Suzuko Mimori's Live Door News Interview (June 26, 2018)

- June 28th is your birthday, isn’t it? Even though we’re doing this two months ahead of time (the interview was done in April), happy birthday! Mimorin: Live Door News is the first to wish me a happy birthday (Lol). Thank you very much! - Speaking of your birthday, I think it can also be known as “family day.” Are you able to celebrate with your family every year? Mimorin: Yes. Every year we eat cake together and I receive letters from them, but I cry every single time. My mother will buy the card, and my dad will write a message. Last year, they had a new idea to give me a card that made the sound, “Iyo-!” in the 3-3-7 clapping pattern (if I understand correctly, this is apparently a sort of clapping rhythm that is the basis for a sort of clapping game and some folk songs. And apparently you also do it whenever you’re happy about concluding or completing something). I thought, “Why are we celebrating the completion of something?” (Lol) - I wonder what kind of person your mother is like? Mimorin: She gets along with everyone and possesses superhuman communication skills! One time when she came to my live, I was surprised to find out she actually became good friends with one of my senior’s family members who was also invited. When they started exchanging their LINE’s, I thought, “What is the meaning of this?!” (Lol) - So she becomes friends with your seniors, even more so than you. (Lol) Mimorin: Exactly. It’s a good thing to be so outgoing. At any rate, I feel like she is enjoying her life. And because she has a meddlesome personality, she often worries about not only her family, but the people around her as well. But I can also be like that. She also REALLY loves rock music. When I was a teenager, she said, “Listen to this,” and handed me a Led Zepplin CD. And since my dad really liked opera music too, maybe that’s why I thought it would be good to have a job related to music. I’m really thankful for my parents who support me in whatever I want to do. - At your 2016 Birthday Live, your mom gave you a message with a sentence related to your name “Suzuko.” It said, “Please keep on playing the sound of that beautiful bell (鈴=suzu=bell).” Do you know the reason why you were named Suzuko? Mimorin: I was told that the origin of my name comes from a collection of poems called “Road of the Tinkling Bell” (by Tomihiro Hoshino). My mom was reading it at the time I was born, and she thought the word “suzu” sounded nice. My dad said, “Suzuko would be fitting for whenever she becomes a grandma.” Even before I was born they were thinking about when I would become a grandma. So when it comes time for me to die, I can have a name I am unashamed of. - So they were thinking strongly about how they wanted a happy and long life for you. Mimorin: That’s right. I believe that’s what it was. - I believe your birthday is also a day to be thankful for the people around you. Can you tell me a little about your friendships? I have an image of you having a wide circle of friends. Mimorin: Yes. But I’m not the type of person to be like, “Hey, let’s be friends!” I like to let the relationship grow naturally. I don’t really invite people when I go out either… this probably means that I have a lot of assertive friends. - Do you have many colleagues you would consider your friends? Mimorin: I’m friends with a lot of my colleagues, but I’m also really close with a lot of friends from my hometown. “Suzuko is really busy with her performing activities, we probably shouldn’t invite her out,” is how a lot of them felt, but I didn’t know about this until about ten years after my debut. Then, one day I suddenly bumped into one of them. “I want to invite you out, too! Why don’t you come to my live!” Ever since then, a group of my hometown friends come to my lives, and we have begun to interact again. (Lol) - Seeing you as someone who is a voice actress and an artist, are they surprised? Mimorin: Everyone knows that I’ve always had goals of singing, dancing, and standing in front of an audience. “Suzuko is just that kind of creature,” is the kind of thing I believe they say. But we also have a lot of laughs. One time during one of my lives, I was saying some really touching things during the MC. But afterwards, they told me how funny I was. - They were teasing you. (Lol) Mimorin: Right, they were just teasing me. But they also give me so much praise. “You were so cute, only you can pull off wearing those kind of costumes.” Since I receive both praise and teasing in good spirits from them, I know that they aren’t lying when they tell me those things. It’s a happy feeling. - Among all of your friends, I’m sure there is a lot of positive and bright people, right? Mimorin: Since I grew up in a girl’s school, I have a lot of friends who are laid-back, and I have a lot of friends who are a bit crazy. (Lol) I often forget very quickly whatever my issue is, and I get so excited I just lose focus. Since most of my friends from back home are married, I often hear stories about their children. And also their complaints about their husbands (lol). I’m the type of person who absolutely loves to imitate people, so I will often mimic the face of their husbands (lol). - When you get upset about your work, do you go to your friends for advice? Mimorin: I do. If I worry about something by myself, my mood just becomes darker and darker. So depending on what I’m concerned about, I choose who will be the best type of friend I need to consult with. When I’m upset about something work related, it’s really refreshing to talk to someone who knows nothing about the industry and isn’t related to it at