Ryuichi Sakamoto Taught Me How to Survive in a Stifling Society
A month or so after the world-renowned composer Ryuichi Sakamoto passed away, an advertisement grabbed my attention on Instagram. It was a photo of him dressed in a tux, his gray hair neatly separated and his piercing eyes staring at the camera behind the tortoiseshell-framed glasses.I couldn’t take my eyes off the photo and eventually took a screenshot before closing the app on my phone. My life seemed suddenly validated by him because I’ve always felt like an outsider, though I’ve lived my whole life in Japan.After establishing his reputation in Japan and winning an Academy Award and a Grammy, Sakamoto moved to NY City in 1990 when he was in his late 30s.According to old interviews, since his teens he’d been determined to live anywhere on the earth as a cosmopolitan. He also claimed that Japan is stifling for creators because overseas culture is imported to this island country as finished packages.²NYC appealed to him with its cultural richness and openness, which allowed creators to be inspired by other artists amidst the lively art scene.Nevertheless, Sakamoto never forgot about his home country. When the Great East Japan Earthquake hit, he organized charity events in the battered Tohoku region and raised donations. He even had a plan to move back to Japan in the hope of appreciating nature and local food, but not to his hometown, Tokyo. Kyoto spoke to him as the ideal environment to connect with fellow artists.However, in 2014, while he was in the process of buying land in Kujoyama and narrowing down potential architects, he was diagnosed with throat cancer.
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