I published an EP with a photobook in spring of 2019 to capture the cozy ambience in my room in London, and my friend Mizuki joined the project writing the lyric and melody for the song. We decided to share the song hoping it supports people’s time at home.
I’d spent so much time on research about Coronavirus every day and wrote notes on my notebook. I started sharing the topic on Instagram a week ago because I thought most of Japanese people were not aware enough of how serious the situation was yet, and thought it would be worth to share something serious at the time.
As a week has passed, there’re so many changes here. The government has declared a state of emergency throughout the country, and also announced a 100,000 yen giveaway to each citizen, and the death toll in the country doubled in the week. Then I thought the people’s awarenesses have also changed, and it’s not appropriate any more to share the topic on Instagram which my followers could randomly see my posts. They might’ve lost their jobs, lost someone, or something else meaningful for them. I believe it’s a time to share something more positive than serious.
I saw a Japanese film called “Liverleaf”, it would be the worst film I’ve ever seen. Please try if you are interested. The way the ending song was played in the film was amazing despite the content.
I changed a concept of my podcast program as due to the Covid-19 situation.
I’ll post Japanese ambient music every week in the new podcast program. The contents will be delivered in Japanese but I’ll play a song at the end of each episode as well as links on the description page so that you can reach to more tracks of the musicians.
It’s been 2 weeks since I came back to Japan / started being in self-isolation. Thanks to the internet and all the online contents today, I spent much time in front of my laptop, but had become getting bored day by day and so I started working on self-reflection and digging CDs in my room. And now, I ended up taking an advantage of the quarantine as learning programming which I’d been interested in for a while.
Keeping myself updated by watching the Japanese TV and following some other news site outside the country, I found different approaches towards the economic disaster in each country during the pandemic. Some European countries and the US tend to take fast and reliable actions, freelancers in Germany can now apply for a non repayable grant of up to €9,000 while the UK government helps employees with a grant worth 80% of their salaries.
On the other hand, Japanese prime minister Abe considered giving Japanese citizens coupons for domestic beef and fish in compensation and he’s now working hard on the plan of 2-mask giveaway to each household throughout Japan. That would be hilarious if the situation were not so serious.
Just seeing the actions taken by the government I would admire the European countries, but as the German finance minister killed himself in consequence of all the fallout from the coronavirus, it’s obvious that those countries are literary in a state of emergency.
I wonder how much of money and how many of lives we will lose for all the circumstances in the end.
More and more people have been becoming to stay home all over the world. It would be depressive for most people just concerting the situation at home, but I believe this is dull yet the best action we can take in order to save others for now.
Entertain yourself, entertain yourself, and entertain yourselves. Lose yourself in the art and creations.
We need to be fine to rebuild our life after everything happens.
Since the coronavirus / COVID-19 has spread more and more widely, I’ve decided to come back to my hometown in Japan after 2 years and a half. The Japanese government announced that people who came back from outside the country have to quarantine at either home or a hotel for 14 days.
I was shocked and confused by the fact that Japan is far less serious about the situation than Europe. People still commute to their offices by packed trains and hang out after work and weekends. Despite I wish the vibes remain forever, I can’t help thinking of that the virus outbreak is happening in as soon as a couple of weeks here in Japan as well.
People struggle with the virus based on their different situations and problems – finance, work, education, and so on. I’m very lucky to be able to take this option, but as far as I’ve seen, it’s very meaningful and important just staying home for now in order not to help spread the virus. The more people stay home, the more proper treatments are brought to people in need.
I’ve decided to go back to Japan for a while because of COVID-19. It was a last minute decision, I hadn’t even thought of that a week ago, but I’m here in Japan now.
Right before I left Berlin, the situation was getting more and more serious every single day. Most of the shops: restaurants, bars, coffee shops, has closed or still open yet partially for just takeaway or in some way.
Though I expected the situation in Japan would be different from Europe, it was far more relaxed than I expected. I was trying to be calm when I was in Berlin while people were losing their minds, but I’m now trying not to lose any of a sense of danger.
Since coronavirus has been spreading in Europe, many items have been disappeared in shops and more and more shops are closing in the city every day.
Some of my Japanese friends have experienced racism. Though I haven’t experienced serious one, someone told me not to come close within 1m. On the other hand, another person gave me a handshake. That’s not special yet it means a lot to me now.
It’s not the end of the world, I still believe it’s precious to appreciate what you have. Don’t be suffer too much from what the media says, don’t let your fear controls you. Life goes on.
While I’ve got some ups and downs in the week, I’ve been trying to keep myself neutral, and that brings me to play some tunes on the acoustic guitar and wrote some phrases down. Since I hadn’t had any interviews in weeks, I uploaded the song playing the acoustic guitar with an improvised poetry reading.
I would keep uploading a couple of more songs since I still haven’t had any plans of interviews.
I caught a concert of Soft Crystals in which my friend plays the bess in the last week of February. It was a small venue, filled by the smell of cigarettes and noise of people talking around. It reminds me of small venues in Tokyo which I used to spend much time with my friends.
February always passes fast, even though we’ve got an extra day this year. I dug into my old external hard drive, in order to find songs I listened to a lot 4 years ago. The songs always give me a different impression as time goes by.
Since I had a little money, I started buying coffee beans at a coffee shop but a super market to treat myself. Ethiopian, this time.
It’s been 5 months since I moved to Berlin, I’ve found many interesting facts here exploring the city the last 5 months. One thing impressed me a lot it the idea of sharing.
There are many food sharing spots in the city, and one or two in the area I live. The spot is full of bread and vegetables all the time which are still edible yet unsuited to sell. Thanks to the spot, I always have plenty of food for breakfast at home.
People sometimes put their old clothes in boxes in the city, then someone takes the clothes or anything else. I’ve also got 2 pairs of shoes and some clothes so far.
At Futurium, a museum capturing the future lives focusing on technology and resources, exhibits the idea of sharing jobs in order to reduce unemployment, not just the idea of sharing things or food. I saw lots of articles about food waste and sharing in London, but I feel people are even more aware about the topic in Berlin.
One day I found some picture books when I came back home. I didn’t take the books, but I’m sure some parents did so and the stories continue being read in their rooms for their children today.
The 2nd episode with Isao, who works at a production company in Berlin as a set designer. We had a talk about his music experience. He chose 3 musicians which he was into when he was a teenager. “I’ve been listening to many kinds of music, but if I think about the music which influenced my life, I would choose the musicians I was listening to in my adolescence.”
Hiroki Sugi 