Taro is a native of Tokyo, Japan. He has lived in the United States for 12.5 years (June 1986-November 1992, June 1994-June 2000), the United Kingdom for 3 months (September-November 1991), Taiwan for 3.5 years (September 2000-March 2004), and Australia for 10 years (April 2015-April 2025). He has been settled in Tokyo since May 2025.
Disclaimer: Those 2 images and 1 video were fake. They were AI-generated.
We Need to Talk About How Bad the Live Aid Led Zeppelin Reunion Was I agree with the writer. Phil Collins was arrogant in refusing to participate in the rehearsal. It was very unprofessional. He should have stepped off the stage. No wonder Jimmy Page and Robert Plant have hated him to this day.
Phil Collins was a drummer for Genesis (then he became the frontman, but that’s another story). But he was a has-been as a drummer in 1995. His solo career soared as a pop singer, and he was the man of the hour then. He claimed he was so busy and had no time to attend the rehearsal. Then, why did he sit behind the drum kit?
The other drummer, Tony Thompson, practiced with the band during rehearsals and played reasonably well on the Live Aid stage. Very professional. After all, Thompson drummed for Chic and Power Station before the Live Aid appearance. It was regretful that he passed away in 2003 at the age of 48.
In 1985, Led Zeppelin performed 3 iconic songs at Live Aid at John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia. Here is my analysis.
“Rock and Roll” – Collins’ drum was loose and sometimes off. At the end of the song, Page’s Les Paul went out of tune.
“Whole Lotta Love” – Page might have found his guitar went out of tune. However, he was so upset at Collins’ poor performance that he regretfully forgot to replace his guitar with a tuned one. Again, Collins’ drum was loose and sometimes off.
“Stairway to Heaven” – Page replaced Les Paul with tuned EDS-1275 (Double-Neck). The song was perfect until 6:20, because Collins was absent. The tragedy resumed when Collins decided to join. The remainder of the song sucked.
I like the song “Read My Mind” by the Killers. The video for the song was filmed in Tokyo.
I always thought the Japanese word “以心伝心” was a myth or misconception. The word was originally a Zen jargon. It meant that after many years of training together, the disciple could see a bit of the state of mind of their master.
Unfortunately, many modern Japanese misuse it for a false telepathic superpower, somehow possessed by all Japanese nationals. How can you read other people’s minds? A big bullshit.
Another BS word was “話せばわかる。” meaning “If you allow me to talk through, you’ll understand why I did that.” It is usually the other way around. The opponents have tried all the measures to communicate with you. You arrogantly ignored. They became desperate. They knew you would not talk with them or even listen to them. They got so angry and were ready to kill you. Hello, they finally showed up in front of you with loaded guns. Your final words were “話せばわかる。” hoping that the listeners were naive enough to believe your lie.
It was answered by “問答無用” or “No conversation needed” by gunmen, and you, sir, Mr. Tuyoshi Inukai, then Prime Minister, were shot to death on 15 May 1932, according to the Wikipedia article.
Ukrainian sensation Aonishiki is on the way to becoming the second Yokozuna with Ukrainian heritage. Then, who was the first? It was one of the great Yokozunas, Taiho (大鵬), who was known as a Japanese at the time.
The Ukrainian Embassy in Japan has also confirmed this. 大相撲力士、大鵬幸喜の運命
In Japan, Taiikukai (体育会) is a kind of old boys’ network based on the sport you played in your schools. I just hated it. I am glad that I am not part of it. On the contrary, my younger brother, Sanshiro, is a beneficiary of the system. And another of my younger brothers, Jiro, seemed to be in the system whether he liked it or not.
If you were a successful athlete, you would receive lifetime respect from your network (as in Sanshiro’s case). If you have proved your perseverance by not quitting the 3-year torture of the after-school extracurricular activity (部活動) at high school, you are also the winner in life (Jiro’s case). From the viewpoint of Taiikukai people, I was a quitter, loser, and outsider because I quit competitive swimming (競泳) at the age of 15, or at the end of junior high school (中学校).
When I started competitive swimming at a local fitness club (スポーツ会館) during elementary school (小学生), my Swimming coach, Mr. Shinryo Meguro (目黒伸良), never behaved like a Taiikukai-kei (体育会系). Instead, he was following the state-of-the-art teaching method of swimming in the United States. He also organized the Swim Camp in the summer in Yonezawa, Yamagata (山形県米沢市), and the spring in Tokyo. 2 hours of training on 5 days a week was challenging, but it was also fun.
After Coach Meguro resigned for a personal reason, things got worse. His successor was a young Taikukai-kei who graduated from Jyosai University (城西大学). He was the opposite of Coach Meguro. Bullying and verbal abuse crept in. He got angry for no reason. Swimming was no longer fun. He represented what Taiikukai was all about. I knew I should quit. Maybe meeting him was a blessing in disguise.
I have heard of the Toyota Woven City, but initially, I did not pay attention to its name’s origin. Suddenly, I realized it honors the founder of the Toyota group, Sakichi Toyoda, and his Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, Ltd, established in 1926. Sakichi is the great-grandfather of Akio Toyoda, Chairman of Toyota Motor Corporation.
In the 20th century, adding or replacing band members was a common practice. Nobody made a big deal except some hardcore fans.
