Subtitles section Play video
-
So today's video is a story, a story of how I met two Japanese shamisen players called Kiki and
-
How we ended up
-
traveling the world together and a little bit about how this basically became my job. How it took me out of a
-
Corporate job that I'd worked for nearly a decade and into a brand new world of getting to travel and enjoy
-
Japanese music and make videos and you know, what? If I don't leave this hotel room right away, we're gonna be late
-
So let's just get going
-
Thank you
-
We're in Vancouver and while the weather is actually really nice right now it snowed this morning
-
It's weird to see the mix of cherry blossom petals and snow
-
The girls are actually doing like a tour of Vancouver right now
-
So we've had like performances, events, workshops pretty much
-
Every single day since we've got here and today's our last day
-
There's a marathon today so
-
The streets are like empty and we're just about at the girls hotel
-
So, this is Hikari and this is Kanami and together. They're a Japanese shamisen duo called KiKi
-
And while right now these two are top level
-
Japanese shamisen players and we are touring the world together sharing their music. It wasn't always like this
-
So let me go back a little bit so I can tell you the story from the beginning
-
So the story actually starts back in about 2011. It was I believe January 2011
-
I had gone out to Meiji Shrine to check out the coming-of-age Day ceremony
-
which is one of my favorite ceremonies here in Japan and
-
Afterwards I went into Shibuya and for some reason all the streets were closed off for
-
Performances as I was walking along the street I ran into these two shamisen players. They were just playing on the street
-
But we didn't talk at that time, right (KiKi: no)
-
At the time all I had was like a little iPod touch
-
So I took a bit of a video of them didn't put it online
-
In fact, it wasn't until probably six months to a year later when I ran into them again at Yoyogi Park
-
That I actually recorded a proper video on a DSLR that I had just bought for the first time by the way
-
By that time I had actually just started my own shamisen training
-
And so I asked the girls if it was okay to put the video up on YouTube. They said (KiKi:Yes)
-
We rehearsed that and that was kind of the first time I ever really seriously put something up on YouTube
-
I named the YouTube channel shamisen in Tokyo
-
And I pretty much intended on putting up like every single piece of shamisen music from any player that I found around the city
-
but after a couple months of recording different players
-
the only pieces that I really felt were upload worthy were the ones from
-
Kiki so I kept recording them kept uploading them and then one day something really interesting happened.
-
A few years after all of that we ended up performing at the exact same event
-
Kiki was like the main act for that event and somehow, I still don't know how, I ended up playing before them
-
So funny side story
-
I have the good fortune to actually be learning from the Yoshida brothers and one of them
-
showed up to support me at the performance and sat like right in the front row and
-
Kiki didn't expect him to be there
-
So they came out and saw him and they were like wait, why is one of the Yoshida brothers here?
-
That night was a good start
-
We had a chance to have some food some oden and drink and that was kind of the start of our friendship
-
So now shortly after this that I realized that very first video that I uploaded of them had hit over 10,000 views
-
So I invited them over for coffee so we could like celebrate
-
and
-
Then we made the very first ever like Kiki promo video on shamisen in Tokyo
-
We came to Tokyo 8 years ago
-
So we just watched that video yesterday and the two girls were like, oh my god it's so embarrassing
-
And all of this gave birth to a project. I started to shoot pretty much
-
every
-
Single performance that Kiki would do in the hopes of someday making a documentary, but we also started a series
-
Called shamisen under the cherry blossoms
-
And it was started with the entire purpose of landing us future work
-
So we're, we're like literally like in the of a middle forest right now
-
There's like a pond over here, I don't I don't even know what this is
-
There's some Canadian Geese over there
-
Canada!
-
The under the cherry blossoms video came up because sakura season itself was right around the corner
-
and the first year we didn't actually do the video with the girls in kimono
-
we just had them in what's called fudangi, which is just their normal clothing and uh
-
There was an old man who just like walked through this frame in like the middle of the video
-
But we liked it so much that we just left it in the final version and then uploaded it
-
The next year we decided to do it again and it was around the third year that we decided to put the girls in kimono
-
(KiKi: yeah!) And
-
Really, really give some impact to the video and while the shamisen under the cherry blossoms video series was
-
Popular it did take at least three years for them to start gaining any real traction
-
So in between these videos we would just travel the country together. we would go up to the shamisen taikai
-
in Aomori. We went down to like shikoku
-
basically just go all over the place and do performances and make music but but the girls have a performance up in like like
-
15-20 minutes. So I'm gonna let them get prepped for that and we'll talk about this a little more afterwards
-
Performance is finally finished.
-
So it kind of brings us back to where we were before talking about putting up content and making videos like the shamisen
-
Under the cherry blossoms videos.
-
(everyone gasping)
-
I just introduced the girls to the green apple suckers, I don't know if you've ever had these but I love them.
-
It's really good.
-
So the more content we made and the more of the video started to spread out the more the job offer started to come in
-
most of them were in Japan
-
But in this time I found myself kind of becoming like a like a producer or manager or something.
