Interview: Recollections of Yokohama

English translation of a mini-interview of Uruha, Aoi, and Kai by Disk Garage’s DI:GA ONLINE web magazine. Original article here.

the GazettE’s Uruha, Aoi, & Kai: “Recollections of Yokohama”

Special | 2019.08.23 12:00

Editorial Department: Uruha-san, Aoi-san, and Kai-san, will you all please tell us some of your memories about Yokohama?

Uruha (Gt): Back in the day before the GazettE became what it is now, the studio we were using was in Yokohama, so we went there frequently. That’s why I feel a strong emotional attachment to it. Once the GazettE even filmed a PV there. But I’ve never been to some of the ‘date spots’ like Minato Mirai 21 or the Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse or whatever. I only really know the area around Yokohama Station. I guess if you’re talking regrets [as well as memories], that would be mine (LOL).

Aoi (Gt): I also have a soft spot for Yokohama. The first time I met the GazettE members, that’s where we were. The studio was in Yokohama, so I traveled there by train – and since I’m from the countryside, Yokohama Station just seemed so… BIG (LOL). Then [I got there and] the studio was, uh, dirty and gross. It was in some little back alley, and like, it was kind of dangerous to be wandering around places like that, you know? So, when I think ‘Yokohama,’ the strongest memory I have is the studio. I remember being like, “Hey, nice to meet you,” while we were all sitting around a table in that grimy studio lobby like it was yesterday. My next [strongest memory] is Yokohama Arena. We’ve done lives there four times already, and now this tour final is also gonna be at Yokohama Arena. I guess my recollections are the two extremes: the cramped and dirty rehearsal studio and Yokohama Arena (LOL).

Kai (Dr): The strongest impression I get when I think of Yokohama is the studio. I joined the GazettE a year after it was formed, but we were still using the studio in Yokohama at the time. Later it was NEW SIDE BEACH – but back then, it went by the name SUNPHONIX HALL. Once after a live there with the GazettE we ended up using the bathrooms in Yokohama Arena. We needed to wash our faces, and for some reason there wasn’t anywhere to do it [in SUNPHONIX HALL]. The staff of SUNPHONIX HALL sent us over to the bathrooms at Yokohama Arena instead. So, we all filed into Yokohama Arena, and everyone is like, “Man, I sure hope we’ll be able to come somewhere like this someday,” right? We actually did [play Yokohama Arena] a few years later, but at the time it seemed like a completely unreachable dream (LOL).

Editorial Department: Yokohama is what you might call the “point of origin” for the GazettE! Thank you very much for this most precious episode. Now we’re even more excited for the tour final at Yokohama Arena.