Outside Society: People Without a Country [Hardcover]

This book describes Ayuo Takahashis growing up during the socially turbulent 1960s in New York City. The book will be most appreciated by individuals who are interested in Asian culture and the problems that Western-educated Asians confront when they return to their ancestral homelands.

Ayuo Takahashi is a musician (songwriter, lyricist, composer, vocalist, and guitarist) with over 20 albums released in Japan and the United States. Ayuo grew up in New York during the 1960s, interacting with many cultural figures while still a child including Seiji Ozawa, Toru Takemitsu, Yokoo Tadanori, Hiroshi Teshigahara, John Cage, and others. He has recordings with Ryuichi Sakamoto, John Zorn, and Peter Hammill, among others, released on JVC, Tzadik, MIDI, Epic-Sony, and other labels. He continues to create works based on medieval mythology and contemporary literature. In recent years, Ayuo's work has increasingly included music theater and chamber music mixed with dance and theatrical elements. He is also a journalist writing about music, films, and culture for magazines in Japan. In 2020, the compilation album Kankyo Ongaku: Japanese Ambient Music, which includes Ayuos composition Nagareru, was nominated for a U.S. Grammy Award. His recent works are available at ayuo.bandcamp.com.

During my stay in New York City in the 60s and 70s, I often attended rock concerts with this young friend. He was still in the early grades of elementary school, but his knowledge was that of an expert. I was afraid that Ayuos talent might turn him into a madman, but his reasoning transformed him into a musical genius. The Japanese rock scene has much, much more to learn from him.
-Yokoo Tadanori, artist.

I started reading the book as soon as I received it. Wow! Interesting. Nationality. Race. About family. About art. About the times. In many ways, these are topicl39