Interview with Mogamigawa Tsukasa

In June 2015, Japan's first visual enka singer Mogamigawa Tsukasa (also known as TSUKASA, the drummer of visual rock band THE MICRO HEAD 4N'S and a former member of D'espairsRay), released his first major single MATSUPOIYO. Now, almost seven years later and with his new album, titled Hyakka ryouran ~Moga Channel Best Plus One~, out today, JaME took the chance to ask the singer some questions about his origins, the album and some other topics as well.

Since it’s been a long time since we last spoke, let’s take a quick look into your origins once more. When was the first time you thought of starting a solo career as an enka singer? What made you dream of that?

Mogamigawa Tsukasa: When my band D’espairsRay disbanded in June 2011 I thought about what I wanted to do after and I remembered that when I was a child I once had the dream to become an enka singer, so I started to write songs and practice singing.

The visual kei look has played a part in much of your musical career. Was it clear for you since the beginning that you wanted to retain that image in your enka career?

Mogamigawa Tsukasa: I never really thought that I was going to do a visual kei look but kazuya, the leader of THE MICRO HEAD 4N'S, gave me some advice saying that a visual kei enka singer would be really interesting. I thought I’d give it a go and it became the style that I have today.

Do you have different sources of inspiration when playing rock music vs enka music?

Mogamigawa Tsukasa: The person I am when singing and the person I am when drumming are basically two separate creatures, so they both have separate inspiration. When I sing, I draw inspiration from creating staging that pulls out the atmosphere and the surroundings, but when I play drums, I become the base for the music and draw inspiration out that way, if that makes sense.

In our very first interview with you, we had asked you whether fans of your enka work behave differently compared to the rock fans. Last time, you said that it was difficult to answer because you had only sung in front of enka fans a few times. What is your opinion on that today?

Mogamigawa Tsukasa: The coronavirus pandemic is still ongoing so I can’t really draw many comparisons, but enka fans are usually calmer and more refined, and rock fans are more passionate. Whichever it is, I am so thankful to all of my fans.

Do you think that your fans listen to both your rock music and enka, or do you think that you have a different fan base for each genre?

Mogamigawa Tsukasa: Personally, I love both enka and rock so I don’t really have a frame of reference, but there are probably some enka fans that really don’t get on with rock music; but, likewise, there are likely rock fans that don’t really like enka. So I don’t think that I could say that all of my fans listen to both rock and enka. Everyone has their own likes and dislikes so I can’t tell people that I want them to listen to both, but, if people did, I would be really happy.

You have performed several times in your hometown of Yamagata. Do your parents often come to see you? What kind of comments have you gotten from them regarding your music?

Mogamigawa Tsukasa: Until the pandemic happened, they used to come and see me a lot. They always encourage me and tell me that I’m always trying my best!

In addition to music, you are very talented at drawing. Are there any other talents you have that fans might not know about yet?

Mogamigawa Tsukasa: I can do a really good "Laputa: Castle in the Sky" impression.

Last June, you celebrated the 6th anniversary of your major debut with the live show Mogamigawa Tsukasa Debut 6 Shuunen kinen Concert ~Kansha no hana wo minasama ni~ Nibu. What are your memories of this event - especially since it was streamed via ZAIKO as well?

Mogamigawa Tsukasa: I was really happy that I was able to perform Kansha no Hana ("Flower of Gratitude"), which was originally the title song for my 5th anniversary concert, at my 6th anniversary concert, and I’m so grateful for that. On top of being thankful for people following all of the prevention measures during the pandemic, I recall being grateful for my enka career and all the enthusiasm for it. Even now, that feeling hasn’t changed and my desire to have an eternal bond with my fans is still going strong. It had been so long since I’d had a concert with a live audience, so I was so happy.

Over the past year you’ve released one new song per month on YouTube. Could you please share some of your thoughts on the songs or memories from writing and recording each of them? Let's start with Kaerunoko wa kaeru.

