The following interview is from the April (2003) issue of "J-Groove Magazine."

Mai Kuraki
Can you feel?

-The score to your newest single, "Time after time ~Hanamau machi de~," is just so Japanese, filled with nostalgia, making it another first for you. What was most impressive about it all was the fact that you managed to take that sound and completely convey it so expressively. I thought that the sense of your coming out with your pent up precious feelings was particularly well done.

Kuraki Mai: I also felt that the song was so very Japanese when I first heard the demo tape, and thought "This is a completely different image from what I've done up until now." That's why, when it came to actually singing it, I debated over how to approach the vocal aspects. However, since the melody is so straight-forward, I figured that the best way to convey the quality of that melody was with the singing itself. So I tried to get through it without using too much choral accompaniment.

-It was very new to hear a song with such interesting background vocals, which occur during only part of the refrain.

Kuraki: In songs with lots of background vocals, it gives an air of wholeness, and by those vocals, you make the song more lively and bright. But for a song like this one, I thought that by keeping things simple, I could better convey the song and the content of the lyrics, and I felt up to the challenge. It's very important to a person singing to be able to express with song alone.

-While it wasn't a particularly impassioned delivery, the cadence of your lightly suppressed vocals seemed to convey the beauty of each and every word, and of the melody.

Kuraki: The pureness of the melody caused me to imagine flowers, so I thought I'd be alright if I could just go easily with the flow of the song, and keep the strength to express the main idea of the song. Still, I felt that if I sang gently the entire way through, the song would end as nothing more than something "pretty," so I had debated over whether to sing the refrain strongly, or how to build tension in the song in my own way. Unlike previous songs, with this one I actually created by looked it over on my own, going by trial-and-error, and agonizing over the entire processs. Until now, the majority of my songs I would just sing by the impression I got listening to the melody, but this time, I listened to it over and over, considering deeply how I could build up the tension, and how I could better convey the image of the song.

-By that account, you spent a lot of time on the lyrics, as well, to put iamge to form. A lot of classical Japanese terms appeared in the song, that one would not normally associate with your English-heavy image.

Kuraki: I guess so... For the lyrics to this song, images of Kyoto, where I'm attending college right now, just popped into my head as I listened to the music. Which, in turn, made me think of the seasonal falling of the cherry blossoms in spring. The Japanese are very sensitive towards the seasons, and I wanted to try to express the beauty of the four seasons of Japan. That, and the light pink of the cherry blossoms, along with the fleeting quality of the flowers falling with the passage of the seasons called to mind fond memories and recollections of long ago, and I piled image upon image to form the lyrics... It's kind of hard to put into words. (laughs)

-And you used words like "hanamidou" and "usurai saekaeru" to that end?

Kuraki: I'd looked them up in a dictionary of seasonal words, and since words like "hanamidou" and "usurai saekaeru" are words that we don't often use, even if you know what they mean, you don't often hear them. I didn't even know some of those words. But I realized that seasonal words are a very Japanese concept in themselves, and that made me want to use them. With regards to "usurai saekaeru," just before the end of winter is a time when a thin sheet of ice coats the surface of the water, so it's a word that depicts a time that is very cold, but also when spring is right around the corner, and I thought people could use that to visualize the feelings portrayed. Thus, I made special note of the words I'd use for the song's lyrics. (ed. note: according to the Koujien, "hanamidou" is a small shrine decorated with flowers, in which is placed a Buddhist nativity scene, and is brought out on April 8th in observance of the birth of Gautama Buddha)

-Was there any point as you were working with those seasonal terms, that you felt you understood the beauty of the Japanese language?

Kuraki: Well, for this song, there's a lot of kanji, but isn't kanji something that's very easy to understand? Just looking at the characters for words like "wind" or "ice," you can quickly imagine what they refer to. On the other hand, English is just the opposite, and once you get used to it, you can say things you're too shy to say... like "ai shiteru," can be said much more casually as "I love you." In that sense, I discovered that the combined gentleness and strength of the Japanese language has tremendous impact, with the power to directly convey ideas. The sound of the words is also important, and I tried writing while only using English in the refrain.

-You've put a lot of care into this song, right down to the tiniest details, haven't you? I guess because of that, you don't just gather one image presented in a single line of the lyrics, but rather you get the larger image of the song in its entirety, that there are things to treasure, even though they may be fleeting and painful. I got the impression that, like after watching a movie, even though you can't find words to describe the feeling, it still leaves an image in your heart.

Kuraki: I'm very happy to hear that. As the seasons pass, by remembering the things you've felt in the distant past, you can confirm the faint memories resting within yourself. If I can get all the people who hear this song can recall those things through the sights contained within themselves, then I would be very happy. In this song, I didn't really want to just write about some concrete scenario, like the meeting of two people.

