Translation – 「Mouse Peace 2024 ~Garyuu Tensei~ 」pamphlet – Ueda Tatsuya
1st section
-
Build the body
If there was one thing I had to say about the
process of building my body, that would be persistence. I definitely keep doing
what I decided I have to do.
I might appear as someone who strictly builds his own body, but I basically have no awareness of that. This is why it’s difficult for me when I get offers from tv programs and others asking me to “tell them how to body building”. The reason why I’m not particularly fussy about it is that I don’t really have any intention of building my body to begin with. The only reason why I exercise is because I “want to become stronger” /laugh/. I eat whatever I want as much as I want, and I absolutely don’t restrain myself from eating oily things. If you hold back when you feel like “I want to eat this”, then there’s no fun about it, right? I don’t like that. For this, I think I might surprisingly get bad results if I were to go for a physical examination /laugh/. I even haven’t ever taken any protein at all till now, but my trainer at the gym recently recommended them to me, so I started thinking I might as well try them. That’s really all about it, I don’t really worry about anything -related to it-. If there was one thing I had to say about the process of building my body, that would probably be persistence. If you were to ask me what’s great about myself, wouldn’t that be it? I definitely keep doing what I decided I have to do.
Well, also about this, the greatest thing of all this is that exercise has become my job. When I was in my 20s, I exercised with the purpose of becoming a pro boxer; but, when I entered my 30s, I was guesting in Honoo no Taiiku-kai, and I was in a position where I never knew what they’d ask me to do at anytime /laugh/; for the time being, I’m just trying not to lose my stamina. And, even now, I keep doing it; I feel like it’s something ingrained in my body. However, I really think it’s a great thing to continue exercising. Because you will develop will-power, you will also become mentally stronger, and also have more flexibility. I really think that there’s no doubt about it.
Something I do from time to time is military
combat sport. When my schedule is empty, and only limited to when I have room
in my mind for that.
The exercises I currently do are boxing and gym. I
usually do it with a frequency of 2 or 3 times a week, and most of times it’s
also 4 times. For example, when I go exercise 3 times a week, I would do boxing
twice a week, and gym twice, that’s more or less how I distribute it. When I
was in my 20s, since my goal was to become a pro boxer, I practiced so hard I
could die, but now my strength is not as intense as it was. Hence, I’m
preserving my stamina doing it at a level where I can still do the things I’ve
been doing so far. I also run at the gym, and also do HIIT (high intensity
interval training). I think it’d be good if I could still be able to train the
same way I used to train in my 30s.
Another thing I sometimes do is military combat sports. I only do this when my
schedule is empty and restrict it to when I have room in my mind for that.
Unlike boxing, it’s more practical, I mean, more like a fight, like on the
streets; you’re to be poked in the eyes from the very beginning /laugh/. There
are rankings in military combat sports, and I gained belts to a certain extent.
But, before that, you need to take around 200 classes and take tests, so for
now I’m settling at this level.
There are many exercises I’d like to try in the future… I’ve already done quite
a bit, though. When I think about work, I feel like I rather must hold back,
though. If I were to say what kind of work could come out from exercises, it’d
be something related to action, right? Because I’m already quite capable of
doing it. If that’s the case, though, I’d go for something different… for
example, I think it’d be way better if I focused on English. In the future, I
want to do it like so: I hope I can shift to something a bit different from
exercising.
2nd section
-
Talk about private life
In my private life, I spend half of my time
confined at home, and half of it going out. I think it’s a bit of a waste to
always stay at home.
In my private time, I either exercise, or eat out, and
if I have two days off, I go to the onsen, and stuff like that. When I’m at
home, I like to idly play with my phone, or watch videos on subscription
services; but I also think that it’s a bit of a waste to stay at home all the
time, so I also try to go out once in a while. I balance it spending half of my
time confined at home, and half of it going out. I spend half of that time with
friends, and the other half alone. I invite my friends, and if their schedules
are empty, we’d hang out; if they’re busy, I’ll just go out by myself. The
other day, I went to watch THE FIRST SLAM DUNK with a friend. The movie was fun, and the
act itself of going to the cinema was so much fun for the first time in a
while. This is a digression, but when I tried to stop my car close to the
cinema, there was a woman who was having a hard time parking, so my friend and
I guided her. It felt really good to help somebody, but the next day I went
through the same thing. I was stuck in a situation where I was in a narrow
parking lot, and I couldn’t neither go forth nor go back, and the person in the
car behind me helped me. I realised that what comes around goes around,
so I decided to always be kind with people from now on /laugh/.
