While struggling to find contemporary jazz venues in Osaka, I stumbled upon Studio T-Bone, a venue supporting both live jazz and photography and decided to visit. Pianist Yukari Sekiya 関谷 友加里 and percussionist Naoto Yamagishi 山㟁直人 やまぎしなおと were improvising together. While I didn’t manage to get to know them well on that occasion, I was delighted to spend time with the creative family members running the studio. A chance encounter months later unexpectedly brought Yukari back into my mind. When I reached out to her, she responded, and I’ve now learned what a deep and inspiring artist and person she is, opening the door to possible future collaborations. It was a powerful reminder that we can’t always see right away why our intuition speaks to us. Sometimes, it may be setting something in motion far in the future or for a purpose quite different from what we imagine.
Gotanjoji — A Temple Where the Cats Are Teachers, Too (April 22, 2024)
On my way from Kanazawa down to Hiroshima, I took a detour in Fukui Prefecture to visit Gotanjoji, a Sōtō Zen temple in Shoden-cho, Echizen City, known informally as a cat temple. I came for the cats, but I was also intrigued by the temple’s history, such as it is....
Sinikka Langeland — Channeling the Spirits of the Forest at Mokkiriya, Kanazawa, 4/21/24
Here I am at the historic Mokkiriya jazz cafe and live house, founded in 1971 in Kanazawa, Japan, with the unique Norwegian-Finnish musical artist Sinikka Langeland. Meeting her in western Japan is as fortuitous as it is unlikely. Sinikka performs jazz-inflected songs...
置き去られた鏡 The Forsaken Mirror by Chie Matsui 松井智惠 at Gallery Nomart, Osaka 4/20/24
On my last night in Osaka, I scrapped my plan to see a concert whose musicians had not gotten back to me in order to attend a performance at the closing night reception for the solo exhibition 置き去られた鏡 The Forsaken Mirror by the celebrated artist Chie Matsui 松井智惠. From...
KYOTOGRAPHIE KG+ Photographer Group “WOMB” (Masami Ueda, Rino Kawasaki, Kalina Leonard, Sana Kohmoto) 10th Anniversary Exhibition (April 26, 2024)
WOMB photographers Masami Ueda, Rino Kawasaki, Sana Kohmoto, and Kalina Leonard in front of the exhibit of WOMB magazines and photo books at their 10th anniversary exhibition at the Kyoto Museum of Photography I had circled the KYOTOGRAPHIE KG+ Photographer Group...