The concept of a joint hair salon and secondhand store sounds like it already existed, but it didn’t. We spoke to the owner and hairdresser Yuya Nakagawa and Masato Tanita, who’s in charge of the clothes, to explore the current state of stores in Tokyo through UNDER THE SUN.

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Yuya Nakagawa
After working at a hair salon in Harajuku, Yuya Nakagawa opened UNDER THE SUN in Sangenjaya in 2019. He handles work related to the hair salon and simultaneously sells secondhand clothes he bought himself in the US. UNDER THE SUN moved to a bigger location in 2022. Nakagawa enjoys active hobbies such as skateboarding and biking. 
Instagram：@underthesun_sgj

Masato Tanita
Masato Tanita started working at UNDER THE SUN in 2021. He’s in charge of secondhand clothes at UNDER THE SUN and runs RE_Cent product, a brand selling palo santo with original scents made from essential oils. Like Yuya Nakagawa, he like skateboards, bikes, and cameras. 
Instagram：@txnxt

A store where you can do everything you want 

――How long has it been since you opened UNDER THE SUN? 

Yuya Nakagawa (Nakagawa): It’s been four years. Our store moved from somewhere a little far to this location last March. We have five hair salon staff and two secondhand clothes staff; there are seven people in total. 

――Before opening UNDER THE SUN, you worked at a hair salon in Harajuku. Did you think about starting your own business at that point?

Nakagawa: Not initially, but I started thinking about it the more I worked. The best way to do what you 100% want is to run your own store. 

――You were still in your 20s when you set up the store. You must’ve been on the younger side by industry standards.

Nakagawa: I became independent at 28, so I was on the younger side. 

――I feel it was one option for you to grow your career at another hair salon. Is there a reason why you took the plunge and left quite early?

Nakagawa: I already had a vision for the store, so I thought it’d be better to become independent early on rather than work somewhere else for a few years. 

――Was the vision you had back then of the current form of your store—a combination of a hair salon and a secondhand store?

Nakagawa: Yes. I wanted to open a store that combined a hair salon and a secondhand store then.

――What’s the concept of UNDER THE SUN?

Nakagawa: There isn’t an official concept; anything goes. Fundamentally, it’s a store where you can cut your hair and buy secondhand clothes, but I want it to become a place where you can do anything as long as it’s interesting.

――Both hairdressing and clothes can be categorized as fashion, but it’s rare to see stores that fuse both. 

Nakagawa: You don’t see them often. I like going abroad as well as secondhand clothes. I wanted to do everything I wanted because I was opening my own store, so I also decided to sell secondhand clothes. Buying secondhand clothes could be a valid reason for traveling abroad. 

――You had been doing hair, so does that mean you didn’t have experience in buying clothes?

Nakagawa: I didn’t. I took about a week off from the hair salon I previously worked at and tagged along on a buying trip with a friend who worked at a secondhand store. That’s how I learned how to do it. 

――Wow. You went abroad to buy clothes until Tanita-san joined, but wasn’t that difficult? 

Nakagawa: The first time I went abroad on my own was to buy clothes. I was a bit anxious about it, but once I did it, there wasn’t a problem (laughs). But I had to move around with a lot of luggage, so it was physically and mentally demanding. But it was fun because I had something to learn every time, like buying something better than before and going around different stores more efficiently. 

――You two go abroad to source clothes now. What was your first experience like, Tanita-san? It must’ve been your first time going abroad for that purpose, and I’m sure it was different from traveling for leisure.

Masato Tanita (Tanita): I had heard from an older colleague that it was a busy undertaking because you had to work from morning to night, but I didn’t dislike that. It was fun. I mean, I was able to go to a rural town that was a two to three-hour drive from Portland. 

Nakagawa: A place you’d never go for fun. 

Tanita: It was fun seeing the real landscape of America, not tourist spots.

Nakagawa: I still clearly remember the secondhand clothes we bought there.

――Did you two know each other before?

Nakagawa: We met each other through a mutual friend who introduced us. 

Tanita: Was that four, five years ago?

Nakagawa: Yeah. We both skate, so we started hanging out. 

――What was your job before you started working at UNDER THE SUN?

Tanita: I was a train conductor. 

Nakagawa: You rarely meet someone with that occupation! I memorized it instantly. 

――How did you go from being a train conductor to working at UNDER THE SUN?

Tanita: I also love going abroad, so I would take two weeks off every year to skate in the US or Europe. But once covid hit, the so-called stable railway industry became tumultuous. That catalyst made me think, “Is this what I really want to do?” 

――So, you started wanting to work with clothes if you were going to work anyway.

Tanita: Right. I knew many people who were into making shirts and zines for fun, but I didn’t have any friends who had a store. But Yuya-kun had opened a store at an early age; and a hair salon that sold clothes at that. I visited the store and loved how you could tell Yuya’s taste just by looking at the secondhand clothes. He didn’t have to say anything. I felt jealous of how he, a contemporary of mine, could do what he wanted for a living and that the store was a physical manifestation of his efforts. Even still, I spoke to Yuya-kun because I like secondhand clothes, and I started working at UNDER THE SUN.

――Your working environment changed drastically. How was that?

Tanita: I sincerely feel like this was the kind of job I wanted to do. When I see a customer take a liking to fashion or music I enjoy right in front of my eyes, it makes me want to make people happy even more. In my previous job, no one wanted to ride a train because I operated it, but now, it makes me happy because people consider me one part of UNDER THE SUN. You can do anything, depending on how hard you try. Until now, I didn’t create anything, but since I started working here, I have begun selling original palo santo. Each staff has their likes, and we’re all part of UNDER THE SUN. That’s what it feels like. 

――You mainly sell standard, casual clothes at UNDER THE SUN, yes?

Tanita: I’ve always liked cheap secondhand clothes. I sometimes buy expensive vintage clothes, but it’s easier to get your hands on casual ones.

――Has there been a change in the selection of clothes since Tanita-san joined you?

Nakagawa: There has been a change. I wanted to incorporate someone else’s perspective. I want to keep actively incorporating ideas that I don’t have. Many people relate to what Tanita-san does here, which adds character to our store. So, I want to continue sprinkling different elements.

Making original clothes and hosting pop-up shops 

――It’s easier for someone to walk into the store, even if they’re not there for a haircut, because you sell secondhand clothes.

Nakagawa: I don’t think like, “If you’re going to buy clothes, I want you to get a haircut. If you’re going to get a haircut, I want you to buy clothes.” It would make me happy if people did both, but I don’t wish for that too much. I want people to stop by without feeling any pressure. 

Tanita: There was a customer who was a university student who only came here to get a haircut, but they developed an interest in secondhand clothes. It was so nice seeing how the way he styled his outfits changed gradually. Some people used to buy clothes just because they were getting a haircut, but now, some visit us just for the clothes or a pop-up.

Nakagawa: It really is nice when people like our store. But I still get asked, “Is it okay if I just take a look at the clothes?” People get the impression that we’re a hair salon, so I guess that’s the image they get. I think of it like this: my foundation is my job as a hairdresser, but if there’s anything I want and can do, I should do it without being hung up on my job title. I want people to see UNDER THE SUN as a store, not just a hair salon.

Re_Cent product, a palo santo brand by Tanita-san. Two types of rich scents made from a mixture of natural essential oils 

――So, UNDER THE SUN is a platform where you can do whatever you want. You already had a bunch of secondhand clothes since you opened the store.

Nakagawa: The store has been half hair salon and half secondhand store even before we moved locations. There were no examples of stores that combined a hair salon and a secondhand store, so I didn’t know how many clothes I should have at the store. At first, I was planning on only having two racks, but then I thought no one would come to the store to buy clothes. The clothes would run out immediately, making it awkward for people to enter the store. 

――Two racks of clothes would give me the impression of a hair salon that sells a few secondhand clothes, not a hair-salon-cum-secondhand-store. 

Nakagawa: I felt there was no point in doing it if that were the case. I had to be serious about it if I wanted to do it, so I decided to allocate half of the store to secondhand clothes. There were a lot of difficulties because of that, but thankfully, the secondhand store can function on its own. 

――The array of clothes is impressive. 

Nakagawa: Having both a hair salon and a secondhand store in a same space sounds fancy and interesting, but in terms of actual business, I thought it would not be feasible with a lower number of stocks. Therefore, we decided to open a store with a large number of items that would satisfy our customers as a secondhand clothing store. 

――What sort of hairstyles do you provide?

Nakagawa: I don’t like hairstyles that are too styled. I do think hairstyles that are done properly are cool, but I like something more casual. But I don’t suggest that myself. I say this to my customers often, but like clothes, it’s all about how satisfied you feel. My stance is you get to decide whether or not a hairstyle suits you, and if there’s a hairstyle you want, you should go for it without thinking about it too much. With that said, I look at the person’s hair texture and strive to create the optimal finish that would look good on them.

Tanita: I also get my hair done by Yuya-kun, and I always only say, “Just make it look good.” 

Nakagawa: Many people say, “The usual, please” (laughs). 

――It sounds like a natural finish is perfect because it makes the person feel comfortable. You’ve also designed clothes since the beginning of UNDER THE SUN. 

Nakagawa: At first, it was like, I made original designs because I had the store. I asked an acquaintance to design them, but the further we got into the process, the more I wanted the clothes to stand out as our store’s original clothes. I felt it was more meaningful to translate my ideas into clothes if I were going to make something original, so I started getting more particular about them. Before, I would make them when I got an idea, but now I try to make them periodically. 

――Do you two come up with the designs? 

Nakagawa: No, I’m a bit stubborn when it comes to that, so I think of the designs for the most part. If you take in too many opinions from different people, the direction could go all over the place. I make the big decisions, but say I didn’t know what color to use; I would then ask everyone else. 

An original long-sleeve shirt with a print of a photo that Tanita-san took in Los Angeles when he went there to buy clothes

――It seems like the original designs also work as a brand. What sort of products did you release recently?

Tanita: We made a bike chino for riding bikes with PWA and BLUE LUG, my friends’ brands.

Nakagawa: We all talked about that together to make it. 

