Interview with KOTO: First Overseas Live at Taiwan's 3D LIVE REVOLUTION×LIVE PLUS (Part 2)

KOTO with A-To-J Tranlator/Correspondent, Darice Chang

Here is the second half of our interview with KOTO when we caught up to her during her first ever overseas live which took place in Taiwan where our translator and correspondent, Darice Chang, was lucky enough to meet her! KOTO took the stage at the 2-day event "3D LIVE REVOLUTION X LIVE PLUS" at Taiwan's Pipe Live Music and shared the stage with several idols from both Taiwan and Japan! This included a special 2-man live with Taiwanese idol, Tira! The crowd was hyped and energetic and she won over many Taiwanese idol fans and we hope that she will eventually win over the hearts of many more fans worldwide!

KOTO is a solo recording artist with a unique style and sound that has made her a front runner in the indie idol scene. She recently released her first album "Platonic Planet" and has been very active recording and performing in Japan. You can follow her on social media for more information (links at the bottom of the article) and look forward to more news on her in the future from A-To-J Connections! You can find an earlier interview we conducted with KOTO here. You can also find a live report from an earlier show we covered in Japan here. We also will close out this half of the interview with a summary of some recent KOTO news for those who perhaps find it hard to get information on her outside of Japan!

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KOTO backstage @ Taiwan's Pipe (PC: Darice Chang)

[Part 1 of the interview can be found here.]

A-To-J: Your songs are in Japanese but how do you think they’re accepted throughout the world?
A-To-J: KOTOさんの曲は日本語ですが、他の国ではどう受け入れられていると思いますか。
KOTO: My songs are very electronic… I think people that like cute things really like my songs! So I think people that like Harujuku and Harajuku fashion like my songs. The songs are also fast paced so I think people that like high tension songs like them as well. This is also why I want to go to places that have “kawaii” culture.
KOTO: テクノポップというかエレクトロなサウンドなので、かわいいものとか好きな人が好きだと思うんですよ。だから原宿系なファッションとかアーティストさんが好きな方は好きなのかなって。後、結構早い曲なので、ノリノリなものが好きな方に受け入れてもらえると思うので「カワイイカルチャー」があるところに行きたいです。

A-To-J: How do you think the audience in Taiwan will react to your style of music?
A-To-J: 台湾のファンはKOTOさんの曲のスタイルにはどう反応すると思いますか？
KOTO: As you saw from the reactions yesterday, I don’t think there are a lot of songs of mine that require you to use your voice (to cheer). Other idols have “mixes”…  I’m pretty sure I surprised them by dancing all of the sudden but they cheered along with me and it made me very happy!
KOTO: 昨日見てもらった感じなので、どんな反応したかわかるんですけど、たぶん声を一緒に出したりする、KOTOの曲が少ないんですよ。他のアイドルさんは「ミックス」とかが多いと思うし…いきなり踊りだしてびっくりしたと思うんですけど、でも声出すところは一緒になってやってくれてたので、嬉しかったです。

A-To-J: Which country do you think will accept your songs the most? (Other than Japan)
A-To-J: どの国が一番受け入れそうですか？
KOTO: What do you think?
KOTO: どうですかね、どこだと思いますか？
A-To-J: Me? I actually think America would be very accepting since we have different events such as conventions that are Japanese pop culture themed and there are a lot of people that like anime and “kawaii” fashion.
A-To-J: 私ですか？アメリカも受け入れてもらえると思います。日本のポップカルチャーのコンベンションや様々なイベントがあるし、アニメやカワイイファッションが好きな人がいるから。

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KOTO backstage @ Taiwan's Pipe (PC: Darice Chang)

KOTO backstage @ Taiwan's Pipe (PC: Darice Chang)

KOTO - Taiwan Live @ Pipe Live Music

A-To-J: Is there any other language you would like to perform in?
A-To-J: 他の言語でパフォーマンスしてみたいですか？
KOTO: There are other languages I would want to perform in but I’m very bad at anything other than Japanese, but I would want to try in English with proper pronunciation.
KOTO: したいのはあるんですけど、めちゃめちゃだめで、日本語以外だめで…してみたいです。英語とかも頑張って発音よくしたいけど、すごいカタコトになっちゃう。