-
It was at the same time exciting and overwhelming and everything
-
But it was at this time that I made Kiki a promise and I promised them that I would
-
Take them overseas at some point
-
I remember.
-
Now even at the time I was very aware of how bold of a promise it was that I would take them overseas
-
For a performance someday
-
But considering that was part of the plan when I first started everything I had confidence that I'd be able to pull it off.
-
I knew who's just gonna take consistent work and above all else
-
Patience. Which by the way is something that a lot of people seem to really undervalue in the grand scheme of things
-
I probably could have squeezed it in a much shorter time
-
But all too often people will trade out the long-term win for some kind of short-term gain
-
And it's not worth the sacrifice. So I wanted to do this properly, which means I knew it was gonna take some time.
-
Did you bite it?!
-
Yeah.
-
Wow
-
Just wow. So with all that being said it brings us a little closer to where we are now
-
Which is how we started getting overseas, but I'll tell you guys about that in a minute.
-
So around 2017 the offers started coming in but pretty much every offer would fall through right away
-
When they realize the intense costs of bringing two to three people all the way overseas to do a show
-
I'll spare you all the details, but it's it's not cheap
-
There's actually around that time that I started this channel
-
thought it might be nice to also showcase some of the behind the scenes on my adventures and the adventures
-
I was doing with Kiki so there's that.
-
and it was shortly after starting tokyo lens that we got our first
-
really serious offer for a job overseas.
-
The job was actually for here, Canada, Vancouver
-
KiKi's gonna do some shopping. I'll see you guys later
-
And that was only the first of the overseas shows to roll in and it was good practice and it was a good warm-up for
-
Everything that would follow because since then we got offers for places like Italy
-
Australia the states like you name it?
-
In fact in May Hikari's going to Germany while Kanami and I go to the states so that'll be fun.
-
But the point is that we're here and what got us here was consistently pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone to put up
-
Content. You see when I put up that very first introduction video with Kiki that I showed at the beginning
-
The girls were wildly uncomfortable, but they really wanted to do it and that level
-
Of perseverance despite the discomfort is definitely one of the things that inspired
-
me to start Tokyo Lens. I can honestly say that if it wasn't for meeting Kiki and
-
Working on the projects that we're doing together that this channel right here that you're watching right now
-
wouldn't exist. That in my mind that that's a win in its own but that being said
-
I've got to buy some omiyage a or gifts and then find the girls and we have a dinner in like 20 minutes
-
But it just goes to show the amazing things that can happen
-
If you actually push yourself to consistently step outside of your comfort zone and I really like that message
-
My last morning in Vancouver before heading back to Tokyo so Tim Hortons
-
Like it's not even particularly great coffee, but it's Tim Hortons
-
So it's one of those Canadian ritual things that you've got to do before you go back
-
Getting back to the main topic at this point
-
I've explained how I met Kiki and hopefully given a rough idea of how this
-
Became my job. More than anything. It came down to just believing in my own vision of the future and just consistently executing on that
-
Despite any failure, roadblocks or challenges that came up in the way.
-
I knew that making content was going to be the key when I first started which is why we took this approach and so far
-
Every single job that we've done overseas
-
Has come out of this content that we've made I never could have imagined when I bought my first
-
DSLR that it would eventually lead to me getting paid to travel the world with some of Japan's best
-
shamisen players
-
let alone have an entire channel of my own to share all of this with you and the three of us like, all three, not just
-
me, I want to say that we have so much gratitude for each of one of you who takes the time to actually watch the
-
content that we've made you might feel like you're just sitting there watching something but you're really
-
Contributing and helping. So thank you
-
Also fish
-
And there we go back in Japan and actually today the day that I'm releasing this video
-
We just arrived back in Japan and the girls are
-
Releasing their first major album through a label like I'm talking like CDs and stores and Spotify, you know
-
It's all gonna be linked down below if you're interested
-
But the best part of all of this is that it's not even close to the end of our plans. The future is still
-
Very bright. Now I've tried not to go too deeply into more technical or boring details
-
But hopefully still giving you kind of an idea of how we got here and this video was actually based on one of the most
-
popular episodes of the Tokyo lens
-
Podcast that I've ever done so I'm gonna link that down below in case you're interested in hearing a more detailed version of this.
-
Now that I'm back I've got to start getting this office sorted out
-
I've managed to unpack a couple of the boxes, but I think it's gonna have to wait because
-
Tomorrow I'm doing a day trip out to a samurai
-
Battlefield something I've never done before so
-
This will be something new. Thank you guys so much for watching up to this point in the video
-
It would mean the world to me if you guys would give that like button some love if you enjoyed this one
-
Maybe share it somewhere. Definitely leave me something in the comments.
-
I will see you guys again in just a couple days.
-
So I'm gonna get to work on this for now pack my bags for tomorrow, and you guys know I will see you again
-
Real soon. Thanks guys