-- It seems there would be a lot of closeted male actors and performers in the entertainment industry in Japan. How does it seem to you?

There are. Since it's women who buy the posters, CDs and tickets to concerts, commercial concerns lead most to believe that good business practice demands protecting the fantasies of these women and selling performers as straight.

There are some entertainers who do want to come out, but can’t, and others who are afraid of coming out because it may damage their image. Since I realize everyone faces different circumstances, I don’t sit in judgment and say everyone should just come out. However, we do see entertainers who, though they’ve never said they’re gay, don’t fight rumors either and are pretty much known to be gay.

-- Do you think that coming out would really have a concrete negative effect, commercially speaking, even for an extremely popular performer?

Yeah, I think that element is there.

-- How about in your case?

Well, none of this applies to me because I was never popular for my masculine qualities, like a boy band would be. To the contrary, young women saw me as someone like an “older sister” they wanted to go to for advice or to talk to, so by coming out I gained a little in the way of having this trusted image. There was no particular commercial damage. But I'd like to know how much damage someone from a boy band would undergo if he were to come out. I wonder about it.

-- Yeah, I’d like to know too. But, if someone is really all that popular, do you think the damage to their image would be so huge? I mean, long ago in Japan--for pretty must the same reasons--straight popular performers weren’t allowed to get married or even have girlfriends. But nowadays, performers are just as popular when they marry, so maybe coming out as gay wouldn’t change anyone's popularity as much as many people think.

If some young, handsome idols were to come out, I wonder what would happen then.

-- You just said that young women go to you for love advice. What is some of the best advice you’ve given?

The kind of love problems I hear about most from Japanese women run along the lines of, “He doesn’t love me in the way I want to be loved. I always feel a hunger that can’t be satisfied and I'm lonely.” Usually I tell these women that they ought to live their own lives as mature, independent women in order to relieve the need to become so dependent on romantic relationships.

I tell them that there’s no better way to find a balance between oneself and one’s love life than to follow your own dreams, follow your own bliss, and throw yourself into what you want to do in life--enjoying every moment.

People walk on two legs. One of these is our dreams, the other is love, and we need to walk on both.

Some people get so wrapped up thinking that, in life, love has to be everything. But I like to say, “No, that’s not it. We're all individuals and we each came into this world on our own. Two people come together only because each is drawn to each other. So don’t expect one man to save you and become everything in your life.”

-- That's great advice!　By the way, I heard the story about how you came out to your older brother on the TV program “Uchi Kuru?” (“Come Over to My House?”; Fuji TV) and I loved it.

When I came out to my older brother, he cried. Not because he was sad to think I was gay, but because he suddenly realized that, until then, when he saw his little brother "Kenbo" he had only seen one-half of who I am. It was a shock for him to realize he hadn’t recognized the other half. He cried because he thought he failed me as an older brother.”

-- What a terrific brother, so understanding and sensitive.

That’s just the kind of guy he is. We’re very close in age and we grew up acting a lot like friends. Even today we’re still very close. Moreover, even though we’re just one year apart, he really does try to protect me like an older brother would. What he said to me after I came out really meant a lot to me. It made me think of how much I aspire to be that kind of person.

translated by rayna