The recording of Tempalay's third full-length album, "With Love from the 21 Century," should have been a high point for lead vocalist and guitarist Ryoto Ohara. The group he fronts had climbed up the ranks of Japan's music community since forming in 2014, and even got a shout out from BTS, arguably the biggest male pop group in the world.
What should have been a victory lap, though, proved to be much tougher, as Ohara found himself virtually homeless for two months right in the middle of recording.
"My then-girlfriend and I were living in the same place, but then we broke up," Ohara, 28, says from the Shibuya offices of his label, Space Shower Music (which, he notes, was kind enough to store his belongings during this rough patch). For two months, he bounced between internet cafes, and when asked where Tempalay recorded its latest release, it all blurs together for him.