Cross-dresser Mitz Mangrove appeared on Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's long-running talk show "Tetsuko's Room" (TV Asahi) broadcast on February 20th. He talked about the emergency list of "friends" he created during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the story of his parents coming to see the performance of the music group "Hoshikuzu Scat," which was formed 20 years ago this year.
Most of the "friends," including those who came from the countryside, live alone. They realized that no one knew what to do if something were to happen to them during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mitz said, "You don't know Matsuko Deluxe's real name, do you?" There were many things they didn't know about each of their circumstances, such as "Where does her family live? Where are her parents? Are they still alive? What about her siblings? Do their families and parents know that they are doing these things?"
He decided to compile as many of the real names, contact details, and blood types of about 50 to 60 of his friends in Tokyo as he could, and store them in a safe in his office in Shinjuku 2-chome, which is his base of operations. "It should be in there, but no one has checked it, so we just compiled it all together. It's like we're just waiting for it to pass," he said, laughing.
Last year, the parents of the group Hoshikuzu Scat were invited to the concert, with members Guarantique Kazue's parents coming from Fukuoka and Maylie Moo's parents coming from Okinawa to Tokyo. Maylie's mother clung to Kazue's mother's hand and encouraged her by saying, "I don't feel like I'm a stranger to you." She seemed shaken by her son's first appearance.
All three members are the eldest sons, and Maylee used to be a student at Tokyo University. The members said of their parents, "I think it must have been hard for them to accept it. We may not have been the ideal sons, but we hope that in return for our unfilial deeds, we have been able to give them another source of enjoyment." "They enjoy watching our performances, and they tell us that our songs are great. Maybe times have changed and we can do things like this," they said. "But I don't know. We'll never know what my parents are thinking, but they support this kind of work and find it interesting."
