B'z Story Box

Perfectionist

Have you all seen the cover of the Giri Giri Chop single? Here it is:

Koshi suffered very much for this photo shoot. The problem was that Tak (consummate professional), in trying to achieve the perfect expression for his profound part, insisted on take after take. Meanwhile, Koshi was forced to crouch inside the shopping cart for a very long time ~ he later claimed in Be With that he was soon experiencing terrible cramps in his legs!
Koshi: *stoically bears pain*
Tak: Ano...can we do that again?
I guess that look of pain on his face is real...hehe.

Incidentally, the album version of Giri Giri Chop on Brotherhood was the 51st take.

"Ore wa Dare?" (Who Am I?), or Yaoi rumors laid to rest

Ah. The infamous MC session from, um, the TIME LiveGym around 1992 I think. I'm too lazy to check right now, but I have it. Tak is wearing a vest of cow print, mullet-glorious, and Koshi has 2 giant poofs in his hair and sports some tight black leggings with a flowery pattern on them. Yeah! Old school B'z! You can watch a clip of this MC session on the B'z Official Bootleg. If you don't have it, you must imagine Tak and Koshi acting out the following with clownish and great enthusiasm. Ever lovely Keen translated the following for us fans:

Koshi: Concerning B'z, there's a lot of gossip out there. 'They seem to be getting along really well for quite some time now. Are they not HOMO?'
Audience (laugh)
Koshi: To put everything straight, let me tell you a story about what kind of relationship we have. 1989, summer, three persons coming home from concert: Matsumoto, Inaba and manager. They had with them big heavy stuff. Their sweat kept flowing... (turns to Tak) How terrible this is.
Tak: Fu (chuckle)
Audience (laugh)
Koshi: If only we can get a seat. Manager is far in front of us.
Tak: At this time, you won't find any. Just give it up.
Koshi: Give it up, you always say such thing. Aa what?! Manager, you found the only seat available? LUCKY! Let me sit down (Koshi acts out putting stuff down)
Tak: Oii, Inaba! Don't be too overjoyed yet! First of all, WHO AM I?
Koshi: (hanging his head low) B'z no leader, Matsumoto Takahiro desu.
Tak: And that means?
Koshi: Naturally like a father (head even lower).
Audience (LOL)
Tak: So who gets to sit on that only one available seat?
Koshi: ... boku desu! (=Me!)
Tak: Oii! Is that not wrong?!
Koshi: Aa, sumimasen! (=I'm sorry)
Tak: If your apology can be accepted then we don't need the police.
Audience (LOL)
Koshi: Sumimasen, Matsumoto-san desu. (bows exaggeratedly and earnestly)
Tak: Yos! (satisfied expression)
Kosh returns to his seat sadly, and Masao Akashi (bass) becomes the narrator.
Masao: In 1990, for album RISKY, B'z went to L.A. to shoot album promotion poster. They checked into The Plaza for three days. But only one room was available, and even though it's a big spacious room, there's only one bed.
Audience (LOL)
Masao But Inaba-kun who was super excited with his first trip outside Japan, didn't care at all.
Koshi (running around): Wow, the room is huge! America is definitely different from Japan ne! (running around the 'room', making checking out stuff gesture)
Tak: Fu (chuckles)
Koshi: There's only one bed though. But never mind, Matsumoto-san is not very big, we can definitely sleep. No problem. L.A. banzai, America is great!
Tak: Inaba! Oii Inaba!
Koshi: (sensing trouble) Hai?
Tak: Don't be too overjoyed yet!
Koshi: (sensing trouble) Sumimasen!
Tak: If your apology can be accepted then we don't need IRS. (Tak knows what this is?! lol~ )
Koshi: IRS? (supressing smile)
Tak: First of all, WHO AM I?
Koshi: (*ouch* expression) B'z no leader, Matsumoto Takahiro desu.
Tak: So that makes me almost like your father. See that guy (pointing to Masao). WHO IS HE?
Koshi: (head low) That's Masao Akashi, B'z bassist.
Tak: And that means?
Koshi: That makes him naturally a close relative.
Audience (LOL)
Masao (head bobbing happily)
Tak: So who gets to sleep in that only one available bed?
Koshi: (head very low) Matsumoto-san desu.
Tak: See that? (Pointing somewhere) What is that?
Koshi: (peering) That is a sofa that only a cat can sleep on.
Tak: So who gets to sleep on the sofa that only a cat can sleep on?
Koshi: (sadly) Boku desu! (=Me) *Koshi returns to his seat.*
Masao: Just like this, the two members of B'z continue to have a wonderful relationship.
Audience: (LOL)
Koshi: (singing Let It Be) When I find myself in times of trouble.......

