Japan Archives - ZO Magazine https://zomagazine.com/category/zzc/japan/ Sat, 04 Jun 2022 19:58:29 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.1.3 https://i0.wp.com/zomagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Separator-circle-w.jpg?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Japan Archives - ZO Magazine https://zomagazine.com/category/zzc/japan/ 32 32 65979187 VivaOla: Rhythm & Blues Amidst the Rising Sun https://zomagazine.com/vivaola-interview/ Mon, 05 Oct 2020 16:19:20 +0000 http://zomagazine.com/?p=16530 The post VivaOla: Rhythm & Blues Amidst the Rising Sun appeared first on ZO Magazine.

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Music has always been something that has been able to bring joy on a universal level, but it’s no secret that some genres are based heavily in one place and scare elsewhere. Take R&B for example, a genre many in America recognize in an instant thanks to acts like older artists like Boyz II Men and newcomers such as SZA. In Japan though, we wondered what the R&B scene was like since we came to know VivaOla. Born and now based in Japan, we opened with the R&B scene in Japan and throughout talked remote work, art collectives, and more.

Kendra: From fashion to tech, Tokyo has proven to be next-level in so many ways. How does the R&B scene compare to the other scenes out there right now?

VivaOla: I feel that R&B music is definitely not part of the mainstream music in Japan. And I hate to admit this, but there is so much J-Pop music that’s being marketed as “R&B” music. But that’s not to say that there is no R&B scene in Japan at all. I’ve discovered and met R&B artists that I feel are musically competent even across the globe. The scene itself is there, it’s just not discovered and accepted by the public yet.

Kendra: Like every genre, R&B has gone through some noticeable evolutions; from the soul of the ‘80s to the mainstream powerhouses of the ‘90s to the more alternative approaches thanks to the likes of SZA and The Weeknd. Where do you feel you fit into the mix and where do you see R&B heading next?

VivaOla: I don’t want to limit myself to a single sound of R&B music. I love all styles of R&B music and was influenced by them. In my last mini-album ‘STRANDED,’ I was going for that perfect balance of Japanese and English (lyrically) and was trying to experiment blending different musical genres with R&B such as reggaetón, new jack swing, boom bap, trap, and even synth-pop. But of all the styles, I’m personally liking the sound of R&B/Hip-Hop these days, and I can see R&B sound heading towards somewhere around there.

Kendra: You dropped an EP last year and in June 2020 came ‘Stranded.’ With them, only a year apart in terms of release, were there any songs that didn’t make it onto the EP that got reworked and flushed out a bit more, and landed on the LP?

VivaOla: None actually. The EP and the LP were completely different in terms of their making processes. The main difference between the EP and the LP is my mindset as an artist. In the EP, I had a mindset of a producer, whereas in the LP I had a mindset of a singer. However, going back to the original question, there are some songs I released that are a work of a few other songs which didn’t make it into a cut. For example, “Tokyo Syndrome’s” verse and chorus were two different choruses from different songs, and when I mashed them up in a single song I felt that they sounded better than before. All I had to make sure was the lyrics had to be written again just so they are coherent.

Kendra: There is an art collective, Solgasa, that you’re a part of. Can you explain what being a member of that does for your creativity?

VivaOla: While I always look out for other artists for my inspiration, Solgasa members are my buddies and rivals at the same time. There are so many things I could learn from other members in that collective, and I truly feel blessed to be part of it. Also, collaborations are another thing that makes this collective thing special. It makes it easy to link up and make songs together, help each other out on their tracks, and so on.

Kendra: That’s how you linked up with Tommi Crane for “The Artist,” right? When you worked on that track you two utilized the very 2020-way of working with you being in Korea at the time and Tommi in Japan. When you two did that, did you realize that working from a distance would become such the norm it is today?

VivaOla: Yes. Honestly working like that wasn’t the first time for me at all. When I worked on “Tokyo Syndrome” with Wez, that was me in Boston and him back in Japan working on the same song. Also when I worked on his song “Overthink,” I made the whole track in Boston, sent it to him, then he recorded his vocals, sent those back, then my friend and a producer, Nonomi mixed and mastered the song. So I would say the 2020-way of remotely working on a song is becoming a norm already and if not, it’s a matter of time.

Kendra: With all that has transpired this year, how do you feel 2020 has shaped your creativity and drive moving forward?

VivaOla: This may sound a little sad, but 2020 didn’t change my career at all since I stay at home most of the time working on music anyways. But with all the quarantine that we’ve all been through, I can say that it changed my life and how I perceive things in life. So many things, relationships, and efforts that I thought were important turned out to be the opposite after all, and I was able to open my eyes to other things that were important for me and my mental health (I’m still working on it day by day). These realizations and relearning of myself was a big part of 2020 for me.