all. In this industry, I believe that there’s a part of you that inevitably becomes other-worldly, and it seems like I become just like a balloon floating away. But I think my hometown friends pull that part of me back and tie me back down. Both my friends at work and in my hometown are so important to me. I want them to be my friends forever. - I think your birthday is also a blessing to your fans. In your opinion, what kind of fans do you have? Mimorin: All of my fans are my “light.” Each and every one of them posses a light, and it illuminates me. I always think this every time they say “Mimori Suzuko.” They say “Mimorin is the sun,” but as for me, I’m more like the moon, and everyone is the sunlight. - Because the moon shines from sunlight. You have an amazing relationship with them, huh. Mimorin: I want to always keep doing this job. A fortune teller even told me before that I would be doing this until I was 60 years old (lol). Even if my fans get married, have children, and forget about me while they are living their life, if just one of them is lighting my way, I will still be able to be Mimori Suzuko. - What’s it like having people who love and support you, but do not know you directly? Mimorin: Even though people always stop to talk to me in town, it’s still such an incredible feeling. It makes me really happy when people say, “This is our first time meeting each other, but I support you every day.” That is why I absolutely hate when other’s trample over the feelings of the ones who support me. I do not want to be hated by everyone, so I try to keep my actions in check, and always try to keep calm. Even on Twitter I have a considerable amount of followers, so I have to be very careful that I not hurt anyone. Sometimes I think, “I wonder if this is how Anpanman feels?” (Lol) (Anpanman is a superhero from a children’s picture book series. I wish I knew more about this reference, but I do not lol I’m sorry!! Perhaps she is trying to say she wants to be the hero for all her supporters who get bullied sometimes.) - I think there’s a clash of feelings between trying to make all of your fans happy and doing the things that you want to do. Mimorin: It’s a troublesome problem, right? Because of that I think it’s nice to have a good balance. But all of my fans are really nice people. Even if my actions or something I say cause them to feel a little off in the beginning, they always accept whatever I do in the end. I’m really thankful for that. Since everyone’s heart is so big, I feel like if it doesn’t blur the core part of who I am, then it may be possible that I can broaden my way of thinking. This is something that’s been on my mind recently. - You’re busy every day with your voice actress and artist activities. Are there ever moments when you just want to give up and say, “I want to go back to being a normal woman!” Mimorin: Yes. But at the time I was doing theater, I couldn’t do it everyday because it was only a part time job. I thought, “I wonder what would happen if I had free time every day?” But then I remembered, “That’s right, I don’t do well when I have free time.” And at the time I had an office job, I told the manager, “Since I don’t really like having time off, I want you to give me a lot of work.” - Even in one of our previous interviews, you told me that having leisure time was stressing. Mimorin: In the evening when my friends get off of work, they go home, eat supper, take a bath, and then sleep… You would think that I would be jealous of that, but I’m the complete opposite. That type of life just isn’t suitable for me. I like to go to new places everyday, meet new people, and do different things. Because I do such exciting things everyday, I think that I will be able to live a happy life. - If that’s the case, would you find it troublesome if you were given a one month vacation as a birthday present? Mimorin: A one month vacation… What would I do?! (Lol) If it was for about 10 days, I would want to take some time off. That’s just enough that I would be able to have a good vacation, I think. But even if I took a 10 day vacation to travel, no one would probably be able to come with me. - You don’t travel by yourself? Mimorin: I like to have conversations with people, so I don’t really like traveling alone very much. When I’m at home all day during a holiday, in the evening I think, “I didn’t talk to anyone today!” So I’ll go out shopping and talk to the clerks. It’s like, “If I keep this up, my ability to talk will decrease! I have to talk to someone!” (Lol) - Your new album, tone., will be released June 27th, just a day before your birthday. But this time you’ve gathered together some wonderful writers. Mimorin: I did! I directly asked (Shikura) Chiyomaru-San when we met at Anisama, and I was working with MikitoP on a character song for another work when he gave me a demo. I thought it was amazing, so I asked him if I could record it. Personally, I’ve always loved listening to nano.RIPE, and I’ve always wanted to write a song together with them, and I finally got the courage to ask. Yashikin-San has always had my respect as a pop king, and both Ota (Masamoto)-San and Hata (Aki)-San have been looking after me ever since my debut. - You also have HISASHI-San from the band, GLAY. Mimorin: The people from my label asked me, “What about GLAY?” But I was like, “Eh. GLAY? Would he write for me?