I Spent a Week with Japan's Biggest Rock Star

You don't just watch a Hyde concert; you become a participant in the madness. It's a 4D experience where he throws water, stage dives, crowd surfs, and even bats water bottles into the room from the second story. Fans are constantly crowd surfing to reach the stage. At one point, he gets the audience to create a sea of thousands of lights with their phones. The laid-back guy I met backstage transforms into an unstoppable force dominating the room. It's easy to see how he earned his status as a top artist. The only disappointment was not catching one of the roses he tossed out.

I met Hyde at Universal Music in Harajuku for an interview. I asked him to draw something to motivate me to keep fit, and he drew a picture of me with a beard and the words 'Do your best.' It was a real masterpiece. We also discussed his new album 'Anti' and his efforts to break into the overseas market, despite the challenges and Japan being the second-biggest music market globally.