The Ultimate Optimist
Toshi was suddenly forced to start over again when the music program he was a regular on suddenly came to an end, but he recalls that even at times like that, his fellow musicians gave him chances that allowed him to continue his activities.
While I was doing this, the new show "Jimmy Kimmel Live," which I still perform on, was starting up, and I received an offer to become their exclusive guitarist.
"What's the trick to seizing an opportunity? I think it's to never give up and to keep trying. That's all there is to it. Even if you hit a wall, you just have to keep moving forward. You never know what's going to happen in this world, so I think it's important to just keep moving forward. I'm the ultimate optimist. For example, even if it's something you can't do, I'll say yes and accept the offer. Once you accept it, you just practice as hard as you can. It was the same with the American national anthem. I had never performed it before, but I tried and tested different ways to play it so that it would reach people's hearts," says Toshi.
His optimism is reflected in his happy aura on the outside. Toshi-san has been training behind the scenes as a guitarist, and on stage he shows off his professionalism with a splendid presence. He always exudes the happiness of being able to work on the music he loves.
I asked him if he had ever felt discriminated against as a minority, but perhaps because he is optimistic, he immediately replied that he had no such experience. When his wife Yuki pointed out to him, "When we went on tour in the southern part of the country, weren't you the only one who couldn't order alcohol?", he replied, "That was just because you have a baby face and people thought you were under 21."
He continued to work in America, but a little over 10 years ago, he finally made a triumphant return to his hometown. He was invited to join a tour with famous Japanese artist Eikichi Yazawa. However, at that time, he already had a regular gig on Jimmy Kimmel Live. If he participated in a Japanese tour, he would have to take several months off from his regular gig. However, the idea of performing in Japan, and working with Eikichi Yazawa, was a big attraction. He consulted with his bandmates, who told him, "If his tour is going to be a big opportunity, then go. We'll look after you while you're away."
"Common sense tells us that such a thing would not be allowed, and there would be no way that we would be guaranteed a position when we return. Thankfully, not only the band but also the program was understanding." And in order to live up to that trust, Toshi-san became even more grateful for his work on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" after returning from Japan and began to work hard on his performances. He even served as bandmaster for Eikichi Yazawa's band, and participated in the tour for 10 years.
The stage for success is borderless
In parallel with his regular appearances on US network shows and participation in Eikichi Yazawa's tours, he released the CD "Hello Humanoid," which he composed himself, in 2009. Furthermore, in 2014, he started a new project to interact with Japanese fans and hold workshops to teach guitar techniques and the American industry in Japan.
"This was a very refreshing experience. High school students with dreams of becoming guitarists came on an overnight bus from Sendai and a plane from Kyushu, and we had professional musicians and even guitar fans older than me who enthusiastically participate. I thought that the lesson wouldn't be conveyed unless we played together, so I set up a workshop format that is unfamiliar in Japan, and limited the number of participants to around 30. This is because if I just talked or if I was the only one playing, the participants wouldn't be able to acquire skills. Everyone had different bottom lines, but it was clear that they all loved the guitar. We continue to keep in contact with each other, such as by sending questions by email after the workshop."
Toshi may have seen his younger self in the high school students who participated in the workshop. Comparing himself now to 30 years ago, he told us the following story: "When I came to America 30 years ago, I had the ambition to become a guitarist in a rock band, especially one like Eddie Van Halen. The first show I watched on a used black-and-white TV I bought in San Francisco for about $50 was David Letterman's night show. At the time, I watched that show thinking that I definitely didn't want to be a guitarist on a talk show. But now, 30 years later, I'm a guitarist on a late-night talk show. It was the folly of my youth, and I don't think I understood the value of this job at all back then. I was deeply moved when I met Paul Shaffer, the bandmaster of the Letterman show, in New York the other day."
In the future, Tosi will continue to pass on his knowledge and guitar techniques from America to the next generation. While he has already composed songs for TV dramas in America, he also has the ambition to compose theme music for movies and TV dramas in Japan and perform it himself. Of course, he will also continue to be active as a guitarist. "As long as I can play the guitar I love, it doesn't matter where I am," says Tosi. His stage is borderless.
© 2015 Keiko Fukuda
