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I found myself funny thinking about orchestrating this loop.

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Promotion Edit Ver. of The Devil In Me

The video is about a person conversing with a ChatGPT equivalent to learn more about a famous killer and try to see inside his mind.

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The Kyo Poetry series - Poem I: "Without further ado"

Have you ever woken up with the urge to translate and comment on Kyo’s poems from back in the early 2000s as if your life depends on it?

Well, I have, because I’m a weirdo.  So for the sake of this series, take it or leave it; here is my translation and commentary on 前略、お元気ですか、最果ての地より名も無き君に愛をこめて… (Without further ado, how are you? I keep on wondering, lovingly crying out this question to all of you from the farthest lands.), Kyo’s second poem book, released in 2004.

Poem I: [Untitled]

Without further ado, how are you?

Without further ado, how are you? I keep on wondering, lovingly crying out this question to all of you from the farthest lands.

Like children dreaming; struggling to swim through submerged alleys

with your beloved red shoes stored neatly in your balconies. *

Inside your fish bowls, the night is warm and young women ask for ice water, laughing,

while beyond our borders mothers hold their children every day

and throw their love into seas of flames.

Flowers adorn the side of the road and yet you turn away

and even if Ed Gein were to make a mask of your face, it would bear a smile**

and you’d still be feeding on this lovely world you adore,

Hating the rest of them more than you love yourself

Hating the rest of them more than you love yourself

Hating the rest of them more than you love yourself.***

Their subliminal words, deeds and doctrine are an effective Hail Mary

As the sky and earth turn to ash in 194586815****

Oh go admire those pouring mud tears

of my nameless brethren and their tears thou shalt nor forget, never…

There lies that flickering great power of the modern-day,

oh pray to God it doesn’t disintegrate

oh thee playable yellow monkeys,

thee tame yellow monkeys,*****

why don’t you inject that so-called HIV up your asses?******

- it’d be just sex, not rape, so cry me a river

just like in a soap opera

oh, cut the crap.

Rusty water cups

reverently carried by girls with bob cuts

that I stare at with my pitch black eyes and who surely don’t feel a thing

- ah, where has our innocence gone?

Only creeping, crawling maggots

that won’t deign to say hello.

To them, I shall not say a word, just trample them beneath my feet.

* Red shoes in the balcony In traditional housing in Japan, shoes are stored in the “genkan”, i.e. the entryway area of the house. During summer, shoes may be stored in the balcony to avoid bad smells. The author mentions that these shoes are red, which is quite specific. I believe he might be referring to a very popular 1948 post-war film, The Red Shoes. The Red Shoes is a complex interplay between art, love and ambition. The red shoes themselves symbolise the irresistible allure of artistic ambition and the relentless drive for perfection. They represent the protagonist's desire to excel in her art form, even at the cost of her life. The film serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of becoming consumed by one's passions to the point of losing touch with reality. 

** Ed Gein Edward Gein was an American serial killer. He made various objects from the skin of his victims and bodies he dug up from cemeteries, including human skin face masks.

*** Hating others more than you love yourself This is a reference to a Buddhist concept according to which hating anyone or anything is a reflection of one’s self-hatred. In Buddhist philosophy, one should love others as much as one loves oneself (even horrible people). One should accept dissenting opinions just like one accepts parts of oneself that aren’t perfect or necessarily good. This is a very quick and simplified explanation of Buddhist compassion, but you get the picture.

**** 194586815 This series of numbers is a date and time: 6 August 1945, 8:15 am. This is the exact time the Hiroshima atom bomb was dropped by the United States.

***** Yellow monkeys Yellow Monkey is a WWII-era slur for Japanese people, akin to “Japs”. The author is referring to Japanese people being tame, gullible and accepting of their government.

******* HIV up the ass I didn’t make this sound any more vulgar than it is in the original text - the author used very strong language for this one.

---

My analysis of this poem: I read this as a political statement. The narrator is unreliable. In the first few lines, he appears to address his own people (the Japanese) with tender words ("how are you? I keep on wondering, lovingly crying out..."). He paints a picture of comfort and picturesque happiness ("inside your fish bowls", “red shoes stored neatly in the balcony”).

In the second half of the second stanza, the poem takes a turn, and he begins to contrast Japanese comfort with the horrors going on in the world that his people are oblivious to.

He criticises the reader for not reacting to such horrors, comparing their indifference to a cruel mask of disinterest and self-absorption. He claims that "their words" (presumably the government's?) distract from reality, as it happened during WWII prior to the atom bombings.

More notably, he appears to criticise Japan’s fragile political system, implying that it relies on the indifference and acceptance of “tame” Japanese people.

He describes a mass of people who all look and act the same (“girls with bob cuts”, a popular hair style in Japan) and how they do not appear to react to his (presumably political) appeal (“my pitch black eyes”). He thus despises them, as evident in the crude final lines. 

Translator disclaimer

These are are just my own interpretations and I took some liberties as a translator to make this poem make sense in English. Japanese is very hard to translate to English since sentence structures are very different. Japanese is a highly contextual language, whereas English is explicit. Thus, certain passages can have multiple interpretations and sometimes it’s impossible to know what the author really meant. This is just my own take. There are other takes out there. You don’t have to take my translation as the ultimate source of truth. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Please do not post elsewhere without permission.

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From JaME World

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Toshiya OFFICIAL PHOTOBOOK 「 泡沫 - overflow - 01 」

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Dad version a day early!

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The pictures of the Tour24 Psychonnect goods were just revealed and, as expected, the merchandise "which the members may not be amused about" has pictures from the start of their career hah.

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Just received Toshiya overflow photobook

Lots of beautiful photos , I like this one a lot 🤭

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Edited HD scan of one of Toshiya's -overflow- acrylic stands, which can be posted as it was made public.

Please do not repost anywhere.

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I like the fact that someone is sharing a screenshot of my TFOE summary on X/Twitter and spouting disinformation with it, and then blocking me when I call them out.

Can we just make one thing clear?

The members were not starved and mistreated on tour. Whatever you may think of the management, there is NO reason to assume they are holding the members prisoners under draconian, cheapskate conditions. And certainly no reason to spout such assumption as fact in public.

Yes, Kyo was complaining, but Kyo just complains. Thats how he is. Those of you subscribed to TheThe Day can see how much Kaoru suffered on tour (i.e He didn't).

As for the new MV, this seemingly was also not solely a result of management demanding cheapness, as we heard from Kaoru recently when he was describing some of the background.

As for the complaint about the overseas merch store, Dir en grey are a niche band in Japan, and an even nicher one overseas. As a first go at setting up a store for overseas fsns, it seems perfectly fine to me. If the merch sells, they will probably continue invest more in it, like any business. Give them a chance, instead of just instant condemnation. Don't even get me started on how many Japanese fans LOVED the merch in the overseas store.

Based on the amount of people who apparently complained profusely in the tour survey about use of AI etc, I would honestly not be surprised if the management think twice about sending the band to Europe again soon. Why would they send them after getting so many complaints??

I really wish people would consider this.