Mogamigawa Tsukasa: There is a theme of "Family Songs" running through the 12 tracks I released throughout the year. The first, energetic song paints a picture of my thoughts on my father. Just as the lyrics say, it’s a song in which I threw all my feelings of gratitude towards my parents, as we weren’t a very wealthy family, but my father tried his hardest to raise my older brother and I, even though he fell ill. If he could, he would always try to come home to see us. I remember being really happy since I recorded it the first time round on a mic that kazuya had gifted me. My fans’ reaction to the song was also amazing and it’s fun looking at the number of times it’s been played on YouTube every day.

About Yuki akari?

Mogamigawa Tsukasa: I uploaded a warming song since it was the same time as the Gassan Shizu hot spring’s Yukihatago No Akari festival in Yamagata prefecture. Women, in particular, seemed to like this song, and it’s personally one of my favourites. My heart was stolen by a really pretty picture of the festival that I saw four or five years before I wrote this song and I desperately wanted to make that stirring imagery into a song. It’s a song about the fleeting dreams of a girl broken by unrequited love thinking about the family she could have in the future. I want everyone to go see the Yukihatago No Akari festival in real life. I did the arrangement of the song, and I have experience in wind, brass and string instruments and timpani drums, so I used those to bring out the intensity of the music. This created such a beautiful and magical song. I also added in some of kazuya’s guitar solos and piano, and I think that that irregular rhythm gave lovely accents to the song. It became a song that I really love.


About Gassan?

Mogamigawa Tsukasa: Gassan is the mountain that I grew up looking at as a small child from where I lived in Yamagata. It’s a magnificent presence to the people of Yamagata and also to my parents, so I made my parents and Gassan into a metaphor. Watching my parents’ backs as I grew up I thought that I would one day surpass them, but even if I gained my social standing or rights, or become richer than my parents, I realised that I would never be able to do that because they had raised me. Parents are magnificent. That’s the feeling I put into this song. It was a great feeling to be able to sing my own creation in enka after such a long time.


About Kishou tenkizu?

Mogamigawa Tsukasa: I often saw families bring their children along to events so I made this song to appeal to children, but I think that it actually became something that resonated with adults as well. However people carry their feelings and whatever state they’re in, this song lifts the spirits and it has the message that even if it’s by chance that you’re alive you’ll become a great force, even if you feel insignificant. The MV was homemade as well so it’s not very good, but as an artist it’s one of my favourite songs.


About Potsuri?

Mogamigawa Tsukasa: If you listen to this you’ll become super energetic! (laughs) If you see someone who is sad, make them listen to this song! Even though you can describe it in one word as ‘isolation’, there are so many meanings to it. Loneliness, wretchedness, single, alone, only a little… Let’s all enjoy singing about all of those types of isolation together!


About MU・GA・SA・RI?

Mogamigawa Tsukasa: I made this song when I heard about an acquaintance of an acquaintance getting married. It’s sung from the point of view of a bride. The pandemic was a time when a lot of people were not able to celebrate weddings. It would be great if this song makes some of those people happy. The rap part was so fast that it wasn’t very easy to record. It was so difficult!


About Love rakada bura?

Mogamigawa Tsukasa: This is a song for all my fans, about how they are family to me. There is no mistaking that this song is going to be fantastic song for lighting fires with my performances at one-man concerts, so because I’m aiming to be a vocalist that lights that flame, I’m trying really hard! My feelings and thoughts about my fans should be really obvious if you read the lyrics! It’s a song that I want to enjoy surrounded by all my fans.


About Natsu namida?

Mogamigawa Tsukasa: I think that there were a lot of people that suffered sadness during the coronavirus pandemic. Personally, I recall the relatives that I have lost, and I filled this song with various thoughts. I experienced losing someone really important to me in the summer so I wrote this song from the emotional standpoint of an elderly lady left behind. The lyrics contain the wish that because their love began in summer and ended in summer, it won't end because they will continue to love each other even if they are reborn. For me, a landscape of sunflowers blooming in summer is both beautiful and sad, depending on whoever is looking at it. This song is written beautifully, quietly and vividly about a slightly sad summer.


