Strange things often happen in my life

Went to Akiko Yano's show last Sunday. I didn't expect much but it was great. I had to see it because we were supposed to do an interview with her drummer Jay Bellerose for a magazine right after the show. It went okay, I mean Jay talked a lot about his love for music, drums and playing drums that his interview was pretty interesting. The reason why it was OKAY is that a well-known English journalist suddenly interrupted it and he unconsciously put pressure on us a bit afterwords- we never knew he was waiting for Jay to finish it outside the dressing room until we were done with it. The record company guys, however, looked worried and actually asked us a couple of times how more MINUTES we would need to finish it while we still had 10-15 minutes. You know, this kind of behavior always tells you something is happening. Which is more important for them than an interview but obviously not good for us and letting us feel time-crunched.

I saw this English journalist 4 days before Akiko's show right after the interview with David Sanborn. He was waiting outside the hotel room where David gave interviews to the press and we interviewed David before him. For me, he is someone I often see on TV so I was kinda excited about seeing him there. Didn't say anything to him but was secretly pleased... more than talking to Sanborn actually. Weird, huh? Well, that's me. I don't get excited about seeing musicians, maybe I'm used to that situation.

It wasn't this journalist's fault to create strange tension during the last half of Jay's interview. More of the Japanese record company and management people who usually take well-known people's request very seriously. After all, it was no big deal for me but left me an unpleasant feeling against him.


What bizarre is I was asked by Ryuichi Sakamoto's label to work for Carsten Nicolai again on December 14 & 15. They booked an interpreter but he/she cancelled it at the last minute for some reason. I have worked with Carsten some times so I was happy to do it. In fact, Carsten said to me Monday that I'm like his personal interpreter now. Yeah, I feel the same, Carsten.

This time he is touring in Japan as Raster-Noton with Olaf Bender. Olaf joined us for interviews the 2nd day. It's easy to understand what they say because their German accent is not strong. But I get myself in trouble easily when they talk about software they use and say people's names. And the complexity of their works just makes me want to cry especially when I have to explain how they create their works in Japanese... Interviewers know their woks very well so I have to rely on their knowledge and imagination to fill all the gaps in my interpretation. Which always disappoints me for sure. But their works are so unique that it's very difficult for me to get the whole picture of them instantly although I think they are interesting.

At Jay's interview, he said something interesting. He considers his drums as part of his body. He uses a metaphor of mastering a foreign language to explain it. You learn a language so hard at beginning and eventually get to the point where you use it naturally without trying or thinking. I know exactly what he means but it seemed a bit difficult for the interviewer there to get how it feels who needs me to translate what he says for her. Then I have come to think that perhaps not many people have such experience in general. It's like having an important tool for you which you use naturally after spending years of learning and studying it. You have to be passionate to be able to do so.

I often hear that it's difficult to discover what you love, devote to and never get tired of. I don't understand why many people say so because I found it at young age and lucky enough to stay in touch with my biggest love affairs, music and English, through my work. I'm still skeptic about my ability to speak/read/write English and that makes me want to learn it more and love it more. Failure always teaches you something better. But those who say they haven't found anything often seem impatient. They want a brilliant result right away. They easily give it up if they don't get it. Probably they are afraid of failures.

Anyway, this language metaphor is often used to talk about playing music. I don't play any instruments now but knowing how it feels to have something you have devoted a great deal of time to definitely helps me tune to musicians. I just wish all the interviewers had something that helps them to get into the line with the interviewees. Which hopefully is something close to their heart and spirit, not their mind. Then my work would be much much easier... Hey, you know I'm lazy ;)