But you know. To begin with, I’m not really the type of person who absolutely
wants private time. It’s absolutely okay for me if I’m packed with work and
have no private time. In fact, it’s better like that. That’s because I’m not
good at having time off. But I do think it’s tough to be so busy I can’t sleep.
When I was filming the drama Setsuyaku Rock, I only slept 2-3 hours per
night, and it was hell /laugh/. My ideal way of spending time would be to keep
myself busy every day, but still guarantee I get enough sleep.
Living with my pet dog has become so natural for
me that, even if we can’t communicate with words, we can still understand each
other.
Living with my pet dog Chibi has… become so natural
that, I don’t get it, but it’s like living with a person. Of course, I can’t
communicate with her using words like I would with a human being, but I feel
like we understand each other. I think she can understand me, because, when
there are times I feel really bad about something, she always approaches me.
Even the other time when I got sick, she came close to me, and it felt like she
was asking “Are you okay?”. I believe she has a kind personality. I’ve never
seen her angry either, and she hardly barks, and she doesn’t dislike anything
that’s done to her. I can even lift her high like in the Lion King, while she’s
sleeping on her back, she still won’t oppose. She won’t move, she’ll just
directly stretch out as she is being lifted. She’s like “Go ahead” /laugh/.
Ah, but there’s one thing she doesn’t like, and that’s going for walks. After
walking for about a minute, she just stops, and be like “I want to go home”.
So, our walks’ style is basically: I lift her up and walk for a while, then put
her down again and let her walk; however, that’s something weird about her as
she doesn’t like to go on walks, but still wants to go out /laugh/. Whenever
I’m going somewhere, she insists like “Take me with you!”, but when I actually
do take her with me, I have to carry her, and she starts shaking when I try to
put her in the car; that’s a part of her I don’t really get /laugh/. Also,
she’s a real glutton. If I was dying, and someone said “Food!”, she’d probably
just go there /laugh/. Lately, she started to noticeably gain weight.
3rd section
-
40 questions, 40 answers
Q.1 – What’s
your favourite motto?
- An eye for eye, and a tooth
for a tooth
Q.2 – Are you
a soba type? Or udon? Or pasta?
- Soba
Q.3 – What’s
something you often cook?
- Oden.
I also add the ingredients.
Q.4 – What’s
your favourite ingredient in onigiri?
- Okaka (T/N: finely
chopped katsuobushi)
Q.5 – What’s
your favourite ingredient for miso soup?
- I like both tofu and wakame,
and I also like shijimi (T/N: basket clam)…
But clams are the thing I love the most, I guess.
Q.6 – What’s
something you mutter to yourself at times?
- “Shit”
That’s the kind of thing I’d mutter /laugh/.
Q. 7 – What’s
the most precious memory you have?
- Eh~? I dunno. There’s just
too many, I dunno. But I’m grateful to the fans.
Q.8 – What’s
the scariest thing in the world?
- Well, people, I guess.
Q.9 – What’s
your charm point?
- I don’t have a double face.
Q.10 – What’s
your weak point?
- I don’t have a double face.
Q.11 – If you
had the “anywhere door”, where would you go?
- If I had it for myself?
Then, I could go anywhere in the world, including workplaces.
Wouldn’t it be super
convenient?
Q. 12 –
What’s the secret to your beautiful skin?
- Eh? What? Beautiful skin?
Isn’t it exercise?
Q.13 – What
pet would you like to keep other than your dog?
- An orca.
Q.14 – What’s
the book you read the most?
- There are so many, I dunno.
I can’t narrow it down to only one. Is it good even if I choose two?
“Kyou kara ore wa!!” and
“Kamereon”.
Q.15 – If you
were to be reincarnated, what would you be?
- I want to go be in an isekai
(T/N: different dimension. It’s pretty popular in anime, manga and games).
It’s popular at the moment, isn’t it?
Then, I’d become the guy who has cheat-level talents /laugh/.
Q.16 –
Favourite scent?
- Sweet scents.
Q.17 –
Favourite season of the year?
- Autumn.
Q.18 –
Favourite day of the week?
- Friday.
