Who Is the Brand Owner? (Part 1)
Hi, I'm Tsukasa, the owner behind TsukasaJames.
Starting today, I've decided to write a blog, so here I am typing away. There's a lot I want to talk about, but let's start with an introduction of myself.
I run this brand alone, here in Japan. Cutting the leather, stitching it, finishing it, taking the photos, packing every order — it's all me.
But I wasn't originally a leatherworker. I used to be a composer. I wrote music for idol singers within the Japanese music scene.
Even so, becoming a composer was never something I planned. What I actually wanted was to become a guitarist.
As a teenager, I was carried through those years by HR/HM artists.
I first discovered music through Chage and Aska in middle school, and in high school I decided I wanted to play guitar. A classmate of mine already played, so he taught me everything — from buying my first guitar onward.
But... for two weeks straight, I couldn't get a single proper sound out of it.
I asked that same classmate why. This was shocking too — I'd been pressing down right on top of the frets, which is why no sound came out. I had no idea you were supposed to press between the frets (laughs). No wonder it wasn't working, and no wonder I thought it was impossibly hard.
I finally figured out how to make the guitar actually sound. Now the real practice could begin.
But then I hit another wall. Chage and Aska were mostly strumming chords — not that interesting to play, and I never wanted to sing like they did. I lost interest fast.
Around then, I asked that same classmate again, and he mentioned a magazine called Young Guitar. "Why not try playing something from that?" he said. So I bought it, as told — and inside was the sheet music for Deep Purple's "Smoke on the Water."
I rented the CD right away from a rental shop, and it hit me like a shock. "I know this intro!" That famous riff — I'd heard it somewhere before, without even knowing it.
To be continued.