Encounters and experiences in New York .
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-So, going back a bit, the year after you started going to Shimada Neon, you went to New York, didn't you?
Waku:Yes, that's right. I was very grateful because it is difficult to be allowed to make neon in Japan, but I thought that I would not be able to improve unless I could work in an environment where I could work every day. So I took a leave of absence from college and went to a studio in New York called "Brooklyn Glass. It was a very big place, where they made not only neon but also cups and so on.
. - he was also going to study abroad and do his apprenticeship there.
Waku:Yes . Anyway, I was bending glass all the time, every day. Basically, neon is not something that someone can teach you how to do, because you have to blow on the glass and feel the temperature of the fire and the temperature of the air and the timing of everything yourself. I learned how to do the basics at Shimada Neon, and I continued practicing that at Brooklyn Glass for a long time. In the meantime, I also took a kind of one-week trial course, and Cody, who was my teacher at that time, was very good to me because he was just in a long-distance relationship with a Japanese girl.
-It's a great connection.
Waku:Just the other day, he came to Osaka from New York for a wedding and we went to celebrate. Looking back on it later, I realized once again that Cody was a big part of my life. If I had not gone to New York, I would not be where I am today. I met so many really good people, and I always feel like a super lucky boy.
-Did you like the city of New York itself and its people?
Waku: Of course . In general, I have the image of many people who are open to others. I have a little bit of that myself, but I feel that Japanese people have a strong sense that other people are strangers to them. It may be an exaggeration to say that there is a distance between the heart and the person in front of you, but I feel that the distance between you and the person in front of you is closer in New York.
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-What other experiences did you have in New York?
Waku:At night, I would go to clubs and play. . I spent my days playing and bending the neon lights. Speaking of impressive things, the degree of human liberation in the New York rave scene was amazing. People from all walks of life were freeing themselves, feeling freedom and energy in a place that had nothing to do with society. It was overwhelmingly different from Tokyo, and I was able to liberate myself, which I think was very good.
