Tora

Biography

Amano Shinji (天野真志), better known by his stage name Tora (虎), is the guitarist of Alice Nine. In 2015, along with his band-mate Shou, he formed DIAWOLF, in which he goes under the name of Amano Tora. Tora was born in the outskirts of the city of Kawasaki. At first he was a redhead, but then his hair gradually darkened. He is 1/4 American-German from his grandfather - however Tora refers to this as 'apparently 1/4' as he does not truly know himself. At age 3 he moved to Yokohama. He was severely bullied since kindergarten to the end of elementary school. Although his family was well-off, the school he went to was full of delinquents, it was also Buddhist school. In the first grade of middle school he did some extreme dieting and lost about 30 kilos in a year. He played football since before kindergarten up until middle school. He was elected as student council president for 2 years in a row. As a child he liked to draw his own manga, and he also wrote the script for a play for a school festival. He's not good with kanji and people complain he often write messages with kana alone. He first tried smoking in 5th grade (about 11?). Was in the swimming club in middle school, but admittedly he wasn't that good at it. Was really good at sensing spirits when he was little, still is. Since he was a child his family always called him a "Caged Monkey", apparently because he's restless. The first instrument he bought was a second-hand 9800 yen Gibson Flying V. Originally he wanted to buy a bass, but he didn't have enough money. He can play a bit of piano. He can play drums. He did this at some of the fanclub special lives. Once he worked at KFC as a part-time job, also at a shoe store. Tora was electrocuted once at a live when Saga poured some water onto his guitar. His first proper band lasted for about a year until their vocalist left and their guitarist ditched them for Lost Age (where Shou was the vocalist). Once he was carried into the open sea when they were in Hawaii. Somewhere in Summer 2007, he injured his neck and around January 2008 he was diagnosed with spinal disc hernia and they had to stop the tour. He didn't do the operation though. But it seems ok now. He likes to ride a bike. He hates planes. He really hates insects, especially cockroaches and centipedes. He likes games, namely FPS. He likes watching TV, especially action films and foreign TV series. Usually sleeps nude. He sets his aircon to 16 and sleeps under a winter futon. He really likes to go barefoot so his feet are all bruised. Tora is a neat-freak and he's pretty good at cooking, at least that's what he says. He's easily moved to tears. He had bad eyesight but he only began to use contacts in 2008. He still seems to prefer glasses though. Says he often laughs in his sleep and wakes up at the sound of his own laughter. He says he hasn't read single novel since he was born. He says he likes to experience things first-hand. His lip-piercing can't be taken out and he's had it since he was about 18. In one series of interviews all 4 other members said if they were girls they would date Tora. He says he would want to try being a woman. He once said if he dies he wants this song to be played at his funeral: Stray Cat..