"Hearing is very important." "The city looked like the poster of the human body in kindergarten's biology classroom." "It was an image of the body in the shape of a city." "Groceries were raw materials The lungs were power plants- the digestive system was agencies and shops- the breathing pipes were power lines, the veins were streets- the inhabitants were cells, the mouth was a harbor and the tongue a glaring red runway." "Kiku went up the cream colored overpass." "Tokyo was foggy, the line of sight filled with square concrete." "13 skyscrapers in front of your eyes, not houses, more like towers." "The window glass covering all of the facade reflected the sun." "The whole thing looked like a tower turned into spotlight." "When people or animals are locked up it creates tension and conflicts- and they become very irritated." "It can be difficult to talk to people of other cultures and countries- but it is also liberating." "So the sickest or worst thing about Tokyo- is the feeling of confinement." "In big city life, Japanese people grow ever more lonely- and they lead an incredibly autistic life." "The information they get when sitting in their rooms in front of their screens- is the basis of all their thoughts and values." "If this continues, in the future everything will be about information- and the reality you've created in your mind will come alive." "It's said that we Japanese don't show our feelings, and that's really true." "When they invite their guests to a tea ceremony in a half-dark room- the atmosphere fills with wabi, a sort of simple elegance." "Connected to wabi is the word "mystique", a kind of fog- and deep inside the fog you try to perceive a steady light..." "I guess that's Japanese culture." "For a long time, Japan has been a populous society- a society constantly being forced into tension." "Therefore it's uncommon to lose your grip or to experience thrills" "I hope you understand what I'm saying." "Without the noise and sirens it's just not Tokyo." "What fascinates most is probably the feeling of meaningless slander." "At a certain time you want to have mountains, nice air and streams- and move there to live when you grow old." "Wrong!" "Only in Tokyo do you get the feeling of being alive" "floating around, challenging yourself- going slightly insane by the city's noise- for me, that's truly living." "A really cool place, filled with impulses, obstacles and loads of unhealthy stuff." "Those things exists in abundance in Tokyo, you really feel you're alive there." "Move to a place with clean air and death comes swiftly!" "It was when I was learning buto That I first came into contact with noise." "When I was doing buto, it was by touching a metal plate- that I realized I could accept the sounds in a buto fashion." "By primarily using electronics- rather than performing in the physical sense..." "Through electronics and metal I discovered that the absolutely best thing was a purely mental approach." "Am I incredibly fond of the electronics I use?" "Sure, it's a machine- but often it feels sick or is angry, although of course it's happy too." "It's a sterile environment, without any trace of life..." "There I can ponder about the story in a novel- and it's easier to meet people there." "I have my home in Yokohama, and there I mind my private life." "Me and my wife both really dislike having a lot of visitors there." "Here I do my work, this is the place for interviews and meetings." "The main character Hiki Komori never goes outside, not a single step." "He's planning a murder and is brainwashed by a participant on the Internet." "For the computer nerd, there's naturally a kind of computer thinking- because the computer is an incredibly psychological machine- and you always have your own world there, you're always the main character there you can control everything where you can find that kind of pleasure." "Often when we work together I create a world of its own for the games." "Even in games, you can control everything yourself" "I guess that's the strongest attraction." "I make a clear difference between this side and that side." "There's no risk I would get them mixed up inside." "With the help of the computer, shy people can chat with other people." "In the world of Internet, you also have anonymity." "You don't have to show yourself, you can be a man or a woman." "It's tempting to be able to say what you want protected by anonymity." "You're always the main character and can say everything you want to say." "After a while you get used to computer thinking- you demand fast conclusions, that everything can be seen clearly in black and white." "There are absolutely young people like that." "Cyberspace belonged to the mysterious other side until not so long ago." "Now it's commonplace, when games are everywhere and the city is drenched in images." "It's not even exciting." "It feels like simple reality." "It already exists." "The murky white city is melting." "It seems to call for me." "The memory of the empty streets on the abandoned mining island lies on top of the morning hot Tokyo on the other side of the window." "Tokyo calls for Kiku." "Kiku heard the voice." ""Destroy me!" "Put everything in ruins!"" "Kiku looks down from the window." "Dots of humans, and cars in motion." "She