-In the song, what seemed a little concrete was the line, "Though everyone claims to be lonely for someone they can't be without." And then the part where you say, "They spend their time in pursuit of the fleeting, the fragile, and nothing more," where that truth of humanity seems to be overlapped and expressed through the ephemeral nature of the falling flowers. You really made me a believer. (laughs)

Kuraki: I can't say that this is always the case, but I think that when people are alone, they feel empty, and wind up searching for something. That might be someone they had met long ago, or some kind of memory. Don't a lot of people say things like "Oh, I'm here because he/she was with me," or, "Things were so nice before." I think people treasure their interactions with others, and even if it's fleeting, they treasure the memories in their heart.

-I can't help but tie in the Japanese feel to this song with the influece you receive from going to college in Kyoto, but is there really any such thing for you?

Kuraki: I think so. I certainly could say I've expanded on the images I've seen from the two years I've been in college, and in my mind, I always associate Kyoto with the image of flowers. On top of that, when the crew from Cybersound in Boston came here to Japan they visited Kyoto, and I hear that they created the arrangement for this song with those memories in mind. So, I think that the Japanese image of Japan is combined with the image of Japan as seen through the eyes of a foreigner, and unexpectedly, they seem to understand "Japan" better than the Japanese people themselves. It was interesting that it allowed me to feel the quality of the Japanese sound.

-Moving on to the coupling song, "Natural," this song creates some very concrete images, that make it seem very symmetrical to "Time after time ~Hanamau machi de~." (laughs)

Kuraki: This song is probably the one where I most strongly express my own feelings, and I wanted people to accept it straight-forwardly. It is my own straight-forward feelings.

-It presents all of our weaknesses, uncertainties, and doubts as human beings very realistically. What made you want to write about that subject in particular?

Kuraki: Hmm... I think that, having turned twenty, there was something inside myself I wanted to change, a feeling that something had to change, and precisely because the time between the ages of 19 and 20 have been a time of such distress, I wanted to show that part of myself. Even my friends, when I talk to them about such problems, I often hear things like "I'm so tired of trying to show people who I am," and I think I know that better than anyone, so I wanted to express how I'm feeling now in a direct manner. Doing so, it's more of my own feelings towards myself now than it is a message... I guess it's more a kind of song that's talking about myself. (laughs)

-Just telling yourself how you're feeling?

Kuraki: That's right. This song was also written by Ohno-san (Ohno Aika), and it's also something I've wanted to sing about from before, so when Cybersound added their arrangement and made it even more powerful, I felt that the melody itself contained a message, and if I just layered the lyrics on top of that, the two would merge to form a song with a direct sound.

-Were there any parts of that melody in particular that made it possible to express your uncertainties and doubts?

Kuraki: Yes, there were. I think that it's because people have weakness that they can become stronger. That's why, even though there are times when you agonize or feel uncertain because of your own weaknesses, if you just relax and wait for tomorrow, you know it will come, so wouldn't it be best to just be natural and yourself? So that's what I wrote into the lyrics. But, in a sense, it was very embarassing. Putting this into a song, I feel like I've been stripped naked. (laughs) But, by putting this out, I can believe that I can change, making it a very good opportunity.

-I think by you showing that part of yourself for them, the listeners will take you more seriously. Aren't there times when people feel that if the other person won't be truthful, then they themselves can't be, either?

Kuraki: Yes, I think that's entirely true. Even amongst friends, the other person will finally open up to you when you start talking to them; and if you start to hide yourself, the other person won't share any more of themselves with you. And I think there are times when people's feelings can get across even without exchanging words. Even in the movies, there are people who are very open and natural, or those who can come straight out and tell the other person "yes" or "no," and whether you like them or hate them, they have individuality and live very naturally. I think very highly of them. That's why I took a good look at myself, and decided I wanted to always be natural, and by putting my own feelings into words, I was able to confirm what I wanted to become. And I also discovered that I would like to be able to express what I feel as they are, without ornamentation, in my lyrics from here on.

-How was it to sing a song with your own feelings laid out in the open?

Kuraki: By singing, my own situations and emotions from that time were brought out. If I was really feeling sick I would say something, so likewise by singing my own feelings straight out, it just emerged naturally. This may be deep, but it has a power that can't be described in a few words, and so I just sang it as it was.

-And this all ties in with "Natural."

Kuraki: Yes, it does. (laughs)

-Do you think you can approach 2003 "naturally?"

Kuraki: Yes. After releasing that song, I think I can. (laughs)

-"Fairy Tale Tour," this year's live concert tour for you has already started, right?

Kuraki: It's a good feeling! (laughs) I think I mentioned before that this "Fairy Tale Tour" would be a place where I can look over myself and discover new things about myself, and I'm doing that even more now. There's still a lot more left to go, but I think I can put a lot of myself into this year's tour. And since I believe what I said earlier, about others showing more of themselves when you show more of yourself, I intend to go on laying everything out where everyone can see. *

TEXT: Yamada Junko, translated by Ryu