Q.19 – What’s
your favourite time of the day?
- 4 in the evening
Q.20 – What
do you collect?
- Eh~? What is it? Nothing.
Q.21 – What’s
the first thing you do when you wake up?
- Rinse my mouth.
Q.22 – If you
could talk to the 10-year-old Ueda now, what would you tell him?
- Go to a mixed school!
Q.23 – What
do you wear when you sleep?
- Casual clothes. Short pants,
and such.
Q.24 – What’s
your favourite place in your house?
- The sofa.
Q.25 – What’s
your forte at karaoke?
- Nothing!
Q.26 – What
are you into lately?
- Onsen.
Q.27 – What
do you want the most now?
- Goro goro no mi (T/N:
fruit from One Piece that grants power to create, control, and become lightning
at will)
Q.28 – If you
were to go on a desert island and could only take one thing with you, what
would it be?
- Eh~ What would it be? Probably a person.
A good friend.
Q.29 –
Something you want to quit but can’t?
- Alcohol.
Q.30 – I
don’t have anything as long as I have XX? What would go in XX?
- That’s hard. I don’t need
anything.
I want everything /laugh/,
Q.31 – What’s
your favourite part of your body?
- Legs.
Q.32 – If you
weren’t an idol, what do you think you’d have been?
- An outsider.
An underground martial arts’ player.
Q.33 – If you
were to rate yourself right now, how many points out of 100 would you give
yourself?
- 100 points.
Q.34 – What’s
the thing you’d like to ask to AI the most right now?
- What should I be doing
now?
For the future.
Q.35 – What’s
something you wish you had done?
- English.
Q.36 – What
made you cry lately?
- Theatre play. After Life.
Q.37 – What’s
the emoji you use the most?
- The laughing one.
Q.38 – What
would you do if you became invisible?
- Eh~ What would I do.
Isn’t there anything to do?
Well, I wouldn’t really do it,
but I’d probably rob a bank /laugh/.
Q.39 – In 10
years, when you’ll be 50, what would you want to be?
- I want to do what I should
do,
while still having something
solid.
Q.40 – In 40
years, when you’ll be 80, what would you like to be?
- I want to live.
4th
section
-
To play music
My motivation
to play the piano is the fans. I do it because I think they want to see it.
I don’t often think things
like “I want to play the piano!” myself. If anything, my motivation to play the
piano is the fans. I do it because I think they want to see it. That’s because
I’m some sort of amateur at it. I can’t even read the music sheets. It takes a
lot of practice in order to be able to finish one song, and, if I have to do
it, I’m trapped. In the past, I used to get something like gastroenteritis because
of this. During the announcement of the state of emergency, people used to post
videos on YouTube, right? I also considered I could do something as well, and
thought “Ah, I could play the piano”, and since the deadline was one week later,
I stayed at home to practice all the time. And then, suddenly, my stomach hurt.
It was such a writhing pain that I had to go to the hospital and get an IV. I
think that the stress of “I have to finish this by the deadline” was too strong.
This year, I kept playing the piano all the time from September to October. I’ve
been practicing jazz piano in view of this solo concert. You’re wondering why I
decided to try jazz piano? Well, I just wanted to seem amazing /laugh/. If I
gotta play at all, then shouldn’t I play something that would make everyone go “Ooh!”.
I believe everyone would be happier with something like that too. For this
reason, I thought I could raise the difficulty level, and it happened to be
jazz. Unlike during the state of emergency, even if it is tough, I could be
able to do it if I diligently practiced it for 3 or 4 months. However, when I
actually tried doing it, it was strenuous; and since even the music sheets are
complex, I wrote everything in katakana, even things such as “do” and “re” and
finished it by copying everything by ear. Hence, I honestly don’t know if it’ll
actually even be jazz at all /laugh/. But I don’t think it’s that bad if you
listen to its whole. I think it’s taken shape to a certain extent.
I produced
two new songs together with Sho-aniki. I think it’ll certainly be the highlight
of the concert.
For this concert, I made songs
together with (Sakurai) Sho-kun. It’s two songs, moreover! From the start, I
wanted to make some new songs for the concert, and during the staff meeting, I
just suddenly said “It’d be great if I could write something with Sho-kun”. Then,
I tried to send him a message, and he replied, “Let’s talk about it at once”;
we went out for a meal, and things naturally went okay, and I was like “For
real?!”. From there, we got to the stage where we had to choose the song, but there
were to songs among the candidates which were great. I was wavering about which
one I should go for, and Sho-kun added a temporary rap he thought to both songs.
