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Plain:However, I felt that there was no physicality in the Elvis book "The Kings. However, just as with the car, the important thing was that I had found a "good Elvis.

Muraoka:I saw it for the first time today, and it's funny, it's great. What can I say, I can feel the amazing stupidity, love, and sadness, and I really feel like he is a human being himself. It's the most humane thing I've ever seen from Taro. Isn't it great, isn't it sad?

Plain:When I came back from this shoot, I saw a movie in Argentina ... I forget the title, but it was about an Elvis impersonator. The main character is an Elvis impersonator in Argentina, and the movie is very dark, and life in Argentina is difficult, he doesn't get along with his wife, he doesn't get along with his children, he doesn't have a job. So he does an Elvis show at a club, but they make fun of him, and he says, "I'm going to Memphis," and that's when he sets his place of business on fire, cuts off his family, and goes to Memphis. I went to Memphis too, and there is a mansion where Elvis lived. They have tours where you can go around Elvis's house while listening to commentary in each country's language. He would do the same thing, and when the attendant took his eyes off the tour, he would quickly go into the storage room. He would wait until business was over, and when it was dark, he would come out, take his medicine, and die. And then, wow! And then the end rolls. The end.

Muraoka:It's bad, isn't it? But that's how it is, right?

Plain:No , I didn't mean it that way.

Muraoka:My thought was "Mr. Lonely" by Harmony Korine. There are Michael Jackson, Marilyn Monroe, and Elvis Presley look-alikes, and, well, they all die. It's a sad story about a mimic who can never become the real thing, and Elvis as a way to live a life.

Plain:In my case, there is sadness, of course, but it is more positive. He was the first Elvis I met. The title "The Kings" is because everyone calls Elvis "King, King," so it's "Kings" as in gods. When I got the job to cross the U.S. for "Popeye," I wanted to see an Elvis look-alike, so I included Memphis in the crossing course. When I arrived in Memphis, I asked the lady at the Elvis souvenir shop in Memphis if there was anyone there. She said, "Oh, okay," and called me on my cell phone. He was about 2 or 3 hours late for the rendezvous and didn't show up at all. He was wearing a red T-shirt and shorts. He said, "Sorry, sorry!　I put the wrong gas in the tank," or some such incomprehensible excuse. I'm sorry! I'll go change right away! Sorry! I'm sorry!" I went into the room and came out with this.

Muraoka:This is already coming up, Elvis.

Plain:Oh yeah . I was like, wow, that's cool! And I thought, I have no idea why, but it was so imposing and cool. I don't know when he said it, but he said, "Elvis is like this, he's so kind to everyone, so open and generous and full of love. He said, "I'm inheriting that, I'm not imitating him, I'm inheriting that.

Muraoka:Inheriting the mindset. You are not a monomaniac.

Plain:Well, this guy does a show every night. Yeah, so I don't know why, but I thought a guy who is so imposing is very persuasive. So I asked him, "I want to see Elvis more, where can I go to see him?　He said, "Well, if you go to Memphis on the anniversary of Elvis' death, they have an Elvis festival, and there will be tens of thousands of people there.　I was like, "No way! I told him I would come next year, and when I actually went the next year, there weren't many people there (laughs). (Laughs.) I was able to see him again, but he had already graduated from Elvis. He had graduated from Elvis, and he had a shaved head. He said something like, "I've gained weight, so I'm quitting Presley. But he was still there, next to Elvis at the karaoke contest.

Muraoka:So you have inherited the mindset. Did you plan from the beginning to make this a photo book too?

Plain:Yes . I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted to do. I spent 6 or 7 years shooting the car, but for Elvis, I had already shot the gun! I wanted to do it with a "GUN! I wanted to get it out there. I didn't want to go back and forth so many times. I'm full of it, I think I've shot about 30 people.

Muraoka:Who is this person?

Plain:This guy seems to be imitating a character from a movie with Elvis in it. I'm not a huge Elvis fan myself, though I'm getting to like him more and more, but I'm not at the level of watching all of his movies. . But I'm not at the level of watching all of his movies. Anyway, I heard that there is a movie with Elvis in this outfit. This guy was a huge maniac, wasn't he? He said a lot of things, like, "I want to go to Japan.