About Chou no Brooch?

Mogamigawa Tsukasa: There is a song about my father so I also made a song about my mother. I hurried making this song because I wanted to be in time for my mother’s birthday in September, but it’s become a really important song to me. It’s a rare way for me to write lyrics, where there are only lyrics at the peak of the song, and the melody continues throughout. This song seems to resonate with men a lot. I think it’s particularly touching if you listen to it from the point of view of a son. My youth and rebellious eras felt like a single second if I look back on it now, but it probably seemed really long to my mother and was probably a really difficult time for her. It’s filled with the feeling of thankfulness for my mother.


About Mikoshi?

Mogamigawa Tsukasa: This is a song that you get into really quickly. I had loads of fun recording it. The lyrics are quite personal and it’s a festival song celebrating the world up to now, so I think it’s quite a different taste to my others. It also contains the wish for world peace. I hope that this wish crosses the mountains and the seas to be delivered across the world.


About Oushou ibaramichi?

Mogamigawa Tsukasa: I made this song by imagining the human Shogi festival of Tendo in Yamagata. People are heading towards their dreams. That’s what this song was written to show. To me and to those people who listen to it, I think it will be a really encouraging song. Head towards your dreams, overcome important things and continue ahead resolutely.


About PM10:00?

Mogamigawa Tsukasa: It’s a serious song, but I think you can also smile about it. I’ve smiled through this song multiple times when singing it. I think it might be a song that will raise the roof at karaoke and bars. By the way, the lyrics are half real life stories, where the fun and anger of those times makes me realise how young I was. Everyone has to sing, dance and have fun with this song!


Your new album Hyakka ryouran ~Moga Channel Best Plus One~ also features the new song Amanogawa. What can you tell us about it?

Mogamigawa Tsukasa: It’s a song that I’ve sung before many years ago and many times at regional events, but kazuya is the one who wrote the lyrics and melody. He let me write totally different lyrics for it and re-release it. We often got invited to do Tanabata events, so I wrote the lyrics whilst thinking about the general public at those events. The content of the lyrics is about the story of Vega and Altair that everyone knows, but it also contains a message to my fans on top of that so it’s a very deep song. I want to continue to convey the love of those two stars.

You are not only busy with your career as Mogamigawa Tsukasa but also with Mogamizakura Zensen, THE MICRO HEAD 4N'S, Still Night and OFIAM, which must get a bit stressful at times. When you feel overworked, what do you do to relax?

Mogamigawa Tsukasa: I go to the nearby hot springs. I also sleep on my house’s balcony whilst the wind blows.

Speaking of Mogamizakura Zensen, can fans of that project expect some new music or maybe a physical release from it in the future?

Mogamigawa Tsukasa: I think that everyone can expect and look forward to a lot from us three.

With the new album and the mini-live campaign on the way, is there anything else fans can look forward to from Mogamigawa Tsukasa this year?

Mogamigawa Tsukasa: We are keeping an eye on the coronavirus pandemic, but I want to appear at more concerts and go to events and festivals in various regions, as well as appear on TV and radio. I would also like to be asked to write lots of songs.

Thank you very much for answering our questions. To close the interview, could you please leave a message for our readers?

Mogamigawa Tsukasa: It is thanks to everyone's support that I have been able to sing on stage for nearly seven years as Mogamigawa Tsukasa. Thank you so very much! I want to keep making and singing lots of songs, so please keep encouraging me! I want to be the first worldwide visual kei enka performer from Yamagata, performing both in Japan and abroad, so please don’t take your eyes off me! I’ll come straight to where you are!

JaME would like to thank Mogamigawa Tsukasa and his management for making time for this interview.

Below, you can watch a digest trailer for Hyakka ryouran ~Moga Channel Best Plus One~, including a short music video for the new song Amanogawa: