A Man Named Hirokazu Tanaka: Tanaka Hirokazu no Uta Interview

OSV: Tanaka-san, thanks for taking the time to speak with us about the “Tanaka Hirokazu no Uta” project. We hear it’s all the rage right now in Japan! Please tell us about how you came up with the concept for this track.

Tanaka: Nice to meet you! I’m “Almost General Manager” Hirokazu Tanaka for this Hirokazu Tanaka movement.

I had been wanting to have a theme song for this Tanaka Hirokazu movement. There must be an elementary school Tanaka Hirokazu and senior Tanaka Hirokazu, so last year I thought of this concept of the song being something that anyone can sing like a school theme song (In Japan, pretty much all the public schools have their own theme song).

OSV: In your search for people named Hirokazu Tanaka, you likely found more than just 10. How many did you find all together, and how did you approach them with this project? Can you tell us about your experience working with them, and with “Hip” Tanaka in particular?

Tanaka: I have been looking for the same names for 15 years. I think I started actually meeting them in 2003. I looked for them on Hobo Nikkan Itoi newspaper, some popular Japanese websites, and our tanakahirokazu.com and that resulted in meeting 10 of them.

Hip Tanaka is called “Composer Tanaka Hirokazu san” among us. When I had an interview with Asahi Newspaper, I told them my wish to meet him, the most famous Hirokazu Tanaka among the others. He was the second one that I met in movement.

OSV: Was the entire premise of this project built upon the fact that “Hip” Tanaka would be writing the music? Did you have any input on the song that he created?

Tanaka: I could not even have thought of this project without Hip Tanaka. When I asked him that I would like to have a theme song for the movement, he gave a very positive answer “I would do it if there are lyrics.” The finished material had such a perfect song and arrangement that exceeded my expectation.

OSV: So you were responsible for writing the lyrics to the song? Also, whose idea was it to have the one Tanaka who yells, “Woo hoo!” from time to time? Was this intentionally done to sound like Mario?

Tanaka: I wrote the lyrics. This “Tanaka Hirokazu wa, Tanaka Hirokazu to au (Hirokazu Tanaka meets Hirokazu Tanaka)” phrase popped up in my head, and I wrote the rest in like 15 minutes. Things like “Woo Hoo!” in the middle of the song were all Hip Tanaka’s idea, which made the song much more fun. I think Mario influenced the music a bit, too.

OSV: Are you a musician or performer by trade, or was this project something completely new to you?

Tanaka: No, it was all brand new experience for me. I feel the joy of living in this era for a person like me being able to send my own music to the world.

OSV: Can you tell us about your partnership with HearJapan? How did you become aware of the website, and what are your thoughts about it being distributed outside of Japan?

Tanaka: It is delightful and is an honor. I would love to communicate with the activists who are also looking for the same names on the planet. Also I want to recruit the people who are wanting to change their name to Hirokazu Tanaka.

OSV: Will you be working on any similar projects in the future with the 10 Tanakas? Perhaps something completely different next time?

Tanaka: Up to this point, I have met 16 Hirokazu Tanaka in the reality. Actually there are over 60 Hirokazu Tanaka who are either in touch with me via email or whom I know exist from sources. To be honest, we not only have the plan for the second song but also the third song. I would like to keep sending our music to the world as a Hirokazu Tanaka of the artist group.

Additionally, this book “Tanaka Hirokazu san” will be released next month in Japan. It will include a summary of our activities and also scholarly, philosophical approach to human names.

OSV: Tanaka-san, thank you very much for your time.

[Special thanks to Nathan Reaven at HearJapan and Shota Nakama for translating]