Believe it or not, DJ Haruto pictured here is 13 years old. He was hanging out with DJ Keesh when I met them in front of Disk Union in Shinjuku. Despite being just 13 years old and never having lived overseas, Haruto was speaking English with me. When I asked him how he learned English, he answered with cool confidence, “I’m just trying” …man, that alone made quite an impression on me. But Haruto would end up making an even bigger impression on me when he told me that he is a scratch DJ and that he has been scratch […]
Tokyo Record Style
Kumpei (Ricca)
So Kumpei was standing with Ayato in the Coconuts cul-de-sac when I approached Ayato about his Mamiya RB67. As soon as Ayato told me his name, I jotted it down in my note app, but it kept auto-correcting as Ayata, which is the name of one of my twin nephew pals. And then Kumpei told me his name, but before also jotting it down, I lit up – PEI – KumPEI! You see, “P” while IN the name “Ja’P’an”, or the Japanese pronunciation “Ni’PP’on” is an ever-so-slightly rare sound in Japanese, certain in names. This is just a personal observation, […]
Tokyo Record Style
Ayato
I live in a quiet, little-known, neighborhoodly pocket of Tokyo, surrounded by parks, schools, libraries, market streets, and a couple of quite winding little rivers. I’m less than 10 minutes to Shimokitazawa in one direction on the Inokashira line, and the same to Kichijoji in the opposite direction. Shimokita is one of those neighborhoods that is increasingly being ranked as one of “The World’s Coolest Neighborhoods,” and for a lot of reasons, it’s a deserving title. It’s honestly one of the reasons I moved to Tokyo in the first place, I wanted to live IN Shimokita, and I did for […]