Q. Your image is that Nagase = Rock.
In the past, yes, there was a time when I mostly listened to heavy metal. Even now people say that my personality changes when I go to a rock concert. But recently I come to think that it is not always have to be rock.

Q. But I suppose you like Slash and Axl? (from Gun `n Roses)
If you mean that they influenced me, yes I like them. But I also like vocalists like Sid Vicius and Iggy Pop.

Q. Did your taste in music change?
Now instead of appreciating how well someone can sing or play the guitar , it seems I more appreciate "how well he lives as a human being."

Q. How about yourself as a player? And your activities as a solo?
Last year, yes there was a chance, but I am not thinking that I must do solo. Although of course, considering that it will be a good experience for me, I hope I can do solo again.

Q. From now on do you think your appreciation in music will change?
Maybe. Even now it is happening. But I think it is also important to have something that you will always like.

DRAMA:

Q. At last you appear in "Monday 9" (prestigious TV time slot)
Yes. I still don`t know what will happen to that youth I`m playing, Hebe Tetsuya. I haven`t read the whole script, and I`m looking forward to it.

Q. Nagase in "Hakusen Nagashi" is imprresive.
People seem to think that. Eventhough that is a drama that I should treasure, the character is different from the real me. But I like that I can say and do things that in real life I can`t say or do.

Q. So which character is nearer to your real character?
"DxD" and "Dear Woman", maybe. I don`t know it`s true or not, the people who really know me said so. But people who said that I`m a "shy and cool youth" said different things. But somehow I don`t like the image of "shy and cool". It doesn`t ring true.

Q. But is it interesting to say things that you can`t say?
Yes. This time Hebe Tetsuya is also different from me. I think all characters that I`ve played until now are different from me. And because they are different from the real me, it is interesting.

FASHION:

Q. What do you usually wear? Rock fashion?
Of course I also wear such fashion, but mostly I wear what I feel comfortable in. Basically I like all kinds of fashion, so depending on the day and hour, I wear different things.

Q.Did your taste in fashion change?
Maybe not. But since sometime ago I have the feeling that I want to become a person who can look good in any wear, and recently I think that it will be interesting if I can look good in suits too.

Q.Do you follow the trend in fashion?
No, not at all. It is not only with fashion, it is with all things. "I am now" will decide what clothes to wear and what music to listen. So I never think "I wonder what is being trendy now".

Q. People your age usually follow the trend, don`t you think?
I don`t think so. There are people who, knowing the trend nowadays, will deliberately do the opposite thing. Also there are people who are not aware of trends at all. And I think that it is alright. "Being oneself" is important. If we don`t want to follow, we don`t follow. If we want to follow, we follow.

FRIENDSHIP:

Q. Any change in friendship?
Not at all. I am still in very good terms with my hometown good friends, the same since I was around 7 or 8 years old. I hope it will continue on.

Q. Only with old friends? Of course with old friends there were the time when we were naughty like children, and we had the same time when we began to grow interest in girls, also we talked to each other things that we couldn`t talk to our parents. But what is important is not the length of time, I think.

Q. So what is imporatant?
Maybe the "mutual feeling" of friendship, I guess. If I think that he is my good friend but he doesn`t think the same way, then we can`t say that we are good friends. It is not "can depend on" or "can seek advice", but it is "can go back to", which is important. In this meaning, all my old friends are a place to where I can always go back to.

Q. Can you become good friends with people of different sex and with people whose age is of a wide difference with your own age?
Yes, I can. As long as we mutually think that we are good friends, things like different sex and age gap do not matter. I think it is real good friends.

FREE TIME:

Q. If you have a lot of time, what will you do?
First I`ll sleep. After that, music. Recently I seldom go biking. At one time I played games (Play Station), but now I don`t do it anymore. What will I do then.....maybe I might play sports or billiards.

Q. Since a long time ago you like baseball and soccer, don`t you?
Yes. Even now I still play with them. Recently I played soccer, but not as I expected, I could not move as well as before. I thought: "I`m also growing old".

Q. Are there anything that you haven`t done and are interested in doing now?
I want to go camping. Go with everybody and have fun.

Q. Is "with everybody" the keyword?
I am a person who always want to do everything with somebody. I think I feel lonely easily. When I played games, I always did with somebody too.

Q. So it`s true that you are not "shy and cool"?
Yes, its`s true. I am a person who like to have fun with people.

Q. That part of your character won`t change?
If I compare myself now with when I was around 16-17, I think I changed. I don`t get mad anymore, so I become more peace loving. While not realizing it, I changed.

THE END.