At the 1985 International Video Biennale, Hajime Tachibana, in collaboration with the video unit Radical TV, presented a piece based on "techno," a blend of digital and analog, machine and human, high-tech and low-tech, called "Show Business Beyond the Traditional Performing Arts of Rock 'n' Roll." At a time when record sales surpassed CD sales, Hajime Tachibana was already presenting works on the theme of the digitalization of sound and video. In the 1990s, he began holding solo design exhibitions. In 1991, he won the ADC Grand Prize for Typography. Undercover debuted at Tokyo Collection in 1994-95 Autumn/Winter, and began participating in Paris Collections in 2003 Spring/Summer. After a temporary hiatus from Paris shows in 2011-12 Autumn/Winter, the brand returned to Paris in 2013-14 Autumn/Winter. Their unique approach to fashion, consistently blending various elements and cultures—a "Tokyo Mix"—has been highly praised by international media. Jun Takahashi (J): When it comes to music, I have a wide range of interests, from folk to minimal techno. I'm also very omnivorous when it comes to film and fashion. I have many different layers, and my style is to digest, mix, and present them in a way that blends them all together. Hajime Tachibana (H): Isn't that a very Tokyo thing? J: That's right. The remix generation. It's very '90s. But that's also the case with the work you've been doing, Hajime. Isn't the act of mixing in the work on "Monaco" a similar approach? H: Back in the late '70s, when Plastics was still in its infancy, there was a time when Tokyo became TOKIO and began to attract attention worldwide as an interesting city, just like London and New York attracted attention in the '60s. The act of mixing may not have changed since then. The reason I decided to release "Monaco" on USB is that, in the era when things that were previously released on CD or DVD will now be sold as files, I wanted people to buy the USB first. We've also revamped our website and are selling master data for T-shirt designs and data from the book from our 1995 Application Tour online. Going forward, we'll likely be releasing more of our work as digital files, so we'll be asking fans to collect the files on a USB. This will be a long-term collaboration with us.

J: Digitizing clothing is quite difficult, and I haven't really connected it to my work. I think what Hajime is doing is interesting because it's linked to the times. Speaking of archiving digital data, this year marks the 20th anniversary of Undercover's shows, so we have 40 seasons' worth of show footage. If we were to release it on DVD for everyone to see, it would require a box set. But that's no longer the case, so we could do it on USB.

H: Jonio uses a Mac himself, so I think if he could find a balance between his acoustic and digital sides, he'd do it right away. But since it's Jonio, a regular USB wouldn't be interesting.

J: Maybe a really big USB (laughs).
H: USB is just the shape of the plug, so it doesn't matter. It could be on a dress or a table, or even a bonsai (laughs).
J: New things like that usually start in Tokyo, and then later someone else in the world spreads it as if they were the first to do it.
H: That's because even back in the Plastics days, you were conscious of the world, determined to start something new in Tokyo. Compared to back then, the activities of Tokyo creators have really become worldwide. When Jonio came out, I thought that we really were in that era, and (Fujiwara) Hiroshi's recent activities are truly worldwide.
J: It's become normal to do things worldwide.
H: Back in the Plastics days, there was a sense of ambition, and there was a sense that Tokyo and the world were separated, like being the best in Japan was better than being the best in the world, and Tokyo being the best in the world. But before we knew it, things became borderless, and it became like good things are good whether they're in Tokyo or London! J: That's probably changed a lot with the rise of the internet, but when I started designing, the internet didn't exist yet, so I feel like I expanded my connections through unexpected places like friendships. H: That's largely because I toured the world with Plastics before the internet and made friends with bands like Devo, Talking Heads, the B52s, and the Tom Tom Club, which broadened my network. The title of the first track on Monaco, "Max's Kansas City," comes from the name of a club or live music venue in New York at the time. It was a time before clubs were born in New York, a time of transition, and it was a live music venue like CBGB. Bands that had played at the Mudd Club and the Peppermint Lounge would perform at Max's Kansas City. The venue itself was an old-school live music venue, but the lyrics talk about who was performing there that day. It's a computer that's doing the talking in that song. It's the one that speaks when you type simple text into Mac OS 9.

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