Where are you
from?
My home town is a small city near the mountains in Brazil, but the main place I lived was
Sao Paolo.
What brought you to Japan?
I came here in 1979 to record my first album for RCA Victor. I was here for eight months
then went back to Brazil. Then, nine years ago, I came back for good. At that time, Brazil
was in really bad shape, politically and economically.
Are you planning to stay?
I think I' going to be here for a little while yet.
Tell us about your daily routine.
Basically, it involves recording live sessions. Before that I spent two years working for
a company called Music CLJP, which was the first company to develop the technology for
putting music out over the Internet. I worked for them as an A&R man. It was a good
job. They paid me to meet musicians.
What do you play?
I'm a percussionist. I play session drums for all sorts of people. Actually the reason I
came back to Japan was because I was invited to come and learn to play drums, Japanese
style. The other drummers didn't speak any English, so I learned a lot about living in
Japan and Japanese people, too.
What do you like about Japan most?
The most important thing for me is that this country is very safe. I come from Brazil, and
there you just can't imagine a seven-year-old child being able to go to school by his or
herself, but they can do that in Japan. In other big cities, you can't walk the streets
alone at 3am. My daughter lives here, she's 20 years old and lives on her own, but I don't
have to worry about her.
What do you dislike about Japan most?
When the thousands of gaijin came here during the Bubble economy, a lot of them came for
the money, not for the experience of living in Japan. Suddenly, the Japanese didn't know
who was here because they liked it and who was here to make money, so they started
treating everybody the same way, with suspicion. At first, I thought it was a bit racist,
but then I started to understand they were just trying to protect their way of life.
Do you organize your CDs alphabetically?
No, I organize them by genre.
What's the weirdest thing you've ever seen or experienced in Japan?
The television. It's so strange. The day they show a movie, all the schedules have a
movie, the day they show sport, all the schedules have sport. Also, the Japanese sense of
humor on TV is strange, especially what they do to the ladies. They treat ladies like
shit. It's some sort of sadistic thing.
What do you eat for breakfast?
I love Japanese food, but now I have to lose weight, so I'm just eating herbal pills all
the time. I feel like I'm turning into a rabbit!
If you could take one thing back from Japan to Brazil, what would it be?
The food. Sushi, sashimi, everything. In Brazil they have the biggest Japanese colony
outside Japan, but the food they serve there is kind of tourist food, not the real thing.
Do you have a favorite place to eat or drink in Tokyo?
My house. My wife is a wonderful cook.
Where would you like to be when the big one hits? In Brazil!
You have to spend the rest of your life trapped on the Yamanote line. You're allowed to
take one book, one CD and one luxury item. What would they be?
The CD would be one of my own, of course, the book would be Jorge Amado's Tent of
Miracles. It's a great book, talking about the racial mix of Brazil; this is the most
realistic book about the people of Brazil. My luxury would be my wife.
Marco Bosco's latest album, There Will Be No Money Today, is available on Ape's Records.
Occupation:
LIFE IN JAPAN: