【FOCUS IT.] If there were no Trasmundo. -Part 2-.

On Sunday, June 1, 2025, TRASMUNDO will open its 24th year. The scene of Shinji Hamasaki welcoming visitors from behind the counter at the back of the store will remain unchanged over the past 23 years. He continues to convey "something" through music + α every day. It is a mere 20 words in a sentence, but to continue to do so in a rapidly changing world is a special thing. Messages from people who sympathize with and respect such an attitude are sure to eloquently illustrate the appeal of "Trasmundo" Hamasaki.Following the nine members of the first partIn the second part, we received words from 10 people.

Photo_Shiori Ikeno
Edit_Yusuke Suzuki

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01_YOKOSE Hiroki (SUNDAYS BEST)

YOUTH ATTACK!

It was 2002, when I was 21 years old.
At the time, I was living in Meidaimae and often went to Shimotakaido to listen to records or take a walk with a friend who lived in Shimotakaido, the next station down.
The first floor of the green building in front of where the 7-Eleven is now was a used record store at the time, and I used to go there occasionally to check it out, but one day I went to the record store as usual and found a new store on the second floor just after entering Park Avenue.
The window of the store was decorated with CHARLES BRONSON's YOUTH ATTACK! Charles Bronson! I jumped in without thinking.

At the time, I was listening to abstract hip-hop and electronica around Beta Bodega, and there was no one around me who listened to the same kind of music, so I remember that he talked a lot about that area, hardcore, books, and movies.

When it first opened, there was a three-seater sofa on the left as soon as you entered the restaurant, and I liked to sit there at closing time, drinking beer and talking with Hama-san behind the counter.

Time passed and it was 2014.
The year I started SUNDAYS BEST,
I went to TRASMUNDO for the first time in several years.

A little nervous, I went to TRASMUNDO after a long time.
Rodriguez is one of the few seniors who calls me by my old nickname. He is also one of the few seniors who call me by my old nickname (laughs).
Hama-san greeted me with a smile, just as he had a few years ago.

As we talked about the events of the past few years, he introduced me to an omnibus CD featuring deep Chicano soul. I remember being somewhat excited by the artwork on the cover and the sound of "Chicano soul.

The moment I got home and played the CD, I had the same feeling of encountering new music as when I first heard Los Crudos.

From here, I started going to TRASMUNDO again.

I don't know what it is about Chicano Soul, but it fits me like a glove. It has a wonderful melody and romantic lyrics, and it's great music to play in my store.

And in addition to Chicano Soul, TRASMUNDO has self-produced CDs by various musicians, and they are an ongoing study of new musical material, starting with TRASMUNDO DJs eternamente created by Hama-san.

I am so happy that you were able to make CDs for my store's anniversary in 2018 and 2024. Thank you very much!

For 23 years since 2002, I feel absolutely secure that no matter when I go to the store, Hama-san is there, and his never-ending curiosity is truly amazing and not something that is possible very often.

As someone who runs a store as well, I really admire the attitude and passion of the people who have been standing in the store for such a long time.

Please continue to play Hama-san's music from behind the counter as always.
Thank you so much for everything.

2025/5/22 Hiroki Yokose (SUNDAYS BEST)

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02_Ichiko Uemoto (Photographer)

My basic education.

The first time I went to the restaurant was when I met my husband, ECD, aka Mr. Ishida. That was probably about 18 years ago. In the book I co-authored with ECD, "Homesick Life (for Two or Three People)," I included a photo of our baby daughter being held by Hama-chan in the store. I remember wondering if it was safe to bring my daughter to such a place where the air quality was not so good, with the smell of cigarettes seeping into the store, at such a time, I wondered if it was safe (excuse me!). I remember feeling uneasy. My daughter is now a high school student, and the Hama-chan in the photo and the store look strangely the same as they do now.

I can't tell you how many times I have been saved by the peace of mind of knowing that whenever I go there, Hama-chan will be there. I think it is no mean feat to keep a place like that. Now, whenever I publish my books at my own expense, they are always placed there, and they are always placed in a good place. Looking back, I think it was TRASMUNDO that first introduced me to zine culture. I felt like I was being taught that anyone can express themselves and be so free, when hardcore band members made copies and stapled them together. In that way, you could say that TRASMUNDO was the place that laid the foundation for me to become the person I am today.

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Since its opening on June 1, 2002, Mr. Hamasaki has been the sole owner of the restaurant. However, when he DJs, he goes by the name "TRASMUNDO DJs," and you can feel a strong connection with his friends and colleagues around him, which is what makes TRASMUNDO so unique. You can feel this not only in the sound sources and merchandises, but also in the photos, posters, and flyers that decorate the store.