felt like a pole vaulter right before the run." "She saw a moments image of herself." "Of her burning down and turning Tokyo into ruins- shouting as she kills all humans and destroy every building." "The city is covered in beautiful ashes." "Bloody children walks among insects, birds and stray dogs." "The image liberated Kiku." "When I happened to write in a book about how to take photos of Mount Fuji" "I became famous throughout the country, and many people contacted me." "For a while there were about 90 of us." "And after two devisions- we now only consists of a group of like-minded friends." "We have three rules." "Don't brag about your own pictures." "Don't speak ill of others." "Learn from other people's pictures." "If you accept this, you can be a member of the Fuji-Photographers- and take nice pictures together." "Here in Studio Euforii Tokyo you can get the most beautiful views of Mount Fuji." "It is a meeting place for happy friends." "Let us take a look." "The picture with the Persimmon tree..." "...that shows the season." "And then one in between..." "That one, yes." "There are probably not many people that have seen these two pictures." "Shall we let this one become the next star?" "This one is also fantastic." "As an autumn picture it is formally..." "If you have 40, 50, 60 years of experience and cuts a landscape- it can only result in a true picture." "With todays fully automatic cameras it might result in similar pictures." "But that's not really the case because your own feeling appears." "My own favorite!" "A picture of the moment when night turns into morning." "Here you imagine the passing of time." "Thin clouds pass by, the city lights faintly shows it's face." "An at that moment there is a golden shimmer along the mountain crest." "Here my strive is to in one picture like this one- capture the course of times in what is past, what is present and what will become and that's why I hunt the Mount Fuji that makes me euphoric." "Originally the Japanese lived high up in the mountains." "They were a mountain people." "70% of Japan consists of mountains." "Only 30% of the land can be used for agriculture." "Therefore, formerly you usually lived among the mountains- and lived mainly of nuts and berries." "Only once in a while you came down from the mountains." "That is also why they and their ancestors- ...as the ancestors' invisible ghosts turned into gods- that lived amongst the people in the mountains." "That is why the mountains are worth all respect." "When the mountains spit fire it is because the gods of the ancestors are angry of- the people devastating the mountains." "To calm the gods you pray to a kind goddess- the water spirit Sakuyahime." "And you also pray to the mountains- because it is in the mountains your ancestors, that is, the gods, live." "I always thank Mount Fuji before i begin the shooting of the day." "It is often that I don't even take out the camera." "I don't know what is perfect." "I like to see that Mount Fuji is for instance covered in snow, the light is fully flowing- and that the sky is full of nice clouds so that the light varies- and also that the course of time is everywhere." "I always look for that picture of Mount Fuji." "In my style, the euphoric Mount Fuji, I assume- that the best scene for my dream picture absolutely have to be somewhere." "I'm always studying when and where that scene will appear- but in a different way, not by living at Mount Fuji but in Tokyo." "I see the disadvantage of not being able to see Mt Fuji as an advantage." "I study the weather, the positioning of the sun, wind speeds and so on- and when everything is right with my picture I approach it." "It then sometimes happens that the conditions exceed my expectations." "It's never perfect, though..." "I'm always hoping to take that picture tomorrow." "Sushi pizza!" "Wonderful?" "Beautiful?" "Yummy!" "In many different areas, thanks to the skill of the Japanese- a variety of products have seen the light of day." "And if you know when it comes to sushi, by applying these skills- in areas where the work has so far been performed with pure craftsmanship- can do the work with machines instead- the whole process will of course change" "and crying about that is silly." "It's something to be happy about, of course." "A distinctive trait of the Japanese is- that the distance between man and machine- strictly mentally speaking is very small." "Here are two microphones and two more inside for the transfer." "Two mobile cameras." "The head can be turned forward, back and sideways." "We don't have any arms yet." "Research is now focused on the upper body." "If there's a distance between man and machine- then for many Japanese, the distance to the machine is only half." "Robot researchers over the age of 40 grew up with Tetsuwan Atomu- a very famous cartoon character." "So for that generation a robot is a friend, a good companion." "In Japan, there aren't many cartoons where robots are evil." "In the first cartoons, robots were friends, good companions." "The Japanese feel a natural friendship or affinity to machines." "Instead of using and perceiving the machine- as a simple tool you see it as a buddy or a smart friend." "The tendency to quickly assume such a position is strong." "At first