【 Afro-Japanese Blues. 〜Vol.9 My first visit to Central Africa. Cameroon, a country on the equator with a strong sense of duty and humanity.

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

An emotional reunion and new encounters.

After leaving Tunisia, he arrived in Cameroon, his first destination in Central Africa. He had a 20-hour transit time in Egypt on the way to Cameroon, but he made the most of it.

I was reunited for the first time in a year with Louis, a photographer living in Egypt and a senior traveler, whom I had become friends with on my last trip. It may not be an exaggeration to say that I went through Egypt for this reason (laughs)."

We debriefed each other on our trip and had a great time, but we also stopped by the silver dealer here to make a solid purchase."

There are pros and cons to transit, but as long as the time of day is not too bad, I prefer to travel via transit. It's like traveling to one more country. It's like traveling to one more country, and I get to meet new people and even make purchases.

By the way, it is always difficult to get a VISA for a third country, but this time I applied for it while I was in Japan, so it went smoothly. I wish I could do this all the time (laughs)."

Mr. Sakamoto entered Cameroon safely. It was very hot, as one would expect from an equatorial country. And what he saw before his eyes was more chaotic than he had imagined...?

Motorcycles, motorcycles, motorcycles as far as the eye can see.... This scene in Southeast Asia, such as Vietnam and Thailand, is well-known, but in terms of experience, it doesn't compare to that. It's like a motorcycle version of Shibuya's scramble crossing (laughs).

In addition, the country has many squalls, so the roads are muddy and there are puddles of water everywhere. Motorcycles were running and splashing, there were many pedestrians, and it was very hot... It was chaos. But even in such a situation, you can still have a good encounter.

He is Luis, our cab driver. He is a nice guy who helped us as our exclusive driver for the first and second days in Cameroon. Usually I go around by myself and find transportation on the spot, but considering the time I had in Cameroon and the lack of infrastructure, I decided to ask him to help me. But I was drawn to him more by his personality than anything else. On our first evening, Luis immediately took us to a market on the outskirts of Douala."

"Thanks to Luis, we had a great first day of buying. Most stores in Cameroon close after sunset, so we could only get an hour or two, but we still managed to buy a large quantity, mainly antique masks."

"Then I went straight to Luis and told him, 'Let me have some local food from Cameroon,' and here's what we arrived at..."

I was worried about the food at first glance, but when I tried it, I found it to be excellent. Luis does a really good job."

Mr. Sakamoto finished the first day of the flurry of activities with a sense of gratitude to his driver, Luis. After making an appointment with Luis for the next day, he went to sleep immediately.

Central African competence.

Sakamoto said he was tired from traveling so much that he decided to rest instead of getting up early that day. Then, there he was, the man of yesterday!

The hotel bell rang at 9:00 a.m. I rubbed my sleepy eyes and opened the door to find my driver, Luis, standing there. I had told him I would call him, but not only did he come all the way to pick me up, he was holding a banana and a watermelon in both hands, which made me laugh from the morning (laughs).

With the help of Luis, I decided to spend the day hitting the local markets.

I have mainly focused on North Africa and West Africa, so the folk crafts of Central Africa, which I was visiting for the first time, were different from those of other regions, and I was fresh and excited from start to finish. I found myself buying nonstop from 9:30 to 18:00 without eating. As I do every time, I lose track of time when I am buying..."

I picked mainly masks for the day. I didn't have such an image of Cameroon before, but Cameroon's ethnic costumes are pretty cool, too.

The shape itself is similar to those of other African countries, but the hems are fringed and the hand-painted designs are unique. The Cameroonian costumes were full of attention to detail. It was a good source of inspiration for Ramrov.

Cameroon is a dangerous place.... Many people may have this image of Cameroon as a somewhat dangerous place. In fact, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' criteria for danger levels (ranging from 1 to 4, with 1 being a warning and 4 being an evacuation advisory), the entire country is subject to danger levels. The Arctic Province is level 4, and the Central African Border Region, the Nigerian border region in the Northern Province, and the Chad border region are level 3, which is one of the highest danger levels among African countries.

In Douala, where Mr. Sakamoto visited, there have been several homemade explosive device explosions since 2020, targeting supermarkets and markets, and there was no chance of this happening again. However, Mr. Sakamoto, who actually visited the area, seemed nonplussed and told us this.

Two days. Although I spent only two days, I came in contact with many Cameroonians who helped me. It was Luis, the driver, the dealer, the old man at the stall. They were kind, helpful, humane, and the best kind of people I've ever met. It is true that Cameroonians are generally regarded as dangerous, but I would like to continue to live and travel in such a way that I can see and judge for myself, rather than dismissing them out of hand.

On the second night, we ate skewers at the same stall and said goodbye to Luis, who had helped us out so much. Luis said he would still help me, but I wanted to go on my own from here."

This is the turnaround day in Cameroon. In the next issue of "Afro-Japanese Blues," we will show you all the items we bought in Cameroon! Enjoy!