#GGFriday (March 28, 2014) — Kota Suzuki

“We are cool.”

When I was walking down the Shinjuku street the other day, a song flashed in my mind:

Pizzicato Five — Fashion People

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMNm1h10XkA

The song was included in the famous Japanese duo’s final record titled “Japon” which was released in 2001. Please listen to the lyric carefully. The group sings very talented Japanese creators, such as Rei Kawakubo, Issey Miyake, Cornelius aka Keigo Oyamada, Yoko Ono and many more. Very unique composition that declares Japanese popular culture is so cool.

2001 was the year I became a high school student. I was so sensitive and always looked for creative records. Eventually I found several innovative records made by Japanese:

-Point by Cornelius (Keigo Oyamada)

-Japon by Pizzicato Five

-Chasm by Ryuichi Sakamoto

-the World is Echoed by FreeTEMPO

-Kodoku No Taiyou by Keisuke Kuwata

I was inspired by those records much and really proud that there’re wonderful records in Japan, and many people worldwide are impressed at. Popular contents including music are very universal that you can go beyond cultural borders.

As a man who was encouraged by Japanese music, I had been thinking if I could be like them. In fact, I was working in the music industry soon after I graduated. However, gradually I found out that there’re numerous publications introducing Japanese musicians while there’re a few websites introducing social innovations in Japan. This is the process, the reason why I became a member of greenz global team.

My friends live in the US and EUR often says, “Keigo Oyamada is genius” “YMO’s my biggest inspiration!” or “You should be proud of Japanese great musicians.” They naturally became an enthusiast of Japanese music, they see it as ‘a cool stuff.’

Through my contribution to greenz global project, I would like to make some enthusiast of Japanese social innovation projects. It would be wonderful if somebody says “the papamama project’s awesome!” or “my project was inspired from an article at greenzglobal.jp.” Even though I am now focusing on Japanese social innovation, my vision’s always been “inspiring people around the world. “ I would like to make a name for myself in my works, which I hope will be Japanese music and social innovation.