…” I nervously offered him, and he accepted. Hiyoku no Tori has little bit of a techno feel to it with some EDM elements added in. It’s a really cool, masculine song. The lyrics were a little strange and hard to sing, but since I have never sang such a desperate song before, it was refreshing. - Did you get to meet HISASHI-San? Mimorin: I met him during recording. I was thinking, “It’s really him!” (Lol). I was very happy, and he went over and explained the lyrics to me very thoroughly. “When I wrote this song, I had an image of the sky over Hakodate. I remembered all the times that were tough, and wrote everything down.” I was nervous while he was directing me. The high points in this song were really hard, and when I would get to that point in the song, I would switch my voice to falsetto. But he would tell me,”Please try to sing this in your natural voice, as if you’re in pain.” and it surprised me. I have never done a song like this before, and even though it was painful and I was struggling, I challenged myself and sang it. - About the other songs… “Kakumei no Masquerade” written by Shikura Chiyomaru-San is a really intense song, isn’t it? Mimorin: It is! In my opinion, it’s the most intense song on the album. First of all, there’s a lot of Kanji (lol). Before recording, I got a message that said, “It’s a story about Joan of Arc’s motif, a woman from the French Revolution who fought for the future…” Chiyomaru-San wanted to do a story that was really movie-like, so I felt like I needed to sing this song strongly for this majestic kind of story. I thought that I needed to bring out a different me for this song, and I sang it very intensely. - MikitoP’s song, “Are Kore” is also unusual, and leaves a refreshing impression. Mimorin: This one is also amazing. There were a lot of ideas for this album, but I don’t think I can hide them in this situation (lol). The special thing about this song is that it’s a “narration,” but the first time I heard it, I was like, “What is this!” It took me by surprise. I had another song as a candidate that was very Mimorin-like, but I said, “Absolutely this one!” The lyrics to this song are my favorite. If all of the other songs are “Mimori Suzuko = ON,” this song is “Mimori Suzuko = OFF.” It’s like you’re able to see the true face of who I really am. - In what way was the “narration” a challenge? Mimorin: “I’m a voice actress, so something like this should be a piece of cake,” is was I thought initially. But the more I done it, the more interesting and deep it became. “Let’s sound a little more sleepy here,” or “Let’s add a little more of an inflection here.” The melody part wasn’t even added yet, and the degree of freedom I had was spacious and interesting. I might be adding more narrative songs in the future (lol). - How about Ota Masamoto-San and Hata Aki-San’s, “SAKURA dreamers?” This is a very emotional song, and it’s the answer song to my debut single, “Aitaiyo… Aitaiyo!” “Aitaiyo… Aitaiyo!” is a song full of heart, and is about running towards the future with hope. But “Sakura Dreamers” is a song about knowing the existence of my fans, and doing our best together with everyone. Each time the anniversary day of my debut comes, I will remember these two songs from my set. I think that it is perfect for my 5th anniversary. - I think that all of these new songs were a series of challenges. When you asked these writers to give you such songs, did any of them oppose? Mimorin: They gave me these songs as more like a birthday gift. Because of that, I think that I’ve been able to open new doors that I’ve never been able to open before. - In this work “tone (hue/color)” is the concept. Mimorin: In the beginning, I done a lot of cute-type songs. But here recently the number of "cool" songs has increased, and because of this the range of songs I do has expanded. When I seen that part about myself, I thought it seemed like I was a chameleon that constantly changes colors. Since I had that kind of image, I wanted the theme for this album to be “Chameleon.” But the staff said that there are a lot of people who do not do well with reptiles and amphibians… So because the meaning behind it also fits well with a tone chart and tone color, we decided to go with the word “tone.” The album title almost became “Chameleon Princess.” - Mimorin-San, are you not scared of reptiles? Mimorin: I’m a little scared of snakes, but chameleons I think are ok. A chameleon's skin isn’t slippery. It seems to be dry, right? (Lol) - By the way, does the period after “tone.” have any meaning to it? Mimorin: It’s suppose to be an implication of a dotted quarter note. Because it stretches by half a beat like, “to-on” (lol). - The contrast collaboration between white and black for your jacket cover is nice. Mimorin: I wanted to release both a cool Mimori Suzuko and a cute Mimori Suzuko, so I made both versions. In the studio there were a lot of acrylic plates hanging around everywhere during the photo shoot. “Please stand behind the plate!” “Eh, which one?” It was really confusing. (Lol) - (Lol). Many different types of songs were collected, and an album with a wide amplitude was completed. Mimorin: It is an amplitude that I don’t think any artist can do by themselves. I am worried if even I can pull it off. (Lol) - (At the time of the interview) Given the wide range of songs, I’m a little curious about the order the songs will be in on the album. I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of songs will be in which order. Mimorin: I see. As usually the order of the songs will be determined in a smooth manner. But this time, each song has it’s own strong personal quality, so they will be able to be placed anywhere. The staff have been troubled every day. It’s really a feeling of, “What should we do!”… I’m really looking forward to it! (Lol)

Original interview here.

#mimorisuzuko #suzukomimori #mimorin #mimo #interviewtranslation #interview #translation #tone #tone #newalbum