we tried doing robots with silicon faces and bodies- that looked just like people." "What message did that send?" "That robot is a copy of man- and that we were trying to do a human copy." "But for the robot to be truly accepted- it shouldn't copy us but be a new tool, a new existence." "In our current project, about ten people are talking simultaneously at a party" "Our new robot shall be able to tell who's talking and from which direction- and at the same time analyze and understand what everyone's saying." "The hearing research is very important while most people focus on sight research." "But for robots used practically hearing ability is essential" "Suppose you decide to open your country to outside ideas..." "The foreign culture will flood in with great force." "Naturally, you would have to introduce something from the new culture." "Therefore, you are forced to leave some of the old behind- because if you don't get rid of it there won't be room for what's new." "I have the feeling that it's gone a little too quickly in today's society- today, the identity of japan is being neglected." "Bringing together the good sides of Japan- and the European societies' highly developed cultures- could be difficult right now" "Maybe it's that very issue the Japanese are the most irresolute about." "The introduction of modern technology has been far too intense- and it feels as if we somehow have forgotten our natural Japanese morals." "We are going to look at a very interesting Japanese phenomenon, LoveHotel." "The love hotels probably exist only in Japan." "They are no ordinary hotels, where you go to have sex." "There's not just a bed in the room but a multitude of sex toys" "Regular architect magazines never write a word about this- but what it's about is a fantastic street design- which I'm now documenting before it completely disappears." "There are a number of interesting Love Hotels in Tokyo- and now I'll show you Hotel In Arupaa, a few minutes from Komagome Station." "We have now arrived at Hotel In Arupaa." "Come in and have a look, it's really fun." "This is, though most people don't want to admit it- a typical example of the love hotels very Japanese and extraordinary design." "In the love hotels there's a catalogue or a vending machine." "In those there are several sex toys which you can order from the concierge." "It says shopping catalogue." "Waterproof dildo." "There are all kinds of sex toys..." "A bed shaped like a circle which also is designed like an air balloon" "They are almost totally gone, but as you can see you can lie any way you want." "These carousel beds are very popular..." "Here's a see-through window- so when the girl is bathing, the guy can drink beer while checking her out." "An interior filled with the feeling of service." "The bed spins and the lights flash." "A bed with balloon-chairs under." "And by the pillow there's a gauge for the light and music- a control panel with different buttons." "What a cool 70's design!" "The roof is dressed with a mohair rug." "Here in the bed the couple can have fun." "The chairs offers some unusual activities." "Of course you come to the love hotel to have sex." "Compared to todays chic, simple style the traditional love hotels- are from another dimension- with an energetic design that inspires to have fun" "For me, SM was to tie somebody up in a porn movie or making a torture movie." "When you are tied up in a movie like that- something psychological enter you and fills you with different feelings." "You can't move- because you're tided up with ropes and your joints are really hurting- but by discovering what feelings you then have you discover allot of things." "In Ankoku Buto there is an expresion to cast in a mold- that is, when you are forced into a certain mold- different kinds of feeling appear that needs to be well taken care of." "It's the same with noise." "We have high volumes because we want to try to distort the hearing sense." "I like Tobas Secret Museum." "It's closed and might be torn down." "But it has to stay because it's such an amazing piece of art." "It's so creative!" "Japanese are really prejudic in relation to the word Secret Museum." "They think "Ah, porn!" and immediately make fun of it." "They closed because there were no visitors." "According to the prophecy of Nostradamus the world is comming to an end in 1999." "Spaceship 14108 seizes and destroys the earth." "General Hitley is commander of the space soldiers." "The few remaining humans are brutally hunted down by the soldiers." "The space ship announces..." "The invaders create a new human." "The brain is replaced." "Here the new species is born." "They are fed with space food; in three years the infants grow to 17-year-olds." "Here the failed specimens are stored." "And the tragedy for the future new human begins." "Don't be afraid." "Someone as pure and brave as you is the only hope for the rotten Japan." "A true image of Woman." "A prostitute." "Another word for wife in Japanese is mountain goddess." "And greatest of the mountain gods is of course the goddess of Mount Fuji." "But at the same time she is a whore." "O, Mount Fuji, holiest of mountains!" "In Japan there are always two sides..." "If a woman in Japan says flat out, "I want to do this"- it provokes