Pinspot lights are effective to have the audience's attention to one performer, but the face exposed to the pinspot light would look flat with no shades when you look at the DVD of the concert. So I asked them to do without it. The outcome was splendid.
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(26) Question: Did you go back to your hotel right after the show? Did you have a party with the guest musicians and your staff after the last show? A: I don't attend an after show party. I let my staff have a party or dinner after the middle day because after the last day, they would be busy because they have to clean up everything and load the equipment back to the vehicle. I don't like after-show parties.
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(27) Question: Did TAZZ use his silent violin as an ordinary violin, or a MIDI controller? A: He played it as an ordinary electric violin, not as a MIDI controller. But he might have been using the Octaver effector to make the violin sound an octave lower.
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(28) Question: What do Ejin, SSHO and TAZZ, eat? A: They eat Motsu-nikomi( simmered beef giblets ).
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(29) Question: I love the songs played at the concert hall before the show. Who selects those songs? A: The Background music played before the show were picked by Mr. Rihito Yumoto, a Chaos Union staff.
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(30) Question: What was going to happen if you didn't have 90 thousand drum beats? A: We were going to play same songs again and again until we reach 90 thousand.
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(31) Question: Can we see Ejin, SSHO and TAZZ, again? A: I want to ask them to perform again with me some time in the future.
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(32) Question: Why did you wear the same wrap pants which were sold as concert goodies? A: That's a misunderstanding. It's the other way around. I had my stage outfit made by a designer. And one day, the designer suggested one of the staff at Chaos Union that they could manufacture the same flare pants as concert goodies, and the staff decided to sell them. So I was like, "Why did you decide to sell my stage outfit to the fans?"
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(32) Question: Tell me about the new guitar. A: Yes, I had a new guitar made. It will be disclosed with the photo to promote my upcoming new album.
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