mikako spoke with Billboard Japan about the sense of gender equity she's developed after spending her childhood in Vienna.
Billboard Japan spoke with Nagie Lane member mikako, the multilingual musician who emceed the Women In Music – EQUAL STAGE event held in June, for the latest WIM interview.
Japan’s WIM initiative launched in 2022 to celebrate artists, producers and executives who have made significant contributions to music and entertainment and inspired other women through their work, following the footsteps of Billboard’s annual WIM honors.
This interview series featuring female players in the Japanese entertainment industry is one of the highlights of Japan’s WIM project. Related Jay-Z 30 Pop-Up Experience to Open In London Ahead of Historic Tottenham Hotspur Stadium Shows Camilo's 'Vida de Rico' Enters YouTube's Billion Views Club 'It's Hard to Imagine The World Without Her': Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese Reflects on Dolly Parton Explore Billboard See latest videos, charts and news.
Presented by Billboard Japan and Spotify, the Women In Music – EQUAL STAGE event took place at SGC Hall Ariake in Tokyo on June 9, featuring a star-studded all-female lineup.
Beyond her impressions of this event, mikako spoke about the sense of gender equity she’s developed after spending her childhood in Vienna and her mindset around working in a mixed-gender group.
You emceed the live event Women In Music – EQUAL STAGE in June. Could you start by telling us your impressions of the day.
I felt it was a really meaningful event. First of all, it became a chance for me to look back on things I’d experienced because I’m a woman — moments where I thought, “Wait, that was actually kind of uncomfortable,” or things that had stuck with me.
Personally, when something unpleasant happens to me, I tend to try to forget it quickly or just let it slide more often than not. But when this event set out to get us thinking about gender equity for women, it made me realize, “Maybe there are other people who’ve felt this too.” It was a really good opportunity to feel that I’m not alone.
In particular, I thought the very act of inviting artists who are active on the world stage and holding an event like that is a big statement in itself, a good message to send.
I was happy to serve as emcee, and I hope this continues going forward.
If you don’t mind sharing, could you tell us more about what you meant by things that “stuck with you”.
There’s this idea in society that women are quick to become emotional. I’ve actually seen dramas that deal with that as a theme. Personally, in important discussions for example, I’ve had moments where my voice trembled a bit or I nearly cried.
But when that happens, I’ve worried that I’d just be seen as being emotional, and that my actual point wouldn’t be treated as an equal opinion. So in those kinds of settings, I’ve tried to put on a strong front.
Maybe I was overly conscious of it, but after hearing the phrase “women are quick to become emotional” over the course of my life, I noticed there was a part of me that tried not to fit that mold.
At Women In Music – EQUAL STAGE, ATARASHII GAKKO!, Hitsujibungaku, LANA, and Awich performed live. What messages did you take away from their and performances and comments onstage.
Everyone was so powerful, and what they had in common was that each of them had a message they wanted to convey. ATARASHII GAKKO! said in their interview that their concept is “hamidashi” (going beyond) and not “marudashi” (anything goes).
That’s exactly what they showed through their music and performance — how to stay true to yourself while still working within the rules. I thought it was really cool how Hitsujibungaku made a point of being candid, saying, “We’re figuring it out too,” while laying that bare through such a powerful sound.
LANA said that she doesn’t put on airs, and I felt that’s exactly what came through. Awich said she wanted to fully convey the strength and love that came from her own lived experience.
All four acts put 120% of themselves into that stage, and I had so much respect for them as artists.
When people like that let their performance carry words and expressions that remind you, “They’re human, just like me,” their passion and feelings come through directly, and I was deeply moved watching from the wings.
There are as many different forms of expression as there are people in the world, and that’s true whether you’re an artist or not. Just getting to see four different types of expression in that one day carries a lot of meaning on its own.
It felt like proof that all we need to do is shine as ourselves, and I thought that was wonderful.