――t’s interesting how the pants have drawstrings in the inner part of the hems so they don’t get tangled up in bike chains. It’s cool that the pants are also sold at BLUE LUG.

Nakagawa: Both Tanita-kun and I get our bikes assembled at BLUE LUG in Kamiuma, Setagaya. Aoki-san of SIESTA gets his hair done at our store, and I saw him riding a cool bike once. He introduced me to BLUE LUG right away, and I got my bike put together there.

Tanita: Aoki-san gave me that bike. I’ve been into biking since then. 

――Speaking of which, you also hosted a pop-up of WOOD VILLAGE CYCLES, a bike shop in Hatagaya, yes?。

Tanita: I’m close with the people at WOOD VILLAGE CYCLES, so they had a pop-up at our store. 

Nakagawa: We have other pop-ups quite often too. 

――For example?

Nakagawa: A vegan caterer called SUNPEDAL. I knew of SUNPEDAL but had never met them. WOOD VILLAGE CYCLES was neighbors with them, so we got introduced to each other. We also had a pop-up of HuberStore, where they sold vintage soccer uniforms. 

Tanita: CTC STORE is another one. It’s a brand that my friend, who I got close to through skating, runs. 

Nakagawa: It’s fun to host pop-up shops because the range of customers widens. For the PWA pop-up, which we had before we moved, we made shorts together. Customers lined up before we even opened. But the store was small, so we couldn’t fit many people (laughs). 

――There are many hair salons and secondhand stores in Tokyo. What sort of place do you want UNDER THE SUN to be? 

Nakagawa: Many say we’re a hair salon that men can go to comfortably. We’re not like those hair salons in Aoyama, and we’re not formal like barber shops, so customers can hang out more. Plus, we have secondhand clothes, making it even easier for customers to enter the store. I feel like there aren’t a lot of hair salons like that in Tokyo. I want the store to be a familiar place that people can look up to. 

Tanita: I want to share things we think are genuinely cool with customers and make them happy. To do that, we must dig deep into the things we like and directly experience things we’re interested in instead of putting a lid on them. I also want to do my best to buy and recommend clothes so the customers can be even happier. 

■UNDER THE SUN
Adress: Ikejiri, Setagaya, Tokyo Avenue Ikejiri 1F 103
Opening hours: 11:00-20:00
Phone: 03-4285-3765
https://www.underthesunsgj.com
Instagram：@underthesun_sgj

Photography Yuta Kato
Translation Lena Grace Suda

The post Haircuts and Secondhand Clothes: UNDER THE SUN, a New Type of Store appeared first on TOKION - Cutting edge culture and fashion information.

The powerhouse rapper has released his 1st album B1, at long last. He’s said that this album was made over a two-year span while pushing himself to the limit and overcoming several struggles and conflicts. We asked him to reflect on his childhood and on the beginning of his career as a rapper, his freestyle rap, and the creation of B1.

ID
2015 and garnered attention through his unique rap style that is not bound by conventional theories. He’s participated in many MC battles, and won the “Sengoku MC BATTLE”, the largest battle in Japan, proving his skills nationally. He was selected as the third generation monster on the TV Asahi show, “Freestyle Dungeon”, and is currently a regular on the show, “Freestyle Teacher”.
Instagram：@kaisaka3960

Musicality honed in the home

——First, please tell me about your formative musical experiences.

ID: The first music I liked was Jamiroquai’s Virtual Insanity. I was probably around four years old. I felt like I knew the song, even though I didn’t.

——Did you like music since you were little?

ID: Since then, my favorite thing has always been music. That’s why it was revolutionary when I got my first earphones. I was happy because my grandma and grandpa would get mad at me when my music was too loud, but now I could enjoy my music outside.

——How did you encounter Jamiroquai?

ID: My mother liked them. Other types of music, like black music, was always playing in my house.

——Was your mother’s influence a significant one?

ID: When I was a kid,  I listened to every single CD my mother owned. I barely remember my father and my mother raised me, so I think my personality is similar to hers. I challenge myself no matter how big the task, and go against any rules that I don’t agree with. I think I got those traits from my mother.

——That kind of personality seems connected to black music.

ID: It’s not that my hometown wasn’t suitable for me, it was more that I was  in a minority position. People never approved of me apart from a small community who understood me. Black music justified that experience, so I found myself unconsciously gravitating towards it.

——When did you start looking for music yourself?

ID: I started wanting to listen to better music in elementary school, so I rented CDs based on its cover art. I listened to Gorillaz, Japanese rap, and a plethora of genres. That, mixed in with the music playing at home, made my musical sensibilities reflect my household more than my hometown.

Freestyle refined by competing with friends and skills

——When did you move to Tokyo?

ID: When I was eighteen. I didn’t have a specific purpose for moving, but I felt like it was my duty to move to Tokyo. I thought nothing would start in my small hometown, so I moved out here without a plan.

——You didn’t see any hope in your hometown?

ID: I understand how other people felt in retrospect, but the people in my hometown didn’t understand me when I was in my teens. I didn’t mesh well with the conservative people who didn’t understand even a fraction of what I was talking about. I didn’t understand what everyone was afraid of, and I moved to Tokyo on a whim.

——I heard you started rapping after you moved to Tokyo. Please tell us how that came about.

ID: I went to the club Ikebukuro bed on my third day after moving to Tokyo, but couldn’t go in because I was still eighteen. I was roaming around, and the person I happened to talk to was this DJ named Dekaichi. We became close, and I got a job at the bar he was starting. After work hours one day, he said, “let’s try to rap” over an instrumental that was playing. Everyone recommended I start rapping when I tried it out. I always wanted to do something vaguely interesting, so it’s not that I was really trying to make it as a rapper, I just tried it because I thought it would be fun.

——Were you already freestyling back then?

ID: For me, freestyle is more a game than a battle. It was fun playing sessions with people with more experience. Cyphers with them demanded sophisticated rapping with words that were incomparable to those used in the battles. There are freestyles that grab people’s hearts without a rhyme pattern, and there are some more artistic freestyles. Battles require the former version of freestyle, but I’m more familiar with the latter since it was more common when I first started rapping. I’m still exploring that style.

——Was Organ Bar where you performed most?

ID: Yes. BEAR, the manager of the bar, allowed me to perform for consistent events. Mr. Daibutsu, the previous manager, also accepted me, who was just starting out.

——Did you feel a comfort you didn’t feel in your hometown there, like you found where you belong?

ID: I did. But none of the friends around me were satisfied with their surrounding environment. We were all close, but it was good that there was some nervousness in the air. We were all friends who gathered at Organ Bar, but we were all aiming high.

——You’ve performed at MC battles often since then.

 ID: They allowed me to perform so that I could get my name out there to be able to play more live shows. I learned a lot and had fun, but I prefer doing freestyles with my more experienced friends that I respect.

——How do you view the current MC battle scene?

ID: I want it to proliferate more, but I’m also fine with it being the scale that it is now. I don’t know what the right answer is, but that in itself is cool because that’s hip-hop. If we no longer debated things, we wouldn’t be able to move forward. But I do think that participating in battles is meaningful because people who know me through those battles access new music through them. Since appearing in “Freestyle Dungeon”, I’ve been approached by more people on the street.

Music video of “1000ft”, released in 2019. He popularity increased drastically during this time

An album that comes to terms with the past self

——Your newly released album B1 is truly a piece that triggers musical curiosity. How do you feel about the two years of work that went into the album?

ID: It was practice. I put a lot of thought into it so that what I wanted to create could fully materialize.

——You incorporated new age hip-hop, Chicago house, drum n bass, and a multitude of different genres into your music. Each song is represented as a floor, going from underground to above ground, in a virtual club that is representative of the album. What made you choose this concept?

ID: I thought it would be a bit difficult to be consistent on a single album because the music I make incorporates various tastes. I chose this theme because it made sense for the vibe to be different if they were on different floors, and I thought that it would be satisfying to listen to if there were keywords connecting all the songs.

——The first track, B1,  is also the name of the album. The studio you produced the record in is apparently on the first basement floor. What were your thoughts behind that?

ID: I included some ambient noise in “B1”, which are all muffled like sounds you’d hear in a basement. The ambient noises I put in the last song, “1”, are more clear sounds. In other words, we’ve stepped outside at that point. When I first started out, I was doing things I didn’t want to do. I did what I had to do but was not happy about it. Back then, it felt as though I was trapped in a basement and the surrounding sounds were muffled. The two years I spent making this album was time I spent struggling to make it sound clear. I feel so much better now that it’s finished. I feel like I’ve lost the grudge I was holding, and therefore have been able to get closer to my ideal self. I also wrote the lyrics of the album so that the general audience listening to it could feel hope.

The lead single, “B1”, off the album B1

——What kind of lyrics did you aim to write?

ID: Instead of writing lyrics that are moving or have strong punch lines, I  consciously wrote lyrics that come with realizations once the meaning behind the words are understood. The messages aren’t direct; the phrases are more twisted. I never liked expressions that were too literal. But you can’t show off too much. I tried to leave a trace of human-ness in there, because it would be boring if it had no flavor. That’s why I want everyone to pay close attention to the lyrics. I’m confident they’ll be satisfied if they do.

——Do you already have an idea for your next work?

ID: The two years that went into the making of B1 consisted of a year of preparing and a year of trial and error with the songs. I was able to level up during this time, so I think my work will be a lot faster moving forward. I haven’t decided on what the content will be, but I’m thinking about presenting one thing within the year. In the future, we’re also looking at production overseas.

——I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future.

ID: Either way, the songs can’t be lame. I was taught by those with more experience in the industry that it has to be a dope sound, and I also believe that. The roots of this way of thinking I’ve inherited from my mother, as well. I want to continue to pursue a “darkness” that will convince those I respect.

Photography Kazushi Toyota

The post Rapper ID’s Thought On His Album and His Unique Freestyle Raps appeared first on TOKION - Cutting edge culture and fashion information.

In September, “Riverside Story Shibuya River Edition” was held at Kata in Ebisu, Tokyo. The project is run by singer xiangyu and designer of fashion brand Perminute, Yoshiki Hanzawa. With students from Bunka Fashion College, the pair made clothes out of trash found in the river for their fashion presentation. 

The two say making clothes out of trash found in the river isn’t primarily about environmental issues. To learn more about their purpose, we spoke to them about the process and emotions behind Riverside Story.

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xiangyu
xiangyu is a singer. She was approached by Dir.F, the director for Wednesday’s Campanella, at her own fashion presentation and began her career as an artist in 2018 with the support of Kenmochi Hidefumi, the producer of the same music group. xiangyu began developing her sound with dance music. In 2019, she made her debut with EP The First ○○ Picture Book. “Milano Sando A,” released in 2021, gained momentum and became Doutor’s official jingle. On top of her career as a singer, xiangyu works in other fields, such as starring in the film Hotobori Melt Sounds.  
Twitter：@xiangyu_fish
Instagram：@xiangyu_dayo

Yoshiki Hanzawa
Yoshiki Hanzawa is a fashion designer. He founded the womenswear brand Perminute in 2016. The brand’s concept is to create new forms of life and clothes through unique experiments and processes. Perminute made its runway debut at Amazon Fashion Week Tokyo Spring/Summer 2018. Hanzawa is also active outside of his brand. He has also curated special exhibitions at Tav Gallery and has done fashion direction for Parco’s advertisements. He was nominated for The 15th Best Debutant Award by The Men’s Fashion Unity. Currently, Perminute doesn’t follow the fashion calendar, as it comes out with new collections of its own accord.
https://perminute.net
Instagram：@_perminute_

Learning about the city and its people from trash

——One of you is a singer while the other is a designer. How did you two meet?

xiangyu: We’re from the same graduating class of Bunka Fashion College, but we only had classes together in our senior year.

Yoshiki Hanzawa (Hanzawa): We had a lot of mutual friends, but we barely talked to each other until after we graduated.

xiangyu: I knew about him before we started taking the same classes. Yoshiki was an excellent student, so he was well-known within our school for making incredible things and winning prizes.

Hanzawa: I also heard a lot about xiangyu from my peers. We didn’t hang out after school while we were students, but we started hanging out a lot once xiangyu debuted as an artist. 

——What was the catalyst for that?

Hanzawa: It was going to your first show, right?

xiangyu: Yeah. He came to my first-ever live show. There were only two people in the audience, and Yoshiki was one of them (laughs).

Hanzawa: We started hanging out because of that, and she wore my clothes in her music video. 

xiangyu: The song is called “31.” I also wear his brand’s clothes for my shows. I wear Perminute garments for special occasions, like when I made a guest appearance for Shuta Hasunuma Philharmonic Orchestra. 

xiangyu 「31」

——You two combine your work despite being in different fields. How did Riverside Story come about?

Hanzawa: We always text or call each other to talk about things we find interesting. Around February of this year, xiangyu nonchalantly told me that she was interested in the relationship between people, the city, and the trash in the river.

——Why were you interested in that?

xiangyu: The year we graduated from Bunka (Fashion College), hanami and trash were highlighted as one social issue, so I thought about making clothes from waste.

——So, you did what you now do with Riverside Story.

xiangyu: It was just for fun; I wanted to make clothes, wear them, and take photos. I went to Ueno Park and Yoyogi Park and saw that the number of people enjoying hanami was drastically different. The amount of trash differed too. The idea that different parts of the city have distinct types of people and waste stuck with me. 

I spotted a river while I was on a walk in Shibuya in February. I saw various types of trash in the river and thought I might make an exciting discovery if I looked into it, just like the difference in trash between Ueno Park and Yoyogi Park. So, I called Yoshiki without putting too much thought into it. I didn’t even think about making clothes for a fashion presentation at that point. I was just like, “Won’t it be fun?”

Hanzawa: She always reaches out to me like that (laughs). I was like, “Well, I guess we should go for a walk, then.” I didn’t know that the Shibuya River existed, so I went there out of sheer curiosity. I looked it up and discovered that the name of the river changes midway and flows to the Odaiba ocean from around Hamamatsu.

Shibuya River

——What was it like walking along the Shibuya River for the first time?

Hanzawa: The area closer to Shibuya station was cleaner than I expected, but the closer the river got to the ocean, the more piles of trash stood out. It was interesting to learn about that after I walked along the river.

But then I realized the surrounding area of Shibuya station wasn’t clean. The trash was hidden. I think we subconsciously litter in areas that are hidden when there’s no visible trash lying around. In areas close to the ocean, people overtly dump their waste. That became clear as we went out to do some field work twice or three times. 

You’ll see a lot of trash from convenience stores in Shibuya and Ebisu. The size of waste grows the closer you get to the ocean. I saw bundles of cardboard boxes, foot massage machines, bicycle wheels, and screens. 

xiangyu: You could feel a deliberate intention to throw things away once you saw how big the junk was. 

——That’s more than littering. It’s illegal dumping. 

Hanzawa: Most of the trash in Shibuya is several weeks old, but the ones near the ocean have been there for years. 

xiangyu: Big stations have sanitation workers, and cities change and are renewed, so they look clean on the surface. But all the trash is hidden. Trash stands out more in smaller towns because they aren’t as well-maintained. The state of trash changed depending on the city, even though it was the same river. 

Cleaning the river is a byproduct of the project 

——At one point did you decide to make clothes out of the trash you collected?

Hanzawa: We already had decided on doing a project out of trash to put on display, so we decided to go with making clothes since that’s a skill we have. But we didn’t know what materials we would collect and how they would function. We wanted to play with the materials and become familiar with trash, so the first thing we made was the artwork, which served as the main motif. 

The main motif of “Riverside Story Shibuya River Edition”

xiangyu: Yeah. The artwork came before the clothes, and we started to get an idea of what we wanted to make. That’s how the direction of the project was determined.

——Students from Bunka Fashion College participated in the project. How did that happen?

xiangyu: To use the trash as materials, we had to wash and dry them. At first, we did that at my office, but the trash accumulated, so we needed a bigger space. We talked to a teacher at Bunka, and they provided us with a space because they thought the project was interesting. Plus, they suggested getting students involved. In the department we graduated from, there’s a class where students collaborate on something with people outside the school. The school incorporated our project in that class. Around 20 students participated in it.

——What did the students do, specifically?

xiangyu: We washed the trash we picked up, transformed them into materials, came up with designs, and made clothes together. 

Hanzawa: xiangyu and I took charge of this project, but we didn’t work hierarchically. We all got our hands dirty and brainstormed together. 

——Each person played a part in the project.

xiangyu: Usually, you would select fabrics to actualize a design based on a theme, but we couldn’t do that with this project. We utilized the things we picked up, so we made what we could with what we had. Thinking about what kind of clothes you can make after you come up with materials is the reverse order. It was fun to develop them.

Hanzawa: At first, I thought we could only make three or four pieces, but we ended up making six looks because we had a lot of ideas. We didn’t decide on a final destination, so this fashion presentation might not be in its complete form.

A look at “Riverside Story Shibuya River Edition” 

——It was impressive how the clothes were so well-made. It was hard to tell they were made of trash. 

Hanzawa: We were being intentional about making detours during our process. At the heart of this project was changing our perspective on trash. We worked on extra steps to grow fond of the material.

You can attach plastic bottles, which could look like clothes. But once you break that apart, it’ll turn back into just junk. So, we transformed them into strings and braided them. We also broke them into pieces and put them back together. After spending a lot of time and effort, the plastic bottles became more than plastic bottles. I realized you learn things once your perspective on an object changes once you grow attached to it.

xiangyu: We tried our best to break the trash down so we could create materials that looked like something else. We felt it wasn’t the right choice for this project to ask a factory to develop recycled materials for us to use for clothes.

A look at “Riverside Story Shibuya River Edition”

——You gave value to something worthless by spending time and effort.

Hanzawa: I believe the environment becoming more beautiful due to cleaning the river is a byproduct of this project. The project is more about the importance of feeling moved once you put effort into things people don’t care to look at and change their value. It’s not like you can buy the project’s clothes or wear them daily. The most satisfying thing about this project was seeing people feel something once they witnessed how discarded trash could “return home” to the human body, so to speak.

——This project must’ve felt fresh for you two.

Hanzawa: I feel like my relationship with fashion has changed since we made clothes in a way we hadn’t done before. It was challenging not being able to complete clothes according to plan, but that was also a positive thing. It was fun to make clothes that could be analyzed from multiple angles. We could think about clothes holistically, such as how to present them rather than simply make them. 

xiangyu: My main job is as an artist, but I’m the type that has many interests. I want to do it all. This project reassured me that I could find the right balance for myself. I worked on this project while taking a break from music and vice versa. My hands were constantly moving, so I had more ideas for my music. There were many discoveries from working with the Bunka students. They created materials and stylings that I wouldn’t have thought of myself.

——-It sounds like you’re going to continue this project.

Hanzawa: We made clothes you can’t wear this time, but we want to level up and make clothes people can wear. Ideally, it’d be interesting to study people’s lives reflected in regional characteristics, like learning about which material can be found in which river. It’s like how diverse materials are produced in different parts of Japan. 

xiangyu: By taking this project elsewhere, I think we’d be able to compare different rivers to the Shibuya River. I hope we can find more like-minded people in various places, just like the Bunka students.

Photography Masahi Ura
Translation Lena Grace Suda

The post Riverside Story by xiangyu and Yoshiki Hanzawa: Making Clothes from Trash Found in the River appeared first on TOKION - Cutting edge culture and fashion information.

Read Part I

The first self-produced exhibition in five years since the solo exhibition abroad

――Your solo exhibition MAMIMOZI was held—How long has it been since the last gig?

Mami: Last March, I did UNKNOWN HARAJUKU at a gallery in Harajuku and an exhibition hosted by Shinsaibashi Parco last July, but they were both showcasing mainly my archives. This solo exhibition is self-produced, and I’m showing my new works. It’s my first independent project since the gig in Taiwan in 2017.

――Why did you do an self-produced gig in Taiwan and not in Japan?

