The reason we follow not only "fashion" and its products lies in our own personal interests and varied backgrounds, as we aim to capture those cultures inextricably linked to fashion.
Although street fashion forms the axis of this site's operations, an aspect of this includes introducing street culture.
There is an endless mass of recollection in our urban centers and fashion and culture are forms of expression emerging from them.
Over the years, Japanese street culture has garnered increasing attention and street dance as a culture in itself, has also been embraced.
From my viewpoint of the current Japanese dance scene, I am a witness in its history and believe that the real Japanese street may reach through.
An abuse of authority?
No, maybe not.
Passing over Tokyo's Ara river to an 8 o'clock interview on a Friday night.
The entrance to the coffee lounge is a straight line leading to a broadening space resembling a different world.
I can't recall the time between first seeing him, with his hair tied back into a ponytail, punctually appear at the entrance, to when we initially greeted each other. Glossy bronze skin and silky black setup. And then a ruddy Zero Halliburton.
Was it because he moved too fast or had time frozen?
Someone you can normally only hope to see through the eye of a television, an unfamiliar sensation assimilated into the room as he entered.
The other staff also seemed to notice that he was the kind of person you never find walking on the streets of central Tokyo.
Street dancer Masayuki Tanaka
Abstaining from alcohol, his stoic physique is tempered in the gym. I later noticed the tenseness of his body was similar to an athlete's. Furthermore, the reason for this "preparation for action" is not only apparent from his build. A rare trait in Japanese, rectilinear aura.
Masayuki Tanaka is a crucial figure responsible for creating the foundations of Japanese street dance.
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Street energy of those days.
It is around 1990.
Unlike today where information is abundant and instantly accessible, in that time you had to actively seek information yourself, a common expression of the period being what's new = cool. That's why differences sprang up and creativity flourished. What's more, I personally believe it was perhaps the last age you could call "sexy".
Tokyo high school kids were gathering at Shinjuku nightclub "New York New York" in an era when kurofuku - floor managers dressed in black suits, still surveyed the floor, baseball bat in hand.
Eurobeat overwhelmed the dance scene but they were there to listen to the rap tunes being spun once every hour and dance hip hop, sharing in the camaraderie of feeling ahead of the times.
"In those days, we'd steal dance techniques, drop 100 yen in the jukebox and practice while eating burgers at the Lotteria by Koma theatre in front of New York New York."
On late night television dance shows such as CLUB DADA and DANCE DANCE DANCE Tanaka won prizes whilst still attending high school. Different from the present, a dance boom was sweeping Japan.
New information was cool. At an underground store in Shibuya, the young dancer bought two week to one month old bootleg recordings such as Soul Train. "They were expensive, but I was shocked at seeing this side of black culture for the first time, like, 'What's this?!' I watched them straight away."
Tanaka also got the latest information from a precious acquaintance he had at US Army base, Camp Zama. He laughingly reminisces, "When USS Midway returned, videos came back with it. I saw a video of MC Hammer before he became a sensation and I thought, 'what's this tension?! It's great!' Night after night, I was at home copying dance moves in the reflection from the cupboard glass. It was just that this dance style had never existed before. I'd pause the videotape, rewind and watch again. The last player I bought could play the tapes at a third of a second so obviously I became obsessed with watching the videos in slow motion."
It was this excitement -
Do I remember so passionately about that time? No, perhaps because of this era of information overload limiting choice to what already exists. Not a sense of nostalgia or mere reminiscence but also the recurrence to human nature's analog awareness and very personal requiem.
Owing to his impressive talent, Masayuki Tanaka appeared in various commercials and television dramas, but there was something lost in gaining fame. In the bright world of show business he noticed that "if it gains light it will also gain shadow". Freedom became disabled and soon he felt a narrowness.
At that time, he went to New York for two weeks on a job. There awaited freedom. Sleeping only two hours a day, he regularly asked the African American passersby information and went to nightclubs every night. "I could see so many things with my own eyes, and I was struck by the fact that New Yorkers do both good and bad."
During his stay Tanaka created a photo collection and visited the Apollo Theater on 125th Street in Harlem. It had an overwhelming presence.
"James Brown sang and Michael Jackson danced here. I vowed to come again and dance on this stage myself."
However, fulfilling such a promise would be a problem as he neither had the means or the know-how.
After returning to Japan, Tanaka quit his job at a talent agency and made regular visits to New York. There he joined street dance team, Breeze Team - who once appeared opposite him in a dance video. The refreshing cross-section of the group along with its members' non-Japanese way of thinking inspired and widened his field of vision. "That's more like it."
On the border between Japanese and New York.
A struggle with solitude in New York.
"I felt helplessly lonely. So much so that even drinking was hopeless. Yet it would have been easy to fall into that kind of world, it would never really have been me. Feeling overcome with loneliness, I went to Kinokuniya bookstore in New York and bought Jakucho Setouchi's book, Kodoko wo Ikiru - surviving loneliness. Then I realized I'm not the only person who's lonely, it's something everyone feels. I got used to the isolation, but many times I was rescued by reading."
Every dance crew was black. At that time, it was unheard of to have a Japanese member. "I thought if I can do this then the course of my life has finally begun." One Asian figure in a group of five. It was obvious everyone around him was different. No money unless the crowd was set alight from the moves. Asceticism and trial and error had begun. "Good or bad, many of my beliefs took a beating but, how can I say, the experiences made me stronger."
At the very least you need self-assertiveness. Behaving "Japanese" isn't effective. Gain answers by always questioning, no response unless something is said. Always air out and communicate. "But sometimes for example, at a performance I would say "I'm tired". The others would shout "I'm tired too so what's the point saying it!". That kind of thing."
However, these attitudes built him. No communication without conversation. The same thing happened when he went to France and Korea.
