Nippon Scape

There’s a mysterious shop in a place called Suginuma that is run by a mysterious couple. I was drawn to them because of an improvised concert that was held on May 16, 2009 which was so beautiful, holy, and wonderful. It’s hard to express exactly what they are in just a word or two. You could call them avant garde musicians, and you could also call them shop owners. They’re clearly different from regular people, living in a way that we don’t encounter often.

Hello. First of all, could you tell me about the concept behind this place, and give a simple explanation of what you do with the space?

Toshio:We sell Jomon-style clay flutes, hold festivals, events, and workshops, and operate the space as a place for people to get together.

Shizuko:We call the kind of festivals we hold, “punk kagura” where we make strange noises and bang on drums. It’s the kind of place where the neighbors look at us funny and tell us, “please stop your religious activities” and stuff. We even had the police called on us once. (laughs) Really it’s not all that, though.

I see. What do the two of you consider yourselves to be doing?

Shizuko:We’re just having fun. Some people think we’re improvisational musicians, some people think we’re festival-holders, and some think we’re colossal morons. (laughs)
Toshio:We hold fun festivals, blessing the earth, enlivening the land and the town. We’re just holding events to go with each encounter that comes along. That’s all.

So put in simple terms, you’re improvisational musicians who put on festivals, I guess? What have you been doing, and where have you been doing it?

Toshio:We’ve been to most places in the Kanto region. Sano, Kogawa, Ashikaga, Maebashi, Takasaki, Shimonita, Tochigi, Mashiko, Kasama, and Izu. Places that you can get to easily from Tokyo but aren’t really visible. We called it the Autonomous Republic of Kanto and took our Kagura Entertainer’s Troupe and did a performance tour.

Shizuko:We go around to each place and put on a festival, and we’re really good at taking the energy level through the roof. (laughs) At first, we didn’t know how to bring that high energy level back down and it was really tough. Everyone would get into a festival mood and we’d wind up in a psychological state that made it hard to return to everyday life. (laughs)

No matter what scale you are working in, going to a place where you don’t know anyone and organizing a festival, going in as a non-local and getting the locals involved must be a huge task. There are issues of leadership, money problems, and I imagine a lot more as well. How do you pull off such a monumental feat? How have you managed to make this your livelihood?

Shizuko:I think in some ways it’s easier to be accepted by people because we’re not locals. Also, if we enjoy each moment, like, “As long as we’re having fun now, what’s the problem?” then I think things just come together naturally. With money too, someone always comes along in the nick of time to help us scrape through. Someone will bring vegetables, or rice, or dishes, and thanks to these miracles we’ve managed to keep on living, enjoying our lifestyle of peace and freedom.

Toshio:If we get everyone together and put on a meal, we use rice and vegetables that the local farmers have grown, we use locally crafted dishes to serve the food, local writers and artists come, people who are really good at cooking, people who roast coffee, we get everyone to participate and that’s how we hold our events. There are so many amazing intellectuals and craftspeople in the countryside, but despite living in the same area, they aren’t connected to each other. We go to places with people like that, and we go slowly at first, listening politely to what people say. Then, when it’s time to do it, we suddenly pull everyone into our world and get them all to play the parts we’ve assigned. (laughs) Then, just as everything is starting to get exciting, the festival ends. We’ve been doing that over and over.

Shizuko:Toshi-chan has given lectures in front of those intellectuals, and I’ve performed music in front of those hidden genius musicians. From their perspective, we’re huge idiots. (laughs) But that’s alright. I think they must feel as though we outsiders have come in and done what they can’t do themselves. But, by putting them up on center stage, everyone’s blood starts flowing and they get a lot of their energy back. We want to help this happen and take great care in each event we put on.

Toshio:The two of us want to help people become aware of the un-heard, the un-seen, the air and the atmosphere. We want to try to be a catalyst for that.

I see. Now that I’ve heard your story, I see how deep your work is. Now, what kind of dream or vision do you have for the future?

Shizuko:My job is to connect the past to the future by enjoying the now and living in the now through festivals and music.

Toshio:I want to do things that we can do as Japanese people. We could bring our style of festivals from Japan over to Asia, and on to the land of Africa.