Mami: I’ve traveled to Taiwan a couple of times, so I had a network of people who would help me and was familiar with the place. Also, I was curious to learn more about Taiwanese calligraphy. It was a lot of work as I had to look for a venue and ship out the artworks people had purchased all by myself. But it was successful, so it’s a great memory after all.

――You’ve also done an exhibition in Hong Kong, right?

Mami: Yes. In March 2019, a city called Lan Kwai Fong invited me to do an exhibition. They advertised my event massively, putting up posters and flyers of the event all over the city. I was so surprised and happy at the same time. They welcomed me warmly, and I fell in love with Hong Kong.

――Are calligraphies in Taiwan and Hong Kong different from calligraphy in Japan?

Mami: Yes, I think they are completely different from Japanese calligraphy. Personally, I think hand movements are key in Japanese calligraphy, but with Taiwanese and Hong Kong calligraphies, it’s all about moving the brush with the whole body. I want to adopt their techniques.

――Have you done exhibitions outside of Asia?

Mami: I’ve done it in Paris before. A Japanese girl who goes to a graduate school and studies art curation in Paris opened my solo exhibition as her graduation project.

――I presume Parisians aren’t so familiar with calligraphy, but how were their reactions?

Mami: Obviously, they don’t know the meanings of the characters, so I explained to them what each character meant. But the language barrier was so high that I couldn’t explain thoroughly enough for them to understand the intrinsic meanings. So with calligraphy, I get bigger responses from people in Taiwan and Hong Kong than in Europe and the US.

Self-expressing through works comprised of four core components

――In this exhibition, you’re presenting new series you’ve been working on for a while—The new KUNOICHI series, comprised of the character “女 (woman),” is so colorful and vivid.

Mami: In calligraphy, we often use a maximum of three colors: black, white, and red. But, I’m often attracted to the ones written in four colors. So I wanted to make one too and came up with the idea of making it into four colors with three different colored brushstrokes and a single-colored background. There are many Chinese characters written with three brushstrokes, like “万” in my name (万美), and the characters “山” and “口” of my homeland, Yamaguchi (山口)-prefecture. So, I thought it would be interesting to use the character “女,” which is also written with three brushstrokes but has a distinctive composition of an angled line, curved line, and a straight line. The color mixes are phenomenal, where the lines intersected at two points each. Also, I conveyed women progressing and being active in society by drawing “女” big out of the frame.

――All the last brushstrokes are in white—Is there a meaning behind this?

Mami: At public calligraphy contests, I heard that the winners aren’t chosen based on the quality of their works but selected in order or there’s money involved in the ranking. So to express my will to purge the corrupted side of the calligraphy industry, I drew the upward straight lines in white.

――Ah, I see! Now I’d like to ask you about the BLACK ON BLACK series. This one is the complete opposite of the colorful KUNOICHI series.

Mami: BLACK ON BLACK was the first series I started in 2012. Conventionally, in calligraphy, the characters are drawn in contrasting colors of black ink on white background, so it stands out when it’s hung in a room. But I feel like prominent characters in calligraphy like “夢 (Dream)” or “愛 (Love)” dominate the space too much. It’s attractive, but sometimes, despite the strongness of these words, I see them vulnerable instead. So I decided to write words in black on a black background to saturate the sentiments. Although they are in the same black, they appear differently with their textures and how the light sheds on them. I deem black to be the most colorful hue. Also, this series is made in a record size, particularly for my DJ and rapper friends.

――Your works are colorful and novel and don’t abide by the preconceived notion that “Calligraphy must be drawn with black ink.” Also, I find the idea of mirror artworks novel and intriguing.

Mami: Spending the days in the pandemic, being cooped up, I was reminded of the importance of meeting people in person. When I’m conversing with someone, the way they speak tends to rub off on me. As in the Japanese proverb, “The other person is a reflection of yourself,” the person in front of you is like a mirror reflecting you, and as an embodiment of that sentiment, I drew words on the mirror. I drew on a mirror a few years ago, but it’s my first time showing it as an artwork.

――On the contrary, there are also works presented in a traditional Kakejiku(hanging scroll) form.

Mami: Kakejiku is special to me. My works are often avant-garde, but I don’t want to be evaluated solely with that trait. Instead, I want people to know that I can express myself because I have the basics—that’s why I have the Kakejiku works as well.

――In addition to the KUNOICHI series, BLACK ON BLACK series, the mirror artwork, and Kakejiku, which are the four mainstays of this exhibition, you will also be performing live on-site every day.

Mami: That’s right. The exhibited works are chosen out of hundreds of pieces I’d drawn, but live performances are always a one-shot. I don’t want to be complacent or satisfied with the showcased works—so this daily live performance will be more of a discipline to myself. People will be seeing me draw live, so it’s a real performance, but it’s like a tryout game to me.

――Your calligraphy works are transcended into an avant-garde style, attracting attention from people unfamiliar with calligraphy and engaging them in the art. But do you ever get criticized by conservative people who heavily respect the tradition?

Mami: Sure, I’ve had it a couple of times in the past. When I was in college, a day before my twentieth birthday, I wanted to challenge something I’ve always wanted to do for my last teenage year, so I wrote calligraphy in seven different colors for my school assignment. But I got in trouble with my mentor. My mentor also reprimanded me for writing calligraphy for an event flyer. And that made me realize that you would get condemned if you are off the beaten path as it’s a strict traditional industry, but in other words, you can be creative freely if you are outside the field. So that’s when I had decided to expand the scope of my work and outlook.

――And I believe that decision comes from determining your art style and what you do.

Mami: It doesn’t mean much for me to win a prize anyway, and it’s much more fun to work wherever I want and express whatever I want; this exhibition is based around my sentiments. I’m so grateful to receive offers from various places to do exhibitions. I’ve done exhibitions many times at a large venue in Seibu, and it’s a great experience every time, so I would love to do it again. But to express my bona fide thoughts, I thought it would be more suitable to do everything on my own, so that’s why I self-produced entirely this time. I want to be sincere to myself, do what I want, and keep working independently to pursue what I like.

Mami
Mami is a Calligrapher from Yamaguchi prefecture. She started calligraphy at 9. She is influenced by Hip Hop culture and collaborates with DJs and rappers, drawing for their CD covers and live events. Today, she doesn’t limit herself to a particular genre and provides works to worldwide corporates. Her exhibitions are held mainly in Asia, but she attracts attention from all over the world.
Instagram：@mamimozi

Photography Cho Ongo
Translation Ai Kaneda

The post Calligrapher Mami’s Independence. On Writing Her Unique Calligraphy Part Ⅱ appeared first on TOKION - Cutting edge culture and fashion information.

Mami is a sought-after calligrapher receiving incessant offers from clients in Japan and abroad. She provides works to a wide variety of clients from global brands, Hip Hop artists for their CD covers, to locally-owned restaurants. However, she mentions that all her multifaceted works are rendered based on a single philosophy.

Her independent exhibition, MAMIMOZI was held at STUDIO 4N in Daikanyama. The showcased works are calligraphies transcended into familiar yet evocative art—So, what is calligraphy and art to the artist herself? We look closely at the artist, who slays with client works while working on her own projects and pursuing what she likes.

Paving my way as a calligrapher

――When did you start thinking about becoming a calligrapher?

Mami: I’ve been learning calligraphy since I was little, but I became interested in becoming a calligrapher in high school and moved to Tokyo to study calligraphy in college. I was trying to make money for my tuition and rent not just by part-time work but also with calligraphy—I got my first client work in college.

――What was your first client work?

Mami: The first client work I did was for a CD cover art of a Hip Hop artist. It was for Pinzoro (a three-piece band helmed by rapper Oni)’s album, titled P.P.P, and I wrote “ピンゾロ (Pinzoro)” in katakana.

――And how did you get the offer? Did you and Oni know each other?

Mami: No, I didn’t know Oni at all. I’m essentially a huge fan of Japanese Hip Hop and own a lot of CDs. I’d noticed that there’s an ULTRA-VYBE logo on many of the records, and so I looked up and found out that it’s a record company. Since they have so many releases, I thought I could work on some of their covers and emailed the company directly. Then, three months later, they responded to my email and commissioned me.

――How did you feel when you got the offer?

Mami: I was so surprised! I was like, “Do they mean that Oni!? Seriously!?” [Laughs]

――And that was back in 2009–What have you been up to after that?

Mami: Ever since I did the cover art, other rappers started recognizing me, and I did the cover art and event flyer for Kitsunebi and got further connected to the scene I’ve always admired.

――When you started your career as a calligrapher, did you often have to pitch yourself to get commissioned as you did with P.P.P?

Mami: Yes, back then, I went up to people and asked around if they were interested in my works. Since I began thinking of making money solely with calligraphy, I stopped being picky and worked with whatever I could. But to be honest, it always worked better when I carefully chose who to work for. I didn’t get much response when I threw emails like, “Please use my work however you like.”

――Now, you work with artists like DJ MURO and Awich, and global brands like Shu Uemura and Fujitsu—Do you change the calligraphy style depending on the client?

Mami: The zeal is always there for every work. When working on a CD cover, I listen to the rough demo first to immerse myself in its worldview. And for corporate works, I do research on the company to understand their philosophy before getting into work. It’s crucial to understand the clients. Recently, when I collaborated with the manga series Baki the Grappler for their 30th-anniversary project, Heterogeneous Creative Battle!, I drew feeling like I was the character Kaoru Hanayama. [Laughs]

――The Mickey Mouse Exhibition: THE TRUE ORIGINAL & BEYOND in 2020 was remarkable. You showcased ZEN Mickey, combining three circles in a Micky Mouse figure, and presented it as a global word. And you placed a pile of hundreds of the same calligraphy pieces below the ZEN Mickey Kakejiku (hanging scroll.) Seeing the installation made me realize you churn out many pieces, although usually, we only see one.

