I have been traveling around the country since September meeting people involved in different independent music scenes in such places as Hokkaido, and Iwate and Saitama prefectures. After taking a break over winter, I resumed my travels this month and headed to the contrasting environments of icy Ishikawa Prefecture and sunny Okinawa.
The person I was most keen to meet in Ishikawa's capital of Kanazawa was a local event organizer and musician who goes by the name Asuna. For the past six years, he has devoted himself to creating a series of mini-CD compilations, each featuring 21 tracks that are a minute in length and recorded using vintage Casiotone synthesizers.
Currently on volume six, the Casiotone compilations include artists from Ishikawa and its neighboring prefectures, as well as some from elsewhere in Japan and overseas. The project has an eye-wateringly specific focus, and Asuna insists on only working with musicians he has met in person and played alongside.