Interview with ViSULOG's Executive Director, Takaya Yamamoto

At AnimeNEXT, Visual Kei Heaven had the pleasure of sitting down with Takaya Yamamoto, the current owner of ViSULOG! He was acting as support drummer for AnimeNEXT's musical guest, Moon Stream. We asked him a series of questions ranging from subjects based on how things work in ViSULOG to his opinion on the visual kei scene today!

First of all, would you please introduce yourself?

Takaya: I am the founder of ViSULOG, Takaya Yamamoto!

We know that you are the founder of ViSULOG and, as such, you may have an opinion and insights as to what's happening on stage as a musician and offstage as a blogger... What is it like doing both of these things at once? Could you describe it to us?

Takaya: Because I have been on stage, I know what musicians are really feeling, but also because I am on the media side, I know what the media really wants from the artist. I also know what the market is looking for, so I have a good idea of what is needed on all three side.

How did ViSULOG come to be?

Takaya: Well I used to be in a visual kei band, and, in Japan...well, I don't want to say anything bad about it, but the market trend for visual kei was going downwards, so I wanted to build it up and bring the visual kei culture to the world outside Japan as well as inside of Japan.


ViSULOG offers advertisement of many other artists from Japan... How would you say advertisement is different between Japan and America or any other part of the world?

Takaya: Currently ViSULOG is mostly in Japanese so the only thing that is available for those outside of Japan is.. it's on the internet so anyone can access it, but you would have to be able to read Japanese, but within a couple of months, we are hoping to have it translated properly a we have the site renewed. Once we have the pages translated, we're hoping this will offer more insight to the Japanese

Is there any advice you would give to other websites on how to improve or expand?

Takaya: ViSULOG itself is not a huge site at the moment, so I want advice, if anything! (laughs)

The artists you feature on the front page of ViSULOG -- are those artists that you or ViSULOG have worked with or does it not matter?

Takaya: I promote both -- bands I have and have not worked with, but I want to promotes bands that I like -- bands that I believe are working hard.

ViSULOG has made it possible for fans to connect with their favorite bands -- how have you been able to format this?

Takaya: Currently, it's ot a main this that's available. It's not something that we can take advantage of. We are trying to build a community through some sort of portals portals to create more interaction.

Is it difficult to manage the blog with the live-streaming, social networking and other things?

Takaya: It's tough, but I'm ok!

Is it odd at times for you to be the interviewee instead of the interviewer?

Takaya: Yes, it's been a while since I semi-retired from being a musician, so it's...it's pretty different. (laugh)

As a musician and blogger, have you noticed a trend in visual kei in looks, music, etc. What is your opinion of it's current state?

Takaya: In the past, within visual kei, there was a sect with dark types, shiny types, odd types, etc. and they were grouped separately within the scene, but now they are grouped together again to make one big scene, so it's nice to see this.

How would you say most people look at visual kei in Japan?

Takaya: Even in Japan, visual kei used to be basically a sort of sub-culture but now it's becoming more main-stream and more people think of visual kei as one of the cultures that actually represent Japan now!

What are your future plans, in general and for ViSULOG?

Takaya: Well, for ViSULOG, you know, the current big project is to get more translators for the ViSULOG site to be established as the main database for basically everything visual kei so everyone all over the world to be able to access it and visit it everyday. Personally, I have obviously Moon Stream, so I look forward to shows with Moon Streams as well as any opportunities to go overseas!

Thank you very much for all of this, Takaya! Would you please send a message to our readers?

Takaya: Thank you for this interview regarding ViSULOG, and I am sure that there are not many people that know what ViSULOG is, so I want to make the site bigger and bigger. If anyone from overseas has any ideas of how visual kei can be promoted better, I would really like to hear it! Please keep supporting visual kei!

Related Links
ViSULOG
ViSULOG Official Twitter
Takaya's Twitter
VisuaLand/ViSULOG TV
otalabo
non.no BLOG
IWGP.

Special thanks to Rubab Rizvi for making this interview possible!

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