A number of tracks.
Since leaving home at the age of nineteen, Tanaka wanted to do something independently and naturally connected such as teaching. Having impressed a fitness club manager with his dancing ability, he began teaching dance classes at the gym. He requested that his acquaintances be positive in their dancing and taught them to lighten then hearts and avoid withdrawing. He started the activity and was the predecessor to a dance circle that still continues today.
It was also around that time that he was set to begin appearing on the stage of Apollo Theater. For this reason he made four separate trips to New York arousing questions from a curious airport customs officer.
"Why have you been coming so often in such a short period of time?"
"I came to run in a dance show".
To which the officer happily replied "All right!"
At the Apollo, contestants must advance through weekly, monthly and seasonal elimination rounds to determine the year end champion. Heaven or hell is judged by the number of decibels produced by the audience. It's difficult to gauge the true reactions from fellow Japanese. Tanaka wanted to play the game and win the game in a non-cosy world with real opinions.
Before long, good fortune calls. He was a pioneering figure who cleared the path to the Apollo Theater and made it famous among Japanese people. Masayuki Tanaka was awarded the TOP DOG championship, undoubtedly a towering achievement as its first east Asian recipient.
He was subliminal on stage.
Feeling by experiencing many things myself.
"Standing by the transfer point between the express and local line in a New York subway, the other members were saying, "It's coming! It's coming! This is it!"
What's coming, I thought. Then I saw the train pull in and as the passengers were rushing off we broke into the 5!6!7!8!. Dancing but no one watching. What should I do?" he jokingly recalls.
Cheerfully, he tells me "Since I experienced such guerilla antics I make my students do similar things in local Tokyo stations. It builds their courage above all. I put a bucket in front but warn them not expect to see any money drop in."
Japan Fashion: Is it connected to breaking down personal barriers?
Masayuki Tanaka: Right, right. When you encounter your barriers you can absolutely clear them by changing the way of expression. Though by meeting them head on you're going to strike them down. In hip hop for example, if you can't sing you can lay down the tracks. If that's no good you can pen the rhymes, but if you can't write then you can dance. If you haven't got rhythm then do the graphics. There's always a hideout. But if it's all hopeless then you should probably just quit hip hop. There's always something you can excel in...If I do that I can get ahead? In hip hop, it's possible in that sense.
JF: How do you like to enjoy yourself?
MT: I have so many interest besides dancing, like shopping and all the other regular things. It's not connected to motion, but I like to create home pages and make videos on computer.
...clubs, when I went to one sometime everybody was dancing the same, all faced toward the DJ booth. They were kind of like a light cult and I thought, what's going on? They can't all be enjoying this. I got tired of it and since then I stopped going. But now what am I going to go? After all I want to dance. I don't have any close liaisons so if there's a dance stage and music playing then any place is good. I take no notice of the names and I've even forgotten where I've been. As far as I was concerned, I was the only person in the crowd. A bit like a regular. A huge house. Although it sounded like the DJs were there to only fill the airspace, I'd be dancing so they'd start spinning some real tunes. I'd dance about an hour, sweat a few pounds and head home. The DJ booth was so high it was out of sight. To tell the truth I don't know if a DJ was actually there or not. Anyway, house played and I danced.
On the other hand, I've seen three hundred person capacity clubs crammed with five hundred and still I'd make a mini circle. Only there can you see a black hole. During the dull times, if you make a dance circle everybody starts to enjoy themselves again. But It can get a little aggressive in the centre so you have to push people to the side, kind of like this (demonstrates with elbow). It's a kind of a technique. A pseudo knock. Then the circle reforms and I start dancing again, the folk liven up but then I get a little bored.
If it gets dull though, then you should go to the good space - even if that means pushing yourself through the riot.
JF: Nowadays, what sustains you?
MT: Although it's common, I value feelings like inner voice and instinct.
There are situations when there is so much information my output can't satisfy the input so then I go the gym to workout. I'd rather tone up the analog aspect of my body. I really value the inspiration gained from such times. It's definitely very important to me.
JF: Do have any kind of personal philosophy?
MT: Through individual and personal experiences, influenced, altered and organized to produce my present thought is my current personal philosophy.
From the present to the future -
"Since I've been managing the dance circle for ten years now, I hope to open up a studio as a dance school. I tend to watch out for things for the studio while driving around.
Although I'm interested in the American style mega gym, I'd also like to make several curriculums with my excellent staff.
For example, if you ask a regular person their dream career they're likely to say professional soccer or baseball player. Even in the future, I don't expect "street dancer" to enter the top ten. In that sense, I feel just in continuing my work as a dancer and trying to bring the profession closer to the public and gain acknowledgement. I think this is my mission.
Like a charismatic beautician it's imaginable.
Step by step, but hopefully so.
Without a broader just cause there is no motivation. If it's only dancing then it's really no more than manual labor. Ordering around the body. But all in all, if you find a higher purpose it's possible, without it then the body can be difficult rouse. If it's a good mission then I think it's OK. Not a false one. "
JF: Up to now, what's been the most important thing in your life?
MT: An intuitive inner voice and being receptive to my five senses.
Masayuki Tanaka was on the front line. Among many who withdrew from life, he remained steadfast and focused. His positive vibes truly shine in a Japan that has been uneasy as of late. This kind of power is the energy that must overflow the true Japanese streets. Like the last note of fragrance, in the space after he left lingered a pleasant afterglow and breath of life for tomorrow.
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Not to long ago, when I reached the age I love deeply, the age I yearned for faded. As a symbol of that age, Masayuki Tanaka was in my past. And on that day he was in front of me. I could never reach it, but he stood beyond time, still longing.
There was a question I couldn't forget from that day.