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03_noise (artist)

The door is open.

TRASMUNDO, Tokyo, is located about a minute walk from Shimotakaido station, on the second floor of a cafe, up a flight of stairs.
If the door is open, the door is open.

When was the first time you climbed those stairs?
I found myself going to the store when I was living in the Kansai region. At that time,
It could be a CD-R mix CD released by various artists, or it could be a CD-R mix CD released by various artists, or it could be an unknown
Buy artist-made zines, hand-printed T-shirts, and independent magazines.
I was so amused that I bought a lot of things every time I went to visit him, and the things I bought were my own.
The experience and the sense of being connected and interpreted in the
I feel as if it is.
After a certain amount of time passed, I was asked to handle the zines and T-shirts I made.
I have had flyers placed for live concerts and exhibitions that I have organized with my friends, and I have designed and
I had a great experience of seeing CDs and vinyl records that I had never seen on the shelves of stores before.
The first time I saw a new building, I was surprised to see it.

It is always a pleasure to chat with Mr. Hama and look at the products.
In casual conversation, we talked about the movies we had recently seen and what anniversary we were celebrating this year.
I was also happy to design a T-shirt for the store as part of the conversation.
It was one of the most important events of my life. We have talked a lot about health in the last few years, but I have been coming here for a long time.
I am also somewhat pleased with the change in the story due to my presence.

I've been going out alone a lot lately, so now I'm going to invite someone to join me.
I'm not sure.

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04_Marfa by Kazuhiko Fujita (artist)

The adult you want to be.

When I returned from the U.S. and made my first mix CD "Tenderloin" with Marfa, I did not know how to distribute it, and when I talked to Sasaki (KID FRESINO) about it, he told me to take it to Trasmundo. I visited Trasmundo for the first time.
I think I was very nervous.

The store was filled with the things that had driven me as a teenager to search for and learn "something new and unique to me," which had been one of my few favorite places since I was young.
When I introduced myself, he said he had heard about Yokocho and first played the CD I had brought with me in the store and listened to it. He talked about the songs on it and listened carefully to my own story up to that time. I remember thinking what a trustworthy adult I was in an instant, as he made the decision to put the CD in the store right in front of me and responded to what I had created.
I was really happy when they said they would handle it at the end of the Mix.

The second time we went there, they even put up reviews and sold them, but we didn't say anything about that in particular. We believed that it was natural for people to express clearly that what was good was good and what was not good was not good, and to live the way they thought was right. His attitude and actions made us want to be like him. He was a rare adult who never imposed his knowledge and experience that we did not have yet, but simply appreciated the moment in a straightforward manner.

From then on, I would suddenly visit the store on an irregular basis, calling it a delivery, and thank goodness! ( For some reason, every time I think ), there is Hama-san there as usual, just talking for hours about the interesting movies he recently saw, and checking out all the things he has never seen or touched before, which are increasing every time I go there, and what will become my flesh and blood again. Take home with you.
Even in between the two of us talking, I always kind of follow the titles and credits of the piles of stuff with my eyes.
It's a great place for the type of person like me who always wants to learn from everything.
I secretly don't want to leave here on my way home.
Even now, as I lead the way in showing the importance of continuity, I am confident that my belief in my own accumulated years of knowledge and experience will be transformed into confidence in the not-too-distant future.

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05_LIL MERCY(J.COLUMBUS/WDsounds/PAYBACK BOYS)

Reason.

When I go into town, I often head somewhere from Trasmund. I had another great day this week and Trasmundo was there. But it was Trasmundo that was the second place because we stopped at the Konkodo and Miyata-san came to deliver a 7-inch with JKT of PARACHUTE by THEE LAKESIDERS and a CD-R of BLAH-MUZIK and said, "Which one of these do you like better?" He said, "Well, it's hard to describe the music either way." (Mr. Hamasaki's comment used to describe the music a little more, so I guess BLAH-MUZIK's music is getting better day by day. And now I think again that I can sense it from the comments). I'll buy one. I talk to Mr. Hamasaki about the music I've been listening to and the movies I've seen recently, and ask his opinion. Sometimes I hear Hamasaki-san say something that someone else said and it really stuck with me. It's a time that gives me feedback on the importance of the very everyday, and I think that sometimes I listen to or watch something because I want to talk about it with someone else. The first place I take something I've made and burned to CD-R is at Trasmundo. I've been telling people about it since before I started recording. But I'm not making any promises. I just take it with me. Each CD and CD-R is a combination of those days, and they are folded on top of each other. Please continue to be one of my reasons.

