In the drizzling rain, the fingers of the hand without an umbrella draw something in the sky. “It’s a funny movement, isn’t it?” Katori said, laughing. “I’m thinking about the picture title. I said it while I was there.” The photo shoot is over and the large canvas is turned upside down. I promised to write the title at the time of the interview. When I thought about it a little while later, I ran with a pen - “Love Love.”

“This is my 10th cover painting. I was a little nervous when I realized that, but I painted it all at once.”

When Katori was told that the theme of this issue was “Gender and Feminism,” many faces appeared in his mind. Eyes, nose, mouth, hair… The painting was completed by folding them up and painting them.

“At the end it felt like it exploded, and I couldn’t recognize where the face was (laughs). What I usually think is (pointing to the toilet in the corner of the studio) is that when I see the red or blue silhouette at the entrance to the bathroom I can recognize it as women’s/men’s in an instant. That’s why I used those colors and painted it without deciding which color to use. Consequently, I wonder what the viewer thinks.”

The red and blue coloring was deliberately used at the climax of the performance at Meiji-za in April. “At the end of ‘Neo,’ five boys in blue dance in a row. Next, in ‘Iyake ga sasuho do aishiteru,’ a girl in red appears. Furthermore, there are boys who change into red or stay blue, and it feels like they’re flickering. Next, during ‘FUTURE WORLD,’ there are pairs of dancers but not just men and women; there are various combinations of pairs. And during the last song, ‘Anonymous,’ the stage turned red all over. I think the image I imagined in this series has something in common with this painting.”

Just before this sequence, there was an introduction corner for the dancers. This is because he wanted the audience to know each and every person’s face. “From the rehearsal stage I told the dancers, ‘This time I want you to be conscious instead of just a background dancer.’ Still, at first everyone still looked down (laughing). As expected, certain roles are imprinted and sudden changes can be confusing. I’ve had a lot of surprises myself. After the performance I took a picture with all the dancers and put it on Instagram. ‘Boys can take pictures right away, but girls need to get ready, so wait a minute.’ I thought girls would need to get ready in order to look good, but often when I thought about it some boys needed time too. So I decided that it was ‘because I was a woman,’ ‘because I am a man,’ but later I was curious about it…(bitter smile) But I think it’s good in itself to think about things I haven’t noticed before.”

In his brand, “Jantje Ontembaar,” he has mens’/womens’ sections, but is said to be reconsidering this. “For right now, it’s only ‘CLOTHES.’ But if you do that, sometimes it’s hard to understand. I’m talking to the staff about various things while referring to other brands. I don’t know what ‘genderless’ and ‘unisex’ mean, but I’ll look it up. However, as far as I can see, things aren’t moving that much, both foreign and domestically. There’s a feeling that social change is quite urgent. But there is no doubt that it will change. The entertainment industry is a place where talented people who can’t be restricted by man or woman gather. So I want to be positive about those changes.”

It’s already been four years since the establishment of the independent office. There seems to be a change in the framework of the entertainment industry after Katori’s actions, even in contracts and types of activities.

“Well…I don’t know. It looks like that, doesn’t it? But I think it will take a little longer to really change. Well, even if it is a change, the speed of adopting the internet and social media is amazing. When I, [Goro] Inagaki, and [Tsuyoshi] Kusanagi started on social media, there were a lot of talents who were already on it, but I felt like those who hadn’t done it didn’t do it. YouTuber Kusanagi said, ‘Oh, what do you do with YouTube?’ It was like an atmosphere. But now it’s only natural to have a YouTube channel.”

There’s no doubt that the coronavirus disaster has sped up the movement. For Katori, smartphones are also an indispensable form of entertainment. In the aforementioned Meiji-za performance, Katori did not talk as MC, but directed text on the screen from the stage through his smartphone.

