X NO SEI TO SHI: STEP 2
4. Eleki e no Michi [The Road to Electric Guitar]

After the period where I was enamoured by the acoustic guitar of Queen and the Beatles, I started listening to Kiss, Rainbow, and Motorhead.

The first LP I bought was "I Surrender" and my first 7 inch record was by John Denver. At that time when I was in middle school, I was a genuine Western music freak. Because of that, I was the one who would tell my Japanese-music-crazy classmates about Western music.

My middle school was high-class so I commuted, but I stopped studying, and got into Chiba Meitoku High School only because they had music class. But somehow, others of my friends who, like me, didn't even go to look at the announcement of who had passed the entrance exams, ended up passing.

With that, the days began where I threw myself entirely into music. My first year in high school I got an electric guitar, but I already had a guitar case from 8th grade.

The electric guitar was relatively easy, and I began copying songs from Rainbow and Motorhead. From Japanese bands, I would copy songs from kid's bands and Loudness.

On the other hand, for music, the class that had been my deciding factor in coming to this high school, I played the Beatles. Just as I thought, even after all these years, the artist who I had first been interested still had a place inside my heart.