Kafu, who made her debut in 2018 and became the first virtual singer to hold a solo live concert at the iconic Nippon Budokan, has now begun a new chapter as a singer-songwriter. After turning 20 this year, Kafu transitioned into her new persona, Kaika, performing only original songs she created. Her new identity was first revealed during her 4th ONE-MAN LIVE “Kaika” on January 14. The performance was met with a warm reception from the audience, though some expressed surprise at the stark contrast between Kafu’s avatar-based performances and Kaika’s raw, self-written music. Despite this, the two personas are deeply intertwined, each reflecting a natural evolution of the other.
The music videos for Kaika’s songs, “Tenkōsei,” “Higurashi no Uta,” and “Stand By Me,” were directed by acclaimed filmmaker Yūki Yamato. Known for her collaboration with Kafu on the 2019 film Hot Gimmick: Girl Meets Boy, Yamato skillfully captured the emotional essence of Kaika’s high school years, portraying her inner struggles with loneliness and uncertainty in a visually captivating way.
After Kaika’s second live performance at Kaika 4th ONE-MAN LIVE “Kaika (Reprise)” in November, a poignant conversation between Kaika and Yamato was held. As Kaika expressed her thoughts with quiet sincerity, Yamato delicately articulated the essence of Kaika’s persona. Their dialogue was a powerful reflection of a time when everyone can transcend the boundaries between the real and the virtual, find their true identity, and bloom freely—like a prayer for the future.
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Kafu and Kaika: Two Sides of the Same Coin, Not Opposites
Today is the first time for you guys to mee in person.
Yamato: I’m honestly feeling so full right now. Ever since Kafu created the theme song for Hot Gimmick, she’s shared so many emotionally charged songs with us. Through her music, I feel like we’ve communicated a lot. It’s a truly surreal feeling.
Kaika: As Kafu, I didn’t often get to meet the people who made the videos or the ones composing the music. It’s such a joy to finally meet you in person.
Regarding Hot Gimmick, the moment Yūki Yamato discovered Kafu’s cover of “Lemon” before her debut, it seems that the raw emotion in her voice became the spark for her involvement.
Yamato: I received an early track from PIEDPIPER, someone I deeply admire, which included Kafu’s simple yet profound cover of “Lemon.” That song has remained etched in my heart ever since. The meaning in the lyrics and the emotions woven into the performance seemed to radiate out, like harmonics filling the air. It was as if the song was born right before me—fresh and brimming with life. There’s a rare power in singing someone else’s words so completely, with such raw intensity, as if you’re laying bare a part of yourself. It made me believe that I wanted to entrust our story to her, to put my trust in her. I think what moved me the most was the beauty of how Kafu’s solitude resonated with PIEDPIPER’s, creating a perfect harmony. I’m incredibly grateful to have worked with her during that youthful, formative time, as it truly brought out the magic of a coming-of-age story.
Kaika: At the time, I wasn’t able to attend any previews, so I watched Hot Gimmick at a local theater. It was unbelievable to hear my song playing at the end of such a wonderful film. I’m truly grateful for the opportunity.
Fast forward about five years from that meeting. You’ve sung songs provided by others as Kafu, but this year, as Kaika, you’ve begun singing lyrics and music that you wrote yourself. Yūki Yamato, what’s your impression of Kaika as an artist?
Yamato: First of all, I thought the name was incredibly beautiful. It likely evokes the image of reincarnation. And there’s something in the name that suggests Kaika isn’t simply the opposite of Kafu, that it’s not just a dichotomy of “Kafu is virtual, and Kaika is the real self.” We all have multiple personas. As we enter different communities and mature, we encounter various versions of ourselves and the crossroads that allow us to meet these diverse identities. I feel that this possibility is captured in the name Kaika. It expresses the infinite versions of oneself that can emerge. The image we see before us is just one of countless cycles in a greater cycle of reincarnation. It’s such a universal and beautiful idea.

