Rina Sawayama
Othering. The socially and culturally constructed process goes beyond liking or disliking someone to the point of treating people from another group as essentially different from the group the majority belong to. Rina Sawayama has experienced it closely.
The British-Japanese pop star was told last year that she couldn’t compete for Mercury prize because she didn’t hold a British passport. Sawayama, who has lived in the UK for 26 years, has won the right to do so this year. She instigated a change in the rules and now, artistes who have been resident in the UK for more than five years, qualify for the main prizes.
“I think a lot of immigrants feel this way — where they assimilate and they become part of the British culture... and to be told that we’re not even eligible to be nominated is very othering,” the 30-year-old has told BBC. Her steadfastness has also extended the eligibility for the BRIT Awards.
Sawayama is a livewire act whose music has as pillars nu-metal, rap-rock and pure, soulful R&B. Her debut album — Sawayama — has found a fan in Elton John, who encourages young musicians like no other. The 74-year-old probably sees many things common with Sawayama, both of whom are driven by things glam and are known to be outspoken. What we now have is a collaborative version of Sawayama’s song Chosen Family. The legendary rock star only has the kindest of words for Sawayama in a recent interview with The New York Times: “Rina’s album just blew me away. I had to call her up and tell her how brilliant it was. I mean, it was Led Zeppelin meets Prince meets a couple of things that referenced Madonna. I think her songs Bad Friend and Chosen Family Madonna would have killed for. It was so many musical influences, but done in her own way, so it didn’t feel like pastiche.”
The British-Japanese singer has been raised by a single mother in north London where she attended a specialist performing arts school as a teenager, giving her all the reason to lean into the music of Beyonce and Britney Spears and at the same, J-pop artistes such as Namie Amuro and Ayumi Hamasaki. It wasn’t music that was her first stop. She studied politics, psychology and sociology at Cambridge where, according a profile interview with The Guardian, she was seen not as a Londoner but an “other”, and encountered bullying. Graduation came and she reconnected with Asian culture, revisiting the J-pop she had grown up on.
A couple of years ago, at Manchester’s Albert Hall, she offered a glimpse of her way of dealing with othering. She narrated to the crowd how one label exec jokingly called her “Rina Wagamama”. “I was pursuing a deal with them, but you know, that’s gone.” It didn’t end there. Her message was as clear as smoke from a chimney, evident in the song, STFU!. Have you ever thought about/taping your big fat mouth shut/’cause I have many times.
Her name is Rina Sawayama and she doesn’t like anyone fermenting unnecessary chaos than what we are already in.
Hideki Matsuyama
Hideki Matsuyama could have taken a chartered flight from Augusta airport to Tokyo. He didn’t. Instead he was spotted at the Atlanta airport, like any of us. In fact, he could have bypassed Atlanta altogether. The green jacket he won a few days ago at the historic Augusta National Golf Club was draped over the seat next to him. His Masters 2021 win is a win for Japan. It was the first for a Japanese man in a major championship.
The 29-year-old hails from a nation of avid golfers where the game is the pastime for the political elite and business tycoons. Here is a man who wins the prestigious sport tournament of the year when anti-Asian hate crimes in the US are probably at its peak. According to Google Trends, the hashtag ‘Stop Asian Hate’ surged more than 5,000 per cent just this past month.
Matsuyama’s win matters. In the States, the audience for golf is largely white and conservative with Asians filling just a nook. When Tiger Woods won his first green jacket in 1997, there was the promise of a new era. Inspiration has arrived, this time from the Matsuyama-born golfer.
He has given more than a reason to take golf seriously at the Olympic Games. When the sport returned to the Olympics in 2016, there were a number of important withdrawals and this time, Dustin Johnson, the world number one golfer, has confirmed that he will not be seen in Tokyo.
Matsuyama has managed to maintain a low profile. In fact, many didn’t know that he’s married and has a daughter. “No one really asked me if I was married, so I didn’t have to answer that question. But I felt that after the PGA would be a good time, because our baby is born and I thought that would be a good time to let everyone know,” he had said in 2017.
Since we are in the did-you-know territory, he likes his share of sake and his backswing “pause” has become a signature move. Hopefully more and more Asian-Americans will be seen trying this signature shot and highlight minority-driven narratives.
“I am really happy. My nerves really didn’t start on the back nine, it was right from the start and right until the very last putt. I was thinking about them [friends and family] all the way around. I am really happy I played well for them. Hopefully I will be a pioneer and many other Japanese players will follow and I am glad to open the floodgates,” said Matsuyama.
For the time being, he joins the club of other greats, like Isao Aoki (1980 US Open runner-up), Tommy Nakajima (finished in the top 10 in six majors), Toshimitsu Izawa (tied for fourth at the 2001 Masters) and Shigeki Maruyama (finished fourth at the 2004 US Open).
