2025
- Derek Nakamoto
- Jul 9
- 2 min read
Every year begins with setting up my Kagami Mochi display. It's a tradition I grew up with in my home. Every year I learn a little more about the symbolism of this display. I love driving to Fugetsu-Do on First Street in Little Tokyo to pick up my order. If I am early enough, I am able to receive their yearly calendar, which I love.
2024 was a year of traveling with my good friend and longtime collaborator, Nobuko Miyamoto. Co-directors Tadashi Nakamura and Quyên Nguyen-Le completed a powerful documentary on Nobuko's life work titled "A Song In Movement," which aired on PBS SoCal. Since its premiere at the VJ Film Festival in Little Tokyo in March, we have been traveling to the many prestigious Asian Film Festivals held across the country. New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Houston, San Francisco, Hawaii, Eugene, and Toronto, to name a few. It was well received, inspiring a timely call to action. A comment often heard is that we, as Japanese Americans, have been down this road before and we are still here. At a few of these festivals Nobuko and I performed songs from her albums and participated in Q&A''s after the performances. It was empowering for me to listen and learn from so many elders in our community about their activism and the importance to organize.
I have been thinking about "how" to release my album, "Is Today The Day?" I realized my hesitation was not being clear on my "why."
After seeing a TED Talk presentation by Simon Sinek, I became a fan. I learned more about his work through his Optimist Company @simonsinek.com and signed up for his courses. Game changer!
If I understood the purpose or intention of ANY task presented to me, I accomplished it! If unclear, Pandora's box opened with its plethora of demons: procrastination, unfocused, wasted time, etc.
My core intention has always been to be of service, to help people. Discovering my "why" with Simon's help identified a key addition. That is to find and build my community of like-minded people! This was the reason I composed and created my first album.
"Is Today The Day?" has been a question I have woken up to for most of my adult life. There have been many challenging times, of personal struggle for reasons that span the gamut of life. Left unchecked, I know where that can lead to. It's like an infection, left untreated grows and grows. I have always been and remain an optimist.
My story is not unique. In fact, my belief is that it's many of our stories. We keep it to ourselves, remain silent and alone. But, we are NOT.
My intention is that you see yourselves in my music. I want you to give yourself permission to think about who you are, find or strengthen your unique and beautiful voice, to give a moment of solace, to empower yourself.
It's new and exciting for me to share my story and reach out to you. I hope to get out there to perform, meet, and have a conversation with you.
Soon!
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