Muraoka:Yes, it's great if you want to look at it in a positive light.

Plain:I mean, it's good, I guess, but what the heck. And of course there's some sadness in it. I think maybe the mindset is incredibly conservative people. In terms of current politics, they support Trump, or, well, I don't know, it depends on the person. But I think they are like that.

Plain:This is wild, isn't it? I don't think it's a tattoo anymore, I think it's a stain that's turned out like this.

Muraoka:Highway and Elvis are the remnants of good America , aren't they? Why are we inevitably attracted to such things?

Plain:. that's the theme, isn't it? I don't really know why I do what I do, so I guess that's why I do what I do. Of course it's fun, and I think it's great, but I wonder why I do so many American things, and I guess that's because I skateboarded as an adolescent. I judged what was cool and what was not in skateboarding. I wonder if it was the American culture that made me that way.

Muraoka:In terms of skateboarding culture, is Elvis in the cool category?

Plain:Well, I don't know . I've asked my skater friends in the U.S., but I guess they are the object of chuckles. . I guess skaters and I are the exact opposite in terms of mindset.

Muraoka:Then, to put together a collection of photos of people who are the most conservative of conservatives like this is a mixture of being cool and funny at the same time. Moreover, putting together a collection of American symbols under the name "The Kings" is an anthem for America, if a complete stranger were to see it. But that is what you want to do, isn't it? That is what is so twisted about it.

Plain:Well , it's twisted, isn't it? I don't mean to make fun of these people at all, and I probably couldn't do this if I wanted to make fun of them. Well, of course I think they are funny, but I wonder if I would want to photograph them if that kind of twistedness were to appear in the theme. I can't really explain it myself. It's a bit difficult when it's all obvious....

Muraoka:. If you want to be straightforward, it doesn't have to be a photograph.

Plain:. because I've already solved it. . I don't know what it is, but I'm attracted to it. . I don't want to be this way, and I don't think everyone should be this way, but I'm thinking about it.

Muraoka:He wrote about this in the afterword to "LACC," but when he turned around and thought about Japan, he said that he had been thinking lately about what Japan could do.

Plain:This time, I have released a series of photographs of the U.S. in one month, and together with "POOL," I feel that it is a trilogy, and I feel that it is pretty well organized in my mind. I think it would be better to work on the things that are still unclear and unexplained. It may take me another 10 years (laughs), but I think I need to take the next step now.

Muraoka:Do you feel a sense of mission in publishing this kind of photo book?

Plain:When I say "sense of mission," the question is to whom, but I don't feel that I have completed, completed, or overcome a task unless I put it into a book. If the book does not remain on the bookshelf and is only exhibited, it does not feel like the end of the project. Even if the book is not exhibited, if the book is still there, I feel that the work is somehow done. There are many different kinds of people who are involved in photography. Some people say that exhibitions come first and original prints are the best, while others may just want to sell one good photo. There are all kinds of people. I happen to prefer books.

Muraoka:When I saw this Elvis book, I thought, not only men, but also grandmothers.

Plain:Something like, given the rhythm of the book, if it's a full page of Elvis look-alike guys, well, that might work, but you want a break, don't you?

Muraoka:I still think that kind of thing is from the editor's point of view. Like this Coca-Cola front .

Plain:I, for one, didn't like the idea of an iPhone in the picture, but I thought this was kind of neat. . it's funny that Elvis is taking a selfie.

Muraoka:Are the women fans?

Plain:I mean to take pictures with them. I take them out indoors to the sun, and they come up to me , even the grandmothers.

Muraoka:Who is this person?

Plain:I give them money and they do Elvis repertoire. But bass. And he wants me to drink Gatorade. I wonder what it's all about.

Muraoka:. this is published by On Reading, right?

Plain:Yes . On Reading (a book store in Nagoya) has a space where you can exhibit your work, and I had a previous relationship with them because I had put a series of cars on display there before. So, what happened?　Oh?　I thought, and then I noticed that they had a label called "Elvis Press," and I didn't tell anyone about it. I didn't want to tell anyone. It would be fun to have a punchline there, and I wouldn't be able to say no. (laughs). (Laughs.) I said, "How about it?　(Laughs.) I asked him, "How about it?　He said, "I'd love to!

