Interview: Guy Perryman

I'm a huge fan of Time Out. You know, I'm originally from the UK, so when I was a teenager, we always looked at Time Out London. When the magazine was launched [in Tokyo], I thought it was just what Tokyo needs.

I'm on air live on Friday morning, so I do most of my prep on Thursday and try to keep things as fresh as possible. So I have a look through Time Out Tokyo from the very top page and usually go straight to ‘Things to do in Tokyo this weekend’. I mostly want to talk about weekend things, so I try to pick out something that the listeners might like. I also try to find things that are really special to the season or events that are really Tokyo specific.

I live near Shibuya, so I spend a lot of time in Shibuya, as well as the Omotesando-Harajuku area. But I also love exploring under the train tracks around Yurakucho, almost all the way from Tokyo Station down to Shinbashi. There are all these izakaya (Japanese gastropubs) and little restaurants hidden under the tracks.

They’ve recently opened a new area (Hibiya Okuroji) between Yurakucho and Shinbashi stations where you’ll find a really lovely collection of boutique shops with things like Japanese arts and crafts as well as tiny little bars and restaurants.

I'm always trying to find new izakaya. I love that concept of izakaya as I like sharing food with other people and having lots of little dishes where you can just sample lots of things.

I also enjoy Miyashita Park in Shibuya and the old-style yokocho on the ground floor. I love the way that Tokyo is keeping some of these classic places or revitalising them instead of destroying the Tokyo vibe. I hope all the developers will continue to keep some of the real traditional parts of Tokyo, as they are what makes Japan special.

The people! It's such a cliche, but the people here are generally so kind. And you just get surprised all the time. Also, Tokyo is so big, dynamic and exciting, and after all these years, I look at this city and think there's just so much I don't know. It's never-ending, and it’s constantly thrilling.

I hate air conditioning, so I really try not to use the aircon too much. You just have to wear light clothes. I mean, thank goodness I'm not a salaryman. Oh my gosh, I look at these guys wearing suits and think, how do they do that? It's like torture. Also, I always carry a sensu fan with me.

I'm always trying to find new music that doesn't sound like the really mainstream pop hits. And with the show every week, I play a lot of familiar hits that people want to hear [as well as] some new music.

This summer I was listening to Jungle, who are a British group. Their album came out right at the beginning of summer and it's been one of my favourites this year. There was an artist I discovered last year at Fuji Rock called Maya Ongaku – those guys make really chill music. There's also a Taiwanese band who I still listen to a lot called Sunset Rollercoaster.

I've written a story called Tokyo Tronica which I am hoping to release next year. It's set in Tokyo in the summertime, so I'm doing lots of field recording and going around the city recording sounds, because I love the sound of Tokyo. I want to release the story as an audiobook where I'll narrate it with a bunch of Tokyo sounds. 

I also want to add music to the story, so I thought I should make my own music. I am not a producer, but I've got the concepts and the lyrics, and just need help with the musicians and the production.

One other thing I am experimenting with is called katsudo-benshi or katsuben (live narration of old silent films). As I narrate a TV show for NHK World called ‘J-Flicks’, which is about Japanese cinema, we are now introducing katsuben and the concept of silent film narration to an international audience.

So far I've done two performances [on NHK World], and there are two more to come. We've found some amazing old Japanese silent films and I have written the scripts for them. So as the benshi (katsuben performer), I watch the film and work out what I want to do with the dialogue and then perform all the characters. Hopefully in the new year, I'll do a live benshi performance in Tokyo and maybe in London.

You can catch The Guy Perryman Mix on InterFM on weekdays from 6am to 7am as well as The Guy Perryman Show on weekdays from 7am to 9am. For more on Guy Perryman, visit here.