FEATURE| The similarity between cassette tapes and eyewear. Taro Tsunoda of Waltz talks about the analog sense.
Analog Feeling with ENALLOID
Similarities between cassette tapes and eyewear. What does Taro Tsunoda of Waltz say about the analog sense?
ENALLOID eyewear is consistently produced at the company's factory in Nakatsugawa, Gifu Prefecture, under the common aesthetic sense of its craftsmen. The brand's appeal lies in its high quality, basic designs that are comfortable for everyday use, and the lightness and comfort of its eyewear that makes you forget that it is on your face. Humans are analog beings. That is why what we wear should also be analog," says Taro Tsunoda, owner of waltz, a store that promotes cassette tape culture. We asked Mr. Tsunoda to try on a pair of "Enaroid" items to find out what eyewear and cassette tapes have in common.
Born in Tokyo, Japan in 1969, he worked as a buyer for the CD and record store WAVE before joining Amazon Japan in 2001, where he worked for 14 years. After retiring, he opened "waltz" in Nakameguro in August 2015, selling cassette tapes, records, and vintage cassette decks.
Cassette tapes are not nostalgia, but a whole new musical experience.
What made you decide to open Waltz?
square-shaped rice paddyThe purpose of this project was to communicate the latest music culture through cassette tapes. Cassette tapes are often thought of as something nostalgic, but today's cassette tape culture has developed in a completely different way.
ONE FACE 04 (col.001)¥34,000+TAX
What do you mean by a completely different development?
square-shaped rice paddyCassette tapes flourished in the 70s and 80s, but at that time they served only as a recording medium. You used to record your favorite music selections on blank cassettes. But now it is not a recording medium, but a music tape.
He said it has a role as a sound source.
square-shaped rice paddyYes, it is. In other words, it is a work of art filled with the artist's expression. Besides, listening to music on cassette tapes nowadays is a whole new musical experience.
What exactly does that mean?
square-shaped rice paddyBack in the 70s and 80s, I was still a student. In those days, in order to find the most efficient way to listen to music, I would ride my bicycle to the next town, buy cheap blank cassette tapes, and record songs from CDs and records I rented from rental stores on them. You listened to your own cassette tapes made in this way with a cheap deck.
So you have to do that because you don't have the money.
square-shaped rice paddyBut now that you are an adult and have the financial means, I think you will be really surprised when you listen to cassette tapes on a good deck. The sound quality is amazingly good.
How are they different?
square-shaped rice paddyDigital is angular and kinky. Cassette tapes have the opposite sound quality. It depends on what kind of hardware you listen to it on, but in extreme cases, the sound of cassette tapes is rounded and soft.
It's like it's familiar to my ears, or I don't get tired of listening to it for a long time.
square-shaped rice paddyEveryone says so. The definition of "good sound" is very difficult to define, and everyone has his or her own preferences. But technical sound quality and the quality of sound you actually hear with your ears are two different things. For example, you don't want to wake up in the morning and listen to music on a gorgeous sound set, do you? I think a small set of speakers on a table would suffice.
It may be true.
square-shaped rice paddyAs I often say, if you ask me which is more comfortable to wear, slacks designed by a big maison or jeans designed by a universal brand, jeans are by far the better choice. In other words, for me, analog media is a bit like jeans.
Why do you insist on analog?
square-shaped rice paddyNowadays, there are many choices of formats for listening to music, and I think cassette tapes are one of them. I am not saying that I am against digital, but it is true that the more people like music, the more they are returning to analog, and I am one of them. Cassette tapes are fascinating as objects, and as I mentioned earlier, I find myself getting more and more into them because of the rediscoveries I didn't realize at the time.
In this age of digital dependency, we should be aware of the analog world.
Eyewear has existed in unchanged form since time immemorial and is a kind of analog item, but I think it has something in common with cassette tapes.
square-shaped rice paddyWhen people talk about analog from the perspective of music, they use the two perspectives of "analog and digital" and "tangible and intangible" as the axis of comparison. When we compare eyewear to these two perspectives, what we see is that eyewear is both analog and tangible. On the other hand, I think the opposite is true of LASIK.
Eyewear = analog, tangible, and LASIK = digital, intangible.
square-shaped rice paddyThere was a time in the past when I thought about having LASIK done. However, I was a little concerned about the future, so I still wear glasses. In short, digital technology has the possibility of disappearing someday, and is not eternal. In this sense, tangible objects such as eyeglasses offer a sense of security. To put it in a simple way, all recordings in the country are stored on tapes, because digital formats such as CDs could disappear someday.
