Many of URBANGARDE’s songs talk about the city (“Tokyo Kid”, “Shinjuku Mon Amour”,”Tokai no Alice”). Is city life the source of Japan’s mental sickness?
Hamasaki: I’m not from a “tokai” (“big city”) like Tokyo, so I’ve had a longing for this kind of life more or less since childhood. Even with the longing, there were times of disappointment when I actually moved to Tokyo. I think it was like Paris syndrome. However, whether it’s a big city or not, I feel that emotional, mental problems are hidden everywhere.
Matsunaga: Cities are like machines that mirror humanity’s mental structure, I think. They are opposite from nature, artificial and extremely unnatural. When the human mind is the main topic, it feels natural for cities to be chosen as the setting. Isn’t the relationship between cities and mental disorders like the relationship between the chicken and the egg?
Link:
http://jrock247.com/2018/07/urbangarde-interview-2018/