enormous resistance." "Instead of saying flatly what you want to do- you are forced to manipulate and express yourself kindly and cutely- because if you don't speak softly to a man you rarely get what you want." "A few years ago it became trendy among high school girls to prostitute themselves." "The girls asked themselves what they had to sell on the market- and so they sold it and bought designer clothes for the money." "Trying to find something to sell to buy designer clothing isn't new." "Now it wasn't companies, but young girls, who conquered the market themselves." "All over the world it's trendy to sell your organs or your privacy." ""Kill!" "Destroy!" the voice boomed- over the city of concrete, the dots of people and the coughing cars." ""Ruin!" "Kill!" "Destroy everything!"" ""Will you be a hard doll who spews red soup?" "Put the city to ruins!"" "I breathe boring time and am filled with disgust." "My boring time covers all of the Earth and is heated by the sun." "Sachiko!" "To neutralize the disgust you do like the pole-fishing old man- and enjoy boring songs without realizing it." "My disgust is burned away by the sun, rising high and turning into clouds." "At any time the clouds may drop heavy rain." "I leave Tokyo in the middle of the night, it takes two and a half hours." "At the same time I imagine how it will be tomorrow right then and right there- and how I will stand as high up as possible." "Most often it's only a punch in the air." "Over ninety percent of all attempts to find the dream picture only turn out as punches in the air." "But by leaving time after time and cleaning away everything unnecessary- sometimes a world eventually emerges that surpasses your dream picture." "I see that as a reward." "Each of these pictures that I've kept I call Euphoric Fuji." "They show a Fuji that nobody else has seen." "I put these pictures away one by one- and I intend to make it 99 Fuji pictures in my life." "Right now... 33 are done." "But I imagine- that when I have more experience and a higher chance- and think I've successfully taken the new, 34th picture" "I'll want to throw away all the previous pictures." "And because of that there may not be many more pictures." "But what about those 99 pictures in an entire life?" "Historic material perhaps..." "I want to give the world my Fuji." "I wish that everyone hopes Rocky Tanaka will do his best- to succeed in taking his 34th and 35th picture." "How will I repay everyone who's helped and supported me?" "Hardly with things..." "I'm often asked:" ""Why 99 pictures and not 100?"" "Because I want to save number 100." "I think it's very hard to see Fuji as a piece of art." "Even though Japanese are easily captured by this pure mountain- there aren't many Fuji paintings." "The more famous artists are, the less they want to paint Fuji." "Instead they paint incredibly abstract mountains- but concerning Fuji's beauty there's also a different feeling." "Reflected in Fuji's beautiful form- is faithfulness, sincerity, zen and beauty." "That's what you try to find in Fuji." "You don't just admire the shape of the mountain- but you try to see these things in the mountain." "Life, given to us by our parents, is important." "Think once more- in peace and quiet about your parents, your siblings and your children." "Don't sit by yourself and worry" "but consult with someone." "Fuji police anti-suicide unit There, the forest is at its thickest and the compass doesn't work, so you lose sense of direction." "There is no water or valleys." "And right there deep in the dark, the trees aren't clearly visible- it's a completely supernatural world." "The further in you go, the more you feel as if the forest will swallow you." "All trees resemble living beings that turn and face you." "It's like something's staring at you from the dusk- and in a way you become enchanted." "Once there, it feels that way." "It's different with a whole group that walks around while talking." "When alone, you get a feeling of..." ""Here I want to stay forever"." "It's like you get swept into something, wrapped in something big." "And there, you're no longer as conscious about death." "But of course there's people who willingly go there to die." "Once there, they can't come out again, and nobody comes looking for them." "It's said an animal doesn't want its dead body discovered- and instinctively does all it can to hide." "Perhaps there's something similar with people." "You become one with nature there, because you want to go to rest at the base of Fuji." "If you're already going to die, that's where you can perceive Fuji's enigmatic beauty." "That's probably what most people are mainly captivated by." "They say I'm very enthusiastic but I'm actually calm and cool- but since my wife died, I look at heaven in a different way." "It changes in different ways, so I take a lot of pictures of just the sky." "It's like she's reflected in heaven, like she's there on the other side." "And I experience a kind of moment when I look at the sky through the screen, in the picture." "But it doesn't work when I look at the sky without the camera." "When I have the camera, it feels like I'm stepping into the screen." "And there inside she is!" "That feeling comes and goes very strongly- and that's why I'm so