#tomokawa

[kisasiblings]

femslash feb day 1 except a few days late oops

[dannycamarajournal]

[thomaslevinson]

it's not playing together it's like going to the sky together it's a fight what height can you reach? how to keep this concentration all the time? it's like holding a ghost

Kazuki Tomokawa

[pachinkoslot39-blog]

An incredibly intense and beautiful portrait of Japanese folk legend Kazuki Tomokawa, absolutely cannot be missed.

Apart from the music itself, which is overwhelmingly beautiful, I also feel that this video somehow encapsulates Japan, or at least my own personal experience of it which I have been reflecting on quite a lot recently.

[1000xpm]

Kazuki Tomokawa | Song Title Unknown (Take Away Show, Part I)

This is unbelievable for me on a number of levels. First of all, the Blogotheque Take Away shows traditionally center themselves around American & European artists, or at least the artists that are making waves in those places. It was a little strange, though definitely not in a bad way, to see them carrying their high-definition camera and pointing it at people & things in this country that I've called home for the past 2 & 1/2 years.

Secondly, for me, it was amazing to see the things in this video and actually know what they were shooting - to understand the people on their daily commute, to read the signs, to listen to the Japanese spoken throughout. One of the things that stuck out the most were the two high-school boys smiling with their sheepish grins, joking with each other in front of the camera.

Finally, the music pulls it all together. It wouldn't have been something I would've fully enjoyed had I not actually seen him playing it in a Yakuza-infested area of town in a run-down, 84-year old brothel. It shows me there's a dark side to Japan that even though I knew existed, has never seemed so clear.

A part II & III to the above video will follow at the Take Away page.