[ad_1]
Japanese dancer Maasa Ishihara sat down with Billboard Japan for the Women in Music interview series. The initiative was launched last year in the same spirit of billboardThe annual Women in Music event, which began in 2007, and the Japan-based project also aims to celebrate women who continue to break new ground in music through a variety of content, including interviews, live performances and panel discussions.
Ishihara is a US-based performer who has shared the stage with some of today’s top artists, including Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande. Although she has enjoyed success in recent years, she almost gave up her dancing career at one point and started over in the US after moving there when she was 21 years old. Here, she shares some personal practices she uses to stay grounded in the highly competitive entertainment industry and talks about the importance of embracing each other’s differences.
You built your career outside of Japan, but what was your childhood like? If there were any women you looked up to growing up, could you tell us about them?
I was born in Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture (in southwestern Japan). During my early elementary school years, I saw (J-pop superstar) Nami Amuro on TV and was obsessed with her. I wanted to be like her. There were no dance schools in my neighborhood, so I started singing and dancing after her example, and that’s how it all started. Back then, it was rare to see a female artist perform on stage with backup dancers (in Japan), and I’ll never forget that electrifying feeling when I saw her for the first time.
I always thought I felt this way about Amuro because she represented the kind of tough woman that didn’t exist around me growing up, but I recently realized that my mother was also a woman of inner strength. My mother was not a very talkative person, but she was always quietly watching over me and supporting me. The reason I was able to get this far with my longing to be like Amuro is probably because strong women seemed familiar to me from childhood, thanks to my mother.
So you’ve always admired women with inner strength, from those close to you to the stars you’ve seen on TV. Is that feeling simultaneous then and now?
In general yes. I’ve lived in the US, where people with dreams come from all over the world, and I’ve made my living in the entertainment scene, where things can change dramatically in a year or two, so it was really important for me to be determined. However, there were times in my 20s when I became insecure and struggled to become something I wasn’t. But at the end of the day, things like magnetism and strength are things you already have, so you just have to look for what you have and refine them. Now that I am 30 years old, I have returned to my roots and have a renewed admiration for women like my mother and Nami Amuro.
You went to the US on your own and earned your place in the entertainment industry there. How did you stay consistent? Do you have any tips or tricks you could share with us?
I adopted many different methods until I settled into my own way of doing things. Starting with trivial things like, “Do I drink hot water or coffee first thing in the morning?” I eventually found my way to meditation. I think it’s really important to have a morning routine to set yourself up for the day. When I wake up, the first thing I do is keep my eyes closed before I pick up my smartphone and try not to think about anything. It’s actually hard not to think about anything. But I make a conscious effort to spend 10 minutes on it every day. When I reset like this, I can think to myself, “What happened yesterday ended yesterday. I don’t know what it will be like today, but I will do my best.”
Therapy is also important. In Japan, the concept of mental health care is not very familiar, but in the US, mental health counseling is common. People go to the gym to get physically fit or to the hairdresser to style their hair, right? Likewise, people go to therapy to treat their mental health. It is important to take care of your mind as well.
So you learned to take control of your own mental health through meditation and therapy?
yes Life has its ups and downs and we all tend to focus on the bad. But you can’t change something that’s already happened. So letting it slide is effective for now. Even if you feel that you are still in a difficult situation, try to put the problem aside and think about what you can do for the future. And try to “stay ready” instead of “prepare.” Then, after the wave of difficulty passes, you can immediately take advantage of the next opportunity. I try to be in that “stay ready” state both mentally and physically.
Your words are convincing because you have really taken advantage of these opportunities. Do you think being a woman has affected your career in any way?
Yes, being a woman and a foreigner in the US, I have felt the impact of various obstacles. It’s a tough industry for a woman to survive as an artist. Sometimes we are sexualized in inappropriate situations by unwanted people, or we are underestimated or belittled because we are women. Even if I was “ready”, sometimes I wasn’t allowed to stand on the starting line. Racial discrimination also persists. For example, as much as I try to speak English, I am not a native speaker and my pronunciation is not good. And because of that I am perceived as immature. I can’t count the number of times I’ve felt put down because people won’t take me as seriously as others, no matter how genuinely I try to communicate. In general, this sort of thing has been happening for a long time, but with the #MeToo movement and other causes, the public has finally become aware of such issues in recent years, and moments when minorities have their say are now more common.
Do you feel these influences in the entertainment scene?
I think you can feel the energy of the creators trying to break gender stereotypes in the performances. Although this has been something that has been done for a while, I feel like people are trying to pursue another level of open expression in recent years.
It feels like the number of artists defying gender boundaries is gradually increasing in Japan as well. Likewise, the number of women speaking out and those supporting them is also increasing, but there still seems to be a lot of resistance.
Since moving to the States when I was 21, the biggest change from my days in Japan has been the daily contact with people of different races, backgrounds, creeds and genders. Because I was born in Japan and grew up in an environment where most of the people around me were Japanese, it took me a while to accept, understand and live with these various differences. I realized that the things I had considered normal until then were only part of the many ways of thinking and values that exist in the world, and I felt the need to completely readjust the things I took for granted. I had to understand, learn and acknowledge those things that were different from me. When I changed my mindset to “everyone is different and everyone is good,” my perspective expanded. Not only did I learn to accept differences, but I began to spend time introspecting, which led to a new awareness of my own identity and the beauty of Japan.
It is not easy for anyone to accept people and things that are different from themselves and the unknown that they have never experienced. It’s scary. But taking that first step and experiencing a 180-degree change in the way I see things has been an extremely valuable life lesson. I feel that if the people of the world can accept and respect each other’s differences, we will be much closer to world peace.
Check out an exclusive playlist of empowerment songs curated by Maas Ishihara below.
—This interview by Ryo Hirai (SOW SOWEET PUBLISHING) first appeared on Billboard Japan
[ad_2]
Source link