INDEX
The unexpected impact of the changing landscape by the massive redevelopment
Nomura: I think Thailand needs political stability to make progress in city development, don’t you think?
Ginn: That’s not quite true. There is an area called Siam, which is a town where many young people gather, and which is called the Harajuku-Shibuya of Thailand in Japanese guidebooks. The area was developed so much that I can no longer remember any trace of the original town. There are areas like that, and then there are areas where the sidewalks are still rickety and unpaved, so the disparity in town development is quite severe.
Also, although it may not have the same meaning as city development, one problem with transportation infrastructure is that Thailand is famous for its terrible traffic jams. In some cases, a car can be stuck in traffic for up to an hour. Traffic congestion seems to be caused by a combination of various factors, such as city structure, road layout, traffic system, traffic rules, traffic manners, and lifestyle, etc. It is a deep-rooted problem that will not be solved immediately by modifying any of these factors.
Nomura: I see. Fukuoka has also gone through the Corona Disaster, and the two major redevelopment projects, “Tenjin Big Bang” and “Hakata Connected,” have changed the landscape of the city center. Fukuoka used to have a cityscape with no tall buildings because the airport was located in the middle of the city and building height was restricted by law, but now that the law has been relaxed, the government is in the midst of a flag-waving campaign to aggressively rebuild. The Ritz-Carlton is located on the site of the former Daimyo Elementary School, which was closed down in the center of the city, and the former schoolyard on the first floor has been turned into a lawn area for disaster prevention.
is a member of the Fukuoka collective BOAT and in charge of miscellaneous work for the band MADE IN HEPBURN, which is the core of the collective. After graduating from college, at the age of 23, he started working part-time at “LOVE FM” and became involved in the production of radio programs, supporting fellow artists he met in the process of producing the RKB Mainichi Broadcasting radio programs “Drink Bar Bonjin Conference” and “Chartbusters r!”, which led him to establish the music He established the music collective BOAT. BOAT’s activities led to the creation of music videos for major artists such as Siip, AmPm, and Yoshiho Nakamura, as well as for Fukuoka artists such as Deep Sea Diving Club, Cranazm, and YOUND. From 2022, he will be producing an official podcast for Spotify and a program for Hi-Tide Store and Paper Sky magazine, as well as a documentary about Fukuoka’s emerging artists. In addition to directing various audio contents such as “THINKING CLOUD,” a program by High Tide Store and Paper Sky magazine, he is also a member of Fukuoka Music City Council, where he is in charge of event direction. He will organize “BEYONDERS,” a collight project by artists from Fukuoka and Thailand.
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Ginn: The last time I visited Fukuoka, perhaps due to redevelopment, I felt an atmosphere that was different from other cities in Japan, or perhaps not even in Thailand, like a city in Asia but in some other country, and I thought it was evolving in a unique way.
Nomura: This may be due to the fact that it is a regional city with a growing population, which is rare in Japan, especially among immigrants. Also, there are no large buildings, so the whole city gets a lot of sunlight, and Tenjin in particular has been around since the days of the daimyo’s mansions, so the streetscape is still relatively beautiful. The Tenjin Big Bang is to rebuild about 70 buildings until about 2026.
Ginn: That would change the way the sun shines, wouldn’t it?
Nomura: I think the landscape will change drastically. Over the past five years, more and more musicians from Fukuoka have been attracting attention, and I have frequently been asked in interviews, “Don’t you feel that there is a common atmosphere among artists from Fukuoka?” But I didn’t really think so. But after looking at the lyrics and listening to the melodies, I realized that artists from Fukuoka are likely to be inspired by the same scenery. In Tokyo, there is Shibuya, Shinjuku, Shimokitazawa, and Kichijoji. The atmosphere of each city is very different and the scenery varies from season to season. If it takes longer, it takes about 30 minutes. When you live in the city, your area of activity is usually the same, so the scenery you see is similar. I suspect that this common scenery brews a certain atmosphere. That is my observation.
Ginn: When the landscape of a city changes due to redevelopment, it may affect the expression of artists in the long run.
Nomura: Yes, that’s right. In the first part, we talked about the “XX generation” of live music clubs in Thailand, but in Fukuoka, we may see a generation after the Tenjin Big Bang.
