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Reminiscences of a Journey to Noto

Electronic sound serves as both a mental landscape and a symbol. Jonas Mekas explores his memories while traveling, influenced by the emotions of the Noto Peninsula. However, the journey transitions from reality to sound.



Memories are crafted from one sound to another. But are these memories truly authentic? They bring his closer to true beauty. How much can one extract from the ordinary beauty presented? Yet, beauty without criticism becomes mundane. All images and photos are created, animated, and composed by Jonas Mekas.


Kyohei Hayashi Career: Born in Fukui Prefecture in 1984 and raised in Sanda City, Hyogo. He studied composition at Osaka University of Arts under Hiroshi Nanatsuya, Yasushi Utsunomiya, Kazuo Uehara, Kazuya Ishigami, and Tomoya Higaki. He creates video works accompanied by electroacoustic music. His influences include the literature and philosophy of Confucius, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Raymond Radiguet, Georges Bataille, Kajii Motojiro, Inagaki Taruho, Ishikawa Jun, Sakaguchi Ango, and Tanizaki Junichiro. His literary electronic music works, which reflect Ryunosuke Akutagawa's concept of “a novel without a story that seems like a 'story'” through electronic and concrete sounds, have been performed at ICMC, Prix Presque Rien (France), Image Forum Festival Young Perspectives (Japan), MUSLAB (Mexico), Futura (France), and the Paris Festival for Different and Experimental Cinema. The piece has been showcased at the This 21st festival edition (France), SIRGA FESTIVAL (Spain), and other venues in Japan and abroad, receiving high acclaim. In 2013, he organized a successful electroacoustic music concert, “Japan Electroacoustic Music Concert,” at the National Museum of Art, Osaka. In 2015, he won both the Grand Prize and the First Prize at the Prix Russolo, a renowned electronic music competition in France since 1979. In 2016, he was appointed as a jury member for Japan and in 2023 was elected to the Board of Directors. In 2019, he served as a lecturer for the “Creative Music Festival” organized by Yu Wakao. In 2020, his electroacoustic music piece was broadcast on BBC RADIO's program "New Music Show" (U.K.). He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Luigi Russolo International Music Competition (Prix Russolo).



What draws you to filmmaking and the cinematic language?

Filmmaking and cinema-language will make both my own spirit and also the social culture. This is the most important reason that involves me to them. First of all, for me, the time I spend doing filmmaking is the time I spend at the end of the day immersing myself in my dreams.


This process is part of my daily routine. I spend a lot of time in the day doing labour that has nothing to do with art. Because I have to eat. This labor is truly "time of reality" and is not an artistic experience for me. I need to leave "time of reality" for a few hours a day and immerse myself in the world of dreams. Filmmaking takes me into the world of "dreamscapes.”


In Noh, a traditional Japanese art form, the world of dreams, which is a world away from reality, is called "Mugen" and is revered as such. Thus, I make films to free my body and spirit from "real labor”. Drifting my ego during MUGEN, time gives me a lot of spiritual fruitfulness. Spiritual fruitfulness, for example, can dramatically enhance one's ability to think by abduction, which is neither induction nor deduction, but rather intuition. Also, I make films to wake up society's eyes. I believe that film language is the language of truth. It is a series of words of truth sent from the art world (the world of MUGEN) to the real world. And film language is a language that cannot be manipulated by human reason. Even an author cannot control 100 percent of a film's language.



Film language exists in the unconscious of the film work itself. Film language touches the viewer's mind directly, not through logic. Film language gives the viewer a true message that transcends the message that the author logically put into the film work. It is as if the artist himself did this unconsciously, like an automatic writing, one of the techniques of surrealism. This true message is the message from MUGEN, and this message will slowly but surely move people's hearts and bring about change in society.


Do you believe in film schools or does making a film teach you more than film school?

I completed my graduate studies at a Japanese art university. The school has brought me many encounters, not only about artistic production. For me, school was a place of encounters and opportunities. In addition, graduation from the school confers a diploma. This diploma is a very valuable qualification. The qualification will give you the opportunity to have many artistic experiences. Of course, today, the Internet allows us to learn about filmmaking through, for example, YouTube, but it does not allow us to understand filmmaking. “Learning” and “understanding” are two different phenomena. Art and culture are entrusted from person to person. The transmission of art and culture must be accompanied by body heat and smell (and it is precisely this body heat and smell that is the "film language"!)). In the end, however, there are certainly artists who have no need for schools. What is at issue here is that it is a matter that depends on a person's own characteristics. In other words, there are no "what ifs" in life.


