In those days, animation and game are regarded as for children, and people who are absorbed in them called Otaku. They could not express how they loved animation and wear the T-shirts of animation characters. But we were instructed that they’re cool by overseas. One must be thankful that the event ‘TGNG’ made game and club culture unite was succeeded here in Japan. If the event like ‘TGNG’ was held in UK in advance and it reimported in Japan, it would be delayed the time when we have a proud of the things produced in Japan. Graphics and musics having an originality in Japan have increased since then. And 90’s were started in magazine, music, club, game, animation, etc.
(Nend Graphixxx who is popular in GASBOOK, etc. also participated in TGNG. They’d expressed T-shirts having motives as game and Buddhism, and does some epoch-marking events. I can remember a strange photo that a lot of video games are lined up and the man wearing the clothes of Sonic were walking around in club was carried on a magazine.)

“It was the time when there’s a boom of games in UK. An artist Simon Harris remixed Mario and Hypnotone were sampling Game Boy there. When I was wearing T-shirt of Sonic, Mr.Tajiri (Pocket Monster) came up to me and said, ‘It’s cool. Where can I get it?’. Then I came to work at his office Game Freak.”

The formula as Game(otaku) + Club(cool) would set creators at ease not only users. He settled at Game Freak that was just going to send Pocket Monster off to the world. He didn’t have to do with the development of Pocket Monster directly, but he must have let fresh air into the closed game business. He said that he absorbed a lot of things from Tajiri in some interviews. He had to do with the advertisement of a game ‘Pulse Man’, released CDs with Y. Sunahara (Denki Groove) and as a name of Sterero type that is a unit of Tajiri and him from Colombia, and he let Anarchic Adjustment produce T-shirts. Then his techno life was started.

“I had gone to club almost every week in those days. I’d met the same people every week. But we’d never talked each other though we’re dancing together. One day I had a chance to talk to them. There’re Takkyu Ishino, Mr.Noda, an eventer Mr.Nomura, CMJK, a manager Mr.Morikawa, Hiroishi and Kengo Watanabe. We talked why we cannot listen Japanese musics in club here in Japan. Almost all of techno musics played in club were German techno. Then we had a talk at the office ‘Disc Garage’ in the daytime, and it became the base of Frogman Records, then we came to release cds.”

He started his work as an organizer of Frogman Records and a writer. His friends and he let me know a lot of musics, graphics and informations in domestic and foreign. He collected his writings and succeeded in publishing a book ‘Generation-N’ having a hard time.

He also continues releasing albums with KEN-GO and creative users who support Frogman Records. As Frog Nation, he deals with some scenarios and stage setting of Cowboy Bebop (Jaming with Edward, etc. He’s now writing to a novel of the story and seems to be ready for a remix cd with the director.) As for games, he has to do with producing and writing scenarios of ‘R4-Ridge Racer’ and ‘Ace Combat3 Electro Sphere’. And he started writing a serial novel ‘Beat Perminutes’ in the literary magazine ‘WESTLAND vol.1’ edited by Jinsei Tsuji and Shigeo Gotoh.

The impression that only people who felt the club culture in realtime can know is writed with great care in the novel. And it proves that beat surely existed in 90’s through a viewpoint of a Japanese DJ leaving for overseas.

Ace Combat3 Electro Sphere. © 1999 NAMCO LTD.
It’s the latest product of ‘ACE COMBAT’ series. It took over the good point from the last one and aims to be multi-mission and multi-story that the decision of players changes the story. I really look forward it because the graphics of the morning glow in ‘R4-RIDGE RACER TYPE 4’ is so beautiful .

“There’re three factor as ‘GUNDAM’, ‘XEVIOUS’ and ‘YMO’. That’s all for me and they’re my origins. The common grounds of them are pop, underground and having a lot of setting on the behind. All of then are in common with my present interests.”

He realizes various great artworks that he has been got until now firsthand, and he’s going to respect for them with his works. Today we’ve got a network. It means the environment that we can respect each other wherever we live is completed. We’re collaborating with a greeting traveling all over the world beyond the times. There’re huge information in Tokyo, so we sometimes lost what is good or bad. In such situation, he takes the target of his interests firmly and surely digests them. I felt there’re plenty of things we should to follow in his attitude.