Koukan Nikki - Koukan Nikki EP - Japan CD

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Koukan Nikki

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"Kōkan Nikki," a musical unit featuring Noriyuki Fujii (Onson Line) and creative director Michihiko Yanai, has finally released its first album. "Kōkan Nikki" is a project started by the two Fukushima natives as a way to exchange their words and thoughts. The track “Love Song of 2061” depicts a future 50 years after the Great East Japan Earthquake, and the very fact that it is being released this year—2026, marking the 15th anniversary of the disaster—carries a profound message. Memories, time, and the future—these are themes that only these two artists, whose roots lie in Fukushima, could portray. A special work imbued with quiet prayer and unwavering hope. An endless exchange of letters through words and melody The meeting between Takayuki Fujii of Onson Line and Michihiko Yanai of Kaze to Rock dates back to 2009. The event “2.07 Million Geniuses: Kaze to Rock FES Fukushima” was held at the Kaiseizan Park Open-Air Music Hall in Koriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture. It all began when Fujii—who was living on Kaiseizan at the time—sent a passionate plea: “Please let me perform. I don’t want to just listen to the sound leaking from my house on the day of the event. I even have a copy of your book, Mr. Yanai.” Yanai responded to this request, and the collaboration began. The musician—a native of Iwaki City living in Koriyama—and the creative director, born in Koriyama, eventually began exchanging letters. It was a “shared diary” in which Fujii would set music to the lyrics Yanaichi sent him and send them back. Real-time glimpses of post-disaster Fukushima and its people. The songs—casual, rambling expressions of emotions too complex to sum up in a single phrase—eventually numbered in the dozens. It’s not just the lyrics for new songs. They’ve also experimented with a creation that transcends time and space: Fujii composing new music for songs Yanaï wrote during his middle and high school years. The two remain, in a sense, in the midst of adolescence. Riding on the pace of Fujii’s music—which Yanai calls “more metropolitan than Tokyo”—the *Exchange Diary EP* is finally set to be released this summer. A Love Song from 2061 When I first read these lyrics sent to me by Yanai, I couldn’t help but marvel, “What an incredible poem…” There are countless love songs in the world, but I don’t think there’s ever been such a grand love song that spans three generations. The long years from the earthquake to the stabilization of the nuclear power plant. A very gentle story passed down from mother to daughter, and from daughter to granddaughter. I’m sure a future like this awaits us, too. Noriyuki Fujii (Onsoku Line) Both “Living” and “Because It Was on the Internet” by Onsoku Line were born from a shared diary between the two of us. They even ended up on an Onsoku Line album. For our first song, “Thank You,” I channeled Fujii-kun and wrote the lyrics as if I were a medium. Ever since then, Fujii-kun and I have continued to create together, capturing the present we share each month. It’s truly a diary. When Fujii-kun receives my lyrics, he composes the music as effortlessly as breathing. This year—marking 15 years since the Great East Japan Earthquake—a portion of that exchange diary is finally being released as a recording. I absolutely love Noriyuki Fujii. He is a genius of unfathomable depth. Michihiko Yanai