Mami: I only show one, but ultimately, they’re chosen out of the countless pieces I draw. I drew 220 pieces for ZEN Mickey, but that’s not a lot for me. The viewers wouldn’t know that I write so many of the same things for a single piece. Usually, people just see what’s exhibited, but there’s a laborious process behind it. So for that exhibition, I showed all the ones I wrote to represent the significant amount of time consumed to create each piece. During the production period, there were times when I was in the mood and times when I wasn’t in the mood. Depending on the day, there were days when I wrote tens of pieces in a day, but there were also days when I couldn’t write at all.

――How do you know when you are in the mood? Is there a way to rev yourself up?

Mami: There are times when I misread myself and think that I’m in the mood, but it turns out I’m not. There’s also the other way around—there are times when I’m not feeling well but force myself to work anyway and happen to do a great job. It would be best if I could justi control the conditions of the brushes at all times.

Thriving through providing works to clients in different fields

――This is going to be a basic question—How do people judge if the calligraphy is good or bad?

Mami: I think it depends on the person if they do calligraphy or not. There’s a lot you wouldn’t know if you’ve never done calligraphy. It’s too technical, like the spaces between words and the chemistry between ink and paper. But those who aren’t familiar with calligraphy tend to resonate more when they see words they know better than unfamiliar words. So, working with different industries, I struggle with the gap between the artistic judgment in the calligraphy world and the artistic judgment in other fields. It’s a challenge I grapple with even to this day.

――How do you convey the uniqueness of each character?

Mami: I’m still trying to figure it out, but there’s a distinctive style to the characters I write. I call it “my smell,” and that smell can’t be erased even if I wanted to. But, thanks to the indelibleness, people can tell that it’s my work. I used to resent that smell of mine, but now I’m happy with it.

――Do you ever think about emphasizing the smell?

Mami: Well, I don’t think it’s right just to make the smell stronger. There are works I intentionally put out my smell, but it appears ostentatious if I do it too much. A subtle smell is fine, but I don’t want it to reek.

――By the way, do you change the amount of smell you infuse in for client workyou’re your original work?

Mami: I’ve never thought about it, but now I realize that my original work becomes more straightforward after putting out my personality in client work. And there’s also the other way around—after working with specific orders from a client, I tend to go full-on with my style for my original work. Most of my clients give me the freedom to be creative, which I enjoy a lot. Sometimes, I struggle with it, but there’s never any stress.

――Not just for the major corporates, but you’ve also done signages for locally-owned restaurants.

Mami: Simply, I like eating. [Laughs] I often go out to eat at restaurants where I’ve done their signages. I only do signages for restaurants I think are delicious.

――So, like the way you only draw CD covers for your favorite artists, you only do signages for your favorite restaurants.

Mami: I’m happy to draw anytime for my favorite artists, restaurants, shops, brands, and anyone I’m proud to present.

――What influence does client work have on you?

Mami: When I get unexpected demands from clients, I think hard and contrive ways to achieve them, and that leads to expanding my potential. So, I like doing client work, and I think it’s imperative for my career.

――Ideally, how do you want to work as an artist?

Mami: I enjoy doing client work, which has become the mainstay of my artistic career, and I learn a lot from it, so I want to continue that while drawing whatever I like to be the main thing. I want to live like the rappers singing freely about their lives. I want to deepen my knowledge and hone my way of expression through client work and enhance the quality of my original works.

Continues to Part Ⅱ

Mami
Mami is a Calligrapher from Yamaguchi prefecture. She started calligraphy at 9. She is influenced by Hip Hop culture and collaborates with DJs and rappers, drawing for their CD covers and live events. Today, she doesn’t limit herself to a particular genre and provides works to worldwide corporates. Her exhibitions are held mainly in Asia, but she attracts attention from all over the world.
Instagram：@mamimozi

Photography Cho Ongo
Translation Ai Kaneda

The post Calligrapher Mami’s Independence. On Writing Her Unique Calligraphy Part I appeared first on TOKION - Cutting edge culture and fashion information.

THE PARK, an indoor BMX flatland and skateboard park produced by Uchino, opened in November of last year. It’s become the talk of the town; an indoor BMX flatland park is rare, and the park also features a skate rail that meets global standards, attracting world-class Japanese skaters.

On top of that, he signed a contract as an official rider with the New York bike company, Brooklyn Machine Works, and announced the launch of his signature frame, the MERIKEN. This achievement hints at further developments in the street sports scene to come.

TOKION asked Uchino—who keeps his feet off the ground during BMX tricks—how he kept his feet on the ground throughout his career, from his origin story to his future.

*“Flatland” is a genre of BMX competition in which riders perform tricks by spinning and balancing on flat asphalt. In contrast, “street” riders compete by riding through sections with jumps and obstacles and performing tricks.

Realizing the world’s walls are high, but not unreachable.

——Congratulations on 20 years! How do you feel looking back on it all?

Yohei Uchino (Hereinafter Yohei): Thank you. It really went by in an instant. I have a lot of memories from each era: my teens, twenties, and thirties.

——What was the biggest turning point in all of that?

Yohei: Probably 2005, when I was 22. There were a lot of big events. First, I was in the music video for “Karasu” by Shonan no Kaze. The next day, I was chosen to be in a Uniqlo commercial. I hadn’t been in the media at all until then, but I had offers back-to-back. On top of that, I won the Japanese National Championship that year.

The music video for “Karasu” by Shonan no Kaze featuringYohei Uchino

——So it was a year that really became a big turning point.

Yohei: Yeah. And that year, I also took a stab at the World Championship. I ended up placing in 8th. That’s not bad, but Japan’s BMX scene is quite advanced, so I’d thought I could make it to the top 3 in the world. I wasn’t satisfied. But even though the world’s walls were higher than I thought, I realized they were reachable. Once I understood that, I changed my riding style from front wheel tricks to back wheel tricks.

——Why did you change your style?

Yohei: I couldn’t compete with the world’s top riders at the time, like Martti Kuoppa, Viki Gómez, and Frank Lukas. I thought I could come up with more original tricks with the back wheel. And when I switched to the back wheel, I came up with all kinds of original tricks.

——That’s true. The original tricks you developed, including the “Ucchie spin,” have had a big impact on the scene. Back when you had just changed your style, how did everyone around you react?

Yohei: After changing up my style, I stopped being in competitions or shows. I was temporarily laying low from the scene. For a little under two years, I was practicing every day for about 10 hours without going out or drinking. I figured I’d devote myself to practicing to death at least once. At the time, I saw that people on the internet were talking about how I’d disappeared. But actually, I hadn’t disappeared—I was just practicing really hard.

——So, until your original tricks were finished, you were laying low without revealing anything. Would you say that was the hardest part of your twenty-year career?

Yohei: I never want to ride that much again. (laughs) I was experiencing hematuria from stress, and I couldn’t even leave my house because my body was rejecting the idea of riding BMX.

——It’s amazing that you could push yourself so stoically. And I think that was a valuable experience. So, when did you unveil the finished tricks for the first time?

Yohei: It was at the KOG [King of Ground, a nationwide BMX flatland competition] held in November 2007, two years after I’d really hunkered down. The response, including from the audience, was crazy good.

——So after that competition, you decided to try competing internationally again?

Yohei: Yeah. I brushed up the areas where I could improve, and I took a stab at VooDoo Jam, which took place in New Orleans in May 2008. In the qualifying round, I got a mediocre 10th place. And after that, I kept being dealt awful cards. In the first round, I was up against the world champion from three years prior; the second round, the 2007 world champion. And I even had to compete against the world champion at the time. But thanks to these past champions, I was able to ride my heart out and win.

——You became a world champion as you’d hoped!

Yohei: It was a major life event for me. Since then, I’ve never failed to qualify for a world championship.

——Looking back on these past twenty years, what have you learned is important?

Yohei: BMX is a solo sport, but you can’t ride alone. You have rider friends to practice with, and overseas rivals who boost your motivation. And if you’re successful, you get more work where you get to take center stage. People say it’s a burden, but I don’t think it is. It’s more rewarding to make it so more people are happy when I win. That’s the most important thing.

For all street sports, not just BMX

——Last November, the BMX flatland and skateboard park you produced, THE PARK, opened in Samukawa in the Shonan area. I heard that some of Japan’s top skaters go there.

Yohei: Thanks to them, people say that it’s the best park in Japan. In April, we installed new rails. At Sora [Shirai]’s request, we made them the same angle and height as in the Olympics.

——Sora has been involved in the design since the opening. The height of the rail that was previously installed also met international standards at Sora’s request, right?

Yohei: That’s right. We upgraded the rail to be the same height as the ones that are actually in the street. It was originally the international standard height, but in the street at the Olympic skateboarding event, it’s this height. Skaters can imagine the Olympics, and it’s practice for the real street as well.

——It’s great to be able to practice for both competitions and the street.

Yohei: I’m glad we opened because on top of the internationally competitive top skaters, we also have skaters with cool style who skate around the city coming here. There are a lot of people I’ve gotten to know here who I had known of before, but surprisingly didn’t have many chances to connect with.

——How is the BMX park?

Yohei: Riders from all over come to visit. Until the year before last, Samukawa had the only flatland park in Japan. It was a park that you could say was world-class. But last year, it was demolished because the building was aging. That was part of the reason we opened THE PARK. And we didn’t just set up a flatland park, but a skate park too. Personally, I really want to promote all street sports, like skateboarding, not just BMX.

——That’s certainly a sentiment that’s shared with the international street sports competition you organize, ARK LEAGUE. Are you often inspired by skaters as well?

Yohei: When I see skater kids try again and again, going back up those stairs to try, even if they fail and are down for a minute or so—I feel like I have to keep up, even though I get scared and hesitant. It’s a great influence on me.

On becoming part of a brand he’s admired and making a signature frame

——So, you became a rider for the New York bike brand Brooklyn Machine Works, and the release of your signature frame, MERIKEN, became big news internationally.

Yohei: It’s a brand everyone admires, so I was really happy. And a lot of the people at Brooklyn Machine Works are people who I’ve been working with for a long time, so they’re like family. Until last year, New York’s Nigel Sylvester was sponsored by the brand, but he moved on, so now I’m the only one who’s sponsored.

——How did you feel when you got the offer?

