I was born and raised in Tokyo, and from kindergarten to university, I have frequented Christian schools; thus I knew that there was a history to Japan, but I did not know about its mythology.

 

“Kojiki” (the oldest Japanese historical book and there are myths) was only some word during the exams.

I thought that great fantasies such as Greek or Scandinavian mythologies I adore were unthinkable in Japan. That made me believe that Japan was lacking culture―that was my state of mind by that time.

 

When I graduated university and learned to sing, I stumbled upon the “kojiki” as I was looking for my own way to express myself. I was shocked to know that there was such an exciting tale in Japan and whose characters were still living amongst Shinto shrines even today!

 

Knowing that such characters (even though I could not see them) really existed not only in novels but also close to me somewhat encouraged me. It filled in me a bit of this kind of boundless loneliness inherent to human beings. Mythology is not something religious, but represents countries’ tales and more precisely the “culture” of this “Earth”, which I can confidently feel getting closer to my heart the more I perform abroad. Japanese mythology is a tale that the world still does not know well. “Ekotumi” puts words to Japanese mythology and tells it in Japan, throughout the world.