In 2012, while studying philosophy at Sophia University, Yūki Yamato self-directed the film ‘That Girl Is Dancing by the Seaside.’ In 2016, ‘Drowning Love,’ starring Nanao Komatsu and Masaki Suda, attracted over 600,000 viewers, setting an unprecedented box office record for a film directed by a woman in her twenties, and was sold to more than 10 countries. In 2021, she worked as both the series composer and director for the drama Ikiru to ka Shine to ka Chichioya to ka (Living, Dying, and Fatherhood), starring Yoshida Yō and Kunimura Jun. She is currently working on a new feature film.
Yamato: Understanding and grasping one’s own multiplicity, not by forcing it into simple binary oppositions like “true self vs. facade” or “outer self vs. inner self,” but as one of the many gradations of possibility within oneself. If we can think this way, I believe there’s a clue for everyone to breathe more freely. This is something unique to Kafu and Kaika, a discovery and proposal that comes from Kafu’s own journey, walking a path where there were no predecessors for years.
After the initial reveal in January at Yoyogi, how did you feel?
Kaika: I was a little scared when I was going to reveal it, but I was really surprised and happy because many of the people who had supported Kafu embraced it more positively than I expected. It’s an extension of changing avatars, but Kaika is a completely different form from Kafu. I think the people who accepted me were the ones who connected Kafu and Kaika through the music. For me, the essence of my work is singing, so knowing there are so many people who value that—it made me feel, I don’t know, almost saved.
After that, I saw some comments, which might have been because I didn’t communicate well enough, asking, “If Kaika expresses herself with her own words, what was Kafu up until now?” or “Isn’t Kafu the light and Kaika the darkness?”

It was perceived as a binary opposition.
Kaika: But that’s definitely not the case. The emotions I sing about as Kaika are full of feelings that could only have emerged through my journey as Kafu, so I really don’t want them to be separated. In the virtual world, people sometimes refer to the person speaking through the avatar as a “soul,” and even if it’s the same soul, when it ends its virtual life and appears in a new form, there’s a tendency to see it as something entirely different. But even though the visible form may have changed, the fact that the same person is there with the same feelings hasn’t changed. When I transform into a new form, I didn’t want to start over as if I knew nothing and erased everything that came before. That felt off to me.
That’s why Kaika is “another side of Kafu,” isn’t it?

A new generation virtual singer-songwriter. She made her debut on January 14, 2024, at Kafu’s 4th ONE-MAN LIVE “Kaika” held at the National Yoyogi Gymnasium. As a new branching point for “Kafu,” she releases the impulsive feelings that rise from within herself, singing them into her music. With a unique sensitivity, she translates her daily thoughts, emotions, and memories into sound and words. A powerful, beautiful energy blooms, one that cannot be broken by anyone.
Yamato: I believe that the voices of Kaika and Kafu are fundamentally connected. When I first heard Kafu’s voice, I immediately sensed that it carried an undeniable authenticity, a truthfulness and purity that have remained present in Kaika’s singing as well. If that resonance had ever been lost, perhaps there could have been suspicion that they were entirely different entities, but for me, there is no doubt. The connection between Kafu’s voice and Kaika’s voice is grounded in conviction and is an absolute truth. It’s a voice that remains unshakable.
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The Music Video Reflecting the Song’s Complexities
Did you have an overall vision for the three music videos, or did you create each one individually?
Yamato: I wrote the script with the assumption that “the three stories take place in the same world.” If you look carefully, you’ll notice that the same characters, instruments, and tools appear in all of them.
Kaika: Oh! Really?
Yamato: Yes. If you pay close attention, you might spot them! This is part of the underlying setting. In this story, the characters are people who might one day be connected through song during difficult times, and that connection is something I wanted to express as part of the narrative. I debated whether or not to make that connection explicit in the story, but ultimately, I decided not to show it openly. However, I still believe that, one day, they will meet in that way.
When was the song “Tenkousei” first written, and what was the inspiration behind it?


