2024年10月頃東京にて、はじめて友人経由でYeに呼ばれた。リリース直前だというアルバムにひと晩、思い浮かんだアレンジを好き勝手加えるだけのはずが、アルバムに参加することになり、生音レコーディングを手伝うことになった。最終的に僕たちの録音は5曲で使われることになったようです。時間のない中尽力してくれたミュージシャンの方々ありがとうございました。
貴重な経験でした。Yeの新曲をいち早く聴きながらレコーディングしたり、アレンジする作業は楽しい時間でした。この機会をくれたJamilに感謝です。
Ye、リリースおめでとう。
⸻
Long story short,
Around October 2024 in Tokyo, I was invited to meet Ye for the first time through a friend. At first I was suposed to add some ideas with guitar and keys for just one night, but before I knew it, I ended up contributing to the album in Live instrument recording. In the end, it seems five of the tracks we worked on made it in the album. Huge thanks to all the musicians who gave their time and effort despite the tight schedule.
getting to immerse myself in his new music, was pure bliss.
Huge thanks to Jamil for making this opportunity possible.
Ye, congratulations on the release.
BULLY
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
Yojiro Noda – Band Leader / Band producer
Yuma Yamaguchi – Band Leader
Shin Fujii - Rhodes
WHITE LINES
Yojiro Noda – Band Leader / Band producer
Yuma Yamaguchi – Band leader
Takashi Fukuoka - Percussion
Shin Fujii -Guitar
Kyle Reith – Vocoder
Brayla – Background Vocals
CIRCLES
Yojiro Noda – Band Leader / Band producer
Yuma Yamaguchi – Band Leader
Brayla – Background Vocals
HIGHS AND LOWS
Yojiro Noda – Band Leader / Band producer
Yuma Yamaguchi – Band Leader
Mai Ohtani - Violins, Violas
BULLY
Yojiro Noda – Band Leader / Band Producer
Yuma Yamaguchi – Band Leader
Shin Fujii - Bass Guitar, Electric Guitar
Yuma Yamaguchi - Piano
Teppei Kawakami - Trumpet
Kanade Shishiuchi - Trombone
Mai Ohtani - Violins, Violas
Masabumi Sekiguchi – Cellos
I've long been fascinated by Nobuyoshi Araki—the photographer known simply as “Arākii”.
He’s someone who, with his entire being, era by era, embodied the idea that “art is made by its times.”
There were also incidents that, in the new context of times, came to be seen as unforgivable. He was swept up in those waves and, as a result, has mostly disappeared from the public eyes.
Back when I was a university student in the early 1980s, Japan was deep in the throes of its bubble-economy madness. The most unhinged of all was Arākii, along with the publishers who featured his photos, and the people around him—the so-called “ero media” scene. Their existence stirred constant controversy—most people just rejected them outright. Before being re-evaluated in an art context, he and his circle were simply seen as obscene, vulgar, and outrageous. But they vividly captured the raw reality of postwar Japan, often with Shinjuku’s nightlife as their stage.
Then one day in 1992, a photography institution called Camera Austria visited Japan and proposed an exhibition. This became Arākii's first solo show abroad, held at the Forum Stadtpark in Graz. And just like that, the tides shifted. Suddenly, Arākii was now a stylish erotic photography artist. Musicians and celebrities started flying to Japan just to be photographed by him. But Araki himself remained unchanged; he was still that brazen, vulgar, dangerous character.
During the boom, galleries began representing him and selling his works in the art world. But Araki ignored the art market norms—he’d disregard the idea of edition and kept releasing work. But with Araki, whether you got his punk way of living or not was part of your value judgment. It created this strange space where people just accepted it.
The first work of art I ever bought was Arākii’s photo of his cat Chiro leaping in the snow. It was taken during his dear wife Yōko’s final days. Chiro became a motif that reflected his grief. The date stamped on the photo was February 1, my birthday. It gave me the excuse to make it the first artwork I ever purchased.
I’ve always deeply identified with Arākii’s way of life—the honest creator who vividly captured the shabby reality of postwar Japan.
I once tried cosplaying as Arākii, had him photograph me, and played the role of Arākii myself, taking Arākii-style photos.
I, too, have made works dealing with Japanese eros. My breakout pieces were sculptures from the 1980s and 1990s that embodied explosively shameless anime-style eros. Japanese eros has always defied the norms since the days of ukiyo-e, but even in contemporary Japan, it’s quite something. That was the context.
Nowadays, I’m known as the artist of cute characters and smiling flowers, but at the start of my career, I was a creator whose theme was the distortion of Japanese eros.
Now, at 63, I’m beginning to sense death just around the corner and becoming aware that my body is starting to fail me—and suddenly, my admiration for Arākii is exploding.