HIRO

Position: Guitar/Vocal
Birthday: 8/5
Blood type: O
Weight: 46 kg (101 lbs)
Height: 165 cm (5'5")
Birthplace: Hell
Shoe size: 24 cm
Eyesight: 15/15
Waist: 25 inches
Favorite Cigarettes: Marlboro
Siblings: younger brother

Hiro's the sex-kitten of La'Cryma. Whether he's licking his guitar or making eyes at the camera from behind a curtain of hair, he just oozes sex-appeal. He's also the "scary" one, earning him the nickname "Hirolin" and the adoration of Visual Kei fans who would normally ignore the band completely ^^; But as soon as you get past his sometimes startling resemblance to Marylin Manson and his "don't fuck with me" poker-face he's really a big pussycat.

Hiro and Taka created the band back in the early 90s when Taka was a college student. He met and moved in with Taka while Taka attended Osaka University. Apparently the two of them decided music was their true calling and immediately began recruiting new members for their band: a heavily visual hard rock act called "Strippe-D Lady".

Hiro writes (or co-writes) about half of La'Cryma Christi's music. His favored style seems to be dark and almost languid but he's been known to pen bouncy, decidedly un-scary songs like the adorable country and western-style "Gum" and the completely insane "israeru" (a song that suffers from rather extreme multiple personalities as it switches from Georgian folk dance to Satanic death-chant). He also sings backup for Taka and is usually cemented to his side (or backside *cough*). Although, he seems to have taken a special shine to Koji and gets a big kick out of embarrassing him with gratuitous displays of affection in front of cameras.

Hiro's most outstanding feature was hair... for a good 6 years it was quite possibly the shiniest, longest, most gorgeous head of perfectly straight hair in Japan. If you watch their older videos closely, you can sometimes see his hair getting tangled in the other members' fingers or getting caught on their instruments while they play together ^^; Hiro tried being a good sport about the hair... it attained cult status, made girls weep with lust and caused several indies musicians to at least attempt to grow their hair out to his length (only to learn firsthand what a pain in the ass that hair is). Hiro's hair became such an essential part of his persona that no one could imagine him without it. But around March 2000, Hiro shocked fans by cutting off about 2 feet of his hair, dying it purple and frizzing it up a'la hide.

Hiro tried to make up for the rebellious hairstyle by dying his hair silver, cutting even more off and being as visual as humanly possible. Some were placated... but others were too turned off by the constant hair-shedding to stick around. And it's probably a good thing they didn't. With the release of "JUMP!!" in October 2001, Hiro has a completely clean image... no makeup, no long hair... just his real face and shorter hair than Taka.

And you know... I think he looks really cute ^^;;; And 10 years younger... And I'm sure he's much happier for not having to spend 3 extra hours in styling, wear it tied back in public and constantly have it yanked out, detangled or rearranged.

In their earlier days, Hiro sported a more feminine look, favoring a quiet, calm, graceful appearance over the more energetic members. He's gradually moved toward a more masculine appearance in the last couple of years, but he still has a certain grace about him that makes the other members seem like little boys in comparison. He also manages to keep a straight face through almost all of their lives... until Shuse decides it's time to molest him, then he can't help but smile ^.~

Offstage Hiro smiles quite a bit. He has a very deep but friendly voice with a bit of an accent and doesn't seem to be at all shy about speaking out (unless he's on tv... then he's often painfully quiet). Hiro is also a bit of a narcoleptic ^_^; If he hasn't had enough sleep he can fall asleep anywhere, during just about anything.

Hiro doesn't seem to give a damn what other people think of him, so he often comes off as a bit brusque or rude in written interviews. If he finds a question stupid or condescending, he'll answer it in a stupid or condescending way. Even if the fans have an answer that they want to hear... and he knows they want to hear it, he still answers honestly and will go against them without hesitation. For this alone, I have to say Hiro kicks much ass ^ ^/

He seems to be good friends with Aiji and Jun from Pierrot but will seldom admit to being good friends with anyone. He comes off as a bit of a loner. The only people he will truly admit to being friends with or caring about at all during interviews are the members of La'Cryma Christi. He often says that the most important thing in his life is La'Cryma Christi and that he needs no other friends. Awwwwwww... that's so sweet (antisocial as hell... but sweet!) *pinches his cheeks*

Hiro also has the most gorgeous skin I've ever seen on a man... and his bellybutton is cute too. If anyone deserves a nude photobook, it's Hiro. I'm sure his old fans would forgive him in a heartbeat over that whole hair thing if they could only get more intimately acquainted with his bellybutton....

Live, Hiro is like one possessed. The night I saw La'Cryma Christi live in Osaka, his continued presence on the stage after the final bows almost drove me to tears. He lingered there for minutes after all the others had left... raising his arms to the crowd, throwing back his head and soaking up the applause. It's where he belongs. Up there...