"Who wants to listen to a song about real life happiness?" Yasuyuki Okamura says when he sings about love.

It's not artificial, and maybe I try not to be. It's hard to explain, because 99% of the time I focus on whether something feels right to me. I write the music first, and then I put the lyrics on paper, otherwise it doesn't feel real.

Lyrics are the hardest part. I often write for other people as part of my production work, but I tend to find it easier to write if I have a clear theme in mind, such as the image the other person has or what they're looking for.

I've gotten into the habit of making it late at night. I definitely can't make it in the morning or afternoon because I'm not in the mood for it.

There isn't a single song that was easy, and I have a special attachment to each and every one of them.

No, I've never really understood it, and I feel like I'm lost. I don't know why, but I think there's something about the few songs that various people have covered that they can relate to.

I think Yuming's "A HAPPY NEW YEAR" is a wonderful love song, and Seiko Matsuda Matsuda are also wonderful. There are many songs written by women that resonate with men as well, so I guess the female and male brains have nothing to do with lyrics.

I don't know much about the lyrics of modern love songs, so I don't know for sure, but in the past, there were no cell phones, let alone answering machines, so I feel like romantic feelings, such as feelings for people, desire to meet someone, and passion, were stronger than they are now.

Nowadays, you can contact anyone instantly with your cell phone, and you can look up anything using AI and get an answer instantly, so I think people have less time to agonize alone or to digest what others are saying. It's not just romantic relationships, but human emotions in general are becoming less intense.

Isn't it because there are so many songs about protagonists who don't have it all right? Who wants to listen to songs about being happy because their love is fulfilled, or happy to be married, or happy to have a child, or happy to spend their days off at the sports club and their evenings camping outside with friends?

That may be true. I want to know what other people are thinking, and I talk to a lot of different people, listen to what they have to say, study, and try to gain a lot of knowledge. I've always had a strong sense of curiosity.