Kaika: I wrote it when I was in high school. I remembered when I transferred schools in second grade, and that experience came back to me.
Yamato: So it’s based on your real experience.
Kaika: Yes, it is. Due to the aftermath of the earthquake, I was supposed to transfer schools in April, but the timing became a bit uncertain. I transferred to a small school where everyone seemed to know each other, and I had to introduce myself in front of all the grades. It was raining, and everyone was watching me. It wasn’t unpleasant, but it was so uneasy and I remember thinking, “Am I okay?” From there, I started making friends, but I felt anxious until I got familiar with the classroom and my seat. I think those feelings of uncertainty and “I might be out of place” are reflected in the lyrics.
Yamato: “Tenkousei” is such an interesting song. It doesn’t follow a conventional structure, and lyrics like “Katsuki no kodou dodo-don dodo-don” transcend the usual world-building. The song feels like it pulls you into a whirlpool, leading you back to the original experiences of a single girl.
Rather than following the typical singer-songwriter format, it creates an entirely new landscape through the song, as someone attempting to build something never before seen. That’s where the originality lies, and because of that, I had a sense that the visual structure would inevitably be complex as well. The music carries that complexity and disorientation, and in the music video, the timeline gets mixed up—depicting moments before and after transferring schools and before and after cutting her hair—aiming to capture the time distortions and the bold confusion in the memory.
When you saw the actual video, which scene left the biggest impression on you?
Kaika: The moment the girl starts running at the beginning really made me think, “This is exactly the ‘Tenkousei’ music video!” The scene that left the biggest impression on me was in the gymnasium, where one girl is playing basketball, and another girl, who is on the stage in the gym, is watching her. They’re doing completely different things, but they’re in the same space, and the way the girl on the stage is watching from the special vantage point really stood out to me.

Yamato: That’s true, the stage is typically the place where one is observed, but in this case, it’s reversed.
Kaika: I really liked that about it. Also, the scene where the girl cuts her hair—I’ve been wondering what kind of feelings she had. Did she cut her hair because she wanted to get closer to the girl she was thinking about, or did she want to express her intentions, knowing it was something unattainable? I thought about that a lot. When a girl cuts her hair, it’s such a striking moment, isn’t it?

Yamato: It feels like an initiation, a ritual.
Kaika: It’s the first time my lyrics have connected with a story I couldn’t have imagined on my own. The music videos for Kafu often had the story of the song and Kafu herself intertwined, but with Kaika, even though it’s my song, I don’t appear in it, so that felt really fresh.
Yamato: As I was listening to your story, I realized that the act of cutting the hair feels like an initiation, a rebirth. It’s a season of transformation where Kafu becomes Kaika, and I think that’s where the inspiration came from.
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Yamato: “Kaika carried a profound secret that she couldn’t share with anyone, and it is through her experiences that she is able to bring pure and vivid scenes to others.”
“Higurashi no Uta” is a song you wrote back in high school, right?
Kaika: Yes, that’s right. There was a time when I was really into walking, and I used to walk home for about two hours. During that time, I thought about a lot of things… It might be part of my personality, but at that time, I didn’t tell my friends about my activities as Hanab. But sometimes, I wonder, ‘What would have happened if I had just said it normally?’ Or I would think about how I sometimes struggled to speak properly in school… This song is about all those thoughts I had during that time.