June 2004

Animal Corner

Bub: Koshi's dear English sheepdog. Kosh brought him into the studio when he was recording his solo album Magma. Bub is also featured in the song JEALOUS DOG (track 13). He was placed inside a booth and asked to be let out, which you can hear at the beginning of the song.

Iori: Koshi's dear cat. Kosh wrote him into Track 9 of MAGMA, Taifuu demo kuryaii. When Iori was newly adopted into the Inaba household, Koshi told Be With that he played with Iori "every minute." That's right, pets need lots of love!

Koshi has also been caught lying flat on a road in an attempt to feed ice cream to a stray cat under a car, and bonding with a professional golden retriever for the shooting of the Love and B'z pv clips. I have pics but am too lazy to put them up now, so donations are welcome.

Tak's pet status is unknown, but it is thought he has a couple of dogs. One is a golden retriever named Konosuke. Apparently, Tak calls him Ko-chan sometimes. Mwaha. Young animal-loving Tak also considered a career as a veterinarian.

Letters and Lyrics

Some interesting English written into various B'z songs:

Juice (PM mix): PM stands for Poquito Mas, which means a little more in Spanish. The drummer for this version of Juice, Brian, was fond of a Mexican fast food chain named Poquito Mas.

RING: Ring refers to not only a cycle, but also the ring of the bell at the beginning of the song, which sets off the circle of despair and longing captured in the lyrics. Ahem, now you know why I wrote my Ring capsule review the way I did.

mimosa: From Safety Love. A type of flowering acacia; also a cocktail.

Rimbaud: From Hot Fashion. Refers to the poet, of course.

Linda: From Dakara sono te wo hanashite. Refers to Linda Yamamoto, a singer.

Earo: Refers to Aerosmith, in the song Crazy Rendezvous

Bronco Billy: In Wild Life, refers to a character in a film.

Marvin Gaye: Soul singer referred to in Crazy Rendezvous. Now I need to find out just what Crazy Rendezvous is about!

Deep Kiss: I thought I'd put this in because I saw a Japanese site define this as "under 16 not allowed." Used twice, in Deep Kiss and Kairaku no heya.

Ice lemon tea: One of my favorite lines from one of my favorite songs..."otona bitteru ice lemon tea..." *ding ding ding*

Chocolate cake: To be honest, I'm not sure what role chocolate cake has in Kairaku no heya...

And who can ever forget "Gazing fondly at my butt?" stated with such earnestness? I don't need to elaborate, do I?

Young Mat-chan and Inaba-san (translated by Hinano from unofficial B'z bio)

~ Tak developed a dog obsession and wanted to be a vet.
~ Then when Tak was in middle school in Tokyo, he saw lots of movies and decided to be a movie director!
~ Tak's first album was The Rolling Stones' "kanashimi no anji"

~ Koshi was always very embarrassed about singing in front of others and even nowadays, his friends have to beg him, but he is shy!
Ok, and here's an amusing story that I will quote entirely from Hinano (I think it may be another version of the 178 story I have in his bio section...):

"Okay so Koshi & his friends were staying at some public facility, when they were camping. And those girls who were like 'kya kya I'm all giddy' or something and so that night they broke in to where Koshi was staying..and were going to do 'violent' things to him (e__e I don't think they mean beating him up... ) and so Kondouko-san stretched above Koshi's body and protected him. And then it said that thanks to practice from those 'crazy excited girls' when he became 'Inaba Koshi of B'z' and all the fangirls were like that it wasn't anything new to him. And they conclude it with saying "I wonder if this 'Elementary School Girl Popularity' had any kind of effect on him in the future.." Oh lord lol Poor koko...at such a young age!"

