I was recently able to visit the 052 Nagoya area on holiday. The trip gave me the opportunity to learn more about Tokona’s home first-hand and a desire to return for a longer stay some time in the future.

I remember around 10 years ago now, I was building up to starting my final year dissertation. Of course, I wanted to write about Hip-Hop culture in Japan. I was dissuaded from doing so by one of my lecturers because doing so at that time, would be to speak of something I knew nothing about.

Although I listened to a lot of the music and was deeply interested in Japanese culture, I’d never been there and I couldn’t really speak the language. When engaging in cultural anthropology, it’s important that you’ve at least visited the place you’re talking about.

I was fortunate enough to go to Japan the same year I graduated and spend four years there. Although I did visit Tokyo and Shibuya, I never visited Nagoya or Tokoname. My Experiences were mostly of East Japan and the closest I’d been to Tokona’s home was passing through Nagoya Station on the Shinkansen.

A few months ago, I visited Japan on holiday and was lucky enough to visit both Nagoya and Tokoname. It was great to finally be in the area that gave us great artists like Twigy, DJ Hazu and of course, Tokona-X.

Over the coming months, I will once again share knowledge of Tokona’s life with you. Because I have been to his local area, I’ll be more informed and able to share better insights with you. Although I was only there for a short time, I learned a lot about the area that I can share.