Other Interests

Music

Music is something that really drives me forward in life and I’ve typically always got something on in the background. My main tastes involve Japanese music as you would expect. I’m mainly into J-Pop and idol music, but there’s also a lot of J-Rock bands I like. I am a fan club member of the idol talent agency and production company Dear☆Stage. I also enjoy Japanese traditional music involving stuff like the shamisen, the koto, fue and taiko. I’ve had a go at taiko drumming myself which is immensely fun!

In terms of more western music, I was brought up on classic rock so I quite like stuff like Queen, Deep Purple, Fleetwood Mac, AC/DC and Alice Cooper. I am into symphonic and gothic metal, which I got into in my university days, with some of my favourites bands being Within Temptation, Nightwish and Delain.

I’m also into soundtracks from video games with my two favourite composers being Koji Kondo (Mario series, The Legend of Zelda series) and Kenji Yamamoto (Super Metroid, Metroid Prime Trilogy).

Artists I have seen live include: Deep Purple, Styx, Thin Lizzie, Meat Loaf, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, airly momoco, Broken Doll, Azumi Inoue & Yuyu, Charisma.com, The World Standard (わーすた), Moso Calibration, AIKATSU☆STARS!, and STAR☆ANIS.

Doctor Who

I have been a fan of the BBC TV show Doctor Who since 2005. Recently I have not been as enthusiastic about the show as I once was, but it is always something I go back to. I have enjoyed the majority of the revived era, while I have also looked at some of the classic stories.

I’ve also had the opportunity to meet some of the actors from the show, and that list currently includes Matt Smith, Karen Gillan and James Corden from the revived series; and Peter Thomas from the classic series.

If you used to be an avid watcher of the behind-the-scenes show Doctor Who Confidential you may have seen me in a background shot in the episode where they show the series 5 launch tour when they were at Sunderland University.

Motorsport

Motorsport is the only sport I am really into and I mainly follow Formula 1 and British Touring Cars. I’m very much a car fan and I don’t really have any interest in bikes.

In the past I used to visit Croft Circuit frequently, particularly for the BTCC mainly from 2003 – 2008. While I haven’t been since then I have plans to start going again once I have learned how to drive and I have my own transport. Other circuits I’d love to visit include Brands Hatch and Silverstone in the UK, and Suzuka in Japan. I find the circuits themselves just as interesting as the cars, and my one gripe from racing games is that they never include enough tracks while they include thousands of cars.

Books

While I’m more into reading manga these days, I still like to get stuck into a big thick fantasy tome. In recent years The Wheel of Time has become one of my favourites, along with works by Trudi Canavan. And no, I haven’t picked up A Song of Ice and Fire yet, but it’s on my list.

Some Other Interests

I have a passing interest in photography, mainly for motorsport and nature. Whenever I go to see a race I’ll be roaming about the paddock taking shots of all the cars and trying to capture some of the best action on track. I also like capturing naturey images when I’m out and about, and living on the coast makes for some great opportunities.

I also have interests in science and history. Science-wise I’m most invested in astrophysics, and history-wise I’m interested in British history up to before WW1 (mainly the Medieval and the main Imperial eras) and the history and mythology of Japan up until the end of the Meiji Restoration.