“Enryo no Katamari”—literally, “a lump of restraint”—is a uniquely Japanese phrase that refers to the lone piece of food left behind on a shared plate, abandoned not out of dislike but because everyone was too polite to take it. It’s a small, quiet moment of hesitation that says a lot about human behavior—and it’s also the unlikely heart of solo artist xiangyu’s debut album.
With “Enryo no Katamari”, xiangyu crafts a sonic love letter to life’s overlooked details: the trivial, the awkward, the beautifully unremarkable. It’s a record that delights in the freedom to care about what doesn’t matter. Just as she once sang about the silent rapport with a familiar convenience store clerk in her debut EP “Hajimete no ○○ Zukan”, here she finds poetry in the everyday image of food left on a plate and builds her first full-length album around that fleeting, relatable scene.
Though she insists her music isn’t meant to convey a message, xiangyu’s work hums with a quiet philosophy—one rooted in curiosity and a desire to make space for the unimportant. In a world that moves fast and prizes significance, her songs offer gentle resistance: an invitation to notice, to wonder, and to let the small stuff be.
In this interview, we speak with xiangyu about the inspiration behind the album, her approach to music-making, and what it was like to collaborate with a featured guest for the very first time.
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“Enryo no Katamari”: An Album Inspired by the Connections from “OTO-SHIMONO”
First of all, congratulations on the release of your debut album. While many artists opt for a self-titled album, I thought it was very fitting of you to choose “Enryo no Katamari” as the title. I heard that contemporary artist Koichi Mitsuoka introduced you to this concept. Could you tell us how you first encountered this theme?
xiangyu： The initial spark came when I released my EP “OTO-SHIMONO” (released in November 2023), which focused on the theme of lost items. Through that EP, it seems that the contemporary artist Koichi Mitsuoka became aware of me. I had long been a fan of his work, and at that time, I was taking part of a J-WAVE radio show where I introduced interesting events and locations around Tokyo. When Mitsuoka had an exhibition in Tokyo, I had the opportunity to visit and interview him, and we really hit it off.
Thanks to that connection, he later invited me to a talk at one of his exhibitions in Shibuya. I assumed we’d be discussing the exhibit itself, but it turned out to be something entirely different [laughs]. He told me that the way I had transformed the concept of “lost items” into music resonated with him. He mentioned, “What you’re doing is incredible because it’s a method that reaches a broader audience than art ever could.” That moment made me realize, “This person shares a very similar points of view.”
A boundary-pushing solo artist whose journey began with live performances in September 2018. xiangyu’s debut EP, “Hajimete no ○○ Zukan,” dropped in May 2019, marking the start of her exploration into music that defies genres. By November 2023, she had teamed up with Gimgigam to produce “OTO-SHIMONO”—an EP blending amapiano and gqom with her unique style. But her talents don’t stop there. xiangyu is also a force in fashion, art, film, and literature. In 2022, she made her film debut, starring and contributing the theme song, while also releasing her first book. In April 2025, she unveiled her debut full-length album “Enryo no Katamari,” solidifying her as a multifaceted artist with a voice that transcends music.
Can you elaborate on what you mean by “similar points of view”?
xiangyu： Mitsuoka shared with me hundreds of photos he had collected—each one showing a piece of food left behind, the so-called “enryo no katamari.” He asked me, “What would you do with a photo like this?” I had no idea that this familiar scene at the table even had a name like “enryo no katamari,” so it really caught me off guard. I immediately replied, “I’d turn it into music,” and that conversation naturally led to the idea of collaborating together.
Did you always have the idea of making it into an album?
xiangyu： Initially, I thought about creating just one song called “Enryo no Katamari,” but then I had this vague thought that it could be fun to follow the same approach as “OTO-SHIMONO”—to create a collection of songs, all tied to food and inspired by the same theme. That was the direction I had in mind.
