On the evening of the 18th, rock star GACKT (46), who celebrated his 20th solo debut anniversary, responded to the sports paper’s interview for the first time regarding his enthusiasm for his 20th anniversary tour and revealed his life in Malaysia.

He has also been praised for his skill as an actor for his serious acting of a comical character in his double-lead starring act with actress Nikaido Fumi (25) in the movie Tonde Saitama (Fly Me To The Saitama) which won a film award too. “At that moment, I understood that even though we’re acting out silly content with seriousness, it was funny,” he reminisced. Grinning, he said, “It gave me the idea that I should earnestly perform a stage that makes people laugh big time for my 20th-anniversary tour.” The tour title is, “GACKT’s money-wasting has begun”.

Come this year’s 11 January, he will be holding 20 performances in 8 cities over a period of around 2 months. As he grows older, he decides to go in the opposite direction and he seeks fun (humour) for a never-before-seen GACKT. He has recruited dancers and players (performers) in large numbers too to perform a serious parody. That is the kind of labour costs he is incurring. “However, I won’t strip naked,” he said, making me laugh.

Live rehearsals are being held in Malaysia, where he will have lived in for 8 years by next year, and Japan. He lives in a mansion that has an area of around 1,700 square meters in an exclusive residential area in the capital, Kuala Lumpur, but when introducing his daily routine, he said, “It’s not an elegant celebrity lifestyle.”

He reveals that after waking up, he would first have a two-hour tea time starting at 10 a.m. A 3-hour long training session comes after that, followed by another hour-long tea time, then after 2 hours of language studies comes another hour of tea time. After that, he works for 2 hours and then goes for dinner, plays poker with his friends while discussing work.

“These days, I don’t watch TV at all, and I’ve prohibited myself from smartphones too. Because when there are too many convenient things around me, I won’t be able to think for myself. Everyone is tied to their phones. I make it such that I can’t do Google searches,” he said, sharing more about his unknown life in Malaysia.

He will also be appearing on next year’s New Year broadcast of the TV Asahi New Year Special of “Celebrity Rating CHECK! (Geinoujin Kakuzuke CHECK!)” (5.0 after Wednesday). He currently has a correct-answer streak of 52 on this program where celebrities have to answer questions, like which of two wines is the true vintage, to discern whether they are first-rate or not. But he said quietly, “It’s as if I’m getting tested twice a year, it’s nothing but stressful.”

He emphasised that this result was not due to flukes or a mere sense, but was instead due to study and research. “I actually properly studied things like wine and all that. Even with the Bonsai, which I’m bad at, I didn’t ask for it but the Bonsai Association sent materials to my place. Since they’ve gone through the trouble, I’ve got no choice but to study it, right?”

On the topic of sports competitions, when he heard about the impression that the sports paper reporter had of him, he joked, “If I took drugs (for it), I think you’d come after me. I definitely don’t though.” He was also emotional when he added, “I’ve never had any interest in it, but when I watched the Rugby World Cup, I came to enjoy it while learning the rules for the first time this year.”

Continuing, he added his opinion, saying, “Next year is the Tokyo Olympics. There is unity and energy that can only be experienced at a stadium when it comes to sports. Those are things that cannot be conveyed through a screen or online and when you share that emotion which only exists in that space with the whole stadium, you’d want to give your all.” With power, he said, “My live performances are always like that too!”

Source: sanspo.com

Translation: GACKT ITALIA Team

Translation © GACKT ITALIA