In Nakatsu, FunTricks Records Turns Personal Sensibility into Playful Little Tricks（Kita Ward, Osaka）#16

What first drew you deeply into music and records?

NAKAM

I live in Osaka now, but I was born in Saitama. I wasn’t especially knowledgeable about music when I was a kid. In elementary school, junior high, and high school, I just listened to ordinary J-pop. I only started listening to Western music after entering university, so I think I came to it much later than many other people.

I think I started going to clubs before I really started buying music. I had a friend at university who was very sensitive to trends, and he took me to a club for the first time. That was where I saw a DJ and thought, “That looks cool! I want to try that!” That was the beginning.

The places I went to back then weren’t really flashy party spots. They were more like places where people who truly loved music gathered. I was drawn to the way DJs created such a charged atmosphere through music like techno and house.

Who taught you how to DJ?

I taught myself. At first, no one showed me how to do it. I saved up the money I earned from part-time jobs and went all in on buying equipment. I also thought that if I was going to buy records anyway, I wanted to listen to them with good sound.

After I started DJing, buying records itself became more and more fun. At first, it was rock and pop. I think those are still my roots, and that hasn’t really changed.

After I started DJing, I met so many people, and I actively went out to meet them. There were people playing music I had never heard before. I would talk with them, they would really look after me, and from there I would discover music I didn’t know. That kind of activity is still a constant repetition for me today.

With both people and music, if something catches my interest, I go and check it out for myself. That is something I still value today.

As for DJing, I have been DJing for more than 10 years at NOON + CAFE（※1）in Nakatsu, Osaka. Please come by if you ever have the chance!

When did you decide to open a record shop in Nakatsu, Osaka?

I came to Osaka about 10 years ago, but that wasn’t the reason I opened a record shop. The trigger was that an acquaintance was opening a standing bar（※2）on the first floor of this building and casually said, “You can use the second floor if you want.” If I had to give another reason, it was also close to NOON + CAFE, where I DJ.

At first, I don’t think I really understood Nakatsu as a neighborhood. But after opening the shop here, I started to realize many things. Nakatsu is very close to Umeda, but once you walk a little, the atmosphere changes. You step away from the bustle of the big station area, and a calmer rhythm starts to flow. After actually opening the shop, I felt that the distance and balance here were just right.

What do you value most in running the shop?

I want to stock things that I personally find interesting. There is comfort in finding records you already know, but I think there is even more fun in stopping and wondering, “What is this?”

I guess it means not betraying my own sense of taste. I feel that the accumulation of that sense is what creates the character of FunTricks Records.

What kind of things do I find interesting? Maybe things that are suspicious in a good way. Noisy, bleepy, almost like an amusement park. But still properly pop.

Not necessarily beautiful songs, but something a little strange, a little suspicious, yet not careless. Does that make sense? Haha.

As for the shop itself, I want it to become a culture shop. It is a record shop, of course, but I don’t want it to be just a “record shop” that sells records. I want people to connect with my sensibility, resonate with it, and come back again. I want it to become that kind of space, a social place for sound.

Sometimes people who have never met before start communicating after listening to records in the shop. Hearing those conversations nearby is really interesting. In the short term, it may not be the most efficient way to run a shop, but in the medium to long term, I wonder if it can create relationships that continue over time. At least, I hope it can.

What kind of shop do you want FunTricks Records to become?

I want to keep valuing the things I have valued so far, and continue putting energy into them. I’m not really thinking about trying something new just for the sake of being unusual. I want to keep expanding the circle that is already being born from the shop.

The name “FunTricks” carries the idea that I want to create fun little tricks for the people who come to the shop.

Because I stock things that I personally find interesting, I don’t really pay too much attention to genre. That may be part of what makes the shop interesting. If I had to put it one way, the genre is me! Haha.

This is not directly about records or music, but there are things in the shop that first-time visitors often ask me about. I put just as much passion into my child as I do into records, and I even work while wearing a T-shirt made with a photo of my daughter. I enjoy adding small, casual tricks beyond music too, watching how customers react, and doing my best each day.

People don’t have to be music experts to come here. In fact, when I listen to music at home, I listen to what you might call regular J-pop on streaming services with my child. So I hope people will come by naturally, without feeling like they have to prepare themselves.