music | My Eyes Tokyo

I have received a lot of love from the people of Japan, and now I feel true happiness.

June 17 2022

日本語 Interview by Isao Tokuhashi Edited by Jennifer A. Hoff info@myeyestokyo.com Yolanda Tasico (Philippines) Enka Singer Japan is filled with a wide variety of music, including J-pop, K-pop, Western music, world music, and so on. All of these are popular among people of all ages, but we must not forget the type of music that has moved the hearts of Japanese people since ages past. That would be: “enka” (演歌”). Enka, which has been popular since pre-war times, has been regarded as “that which sings the heart of Japan”. Since the 1980s, however, it has also been sung by singers

I confirmed that I wanted to come and live in Japan as a singer.

April 27 2016

Interviewed & written by Isao Tokuhashi Mail to: info@myeyestokyo.com Katy Phillips (Australia) Singer/performer One day our friend told us about a female singer who was singing near Harajuku Station. “She continued to perform for 2 hours and didn’t stop singing and performing at all even though just a few people looked at her.” That singer is today’s interviewee, Katy Phillips from Australia. We were moved by what we heard and became interested in her. We decided to hold the “Interview in public” with her since our friend who introduced her to us said that he had a space for

I was almost crying at the thought of Tohoku people during the concert held there.

March 09 2016

Interviewed & written by Isao Tokuhashi Mail to: info@myeyestokyo.com Rolando Encinas Quena player A worldwide quena player whom all Latin music lovers must know – that’s today’s interviewee. We met him on referral from Luis Carlos Severich, Japan-based Bolivian guitarist whom we interviewed in 2007. We faced Roland Encinas, a Bolivian quena player, two days after we got a phone call from Luis Carlos. The interview was conducted right before his concert so we didn’t have enough time to go deep into his background. But he talked about his ties with Japan affectionately. However, he had an expression

No one will ever be able to destroy the relationship between us and people in China.

November 01 2012

Interviewed & written by Isao Tokuhashi Mail to: info@myeyestokyo.com GYPSY QUEEN Musical group When we heard that they call themselves “Asian band”, we wondered why they didn’t say they are a Japanese band. But they said with a laugh. “Japan is part of Asia, isn’t it?” Absolutely! But it’s not the only reason for it. They’ve performed in 10 countries so far, such as China, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia, Brunei, Malaysia and Japan. Such an “Asiatrotting” band has tons of stories but we were limited in time so they picked the stories of their first tour in China.

Who makes you grow bigger or ceases growing yourself? That’s you.

October 01 2012

Interviewed & written by Isao Tokuhashi Mail to: info@myeyestokyo.com Ayaka Sugiyama “vivi” Executive Director of Kawakami Sangyo The theme of today’s interview is kind of extreme; A challenge to Marissa Mayer. Marissa Mayer, a woman who became CEO of Yahoo! at the age of just 37. She is awesome and no one disputes that. But there are many young female corporate managers in Japan as well. Ayaka Sugiyama is one of them, she is an executive director of Kawakami Sangyo Co.Ltd, a manufacturer of bubble wrap which is known by its nickname “Putiputi” in Japan. However there are some

I don’t want to associate my activities with the anti-nuclear movement.

June 20 2012

Interviewed & written by Isao Tokuhashi Mail to: itokuhashi@myeyestokyo.com Kateryna (Ukraine) Bandura player/singer (She’s been in Japan since Dec.2006) We interviewed a foreign musician in Tokyo for the first time in ages – introducing Kateryna from Ukraine. A friend of ours took us to a piano concert. She knows that we’ve been interviewing foreigners so she provided us the chance to meet Kateryna. It consisted of two parts and she performed in the beginning of the second part. A woman in a colorful costume beautifully plucked an Ukrainian instrument called “Bandura“, which has dozens of strings, and began to

If I didn’t play taiko, I might not be alive, I might be in jail.

July 21 2009

Interviewed & written by Isao Tokuhashi Mail to: itokuhashi@myeyestokyo.com Isaku Kageyama Japanese drum (taiko) player (Born in the US and raised in Japan) Today we introduce you to a Japanese-American man who inherits the Japanese heritage which has been handed down to him for thousands of years. Isaku Kageyama, a young, up-and-coming star Japanese taiko drummer who won the championship twice at national taiko contests. On the other hand, he is making a new departure in the traditional music world. One of his approaches is playing Japanese traditional folk songs with electric instruments. He plays the taiko, or Japanese

I believe Japanese songs must reach Russians.

June 05 2009

Interviewed & written by Isao Tokuhashi Mail to: itokuhashi@myeyestokyo.com Ekaterina (Russia) Singer/Pianist (She’s been in Japan since ’95) Ekaterina, a wonderful diva from Russia! She sings Russian folk songs, Japanese songs in 80s and J-POP (Japanese popular songs after 90s). She lives for promoting exchange between Japan and Russia through singing. Her songs were aired on TV and she has sung the Russian anthem at international soccer matches. But she is always friendly, not haughty and spontaneous. She is very flexible, enough so to perform at both big halls and small live houses. Her smile is really friendly. Such

Whenever I’m in Tokyo, I feel as though I become another person. I feel free more than in Germany.

May 15 2009

Interviewed & written by Isao Tokuhashi Mail to: itokuhashi@myeyestokyo.com kai (Germany) Singer songwriter/Lyricist (Writes songs in Japanese) We introduce you to a German singer songwriter who sings and writes songs in Japanese. kai, a.k.a. shigure, loves Japanese culture very much and has come here six or seven times so far. This time he is still a tourist who can’t stay here more than 90 days. Even though he’s never stayed in Japan for a long time, he speaks Japanese really, really well. We think musicians have good ears and a high-level of listening skills. But above all, it’s thanks

Japan is safe, but there is no peace.

October 11 2008

Interviewed & written by Isao Tokuhashi Mail to: itokuhashi@myeyestokyo.com Winchester Nii Tete (Ghana) African Percussionist (He’s been in Japan since ’04) We would like to introduce you to another super percussionist from Ghana. We’ve met Winchester Nii Tete when we went to Yuri Kageyama‘s poetry reading live performance. Nii Tete was playing percussion while she recited her poems. We just felt “WOW!!” as soon as we listened to his sound. We were really overwhelmed and riveted by that. We felt that his play was quintessential “art”. So we got interested in him. Rome was not built in a day – Nii

Interviews with Tokyo People Achieving Dreams