After the rain

After the rain today, the blue sky emerged. The air was absolutely crisp and fresh, leaving a faint smell of the rain. I was walking in Madison Square Park, feeling relieved. All the things in the park were shining. People seemed to enjoy the unexpected sunshine. The trees flutter in the wind. The raindrops that had been left on the trees suddenly fell off onto the earth, which reminds me of a dog shaking his body. With the bright sunshine, the falling drops were like diamonds. Feeling stressed out with work, I sighed a bit and took a deep breath. Every time I am in nature, I feel relaxed. Nothing can be more innocent and beautiful than the things in nature. It teaches me, " There is no need to try to do anything, be as the way I am." Yes, it is simple, but " What is my character?" Depending on a situation, I play a suitable role, or try to look mature. It is tiring. I strongly wished, today, that I could have opened my arms and run around all over the park like a child. Yes, that is real me.

12 inch : the real New York

THUR: "TRANS-CON GROOVES"!
"From Japan comes the effervescent DJ NATANE and her incredible mixes including, Tryby Trio, Scott Grooves, Jorg Ben, MKL and so much more! She was a guest DJ last month and we had to get her back! Teaming from our great shores is SOY DJ - beats, breaks, and classic jams from flea market 45s to the latest cuts! 9pm"

Wow, for the first time in my whole life, my name as a dj appeared in a flyer of a bar called “12inch.” As I wrote about music before, I am not a professional dj at all. I rather find myself a living music box or just a music lover. Now, I am a little embarrassed...and nervous, yet more importantly, I should be happy to feel music with people who love music. Then, this bar,”12 inch, “ enables me to do so, and here is the story of "12 inch." A friend of mine, an Italian Dj lele, asked me to spin with him a while ago. When I first went to this bar, honestly, I was not really excited about this place. It looked like one of those boring sports bars that you would easily find elsewhere in NY. The only thing that differentiates from the sports bars is record jackets hanging up on the wall ( besides DJ boose, of course.). However, the more I stayed there, the more I became addicted to it. Why? First of all, the owner is amazingly sweet and friendly. Secondly, music that all the djs are spinning is actually much better than the ones in any so-called hip clubs in so-called cool neighborhood, the meat packing district. It tells, surely, the owner has a wonderful sense of music. Third, people there are just NICE. Funny enough, when it comes to DJ lele’s night, since he himself is a scientist, the bar is filled with European scientists. Science and Music....cool! In fact, there is no consistency in the atmosphere in the bar in many aspects, which makes the bar even more interesting. I do like this bar, especially because people or the place itself is real. Real means that the bar is not the place for vanity, but music, and the people are not there for showing off themselves, but joy and music. There would be a place where music is good but people can be awful or vice versa. It IS rare to find this kind of place in Manhattan, yet hey, NY is supposed to be a melting pot, isn't it? The fact of no consistency in 12 inch bar actually represents real NY, all right?

Why so many hurricanes?

That was the title of a web newspaper, regarding the hurricane, "Rita." My question to this titel would be, " Why are we able to live in the earth, by the way?" Let me tell you something, " this planet is actually floating in the universe and it is absolutely miraculous enough that the earth was born somehow and positioned in a perfect distance from the sun. It means that being able to live as a human being here IS an absolutely miracle. So, hurricanes or Tsunami, which we considerer as a natural disaster, is just a dispensation of Nature. (Don’t get me wrong, I don't say that I don't feel sorry for the victims of Tsunami or the hurricanes in New Orleans.) I am just upset with ego and ignorance of human kinds. I remember stupid remarks of a well-known newscaster in U.S, corresponding to the Tsunami that had hit in South Asian countries this year. He asked a specialty for Tsunami like this," Is Tsunami a natural disaster?" "Yes," the specialty responded.
" Then, it is possible that we may have Tsunami in California?" I asked him a question in my mind, "Because of 9/11, do you think that anything that kills thousands people has to do with terrorist? or do you want to invent a Tunami machine to controll the world? or are you really kidding?" I could not believe in what had come out of the supposedly well-educated newscaster. So called " natural disaster," is unavoidable, my dear. Who knows about how long the earth will last. One of the stars may fall off on the earth one day. I would accept my fate, when I die from a natural disaster. How advanced the technology becomes, how hard human kinds struggle to avoid natural disasters, the fact is that we as human beings are part of Nature, happening to live in the vast universe. Look up the sky, the sky is laughing at us.

