KENJI

フジロック　　　サマソニ　　　甲子園

と

アチキにとっての夏の風物詩らが　みんなおわっちゃいましたねぇ～

なんかすっかり秋めいてきた今日この頃ですが、みなさんいかがお過ごしでしょうか。

なんかセミだけは空気をよめずにウルサイですね、むかし故郷ではセミを揚げていただいていたので(;^ω^A

木に登ってとってやろうかと何べんも思いましたが、すっかり身軽ではなくなってしまった我が身を案じ断念いたしました

故郷のみなさまは今でもセミを食してますかね？あとイモムシもワショーイ

野外フェスといえば(メチャ唐突ですがw)サマソニどうしてもいけなかったんだよなぁ、残念！

いくつかのバンドは以前に鑑賞済みだし他のメンツもどうかなぁ？っていうショボさだったんだけど、どうしても観たかったのが

FORTMINOR

リンキンパークの中心メンバーであるマイク・シノダのソロプロジェクトで、すっかりアメリカ音楽業界のモンスターバンドの一つとなった感のあるリンキン(イン○ンじゃないっすw)では表現できない、自分の音楽のルーツであるＨＩＰＨＯＰを前面に押し出した内容となってます。

なかでも圧巻だったのが

KENJI という曲で、 日系アメリカ人であるマイクが、太平洋戦争時に父・祖父ら日系人がアメリカ軍に強制収容された時のことを歌ったもの。(父や叔母の肉声も収録されている)(KENJIというのは父の名前でありマイク自身のミドルネームでもある。)

肉親からの伝承を直接表現したような歌詞で、詩的な要素が全く無いんだよね。なんか日系人としてのアイデンティティーを剥き出しにしたような印象。絶対にこの曲をアルバムに収録するって話してたらしいけど、どういう思いが彼の胸の中では去来してたんだろう。今のアメリカの世情などを勘案すればリスクある行動だったとも思うし。

日本で暮らしたことも無いし日本語も喋れない彼だけど、外にいるからこそ日本に対して特別な思いを持ってるっていうことにどこかシンパシーを感じます。(マイクは全米日系人博物館 にも寄付などのサポートをしているようです)

若い音楽ファンがこの曲をとおして日米の現代史に興味を持つきっかけとなるといいですね。

My father came from Japan in 1905


He was 15 when he immigrated from Japan


He, he... he worked until he was able to buy this patch


And build a store




Let me tell you the story in the form of a dream,


I don't know why I have to tell it but I know what it means,


Close your eyes, just picture the scene,


As I paint it for you, it was World War II,


When this man named Kenji woke up,


Ken was not a soldier,


He was just a man with a family who owned a store in LA,


That day, he crawled out of bed like he always did,


Bacon and eggs with wife and kids,


He lived on the second floor of a little store he ran,


He moved to LA from Japan,


They called him 'Immigrant,'


In Japanese, he'd say he was called 'Issei,'


That meant 'First Generation In The United States,'


When everyone was afraid of the Germans, afraid of the Japs,


But most of all afraid of a homeland attack,


And that morning when Ken went out on the doormat,


His world went black 'cause,


Right there; front page news,


Three weeks before 1942,


'Pearl Harbour's Been Bombed And The Japs Are Comin','


Pictures of soldiers dyin' and runnin',


Ken knew what it would lead to,


Just like he guessed, the President said,


'The evil Japanese in our home country will be locked away,'


They gave Ken, a couple of days,


To get his whole life packed in two bags,


Just two bags, couldn't even pack his clothes,


Some folks didn't even have a suitcase, to pack anything in,


So two trash bags was all they gave them,


When the kids asked mum 'Where are we goin'?'


Nobody even knew what to say to them,


Ken didn't wanna lie, he said 'The US is lookin' for spies,


So we have to live in a place called Manzanar


Where a lot of Japanese people are,'


Stop it don't look at the gunmen,


You don't wanna get the soldiers wonderin',


If you gonna run or not,


'Cause if you run then you might get shot,


Other than that try not to think about it,


Try not to worry 'bout it; bein' so crowded,


Someday we'll get out, someday, someday.




As soon as war broke out


The G.I came and they just come to the house and


'You have to come'


'All the Japanese have to go'


They took Mr. Nii


People didn't understand


Why did they have to take him?


Because he's an innocent neighbour




So now they're in a town with soldiers surroundin' them,


Every day, every night look down at them,


From watch towers up on the wall,


Ken couldn't really hate them at all;


They were just doin' their job and,


He wasn't gonna make any problems,


He had a little garden with vegetables and fruits that,


He gave to the troops in a basket his wife made,


But in the back of his mind, he wanted his families life saved,


Prisoners of war in their own damn country,


What for?


Time passed in the prison town,


He wanted them to live it down when they were free,


The only way out was joinin' the army,


And supposedly, some men went out for the army, signed on,


And ended up flyin' to Japan with a bomb,


That 15 kilotonne blast, put an end to the war pretty fast,


Two cities were blown to bits; the end of the war came quick,


Ken got out, big hopes of a normal life, with his kids and his wife,


But, when they got back to their home,


What they saw made them feel so alone,


These people had trashed every room,


Smashed in the windows and bashed in the doors,


Written on the walls and the floor,


'Japs not welcome anymore.'


And Kenji dropped both of his bags at his sides and just stood outside,


He, looked at his wife without words to say,


She looked back at him wiped the tears away,


And, said 'Someday we'll be okay, someday,'


Now the names have been changed, but the story's true,


My family was locked up back in '42,


My family was there it was dark and damp,


And they called it an internment camp




When we first got back from camp... uhh


It was... pretty... pretty bad




I, I remember my husband said


'Are we gonna stay 'til last?'


Then my husband died before they close the camp.