2018年（平成30年）8月4日（土） 週刊NY生活　SHUKAN NEW YORK SEIKATSU [English Edition］ (24)

JAPAN VOICE
Letter From
NEW YORKERS
The Flight
by Dan McDonald
As mem-
bers of the
Japanese com-
munity in New
York City, we
navigate a life
between two
cultures, soci-
eties and
worlds. We
endure exhausting travel to visit
friends and loved ones in Japan,
returning to our homes much like
Urashima Taro did to a land that has
moved on without us but is still
strangely familiar.
Just this month, I returned to
family and friends in Tokyo for the
first time in four years. It was an
occasion for reflection on the life I
chose when I first took that flight in
1996 and the position I occupy
between, but not entirely belonging
to, two separate places. On the plane,
we encountered many families seem-
ingly like ours-biracial families with
kids reading Japanese children’s
books or playing games. The children
switched almost effortlessly between
two languages. There were Japanese
expatriate families with personal
effects of a life in New York: a
Trader Joe’s bag and a Yankees hat. I
wondered if they also felt like out-
siders. At what point on the flight do
you start speaking Japanese to the
flight attendants? When you land?
Our time in Tokyo was a whirl-
wind week of family and lifelong
friends. A little grayer, in some cases
heavier and a bit slower, but it
seemed as if no time had passed at all
since we last met. Returning to Japan
has always been, in a sense, humbling
as well. Perhaps the world would be a
different place if more people knew
how it felt to be an outsider, to strug-
gle to communicate in your second
language and to find your way
between two different worlds.
(Dan is a newspaper columnist, edi-
tor and Japanese translator.
Interested readers can contact him at
dan9605@hotmail.com)
You Can Take a
Wedding Photo
in a Japanese
Uchikake Kimono
in New York
A lady in a Japanese wedding
kimono and a gentleman in formal
Japanese-style attire were pho-
tographed at Grand Central Station
(pictured below). The photo shoot was
facilitated by top photographer Rei
Kinoshita of “ Decollte,” a large
Japanese studio specializing in wed-
ding photography.
Getting photographed while don-
ning a Japanese wedding kimono is
very popular now in Japan.
Reservations are fully booked by peo-
ple wishing for a photograph in a
Japanese wedding kimono with
Japanese landmarks like Asakusa,
Kyoto, Nara and Mount Fuji in the
background. Convinced she had a good
Ai Sakai (above) and a wedding
photo sample taken by two-time
WPPI award winning photogra-
pher Rei Kinoshita at Grand
Central Terminal.
THE
COOL JAPAN from New Yorkers’ Viewpoints
idea, hair-stylist and makeup artist Ai
Sakai of the same studio brought nine
pieces of Japanese wedding kimono with
her, expecting to also popularize photo
shoots in Japanese wedding kimono in
New York City.
In May, Ms. Sakai (pictured)
launched a service to take a photo in a
Japanese wedding kimono with New
York landmarks in the background.
“Kimono is well known in America,
but a formal Japanese kimono worn at a
marriage ceremony is still rare. I really
want to introduce true Japanese culture
to curious New Yorkers,” she says.
The Japanese wedding kimono photo
shoot starts from $800 for hair and
makeup, dressing and a two-hour session
with an exclusive photographer ($1,300
Takumi Saito talked about “Ramen Shop” with Director Eric Khoo.
in a colored wedding kimono and $1,500
in a pure white one). From late August
to early September, Mr. Kinoshita of
Decollte, who won WPPI awards for two JAPAN CUTS
consecutive years, will come to N.Y. to Contemporary Japanese Film Festival of Japan Society
photograph clients. Reservations are Takumi Saito and Many Other Guest Directors Join This Year
now being accepted for that time period.
For inquiries, e-mail ai@ailovehair.com
The 12th JAPAN CUTS, ly, which is based on a true story.
or visit www.ailovehair.com
which brings a wide range of the Saito decided not to do a test run
(Written by Ryoichi Miura/Translated by
best and hardest films to see made beforehand and told the actors not to
Kunio Shimura)
in and around Japan today, was memorize the script; he just focused
held on July 19 to 29 at Japan on observing the chemistry between
Society.
Eric Khoo, director of the
opening film “Ramen Shop” and
actor Takumi Saito joined the
opening party that followed after
https://www.yomiuri-info.jp/daily_yomiuri/nys/
the screening and interacted with
their fans.
Takumi Saito showed up on humans. The actors were all busy, so
the evening of July 20 as well this film was shot for only a week and
when “blank 13,” his first long the last funeral scene was shot with
piece directed by Saito himself, two cameras like a documentary film.
was screened. He talked about the He said he wanted to make this film
background of that film and his without a specific genre. After the
passion for films. The story of this screening, his fans took photos with
film is about a son and people who him. (Kaoru Komi/ Translated by
come to the funeral of his Chikako Iwasaki/Photo by Japan
despaired father who left the fami- Society, Copyright Daphne Youree)
THE JAPAN VOICE is the English Edition of SHUKAN NY SEIKATSU
NEW YORK SEIKATSU PRESS, INC., 71 W 47 St, Suite 307, New York, NY 10036 USA
Editor in Chief: Ryoichi Miura, Associate Editor: Ashley Matarama, Editor: Kaoru Komi
Advertise Here! Contact 212-213-6069 info@nyseikatsu.com

Japanese Jazz Drummer Second and Third Single to Release in August

Daisuke Konno
Hones His Talent in New York;
Is Enchanted with the City
Among the many Japanese jazz players per-
forming in New York, drummer Daisuke Konno
thinks that he is the only one who started from
scratch in his mid-thirties after playing profession-
ally in Japan. Konno came to the United States in
2013 in what he calls a move to put his skill to the
test and was immediately taken with the joy of
playing music with famous musicians in the home
of jazz. Through jam sessions and street perfor-
mances, he met people he could work with and
now plays weekly at Club A Steakhouse in
Midtown Manhattan as a member of the Bruce
Edwards Trio. “It is rare for drums to be played in
a restaurant, as its sound tends to be loud,” says
Konno, adding that it takes skill to play with the
right control over one’s volume. The band plays
pieces from bebop and pop, and they take requests
from the audience.
Konno began playing the drums at the age of
16 when he joined a jazz club at his high school.
At Rikkyo University he joined a light music club
(encompassing genres like smooth jazz and easy
listening) and became professional after gradua-
tion. He basically taught himself the music except
for the 18 months he had an instructor. He steadily
made his career as a drummer, joining the jazz
album of Japanese singer Junko Akimoto. But
seven years ago, he had an opportunity to perform
in New York for a couple of months, and through
his previous experiences he gained the confidence
to move here permanently. In 2015 he visited
Japan for recordings and performances to promote
his CDs for “samA & EAU DE MOND.” His
dream now is to go there again to play with his
bandmates and other musicians that he has worked
with here. (Kaoru Komi/Translatd by Kenji
Nakano)
Singer-songwriter SUMI
After releasing her new song “Spacey
Love” in June, singer-songwriter SUMI (Sumiko
Yamazaki) , who lives in N.Y., will release
“Bullshit Detector” and “Nomadic Life” online in
August. They will both be available on iTunes,
Spotify and Amazon.
“Bullshit Detector” is a comical dance pop
song recalling silly things that happen in daily
life. “Nomadic Life” is a song about losing a
“home” in the urban life and striving to find a
Cover design by Shodai Naruse
place to live. It illustrates a nomadic life in an
urban setting. The lyrics and music were co-pro-
duced by Sumiko Yamazaki and Billy Seidman,
with music and arrangement by Brian Lindgren
for both songs.
SUMI came to America in 2004. While
working in a fashion consultant company, she
could not give up on music, which has been her
dream since she was a child. She held several live
concerts at Webster Hall and Pianos. She is good
at making rhythmical techno-dance pop music. In
the future, she wants to write songs for an
American musician while staying active as a
singer-songwriter. SUMI was born in Ichikawa
City in Chiba Prefecture. (Ryoichi Miura/
Translated by Ai Omae)