Yohei: I couldn’t believe it. It’s really hard to be sponsored by Brooklyn [Machine Works], and it’s not like they’ll reach out just because you’re the best in the world. Regarding the offer, the owner of Brooklyn [Machine Works] was at a show I did in Kyoto three years ago. We were talking and he started saying he’d make my signature frame for me. I sent him the blueprint for the frame I wanted as soon as I got back from Kyoto, but it never went anywhere. I was thinking that it had fallen through, since it was just a verbal agreement after all. But then W-BASE, Brooklyn’s Japanese agent, started making moves, and the frame production started for real last summer.

——What’s the meaning behind the name of the frame, “MERIKEN”?

Yohei: It’s named after Meriken Park in Kobe, my hometown. It’s a spot where I always used to practice when I first started riding BMX.

——So you named it after something from your roots. Was there anything you were particular about?

Yohei: This is getting into specifics, but the part that connects the pedals and cranks to the frame is called the BB [bottom bracket], and its height from the ground varies depending on the frame. The position of the BB is essential in flatland, so I was the most particular about that. It came out perfectly.

——In the future, what do you want to do as a rider for Brooklyn Machine Works?

Yohei: Brooklyn is a brand that NIGO®︎ was riding before anyone in Japan back in the 90s, and Pharrell Williams is currently a joint owner. It’s a brand that has support beyond the boundaries of the bike scene. So, I think I can become more deeply involved in the broader culture, including fashion and music. Together with Brooklyn, I want to give it my all.

——Your development this year will be harder than ever to ignore.

Yohei: This year, the big World Championship was postponed due to corona. For now, I want to ride a Brooklyn bike and leave behind some videos, and I also want to ride more on the street. Riding on the street is at the core of BMX and skating, after all. And I’d like to keep winning world championships so I can keep doing the stuff I want to do.

Yohei Uchino
Yohei Uchino was born in Hyogo Prefecture in 1982. He first encountered BMX flatland when he was in high school, and he refined his skills while competing against his classmates. At age 20, he moved to Tokyo, where he trained with Kotaro Tanaka, one of Japan’s top riders. He would go on to invent the “Ucchie Spin,” an original trick that became an international trend in the BMX flatland scene. In 2008, he won a world championship for the first time, and he is a current world champion who has won the world title 11 times. Since 2013, he has presided over the FLAT ARK World Championships in his hometown of Kobe. Currently, the ARK LEAGUE consists of BMX flatland, skateboarding, and breakdancing events, and has grown to become Japan’s leading world competition for street sports.
Instagram：@uchinoyohei

■THE PARK
Address: 1385-12 Kurami, Samukawa, Koza District, Kanagawa Prefecture
Opening hours: 12PM to 9PM
Holidays: Mondays (except holidays)
Phone: 0467-37-9860
https://www.thepark-samukawa.com/
Instagram：@thepark_samukawa

Photography Daiki Katsumata

The post BMX Rider Yohei Uchino on the past 20 years of his career and what’s next appeared first on TOKION - Cutting edge culture and fashion information.

There are actually many parts of traditional Japanese culture that attract attention from abroard, yet unfamiliar to Japanese people living in the present age. One of them is the shamisen. Many people must have heard the tone of it but not many of them have faced it squarely. Shamisen is often associated with classicality or abstrusity but Tokyo Ghetto Shamisen would dispel those images. While following the tradition, it is somewhat modern, fits naturally into everyday life, and the complex sound of the three strings moves the listener’s heart.
Where does the music of the Tokyo Ghetto Shamisen come from?

What underlies is the spirit of punk

――What kind of music were you listening to until you got into the shamisen?

Tokyo Ghetto Shamisen: When I was a teenager, my hometown Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, was home to punk, hardcore, and skins culture, and bands from all over the country stopped by there on their tour. Since I grew up there, I started going to a bar and live house that sells records and clothes when I was a junior high school student. Influenced by the spirit of the Punk: Don’t imitate others but be yourself, I became conscious of expressing what I wanted to express in in my own fashion.

――How do you connect to the shamisen from there?

Tokyo Ghetto Shamisen: I moved to Tokyo by myself at the age of 16 and came into contact with various music at live houses and clubs while playing in a band. Gradually, I became fond of the folk music from the other parts of the world and modernized versions of indigenous music, which made me realize that I had never had an opportunity to be exposed to traditional Japanese music nor musical instruments. Also, I was feeling uncomfortable with the fact that contemporary Japanese culture and music are just following Western culture. These feeling and realization, along with my previous experience in guitar made me decide to play the shamisen for the first time in 2008.

――How did you feel when you played it for the first time?

Tokyo Ghetto Shamisen: When I first learned how to hold a plectrum and how to make one note from a shamisen teacher, I was fascinated by the rich overtones and the beauty of the lingering sound. I felt that even a simple sequence of these comfortable notes would become music, so I decided to face this instrument on instinct without being bound by stereotypes. As a result, immediately after learning basic methods almost without listening to the existing shamisen songs, I started playing improvisation on the streets of Tokyo.

――There are many people who know the shamisen as an instrument, but do not know it in detail. Can you explain it briefly?

Tokyo Ghetto Shamisen: The shamisen is said to be an instrument invented based on the sanshin that was introduced to Sakai in Osaka via Ryukyu at the end of the Warring States period in the 15th and 16th centuries. It is said that the origin of it dates back to the traditional Chinese instrument Sanxian.
The roots of Japanese shamisen music are “Joruri” and “Jiuta”. It is believed that Jiuta as a shamisen music was first created by the group of visually impaired Buddhist priests /music players (lute priests) who were narrating The tale of Heike with music. They made some improvements in the existing instrument to create the shamisen and played it with plectrum originally used for the pipa.
Since the Edo period, , it has been used for folk songs as well in line with the emergence of many genres such as “Nagauta” and “Gidayu-bushi”. Triggered by the development of shamisen music, the shamisen itself has been developed variedly to be best suited to respective types of music. Currently, it is said that there are more than a dozen types, but in general, they are classified into three types according to the thickness of the neck: “small neck”, “middle neck”, and “thick neck”. I’m using the shamisen with thick neck.

Music started on the street and was nurtured in the blessings of nature

――Where have you been playing the shamisen until now?

Tokyo Ghetto Shamisen: When I first started, what I was looking for in music was the liberation of the soul, the sound of nowness rooted in the times and climate. I expressed it through my own performances at the places where I was hanging around at the time: on the streets of Tokyo, at clubs, live houses, and bars. Thanks to the various people I met there, I started to get opportunities to play on domestic and international stages such as dedication performances at shrines and temples, local festivals and music festivals.

――So it all started from the street where you were playing, right?

Tokyo Ghetto Shamisen: That’s right. Playing on the street is my starting point and a place for learning, so I continue to do it as a life work even now. Normally, people compose their own work after learning the classics well, but as I mentioned earlier, my case was the other way around. In order to make my sound fit into the hustle and bustle of Tokyo where I was living at that time, I developed my own style and song while intuitively playing the sounds in improvisational performances and sessions from the beginning. After establishing the world of sounds that I want to express and the standards of my favorite tones, I started to learn from traditional shamisen music.

――How did you learn traditional shamisen music?

Tokyo Ghetto Shamisen: In 2013, I studied under Eizan Takahashi, the leading disciple of The first Chikuzan Takahashi, a recognized authority in the Tsugaru shamisen, and learned the Takeyama style Tsugaru shamisen. Since then, I have been learning the classical shamisen music from teachers with many different specialty such as local folksong, Shinai, Nagauta. Among them, there are many playing styles, rhythms, intervals that modern Japanese cannot think of. When you touch the performances of past masters and classical songs, you will feel the soul and way of life of your predecessors, the breath of the times and the climate, as well as the universal beauty. I think that learning and communicating it is the act of nurturing the life of the art that continues to live beyond the life of one person, and connecting the soul’s sash to the future. By learning face-to-face with masters, I often learn from their humanity apart from their music, and I feel that performing arts deeply color life and everyday life of someone.

――You have moved your base to Kyoto, right?

Tokyo Ghetto Shamisen: It’s been about 9 years since I moved to Kyoto. Even before that, I liked to compose in the nature of places I went for a tour, and I was also interested in farming and self-sufficiency apart from music activities. So I was experiencing farming in the fields of my friends living close to Tokyo. Eventually, I started to envisioned a lifestyle in which I engage with creative activity and a self-sufficient life while living close to nature, and go to various parts of the country if I had the opportunity to perform.

――Why did you choose Kyoto?

Tokyo Ghetto Shamisen: In Kyoto, the city is located close to nature, and there are many places and opportunities to learn traditional culture. Besides, the natural and healthy food culture is firmly imbedded in their lifestyle, and the authentic music culture is still alive. In 2012, I moved to the foot of Mt. Hiei because I was drawn to the fact that these wonderful cultures coexist in festivals, parties, and everyday life to form a unique cultural sphere. Furthermore, at the end of last year, I moved to a small village in the mountains about two hours away from the city, and I am enjoying a life in the countryside more than ever.

――How is your life in the countryside?

Tokyo Ghetto Shamisen: My place is located in a quiet environment surrounded by mountains, rivers and fields with clean air and water. It is a perfect environment for sitting down to practice and create something. There is no place to shop in my neighborhood, but I don’t feel any inconvenience because now we have an internet and sometimes I travel 20 to 30 minutes to go for shopping. Observing the subtle changes in nature that are difficult to feel when living in the city, I spend each day creating, farming.

――Are there any changes after you started to work on composition in nature on a daily-basis?

Tokyo Ghetto Shamisen: Nature has an overwhelming amount of information, so I feel that there is already music made up of only the sounds of nature even without human intervention. When composing in nature, I often hit the note with the feeling of gently adding sounds so as not to disturb them, and complete the music with the silence and environmental sounds that appear in the meantime. In the environment I’m living now, I am more than ever able to find beauty in silence, lingering sound, the ephemeral moment when the sound is disappearing, and the moment in between.

