Girls Just Want To Have Fun!
Teenage Boogie
Are you a next star? Teenagers are full of life.
Photo_Mariko Kobayashi
JAPANESEENGLISH
Creativity is not derived from a specific generation,
but the teenagers, especially the current juveniles, are emanating their distinctive fascinations
that are not seen among adults.
Today, we’ve met seven teenagers who acquire hot, pure, and creative mindsets.
Let’s dig into their minds what are they contemplating of today; what will they generate;
and, how are they going to innovate the future?
I wanna be an influential existence who can lead my generation.
Riisa Totani (18)
instagram_@ny_____r
- What’s your current occupation?
- I am a freshman at Tama Art University Art Science. My leisure activity is creating my own stickers.
- Why stickers?
- During the summer of my senior year at high school, I started it between the time I was studying for the university entrance examinations. I just couldn't bear the typical high schooler’s norm of studying, studying, and merely studying for the college. Thus, creating stickers for me was to transmit my message of “why don’t we enjoy now?” to my generation who is obsessed for the examination.
- What do you think is an attraction of a sticker?
- A sticker can clearly present a person’s sense and taste, and the combination of them does really display who you are.
- Who is your favorite artist?
- Tadanori Yokoo. I like both his artworks and books that I feel his style is somewhat in common with me.
- What is your dream and goal?
- I wanna be an influential existence who can lead my generation by demonstrating what I like and by seeking what I want just like when I started producing stickers.
Uneasiness, Thrill, and Passion.
Masumi Ishida (18)
instagram_@8msmsm8
- What’s your current occupation?
- I am a general college student who likes photography.
- What was the catalyst to start photography?
- I started photography when I first bought a cell phone at the age of thirteen and then began taking photos everyday. Thereafter, I started using a digital single lens reflex camera when I was an 8th grader, and then I acquired QuickSnap when I got into a high school where I started to prefer a film camera since then.
- I saw you had an exhibition at Omotesando Rocket recently.
- Most of the images are from my high school years, and thus I felt an uneasiness if I’m qualified to hold an exhibition.
- What kind of pictures do you like to take?
- I love taking photos of my friends at school. In addition, I like blue, so I tend to take pictures with those blueish ambiences. At my exhibition, some visitors told me that my “photographs are entirely bright”, and I was very happy to hear the comment, but at the same time, I noticed how my work is perceived by the other people as well.
- Will you remain yourself a photographer?
- I definitely love photography, but I’m also interested in media, advertising, and editing occupations, so I’d like to intern at a company in those industries. I have lots of things I wanna do, so I’m pretty distressed about my future, haha.
When stuck with something, just shift the direction.
Jurin Asaya (14)
instagram_＠jurinasaya
- What’s your current occupation?
- I am a professional snowboarder and a student at Avex artist academy. I started snowboarding when I was 3-year-old and debuted as a pro at the age of 11.
- You are also active as a model, right?
- Yes. I’m sometimes offered from magazines such as Popteen or Droptokyo. I love fashion too, so a model was my dream occupation when I was little.
- What kind of lesson do you take in the artist academy?
- I go there as many as four times a week and mostly learn dancing and singing.
- Snowboarding, modeling, dancing, and singing… You must be really busy since you even have to attend a school as well.
- On weekends, I also go to Kugenuma Skatepark, which is nearby my home, for skateboarding. I was born to be too active, haha; additionally, physical education is my favorite class at school.
- What is your most favorite activity of all?
- It’s hard to answer… Yet, I like various activities, and I don’t stay in one activity for long, so I tend to revive myself for doing something else when I’m stuck with a particular exercise. Still, I’ll most likely focus on learning music in the future.
Wanna stay dope forever.
soushi (19)
instagram_@soushi_g_
- What’s your current occupation?
- I am creating clothing under the brand called Kirime as well as generating a CD as a DJ.
- What kind of brand is Kirime?
- I basically produce what I want to wear, and I’ll keep generating cool clothing.
- When did you begin DJ?
