Saxophone Samurai in 3 minutes

For first-time visitors / Read in about 3 minutesExplained in 3 minutes
saxophone samurai (Saxophonus saxophilus)A samurai wearing a sedge hat is playing the saxophone on a Nagoya street corner."What sort of person is Saxophone Samurai, anyway?"This page is a gateway that answers that question with seven responses. If you want to know more deeply, we will guide you at the end to an eight-chapter read.

* The figures are based on the achievements introduced on each page of our site. For details, please see the "Performance History" and "Initiatives for Tourism Enhancement" pages.

QUESTION 01Who are you?

A one-of-a-kind street artist from Nagoya who plays the saxophone dressed as a samurai wearing a sedge hat.

holding a saxophone instead of a sword, without fighting“Slaying mental illness with sound”That is the style of the Saxophone Samurai. In July 2020, with the sole desire to comfort people weary from the coronavirus pandemic, he began standing on the street corners of Nagoya.

From that tone, before long'Nagoya's moving power spot'.came to be called, and before long people began gathering from all over the country. Nowadays, even tourist information centres within Nagoya CityHuman tourist attractionI am officially introduced as such.

QUESTION 02Why "samurai"?

This is a frequently asked question. The reason is threefold.

At the time, I thought every single one of those events would only ever be a negative. However, it is precisely because of these three things that the Saxophone Samurai was born.Adversity is the fuel for your next step.That is also the main thing I want to convey in my lecture.

Read the story of the birth

QUESTION 03What kind of performance do you give?

The focus is on famous J-POP ballads that everyone can hum along to.

Rather than surprising them with a difficult tune,Something that goes straight to the hearts of the people who are thereI'm only thinking about that. Each note, without any lyrics, quietly intertwines with the listener's own memories. Not a few people listen with their eyes closed, shedding tears.

There is a clear catalyst for this performance style. It happened back when I was playing at Ozone Station, at a time when nobody would even stop to listen. A woman who was listening with tears in her eyes said this to me:

I couldn't say a thing. However, as I thought about it deeply, I realised."My sound is one that can resonate with people's sorrow.". Not an uplifting sound, but music that gently nestles up to and heals sorrow. That became the meaning of the Saxophone Samurai's sound.

Read about our dedication to sound

QUESTION 04Why do people gather?

Hundreds to a thousand people gather for the weekend live performances. Even tourists just passing by stop in their tracks, and before you know it, a large circle has formed—that has become the usual scene on the street corners of Nagoya.

When we asked people who came to the live concert in Nagoya,24.81 TP3T visitors from outside the prefectureFurthermore86.7% is ‘primarily for Sax Samurai’That was their reply. It means they did not just happen to be passing by, but had come there with a specific purpose in mind.

I believe the reason lies not so much in the performance technique, but rather in where the music reaches. We receive many such comments every day.

Reading your feedback See the customer acquisition in action on video

QUESTION 05What do you do as a Nagoya Tourism Goodwill Ambassador?

Rather than building from scratch, we focus on making the most of and communicating the charm of the towns that already exist.

In an era where soaring material costs make it difficult to build new tourist facilities.Then we should just turn humanity itself into a tourist attraction.Born from that inverted perspective is the concept of the "human tourist spot". It combines the power to gather people and the power to broadcast information with Nagoya's tourism resources.

There are broadly two things we can offer to local authorities and commercial facilities.

Actual initiatives are already operating in this way.

Additionally, we are giving away free car stickers as a small statement saying "I like Nagoya"Proud Nagoya ProjectWe are also moving forward with both simultaneously. Bringing people in from outside the town while nurturing pride within it. We are advancing these two as a pair of wheels.

See efforts to boost tourism

QUESTION 06I'd love to see it in a video

It might be quickest to listen to the sound rather than reading about it. We have prepared three representative examples for you.

01 Fuji Television "Sun! Shine" featured activities

02 The scene of the town playing music

03 Impression of a performance at an event

QUESTION 07Where shall we meet next?

Based in Nagoya, we now receive commissions from all over the country.Since 2020, the number of performances has reached 1,320, and we have visited 19 prefectures.Since the start of activitiesOn average, once every 1.7 dayscontinues to perform on stage at a pace of . The venues vary widely, ranging from large shopping centres, tourist spots, shopping arcades and shrines and temples to concert halls.

Details of our next performances are updated regularly on the live schedule page.Most gigs are free and can be enjoyed without a reservation.Please feel free to pop by if you are in the area.