I think I understand why eyewear has remained largely unchanged from the past to the present.
square-shaped rice paddyHumans are analog to begin with. I am always conscious of this. Just as our body shape changes and our tastes and interests change, human beings are changing day by day, and I believe that what we wear should be analog in order to cope with these changes. In this age of digital dependency, I am even more strongly aware of this.
From top right: [ENALLOID] TWO FACES 02A (Col.008) ¥34,000+TAX, HAYAO (Col.086) ¥27,000+TAX, PARK (Col.001) ¥27,000+TAX, ONE FACE 02 (Col.134) ¥34,000+TAX, ONE FACE 04 (Col.001) ¥34,000+TAX, CLARK (Col.116) ¥32,000+TAX
The overwhelming lightness and basic design that accompanies you in your daily life are appealing.
What kind of commitment do you have to eyeglasses?
square-shaped rice paddyBefore starting Waltz, I worked for Amazon for 14 years. At that time, I had many opportunities to meet with customers and wore suits in my position, so I chose glasses that were appropriate for such an outfit. But now that I have a job that is the complete opposite of that, my thinking about eyeglasses has changed. I now think that I want glasses that are lightweight and do not slip off when I sweat.
How do you feel when you put Eneroid on?
square-shaped rice paddyI was surprised at how light it was. I thought the one I usually wore was light enough, but it is even lighter than that. I also like that many of the designs are basic and easy to use in everyday life. I don't like to assert my individuality in my clothes, so they are very much to my liking.
There are a variety of materials, such as plastic frames and metal frames.
square-shaped rice paddyIt depends on the time. I think there are trends in eyeglasses as well. I used to like classical glasses, but recently I prefer frames that are as thin and light as possible.
He said that the same way he spoke of "human beings being analog," his tastes would also change.
square-shaped rice paddyThat's right. When I try on my old pair of black glasses now, all I feel is a sense of discomfort (laughs). (Laughs) So I think it is important to choose a pair that fits your mood at the time.
What role do spectacles play for you?
square-shaped rice paddyAfter all, it turns on your mind, doesn't it? Wearing glasses turns on the switch that says, "Okay, I'm going to do it.
It means going in the opposite direction of the mainstream.
Three years have passed since the restaurant opened in 2015, do you feel that the situation around you has changed as the operator of the restaurant?
square-shaped rice paddyWhen we first opened, we had a really sensitive and sharp crowd. But now we have a much wider range of customers. I think there are more people who want to enrich their lives through cassette tapes and records.
Perhaps the world is beginning to realize the appeal of analog.
square-shaped rice paddyWhen I was at Amazon, I was in the Internet business for a long time, and I heard people say things like "Amazon destroyed bookstores" or "Amazon is to blame for the disappearance of CD stores. But I was with WAVE before that, and I had been working hard in actual stores. And on my days off, I like to go out and visit various stores. I believe that a physical store has its own charm and raison d'etre, and I wanted to prove it here.
When we first opened, we had neither online shopping nor social networking services, and people in the same industry sometimes said to me, "That's impossible in this day and age. But that was only because I had worked so hard at Amazon that I was blown away.
square-shaped rice paddyAnd as a result, I realized that if you do something different from the mainstream, many things can happen. The fact that Gucci approached me to collaborate with them was also a big event for me.
In this age of digitalization, how do you think analog people can live richly?
square-shaped rice paddyMost people tend to go in the same direction as everyone else. However, I think it is important to consider what lies in the opposite direction. What I am doing may be a small business, but I hope to make an interesting presentation to the world. It may be difficult if you are in a large company, but if you use your power to do what you are truly passionate about and what you find interesting, without worrying about what others are doing, I am sure you will get somewhere.
Finally, what do you plan to do as "Waltz" in the future?
square-shaped rice paddyI would like to be a radio personality rather than just a "waltz" performer. I would like to have my own radio show, and I would like to put music that has not been introduced to the world on the airwaves. We are contacted by artists and labels from all over the world and carefully select new releases, but there are very few opportunities for them to be introduced in magazines or other media. In other words, we play music that nobody in the world knows about in our store, or we put it here and sell it with captions. I would like to do that on the radio.