A-To-J: Please tell us about today’s fashion.
A-To-J: 今日のファッションについてちょっと教えてください。
KOTO: For my costume, I thought of Taiwan and wore a China dress.
KOTO: 衣装は台湾を意識してチャイナドレスにしました。
A-To-J: Where did you get your costume?
A-To-J: どこから買いましたか？
KOTO: This is from a web store called “Kawaii Youfukuya-san (Kari)”. I also have attached hair bun covers. As for my personal clothes, I’m wearing my original goods.
KOTO: これはネットにある「かわいいお洋服屋さん（仮）」というところで買いました。後はお団子カバーをつけたり…私服は自分のグッズを着てます。
A-To-J: Are your original goods made for here or did you bring them from Japan?
A-To-J: グッズは日本で作って売ってるものですか？それともこっちのために作ったものですか？
KOTO: They’re sold and made in Japan but we did bring some for this live.
KOTO: もう日本で作ってて、今回も持って来ました。
A-To-J: It has your name on the hoodie!
A-To-J: ジャケットにも「KOTO」って書いてますね！
KOTO: Yes, along with my Twitter handle name.
KOTO: そうです、これはツイッターのIDとか書いてます。

KOTO's nails (PC: Darice Chang)

A-To-J: How did you choose this Twitter handle name?
A-To-J: そのIDはどうやって決めたのですか？
KOTO: I actually made a mistake for the name… I wanted to put “Kocchan” in romaji but I ended up putting in “Koccyan” (pronounced as “Kokkyan”) But I submitted this username and I couldn’t change it… So now it’s this. (Laughs)
KOTO: これは…間違えちゃったんですよ。最初は「こっちゃん」というのを入れたくって、ローマ字で…そしたら間違えちゃって「こっきゃん」になっちゃったんです（笑）でもこれで登録したちゃったので変えられなくって…
A-To-J: What about the numbers? (925)
A-To-J: その数字は？(925のこと)
KOTO: The number is for my birthday, September 25th (9/25).
KOTO: 誕生日です、9月の25日生まれなので。
A-To-J: I thought at first the “cyan” part meant cyan as in blue and that you liked blue a lot.
A-To-J: 最初にみたときは英語の「cyan」（シアン）だと思って、青が好きなことだと思っていました。
KOTO: Oh no, it was just a mistake!
KOTO: あーそうなんだ！間違えちゃった(笑)
A-To-J: It’s ok though, the mistake is very cute. Oh, and your nails are very cute too!
A-To-J: 大丈夫、かわいいから！ネイルもかわいいですね！
KOTO: I put pandas on them. Also its winter time so I did my “knit nails”. (Nails that are shaped like knit sweaters)
KOTO: ネイル、パンダにしました。後、冬だからニットネイル。

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KOTO backstage @ Taiwan's Pipe (PC: Darice Chang)

A-To-J: Not every artist gets to perform overseas, how are you going to use this experience once you get back to Japan?
A-To-J: アーティスト全員が海外でライブできるわけではないですが、この経験を生かして日本でやりたいことは？
KOTO: I want to be able to perform and be able to convey my feelings through my performance to anyone in any country.
KOTO: どの国の人にも心に伝わるようなライブをしたいです。

A-To-J: To help accomplish your goals, what can your fans do to support you?
A-To-J: KOTOさんの目標を達成するために、ファンができることはありますか？
KOTO: Since I release a lot of info on my Twitter, I would like them to follow my Twitter. I upload photos and information about my lives so I want them to see it. Since it’s difficult for overseas fans to come to my lives, they can check out my YouTube channel or buy my album from Amazon. For people in Japan, since I have a lot of lives, I hope they come to at least one of them.
KOTO: 結構情報を出してるのはツイッターなので、良ければツイッターをフォローしていただいて、写真とかライブ情報をあげてるので、見てほしいなと思います。海外の人はライブに来るのが大変だと思うので、YouTubeとかアマゾンとかでアルバム変えるのでゲットしてもらったり、見てもらって…興味持ってもらえれば嬉しいです。日本の方は、ライブの数が多いので、良かったら遊びに来ていただけたらな、と思います。

