Tsuyoshi Tanaka Q&A
-Hey Tsuyoshi, how's it going?
- Good guys, good.
-So how did you end up here talking to us? Tell us a bit about your story, where you're from, how you made it to Milan, and how music, fashion and fabrics all weave together in your life.
- I came to Milan to work for a Japanese company that had opened an office here, and I moved with my whole family. I was already married with two kids at the time, my third was born here in Milan. After about a year, a friend who worked in the womenswear department at Jil Sander, knowing my background and expertise, asked if I'd be interested in joining the menswear team. I said yes straight away. I had an interview with Ms. Jil Sander herself, and she took me on immediately, telling me I'd start the following week. I explained I'd need to give notice at my current job, but that's how it went. Taking a step back, I grew up in a neighbourhood just outside Tokyo. I studied fashion at Bunka Fashion College, and in the eighties I started working for Yohji Yamamoto. He was a brilliant madman. I started out doing womenswear design, making all the patterns. Yohji wanted every designer to know how to sew for fittings too, you needed an enormous knowledge and hands-on understanding of the fabrics you worked with, around eighty percent of which were developed exclusively for Yamamoto. I then moved to the menswear department, and after that I went to Boston for two years. A friend of Yohji's, a buyer who had a boutique there that stocked all his collections from the late seventies and early eighties, had decided to launch his own brand and asked if I'd come and help him. Yohji gave me his blessing. I was thrilled, because I'd been wanting an experience outside Japan, and this would be my first time leaving the country. I said yes and off I went, I think it was 1991. I was completely captivated by American music culture. Those were the years grunge was being born, with Nirvana and everything that came with it, and I found myself going to New York pretty often too, a city that at the time was absolutely buzzing with culture and energy. CBGB was still open. It was all incredible, though not without its dangers. When I returned to Tokyo after that period, I went back to my role as head designer of the menswear department, working on many runway shows. The show music, worth mentioning at a table full of music lovers like this one, was almost entirely original, with contributions from musicians like Yukihiro Takahashi and Yellow Magic Orchestra, among others. We'd spend days together in the studio developing and refining the right sound, and at the end we'd present the work to Yohji, who'd just say: "wow…" I was part of the entire creative and artistic chain during that magical period. More recently, as a freelancer, I've been working back and forth with Paris for Dior. They called, and I couldn't say no. Monday to Friday in Paris, then back home for the weekend. I started recognising the same faces on the flights each way, a bit like commuters on a train running the same route day after day.
-Music has always been part of your cultural baggage?
- Yes, always. My first passion was Rock N' Roll, from the age of ten. Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, all those British bands, I always loved them. Then Punk arrived and I completely lost my mind over it. Bear in mind that in Japan all compulsory schooling is done in uniform, everyone is always very neat and tidy, that's just how it's always been. And there I was, at around fifteen, already covering my school uniform with pins and that kind of thing, trying to bring my passion for that musical wave into my everyday look, a wave that carried in its message the transgression of rules. I even had a band with friends, we played proper punk songs, about a minute long each, truly DIY. Then New Wave came along and I fell for that too. I've always had a soft spot for reggae as well, partly because Punk, with The Clash for instance, would take its elements, blend them up and reimagine them. Then hip-hop arrived and that hit me hard too, I had crews, we did breakdance, all of that. These are my influences, but always a bit more British than American.
-So, what were your first encounters with the music scene in Milan like?
- I started by buying records around the city, then by going to the Jamaica, where there were music events every week. But it was really places like the Pergola and Leoncavallo where I began to absorb the musical culture of this city. The club as a place to listen to music never really interested me that much. But if you want to know how I started DJing in Milan, that's actually a very recent story. I never liked performing in front of people, but thanks to someone who pushed me to do it, I started, with an event organised at Trattoria Yamada, the Yamada Night. Restaurant closed, friends in front of me, that was the first time I played. After that I played a few times at some listening bars, and now more and more often. I keep collecting records but I left a lot of them in Japan. I need to find a way to get them here, but it's not easy, they're heavy and shipping is expensive, haha. I should probably ask my sister who lives in Tokyo to send them over, but they're at my wife's parents' place so it's a bit complicated. Maybe I should sell them, because I think some rare Japanese pressings could be worth something. In Tokyo I have many spots where I go digging, but some of my favourites are gone now, like Cisco Records, which closed in 2007, and Wave, in Roppongi, tied to a label and a chain of record stores that also shut down. Funny enough, until May I believe, Jil Sander collaborated with Cisco to transform their Ginza flagship in Tokyo into an immersive listening environment. Two important parts of my life coming together, what a coincidence…
-You mentioned listening bars. How do you see this explosion of these spaces in Milan, coming as you do from a place like Japan where the famous Jazz Bars have become a cultural icon?
- I think the Japanese approach was more gradual, and because of that certain places became genuinely rooted in the territory, for a variety of cultural reasons, in a deeper and more authentic way. Here it feels a bit more like a moment's trend. In the post-war period jazz bars multiplied across Japan, and even today they represent a true cultural and musical heritage, which then gave rise to a cult that is more modern, more of today. Here perhaps the opposite process has happened.
-We are great lovers of Japanese culture and often find various echoes of it in Italian culture, even certain similarities. Tell us, from your perspective, what are the points of contact and the biggest differences between the two cultures.
- Let me think. In Japan we are very, let's say, obsessive. We go very, very deep into things, in every field. Particularly in art and music. And I think Italians are the same way. Think about food: we use simple, fresh ingredients, excellent raw materials, and it's the same in Italy. On a human level, and maybe this is obvious, but we Japanese tend to be more shy and reserved, while here people are more open. I should say that among younger Japanese this tendency is starting to shift a little, and I think that's a good thing, a natural evolution. Personally I've always felt very much at home here, also because it wasn't a huge cultural shock for me since I already knew many Italians. They are both, without question, cultures of great personality.