“Of course I’m typing on the spot, but there were quite a few people who thought it was showing what was prepared in advance. It’s more difficult to pretend to be typing and writing at the right time! (laughs) Actually, I’ve been warming up to that idea for years since before the coronavirus disaster. I wondered if I could communicate with the audience through the letters I typed on the spot without saying a word. I accidentally became crazy about this situation.”

The Meiji-za performance, which lasted about three weeks, was canceled for the last three days after a state of emergency was declared. However, on the last day there was no audience for the live broadcast, and hashtags topped Twitter’s world trending topics, which attracted a lot of attention.

“Even if it’s the number one trend, it’s a different energy than Abema’s program (‘Nananii’) saying ‘I’m the best in the world!’ It’s like ‘Oh, that’s what happened!?’ Honestly, I get frustrated when I think about the people who had tickets for the last three days but couldn’t see it. In the choreography for the live performance there’s a routine of looking at the audience seats during the first and second songs, but there’s no one there. It’s natural that there’d be no audience, but I was surprised. Then I’m quickly becoming sadder…”

As a result, the distribution of the Meiji-za performance has become an appeal to many people to convey the present form of Katori. He performed the songs from his album, “20200101,” with a meticulous dance ensemble, and the part in the middle featuring a light interaction with an acoustic band was also impressive.

“It’s kind of setting the feeling of the stage. It’s like a parody of MTV Unplugged. I think it’s a stressful situation with live sounds and songs. But if it’s a parody, I feel weak in a good way, and I can perform better. It’s a bad way of saying it, but even with a playful approach I want to go beyond the serious people. That might be quite common to my other jobs. One day (Koki) Mitani came to see the performance. You can see his stern expression from a distance in the aisle seat. I can’t help but be worried in the middle of it (laughs). I was halfway through the performance and I was preparing to be criticized afterwards. Then I received his thoughts through Koji Yamamoto. Yamamoto said, ‘As usual, I’ll just tell you because I was told to,’ (laughs), ‘but Mitani told me the performance was wonderful.’ I was happy about this.”

He is scheduled to perform “History of Japan” with Mitani in July, and rehearsal will begin in June. After the Meiji-za performance ended, Katori said he was confined to his home until then. However, apart from that, there was an issue he was worried about where prospects seemed unclear. This is the fate of the Tokyo Paralympics, where he is a special sponsor.

“I started supporting the Paralympics after the Tokyo Games were decided, but in the years since then public opinion about the Games has changed. After last year’s ‘suspension/postponement’ I feel it even more. It’s of course because of this unprecedented situation, but I never imagined it would change like this…”

Katori’s faltering tone sounds more like it’s from a sense of closeness rather than finding words.

“Originally I thought that if the Paralympics were successful while I was learning about parasports through interactions with athletes, there would be opportunities for Japanese society to improve in many ways. It’s how to interact and communicate with people with disabilities. Parasports make you understand these things. That’s why I’ve been rooting for them to succeed. When I ask myself again now, however, I feel it’s difficult to achieve that goal simply by having them, and that it’s difficult to establish the idea that if the Games are very exciting that it’ll be a force for change. But regardless of whether they’re going to be held or not, I want to act as a filter. I want to tell people about this world through me. It’s not just this Paralympic Games. To do this I think I’ll be honest with what I feel and I won’t add anything unnecessary. Parasports, Paralympics, I hope you’ll understand what I’ve seen and felt little by little. I don’t think this is simply limited to 2021, but it’s connected to the future.”

Looking at this painting again, I feel that Katori’s and our faces are there, trying to grasp something within a chaotic state of affairs.

“It’s about disabilities, and gender too. Living with people now can be difficult because there are so many things you need to know. But at the root of it I thought “have love” was important. At first the title of the painting was “Humanity,” but I changed it to “Love Love.” Love is an act, isn’t it? It doesn’t matter if a person is a man or a woman, any identity or attribute, if I’m living with them, working with them, or just by chance - if there’s love there are many things that can be overcome. First of all, let’s start with ‘I love you.’ And I want everyone to love me too (laughs). That’s ‘Love Love.’”