Latest news with #Fujioka
Asahi Shimbun
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Asahi Shimbun
Radwimps drummer builds voice-operated kit for comeback
SAN FRANCISCO—Pushed by a strict but empathetic professor, the drummer of popular rock band Radwimps plans to restart his musical career that was derailed by a neurological disease. Satoshi Yamaguchi, 40, has been on hiatus from the group since 2015 after developing dystonia, which caused involuntary muscular contractions in his right foot and made it impossible for him to properly step on the pedal for his bass drum. He has studied the disease in the academic world and jointly created a voice-operated drum for his musical comeback. Yamaguchi said he was inspired by people in Silicon Valley. 'Those who I met in Silicon Valley gave me a lot of love,' Yamaguchi said. 'I'm grateful more than words can say.' FROM CONCERTS TO RESEARCH Formed in 2001, Radwimps quickly soared to popularity, particularly among the younger crowd. The band's production of music for such animated feature films as megahit 'Your Name.' heightened the group's fame, leading to sold-out shows in both Japan and overseas. Yamaguchi, however, took leave from the group after the dystonia symptoms worsened. He joined Keio University as a visiting researcher and started studying the disease among musicians. Through his work, he gained an opportunity to have lunch with Takako Fujioka, 57, an associate professor of music at Stanford University specializing in brain functions. At a 'tonkatsu' (deep-fried pork cutlet) restaurant in Tokyo in 2023, Yamaguchi told Fujioka about his experience. The neuroscientist shed tears and said how sorry she was for him. Yamaguchi decided to go to California, where Fujioka works, to continue his research. He attended an English language school near San Francisco in autumn that year while visiting Fujioka's lab at Stanford. She was tough on Yamaguchi when teaching him how to act like a researcher. She told him to engage in more academic conversations and refer to papers and theories to express his ideas instead of talking on a whim. All of Fujioka's students are musicians who design instruments and develop software. After repeated exchanges, Fujioka suggested to Yamaguchi that he create a system that would allow him to play the drums again. Although caught off-guard by the idea, he decided to give it a shot. Fujioka held a computer-related job before she felt that she had hit a wall. She switched careers and became a brain-wave researcher in her 30s. That was why Fujioka emphasized to Yamaguchi the importance of putting all of his energy into a field to which he could channel his passion. She also advised the musician to narrow the purpose of his research to, for example, finding a cure or other reason. Yamaguchi took a personal approach. He had recorded the stress he felt when he experienced symptoms, and he used those feelings as 'data.' 'He put his experiences into words and was exploring ways to study them somehow,' Fujioka recalled. 'At the same time, it might have helped Yamaguchi's rehabilitation.' REGAINING THE FUN Yamaguchi got further inspiration for his project from Roy Hirabayashi, founder of San Jose Taiko, a Japanese-American drumming group, and his wife PJ, both of whom helped him rediscover the fun of music. After seeing San Jose Taiko perform live, Yamaguchi visited the band members at their rehearsal space. Hirabayashi gave advice to Yamaguchi on playing the 'taiko' drums. 'I said, 'I don't want you to think like a Western drum player. I want you to start from zero,'' she said. She said she also urged Yamaguchi to feel a spiritual tie with the traditional Japanese instrument. 'The way that I teach is really becoming aware of the universe and Mother Nature, energy, wanting him to really feel that connection by having a drum that's made out of wood and animal hide,' she said. Yamaguchi, who hadn't played the drums for a long time, found it exciting and regained the happiness of playing music. He also noticed that Hirabayashi and other performers shouted out something like 'don-pa-don-pa' just before hitting the drums. That further inspired Yamaguchi to develop the voice-operated bass drum. Hirabayashi said she noticed a change in the Radwimps drummer. 'He was just so open and wanting to learn,' she said. 'He is crediting us for changing his life. We could also see it. There was some kind of shift in the way and his enthusiasm.' Yamaguchi continued holding discussions with Fujioka and other experts. In December, he unveiled the drum set he jointly developed with Yamaha Corp. The instrument uses a sensor that detects the voice of the player to vibrate the bass drum and produce the sound. 'I want to play music with the members of Radwimps again with a smile on my face,' Yamaguchi said. 'I believe this epoch-making technology can lead me to that future.' While hoping to make a comeback as a musician, he intends to finish a paper he has been working on for four years. He also plans to move on to a Ph.D. program to continue his research.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Museums' funding slashed by DOGE order. One L.A. museum vows to fight
The letter to the Japanese American National Museum on Friday morning from the National Endowment for the Humanities read in part: "Due to a change in the Administration's funding priorities, DOGE has made the decision to terminate NEH awards." The Los Angeles museum had seen this coming. On Wednesday night, state humanities councils across the country had begun receiving similar letters stating that their NEH funding had been terminated, one day after Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency visited NEH headquarters. By Friday, the scope of the NEH cuts was crystallizing as arts and humanities organizations began grappling with the loss of money previously approved by Congress, and social media lighted up with reports of NEH staffers being put on administrative leave. The $175,000 NEH grant that JANM lost was for the museum's Landmarks of American History and Culture workshops. Now in its third year, the program brings teachers from across the country to L.A.'s Little Tokyo to learn about Japanese American history, including the mass incarceration of U.S. citizens by their own government during World War II, a civics lesson aimed at preventing history from repeating. Over the last two years, more than 100 teachers