- I started it since my sophomore year. Generally, I like hip hop and soul music, so I possess the specific concept when I compose a CD. Actually, I recently visited New York, and I was inspired there, so I incorporated New York-like artists and producers within the CD.
- Who is your favorite artist?
- Tyler, The Creator. Since I was in middle school, I adored his dope lifestyle just like living for producing clothing and rap music.
- Do you wish to become like him?
- I wanna be damn and dope forever. My ideal lifestyle is when I wake up, I open my PC or mpc for composing music, then go to Setagaya Park for skating at evening, and working as a DJ at night. I sometimes work as a model as well, so I wish to live by doing something I want forever.
Remind myself to remain myself.
Ibuki Sakai（19）
instagram_@iibbuukkii_
- What’s your current occupation?
- I’m a model. I started the career like two years ago when I got into my current company.
- You are also working as an artist, right?
- Since I was little, I liked a crafting class at school where I spontaneously reveled in creating something and produced collages when I was in middle school. At high school, I started photography and sticker-making. Moreover, I designed a booklet without knowing it was a zine. Furthermore, I like Tepra as well in which this piece was already formed as the current shape when I was a high-schooler. Usually, I post my creations on Instagram, and Ken Kagami recently discovered my items there where he began to exhibit them as my products at Strange Store.
- How do you construct those artworks?
- Everything comes from inspirations such as a picture book or an old-fashioned magazine, which can be anything that visually provokes me. I cut off the pages of those books into pieces to paste them together or to print them out as stickers. For Studio Voice, I began to work on some projects which include writing, and I recognized that I’m a person who has to manage several projects simultaneously, not one after one.
- What is your favorite time of a day?
- That’s absolutely when I’m creating something! I can sit in a chair all day long focusing on my production. I love what I create.
- What is your integral motto?
- I always remind myself to remain myself. As you know, once artists become famous and popular, they tend to produce “what customers want” and quit creating “what artists themselves want”, so I definitely don’t wanna be like that. Thus, I really adore Ken Kagami in that sense.
Time is never enough in Tokyo.
noel (19)
instagram_@gummymane
- What’s your current occupation?
- I’m a photographer from Hawaii attending a college in San Francisco. Currently, I’m an exchange student staying in Tokyo till August.
- Your Japanese skill is good.
- My mom is a Japanese where she is from Kobe. She didn’t teach me her dialect, Kansai-ben, though.
- What is your impression of Tokyo?
- Staying here is too much fun and time is never enough in Tokyo. Hawaii is so relaxed where people mostly chill at a beach, but Tokyo is too busy in any aspect. Oh, by the way, I love Taco Bell here! I don't know why, but Taco Bell in Japan is the best, haha!
- What was the catalyst for you to start photography?
- It’s because I had so many pretty friends around me. Before I came here, I shot photos for a catalog of a brand and also took a music video.
- What is your vision of your future?
- I was thinking to establish an import shop in Japan, but I recently feel like to become a farmer in Hawaiian countryside as well. Yet, I also wanna be a photographer, so I’ll try whatever jobs I instinctively feel like to.
Crave an art-related job for my future.
Soogyong Kim (16)
instagram_@kimsugy
- What’s your current occupation?
- I am a junior-year student who likes to take pictures and also to be taken, and I also do various kinds of stuffs as well.
- When did you begin photography?
- I started it with my friends when I was an 8th grader. I like taking photos because photography is something I can preserve the moment of my life and I can go back to the time when I see it again sometime in the future.
- What kind of photos do you take?
- Something that the coloring is nice. I like the French movie director, Godard, whom inspired me tremendously in the way he displays distinctive coloring and the other unique ideas.
- What else are you interested in?
- I wanna shoot a video just like the movie, Love & Peace, in which I desire to present what I think and feel of today through a video. In addition, I’m currently only posting photos on Instagram, but I wish to hold my own exhibition somewhere at sometime as well.
- What kind of occupation are you seeking for your future?
- I have too many jobs I wish to work for, but I absolutely crave an art-related job for my future.