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Across the Keio Line crossing from Trasmundo, on the other side of Shimotakaido Station, is a secondhand clothing and select store run by rapper CENJU (photo left).DANCING MOODThe two neighbors have a long history of being neighbors through music. They introduce each other's stores to each other, and Mr. Hamasaki even created a mix CD (mainly reggae and soul) to be sold at Dancing Mood, in the image of the store.

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06_Taichi Hirano ( Musician )

Tokyo, recalled in the silence.

　The road, National Route 469, cuts through a wilderness of silver grass, where the Self-Defense Forces are stationed, toward the forest by itself.
At such times, I am always struck by a sense of quiet solitude.
A mix selected by Mr. Hamasaki is playing from Carste: "If Only For One Night" by BRENDA RUSSELL.

　My life around me has changed dramatically in the past few years. One of the biggest changes was moving to Gotemba and getting my first car license in my late 30s.
As I get older and get into cars, sometimes I am not sure if I am driving this hunk of steel or if I am actually just being transported by this ungainly thing.

　When I was in Tokyo, I never thought I would be using a car every day as I do now.
　I remember: my friend taking me to Ikebukuro BED; making a documentary about the demonstrations that were happening on the streets at the time and having it shown in Daikanyama and Harajuku with the help of Mr. Hamasaki and others; how I was just a crumbling activist on the Internet, and he taught me many things that could not be explained in black and white alone; how I was a young man who was a member of R W. Fassbinder's "In the Year of the 13th New Moon," getting drunk every day at my day job and night job at 2-chome because I had too little money, walking up those narrow stairs to TRASMUNDO in Shimotakaido...those memories of Tokyo for me are no longer even in my rearview mirror. I could no longer see them in the rear-view mirror.

　If I climbed those stairs again, I wonder if I would be able to talk with Mr. Hamasaki about many things like we did then.
Can anything be reeled in again amidst what time has swept away?
Even now, I often think about that.

　A CD case is removed from the dashboard. The cover photo shows the inside of that unchanged TRASMUNDO store, lower high
Mr. Hamasaki standing on the street at the well. The title on the back strip of the mix reads - "Emotions remembered in the stillness, knowing you are not alone.

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07_ATOSONE(RC SLUM RECORDINGS/COMMA VIOLETA)

HappyDays.

Those of us with wealth, family, relatives, friends, CD players, new cars, big TVs, our own homes, career paths, mortgages, insurance, retirement, health, low cholesterol, and nothing else, said, "Hi, excuse me, Mr. Hama, nice to meet you." And when we greeted him, he said, "Hey, your eyes are dead. Hey, your eyes are dead but fresh. But the times are grim and full of mistakes. We replied. It's what's inside of us. And we said, "That's what's inside of us. Hama-san moved his face as if to pick up a cigarette and said, "I'm sure you'll enjoy your life when the world looks at you with white eyes! He looked at us very dazzled and laughed while squinting his eyes with the smoke. I loved him, and at the same time, I thought the tired red ramen shop across the street looked really good.

Hama.
People who are happy to see you are
There are some in Dainagoya, too.
Please keep up the good work. I don't care about the "bad" guys, but please keep up the good work with RC.

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Shimotakaido Ekimae Market," which opened in 1956 and was one of the symbols of the city, will end its 68-year history at the end of March 2024, due to the Keio Line's continuous multi-level crossing project and its decrepit condition. As in many other cities, privately owned stores are closing and chain stores are increasing in number, but one cannot help but feel the greatness of keeping the same stores in the same location for 24 years.

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08_Nobuko Yamaguchi( Shimotakaido Cinema)

I'm going to see Mr. Hamasaki.

I don't remember much about the first time we met. I think it started when I heard that a second-hand record shop was going to open in this town where there are not many cultural stores, and I visited the shop as soon as it opened. I asked him for help in putting up posters and schedules of movies to be shown at Shimotakaido Cinema, and we quickly became friends as we talked. Mr. Hamasaki was very knowledgeable about movies and our conversation expanded a lot, and he also recommended various kinds of music. In the days when I didn't listen to music or watch movies on subs, this is how I used to find what I liked by learning from others.

After that, Trasmundo became a place where I regularly had posters put up and visited every week, and also a place where I would go occasionally outside of work to talk and have a good time.

