Blog - All about Recohan

Guide: Patrick, we haven't yet had a chance to meet, but we have been in touch on the net for a long time. I think it was quite a while ago since we first exchanged emails, after you had found Pop Academy right? Later I learned that you had started an online shop called "Tokyo Recohan", and I grinned at the sight of the word "recohan". I wouldn't have thought that word would come up in English.

Patrick: That's right! I found Pop Academy when doing a search, and since most of the text is translated in English, even today it still helps me a lot to look up stuff about Shibuya-kei and techno-pop. There I had also found many people writing their "recohan nikki" (record hunting diary), that's where I first saw the word "recohan". In English or French there's no such simple word with that meaning, so I thought of using it as is.

Foreign Shibuya-kei fans

G: What was the reason you started Tokyo Recohan?

P: I moved to Tokyo in 2000, and at first I was record hunting for myself, but after a while going to a shop I started thinking "it's a waste if this Les 5-4-3-2-1 CD stays here forever", and I could hardly stand not buying even CDs that I already owned myself. Having many friends abroad who are fans of Shibuya-kei (mainly through the Pizzicato Five Mailing List), I gave it a go. The site was started in May 2002, it's been 5 years already.

G: While you have a separate profession, wasn't it a lot of trouble to start an online record shop? How much time do you devote to it?

P: Currently I collect items while shopping around 2 or 3 times a week, then I update towards the weekend when I have some free time. My only daily tasks are to reply to emails and ship. My main profession being programmer, I created all of the site's system by myself. Since I also like the postal service, I even enjoy it down to shipping.

G: Tokyo Recohan is available in English and French. I guess that must be very useful to foreign fans of Shibuya-kei and J-Pop, but do you get a lot of Japanese customers?

P: Of course since the site is mainly intended for people overseas, I get a lot of customers from North America, Europe and Asia, but about 10% are Japanese living either abroad or in Japan. While the site is in English, the check out and FAQ have bits of Japanese, and also I offer support by email in Japanese, so don't hesitate to write if there's anything!

G: What are Tokyo Recohan's top 5 selling artists so far?

P: The current top 5 looks like this:
1. Pizzicato Five
2. Kahimi Karie
3. KAJI Hideki
4. Cornelius
5. Puffy

The top 30 can also be seen on the site.

Japanese Language Proficiency Test

G: You're a French-Canadian pretty good at Japanese, where did you learn? It seems that you recently gave the Japanese Language Proficiency Test a try?

P: I've never done any serious studying. Back when I'd never have thought of coming to Japan, I took lessons for 8 months in Canada, but I only learned very basic conversation plus hiragana and katakana. Actually the reason why I took lessons was because I was intrigued by Pizzicato Five lyrics. It's after coming to Japan, through living and working here, that I got to learn more Japanese. Last year I passed the Japanese Language Proficiency Test of level 2, but still I sometimes feel like I'm lacking a bit of skill.

French-Canadian

G: To many Japanese, Canada is perceived like a big part of North America, but even within Canada there are big cultural differences in the French parts, right? Do you have any examples?

P: The first who came to Canada were French, that's why Quebec and other Eastern parts have remained mainly French to this day. Some buildings are of European style, and the food and culture is a bit different from the rest of North America. For instance TV programming isn't same as the rest of North America, as it features a lot from France. I think it's correct to say that there's a European feel.

Canadian artists recommendations

G: Thinking of Canadians, the most popular that come to mind are Bryan Adams, Corey Hart, Celine Dion and Avril Lavigne. Personally I prefer Men Without Hats and Martha And The Muffins. What Canadian artists do you recommend? Also, is there some kind of French pop in Canadian pop music?

P: Men Without Hats' "Safety Dance" is a classic! I also remember owning M+M's "Song In My Head" single. Speaking of 80's, Trans-X "Living On Video" also comes to mind.

Lately I'm really hooked to Chromeo. The latest album "Fancy Footwork" is great, it just came out in Japan too.

Others I always keep an eye on include Bran Van 3000, Julie Doiron (folk/rock, ex-Eric's Trip), Ramachandra Borcar (aka Ramasutra aka DJ Ram, lately he's been doing some jazz, I recommend the film soundtrack "Steel & Glass" to Sunaga Tatsuo fans!), A-Trak (scratch DJ, hip-hop producer), Kid Koala (scratch DJ), etc.

Of course there's some French pop culture too. There are even many artists who are only active in Quebec (and other French parts of Canada). Celine Dion too, before becoming a superstar, she had already been playing on our radios for a long time.

Encounter with Japanese culture

G: When did you become interested in Japanese [pop] culture and Japan's music scene?

P: The earliest I can remember is watching anime on TV as a kid. For exemple Rocky Chuck (en: Fables of the Green Forest, fr: Les contes de la forêt verte), Captain Harlock (fr: Albator), Mazinger Z Grandizer (Goldorak), taiyō no ko Esteban (en: The Mysterious Cities of Gold, fr: Les mystérieuses cités d'or), tetsuwan Atom (en: Astro Boy, fr: Astro le petit robot), Tom Sawyer no bōken (en: Adventures of Tom Sawyer, fr: Les aventures de Tom Sawyer), etc. These remained in the back of my mind and may be why I got interested in Japan. After beginning to learn Japanese, when I finally understood the word 「つづく」 (tsuzuku, "to be continued") that appears at the end of each anime episode, it felt like a revelation.

As for music, in the 90's I first got into Shonen Knife, Cibo Matto, Buffalo Daughter and Supersnazz, and later around 1997 or 1998 I found out about Pizzicato Five, Cornelius and Kahimi Karie.

Your current favorites

G: What Japanese music do you like recently?

P: Lately I've been listening to Nomoto Karia's "Dance Music", the fascinations' "color code", dahlia's "Beautiful, But Noir", Ino Hidefumi, and indies electro artist Akane Hosaka.

Glad en Mono

G: You also make music as Glad en Mono, could you tell us a bit about it?

P: Haha! Nothing escapes you. I'm a bit shy about this.

The music is a bit hard to explain, so it may be easier to have a listen. In words, you could maybe say that it's instrumental experimental happy electro pop. Most of the songs are very short, the music playable live with two synthesizers. A cheap American synth from the 80's called the Concertmate-600 is the base of the sound.
Glad en Mono can also be heard on radiodd.com, a net radio from Roma, Italy. Check it out!

Lately I'm not very active, but I'm thinking of making new songs and play live shows again.

G: Thanks a lot for your cooperation.

P: Thank you very much!