Interviews

1. The origin of name Kishi Bashi

2. His Shin-Issei parents

3. On being Japanese and American

4. On his songfilm Omoiyari

5. The reason for creating the songflim Omoiyari

6. On music

Kishi Bashi

(b. 1975) Musician, composer, and songwriter

The reason for creating the songflim Omoiyari

The initial impetus was obviously the election. And then there’s that guy who’s talking about the Muslim ban and how the executive order, the incarceration, was precedent and that kind of really activated me in a way that, it was like I felt threatened as a minority in this country for the first time. I always kind of believed this country was a melting pot, it was open for everybody, and that’s when I started to really try to understand the incarceration.

This film serves two parts in that one is to kind of show this history and to develop empathy and kind of confront privilege to have my viewers take a step back and really understand how to help their community, or how to help underprivileged people or to help minorities – to get that perspective.

And I like to encourage minorities to have hope, that this is just a turning point. And then also for white people to be, hey this is really not just your country anymore. And all these advantages you’ve had, you should really acknowledge them and take a step back and share.

emotions empathy equality identity minorities music musicians Omoiyari (song) privilege sympathy United States

Date: August 21, 2018

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Sharon Yamato

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Kaoru Ishibashi, who performs as Kishi Bashi, is a Shin-Nisei musician, composer, and songwriter, born in Seattle, Washington and grew up in Norfolk, Virginia. He attended Berklee College of Music and became a renowned violinist.

His film project, Omoiyari (Empathy), led him to places such as Manzanar, Tule Lake, the Japanese American National Museum, and Japan to learn about Japanese American and Japanese World War II history. Omoiyari explores how empathy and the lack of it has played key roles in our modern quest for social equality. (March 2019)