About Osaka

Three Populist Girls

Aizawa: My name is Risa Aizawa, also known as Risachi. I usually work as the leader of a group called "Dempagumi.inc." I also work in a variety of fields, including as a designer for the collaborative unit "LAVILITH" and the apparel brand "MEMUSE," as well as a voice actress.

Harada: My name is Harada Chiaki and I am an illustrator and manga artist.

Arina: My name is Arina, and I am the manager of "MELCAFE."

Expanding the community through social media and pop culture

Harada: I really get the feeling that people who are just messing around drawing pictures at home are meeting each other on social media and forming a circle.

Arina: People who like pop culture may be better able to form communities. Maybe it's because they have something in common they like.

Aizawa: Before appearance, age, or gender, it's easier to convey what a person likes, what they want to express, and what they're doing seriously on social media. Before the person. I'm an otaku myself, so I can trust characters and people who understand their feelings more than real people. I start with trust, and once I can trust them, once I meet them, we're like best friends.

Connecting with overseas fans through pop culture and social media

Harada: When I went to Taiwan some time ago, a gallery asked me if they could hold an exhibition, and I even made a book there.
Harada: I couldn't have done it without the internet.

Aizawa: I can't live without it (laughs).

Arina: When I went to Taiwan, there were already Harada's fans there.

Harada: I'm like, how did you know that?

Aizawa: Compared to Japan, there are fewer live shows and merchandise, so overseas fans do a lot of research online, and some even send us replies in Japanese saying things like, "I had fun today," which makes us really happy.

Harada: When I receive a letter in Japanese, I almost cry. I think, "Wow, you can write hiragana! That must have been hard work!"

Arina: We also have customers at MELCAFE. They don't just stop by when they're passing by, but many of them are foreigners who find out about our store through the internet. They write reviews on their own country's websites, and we can't understand them even if we look them up, because they're in Korean or Chinese. But I think reviews from overseas are even more impressive.

All: It makes us really happy that people overseas know about us.

Osaka is a city where anything can become pop culture, and it's fun to explore it.

Aizawa: I think Osaka people have a great sense of color. Many of the interesting artists I found online are from Kansai, and all of the people I collaborate with are also from Kansai, and I'm naturally drawn to colorful and vivid things. I wanted to incorporate that into my work. I feel like many people from Osaka are good at clearly showing what they want to show with bold compositions. I think Osaka people have a great ability to say, "I love what I love." That's why it's fun to work with them. It's easy to expand on the conversation. They're always finding new things interesting and incorporating them, so that kind of enthusiasm is like pop culture, or rather, anything can become pop culture. I think that's wonderful.

Harada: I've always worked as an artist in Osaka, and there's something about artists that is kind of muddy and earthy. Those who move to Tokyo tend to make more refined works, but those who stay active in Osaka have a unique muddy quality that gets more and more condensed, and it's great that both those who work as singers and those who work as artists have a "smooth" feel to them.

Aizawa: There is an easier way to create work without hurting yourself, but that's not it.

Harada: I'm clumsy.

Aizawa: I want to do it my own way.

Harada: It's definitely the people who move to Tokyo who are becoming mainstream culture, but it feels like underground culture is developing in a unique way in Osaka.

Harada: It seems like the things on display and the atmosphere at galleries are different in Tokyo and Osaka. I used to have exhibitions in Nipponbashi for a long time, and it seemed like I could just punch through the ceiling and not get in trouble. There are a lot of people there who just lay down train tracks, plant trees, cover the ground with soil, and do things like that as an extension of their playfulness.

Arina: Osaka feels like a niche place. Pop culture is a single word, but in Tokyo it seems to include more pretty and sparkly things, but Osakans are good at finding niche things, and it feels like Osaka is home to a collection of slightly quirky and different things. Even if something is famous within Osaka, it can seem strange when you go outside, and I often feel a sense of wonder at something that seems normal within Osaka. There are many places in Osaka where pop culture is scattered and hidden, so it feels like a city where you're on a treasure hunt to find it.