I’ve heard that unlike the most of populations in the world, Japanese tend to use the left hemisphere (language brain) to perceive natural sounds such as sounds of insects, sounds of wave, sounds of wind, sounds of rain and the sounds of a rushing creek as a word emitted from nature, instead of just recognizing them as noise. Since the shamisen is an instrument made in the Japanese climate and architectural environment based on such a sensibility, I feel that the sound of it is compatible with traditional buildings and residences. I also like the echo of the house I live in, so I sometimes invite my neighbors to hold concerts.・ CAP

――The album released last year for the first time in about 7 years contains 22 songs in a 2-disc set. The year and place of production are also listed for each song. There are also songs made in Vietnam.

Tokyo Ghetto Shamisen: In recent years, there have been more opportunities to perform in East and Southeast Asian countries such as China, South Korea, and Thailand, and I have been learning from interaction with local traditional musicians. In the dry season of Vietnam, the shamisen sounded very well and the live performance got a favorable reception from the audiences. The song “Renka” was made in my room at the hotel in Da Nang through a session with the erhu-like sound heard from the next room.

――It’s wonderful to have a session with the person in the next room. The album jacket was shot by Shinsaku Arakawa, who is worked on interdisciplinary art project “kawa / river”, and I was also interested in the artwork inside by Toshikazu Nosaka and Usugrow.

Tokyo Ghetto Shamisen: I’ve known Nosaka since he spoke to me on the street when I started playing the shamisen, and he has written logos for me and done live paintings alongside of my performance. In terms of Usugrow, we’ve known each other since a live painting performance event we did together, I have also done performances at the site where he worked on mural paintings and at his solo exhibitions in Taiwan.
I met Shinsaku on the streets of Kyoto. I have played the shamisen at his projects and events to commemorate the publication of “kawa/ river”. I was often inspired by the interactions and the works with them, and we are all close friends as well. For my album, I asked them for help because I wanted to give a concrete shape to this great connection. By the way, the title “Tokyo Ghetto Shamisen” is now written by my late grandfather.

Expressing emotions is one of the desires

――The connections started from your point of origin: the street and the shamisen. So, is there anything you would like to challenge in the future?

Tokyo Ghetto Shamisen: Since long ago, when I got an image of sound in my mind, I also got an image of video footages along with it in my mind, but I have never had a chance to create a video work that embodies it, so I would like to challenge video production. And the biggest challenge would be to continue to improve my performance and composition throughout my life and continue to produce my own masterpiece.

――Oh, I will look forward to it. Finally, what kind of music do you want to make in the future?

Tokyo Ghetto Shamisen: For me, act of composing sounds has been to expressing through the shamisen sound the nature and flow of life energy (chi) felt at the moment when something overflows from me, such as when impressed or awed by the beauty of nature, or when moved by the subtleties of someone’s emotion. I don’t think that will change in the future, but in addition to those that are connected to my own experience and reality, I also want to make a more abstract or fantastical music that stirs my imagination and makes my soul tremble.
For me, creating and playing sounds is an instinctive desire and pleasure, so I would like to continue to face music more delicately and purely, and pursue universal beauty through it.
When I genuinely want to play a sound and share it with someone else, I feel like I am praying for the peace of mind of everyone. I believe the music starts with the tuning of yourself and the instrument, and it leads to the tuning of the listener’s soul and space. So I will continue to devote myself to the music that will heal, save, and feeds someone’s mind, even for one person or a moment.

Tokyo Ghetto Shamisen
In 2008, he started his musical career in Tokyo, aiming for indigenous music rooted in the Japanese culture and climate. In 2012, he relocated his base to Kyoto, and made the life of facing the soil and feeling the subtleties of nature through self-sufficiency farming as the basis of his creative activities. He has performed extensively on various stages in Japan and overseas, including shrines and temples, on the streets, in nature. Through these artistic practices and collaboration with various musicians and artists, he is working on unique shamisen music that lives in the present age.
http://tokyo-ghetto-shamisen.com
Instagram: @tokyo_ghetto_shamisen
Twitter: @AtsushiSakata
Bandcamp: https://tokyo-ghetto-shamisen.bandcamp.com/

Photography Yuji Sato
Translation Shinichiro Sato

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People know Ukiyo-e for influencing both western and eastern artists. Today, it’s been established as one genre of art, but initially, it was something with close ties to everyday people. As the word ukiyo-e (浮世) suggests, many of the paintings depict the daily lives of their time. NAGA is an illustrator who makes contemporary art through his interpretation of ukiyo-e, which represents Japan. His illustrations are set in the Edo era, but the people ride skateboards and track bikes, just like in modern times. His work is ukiyo-e which transcends time. We spoke with NAGA, who has updated the artform by interweaving time and culture.

Getting into ukiyo-e while pursuing to become a manga artist

——When and why did you start drawing pictures based on ukiyo-e?

NAGA: 13 years ago, when I was 25 years old. The impetus was when I started working part-time and living at a public bathhouse ran by an older acquaintance’s family; they didn’t have enough hands. That public bathhouse would use underground water in Tokyo, and it was delicious to drink too. They said they wanted to make an advertisement to sell that underground water as drinking water. They asked me to draw an Edo-themed, Tokyo-like design in the style of ukiyo-e since I was good at drawing. I knew about ukiyo-e, but I wasn’t that well-informed about it. I went to a library to read and research books on ukiyo-e to replicate them. [The family] was so happy with it. It was fun for me to draw ukiyo-e too. I’ve been drawing in that style ever since.

——Were you working as an illustrator until you started working at a public bathhouse part-time?

NAGA: I was trying to become a manga artist back then. I used to go to a vocational school for illustrations and manga. I’ve liked drawing from long ago.

——Interesting. What impression did you get when you studied ukiyo-e pictures?

NAGA: I felt like it was the same as manga. Unlike oil paintings and watercolor paintings, you draw the outlining lines first and then apply color afterward. It was easy to get the hang of it.

——I see. Ukiyo-e felt right for you because you could get the hang of it. Do you think ukiyo-e is fresh?

NAGA: I found out about this as I looked into ukiyo-e, but there was strict censorship regarding publications during the Edo period. But some of the art evaded that censorship and snuck in hidden messages. For instance, you could find another meaning by connecting the people and the background. Some have hidden messages written into the small drawings around the title. I thought that sort of discreet mechanism was interesting, so I also include hidden expressions only those in the know could figure out.

——What sort of hidden messages?

NAGA: For instance, a kimono print worn by one skater is the same as a skate brand—that sort of thing (laughs). But it’s usually hard to discern it, so I think even among skate enthusiasts, only those who notice could react.

“What if the Edo period continued until the present day?”

——There are some points only skaters could find out. Have you always liked street culture like skateboarding?

NAGA: Yes. I used to love American culture. When I came across ukiyo-e, I wanted to dig deeper, so I mixed the culture I like and ukiyo-e. For me, it was street culture, like skateboarding.

——What other cultures influence you?

NAGA: Aside from skating and biking, I also like graffiti and hip hop. I reflect things I like—things that surround me.

——Your work is so unique because of how the pedestrians are on their skateboards or track bikes. Is there anything you’re careful about when you mix everyday life from the Edo period with foreign cultures?

NAGA: I sample many famous ukiyo-e pieces usually, and I try not to change the original painting as much as possible. If I change it too much, then the ukiyo-e, the foundation, would become confusing.

——You want people to take notice of your replications instead of obscuring them.

NAGA: Yes. Also, I pursue the theme, “What if the Edo period continued until the present day?” throughout my work. I don’t change the landscapes and outfits to make them more modern, but I implement advanced, foreign things. And I picture and make everyone wear chonmage and kimonos.

——What a unique perspective! What sort of response do you receive from those unfamiliar with ukiyo-e?

NAGA: They genuinely enjoy it. Even if they’re not familiar with ukiyo-e, those who like cultures like skating and music react [positively].

——Your art is like the contemporary version of ukiyo-e. What are your thoughts on traditional Japanese culture?

NAGA: I love it. But if it remains old, then it would be hard for people to understand. That’s why I update it in a modern manner. Ukiyo-e originally depicted [how people lived] back then, so I want to draw paintings that match the current zeitgeist.

Wanting to create ukiyo-e using traditional woodblock print someday

——Is there anything you want to try in the future?

NAGA: I want to incorporate my work into utensils people use daily, like plates and cups.

——Something like practical art.

NAGA: Yes. And I eventually want to make ukiyo-e using a traditional process. The type of ukiyo-e people usually see is made of a woodblock print. But it costs a lot to ask carvers and woodblock printers to do it. I thought about using woodblock print before, and when I asked a carver, he told me that my work was too detailed and that I had to make the lines thicker. He said there were some parts I had to omit too. If I were to make my work using woodblock print, it seems like it might cost too much. It makes you realize that ukiyo-e from the Edo period was a luxurious thing.

——I learned a lot, and I’m looking forward to your woodblock print. Lastly, you’re holding a solo exhibition soon.

NAGA: Yes, it’s my first one in two years. It’s going to be held in two places; at a boutique shop called Tsugiki in Nezu, which has been kind to me from before, and Hedge8, a hamburger shop across the shop. I’ve drawn many new paintings for my Suke~to Hyakkei series, which I’ve been drawing for a while. I’ve also drawn cats as a part of my new animal series. It was postponed because of the state of the emergency announcement, but it seems like I can finally host it. I would love it if people came.

NAGA
Born in Ibaraki prefecture, currently living in Tokyo. NAGA creates artwork that mixes street culture, which he respects and ukiyo-e. His original style is gaining attention, as seen in his collaborations with fashion brands and commissions for advertising firms.
Instagram：@naga0708

■Tsugiki and NAGA
Date: June 1st (Tuesday) to June 20th (Saturday)
Venue: Tsugiki / Hedge8
Address: Nezu, Bunkyoku, Tokyo-to 1-23-14 (Tsugiki) / Nezu, Bunkyoku, Tokyo-to 1-22-12 (Hedge8)
Time: 12pm to 7pm
Holidays: Wednesday
TEL: 03-5834-2871 (Hedge8)
Instagram：@tsugiki_tokyo（Tsugiki)
*Note that the opening hours might change because of the state of the emergency announcement. Please check Tsugiki’s Instagram for details.

