I love to be anonymous.

I'm trying to relax, but it's hard.

I easily fall asleep during a movie.

I loved the freedom of improvised music.

I don't really know about the art world.

The first music I got really into was Bach.

I'm always looking out for interesting people.

The piano is the instrument I can play the most.

Playing jazz in restaurants is too stereotypical.

I like to write film music that stands on its own.

I'm not the ambassador of Japan or Japanese culture.

To record the perfect album. That is my dearest wish.

For me, Debussy is the door to all 20th-century music.

I have to follow my instinct and intuition and curiosity.

To show my everyday life to the world was not my intention.

That's the meaning of 'The Revenant': It's a return from death.

I was born and grew up in Tokyo, so I didn't know about nature.

I want to capture the mood I have now, post-cancer, in my music.

I know Brazilian music. I have worked with Brazilians many times.

Time is the main subject for any musicians, music writers, composers.

The world is full of sounds. We just don't usually hear them as music.

I always think about music horizontally and vertically at the same time.

A young musician needs a powerful laptop and a good analogue synthesiser.

Asian music influenced Debussy, who influenced me - it's all a huge circle.

I'm a terrible drummer; I almost cannot play the guitar nor sax nor trumpet.

For me, change doesn't happen on a linear basis; it zig-zags back and forth.

As soon as I choose the timbre of an instrument, that dominates how I compose.

I think there's a genuine difference between the real and the virtual in music.

My concept when making music is that there is no border between music and noise.

I have a lot of sketches and ideas, but when you don't use them, they get stale.

I've realised that if it is to remain relevant, contemporary music needs to change.

I wanted to hear sounds of everyday objects - even musical instruments - as things.

When I imagine some music in my mind, almost automatically, I imagine the piano keys.

I was really into the music of Cream after I finished composing the music for 'BTTB.'

I'm lucky that I have people listening to my music, waiting to see me in North America.

We musicians often get inspiration from films and books or photographs, not only by music.

The key concept is to open your ears. Music can be here and there, anywhere surrounding you.

I've worked with the same Prophet 5 Synthesizer by Sequential Circuit synthesiser for 40 years.

Time in our universe is always one way: no going back, no reverse. In music, you can reverse it!

I honestly like any sound. Birds. I have a very broad space to accept or enjoy anything except quiet.

For making music for myself, I just need to be happy. I'm the producer, the director, and the listener.

You can use existing music in a film, but creating a soundtrack is very different. One note can be enough.

The piano is the closest instrument to me in my life, so it's just natural to play my pieces on the piano.

When I do one thing for a long period of time, my attention is usually then drawn in the opposite direction.

I have a longing for violin or organ. Is it too simple to say those sustaining sounds symbolise immortality?

Japanese people can feel some attachment in what they are making, whether it is a car or a TV or a computer.

I want to be lazier. This is the luxurious dream I have: Doing nothing all day, just watching the clouds and DVDs.

My audiences are generally mixed. Some people like techno, others are into the pop music, and others enjoy my film music.

The global view of cultures is part of my nature. I want to break down the walls between genres, categories, or cultures.

Each time I work on a film, I say to myself, 'This is it. This is the end.' Because it is so stressful, it's like torture.

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