Shin and the other Tokyoites' play was very interesting.
Sanda: When I was about 20 years old, I became friends with Shin-chan (SKATE THING) and we hung out together, and I thought their lifestyle was interesting. That was one of the reasons for me to create "TOKYO TRIBE 2". They get together and talk without any particular purpose, skateboard, drive around Tokyo on back roads, and have toys in their house. I thought that kind of lifestyle was very Tokyo-like.
The clubs in Shibuya, Buenos and Asia were also depicted realistically. From "TOKYO TRIBE 2" ("Santa Inoue Art Collection SARU").
Sanda: When Hiroshi Fujiwara took me to his house, even though he was only a couple of years older than me, he had a spiral staircase in his house, and between the spiral staircase and the spiral staircase, there were a bunch of rare sneakers, and I thought, "Wow! I would say, "Wow! I also saw NIGO, Takishin (Shinsuke Takizawa), Hikaru (Hikaru Iwanaga), and YOPPI (Yoshifumi Egawa) in the house.
And now that I am in L.A., when I go to "Complexcon" (the world's largest street fashion festival), for example, I see things made by NIGO and KAWS figures exhibited for a tremendous price. At that time, I was reminded even more than when I was in Tokyo that the culture of Uraharajuku, which was established in this way, is still highly respected today. I think that culture originally has its roots in the U.S., and I think I can do something new here.
SANTA INOUE: "SARU" includes a conversation with Sanda's cousin, manga artist Taiyo Matsumoto. A dialogue between Santa and Taiyo must be a very rare project.
Sanda: Taiyo and I were good friends when we were younger and once lived together on Enoshima, but we had been estranged for a long time, partly because we were in the same profession. We didn't have any decisive fights, but there was a time when things got kind of awkward. So we met for the first time in a long time for this project.
I got the impression that you were very frank with each other.
Sanda: Yes, that's right. It seems that Takei Goodman once had an awkward relationship with a musician, and Takei said, "I talked it out with him and made up with him. Sanda-kun said, "I talked it out with him and made up with him, so you should do the same. I think that is exactly where this interview took place.
An all-color comedy manga about his struggles in America. From "Santa's LA LIFE" ("Santa Inoue Art Collection SARU").
Newman: Why did you move to L.A. in 2017, just before your 50th birthday?
Sanda: I have always had a great admiration for American culture, including movies, music, and fashion, and I had been traveling to L.A. for about 15 years. At that time, I became friends with the manager of a comic store in L.A., and he said to me, "If you go to L.A., you will be closer to Hollywood. If you stay in L.A., you will be close to Hollywood and I can introduce you to movie producers. But if you don't live in L.A., you can't call them when you have a meeting next week. Those words have remained strong in my mind for a long time. So four years ago, I decided to move to L.A. with my wife and my 13-year-old daughter after spending a year to obtain a green card (permanent residence).