Kendra: Usually, this is where I ask people what they have planned in the coming months but with the world in a strange place right now, plans aren’t as concrete as they typically are. You can go ahead and let us know what you have tentatively planned but can you also share a song that never fails to get you through when the world around you feels like a mess?

VivaOla: There are usually two ways to go about whenever I’m feeling like a mess. One is to listen to some rock songs to get through and the other is to listen to “Get You” by Daniel Caesar on repeat. I’ve been preparing a lot of stuff since June, and I’m happy that I’ll be able to announce those very soon so please be sure to check my Instagram for more information in the future.

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]]> 16530 Takashi Murakami: Renaming the “Warhol of Japan” https://zomagazine.com/tss-takashi-murakami/ Sat, 10 Aug 2019 00:54:47 +0000 http://zomagazine.com/?p=6756 The post Takashi Murakami: Renaming the “Warhol of Japan” appeared first on ZO Magazine.

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August | DESIGN ABSTRACTION

Takashi Murakami: Renaming the “Warhol of Japan”

By Tricia Stewart Shiu

“Sol Poniente” — Dugo

“We want to see the newest things. That is because we want to see the future, even if only momentarily. It is the moment in which, even if we don’t completely understand what we have glimpsed, we are nonetheless touched by it. This is what we have come to call art.” – Takashi Murakami

Takashi Murakami and Pom, his dog – Tokyo. Photo: Fumino Osada

No one likes to be pigeonholed—espe­cially an a­rtist. Yet, it is in our very nature, as humans, to categorize and find similar qualities, for any number of purposes. Many of us are merely trying retain memories or compare and contrast qualities, so we may deepen our understanding of what we observe. Sometimes, our categorization is cultural and other times it is conceptual—such as in the case in delineating art and its creator.

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Ironically, Takashi Murakami, who, for decades defied categorization, has now reached a level of familiarity, once only reserved for iconoclast, Andy Warhol. In fact, he has been called the, “Warhol of Japan.” Murakami, however, has a different perspective on his status: “Rather than a big figure, I guess you could say, I’m more of an influential minority symbol.”

Murakami—born in 1962—has amassed a multi-dimensional, cross-generational, experiential oeuvre that, somehow, manages to bridge the unspeakable events of Hiroshima with life, as it is today. Viewing his art is, at once, a sparkling display of hope, as well as, an abysmal pit of despair rolled into one. His artistic expression is, unapologetically open about the atrocities that happened to his ancestors and yet, somehow, manages to grab hold of unwavering hope and creates a broader understanding.

“My aesthetic sense was formed at a young age by what surrounded me: the narrow residential spaces of Japan and the mental escapes from those spaces that took the forms of manga and anime.”—Takashi Murakami

According to ArtSpace, “Murakami is truly the heir to Warhol in his ability to appropriate commercial, popular images inspired by anime and manga (Japanese comics) into high-quality pieces of fine art.”

Murakami’s commitment to the expression of artistic presence and timelessness, has been fertile ground for theoretical constructs and social commentary. He even created his own term, Superflat, in which he theorizes, “that the difference in social taste and popular taste have ‘flattened,’ producing a culture with a distinction of high and low.” His continued authentic expression of heart-wrenching grief and fury, interwoven with a global view, contributes to his worldwide demographic-defying draw. Murakami utilizes subcultural and every day elements and translates them into a “high-art” market. He then repackages this “high-art” as affordably priced merchandise. Because of his commercial appeal, his works have been translated onto various other media, ranging from keychains and mugs,” says ArtSpace,“ to a collaboration with French couture powerhouse, Louis Vuitton, which began in 2002.”

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Murakami addresses public concern that, perhaps, those who catch a glimpse of his art may not “get it“ when he says: “even if we don’t completely understand what we have glimpsed, we are nonetheless touched by it.” The beauty, transformative and all-inclusive nature of his art is not in the understanding, but the experience. Perhaps even, the understanding may occur long after someone has visited one of Murakami’s exhibits.

So, the pressure is off of anyone who wishes to explore Murakami’s work. Fair warning: whether immediately or sometime in the future, they will be “touched.“

There is something utterly refreshing about an artist who doesn’t expect you to understand.

By minimizing his own label and calling himself an “influential minority symbol” Murakami calls upon his ancestors who, for centuries painstakingly mastered their craft and passed their learning down from generation to generation. With any hope, the loosening of expectations, however briefly, could potentially bring an end to that heartbreaking, grief-ridden, holistically injured chapter in our world. The beauty is deafening, the echo of souls blinding and the palpable sense of “knowing” sits like a welcoming, just poured a cup of green tea in a china cup.

