New Balance Hosts Special Ryuichi Sakamoto 'KAGAMI+' Event in Osaka

Ayatake Ezaki on musical legacy and the desire to ‘fade away’

On Friday, September 11, New Balance hosted the Ryuichi Sakamoto & Tin Drum | KAGAMI+ New Balance Day at VS. in Osaka’s Grand Green Osaka.

New Balance is sponsoring “Ryuichi Sakamoto & Tin Drum | KAGAMI+,” currently running at the same venue. The exhibition features “KAGAMI+,” an expanded version of “KAGAMI” created over the last four years of Sakamoto’s life with New York-based creative studio Tin Drum, tailored specifically for its Japan debut. Visitors wear specialized, transparent headsets that utilize proprietary 3D visual technology to reproduce Sakamoto’s presence and performance, creating the sensation that he is playing right in front of them.

The relationship between Ryuichi Sakamoto and New Balance began in 1992, when the artist started wearing the brand’s shoes. In 2003, he appeared in a commercial for the label, and their connection deepened over the years through musical collaborations and the joint development of shoes and bags. New Balance Day was organized as a way to pass down the spirit of “craftsmanship” shared by Sakamoto and New Balance—a brand dedicated to manufacturing since its founding—to the next generation.

The event featured a talk session with musician Ayatake Ezaki as a guest, alongside freelance editor Soken Ito, who had a close relationship with Sakamoto.

Ezaki, who had experienced “KAGAMI+” beforehand, viewed the exhibition through a musician’s lens and was particularly drawn to Sakamoto’s feet. While standard concert footage typically focuses on the artist’s hands, “KAGAMI+” allows viewers to observe from any angle they choose. “With the piano, controlling resonance and extending sound beautifully actually involves incredibly detailed work with both the right and left feet,” Ezaki explained, noting that the ability to closely study the pedal work is a unique feature of the “KAGAMI+” experience. He also revealed an unexpected discovery: after watching Sakamoto’s fingering from a close distance, he thought, “His hands are larger than I expected.” For Ezaki, who never met Sakamoto in person, “KAGAMI+” served as an opportunity to understand not just the performance, but the physical reality of the artist.

Ezaki also commended the preservation of the performing body as data, calling it “a highly valuable archive from a creator’s perspective.” During the pandemic, he himself experimented with attaching sensors to his bandmates to capture motion data and have 3D avatars perform. That experience made him realize the potential of preserving a drummer’s physicality, posture, and even their aura.

When Ito brought up Sakamoto’s relationship with New Balance—noting that he “stumbled upon them on a European tour over 30 years ago and has been wearing them ever since”—Ezaki agreed, saying, “When I find something I like, I keep using it too.” Offering a musician’s perspective, he added, “During a tour, you walk far more than people imagine, going back and forth between rehearsals, the venue, and the after-party. Every time that happens, I hope to find a great pair of sneakers.” When asked about his footwear for the day, he smiled and replied, “It really makes walking easier when the sole is solid.”

The event also featured a performance by Ezaki, inspired by “KAGAMI+.” He played two unreleased songs. One was tentatively titled “Rain,” conceived on a bullet train during heavy rain while traveling for his current 47-prefecture tour. The other was inspired by the complex, chordal resonance of the shō, a traditional Japanese wind instrument, which came to him after viewing “KAGAMI+” and the video installation “TIME, TIME” (a collaboration between Sakamoto and artist Shiro Takatani).

Discussing “Rain,” Ezaki likened the sound of raindrops hitting different materials to percussion, marveling that “if you listen closely, the exact same sound never happens twice.” Ito then shared a story about Sakamoto, who would also go out into the garden when it rained to record the sounds.

The Q&A portion in the second half of the talk turned to Ezaki’s own creative process. When asked what he does when he hits a wall in music production, his answer was “taking a walk” and “taking a shower.” He mentioned that he often records melodies that come to him during walks into his smartphone’s voice memos, and the location data on those files notes places like “Yurakucho” and “Minami-Aoyama.”

Then, standing before “KAGAMI+”—a work so focused on the concept of “leaving something behind”—Ezaki offered an unexpected response when asked if he, like Sakamoto, wanted to leave his own performances and physical form behind as an archive. “In today’s world, everything—the things we’re talking about today, the video, the photos, the audio—is likely going to be preserved in vivid detail as digital data. That’s exactly why I feel like it’s getting harder for things to fade away.” This sentiment is reflected in his own creative work. One reason he releases music on vinyl records and cassette tapes is because they degrade over time. While “KAGAMI+” preserves Ryuichi Sakamoto’s performance and physical presence for the future, its “unfading” experience inspired Ezaki to reflect, “At least at this point in time, I think I’m in the camp that wants to fade away.”

RYUICHI SAKAMOTO & TIN DRUM KAGAMI+
Dates: Through Monday, October 12, 2026 (National Holiday)
Venue: VS.
Address: 6-86 Ofukacho, Kita-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka
VS., North Park, Umekita Park, Grand Green Osaka
Hours: 10:00–20:00 (Reserved entry times)
Closed: Mondays (If a national holiday or part of a consecutive holiday weekend, closed on the following weekday)
Ticket Prices (Tax included):
・RED TICKET (Reserved entry time, includes exclusive visitor bonus) ¥15,000
“KAGAMI (MR content)” (Approx. 60 minutes)
*Includes wait and prep time
*Includes exclusive visitor bonus 7-inch analog record
*Free access to view multiple exhibition works
・BLUE TICKET (Reserved entry time) General Admission: ¥4,500 / Students: ¥2,500
“KAGAMI (MR content)” trial version (Approx. 30 minutes)
*Includes wait and prep time
*Free access to view multiple exhibition works
Official Website