Nagie Lane is a mixed-gender group. In the course of your work, is there ever a moment where you become conscious of being a woman.
Nagie Lane is a chorus group now, but we started out as an a cappella group. The original lineup was three men and three women, and back then, there was a time I wondered whether I should be showing more “feminine” qualities.
But having grown up in Vienna, I hadn’t really been exposed to what’s generally considered “kawaii” (cute) in Japan, so I wasn’t very conscious of that to begin with.
I also felt that it just wasn’t tied to who I really am, so I dropped that idea pretty early on. So there was a time early on when I wondered, “Maybe I should look more feminine — skirts, cute clothes, that sort of thing?” but then realized, “I was never really drawn to that in the first place,” and settled on, “I’ll just be myself.” I like dancing and moving around onstage, so if you ask what “mikako-like” means, it’s definitely pants, and that’s why my stage costume is pants-based.
Nagie Lane formed in 2018, and though the lineup has changed a few times, you’ve been with the group from the start. What have you valued in order to keep going.
Keeping a group going can be difficult. But that’s only natural, right? You have people who were born in different places and raised in different environments coming together, so their ways of thinking are different, and even with a shared goal, everyone’s approach to getting there is different.
We’re currently three members, and when I think about what’s consistently been the right choice throughout all this time, I’d say it’s continuing to face each other honestly.
The school I went to in Vienna had kids from various countries — the kid next to me was Sri Lankan, the one next to them was American, in front of me was Chinese, behind me was Italian, and so on — and we all had different ways of thinking, different religions, different skin colors.
In that kind of environment, conversations like, “What’s normal for you?” or “How does your family do this?” happen naturally. For example, we had a snack time where everyone brought food to share, and kids from families with a fasting tradition couldn’t eat that day.
So the kids around them would ask, “Why not?” and learn from that, like, “Oh I see, that’s interesting, but it must be tough.” That kind of thing was just part of everyday life for me, so I take it as a given that each member is going to think differently in a group setting as well.
So I try to think, “Knowing the difference between us, how do we get to an answer that feels good for both of us?” Even if the other person’s opinion is “blue” and mine is “red,” as long as we never give up on facing each other and talking it through, there’s always a moment where we can make “purple.” The three of us are different ages and genders, so we do feel things differently sometimes, but if all three of us had too much of the same opinion, there might not be any fresh spark either.
For example, when we watch the same music video, each of us always wants to fix a different part. I think that’s really interesting. Because we each bring a different perspective, the group is bound to get better.
I think it’s important to always be thinking about respecting and acknowledging those differences.
With so much information out there, it’s easy to overthink things, like, “Maybe I shouldn’t do this,” or “Maybe I’m not allowed to say that.” But as you say, when you think of it as simply, “How considerate can you be toward the person in front of you,” it becomes simple.
I think gender equity isn’t so much about making everything equal, as it is a mindset of “Let’s get to the point where people can properly receive the consideration they should have been receiving all along.” As long as that’s happening, I don’t think there’s a need to treat the opposite sex as something special in a strange way.
Personally, there have been moments with men I’ve worked with where I’ve thought, “I’d prefer you didn’t think of me quite so much through the lens of ‘because you’re a woman.’” Being seen as a person first matters most.
And to get there, it also helps to learn about each other. Both women and men go through changes in their bodies that are unique to their sex. If we simply understood these things about each other, we could get past things like “because she’s a woman” and toward more moments of, “Oh, this must be what this person is going through right now.”.
Changes that come with age, gender and sexual orientation, gender identity, the things each person feels from their own position — there are books and people sharing about these things, so looking into or listening to them is an important first step toward everyone being considerate of everyone else.
Even now, there are still a lot of people who don’t know what LGBTQ means.
This interview by Naoko Takashima first appeared on Billboard Japan.
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Informação baseada em material público de Billboard, reescrito pela redação ULTRA NOTÍCIAS.
