I think we're at the end of all the revivals. People would forget about punk for a while, and then a magazine would do a special issue on the 10th anniversary of punk, for example, and bring it back. But now you can find collectors or friends with the same interest through the Internet at any time, so nothing is ever really gone. Everything is always there.

I think recognition outside of Japan is amazing. I don't feel like that kind of thing would ever happen to me, as I'm not like those kinds of designers - I don't want to express myself in such a categorized way. I kind of want to be in the middle of the majority and the minority. I don't really want people to know what I am.

I used to skate a lot when I was a kid. I loved it and was quite good. When I came back to London in around '85, I got really into skating again. But at the time, it had no influence from hip-hop. It was just thrash rock, hardcore rock, and skulls and all black - that kind of style. In Japan, the skaters were also strictly into rock culture, too, but I was coming from the hip-hop side, so for a while it was difficult to mix both interests.

In those days, in 80th, people were really hungry for information - and, somehow, I had pretty good access because I had friends in London, New York, Los Angeles, everywhere. I'd been visiting many places and talking with people, so I had a constant flow of new info. I sometimes did articles for magazines and things, and people started to say, "If you want to know what's going on, ask Hiroshi." So that was the beginning with Goodenough.

I'm not really an art collector - I'm more of a person who picks up things. I have pieces by people like Gerhard Richter, for example, but then also others by unknown Japanese artists, and not many real art collectors do that.

If you look at items of clothing like denim or polo shirts, they came from someone else's idea and everyone now makes them, but even so, I sometimes want to buy into the newer thing because it looks good or whatever. I mean, I copy many things - almost everything I do could be called a copy in some way. But I copy with a certain respect. I have a high regard for the original, and so I want to put my twist onto that. It's just like sampling music - when it's done well, the new work communicates a respect for the original source material.

When I was 18 years old, I came to Tokyo from my hometown, Ise, in the countryside. I'd always been really inspired by fashion and music, especially when punk came out in '76 or '77.