committed to taking picture of the sky." "Well- something very important is that also people in Tokyo" "or also Japanese- that when people in Europe or America speak about Japanese- they have a certain view of them." "Usually people with a bag and a camera and a hat and glasses- and in extreme cases with protruding teeth, walking in packs." "I think that even today there's that view of Japanese as walking in packs." "Style is yooshi'ki' in Japanese." "Style takes a lot of something." "What's really hard to discover isn't style, but exceptions." "Good!" "Come on!" "My style is not to create a style." "The people and things I meet and experience doing something together with them, spending time with them, that's the feeling." "I don't create a certain frame inside of which I put this style." "So the style is in the counterpart, the motive, and I follow it." "I bring out myself together with the motive." "My personality isn't multiple, but I have many different sides." "I'm everything from elegant to vulgar- yes, there are many things, good and bad." "There's simply good things and bad things." "I want to bring out what's good- and also what's bad, even though people hide their bad sides." "I have to take pictures in many different ways and use many different cameras." "I use small ones, this one..." "Today only one but most of the time five or six ones." "I use them all mixed up and get many forms of expression." "It's both refined pictures and common amateur photos." "The black and white pictures I paint." "I have to have this mix in order for all of me to come out." "I don't like to show just one part, I don't hide anything." "I have an unusual habit, I like to expose flaws." "When I'm done the picture is definitely fun." "I don't look at the picture, I don't look at the screen." "I put myself in another viewfinder, and peer through it and I'm there participating and experiencing the photo." "I don't care much for truth, reality and fiction." "I take pictures based on feeling." "When I feel "time to enter", I jump right into the picture." "I get that feeling that I have to take part in scenes that lack the kind of ecstasy it takes to make a picture." "Then I appear in the picture, completely lost in ecstasy..." "I'm just having fun." "I shoot!" "Still, I guess it's only as Japanese people can live in this country." "I'm convinced that's the only alternative." "What we ourselves have considered issues for Japanese- that's things like the food tasting good- that the taiko drum sounds nice and that the shinto temples are beautiful." "You have transformed your own views- into Western views and put your origin behind- which I think is the biggest problem for Japanese culture so far." "So now young people themselves have to reconquer- the common and human that's been part of our views." "DRINK" "EAT, BE HAPPY The best thing about Tokyo is noise." "Never outshining nature, and never knowing- whether there's any people there when you silently disappear into nature." "That's been the true lifestyle of the Japanese for a very long time." "Humans are by no means sole masters of Earth." "Humans are just like grass and insects a part of nature." "According to this view, humans should not bring themselves out too much." "They should be like something concealed, hiding behind what is directly visible." "For example what's behind the soul of a straw of grass- what's behind the environment in which an insect is born." "In other words, Japanese are really trying to perceive the invisible world of souls." "And that's what's expressed in Japanese art." "In don't think there's a perfect beauty." "Just like we're all different, beauty is personal for each of us." "But if Japanese should consider perfect beauty to exist- the most common one is probably not something with clear edges- but something misty, something that hints at whatever's inside- that's probably perfect beauty." "My idea is to bring out the entire scene from where I'm standing." "A wide angle lens is best for that." "As a professional, I want my pictures to be condensed into every corner- and I'd like the passing of time to be reflected in the picture." "That's how it feels when I shoot... although it doesn't really feel like I'm shooting." "They tell you to flush out all sentimental private emotions- and do something blurry and diffuse for it to be "art"- but that's not the kind of artist I want to become." "When they say an artist can't be sentimental- then I just ignore them." "Because when you want to go so far as to can the most important feelings- like sadness and sentimentality- well, then it's not the kind of "art" I want to be doing." "Beauty to me - in music, film, literature and art alike- is something that makes me react." "And when you look at or listen to it time loses its meaning completely- and you reach ecstasy as if you were drugged." "At first you don't know if it's beauty because there are grotesque things as well." "But it feels good and you want to look some more." "It's such an incredibly strong and perfect thing." "At first it doesn't feel right at all." "But as you get used to it, it feels better and better; you want to be overwhelmed." "Rocky Tanaka." "Here I am." "My favorite picture- is the next one..." "The one I'll take tomorrow."