And even that was already amazing for both songs. Since I thought “Hang on! I
can’t throw neither of these away!”, I resolved asking Sho-kun “I would like to
ask for two songs… Would it be possible?”, and as he smiled, he told me “You
want to do two songs, huh? That’s fine!”. I was so happy, I went all “Yaaay!!”.
Isn’t it fun to do collaborations within the agency, that pass through the
fence of the group? Besides, I was thrilled to having been able to realise it
and work on two songs with Sho-kun, whom I have a connection with. The lyrics
are currently herding high praises. In my case, whether or not I can smoothly
write the lyrics, it depends on the song; for example, I wrote Yankee Kataomoi
chuu in about 5 minutes, whereas Cantabile was challenging. This time… I
can’t really say it went smoothly /laugh/. I’m constantly thinking about it.
However, I believe both of them will be the highlight of the concert, so I hope
everyone will look forward to them.
5th
section
-
Live interview
That’s my first time having a live
house tour. I want everyone to let their voice out and get excited.
Now, when I look back again to
my first solo concert… I did my first concert (TATSUYA UEDA LIVE 2008 「MOUSE PEACE」) having no clue of anything. Usually, concerts are
all about things you want to convey or big themes, but I had nothing of that
sort, I just wanted to perform the songs I made, and wanted to have an
organisation which wouldn’t be boring, and that’s more or less all that I thought
of at that time. It was just a bunch of things I wanted to do that I squeezed
together in a rush, so, in a way, it was a sloppy project. However, I truly felt
that recklessness. It was just a concert I completed with the impetus of a
25-year-old who had just made his debut two or three years earlier.
Two years after that, the concert in 2010 (「MOUSE PEACE uniting with FiVe TATSUYA UEDA LIVE 2010」) was… well, the scale was pretty big.
The venues too were arena-class concerts, things like Hokkaido Kitayell, Marine
Messe Fukuoka, Yoyogi 1st Gymnasium; even the performances had stuff
like fire and water, almost costing around the budget of a group concert
/laugh/. I believe KAT-TUN’s influence was powerful at that time, but, as for
me, I always wanted to have a solo concert in a live-house style to begin with.
But, at this time, the scale felt way farther than that, therefore it was way
tougher. I remember the producer of the concert telling me “You’re crazy”. The costume
rehearsal before the first day was crazy. The band members were used to do live
house concerts, so it didn’t look at all like an arena concert. FiVe (the
junior band at that time) were also made up of people who played
professionally. But there was no fun in just playing. Arenas are venues for the
entertainment, so, you should put on a performance that can be charming as a
band, otherwise you can’t make a concert out of it. So, the day before the
concert, I urgently gathered the band members, and we’ve all had a pep talk. Stuff
like “It’s not a school festival”, or “We’re getting paid for it”. And, on top
of all, I told them: “I believe in this. So, let’s all do it well together,”
and we started the tour. It turned out well in the end. Looking at it from the
audience’s perspective, I don’t think they could tell it at all, but the first
day in Hokkaido was filled with tension.
This 「MOUSE PEACE 2024 ~Garyuu
Tensei~」 is around 13-14
years since the last solo concert. Originally, rather than wanting to do a solo
concert, I was thinking about doing something like a festival with KAT-TUN in
the second half of the year. I mean, don’t we all look back at the end of the
year, every year? When we talk about stuff like “How was this year” during
interviews, I thought that we can’t really talk about the group -activities- in
the second half of the year. So, I was like “We had the concert in the first
half, but what about the second half…?”. I really have no memories about it at
all /laugh/. I always think of it like “The second half of the year is about
KAT-TUN’s regular works and… after that, we release the live DVD”; I feel it’s
like this, and I believe the fans definitely think the same as well. In that
case, wouldn’t it be better to have at least one topic for the second half of
the year? I thought this to myself, and talked it over with the staff, but it
was tough to make it happen with the group. Then, in the end it turned out I
did the festival alone. That’s how things went.
I haven’t gone through the full thing yet, so I don’t know, but, as of now, it
looks like the content is going to be pretty exciting. When I first created the
first block of the setlist, I thought “I created something really good!”. The
order of the songs gave such a nice flow, I suddenly started thinking “It’s
gonna suck if I make it slump. People might think it gets boring on the way”,
and thought “Then, would they be happy if I added this song?”, or “I’ll do it
this way”, “Let’s do it that way”, and as a result of putting all this together,
I ended up to a point where I had each block making me go like “Ooh!”. On the other
hand, each of them has too many peaks, so I might end up feeling too full. And,
if I feel too full while doing it, people could also slump while watching it,
so I guess I’ll go through it, and subtract some stuff if I feel concerned
about any part of it. At the moment, I feel like there’s nothing I should cross
out /laugh/. It’s hard to decide what to leave in the limited time of one hour
and a half. However, if things go well, I think it’s gonna be a concert that
will end in no time.
The title of this tour “Garyuu Tensei” (T/N: lit. “My dragon reincarnation”,
written as 我龍転生) is a pun made out of “Garyuu Tensei”
(T/N: written as 画竜点睛, read the same way as the concert title, it means “finishing
touch”). Which means… I won’t say it here /laugh/. You’ll understand it when
you’ll see it, I think. Including the videos that’ll be displayed during the
concert. I have some minor worries, like what I mentioned earlier about what to
cross out, but since I have it clear what I want to do during this concert, I’m
having nothing but fun building it. I think that the difficult part is probably
with the choreography team. That’s because I have no mercy saying “It’s not
that” after seeing once the choreography they made, if it is different from what
I imagined. And, so, the choreography team has to make it all over again each
time. That’s not just for my solo concert, I do the same for my solo songs in
the group, and they call me “Ueda the crasher” /laugh/; but it being my solo
concert, I think it’s even harder this time. Even the other day, I crashed three
songs out of three. But I have to say it when I think that this expression is
different from the message I want to convey. In that sense, I do it as a
professional. My solo corner during KAT-TUN is just a section of a whole, but
solo concerts are all about you and yourself only. I don’t always compromise,
but I’m keener to cut corners than usual.
For this time’s solo concert, it’s my first time having a live house tour.
Since it’s also my first time, I can’t picture what the view will be like. It’s
the environment where I can make the most out of the band, but I wonder if it will
be okay for the fans, if they will have fun watching it, and stuff like that.
However, the experience of being packed in tightly with other people while
being swallowed in a vortex of enthusiasm is something you can only achieve at
a live house. Since it’s something I’ve always wanted to do, I’ll do my best
despite it probably being tough /laugh/. One thing I would like to convey is
that it’ll obviously be something different than the unilateral concert KAT-TUN
had to have during the corona pandemic. If you come with the stance of enjoying
the show, then it’ll be something incredible /laugh/. I just want people to let
their voices out and get all fired up. The volume everyone’s voices will emit,
and the enthusiasm will greatly dominate the quality of the concert, and I
believe that Garyuu Tensei will be completed with everyone’s power. I’d
be delighted if people will watch with with enthusiasm from the beginning till
the end.
6th
section
-
Message From…
Something
fans can enjoy. I want to be that person who can make it without any compromises.
What kind of people my fans
are… I wonder. I don’t really know since I haven’t talked to each of them
individually, but I think they are very patient. You could say they’re graceful,
or “Yamato nadeshiko” (T/N: woman who displays the feminine virtues of old
Japan). I’m surprised they follow such a freewheeling guy, really /laugh/. I
don’t want to lie. I don’t want to pretend to be a good guy by lying. I don’t
want them to dream -of me- in that way, and when I do something different from
what they imagined, have them call me “That liar!” and disappoint them. I
really hate such things, to begin with. Hence, I want to be myself without
fixing myself, but honestly, I think, I’m showing a lot of bad parts of myself
to everyone. For example, on Instagram’s questions corner, to a certain extent,
I use a foul language, don’t I? But, even there, everyone is like “Okay. Well, I’ll
do my best”, and just accept it. I’m really grateful about that, and I do
appreciate it every time.
I think I have to be someone who makes people think “I want to follow him”,
since I’m allowed to do things freely. In other words, I think it means -I have
to- clearly work out on high quality stuff. Be it the quality of the songs, or
the excitement of concerts, or performances. Then, something the fans can
enjoy. That’s something I don’t compromise on. From now on, I want to continue
to be a person who can create things I can properly show to everyone.
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