Mind you, we're not saying that story is true at all! Perhaps only the noble Kondouko-san can confirm what really happened...

NHK Shian Koshi Documentary Special excerpts (kindly translated by Hinano! :))

NHK had an entire TV special devoted to Koshi when he released his album Shian. If you've seen it, it contains several gorgeous performances and a LOT of interview segments. If you don't understand the nihongo, all you can do is admire the Inabeauty. But Hinano translated some bits of it for us, so here we are:

Q: "Do you have any nicknames now?"
KI: "Inabacchi...god knows where that came from. In high school they called me Inaba."

Q: "What would you be if you weren't a singer?"
KI: "I'd be a cram school teacher."

Koshi observed that he enjoys riding his motorbike when he's alone, and prefers to ride alone because it is dangerous and puts someone else's life at risk. "You don't feel that kind of wind when you drive a car." He also explains anata wa yobu kaze sarawarete is associated with bike riding in his mind.

Q: "Which do you hate more, being on TV or nattou?" [Nattou= fermented bean paste and you must never feed this to 178 if given the chance]
KI: *laughs* "Hmm I guess I'd say TV but I have been on it before...but I mean I have eaten nattou before...Nattou is not completely inedible. [Koshi mentions that he likes some kind of egg dish] I used to eat a lot of bananas too. I don't know why there's a rumor that I hate TV but I can't speak well when I'm on it...Singing on TV feels kind of different."

Q: "When having to be 'alone' what did that feel like?"
KI: " I wasn't really the type to always make friends, so not like I went crazy so being alone was ok. It was kind of exciting.
They always asked me to carry stuff at the mountains and I said I'd do it on my own. It kind of made me happy...plus I'm a guy so...when people asked me to do stuff on my own. 'Carry this!'

Koshi was asked what kind of child he was, and he replied that he was always climbing and jumping off high places. Thus he was constantly covered with bruises and scratches.

Q: "Where do you get your energy from?"
KI: "Well, during the tours, all the fans always make me happy. All the voices of the fans are a lot of energy."

Q: "What do you treasure the most as a vocalist?"
KI: "To sing seriously."

Q: "Were there times when you cried?"
KI: "Plenty, but I don't like to talk about it."

Q: "How do you feel about Matsumoto-san?"
KI: "He is a great artist. I respect him highly to this day, way higher than me." He also said Tak is much more romantic in another segment.

Q: "When did you decide you wanted to be a singer?"
KI: "Never...actually I was kind of put on the spot. My friends told me to just sing..it wasn't because I was good, but rather my voice was high..and a high voice was good! So basically they asked me to do it and that's why I did it." I think he means in high school, when he first sang.

Q: "How well do you know yourself?"
KI: "Maybe 70%. After that, I have no idea."

Q: "Will you be a teacher if you stop singing?"
KI: "I haven't thought about it. I just thought I'd just stop and that's it." No kidding!

Q: "What are the most important words to Inaba-san now?"
KI: *thinks carefully for a very long time* "Be true to yourself."

Contents
*December 2003 Box* Story 1. Tak Studies at UCSD Story 2. We Don't Have Cash Story 3. Cell Phone Terror Story 4 . Too Sexy Story 5. An Overly Ambitious Attempt Story 6: Courage in the Face of Fangrilism	January 2004 Box: Story 1: Giri Giri Chop shoot Story 2: Ore wa Dare? June 2004: Animals, youth, English, interview.

The Man Who Was Too Sexy for TV
Once upon a time, after a B'z performance, parents called the TV station in outrage, complaining that the vocalist's moves were too sexy for television. The exact nature of his crimes is not known. The infamy! Source: B-chan!