Japan's Insanely Talented Youth

So, for a while now I've been listening to a certain Japanese drummer girl on youtube. Her name is Kawaguchi Senri, she's 15, and she's probably one of the best drummers in Japan. She's apprenticed to a guy called Suganuma Kozo, who's probably one of the best drummers I've ever heard. But it reminded me of some of the outstanding talent I've seen over the years, most of it from Asia, quite a lot from Japan. So here's a bit of a breakdown for all of you interested in the next generation of musicians, all of you who have an inferiority complex about your own playing and can now be awestruck by the sight of little Japanese girls putting your 10+ years of experience to shame, and those who just want to see Japanese girls in general.

So, let's start with the first one I saw. Her name is Sara, she'd probably be 15 by now. Unfortunately she's stopped uploading videos to youtube, so I guess she discovered makeup and designer goods, but still, she had some talent when she started.

So, have some of her playing Rush to make you feel really inadequate about yourself.



So, a while goes by, then I find out about this really cool and weird type of keyboard that's only available in Japan, called the Electone. It's got 2 keyboards and footpedals, just to be really annoying, but it lets you play just about everything yourself.

So this girl does:


Yes, it's Kansas. But dude. She's also got a vid of her doing YYZ, which is awesome. Dunno why Japanese girls like 70s rock so much. Guess it's just because it's FUCKING AWESOME.

Yea, I said it.

So if that wasn't enough to make all the keyboardists wail in despair at their inadequacies, next up there's ultra-loli-pianist, Kobayashi Aimi.



Was playing Chopin at the age of 4, so there's really nothing she can't do (except maybe Liszt's Transcendentals, but fuck, who can?). She also has the greatest piano soloface ever. Makes guitarists look weak.

Some Senri now, she is awesome. Any 15 year old covering Steve Gadd is either stupid or very good. With Senri it's the latter.



And with a band, she's just as awesome.



Lastly, probably the most famous on this list, Miyazawa Yuto. Guy appeared on TV shows in the US, but he's still pretty damn good on Guitar, if not at singing...



Skip to the solos if you get tired of the singing.

So yea, more proof that "Skill Level: Asian" is just a bit true.