This is the third and final part of a comprehensive, career-spanning interview with KAN. It comes from a book entitled KAN in the BOOK which was published in 2020.

Please note that whereas the first two parts of this interview are full, 1:1 translations, this part omits certain sections that go into heavy, almost esoteric detail about KAN’s past live events. However, to make up for it, it includes bonus questions throughout the latter half of the article, covering his final three studio albums in much greater detail than what is in the book. These bonus questions are taken from entertainment news site Natalie’s interviews with KAN, and I have taken the liberty of slightly editing them at times to maintain the flow of the conversation.

Text: Morita Kyoko & Natalie (2010, 2011, 2016, 2020)
English translation: Henkka
KAN: Website, Twitter, YouTube

Note: You can buy KAN’s physical releases on CDJapan.

2005–2020

— Your two-and-a-half-year stay in Paris had come to an end.

KAN: The first thing I had to do once I came back was to make an official website.

When I went to France, I had dissolved Kita-Aoyama Image Development, my so-called fanclub—though I didn’t call it that myself—and so I took the opportunity to move away from paper newsletters and do it all online instead. I decided to call it Kita-Aoyama Image Redevelopment. (laughs)

At the same time, because I was determined to start doing piano-and-vocal performances going forward, I made an album of me singing to my own accompaniment. The album, called Nan no Hentetsu mo Nai Love Songs, was only sold through my website.

Continue reading →

This is the second part of a comprehensive, career-spanning interview with KAN. It comes from a book entitled KAN in the BOOK which was published in 2020.

Text: Morita Kyoko
English translation: Henkka
KAN: Website, Twitter, YouTube

Note: You can buy KAN’s physical releases on CDJapan.

2002–2004

— I’d like to ask you about your life in Paris.

KAN: I think it was around 1994 that I first started traveling to all sorts of different countries. Little by little, I began to feel like I wanted to try living abroad. And so, at the end of February 2002, I moved to France.

I started out by going to language school. In those early stages there were a few Japanese students, a Brazilian, a Nigerian, a Filipino, a Korean—our class of around ten people.

Japanese people are diligent when it comes to studying, but we tend to not really speak up, right? The teacher would ask the class a question and the students from all the other countries would be quick to respond, but of course all their answers would be wrong. Finally, they’d ask one of us Japanese, and we’d give the correct answer. In the beginning, that is.

Continue reading →

KAN is and will surely always remain one of my personal favorite pop songwriters. Today, nearly 20 years since I first discovered him, I appreciate his music more than ever. This translation is my humble tribute to this funny, relatable, and really just immensely endearing man.

This is the first part of a comprehensive, career-spanning interview with KAN. It comes from a book fittingly entitled KAN in the BOOK which was published in 2020.

Text: Morita Kyoko
English translation: Henkka
KAN: Website, Twitter, YouTube

Note: You can buy KAN’s physical releases on CDJapan.

1987–2001

— To begin with, how did your debut come about?

KAN: I took part in Yamaha’s EastWest amateur band contest and Young Jump’s Sound Contest ’84, and I did okay—I won prizes in both, coming in 3rd place or so. I got like a “Merit Award” as well as a “Good Looks Award.” (laughs)

— Oh really? (laughs)

KAN: Back in those days, a lot of young sound directors at record labels were going around looking for promising musicians in hopes of discovering and developing them themselves, and they were attending all kinds of contests. That’s how I was approached by one Mr. Hirano from Polydor Records, and I went into the studio to record demos of six or so songs—some of them were programmed, and some I recorded with band members from my college days.

Then we started looking for a production company. But one of those candidates, that company said they wanted to work with a different label instead of Polydor. Hirano was all sullen, like, “I’m gonna be left out of this thing, huh…”

Continue reading →