I have to tell this story
Last edited Tue Sep 15, 2015, 04:12 AM - Edit history (1)
Recently, thanks to Kimi, I joined IMVU and hang out in her Ichiban Jpop Kurabu chatroom. As you know Kimi has all kinds of connections, including to recent access to a real live well known Japanese recording artist by the name of Atsushi Sakurai from the group BuckTick. Now for those of you who don't know, BUCKTICK is HUGE in Japan. They are as well known in Japan as QUEEN is to the rest of the world. They bring in thousands of people to their shows, and have to have huge venues to play in.
Atsushi Sakurai is lead singer, and pictured in the center.
This is his avatar on IMVU.
So one day Atsu san came in with his girlfriend, who is the sole reason he comes on to IMVU, since she lives in Germany and he Lives in Japan. Its their way to catch up and see each other and its better than talking over the phone for hours, or taking a long flight from Japan to Germany and coming back.
We were so happy he was there and chatting with him, about his life on the stage, on tour and such and asked a ton of questions when this guy pops into the chat room. He sat listening for a while and finally had enough.
"Bullshit! Who is this faker anyway? You gonna tell me you are someone important in Japan? I doubt that. Who is this jerk anyway?"
Me: "He is Atsushi Sakurai lead singer for Bucktick"
"Bullshit!", he typed out. "I know about Bucktick and Atsushi and there is no freaking way he would come to IMVU. He probably doesn't even speak english for god sake!!! The guy is brilliant and why would he come to IMVU for a bunch of low lifes? He would have no time for this bullshit anyway. Who ever this guy is...he is not the lead singer for Bucktick. God he doesn't even know about life on the road and is making shit up. I can't believe you guys are going to sit around and listen to this faker!!"
Then there was silence for few seconds. Atsu turned to the guy and asked.. "Do you have skype?" The guy said yes...but went on to say...there was no way he was going to use it to call this guy, just so he could be punked. He was clearly a fake, and was not going to waste his time calling someone on skype... just to be have someone on the other side stick out his tongue and call him a fool.
Again, Atsu said .. "Hey come on, I will not do any of that stuff, because if you are so sure I am not who I say I am then you need to prove it to the fine people sitting here. Don't you like a sure bet? Come on an call me, it costs you nothing, and you come out right."
SO the GUY finally says okay...and agrees to call the number Atsu provides for him.
As time goes by everyone is silent. At one point someone asks if he was really calling Atsu but there is only silence. A few people in the group start to chuckle...but there is only silence for a about 15 to 20 minutes.
Suddenly this guy bursts out: " OMG! OMG! OMG!OMG!OMG! OMG! IT really is you!! OMG! I AM SO very sorry... for saying that..I had no idea it would really be you...OMG!OMG!OMG! please forgive me for saying that...OMG!OMG! I can not believe its you..I am a huge fan of Bucktick.. and I love your music... I am sorry... please, please, please, please do me the honor of adding me as a friend...I really would love it if you added me."
Atsu is silent and than laughs. You know, I don't mind telling people my story, but I really hate it when someone calls me a liar, when they don't know what I have done. I think its kind of cute that you would want me to be your friend... but I have to tell you that you really are a jerk, and an asshole, and I only add people I call my friends. I am sorry, I can not add you as a friend. Maybe you should not be so quick to jump to conclusions about people. Maybe you should go now.. you are bothering all of us.
And the guy left. I know, at one point, I was not sure Atsu was who he said he was, but after this I know. And, I am glad to call him my friend!
= new reply since forum marked as read
I love it!
Thanks for sharing that, and he handled that exactly right! 
I'm glad you can call him friend too.
for that guy, his Hero shot him down. I can't imagine that feeling. But, I am sure its a lesson he will never forget. Maybe next time, he won't be such a jerk with people, he doesn't know.
And this is a great story. I have to check out Bucktick. I am already in love with the dude on the picture on the far right.
Great post! 
Hello, I'm a fan of Buck-Tick and I accidentaly found your post. This story is pretty interesting. But it still sounds so unbelievable 
Hope you won't get angry with me, (I respect Mr. Sakurai and his ideas inspired me a lot in my life) I just can't help myself and have to ask something I was curious, because recently I've read this on tumblr: "...I know his first child by his current wife is a girl. One child was born around the Memento Mori recordings, I think. Sakurai kept dropping hints in interviews. Years later Japanese fans ran into Sakurai and the child at a well known Tokyo electronics store, where he was waiting in line
with the girl to buy her a child’s camera. They talked about it on 2chan or Tanuki, i don’t remember sorry. It appears that the girl resembles his wife and they posted some nasty comments about this. It appears he was very angry about this. 
. The boy was born later..." You have mentioned that his wife is from Germany. So, is it possible that Japanese fans had those comments about his daughter's half-japanese appearance?