In other words, if a positive thinker graduates from film school, he or she will think, "I am so glad I graduated from film school. On the other hand, if you did not enroll in film school, you may think, "I am so glad I did not enroll in film school, because I had so many valuable experiences that I could not have had in film school. So, there are no 'what ifs' in life. You only live once. Therefore, the question of whether or not to believe in film schools depends on the ideology of the person who thinks about this. In addition to the personal belief, the social climate of the time also plays a major role. For example, in a society where punk music is at its peak, graduating from a music school is seen as a very lame thing to do, and more people will think that “school is meaningless”.



On the contrary, in an age when classical music is at its peak, graduating from a music school will be very valuable, and more people will think that “schooling makes a lot of sense.” In other words, the complex mixture of personal ideology and social climate can transform the meaning of a school. I expect that the development of AI and other factors will lead to a growing social trend in which going to school and academic background are meaningless. However, I believe that times develop in a spiral. For example, the transformation of music media from LPs to CDs and then to data such as WAV or MP3 was seen for a time as an inevitable historical progression. In the wake of such change, however, LPs are becoming reevaluated for their sound quality and “the artistic value of the LP's existence as a thing.” Cassette tapes is also being reevaluated for the same reason. The CD, which took the world by storm as superior to the LP, has gone out of fashion today. More and more people consider LPs to have better sound quality than WAVs or MP3s.Culture generally spirals in this way. I believe that the meaning of the school will follow the same path. Even if schools are seen as meaningless and all schools are closed, something like a school will be created over time. This is because people basically want some kind of qualification to show off proof of their existence, such as an academic background.


What makes cinema stand out more than the arts for you?

Why film stands out from other art forms? I cannot say. I have certainly stated that film is a comprehensive art form, however, music, for example, can also be considered a comprehensive art form. This is because music can be interpreted as “a cinematic work without images.” In this way, all art can be interpreted as a total art. To begin with, human exists in time. Any work of art that is appreciated by a human being existing in time can be thought as spatiotemporal art. Because the human being experiencing art can only exist in time and space. John Cage's “4’33” ” is a musical work without a musical work. Acousmatic music, which I studied in college, can be interpreted as a cinematic work that appeals only to the auditory sense, with the visual image blocked out. French electronic music composer François Bayle developed the Acousmonium, an instrument for playing Acousmatic music. François Bayle called the Acousmonium's acoustic space an "acoustic projection screen. The word “Acousmatic” also derives from the disciples of Pythagoras in the sixth century B.C., who quietly listened to his voice through the curtain without seeing him directly. In other words, by not being able to see him, the Pythagorean voice was heard more clearly and mysteriously by the disciples.



Pythagoras is indeed present before us. However, the absence of Pythagoras' figure increased the presence of Pythagoras. In other words, Acousmatic music can be interpreted as a film in which images are present but not visible. Then, what about painting? I believe that although painting is generally interpreted as a two-dimensional art, it is also a spatio temporal art as long as the person viewing the painting exists in time and space. So, paintings can also be interpreted as films. If we interpret a painting as “a work of cinema that hardly changes at all,” the painting comes to exist as a work of cinema. When considered in this way, the barriers of artistic genres become almost meaningless. The important thing is that if you are bound by genre when appreciating a work of art, you will never be able to capture the true value of the art.


Did you choose a certain directing style for making your experimental film based on the script?

I am particularly interested in foreign directors Jan Švankmajer, Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky, Jon Moritsugu, Jean-Luc Godard, Luis Buñuel, Jean-Luc Godard, and Luis Buñuel, and Japanese directors Michio Okabe, Takashi Makino, Isao Kota, Nagisa Oshima, Suzuki Seijun, Akira Kurosawa, Yukio Mishima, and Teruo Koike, Ishii Sogo, and Takeshi Kitano. The scene in "Reminiscences of a Journey to Noto" is strongly influenced by Sadao Nakashima's "Escape from Hiroshima Prison". However, I was not particularly conscious of existing directors when I created my award-winning film, “Reminiscences of a Journey to Noto.” But, I had in mind a Japanese novelist. The novelist is Jun Ishikawa, who also appears in the middle of the film. Ishikawa's novels were inspired by stories from the Edo period, a forgotten part of Japan in the first half of the 20th century. At the time, Edo literature was an outdated art form in Japan. Only Western culture and art were seen as the superior art at that time. Many Edo literatures were based on ghosts and ridiculous stories. At that time in Japan, private novels were considered to be the high novels. I referred to Ishikawa's spirit of believing in his own aesthetic sense without being influenced by the times and the structure of the literary work then. Electroacoustic music tends to be associated with cutting-edge science and technology, such as AI or programming. This is probably how electroacoustic music came into being with the development of modern science and technology. The name "electroacoustic music" itself tends to lead one to believe that electroacoustic music should necessarily be associated with cutting-edge science and technology. But I do not believe that is the case.


