You said that you like to travel a lot. Do you actually travel a lot around like to different countries or just around Japan?

I go out a lot. My passport is filled with stamps, so the INS people kinda flag me every time I go back. I've been to Ireland, England, France, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Israel, America, and Mexico. That's it. Not Africa. I want to though.

Are these private trips?

Yes, all private trips.



Do you have hobbies other than traveling?

Playing with animals. I've been getting interested in photography as of late. I have taken a lot of pictures already as a professional photographer.



You mentioned before that there's a lot of music that you write for a specific series that does not end up on the soundtracks. With any of the music that you have left over, do you ever use it again or rework it for another series? Or if not, is there any idea of possibly seeing that on it's own on a separate CD?

You seem to want such a compilation. [laughs all around!] I will if I run out of materials to produce, but not for the time being.



Do you have or own your own recording studio?

No. [laughs]



Is there any type of movie that you would like to do music for?

I don't like dark feelings. It would be something lighthearted, some comedy. Maybe something involving animals. I want to do a movie that features all animals, but haven't gotten any offers.



You had said that the director for Cowboy Bebop didn't ask you to do a specific type of music because he knew you didn't listen to his directions. What inspired you to take it to the 60s jazz feel that permeates Cowboy Bebop?

That's from the 60s? [laughs all around] It naturally came to me... "This would be a good type of song." I didn't think about whether jazz would be good. It just came to me.

Since Bebop has a lot of English, we all read everything that comes in the English. With that there's a lot of information about Seatbelts. Is Seatbelts a fictional group or do you actually plan to do more work with those musicians?

[laughs] Yeah, I want to. They're called the Seatbelts, but I have been working with that same group of people since Macross Plus and Escaflowne as well.

Now the background stories about Seatbelts in the Cowboy Bebop material, did anybody pass that by you at all or talk about what they were gonna put in there?

I asked them to write most of them that way.



From your earlier reactions, you seem to not only enjoy but love travel. How does your travel, and more particularly the sounds that you might hear while traveling, influence your soundtracks?

A lot of them have been influenced by it, but I travel to empty out my mind instead of filling it with knowledge.

You said that a lot had been influenced. Can you give us an example?

For example, in Brain Powerd, she was influenced by the bagpipes in Scotland.



With the different music styles that you've had, we have heard the music from Macross Plus, Escaflowne, and Brain Powerd, and from the reactions of most people, the music in Cowboy Bebop is quite a departure from earlier music you had done in anime. Would you consider doing more of the jazz type music on a solo album or if another anime project comes along that calls for the same type of music?

I haven't thought about making such a thing and actually, I didn't think that the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack would sell. I thought it was kinda old music so that none of the younger generation would listen to such a thing. I was very surprised that it sold so well.



Back to the way you compose, do you like sit down away from everyone or do you like to have objects around that you can look at and hold?

I'm usually alone when I'm composing, like I can be lying around, rolling around on the floor in my room or I can be walking outside, but I'm usually alone.

So you don't force, "I've got to go in and do this!" and lock yourself in the room?

No, you just need to relax. But when I write a music score, I like to go to a cafe, that's very good for me. I feel that I need a crowd around me because if no one is watching me, I feel that I'm going to procrastinate.



You do commercials, music albums, anime... Do you treat all your projects the same or do you have a particular type of project that you like to work on?

All the mediums like dramas, films, anime and commercials are all the same, except game music is a little different. For games, because you can't exactly do it all by yourself and because games usually have a lot of people dying. I feel that makes you feel more stupid, but that may just be me.