An unforgettable memory is that of March 11, 2011. I was making my usual rounds to change the posters we had installed in stores and stations in Shimotakaido when the big earthquake hit. I was walking around town and passed by Trasmundo when I saw Mr. Hamasaki on the street. He said, "Wow, that was a big quake, are you okay? I was talking to him, "All the CDs on the shelves fell down." Pierre Taki, who was in the ramen shop Kihachi across the street, also came out onto the street and said, "Let me look inside your store," and we both went into Trasmund. I was somewhat relieved to see Hamasaki-san and continued putting up posters, but the theater had canceled the screening that day. Trasmundo must have had a hard time putting those shelves back up, but I think they continued to operate without much change after the earthquake and at the time of the Corona.

Although we have always talked about films, it has been difficult to organize screenings together, but finally last year we were able to welcome Mr. Hamasaki for a post-screening talk at Shimotakaido Cinema. Rude Boy: The Story of Trojan Records," a documentary film about a British music label specializing in reggae, was screened, and Mr. Hamasaki, Makoto Miyata, and Ms. Imazato were able to talk about the music together. It was a wonderful evening of connecting film and music.

In the past few years, I no longer go to Trasmundo to change posters, and I have been working until night more often, so my visits to Trasmundo have become much less frequent. However, when I do show up once in a while, I am greeted by the same people as before. We talk about movies and music, and we end up talking a lot.

As I am now in charge of organizing the screening program for Shimotakaido Cinema, we have begun to talk about what kind of films we can deliver and in what way. I hope to introduce various aspects of the world, both new and old, connections, expansiveness, and nostalgia. Then, Mr. Hamasaki sympathizes with me, saying that music and movies are the same.

In the corner of the small town of Shimotakaido, I feel that we are facing music and movies with our eyes in the same direction. It has been 24 years since Trasmundo opened. I realize that we have known each other for quite a long time. As the months have passed and we have talked about many things, it seems that I have been very much influenced by Mr. Hamasaki's attitude. I will continue to drop by from time to time to talk with him.

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09_MIYATA Shin(BARRIO GOLD RECORDS/MUSIC CAMP, Inc.)

Barrio in Shimotakaido.

　It was a long time ago that I heard about Mr. Hamasaki, a bad friend from high school who ran that udon shop "Jazz Cailin" located closest to Meidaimae in the shopping arcade, who used to come from Tsugano as a customer. He wanted to introduce me to him because he runs a record shop on the other side of the station. No, no, no, you can't do that. Chicano music is not something they take seriously!
　That's how the Chicano music section in the "Trasmundo" store, which is "tying the knot" with underground hip-hop, got started. We started with a few items as a trial, and before we knew it, almost 100% of the items we carry were placed on the left side at the back of the entrance. Almost no one in Japan knew about Chicano Batman or El Har Croix, but they started on that shelf!
　Most customers are looking for sweet soul, which is considered low-rider style. However, Mr. Hamasaki knows that the essence of Chicano music lies in alternative music that is not bound by genre or style. His keen sense of aesthetics, his heart for a wide range of music, and above all, his rebellious spirit resonate with the independent Chicano music coming from the barrio.
　'Rent has skyrocketed and before I knew it, there were chain restaurants everywhere!' The owner of "Jazz Cailin," who grew up in the neighborhood, laments all the time. Considering this, "Trasmundo" and "Jazz Cailin" are the bases of the Shimotakaido resistance. The gentrification (redevelopment) of the area around the station is imminent with the elevation of the Keio Line. The battle is just beginning. LOL!

Shin Miyata (BARRIO GOLD RECORDS/MUSIC CAMP, Inc.)

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10_Imazato (SFP/LPS/Ichimon of the Immortal Tei )

SUMMER IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER.

To begin with, just the fact that "SOLMANIA posters are posted on the storefronts of long-established stationery shops at the entrances to the shopping arcade" makes Shimotakaido a wonderful town.

There are probably many more charming places that I am unaware of, in addition to the quaint little movie theater, the delicious udon shop, the meticulous barbershop, and the secondhand clothing shop run by the city's best rapper.

Hamasaki-san, who has been running a record shop for 24 years in such a town, emphasizing human connections above all else, is like Harvey Keitel in "Smoke," or a fixed-point camera. When I visit after dark, I can see the orange light leaking from the store on the second floor stair landing, and it feels like a lighthouse. It is also great to see Chairman Kasagawa, the store's guardian deity, if you go at the right time when the store opens. We look forward to working with you for many years to come.

Imazato (SFP/LPS/Ichimon of the Immortal Tei )

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