1962 Ringo Starr – The Beatles
1974 Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham – Fleetwood Mac
1975 Michael McDonald – The Doobie Brothers
1975 Joe Walsh – Eagles
1975 Ronnie Wood – The Rolling Stones
1988 John Frusciante – The Red Hot Chili Peppers
1990 Dave Grohl – Nirvana
In the 21st century, things have changed. We had to replace irraplacables because they were dead or unavailable, but many fans resisted the idea. So, we carefully came up with a better concept. Instead of replacing, “honoring” the irreplacables, and injecting new blood into the bands. I thought that was a brilliant idea! So, now, we can still enjoy the legendary bands’ live concerts otherwise not available.
2008 Arnel Pineda – Journey
2012 Adam Lambert – Queen
2024 Emily Armstrong – Linkin Park
2026 Anika Nilles – Rush
When I discovered the Beatles, in my early teens, the legendary British band had already disbanded. Initially, I thought they were a comic act. Think about it. The name of the band was the Beetles (カブト虫). Their members consisted of John Lemon (レモン), Ringo (りんご) Starr, Paul McIntosh (マッキントッシュりんご), and George Harisen (張り扇). Their record label was “Apple Corp” (アップルレコード), and they sang “Strawberry Fields Forever” (「いちご畑よ、永遠に」). Or maybe I got confused with the Rutles. The existence of a Japanese comic band called Zutorubi (ずうとるび) at the time also confused me.
And there were Volkswagen Beetle (the bugs) and magic buses. Full of “Love and Peace”. Luckily, Apple Computer at the time was unknown (Apple II was not popular) in Japan. That changed when they released Macintosh in 1984, but that’s another story.
Fast forward to 2025, my son only knew Apple sells iPhones and MacBook Air. He probably doesn’t know what the Mac stands for. I will teach him that it was McCartney, not McDonald’s.
Fun Fact: “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” was on the “Rubber Soul” album by the Beatles, released in 1965. “Norwegian Wood,” the novel by Haruki Murakami (村上春樹), was published in 1987.
Hiroyuki Takahashi (高嶋 弘之), who was the Project Manager at Toshiba EMI for the Beatles at the time, officially admitted that he purposely mistranslated “Norwegian Wood” to “ノルウェイの森” because it sounded better. 「Norwegian Wood」は、直訳するとノルウェー木材や、その家具とかそういう意味らしいんですが、「ノルウェーの森」というタイトルをつけました。意味は違っているのですが、ただこちらの方が曲の雰囲気に合っていると言われることもあります。
Kudos to him! I agree that “ノルウェイ産の木材” wouldn’t cut it. He was aware that the original meaning was “a piece of wood,” perhaps “from Norwegian furniture”. Aha, that was probably an odd piece of wood that came out of the Ikea flat-pack furniture.
The protagonist of the song was an English working-class young white male in the early 1960s, and probably did not care whether it was Swedish or Norwegian. Interestingly, Ikea opened its first stores outside of Sweden in Norway in 1963.
In the same article, I also liked the comment on the song by Tim Hitchens, who was the British Ambassador to Japan (2012-2016). “Norwegian Wood” managed, when I was a teenager, to summon up the infinite possibilities of adult life; confident women, overnighting with others. And I liked the bad pun at the end “I lit a fire, isn’t it good, Norwegian wood”. I have always enjoyed (and still use) bad puns.
So, I listened to the song carefully for the first time. Wow, I saw the world that I overlooked (or overheard) while listening to the song a million times in the past. The lady, an “awoken” white professional who was into Yoga and Indian philosophy. She got rid of all of her furniture, made her room empty, and sat on the floor. It could be possible in the late 1960s, but in the early 1960s, it was highly unlikely.
OK, she was moving out from her old place. All the furniture was gone and leaving her room empty. That night was the final day of her rental agreement. Perhaps her friends already helped her disassemble and pack Ikea furniture pieces back into their “flat-pack” boxes. The protagonist happened to find a piece of Norwegian wood on the floor.
The next morning, the protagonist found that she was not coming back. He did not know her new address, nor did not have her phone number. She abandoned him. “I lit a fire” meant a fresh start. This bird (she) has flown to an unknown place, and the protagonist had to move on.
Alternatively, she was of an ethnic background, such as Indian descent or Pakistani, if the use of the Sitar, a musical instrument from the Indian subcontinent, suggested. If so, “Norwegian Wood” referred to a room with cheap pine wood paneling, popular in London in the 1960s, as Sir Paul McCartney commented.
Sitting on the floor with no furniture blew John Lennon’s mind at the time. He could not adjust to the different culture at the time, so he left her. If so, this bird was the protagonist himself. He made a fresh start of his own will. But the experience left him with a deep impact and realization that there were women in diverse cultures. No wonder he divorced his caucasian wife and married Yoko Ono in the late 1960s
One of my favorite YouTubers, Rick Beato, made an insightful video regarding AI. He is a music guy, but also has an engineer’s mind. He pointed out my blind spot. “What you eat is what you are,” literally.
In summary, the outcome from AI is limited by the dataset that the LLM of AI was trained on.
ChatGPT is 48% Wikipedia. 0% YouTube. That means, except for the second-hand information that was posted in other data sources that ChatGPT is aware of, the knowledge on YouTube will not be considered at all.
On the contrary, Google Gemini has 19% YouTube. I will switch my go-to AI from ChatGPT to Gemini.
Taro's Blog 