from 31 states have attended the two-week program and shared their experiences and new knowledge with approximately 21,000 students. "This is impacting many museums in the United States, especially cultural and ethnic museums," Japanese American National Museum board chairman Bill Fujioka said of the NEH decision. "We already have a signed contract with the federal government for that money. And we've been told it's being clawed back." The NEH grant money being rescinded was mostly allocated on a reimbursement basis, Fujioka said — meaning organizations were expected to spend the money first, then get reimbursed. The NEH letter amounts to a refusal to reimburse those expenses, despite earlier NEH approval. Fujioka said the Japanese American National Museum was worried about the loss of not only NEH funding but also money allocated through the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences, which awarded $26.4 million in grants and research funding to cultural organizations in California last year. Its staff was put on administrative leave late last month. Organizations such as the Japanese American National Museum have feared losing their federal funding ever since President Trump took office and began his campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion, Fujioka said, adding that many organizations have scrubbed their websites to remove any reference to DEI. The Japanese American National Museum will "scrub nothing," Fujioka said, and instead will highlight the importance of DEI. "Our community is based on diversity, equity is guaranteed to us in the Constitution, and inclusion is what we believe in," Fujioka said. Local museums that could be affected by IMLS funding cuts include the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which was awarded $744,095 through the organization last year, as well as UCLA's Fowler Museum ($188,808) and the Autry Museum of the American West ($70,617). LACMA confirmed to The Times that it received a letter terminating its NEH grant, but the museum declined further comment. The Times has reached out to a dozen California museums to discuss potential NEH or IMLS funding cuts; no others have agreed to speak on the record. Fujioka said his museum has grants from NEH and IMLS totaling $2 million — $1.45 million of which was approved during the Biden administration but which the museum is bracing to never materialize; and $522,000 in grants applied for but not yet awarded. Of the approved grants, $750,000 was part of the NEH program Save America's Treasures, devoted to historic preservation. Fujioka's museum earmarked that funding for a climate control and HVAC system upgrade that will help to preserve 160,000 artifacts. Fujioka said the museum is considering taking legal action on behalf of all museums losing previously approved funding, but JANM President and Chief Executive Ann Burroughs said the idea has not yet been explored in detail. "It is an option that is open to us, and we would certainly join a class action lawsuit," she said. "We know that the actions that are being taken are not lawful because this is essentially approved funding," said Rick Noguchi, president and chief executive of California Humanities, a state affiliate of the NEH, which was notified Wednesday night that its funding had been eliminated. The California Humanities council gets about $3.5 million annually from the NEH, which accounts for 90% of its budget. The organization is designed to funnel federal money to educational programs at California museums, libraries and schools, among other places. Noguchi said humanities councils across the country might band together to ask for a court injunction to prevent the funding loss, which he said would be "devastating." He described the reaction of state humanities councils as the NEH notices were landing. "It was a parade of letters that were being posted on a directors' listserv, because every state has a humanities council, and so it seemed like they were going alphabetically," Noguchi said. He added that this is funding appropriated by Congress. "There's a line item in National Endowment for the Humanities budget called the federal state partnership." The NEH was established by Congress in 1965. It provides grants for humanities projects to organizations including museums, archives, libraries, colleges and scholars. A longtime NEH official, Michael McDonald, is the agency's acting director. He took over last month after the previous director — Shelly C. Lowe, a Biden appointee — resigned under pressure. The New York Times reported that McDonald told NEH officials this week that "the agency would focus on patriotic programming." McDonald signed the California Humanities council letter, which was reviewed by The Times and read in part: "Your grant's immediate termination is necessary to safeguard the interests of the federal government, including its fiscal priorities. The termination of your grant represents an urgent priority for the administration, and due to exceptional circumstances, adherence to the traditional notification process is not possible." The NEH did not respond to a request for comment. Get notified when the biggest stories in Hollywood, culture and entertainment go live. Sign up for L.A. Times entertainment alerts. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
04-04-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Museums' funding slashed by DOGE order. One L.A. museum vows to fight
