On my 30th birthday, I noticed something.
I liked a few things.
But nothing I could point to and say, “This. I love this.”
You can live without one.
But I’m the kind of person who badly wants a “this” in my life.
The first thing that came to mind was the guitar, the thing I had loved most so far.
So I decided to make myself fall for the guitar.
That night I watched a video by my guitar hero at the time, Mateus Asato.
Seven guitar exercises he does every day.
I decided to do the same ones, every day.
Ten minutes a day at first. I’m still at it.
Looking back, music was always nearby.
Yamaha music school from age 2 to 14.
In junior high, Earth, Wind & Fire and Stevie Wonder knocked me out.
Through school, I listened to nothing but YUI and moumoon.
At university I fell for DEPAPEPE and picked up the acoustic guitar.
After I started working, I wrote the songs and played lead guitar in the band TAIRYO.
Just after 30, the band became hard to keep going, and we went on indefinite hiatus.
Then I quit the company I had given my twenties to, and spent a year at home on my savings, playing guitar.
I trusted the guitar and just kept playing, and a quiet “this is fun” started bubbling up from inside.
Six months later, I was hooked.
At 31, I started singing on my own.
My songs are scenes that cut deep into me over the years.
Not as photos, not as a novel. I want to keep them as music.
Every song is about my own heart, no question.
But if something underneath it chimes with you and stirs up an old memory, that would make me happy.
At shows I layer the guitar live on a looper and sing over it.
Grab a drink and take it easy.
Born in Kochi in 1993. I live in Sumida, Tokyo.
See you at a show.