Photography Yuji Sato
Translation Shinichiro Sato

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What brought HOLE AND HOLLAND together? The three core members talk to TOKION about the origins of their formation as well as their individual work. They also tell us their thoughts on the label’s flagship store, OFFF, which opened in Shibuya at the end of last year.

It all began with a house that became a hangout spot; friends who were brought together by music and skateboarding

――First, could you tell me about how HOLE AND HOLLAND (Hereinafter “HOLLAND”) was formed? Are you two brothers?

NAIJEL GRAPH(Hereinafter NAIJEL): Yeah. I’m the oldest brother, and Mamazu is the third oldest brother. The second oldest brother, STONE’D, who makes beats and films, is also a member.

Mamazu: The friends who used to hang out at our house in high school are HOLLAND. That’s how HOLLAND started.

YO.AN: Those two [NAIJEL GRAPH and Mamazu] lived in Nerima, and I lived in Setagaya. But we liked the same things, like skateboarding and music, so we hung out all the time. NAIJEL GRAPH was a super cool older brother, wasn’t he? He drew pictures, DJed, and had a lot of records. The house was like a toy box, and the music was bumping. (laughs)

NAIJEL: It was like, is this a club? (laughs)

YO.AN: Actually, I did think it was a club. (laughs) Even during the day on a weekend, it was super loud——to the point that I’d be the one who was concerned, like, “Is this okay?” But it was really fun because there weren’t many environments like that, and listening to music loudly sounds totally different. The DJ and producer FUSHIMING and the artist EDO KANPACHI, who drew the HOLLAND logo, also lived in the neighborhood. They were friends we grew up hanging out with. After that, we started making music. Everyone loved the act of creating something, so once our sound was coming together, we started talking about how it’d be a good idea to do it ourselves. So, we started working as a label.

――How many members are there?

YO.AN: There are seven original members. In addition to us three, there’s STONE’D, Haruka Katagata, FUSHIMING, and EDO KANPACHI.

――What does the name HOLE AND HOLLAND mean?

Mamazu: EDO KANPACHI, who writes songs and draws, had written it in his notebook: HOLE AND HOLLAND.

NAIJEL: It was sort of a doodle, but it was cool because it looked like a logo. So we just started using it from there.

――What were you all doing when you formed the label?

Mamazu: We were partying with our friends, but at the same time, when I was about 22, we released the compilation album “RIDE MUSIC” through HOLLAND for the first time. We released it as a 12” record too. We turned it into a single and included a remix.

――I saw that 5lack was part of that compilation.

YO.AN: I used to work for a skate brand agency with Kacchan [Katsumi Minami of Evisen Skateboards]. He introduced me to 5lack back then. It was right around the time we were making our first compilation, so we were also reaching out to people who weren’t part of HOLLAND. When I talked to 5lack, he agreed to join.

――The group has a strong connection to skaters, like Haruka Katagata, one of HOLLAND’s members.

YO.AN: Haruka is from my hometown, and we lived in the same neighborhood.

NAIJEL: He was already really good at skateboarding from the time we met him, wasn’t he?

YO.AN: When we met him, he was still in elementary school, but he was basically sponsored from head to toe. I think he was the coolest guy in Tokyo. He would come to HOLLAND’s parties all the time, and eventually, he started DJing. He just naturally became a member from there.

With art and music as their weapons, HOLLAND
bands together and works all over the world

――Could you guys tell me about what you’ve been up to recently?

Mamazu: Basically, we all do our own thing, so we get our own bookings. I think DJing is sort of an extension of all of us working as artists.

YO.AN: HOLLAND is like a platform that we can release things through at any time. Sometimes, we get asked to perform as a crew. STONE’D makes sound systems, so if the event is on the scale of a reception party, there are times when we bring the sound system in and all perform.

――Has the coronavirus affected your DJ work?

Mamazu: Yeah, it has. We suddenly started doing more live streams.

YO.AN: Some live streams based overseas, like in London, reached out to us, so we joined in online.

Mamazu: Right. At first, we didn’t see the advantage of live streaming, so we were a bit torn, but then we realized there are some positive aspects. We take DJing really seriously.

YO.AN: Usually, I select songs based on the audience in front of me. But with a live stream, there’s a large, unspecified number of people in the audience, and you don’t know what’s happening on the other side of the screen. So, if I think about it, ultimately, the only option is to trust in the quality of the music. I try to play things that would sound like a good mix CD if you closed your eyes.

――NAIJEL, have you taken part in any online group exhibitions?

NAIJEL: Not really. Fortunately, I was able to hold the art exhibition I’d planned just in time.

――The members of HOLLAND have DJed at the reception parties for NAIJEL’s art exhibitions, right?

YO.AN: Yeah. We even go overseas together.

――Where have you gone before, for example?

YO.AN: In 2020, we went to Hong Kong. In 2019, there was a three-way collaboration project between BEAMS T and NAIJEL at a select shop called Goodhood in London. Mamazu and I DJed there too.

――While you were in the UK, you performed on NTS Radio, right? Did you get a good response abroad?

Mamazu: Yeah. In the UK, it’s a famous radio station that people are quite familiar with, so there was a good response. At the time, there weren’t many Japanese people appearing on overseas internet radio stations, either.

――You [NAIJEL] sold apparel as part of a three-way collaboration with Goodhood and BEAMS T. I think the HOLLAND T-shirt that was the basis for that was a really great idea. It had a round pocket the size of a CD, and in that pocket was a mix CD.

NAIJEL: There’ve been a lot of brands who thought it was interesting and reached out about a collaboration.

Apparel with a music concept is
part of the expanding HOLLAND universe

――HOLLAND has also been proactively developing apparel.

NAIJEL: That’s true, but the music comes before the apparel.

YO.AN: We use something music-related as the base, and create an intricate idea. For each item, I try to attach a CD, cassette tape with music that you can only hear with that item. I wanted to make clothes with added value.

YO.AN: We make clothes because we want to introduce people who like fashion to our music and new music. We hope HOLLAND apparel can be an opportunity to connect with people from different fields.

Mamazu: We want to keep making things that we want to wear and use.

――In December of last year, HOLLAND opened the OFFF shop. Before it opened, NAIJEL said that he wanted to make it a store that felt like hanging out at a friend’s house. Hearing your stories today, it feels like you’re recreating the atmosphere from back when the HOLLAND members would hang out at NAIJEL and Mamazu’s house.

NAIJEL: Yeah. That might be close to how we feel. We want people to stop by the shop as if they’re visiting a friend’s house. There’s a coffee shop nearby that our friend runs, Coffee Supreme Tokyo, so I’d like people to buy coffee there, and then come relax while drinking a coffee.

Mamazu: We even have a bed right in the middle of the store. (laughs) We want people to feel at home. That’s why it’s called OFFF.

――Does the store have any other concepts?

YO.AN: It’s a space where people can come hang out and relax——where they can buy HOLLAND merchandise whenever, and buy music and art. We’d also like it to function as a rental space where people can hold exhibitions or solo shows.

NAIJEL: I’m planning all kinds of projects as part of HOLLAND, but I also plan to have a proper exhibition as NAIJEL GRAPH at OFFF.

――I noticed that there’s a women’s vintage shop, Griffith Vintage, attached to the store.

YO.AN: The store is run by two women, one of them being my wife. They started a women’s vintage shop around the same time, so we opened a shared shop space.

NAIJEL: It feels more like home if we have men’s and women’s [clothing], and even couples who stop by can enjoy themselves.

――So, what does HOLLAND plan to do this year?

YO.AN: If we’re talking about releases that are already set in stone, there’s a 12” by SUNGA, which includes the song used in the recent Evisen video, “WORKING HOLIDAY,” and a 12” by an up-and-coming-artist from Nagoya, TAIHEI. Both of them are perfect for playing at parties. Also, FRAN-KEY’s disco edit will be released on cassette. Of course, we’re also working on a bunch of clothing and merch.

――What’s next for the shop?

Mamazu: I’d like to sell more stuff that’s influenced us.

NAIJEL: Also, it’d be nice to sell limited-edition collaborations and carry our friends’ brands.

YO.AN: We’re also thinking about making YouTube videos at the store.

NAIJEL: In a really laidback way. We might even do it in our sleep. (laughs)

Mamazu: Since we have the space to do it, I’d like to do interesting things like that.

YO.AN: Also, we plan to have a pop-up in Tokyo around the summer of this year. I can really only say that as a loose plan because we’re living in unpredictable times. We’re currently making various items for that.

NAIJEL: I think it’d be great if we could have a pop-up that captures the spirit of OFFF. I’m also working on some really cool collaborations, so stay tuned.

NAIJEL GRAPH
NAIJEL GRAPH is an artist who has worked on magazine covers and advertisements. In 2018, he made a splash through an official collaboration with the Beastie Boys. He’s attracted attention both in Japan and abroad through projects such as his exhibitions created in collaboration with Adidas and Sony. In 2017, he created the picture book “Nandemo Tashizan” (Oakla Publishing) based on the concept of adding unexpected things together. This book won the Japan Book Publishers Association Award (Children’s Book and Picture Book Division) at the 52nd Japan Book Design Awards.
Instagram：@naijelgraph

Mamazu
Mamazu began his DJ career in the mid ‘90s. To date, he’s performed at well-known venues/events, including Fuji Rock Festival, Boiler Room, and Hong Kong’s Cassio. He’s released music and remixes through labels not only in Japan but also in several other countries. His highly-acclaimed music has been played all over the world.
Instagram：@mamazu

YO.AN
YO.AN is a DJ/Producer who has made music for domestic skate brands such as Evisen Skateboards and Tightbooth, as well as global brands such as Levi’s and The North Face. He’s performed on the Boiler Room, as well as in London, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. Numerous DJs have played his released works and DJ edits.
Instagram：@_yo.an_

HOLE AND HOLLAND
https://hole-and-holland.com/
Instagram：@holeandholland

Photography Shinpo Kimura
Translation Aya Apton

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