The letter to the Japanese American National Museum on Friday morning from the National Endowment for the Humanities read in part: 'Due to a change in the Administration's funding priorities, DOGE has made the decision to terminate NEH awards.' The Los Angeles museum had seen this coming. On Wednesday night, state humanities councils across the country had begun receiving similar letters stating that their NEH funding had been terminated, one day after Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency visited NEH headquarters. By Friday, the scope of the NEH cuts was crystallizing as arts and humanities organizations began grappling with the loss of money previously approved by Congress, and social media lighted up with reports of NEH staffers being put on administrative leave. The $175,000 NEH grant that JANM lost was for the museum's Landmarks of American History and Culture workshops. Now in its third year, the program brings teachers from across the country to L.A.'s Little Tokyo to learn about Japanese American history, including the mass incarceration of U.S. citizens by their own government during World War II, a civics lesson aimed at preventing history from repeating. Over the last two years, more than 100 teachers from 31 states have attended the two-week program and shared their experiences and new knowledge with approximately 21,000 students. 'This is impacting many museums in the United States, especially cultural and ethnic museums,' Japanese American National Museum board chairman Bill Fujioka said of the NEH decision. 'We already have a signed contract with the federal government for that money. And we've been told it's being clawed back.' The NEH grant money being rescinded was mostly allocated on a reimbursement basis, Fujioka said — meaning organizations were expected to spend the money first, then get reimbursed. The NEH letter amounts to a refusal to reimburse those expenses, despite earlier NEH approval. Fujioka said the Japanese American National Museum was worried about the loss of not only NEH funding but also money allocated through the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences, which awarded $26.4 million in grants and research funding to cultural organizations in California last year. Its staff was put on administrative leave late last month. Organizations such as the Japanese American National Museum have feared losing their federal funding ever since President Trump took office and began his campaign against diversity, equity and inclusion, Fujioka said, adding that many organizations have scrubbed their websites to remove any reference to DEI. The Japanese American National Museum will 'scrub nothing,' Fujioka said, and instead will highlight the importance of DEI. 'Our community is based on diversity, equity is guaranteed to us in the Constitution, and inclusion is what we believe in,' Fujioka said. Local museums that could be affected by IMLS funding cuts include the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, which was awarded $744,095 through the organization last year, as well as UCLA's Fowler Museum ($188,808) and the Autry Museum of the American West ($70,617). LACMA confirmed to The Times that it received a letter terminating its NEH grant, but the museum declined further comment. The Times has reached out to a dozen California museums to discuss potential NEH or IMLS funding cuts; no others have agreed to speak on the record. Fujioka said his museum has grants from NEH and IMLS totaling $2 million — $1.45 million of which was approved during the Biden administration but which the museum is bracing to never materialize; and $522K in grants applied for but not yet awarded. Of the approved grants, $750,000 was part of the NEH program Save America's Treasures, devoted to historic preservation. Fujioka's museum earmarked that funding for a climate control and HVAC system upgrade that will help to preserve 160,000 artifacts. Fujioka said the museum is considering taking legal action on behalf of all museums losing previously approved funding, but JANM President and Chief Executive Ann Burroughs said the idea has not yet been explored in detail. 'It is an option that is open to us, and we would certainly join a class action lawsuit,' she said. 'We know that the actions that are being taken are not lawful because this is essentially approved funding,' said Rick Noguchi, president and chief executive of California Humanities, a state affiliate of the NEH, which was notified Wednesday night that its funding had been eliminated. The California Humanities council gets about $3.5 million annually from the NEH, which accounts for 90% of its budget. The organization is designed to funnel federal money to educational programs at California museums, libraries and schools, among other places. Noguchi said humanities councils across the country might band together to ask for a court injunction to prevent the funding loss, which he said would be 'devastating.' He described the reaction of state humanities councils as the NEH notices were landing. 'It was a parade of letters that were being posted on a directors' listserv, because every state has a humanities council, and so it seemed like they were going alphabetically,' Noguchi said. He added that this is funding appropriated by Congress. 'There's a line item in National Endowment for the Humanities budget called the federal state partnership.' The NEH was established by Congress in 1965. It provides grants for humanities projects to organizations including museums, archives, libraries, colleges and scholars. A longtime NEH official, Michael McDonald, is the agency's acting director. He took over last month after the previous director — Shelly C. Lowe, a Biden appointee — resigned under pressure. The New York Times reported that McDonald told NEH officials this week that 'the agency would focus on patriotic programming.' McDonald signed the California Humanities council letter, which was reviewed by The Times and read in part: 'Your grant's immediate termination is necessary to safeguard the interests of the federal government, including its fiscal priorities. The termination of your grant represents an urgent priority for the administration, and due to exceptional circumstances, adherence to the traditional notification process is not possible.' The NEH did not respond to a request for comment.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Yahoo
The search for Sammy continues, $50k offered for information
HONOLULU (KHON2) — The family of missing teen Samantha 'Sammy' Chun has taken their efforts in finding her a step further by offering a $50,000 reward for her safe return or information leading to it.A $50k reward for her [Samantha Chun's] safe return or info leading to her safe return by 3/1/35 is being offered Chun Family Sammy has been missing since Jan. 17 when she and 18-year-old Joey Fujioka went out on Oahu's North Shore for a night swim and failed to return home. The teens belongings were found along with Fujioka's parked car, but no sign of Chun. Fujioka's remains were found off Ke Iki Beach and the pronouncement of his death was made as of Jan. 23. Download the free KHON2 app for iOS or Android to stay informed on the latest news Anyone with information is being asked to email findsammychun@ or call 911 if found. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