Omoide: memory

There is a moment that triggers past memories
like when I happened to drink seawater in the ocean.
A bit bitter,
not sad,
not want to be back
yet,
On that day
On that time
The smell of the air
The position of the sun
The laughing voices blown in the breeze
The sound of the trees fluttering in the wind
I do remember

The many memories
that I cannot have again,
where are they?
I gaze at the blue sky
In the distance
Wondering if they ever existed.
Now
The moment of Now
will be
a memory
continously...
People are weaving
Memories that
may not have ever existed.

Music

Music is, for me, the most favorite form of arts. It is intangible, yet has strong presence. I have been DJing since 1998 here in NY and Tokyo. This is because I like sharing the music that I have been collecting with people. My style is eclectic and I don’t mix. I say that I am a living music box rather than a dj. People ask, " What kind of music do you like?" or " Who is your favorite musicians?" These questions give me a hard time to answer, as I don’t choose music out of genres nor artists. If a tune touches me, that is the music I am going to like. I don’t remember the name of the artists on top of that. When the tune penetrates into my bloods, I forget about everything and I feel as if I were taken to the abyss of universe. I feel as if I were dancing with the composer, producer, or all the musicians of the tune. This is an indescribable ecstasy. I sincerely love music. It gives me such inspiration and happiness, thus it is always such pleasure for me to share it with people.

Lotta

I went to Bryant Park the other day, and I saw an incredibly adorable girl running around in the park. This girl was a little chubby and tomboyish, wearing a pink tutu. She was restlessly running and running faster than her dad. I could not stop observing her. She reminded me of a children book called " Lotta," by Astrid Lindgren. It was one of my favorite books, when I was little. Lotta was not quite and always sort of grumpy and difficult to fit herself into the grown-nap world, which made me feel close to her. I still love this type of children and even grown-naps. I was, in a way, like Lotta...even now. A few days ago, I received a letter from a friend of mine, Ovorkki, from Finland. When I first met her in NY, she also reminded me of Lotta. I knew that we were going to be close to each other. She also knew and loved Lotta. Last month, she left NY for Finland where her family was originally from. In the park, the little girl evoked memories of my childhood ness and memories with Ovorkki.

Irving Place

This is my neighborhood and my favorite street in NY, Irving place. The street, Irving place, only runs from 14th to 20th street. As it is very small street, cars seems to avoid driving here. Thus, it is very cozy and quiet. There is my favorite cafe called "71 Irving Place." Due to my caffeine addiction, I try not to have coffee beans in my place. Therefore, I go to the cafe almost twice a day everyday. Due to my nicotine addiction, with a cigarette and a cup of coffee, I always sit on a bench that belongs to the café. Since I moved in this area, the café has been my agenda. I will say that my life in NY has really begun from this street. Here is the story. From the bench, I was always looking at inside of one apartment, which was facing the café. Through the windows, it looked funky and colorful with a few paintings on the wall. I was wondering who could live in such a cool apartment. It was last fall when I got a contact of an Italian independent curator who was looking for an intern through my classmate. I called he up to meet with her to give my name. After it turned out to be just 1 minute from my place, she said, "Oh! It is a good omen then." " Ha!" I was actually excited about the fact that she used the word, " omen," as only people who are familiar with spirituality use this word. It was indeed " a good omen” for me that she had said it. I got a sense of who she was. So, I finally went to her place to have an interview. Surprisingly enough, her place was the apartment where I had kept looking at every single day. " A good omen," again! Adding to it, she is Aquarius, so am I and she is an only child, so am I. Since then, I have been working as her assistant. Since then, I have been learning so much about the art scene in NY. Moreover, I have been involved with her show, “ ATOMICA.” I really want to bring the show in Japan, as it is about an atomic bomb. It was not just a good omen. It is meant to have met her. Her name is Ombretta, which means a little shadow in Italian.

