EX: Last year, Movic released a COWBOY BEBOP Band Score.

KY: Oh, I didn't know that.

EX: Oh ... Besides COWBOY BEBOP, which Band Scores have been released?

KY: I get a lot of requests from fans for scores for schoolwork and so forth.

EX: Through the internet?

KY: I'm not sure how many through the internet, but I do get letters. I really don't know about scores being released. I haven't checked myself if they have been, especially since people might arrange the music differently than I did. I'm too busy to check, so I don't know.

EX: What are the good points of composing? For example, the opportunity to travel ...

KY: (laughs) The best point of composing really is meeting people and musicians all over the world and becoming friends through music instead of words. I've gone to America, France, Isreal, and elsewhere. Although I was not able to speak at all at first, if there is a song ... (laugh) Besides meeting friends, I have the opportunity to record with and listen to orchestras from within it. I've learned other people's stories, told my own stories through song, and things we don't understand, we can understand together. I feel like I become friends with everyone at the first meeting. (laughs) I'm able to meet so many friends all around the world all the time. This is the best point.

EX: According to Sunrise, you will be participating in the theatrical version of ESCAFLOWNE. For the television series, you composed music with Mizoguchi Hajime. For the theatrical version, will you be composing new pieces by yourself, or together with Mizoguchi?

KY: Oh, we will work together. That's the plan.

EX: I received a press release from Sunrise ...

KY: Really? I haven't seen it yet. (laughs)

EX: You're listed alone in the music credit though.

KY: Oh, is that so?

EX: As a result, many American fans were asking, "Why Mizoguchi ..."

KY: (laughs) Isn't on there?

EX: So, you are working together?

KY: Yes, I think we are working together.

EX: What languages did you use for "Medicine Eater, "Cat's Delicacy," and "Arcadia"?

KY: Hmm ... which language ... There is only the image of someone swallowing medicine. (laughs) For "Cat's Delicacy," the image of a golden-haired lady. As for "Arcadia" ...

EX: Is it Latin?

KY: There is the image of Latin, but the atmosphere of ESCAFLOWNE is an otherworldly one. It's really not Latin at all.

EX: What languages did you use for "After, in the dark," "Torch song," "SANTI-U," "Pulse," "A Sai En," and "Wanna Be an Angel"? They're not real Earth languages, right?

KY: No, they're not real Earth languages. (laughs)

EX: There is a theory among American fans that it's Zentradi. (laughs)

KY: (laughs) The languages used are not as interesting (laughs). Each [song] has a different image—for example, something like Singaporean but not quite (laughs), Bulgarian-like, and various others. Each one has its own image.

EX: In your opinion, is American Jazz popular in Japan, compared to America? Indeed, American Jazz's popularity seems to be waning in America itself ...

KY: Jazz is not really popular in Japan.

EX: I think it is actually more popular in Japan than in America. In Los Angeles and New York, there is still popularity, but in various cities in America, there aren't many jazz clubs, if any. There aren't many magazines either. [Note: Several years ago, a jazz magazine was published in Japan, highlighting different artists each month with articles and even a supplemental audio CD.]

KY: There are probably many kinds of jazz: old-school jazz and so forth. Music invariably comes and goes with the trends of the times. There are decades when jazz is popular in Japan. By chance, BEBOP came when it did. Several years ago, jazz was popular, so the clubs [playing it] grew. Club managers thought jazz was interesting and started to use it more. Now, though, almost no one listens to old-school jazz in Japan. There are dedicated people who buy old records because of their significance, but not actually listen to them.

EX: There is a expression in America: [In English] "Everything comes in cycles."

KY: That's very true.

EX: I've read your "Pokkari shita" column in NEWTYPE.

KY: (laughs) I remember those. You can read it in Japanese?

EX: Yes, I enjoy it.

KY: Oh, you enjoy it? (Laughs) As to how I got started, The NEWTYPE people said, would you like to write articles? I said no for three months, but (laughs) I agreed. I usually write articles on plane trips.

EX: Including when you return from Anime Expo?

KY: (laughs) I probably will write one then.

EX: You wrote in the July column installment about Christ as rehabilitation. If you don't mind talking about it, what is your spiritual or religious life like?

KY: (laughs) I'm not religious at all. But Japanese don't believe in one God, but in gods everywhere in plants and animals.

EX: Like in Shinto?

KY: That's right. In Japan, Christianity has a wonderful image. People enjoy the image of Christ and Christianity in picture books, but not as a religion. (laughs)

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