A-To-J: How many lives do you normally do?
A-To-J: どのぐらいライブしていますか？
KOTO: I do about 20 lives in one month! The most I’ve had in one month is 32 lives.
KOTO: 1ヶ月に20本ぐらいあったり。一番多いときは1ヶ月で32本ありました。
A-To-J: Wow, that must be hard and you still go to school?
A-To-J: 大変じゃないですか？それで学校も行ってるんですか？
KOTO: Yes, I’m in my second year of high school so I have to go to school as well.
KOTO: 行ってます、高２なので。通っています。

A-To-J: To accomplish your goals, is there anything we can do as A-To-J Connections?
A-To-J: 目標を達成するために、私たちA-To-J Connectionsが出来ることは？
KOTO: Since I want more people to know about my lives and songs, I’m very happy you guys are interviewing me. I would like you guys to spread more about me to the rest of the world.
KOTO: もっといろんな人にKOTOのライブとか曲とか知ってもらいたいので、こうやって取材してもらって嬉しいし、いろんな世界の人にKOTOのこと伝えてほしいです。

A-To-J: Where should the overseas fans go to check out more things about you?
A-To-J: 海外のファンはKOTOさんのこともっと知るためにどこをチェックすればいいでしょうか？
KOTO: On YouTube, I have a channel called “KOTO Channel” and I also have a homepage, Twitter, Instagram and Cheerz.
KOTO: YouTubeに「KOTOちゃんねる」というのがあるので、それと…後はKOTOのホームページ、ツイッター、インスタグラムとチアーズもあります。

A-To-J: Lastly, can you give a message to your overseas fans?
A-To-J: 最後に海外ファンに向けてメッセージをお願いします。
KOTO: Thank you for reading this interview and I hope you take interest in me. If you do, please check out my YouTube channel and please come to one of my lives, it will make me very happy! I would like you guys to know more about me, thank you very much!  
KOTO:: 今回のこの記事を読んでいただいて興味を持ってくださったら嬉しいです！もし興味を持っていただいたら是非Youtubeとか…後できたらライブとか来てくれたらすごく嬉しいです。KOTOのことをたくさん知ってくれたら嬉しいです、よろしくお願いします。

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KOTO in Taiwan (PC: KOTO's Twitter @koccyan925)

KOTO in Taiwan (PC: KOTO's Twitter @koccyan925)

Besides her first release "Platonic Planet" (available on Japan iTunes and Amazon) KOTO recently released her new mini album on the site "OTOTOY". OTOTOY is a site that releases music files of different formats from a variety of Japanese artists. The mini album is titled "Tenkomori Mini Album" and consists of all the songs from her series of monthly releases of songs composed by Kissa Sasaki. This online package also includes jacket photos, lyrics, notes by Kazumi Namba as well as a radio sound file that includes discussions on various topics from KOTO and Kissa Sasaki.

Also in recent KOTO news, a shop called "KOTOSHOP" just opened on March 13th within a cosmetic shop called "ABC Cosme Store" in Harajuku Takeshita Doori. It's a special temporary pop-up shop.The shops sells some of her CDs and live DVDs as well as t-shirts from her lives and her hoodie (pictures of the hoodie can be seen above). These are all items that are typically only sold at her live events so this is an exciting development for those who are not able to attend. There has been no official tweet or notice, but fans who have asked the KOTO staff have said that they are planning on keeping the shop open until the end of August.

Look forward to more information on these developments as well as coverage of KOTO releases past and present coming soon from A-To-J Connections!

For More Information Please Follow KOTO On Social Media!
Twitter: twitter.com/koccyan925
Instagram: instagram.com/koccyan925
Blog: ameblo.jp/hidecyobin

Website: /kotora.tokyo
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIRroOmDntRlYly3BCj69AA

The above interview was conducted by Darice Chang with post translation and content by Tiffany Fujii.

KOTO - Omatsuri GALAXY Live MV