THE Masayuki Paradise

  It's now been around 12 years, in late summer 1988, that I made my album debut with ' THE Pokopokkon '. My beloved admin from the Nakano-sakaue corp called from beneath the window of my workspace. "Oy, Mr. Yamamoto, are you awake?" It was 2:00 at dawn. I think I was probably in the middle of composing for the History Series. I pulled the curtains, opened the window, and popped my head out, "Yeah, I'm awake, what is it?" The elderly hurled something about the size of a softball, "Look!" (my workspace is on the second floor) I hurriedly held both hands out to take it. It was a  Häagen-Dazs ice cream. The elderly was staggering around, his face red. He was in good spirit. "Thanks, man. Wanna bite?" "It's alright, I'll eat with my mom" The elderly grew up downtown and used to be a construction worker in Kiba. "Mr. Yamamoto, you wouldn't be able to do that anymore", the elderly's scaffold, a courty...

  I don't frequently go to 1st and 3rd Streets. 4th Street is Washington Square; 14th Street is Union Square; 29th Street is where the Bencoil residence lives, and 33rd Street has subway station 6. I take so many steps. Hmmm, I don't like the "district" wording, let's stick with the real "street" wording. 42nd to 48th Streets are courtyards. Pass directly beneath Chrysler, past the soap store, the gift shop, the pharmacy, optical outlets, McDonald's, general goods, deli, lingerie store, Wendy's, another deli, the glitzy Roger Smith Hotel, a drugstore that is similar to that of Kiyoshi Matsumoto, and finally, to Radisson Hotel.  Until last year (1999), that place was named Lexington Hotel. Time flies. The historical Lexington Hotel that You Yamamoto and I stayed in 1984 no longer exists. There wasn't a Beekman diner on 1st Street. Not even Paparazzi Morning Star on 2nd Street either. Time flies relentlessly. There, in front of the west end of ...

  Hey everybody! I went to an autograph session! -- Osaka , 80 people, including 4 women (5% on sales tax) -- Kyoto , 71 people, including 5 women (amongst, 1 attended with a child - a male) -- Nagoya , 30 people, including 3 women (10% as expected from a local) -- Tokyo , 116 people, including 6 women (plus an anonymous maid in a yukata) -- Hakata , 38 people, including 9 women ( amongst, 1 attended with a child - another male ) Total: 335 attendees, including 27 women. Oh man! All I saw were guys! I arrived at the new Osaka Station via a Shinkansen [bullet train] at midday, August 4th, where it was a scorching 38°C. I got interviews for a town magazine and Osaka Shimbun [now Sankei Shimbun] before taking the JR train to Kobe in the evening. After abandoning my luggage at the hotel, I had dinner at a Chinese restaurant catered at Chinatown; it was light and tasty. At 9:00PM, I entered Radio Kansai. Iwachan [Kazuo Iwasaki] and Kaorin [Kaori Minami] greeted me with a grin. Tomoko...