9/11

9/11...It has been 3 years since it happened. A Japanese artist, Seitarou Kuroda, the member of "PIKADON Project," and I went to the ground zero today. People were striking a bell that was set up near a church. People brought flowers and cards. Seitarou started drawing to pray for peace... "Peace,” who doesn't wish for? Is it something that we will never be able to experience? There are still wars going on in the world. In our daily life, continuously, people are fighting over something. A war is not other's affair, yet is deeply originated from "ego" that resides within everybody's mind. I believe that a war may disappear if we, as individual, work on or pay attention to our inner self.... Is this too idealistic? Dear Mr., presidents in the world, the planet where we are living is crying and suffering. Our earth is the only place for us to live, then why are you trying to destroy it? The sound of the bell is still resonating in my mind. I hope that the sound can reach to everybody. I hope that our wish will come true...

God

I sometimes feel like giving up on all aspects of life. It doesn’t mean that I want to kill myself, but want to isolate myself from the world and be a monk or so. I sometimes wonder why I am trying so hard to accomplish something...In the end; I will die and cannot take anything with me. When I was little, I felt that this planet was not the place for me, and I missed my home. Without knowing where my home was, I prayed to the night sky," Please let me go home." I wanted to know the reason why I was born, why I was Natane. I am still figuring out the answer. I am not religious, but I believe in the existence of the immense force in the universe. One may call it a god. When I feel uneasy, lonely, or uncertain, I look up at the sky and ask for help. When I feel connected with people or something that is created by people, I am happy. That is why I am here in NY and getting involved with music and art, but then, I sometimes lose my true purpose of doing this, getting caught up with superficiality in the world. Tonight, I feel lost again...yet tomorrow will be another day.

the summer ended..

The season for the art scene in Chelsea has come back. Today is the first Thursday of September, and so many galleries had the openings tonight. I tried to make them as many as possible, popping in and out the galleries, but it was absolutely insane...full of people in the galleries and on the streets. I don't remember how many times I said to people, "excuse me," to walk though the streets. The sad thing about it is that most people are not for the art sake, but for networking and socializing, or for free drinks. I am not the exception, although I myself was not there for the free drinks, as I cannot drink. I ended up going to 20 shows, but what I remember was nothing but the people's heads.... something wrong here. I know that I need to be in the scene as a cub curator, yet I felt empty tonight... I am just missing the energy in the summer.

Blue

The sky was absolute blue without any cloud today. I headed to Parkslope area to visit an artist's studio. His name is Bill Byers. His eyes are blue like pristine water of a lake. His voice is soft like rippling waves in a lake. All his works were blue. He has been into the sky, stars, constellations, geography, and maps and using the images of those for his creations. Now, he put his concern, the issue of global warming, in his art. When you see the immense blue sky or the vast blue ocean, you will feel melted or relaxed. Then, you will realize how beautiful our earth is. Likewise, seeing his artworks, which are mostly used blue colors, brought me a sense of tranquility. Quietly yet surely, his artworks have an important message behind the canvases and the blue colors. On the way back to Manhattan, the afternoon sky was still all blue.
http://www.billbyers.com/

ATOMICA

This summer, I was involved with a group show, "ATOMICA,' which my boss, an Italian independent curator, curated. The show was about an atomic bomb. The purpose of it was to lead people to the awareness of the reality of this awful weapon. The show was composed of 35 artists' artworks: paintings, photographs, installations, and sculptures. She conceived the show 7 years ago, and it finally took place this year. Coincidentally enough, this year was the 60th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagaski's bombs. I believe that this was not just coincident. Neither was my involvement. What was interesting that the show was not conducted by Japanese. To be honest, I didn't even remember that this year was the 60th anniversary, yet the show gave me an oppotunity not only to remind about what had happened in Japan, but also to rethink about my responsibility and identity as Japanese. I never was conceptual art before, but during the show, I was impressed by the fact that there were a lot of things to tell through the visual arts. Sometimes, words can be condescending. The visual arts leave the space for us to interpret in our own way, which becomes even more convincing. The show was over, yet, I felt necessity for the show to expose to the world because of the content as well as the quality of each artworks.