The musician and the shoe shiner converse about creativity and the skills and mindset required to bring it to life. The conversation began with Hasegawa shining Uchizawa's shoes.




Hasegawa (holding shoes): Did you buy these Alden shoes as a vintage item?
Uchizawa: This is a type of orthopedic shoe, right?
That's what the Hasegawa Modified Last was originally for. Not for fashion purposes.



I was struck by what Mr. Uchizawa Hasegawa said in a past interview: that setting up a bar-style setup, where customers remove their shoes so they can check inside, was a logical and effective idea.
Hasegawa: When I used to shine shoes on the street, there were quite a few people who felt uncomfortable having their feet exposed to me. Besides, I could shine them more thoroughly if they took their shoes off.
Uchizawa shoe cream was also developed in-house, right?
Hasegawa commissioned a cosmetics company that doesn't normally make shoe polish or similar products.




--Mr. Uchizawa, you also have a strong preference for musical instruments, which are your tools, right?

Uchizawa's tools are the kind that you have to be meticulous about to arrive at, after thoroughly focusing on creating something that is easy for him to use.
How many guitars has Hasegawa owned now?
How many guitars has Uchizawa owned ? Out of all the guitars he's tried, the one he bought when he made his indie debut, when he decided he was going to make a living solely from music, is the guitar he still uses today, a 1959 Fender Stratocaster. It was quite expensive back then, enough to buy a car. But he bought it to motivate himself.
Hasegawa is so cool. Does the sound really make a difference?
Uchizawa : No, that's not it. He has the strength to have survived through the ages. I believe Hasegawa likes punk music, right?
Hasegawa Epitaph-esque bands, NOFX, and so on. I still listen to them. Those are Uchizawa's musical roots.
Uchizawa: My love for Western music started with punk, and I began listening to Green Day in high school.
Hasegawa is great, isn't he? 'Nimrod'.
Uchizawa: That's right. Before that, there was an album called 'Dookie', and it was around that time.



I know it's a bit strange to say this in front of a professional like Hasegawa , but I think being a rock musician is the coolest job in the world. I'm kind of like a sushi chef; I try to satisfy each customer in front of me to the fullest extent, but what's amazing about music is that when Uchizawa sings, he can move tens of thousands of people. That's a power that shoe shiners don't have.
Uchizawa: Mentally, I feel like a shoe shiner. No matter how many tens of thousands or thousands of people I perform in front of, I want to approach it as if it were a one-on-one conversation. I myself am moved by music, and I'm able to make music because I believe in its power. I also want to encounter people whose hearts are moved by the sounds I create. But if the relationship is shallow, it doesn't resonate at all. Talking one-on-one like this allows for a deeper conversation.
Hasegawa said he wants to be able to perform in front of tens of thousands of people with that same feeling.
Uchizawa: That's right.

Photo: Hirotaka Hashimoto
Hair&Make-up: Maki Sakate (vi's)
Text: Yukihiro Sugawara