Name: Kami
Date of Birth: February 1
Place of Birth: Ibaragi
Height: 177 cm
Weight: 57 kg
Bloodtype: A

Kami replaced MALICE MIZER's former drummer, Gaz. He usually presents himself as a butterfly, (maybe he has an infatuation for it?). His fave color seems to be pink. He's close friends with Gackt.

Some Kami facts...

Kami never learned the piano but when he was in elementary school, he learned Japanese writing (with the traditional brush), as well as the Japanese abacus. "But I was fond of the music room in school," he says, "so I used to go there and listen to the recordings by myself." And in the music lecture hours, he was a very competitive child, (he never wanted to be defeated). When he was in 5th grade in elementary school, he first played drums/percussion in the school musical festival. "Actually, I expected that I would be assigned recorder," he says. (A recorder is not a very significant part). "Only 3 students could play the percussionist's part, and I was one of them," says Kami. "And I practiced very hard. Then I was the best of them so that the instructors asked me to teach the other 2 students!"

Kami then became a very hard worker. "I used to play 4 or 5 hours on weekdays, and I played all day on Sundays," he says. (Because he joined the soft-tennis club, he had to practice tennis on weekdays too.) Kami adds, "I could easily acquire 4-beat and 8-beat, and then I started to learn 16-beat on my own. Then, when I looked at the drummer in Dead End(?), I was amazed. I liked the technically great drummer. And it's when I was 17 that I decided I was determined to become a drummer." At that time, the band which he'd started when he was in 2nd grade in high school was heart broken(?). "We joined contests and competitions, and we often became representatives of the area," says Kami, "and we've been to final competitions held in Tokyo, so we were aware of being professional. After graduating from high school, I came to Tokyo. However, all the members in that band couldn't come to Tokyo, so I eventually joined a new band in Tokyo which was a punk band."

Although he moved from hard rock to punk, Kami says he didn't really care about the music genre. Anyways, the bassist in the new band was from his hometown. "I liked the Sex Pistols, and Buzzcocks," he says, "and my real life was also miserable like punk music."(?) But finally, Kami realised that this was not his direction. "I thought, I want to play the percussion part which can develop more and requires more technique," he says. "And then I found Visual-kei, and eventually I joined a band named Kneuklid Romance. And then in the live houses, I first recognized MALICE MIZER." Yu~ki was the first to ask him to join MALICE MIZER, ("I never talked with the other members," he says), but Kami declined. Soon after that, Mana gave him a call, and for half a year, Kami joined them as a temporary member. Then he officially joined them.

When asked what attracted him to MALICE MIZER, Kami replies, "They have an original song called 'BAROQUE.' It was very long and developed quickly, and changed rhythm a lot. The song made me interested in MALICE MIZER. I like to acquire the hard technique, and I think the more the song develops, the more the musician can give his message." In the band, they talked about "What is human?" often, and they also talked about how they wanted to play unusual (or out of the ordinary) music. "I thought the concept was very interesting," says Kami. So how did Kami start to play as MALICE MIZER's drummer? "At first I think I played percussion instead of singing," he says. "Percussion has no melody (which has notes). But I think I played melody by playing drums, so I want to be a drummer who can appreciate the sounds. I think vocal is also an instrumental part and since vocal has words, the vocalist can convey the viewpoint of the song easily, but it doesn't apply to drums so it's hard to convey the message through percussion. But I think it's my own style of drums so I want to to pursue this drumming. I think this theme is very huge and hard, but I want the audience to listen to our message in various ways, not the conventional way."

Before Kami played along with Gackt in a live, he played with tiny splash cymbals. "Those 3 splash were crucial," Kami says. "That way of using splash was like falsetto in terms of vocals." The setting of Kami's drum is usually in a very low position. Kami explains this: "I think it's low because it's easier to handle that, and move my hands. But in the next live in Budokan, my set will be changed. I'm still working on it so I can't discuss it in detail. I gave up low tum and replaced it with deep tum. Mana said, 'Why don't you use square bass drum?' but I think (Mana) was kidding." So what does Kami want to express through his drum-playing? He says, "As a vocalist conveys his experience in his words, I want to play drums which will convey my experience. I hope my play could be a sound of my life. As MALICE MIZER's drummer, I think I should play according to the composer, but other than that, I think we should explore more."

Kami has a good personality. Because of this, he says, "many people say that I can be easily cheated. But in the sound of my drum, I want to express my honest feeling like that." Asked if Kami likes the feeling of achievement from playing hard techniques, he replies, "I don't know. But during the lives, I'm used to it, (the radical technical change of rhythm). I really like to play technically hard scores, but I don't know why I like them. I guess I'm looking for the answer by playing."

