The surprising characteristics of “one-hit wonders who will always be able to eat,” as told by Nezumi Senpai (52), who won a prize with “Popopo” 17 years ago. （ See photos of Rat Senpai (52) when he was 17 and 19 years old, when he had to endure many hardships. Born in Okayama, he moved to Osaka to make a name for himself in a band. After a period of backpacking around the world, an unexpected encounter led to his debut. At the root of his strange destiny is his belief in “doing what I want to do now. (Part 2 of 3 / Continue reading ) ◆◆◆
Isolated from his father, who was a womanizer
–What kind of child were you when you were a senior Rat? Rat-senpai: My family was extremely poor. It was a dirty apartment complex with two rooms, a Japanese-style room and a Japanese-style room. During the summer vacation, I would eat ants with my friends from the same apartment complex, and we would try to boil cicadas to eat. You were always hungry. Sometimes we played with my friend’s NES, but it was a black-and-white TV, so it was hard to tell which was Mario or Luigi (laughs). My father was a no-good man, and he was just a dick. He loved women and would hang out with them. He dresses up and spends a lot of money on drinks, gambles, and is always in debt ……. -Was your father’s love affair with women obvious to his children? Rat Senpai: Me, my father, and his mistress have taken many trips together. I could hear them fucking in the room next to where I was sleeping. –Did your mother know about your father’s relationships with women? Rat Senpai Of course she knew. When I was in high school, debt collectors came not only to our house but also to my grandmother’s house, demanding that we pay back 2 million yen by the end of the week, and taking all the money we had in the house. I was naughty too, so I can’t count the number of times my mother and I went on a rampage at my father’s mistress’s house. Since my father didn’t bring in any money, my mother worked at the factory until her nostrils were blackened. I’m sure it was tough, but it couldn’t be helped; that’s the kind of man she chose. She is separated from her father now, but I think she is still registered because of insurance. So when “Roppongi – GIROPPON” sold well, I cleared all the debts my father had made and put my stamp on it, saying that I would never see him again. It was like we were insulated. That’s why I haven’t seen or called him once since 2008. Once, when I did a one-man event in Hiroshima, he came to my dressing room, but I refused to see him. I have no intention of meeting him. The resentment will never go away, will it?