Nao's Great Adventure!


[ ] <-- my random comments    ( ) <--- what's in the magazine

This month, we're doing the highlights of Nao's great adventure

Nao: I wasn't intending to eat that much

We got a lot of this reaction that 'Nao-san really eats a lot ne'

Nao: Thank you very much. If you become a glutton you can appear in magazines (laughs)

It also costs money ne.

Nao: Food is important!

It's being a while since your tour ended, so how has been your eating life?

Nao: I ate quite a bit during the tour, but after it ended, I didn't really eat that much........but recently i started eating again

As expected, you're eating (laughs)

Nao: Recently because I've been burning more calories from drumming, even at this age i still get hungry. If i don't eat i can't bring out my energy and so i'll end up thinking again 'I'll eat'. It's often said that when you become adults you won't eat that much but i definitely get my 3 meals a day, and if i get hungry, i'll have a fourth meal too

Fourth meal, as in supper?

Nao: Supper is just snacks (laughs). I'm saying meals are something usually in around 4 hours' intervals. Usually my first meal starts at around 12pm, then i'll move to the studio and get hungry and start eating again soon after. After that I'll have dinner, then once again at around 9-10 pm i'll eat again, and since i sleep late i'll have snacks as supper. 

You'll eat 3 times for the first 6 hours?

Nao: Yeah. Eat after waking up, reaching (the studio) and then eating again

But not much time passed during that period of time [of moving to the studio] does it? 

Nao: Around 1 hour. For some reason i get hungry after reaching the studio. But unexpectedly my weight don't increase. Probably because the more i eat, the more i work out [on the drums], so it's a good balance. I think i can live a long life (laughs). Speaking of which, recently we [Alice Nine] haven't been eating ramen

Ehh, even though you guys liked it so much!

Nao: In the past, Alice Nine is somewhat known as a 'ramen-band' but everyone's not eating that anymore, I'm the only one who's still sticking to it.

So you don't all head out to eat ramen after lives anymore?

Nao: Recently, not at all

Even Hiroto who's a big ramen-lover?

Nao: He said it's heavy, and don't eat that anymore. Though I kind of understand the 'heavy' part, it can't bring down my desire to eat. Recently i'm personally having a ramen-boom again. Just some time ago in a certain chain store, I knew about a fantasy-like set menu that only a limited number of people can order. Half of it is donburi [rice bowl] and the half consists of half ramen and half tsukemen, known as the 'ikemen set' [ikemen = handsome guys etc]

It's Kano Eikou ne. [a comedian]

Nao: ?

Ramen, Tsukemen, I'm Ikemen [Kano Eikou's running gag]

Nao: (claps his hands) Ah, that's the one!

You'll normally think of that (laughs) [It's a really popular gag....even i knew it...Nao really don't watch TV huh....]

Nao: I just realized that. So that's how it was~ amazing

When you say it's an fantasy set, you mean that it's not in the menu?

Nao: It is in the menu but it's hard to order. If you order saying "please give me a 'ikemen set' ", the lady who comes to take my order might look at my face and shout, 'one order of ikemen!'. It's like I'm being judged

If you're not an ikemen, you can't order the ikemen set?

Nao: I don't really know but since there are people who can't order it, i think it's a kind of underground menu. It's scary, this underground menu. But i had a sad memory of telling this to the members and they didn't believe me. Despite all that, the ikemen set is because of Kano Eikou huh..........it's deep na

I don't really think it's that deep though (laughs) 

Nao: I don't just eat because i have the appetite, i eat because i want to know about the local area especially when i go to the rural side. In other words i have a strong research spirit. Even ramen, because i want to know more about the local area, i like eating them. The Ikemen set i ate was after the Akasaka Blitz live, but it was actually Akasaka ramen. (laughs)

Huh, didn't you say it was a chain store earlier on?

Nao: That's right! Since the shop is called Asakasa ramen, i thought it's a shop that only Asakasa has but as far as i can remember from past lives, it was a chain store. What's more, the fantasy-like underground menu was there.

I don't really think it's fantasy-like........

Nao: (assertive) It is!

So after the lives you won't be with the members?

Nao: I don't go with them. If i want to eat good food, my opinions don't match with others. Even if i'm alone, i'll go after good food. Besides, without eating ramen, how can i create music that brings out the taste of dashi?! [kind of soup stock used in miso, ramen etc]. That's what i think anyway (laughs)

Recently, besides ramen, what other delicious stuff have you tried?

Nao: I like cafe. As Alice Nine's Soushokukei-danshi [pls check wiki...or previous posts]. I've gone to Starbucks too many times so i'm searching for new menu in other shops. I'll get a caffe from Starbucks, then buy a focaccia from Tully's, and buy a cake from Excelsior caffe. I've been told that i'm unorthodox but it's like a Select Shop Nao

You'll go to caffes once a day?

Nao: I usually go but i don't consider that a meal

Even after eating focaccia and cake?

Nao: They're snacks~ It doesn't really make me full. Ah, a few days ago i ate puffer fish in Osaka. I drank hirezake [hot sake with grilled fish fins from, in this case puffer fish] for the first time, and it was so fragrant that i was moved. Our members don't really fuss too much about food and don't seek out good food that much ne. That's why we don't talk about food that much either. We've eaten nodoguro [fish] together before but they probably had forgotten about it naa~ I think i'm the most fussy when it comes to food. For Nao, i believe to be beautiful on the inside, you have to change from the inside. No matter how you decorate your outer appearance, if you don't change your inside you won't become truly beautiful

While i understand that, for Nao kun's case, you are referring to your inside as food right?

Nao: Food, as in health. I want to play the drums for a lifetime so i think i have to take care of my body, get lots of nutrition. eat lots of good food and always stay as a drummer.

How was 2009 for you?

Nao: It was an amazing year. I think i've grown a lot. [hopefully not horizontally] I've come to like the drums even more during the tour, and managed to properly face the drums. I wonder if i've become a great man (laughs)

You also managed to try that ikemen set

Nao: Haha. It's a year where we celebrate our 5th anniversary so while it's a juncture, it's also a start, i want to eat new good food (laughs)

Is that your next year's resolution?

Nao: Being able to eat good foods means that we'll be going on tour, so i think that's important. Depending on the person, we have a different reason to move forward. For me, it's definitely not food (laughs), but it's also something i'm looking forward to. Next year, as a person, as an artist, i want to leap forward. I think my next year is going to be important. I want to become an existence where people will say "Nao-san, you're wonderful" to me. I have the strong feeling that i'm learning a lot of various things at a good speed now, so riding on that current wave, i want to absorb various things next year as well

You mean nutrients?

Nao: Nutrients too! (laughs)



[i've come to the conclusion that Nao's stomach is a deep hole with no bottom...]