10 Songs with… lisa nishikawa
lisa nishikawa
Born in New York in 2003, currently based in Japan and primarily working as a photographer. Drawing has been a lifelong passion, leading to the study of Nihonga (Japanese-style painting) at university. Deeply influenced by anime and manga, a distinctly Japanese sense of aesthetics and atmosphere is reflected throughout the work.
1. What’s the last song you listened to?
montage – Sakanaction
2. What do you listen to when you go for a walk?
Asakage – VISUAL ARTS / Key
Basically, I don’t really want to face or directly experience the outside world as it is. I’d rather put on music from visual novels and walk around feeling like I’m one of the characters. I also listen to a lot of anime soundtracks. My motto is figuring out how to transform the three-dimensional world into a two-dimensional one and live inside that perspective.
3. What song would you like to have playing during a photoshoot?
I usually want to listen to whatever music the person I’m photographing likes.
When I’m shooting alone, I often don’t play any music at all.
4. What did you listen to in high school?
Nocturno, Op. 7 – Franz Strauss
I was surrounded by many wonderful musicians, so I was introduced to a lot of classical music. Since I played the horn myself, this piece became a favorite. I especially love the second movement. Its calm, expansive, and generous character has a way of bringing my mind back to a neutral state.
5. A song that reminds you of your childhood bedroom?
Melancholic – Junky feat. Kagamine Rin
I wrote about this in one of my zines before. I still vividly remember sitting at my computer, listening to Melancholic while waiting for my mother to come home. It would be dusk, then gradually become completely dark outside. There was this cute girl singing about innocent love inside a fairytale-like, flat illustrated world, and for some reason I watched it obsessively. Looking back, it feels like one of the origins of who I am today.
6. If you had to describe your personality with a song, what would it be?
Platina – Maaya Sakamoto
Cardcaptor Sakura, which used this song as its opening theme, is one of my personal bibles. Rather than describing my personality, this song represents the way I wish to live.
7. A song that makes you kinder?
Kimi no You ni Ikiretara – Uchu Nekoko
There are so many people around me who make me think, “If only I could live the way they do.” Every time I meet someone like that, this song comes to mind.
8. A song that gives you the courage to keep going?
Ashita e no Melody – CHAKA
This is also connected to the same series as my answer to questions 6, serving as the theme song for one of its films. When I rewatched it as an adult during a revival screening, hearing this song fill the theater brought up emotions completely different from when I was younger, and I cried a lot. In the end, everything I am seems to return to this place. It has become the foundation that keeps me moving forward.
9. A song you never want to forget?
Swallowtail Butterfly ~Ai no Uta~ – YEN TOWN BAND
I first learned this song from hearing my mother sing it at karaoke. Because of those memories, I never want to forget the moments in my life when this song was playing.
10. A song you’d like to listen to on a Sunday morning?
Yokogao – Akiko Yano & Taeko Ohnuki
This was the hardest question. I spent several days thinking about it.
My lifestyle isn’t very tied to specific days of the week, so I don’t really have a strong image of a Sunday morning anymore. Most of the music I love also feels more suited to the night than the morning. But I settled on a song that makes me feel calm and gentle when I listen to it. My ideal Sunday morning is a time when there’s a little space to breathe within everyday life, and this song captures that feeling for me.
11. Tell us one thing that’s important to you.
Above all else, repaying the kindness I’ve received.