【 Afro-Japanese Blues. 〜Vol. 7 The warmest country in Africa! Tunisia is a beautiful blue and white country where various cultures intersect.

Fascinated by black culture and passion forLamrofand an African jewelry label calledAFLOGICAL JEWELRYSDaisuke Sakamoto, aka Shirley, is a fashion designer who pours generously into the "Shirley" brand.

In addition, in recent years, the company has been developing a new label, "Miscellaneous Goods," which focuses on items from the American mid-century period, which it had been operating for some time.EARTHY ANTIQUESHe has also changed the direction of his business to mainly African goods, expressing the black culture he loves from various angles.

The term "Afro-zero" means "of African origin. In this sense, Sakamoto is an "Afro-Japanese" with roots in Africa, even though he is Japanese.

In this series, we introduce the people, things, and things that Mr. Sakamoto has seen while wandering around the world, especially in Africa, through his own filter. We present the realities of black culture as he sees it, how he incorporates it into his products, and the realities of the black culture that has fascinated him, through actual photos and Sakamoto's own voice.

Photo_Sha-Le (Daisuke Sakamoto)
Edit_Naoya Tsuneshige

Arabic everywhere.

About six months after his last trip, Mr. Sakamoto chose Tunisia, a North African country facing the Mediterranean Sea and the Sahara Desert. Mr. Sakamoto chose Tunisia, a North African country facing the Mediterranean Sea and the Sahara Desert, as the first destination for his next trip.

His main languages are Arabic and French. Sakamoto says that he has always been curious about this particularly cosmopolitan and culturally diverse country in Africa, as he felt that it had something in common with his own activities.

It seems that we arrived at Tunis-Carthage International Airport around 21:00 local time.

The elation of landing in a new country for the first time is hard to compare to anything else. That's the best part of traveling, and the reason why I'm so addicted to it.

On the first day, we arrived late, so we took a cab to a hotel near the old town of Tunis, the capital, and checked in. We had dinner and finished our first day."

Tunisia is famous for its blue and white world and is a popular tourist destination. However, at night, the orange streetlights were somewhat eerie and far from the image I had of the country."

On the second day, Sakamoto spent the day just strolling through the markets of the Medina (old town) of Tunis. The Medina is an old town whose construction began in the 7th century, in striking contrast to the modern, sophisticated, European-style new town.

It is a unique area with a traditional Arab feel and was registered as a World Cultural Heritage site in 1979.

The city is built within an oval approximately 1 km in diameter, and while there are government offices such as the Prime Minister's official residence and the National Library, it is also a place where ordinary people live, and is truly a space where various cultures and lifestyles are intermingled.

Mr. Sakamoto chose this area based on his sense of smell from his many years of experience, and it seems that he was not mistaken.

I thought, "Just like in Morocco, a place surrounded by fortresses would be a market place. I was right, and I was right to choose a hotel near the medina. We were able to get to the market smoothly.

In fact, the keyword for the 25AW collection at Ramrov is Arabic. Arabic signs were everywhere, which made my heart dance.

The collection includes sweatshirts and T-shirts with randomly selected words meaning black music (jazz, soul, funk, reggae, and gospel) in Arabic, each in a different font, and pullover shirts with a moroccan rug pattern as the main motif and the season's theme "Essaouira ("beautiful design" in Arabic)" on the chest. The main motif of the collection is a moroccan rug pattern, and pullover shirts with the season's theme "Essaouira ("beautiful design" in Arabic)" on the chest are also available.

."this way (direction close to the speaker or towards the speaker)I hope you'll also check out the

Silver beauty and mild-mannered Tunisians.

He went on to describe the atmosphere of the people in Medina.

'The touts and dealers were not at all pestering me. This is pretty rare in Africa."

This is the fourth country I have visited in the Middle East, including Turkey and Egypt, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that the Tunisian people are the most hospitable.

The market was worth a look in its own right, with stores specializing in antique Tunisian silver and dealers selling Tunisian (mainly Berber) style silver."

Here's what I actually bought."

In contrast to the eerie impression of Tunisia at night, Sakamoto says he was captivated by the beauty of Tunisia during the daytime. He told us as follows.

I had always thought of Tunisia in terms of tiles.

The buildings, which still retain strong traces of ancient Roman times and are made of Tunisian tiles, which are said to be the best in the world, are very beautiful.

That was the end of the day. Sakamoto decided to take it easy and sleep at the hotel in preparation for his art walk the next day.

We look forward to the next "Afro-Japanese Blues" to find out what kind of encounters await us!