Muraoka:In your mind, was the book more light-hearted?

Plain:I thought it would be okay if it were lighter, but since I supervised the entire "LACC" project myself, I felt like I wanted to just throw it out there. I thought I'd give it a try.

Muraoka:Which way felt best to you?

Plain:Yes, that's right. I am not the type of person who wants to control every aspect of the work by myself, so it is interesting to entrust it to others.

Muraoka:Including today, you have been at the "TOKYO ART BOOK FAIR" for four days, and you have also sold books by hand several times. Do you find something different from what you have been thinking?

Plain:I have sold my works by hand several times, at a small gallery I run (No.12 Gallery) and at events where I sell my works here!　When I sell at events, such as at my small gallery (No.12 Gallery) or at events where I sell here, people come to the gallery to buy, and 100% of them buy my work. It's a feeding frenzy, from the point of view of spoonbills (laughs). But they don't know me here, and they don't know "POOL. . It was the first time I put it in front of those people, so it was a learning experience.

Muraoka:Did strangers buy it?

Plain:I think they bought it, which was great. I was very happy to hear that, like when two girls came up to me and said, "This is great, I'm going to buy it. Of course, I am happy for the people who come to buy the book, but I also think that the book should be interesting and appeal to such people as much as possible. I think it's important to make a book that appeals to these people as much as possible.

Muraoka:The specs for that.

Plain:As for "LACC," it is self-published, so I am free to set the price, and if it were me, I would want something with this content, this binding, and this price.　That's already my standard. If I come to this book fair and someone I don't know offers the same thing, I would buy it. . That's just my standard, so it's up to me to decide how close I want to be to you.

Muraoka:It might be interesting to be able to decide that , decide as you wish.

Plain:I saw the looks on the faces of people who picked up Elvis's book, and some of them didn't even smile. And I thought, "This is no good. I don't know if it was my fault or theirs (the Elvis look-alikes) (laughs), but I did feel a certain wall.

Muraoka:. it's not like I didn't know Elvis in the first place.

Plain:. but still.........

Muraoka:It's definitely more obvious than a car, though , I still want you to laugh.

Plain:I want him to grin, don't you? He said, when I said, "Pose a little cooler," he said, "This is the kind of pose Elvis does, so take this one. As it turned out, this was the best likeness.

Plain:This is more of a tease. The shoes are running shoes. . this is a guy who ran in the Elvis Marathon. It starts around 5 or 6 in the morning, and everyone dresses up as Elvis and runs. I decided to go for that too.

Muraoka:Maybe even a Disney Marathon?

Plain:Heh, really?　Come to think of it, when you walk into a live concert hall, the excitement is great if you can sing well, even if your face doesn't look much like them.

Muraoka:Whoever looks the most like you, face and all, wins, don't you think?

Plain:. so to speak, the winner is the one who moves everyone the most. The winner of the charity concert I saw was this young man.

Muraoka:It's cool.

Plain:This girl was young, but she was playing mid- to late-period Elvis, and all the people watching were old ladies. But when he sang well, or when the performance was exciting, they applauded, and I thought they all knew what they were doing. The attendant gave Elvis a scarf, wrapped it around him and gave it to an old lady with sweat on it, and the old lady was like, "Wow!　(laughs). . and then he would wrap the next scarf around it, and so on. . And we do this at a live music club in a corner of Memphis.

Muraoka:Actually, maybe it's not an uncle culture, but an aunt culture.

Plain:. Yes, it was. I had to go there to understand that, and it was totally an auntie culture.

Muraoka:From uncle to auntie (laughs).

Plain:It occurred to me halfway through that this would be more interesting if I took pictures of the aunts, but they are super scary (laughs). These look-alikes are used to being photographed and want to be photographed, but the aunts are serious.

Plain:But it's really popular like this. After the show, I would ask her for advice about her life. My husband passed away last year, .

. and this is where the talk time ended.

Well, how was it?　Taro Hirano's talk on the background of photography lasted for more than an hour. He talked about how he approaches his subjects and how he makes the most of his editorial viewpoints, rather than just taking pictures as they are. We hope that you will visit the three books filled with Mr. Hirano's passion and love for his subjects and see them for yourself.