Take care when you drink, however it may be hot.

“I would like to live to 120, because conceptually, people can survive to 120. Every 20 years, it changes. So maybe, in the next 20 years people can go to space. I don’t know what the next revolution will be. I want to watch.” —Takashi Murakami

“Under the Radiation Falls” – Takashi Murakami in Russia

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]]> 6756 The Electronics of Japan’s Dugo https://zomagazine.com/dugo-interview/ Fri, 22 Mar 2019 07:06:57 +0000 http://zomagazine.com/?p=1912 Come the new year Takahiro Izutani, aka Dugo, was preparing for the release of his latest album, Lingua Franca. With […]

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Come the new year Takahiro Izutani, aka Dugo, was preparing for the release of his latest album, Lingua Franca. With the end of January came the drop and with it, an album chalked full of nine tracks that further cultivate his life’s work. Electronic music that falls well on the ears of video game fanatics who not only appreciate their games’ graphics and the play, but also the soundtracks as well. We talked to Dugo about the album, Western culture overseas and much more!

Kendra: Is the electronic scene in Japan heavily influenced by Western culture?

Dugo: Not really, in my opinion. The whole Japanese music industry has become not too strongly influenced by Western culture through the past 20 years. The Japanese people aren’t interested in the music or movies from Western countries so much right now. It is obvious in young generations, especially. The Japanese electronic music scene is also in the same situation. Some of the quite influential electronic musicians in Japan are closely connected to the idol pop scene, establishing their status as an idol pop producer. On the other hand, there are other musicians who try to get into the video game industry (like me). If you want to succeed and make a living only with musical activity in Japan, you must be involved in idol pop, video game, or anime culture in some form to some degree. Pure electronic music is struggling to survive only in a very underground scene in Japan sadly. But some challenging artists are trying to penetrate the Western electronic music scene.

“Boat on The River”

Kendra: When Lingua Franca was all said and done, how did you feel as an artist when listening back? Were you 100% satisfied, or are you the type of artist who always feels there is something to tweak?

Dugo: I’m quite satisfied with the quality of Lingua Franca at the moment. But of course, there are a few things that I want to tweak a little even now. Nowadays, musicians should manage to finish their working at appropriate points, since you can tweak almost everything about your song in the process, continuing the process endlessly. But now I have a different point of view that song will be able to continue to change its aspect like a creature. Lingua Franca was completed, but each song still might be in the middle of growing. When I would come up with some idea to tweak the songs, you could listen to them in a different form in my future album.

Kendra: Japan being an island, and you having a song entitled “Boat on the River,” I have to ask…where is your favorite place where you’re from to see the water?

Dugo: As you may know from the song titles, some of the songs of Lingua Franca are expressing a specific landscape. I think I was able to express my feeling very well on Boat on the River. Be that as it may, as you said, Japan is the nation blessed with water. There are many beautiful islands in Japan. Above all, I love Sesoko Island in Okinawa prefecture especially. When I experienced the beautiful sunset on Sesoko Island, the idea of the song Sunburst came to my mind.

Dugo’s Favorite Place in Japan: His Hometown Yokohama

Kendra: Back to the music, you also compose music for video games. If you could go back and redo the score from any video game which would it be, and how would you make it different?

Dugo: Actually, I’m still making many songs for video games even now. It was quite tough for me to switch my mind frequently from job composition to artistic composition. In my mind, those two types of working are completely different, but now I can control them by scheduling my working time appropriately. At the same time, different skills are needed for both workings. I can make both of them contribute to each other now.

Kendra: Lastly, you’ve already dropped a new album this year – so what’s next for 2017?

Dugo: Currently, I’m working with the Italian musicians who collaborated with me on the Lingua Franca album. This is a sort of composition by using a way of remixing. I’m making new songs, remixing the materials that Italian musicians recorded in studio sessions. Those new songs will be published by RAI. RAI is Italy’s national public broadcasting company. Some executive producer of RAI is supporting this collaboration project. So you might be able to listen to those songs also in the movie or TV drama from RAI in the future. On the other hand, I haven’t decided on anything with my next album yet. But I intend to release my new songs as an EP (a few songs with remix). It is quite tough to release albums in a short interval. I think it is better to release an EP continuously to keep my activity. The next album should be the selection from them.

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2019 Update:  As we update our cloud, we hope to keep touch with the artists we have connected with to continue to strengthen the bonds between the creative worlds we are touching.  Enjoy Sol Poniente.[/vc_column_text]

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