Asian Music Guide

Nobuaki Satoh

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Fixed Media

2024

6 min.

Koto

Program Notes: I was born in Japan, but later moved to China, where I was raised as a Chinese child through elementary and middle school. Wearing a red scarf, I saluted the Chinese flag every morning and sang the national anthem with pride, fully embodying a Chinese boy. Yet, I often faced discrimination simply because I had a Japanese name. As anti-Japanese sentiment grew over issues like the Yasukuni Shrine visits and the Senkaku Islands dispute, I found myself wondering during history classes if I should be ashamed of my Japanese identity. Despite the political tension, Japanese subculture oddly found its way into everyday life. My classmates casually used Japanese internet slang and enjoyed Japanese content as part of their daily routines. Should I then take pride in being Japanese? When I returned to Japan, I saw the media eagerly consuming shocking images of collapsing buildings and malfunctioning elevators in China. I couldn’t shake the feeling of discomfort. Where do I truly belong? As someone who is half-Japanese and half-Chinese, I find myself being neither fully Japanese nor fully Chinese. I feel stuck in between, incomplete. The only vague label that hovers around me is simply “Asian.”
Recording Notes: recorded on May 16th at the Densho Hall, Tokyo, Japan.
Ensemble Name: Ryusei Shikano