by Miles Rochester

In the first ever Artist Hour, I had the pleasure of talking with Daimei Sakaguchi ’25. Sakaguchi was born in Tokyo, Japan, but moved to the Philippines at a young age with his mother and two brothers to attend an international school where he would become fluent in English. 

Raised by a single mother who admirably defied the norms by taking her children to another country alone, Sakaguchi’s journey to becoming an artist, like so many great musicians, spawned from a broken home. Music was the glue that doubled as “a means of survival” leading him away from the likes of depression, loneliness and teenage angst.

Daimei and I conversed for an hour, exchanging music, philosophies, anecdotes and creative ideals. Here  are the highlights from  Artist Hour #1: 

Artist – Daimei

“Home”: Japan / Philippines 

“I had a weird mother and she was like ‘I’m going to take you to the Philippines’ and I was like whaaat. So yeah she took me and my brothers to the Philippines. Usually when Japanese people go to the Philippines as a family it’s because of their parents work, and they get everything paid for like their housing, the maids, everything. But my mom decided to go on her own.”

Kind of art: Music – Techno House

“Making Tech-House is pretty easy once you have the knowledge of what you need to put on the track. The hardest thing about making it is making it good… it’s a lot of subtraction and addition, kind of like familiarizing the audience with a certain sound and then subtracting it, depriving them of the sound/frequency spectrum then bringing it back in a really clever way.”

First Memory of Music: “So I had this guitar teacher that was the worst. My mother kind of forced me to learn (the guitar) and he was awful. He would come to our house to give me lessons, and by the end of our time together he stole my brother’s iPad. He tricked me (an eleven year old at the time) into selling him my PSP for four bucks.”

How the flow state feels:  “When it comes to music, when I focus on something my vision starts to, like, distort, almost like I’m hallucinating, and the only times I’ve experienced this feeling is when I’m  producing or playing some kind of instrument for hours. It’s just this beautiful headspace.”

Why is collaboration hard: “It’s hard to collaborate because all artists have their own flow and pace. Even when making music with friends who you are comfortable with, it’s really hard to make music with someone because you have your own visions and at some point someone’s going to have to take leadership.”

Do you want to be famous for your art: “I want to enjoy my music, and if I could make money through it, that would be my dream… I would die for that, but I don’t need people to be like “Oh, it’s Daimei!” I’d rather them be like “Oh! it’s that song.” 

Best Advice: “I just learned to let some things go and focus on the good things in life, music is definitely one of those good things”

Responses edited for length and clarity