Kami is interested in captains of old Japanese army: "I was not interested in the history itself. When I was in elementary school, I read Japanese history in cartoon, but I didn't like it because it was not so comprehensible. Then I happened to watch the TV program on National broadcasting channel which dealt with a captain of old Japanese army, and I was so impressed by it that I kept watching it every week. I guess I was attracted to the dandyism in which one man pursues taking over the country." Kami takes Shingen Takeda as the best captain, and Masamune Date as the second. Kami dwelled on it so much that he read many Japanese history books and was affected by the lifestyle of those captains. "In terms of period, I think the period after the war of O-nin is very interesting. The period in which Shingen Takeda was active is especially amazing." It is well-known among his fans that Kami is a serious Shingen freak. "One of my fans in Yamanashi prefecture, (which was a Shingen's domain), gave me a replica of Shingen's army flag which has letters of 'Fu-rin kazan'." In the last concert, Kami put the flag behind the drum set, and he sometimes waved it. And he has been to the show to perform the famous war of Kawanaka island which is held in Huehuki river in Yamanashi prefecture. He even says that it is a shame not to join the festival in Takeda shrine this year (1998).

Since Kami says "I'm interested in 'seppuku' (performing hara-kiri)", he seems attracted to dandyism and stoicism which a man can perform when he loses, as well as the romantic idea of conquering the country. "I'm interested in Japanese fortresses, too," says Kami. "I want to visit them someday." Because of all this, Kami emanates a very masculine aura. The closest Kami ever felt to dying was during a car accident. "Awhile ago, I was driving by myself to the next places on our tour," he explains. "After we got off the expressway, one of the tires got a flat and white smoke came out of the car, and it was rather dangerous. Since we had to replace the tire, we parked the car in a police office parking lot, and Mr Roddy (?) went to buy a new tire. I was waiting for him in the lot, and since I had nothing to do, I did some macho exercises. Then a policeman came to me and said, 'Doing exercise is a very good thing but don't you have moral?' (?) That was the point I thought I was going to die." (?!)

As for certificates of achievement, Kami says, "When I was in elementary school, we were assigned to learn Japanese character handwriting, and we had to write any four characters. I picked up the words 'Hukoku Kyohei' (make the country prosperous and make the army strong), and I got a silver prize. I've also cheated. I hated essay assignments, and in my house, I found a book, an anthology of many good essay samples, and I literally paraphrased it, wrote it down, submitted it, and got a prize." In a more serious light, Kami also says he won a certificate in which he got the second title in a tennis game in his prefecture. Kami's first date occurred in Junior High. "It was in the evening of summer vacation," he explains. "I talked with a girl in the court grounds of Junior High School. I belonged in the tennis club, and she was in another school's tennis club, and that was our first time to talk with each other alone."

The part of a woman's body which Kami is curious about is her breasts. The first thing he does in the morning is smoke. The food he'd like to eat again, (his first honest answer was "The first girl I slept with!"), is curry in Cadoya, which only includes meat and onions. His fave cosmetics is probably "Mary Quand" (?) in terms of foundation. As for clothes and shoes, Kami says, "My tastes have changed. Now I prefer very casual fashion. It's very easy to move. In terms of shoes, I've only had boots which have high heels, but currently I prefer to wear rubber soles. It's easier to walk in them." His criteria of buying is color. "Basically, I choose violet or the color which goes with violet," he says. "I think I'm a very good shopper. I always buy cheap things which look very expensive. It's my criteria after all and I'm not interested in the brand. And the other point is whether the clothes has some aura..."

In terms of musical experience, Kami says, "First of all, my mother's heart beating. Next is the recorder. And then the xylophone. And then the many other instruments which were in the music lecture room in school, and then Michiko's recorder." (Michiko was probably a high school crush). He encountered the drums when he was in Junior High. "I had to do snare drums," he says. "Then I experienced the timpani. And then I also played bass. Lately, I'm practicing piano." Kami describes his private room as "very dark, even in the daytime. The bedcover or sheets, curtain, everything is black. And I can only sleep when everything is completely dark, so when I get up early in the morning, my room is very very dark, as if it was night. As for the pillow case, I made it from the extra cloth which was used for costumes when we were in indies. And on the wall there's a plant which covers it, and I put some masks on the wall. My theme of the decoration in my room is nostalgia."

Kami's charming point is, "Brightness, positiveness, cheerfulness." He loves gambling but admits he's not very good at it. "Last year, I bought 300 lotto tickets," he explains, "and it cost me ¥ 90,000, but I just gained ¥ 10,000 out of it." His favorite song, (besides "Romance" by Penicillin), includes two children's songs: "Kaeru-no Pyonta, Sugoina" (The frog whose name is Pyonta is great!), and "Ikaros." Kami says, "I listened to 'Ikaros' in the music lecture. It has a very sad melody, and I think we might be able to play it in MALICE MIZER." Kami washes his hair in cold water. He likes perfumes a lot. Recently, he discovered a perfume which smells the same as a hair manicure (a shampoo which colors the hair when washed with it) named ma chérie, and this has become his favorite perfume. He collects perfumes and has almost 80 bottles, but he always wears only 4 out of them.

How Kami passed away

Kami died on 6/21/99 of a subarachnoid hemorrhage in his home. It wasn't until 6/25/99 that his body was found however. Kami was an excellent drummer, and by all means, will be forever missed and remembered.