Yamato: I see… so the idea that “the experiences only Flower can understand are reflected in Kaika’s output” has this meaning as well. Hearing you explain it concretely really helps me understand. Moreover, I think the teenagers listening to this song will likely relate the lyrics’ mention of “everyone” to the “everyone” in their own classrooms, creating an intriguing sense of overlap.
While I stand frozen in place, a gust of wind sweeps her away,
And I wonder, “If that’s how it is, isn’t that enough?”
I linger over a goodbye that doesn’t feel like a loss.I couldn’t shed tears with everyone, couldn’t share a laugh in the same space,
Now, no one speaks of it anymore, and these tears don’t come suddenly.
What was it I wanted to say, again?Kaika “Higurashi no Uta”
How did you perceive this song, and what made them want to create a music video for it?
Yamato: From the first impression I got when listening, it was clear that there was an overwhelming, profound emotion behind it. This wasn’t about small, everyday misunderstandings or trivial matters. The video itself is minimal, showing a small world with just the protagonist, but inside their mind, there’s a huge problem unfolding—like massive waves crashing through both the heart and the body. The story that came to me while listening emerged from that feeling. While translating the music into a visual form, I found that with “Higurashi no Uta,” the video came out with more force than I initially intended—almost as if the accelerator was pressed harder than the brake. Of course, music and film are different mediums, so no matter what, the final form is bound to differ. But still, I felt a fear that it might not fully align with what Kaika-san envisioned, that it could step outside the boundaries of her intended image, and I carried that fear throughout the filming process.
How did you personally feel about the video?
Kaika: I absolutely love the music video. Every time I watch it, I end up crying… I’m sorry. (Tears up) I’m sorry, I don’t even know why.
It’s okay, take your time.
Kaika: At school, when everyone is wearing the same uniform, doing the same thing in the same place, the protagonist is cleaning the pool and dancing alone. Suddenly, colors appear, then fade away, and there’s this time of release even though it’s suffocating, then it’s over… But then, she’s cleaning the pool again, laughing with the other kids, and I really love that scene. I also love the part where, after the pool is filled with water, she swims freely in her uniform. It’s like breaking through the sense of confinement, and for that moment, she can swim anywhere. I felt that energy from the video, and it really gave me courage. Thank you so much.


Yamato: Thank you for speaking from such an important part of your heart. It truly means the world to me.
Do you think the tears you shed came from the sense of confinement you felt during your high school years syncing with the video, or do you think it was more about your current state of mind, Kaika?
Kaika: I think it’s a bit of both… But rather than it being something I directly relate to myself, it was more about that feeling of whether to take that step or not, whether it’s okay to move beyond it or if it’s better not to. There’s this frustration and conflict, and watching the girl in the video take that step, knowing that she might still struggle and suffer afterward, but seeing her swimming so beautifully despite all of it, really struck me. So I think, rather than directly relating it to myself, it was more about feeling “encouraged.” That feels like the right way to express the emotions I felt.

Yamato: The tears that well up during scenes where you smile and laugh with others or swim freely like a fish in water seem to reflect your resonance with the hope that comes after struggle—seeing the light beyond the anguish, and continuing to move forward despite everything. It really makes me feel, “Ah, this is Kaika.” Just as you mentioned at the beginning that the idea of “light and shadow” is a misunderstanding, in order to reach the center of the light, the personality of Kaika was born. And even now, the battle continues to make your life better.

Yamato: The song seems like it’s telling a personal story, but there’s also a sense of uncertainty about who the “thank you” is directed to. For me, it felt like the “I” that exists as “myself” is expressing gratitude for being able to walk through life, even with its struggles, and that “thank you” is directed toward the world. It’s not just about ending on the note of personal suffering; it’s about the desire to give something back to this world, and that feeling surpasses everything else.


Yamato: “Higurashi no Uta” itself has this empowering quality… no, it’s more delicate, filled with the desire and feeling of wanting empowerment, just on the edge of it. I believe that the protagonist received this and swam forward in the way they did. The elements of the song were visualized in the video, and when I think about how the words from the past and the feelings of the present Kaika met in this way, my heart trembles.
Kaika: But truly, it’s thanks to what you created.
Yamato: Not at all. Since you wrote the song, this video is of course your work as well—you’re its creator! Confronting unavoidable situations as a teenager, even though it was a world you dreamt of, and carrying a big secret you couldn’t share with anyone, you fought through that sensitive period. Because of that, I believe you, Kaika, are an artist who can bring pure and vivid scenes to many people.
