MIYAVI

My philosophy is my learning process. Until you die, you must evolve and improve.

I feel responsible to make something original as a Japanese artist. There are lots of singers and guitarists, but I feel that on stage it's meaningless to copy something someone has done before.

Every country has a dark side of their history.

There's nothing that everyone likes in the world. People have different opinions. It's just the way of living. I know that there will be differences.

It's really important to create something, like with my creations as a musician. Just let it flow. Focus on how to deliver message to audience. Don't get ego.

Sometimes I just rely on technique on stage, but it's not about technique. It's about how much you want to deliver the message to the audience. That's all.

I'm trying to talk to my kids in Japanese, because I'm not a pro English speaker. My wife speaks to them in English. That's her first language. I don't want my kids to feel the same as me when I was studying English. It was so frustrating.

The reason I put make-up on or wear the costume is to try and find my own style. It's like my guitar style - I'm just trying to be an original artist.

Michael Jackson had a stable vision. He had a strong message, not only pop. People just fainted at his concert.

I really wanted to speak English because I started touring the world, and I wanted to communicate with people directly.

I find a similarity between performing music onstage and acting - a reality of emotion.

Usually I go to the studio to write lyrics and compose music. I try to be a dad as much as possible at home.

I've realised how important having family is.

I didn't want to represent any negative side of the country where I was born and raised.

I am a musician and am so thankful for that. I have no experience of war. But I find a similarity between performing music onstage and acting - a reality of emotion.

Then to deliver the message to the audience is our mission. I tried to imagine, if they killed my family, daughters, I would do anything to protect my family. It's insane but that's the situation everybody was in.