It is also artistically significant that electroacoustic music has a strong connection with, for example, the Japanese view of literature, which has nothing to do with cutting-edge science. The fusion of electroacoustic music and literature is what I call the “Third Way of Electroacoustic Music.” Paradoxically, I also believe that this “third way of electroacoustic music” is the most advanced style of electroacoustic music. In the modern society of 2025, all kinds of waste should be eliminated and efficiency will be the order of the day. For example, in Japan, there is a social trend toward eliminating year-end gifts, mid-year gifts, or New Year's cards. But let’s consider this. These year-end or New Year's cards are an important cultural legacy that also speaks to Georges Bataille's philosophy of gift. In the world of architecture, rational modernist architecture that eliminated waste was popular, but later came the era of postmodernist architecture that incorporated design, playfulness, and elegance, all of which were considered useless in the era of modernist architecture. As I stated earlier, "times progress in a spiral."


However, many people living in their own era tend to lose such a bird's-eye view because they are strongly tied to the era. Whoever lives in an age where rational values are respected (even if it is an artist!) often, they are under the illusion that the more rational way of thinking is the progressive and correct way of thinking. I also wonder, ”even if an idea is 'cutting edge,' where is the guarantee that it is 'cutting edge' and therefore the right idea?” Like Ishikawa, I would like to create art that punctures the times. And I am proud to say that I could have it in “Reminiscences of a Journey to Noto.” As for the sound it is very strongly influenced by Michel Chion's ideas. I mean, the concept of “sound within the frame, sound outside the frame, sound off the frame” as proposed by Michel Chion. “Reminiscences of a Journey to Noto” is an electronic sound film. In an electroacoustic film, every sounds could be sound within or outside. And they are also could be said that every sounds are the sound outside the frame.


What I like to say is that it depends on the viewer’s consciousness. This is directly related to the concept of acousmatic music as I mentioned earlier. In other words, the subject of the electronic sound film is hidden behind a curtain, even though the images are present. Electroacoustic film is a form of expression accompanied by images, but the source of the sound is shrouded in mystery. In electroacoustic films, the viewer can only imagine what Pythagoras looks like. This is the greatest virtue and beauty of electronic sound films.


How did you fund your experimental film and what were some of the challenges of making an experimental film?

I am funding the film from the “real time” I mentioned earlier. And I am not involved in any particularly expensive experiments. Experimental expression using cutting-edge science and technology that costs a lot of money is valuable in its own right, and I would like to make use of such expression techniques if I have the opportunity. For now, though, I am interested in literary ......, or spiritual artistic expression. I am engaged in a literary experiment, not a scientific one, so I don't need a lot of money to make experimental films. In fact, “Reminiscences of a Journey to Noto” cost less than $70 to produce. There is another reason why my funding is small. I give orders to the various me that exist in my brain. Me in the painting department, me in the camera department, me in the script department, me as an actor, and me in the music department.


Yes, that is to say, the funds are extremely small because I place the orders for each of the departments that exist in my brain. Besides, in the first place, do you need money to watch MUGEN? To complete a rich work of art, one must earn spiritual capital, not money. That is in fact a major challenge for me. To go through one's own style of artistic expression without being influenced by the times. This involves a great deal of risk in life. I am prepared to accept this risky fate, but the mental load is still considerable. The first factor of it is the inability to make compromises with the world. It means that I have to become paranoid. If something is against my artistic beliefs even the slightest thing, say, in some trivial everyday event, I am unable to bend my beliefs for it. This is an issue before one is aware of it or not. In other words, artistic judgment precedes reason.


The general idea is that a long life is better than a short life. Artistic judgment, however, can differ from such general judgments. Artists sometimes prefer a short, concentrated life to a long, lazy life! Such thinking produces reassuring allies, but it also often creates enemies. Because, the artist must break through “common sense”. Still, I must go on. This is because the true light that leads to MUGEN can be seen beyond “common sense” and “real time”. This requires strong mental strength, in other words, mental capital. It is all for the sake of art, and this is the fate of the true artist. And for the artist, even that fate can be a pleasure.


Do you consider yourself an indie filmmaker and what would be the most difficult thing about being an independent artist?

