Lyric

[Sakoku Eleven] Light Warrior Nachos (11th Album) Album Statement.
I named this album "Sakoku Eleven" to reexamine the "borders" within myself. In this age where the world is flooded with information, blurring distinctions between good and evil, beauty and ugliness, truth and falsehood, people fear connecting with others yet cannot endure loneliness. What this era needs isn't the "sakoku" isolation Japan once practiced, but rather a "quiet isolation for oneself"-a time to reset relationships with others and reclaim one's own senses. The 'Eleven' in the title refers to the eleven players on a soccer team, while also symbolizing the "solidarity of life where not a single person can be missing." The nine golden elephant warriors on the jacket each possess distinct personalities, each holding a different kind of "light." They stand without swords, wearing sunglasses, as symbols of those living in the modern age. Adding 'me' and "you" to these nine makes eleven-'Sakoku Eleven' is a spiritual team composed of me, you, and all the people we meet through this music. The album is structured in three parts. Part One is the chapter of travel and discovery. It weaves together fragments of sound-the winds, scents, and warmth of people encountered in Mongolia and Asia-along with the question, "What does it mean to live?" Part Two depicts the humor and contradictions of daily life. Song titles like "Beef Bowl Without Green Onions" and "My Pancakes" encapsulate the small loneliness lurking beneath laughter and the clumsy kindness we all carry. Part Three is the chapter of return and rebirth. Tracks like "Dreaming" and "I wanna go home" express the cyclical feeling that ultimately, all journeys return to the self. For me, music isn't a tool to force messages; it's more like a mirror for listeners to recall the voice sleeping within themselves. The rhythms, noises, and vocal spaces within this album are all my own prayers and my breath to the world. The term "sakoku" carries a somewhat negative connotation. Yet what I imbued in this title is not rejection, but the will to rise again. True "opening up" isn't about pandering to others, but deeply understanding the roots and soul of one's own country, and connecting with the world from that foundation. We have surely reached a time to reclaim that "quiet strength" once more. Sakoku Eleven is a small banner for that purpose. Nine samurai living their own lives, and you and me. Whether we laugh, rage, or cry, what stands at the end is still the "human heart." Light Warrior Nachos

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