I do not consider myself an independent filmmaker. I never have. I do not allow myself to bind myself to such a limited meaning. Binding oneself is a fetter in artistic creation. But of course, I have my beliefs. That belief is to remain true to oneself. If I want to compose, I compose; if I want to draw, I draw; if I want to read, I read; if I want to be an actor, I turn my camera on myself. When all of these desires for expression are concentrated into a single point of energy, a work of art in the so-called "cinematic form" is created.


What is the distribution plan for your film?

My other films have been distributed through online platforms in France and the Republic of Moldova, but there are currently no distribution prospects for my award-winning film, Reminiscences of a Journey to Noto. However, on February 21, 2025, the artist hold show the cinema at the art space environment 0g [zero-gauge] (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100057470079112) in Namba, Osaka, with my own performance with the musical instrument. In the February event, I will have a live performance with Yasushi Utsunomiya, Japan's leading sound scientist of sound. Dr. Yasushi Utsunomiya was my teacher during my university days. I am very nervous now because I will be participating in the same event as a respected teacher, but I am also very excited. I hope you will all come to this event. Plans are underway to hold a solo exhibition of my electroacoustic films using acousmonium, in 2025. I am currently working on a new electroacoustic film for this exhibition.


What is it like to be involved with the language of cinema and also be a music composer at the same time?

This is a good question that gets to the heart of my artistic activities. As I answered before question, to engage in production activities while being concerned with artistic genres is to shrink the potential of art. Nevertheless, it is not pointless to divide genres. We cannot move forward without dividing things up, especially when researching something. “Divide” in Japanese also means “to understand = to comprehend.” It is true that there are differences between the language of film and the language of music. And It is also true that there are things that can be seen by dividing. At the first encounter, the human brain may say, “this is a work of cinema” or “this is a piece of music.”


That is quite natural as long as we are human beings living in this modern age. Because society says, "this kind of thing is cinema. or this is what music is.” Human beings live in such a cage called society. Therefore, human beings can never deviate from the social structure, that is, from the way they perceive things as prescribed by society. Let's proceed to answer this question from the perspective of the general contemporary meaning of film and music. Usually, the video and music are handled separately by different people. But I am in charge of both of them by myself. It means I can control the world as you wish. This is a great advantage. However, the chemistry created by putting someone else in the work or the interaction with other people is non-existent.


This is a major blow. It is important to be involved with others, as it may produce artistic effects that you did not anticipate, and it may also create opportunities for you as your circle of human interaction grows. Next, let us consider the relationship between music and images in general. It is a modern notion that musical works do not include images. Was there ever a time when music was not accompanied by images? Music has its players, the clothes they wear, the expressions of the players and conductor, the concert hall, and the figurative beauty of the instruments.


What a thing music is full of images! Music is also a movie! Today, however, music is recognized as an art form that is not accompanied by images. Why is that? It is because the art of recording was invented in the modern era. In data such as records, CDs, and WAVs, it is now possible to show “music itself” without images, and music has come to refer to “sound of music itself.” But why the recorded theater is called “film” and given a different name and concept than theater and opera, which are seen live at venues, while recorded music is called “music” and music heard live is also called “music” and discussed under the same name and concept? That happens even now in 2025! The great Japanese composer Masahiro Miwa suggests that recorded music should be recognized as “rokugaku,” a different form of "music.


And the electroacoustic film work I am advocating is film, music, and Rokugaku at the same time. My electroacoustic films can be musical works in the sense that the music is never without images. Or the images themselves could be music to be seen by the eyes. It can also be perceived simply as a work of cinema, or as a rokugaku. To further mention, the story line in an electronic sound film does not have a specific story line. I was strongly influenced by the novels of Ryunosuke Akutagawa as well as Jun Ishikawa. In other words, it is an influence from Ryunosuke Akutagawa's proposal of “a novel without a story that seems to be a 'story.” It is found in Ryunosuke Akutagawa's late masterpiece, “Mirage.” I loved this novel so much that I used to recite it to myself in the middle of the night when I was in my early twenties.


This novel could been said also very musical. No, I could say that it is music itself, and since it is recorded as a novel, I could also say that it is Rokugaku. A story can exist without a “story” or even as outside of a story. ...... Certainly such novels exist. By the same token, there are also film works without images.... A ballet piece without a body exists as a piece of absolute cinema. ...... Being involved in the language of film and being a music composer at the same time is a matter of how one perceives one's own view of art. Thanks for you all and if you have any questions for me, please contact me at my email address, atomage@msn.com.



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