We were lucky to catch up with Nao Shirawachi recently and have shared our conversation below.

Nao, appreciate you joining us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?

I can say that I have already had a creative career of about 35 years in the sense that I spend my days centered around the creation. However, if doing creative work as a professional job is what you call a “creative career,” then my creative career has only just begun.

Until about three years ago, I held a position as a business leader at a global company and worked there for about fifteen years. The financial goal for the area I was in charge of was approximately $62 million per year, and one of my responsibilities as a leader was to achieve that goal. Although there was a lot of mental pressure, I was able to earn a stable income, and the many experiences I was given through the job gave me opportunities to grow as a person. Therefore, I have nothing but great gratitude towards that company, and I have no complaints whatsoever.
Meanwhile, I continued to pursue my creative activities with the utmost passion. I spent most of my days creating works, from the time I got home after work until I went to bed, and most of my days off. Even though I was living such a life, I still wanted to become a world-class artist someday through my favorite music production.
There are several reasons why I choose to focus on global rather than domestic market, but one major reason is my personal discomfort with the perception of Japan in the world. What impression do you have about Japan? Is it Japanese politeness? Or is it convenience or safety? Or maybe it’s animation, cartoon, or it could be Japanese food. Of course, I think that all of these are parts of Japanese culture that we should be proud of. I guess there are various opinions, but I feel that the perception of modern Japan especially in the field of expression, one of them is “cuteness that emphasizes childishness’’. Of course, such perception can be said to be part of Japanese culture with its own uniqueness, and it is great that such things are supported overseas and have many fans, but I suppose that they are only one aspect of Japanese culture. For example, the painter Gustav Klimt has a history of creating wonderful works influenced by Japanese expression such as Rimpa-school. In my opinion, Hello Kitty, Pokémon, and ONE PIECE have a unique familiarity and cuteness, as well as stories that can be empathized with, but their artistic quality when only the visual elements are cut out is clearly inferior compared to Rimpa works (folding screen paintings by Korin Ogata, Hoitsu Sakai, etc.) for instance.
I wish I could play a part in activities that help remind the world of high standard of Japanese artistry. However, before SNS, only a few people in a limited position were able to approach the global. So, it seemed impossible for me to become a world-class artist as a Japanese person under the circumstance at the time. But, with the birth of SNS, the situation has changed to where as long as your works deliver quality, the possibility is not zero. Means that today, you can post your creations on Instagram and it can be delivered to people living on the other side of the planet within a few seconds. Such thing is commonplace now, but for example, twenty years ago in my country, if you wanted to deliver musical works to an unspecified number of people, you had to get a contract with record label and create albums. Then it had been allowed to approach overseas for the first time only after you achieved success domestically.

To answer your question, as I am about to turn 50 this year, it was realistically difficult for me to start a creative career toward overseas as a Japanese person in an era without the development of SNS. However, with the advent of SNS and the evolution of the Internet, I realized that there is possibility for my ambitions, and three years ago I gave up on entire corporate career and shifted to a creative career in order to become an artist. This is a big step toward my goal of “having no regrets in my life” and I suppose that it was the best timing.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

“Loop” as a word is looped as “opLo”. “opLo” is the name of my project as an audiovisual artist.
This coined word is made by looping the word “Loop”, and derives from the idea that everything is cyclical, as well as the fact that opLo’s musical structure is based on loops of polyrhythmic beats. (Polyrhythm is the simultaneous use of two or more rhythms that are not readily perceived as deriving from one another, or as simple manifestations of the same meter)

First of all, I’m a musician, and I’m particularly interested in composing music. However, my musical works do not have catchy lyrics or melodies, and I knew that it would be difficult to achieve commercial success even if I pursued my ideal sound. Still, I believe that my works have a unique value, and as long as I can make as many people as possible aware of its existence, I believe there are quite a few people who sympathize the beauty and to see value of opLo’s works in the world. But, I am not interested in “commercializing” my music by adjusting its style in order to be known. I just want to create music that I truly find beauty. And that’s when I came up with the idea ”Creating works that include the visual elements of video in order to deliver such non-commercial music I make to as many people as possible’’.
This is how a mere musical works were combined with video to become audiovisual works, and the current form of opLo’s works was created. With that, by posting my works on SNS such as Instagram, not only people who love music, but also people in the visual field, such as painters, graphic designers, and photographers, have started showing interests in my works. Since then, I changed my title from musician to audiovisual artist, which is where I am today.

To make inorganic elements organic is the theme of my music throughout opLo’s art. It’s always essential to have organic, complex, irregular rhythms built with noise together with transparent, simple repetitive melodic elements. opLo’s works always consist of music & motion visuals. My visual works capture the textures, forms and movements of everyday roadside flowers, plants, trees and any materials such as walls, the sky, water, bubbles and smoke finding beauty out of it. Music accompanies my works to color and bring to life everyday motifs. opLo’s works transport you into a more utopian world.
One of the most important quality for me as an artist is the identity that does not lose uniqueness even it’s expressed in any form. And I create one and only audiovisual works made by music you’ve never listened to together with video footage shot with a single-lens reflex camera.

To introduce my current activities, first of all, some of my works are available as NFTs in Foundation platform. I think there are pros and cons about NFT, but for artists like me who create digital art, it’s an essential technology that allows us to add value to our works as unique pieces. Of course, there are risks with NFTs, and I think there are things that need to be improved, but due to time constraints, I would like to discuss NFTs on another occasion.
As for my music-only activities, I provided opLo’s track called “Tamayura” for an exhibition “Tamayura” held by my friends a photographer and a calligrapher in Tokyo in April last year. Then in August 2023, I released an EP included five tracks called “POOLS OF LIGHT” in collaboration with a friend’s photo exhibition held in Florence, Italy. Both can be streamed/downloaded on Apple music. And this “POOLS OF LIGHT” photo exhibition is a traveling exhibition and is scheduled to be held in Tokyo in May this year.
Other than that, we are currently creating a calendar for 2025 together with the members who executed the “Tamayura” exhibition mentioned above as a Team Tamayura. It is planned to be a unique piece that combines functionality and artistry, featuring photographs of flower arrangement, calligraphy and food printed on traditional Japanese paper. Details will be updated on our Instagram account.
For inquiries about my activities and works, please feel free to contact me via DM on Instagram.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I used to think that financial success and happiness are proportional.

As I mentioned earlier, I held a position with great responsibility and compensation at a large company before I shifted to creative career. Fortunately, my job at the company was appreciated, and I was able to earn a stable income which exceeded my expectations and gain a certain social status. And actually, I was not dissatisfied with my life and thought that I was living a blessed life at that time. One day, one of my colleagues at work unfortunately died in a traffic accident. A person I was working with until yesterday suddenly disappeared. The incident cause me being faced with the reality “people die” forced me to deeply reconsider my life. And it seemed there are two options for me in a privileged environment. One was to stay at the company and continue to pursue music as a hobby while living a financially stable life as before, and the other option was to leave the company and seriously shift to creative career and I chose the second one. The reason is that when I asked myself the question “how to use my limited life” without considering any realistic barriers or fears, my answer was “I want to become an artist’’.
After I quit my job, I devoted myself to creating works. My initial goal was to post works more and more on Instagram to make people overseas who are interested in art and music aware of opLo’s existence, and to gain followers up to ten thousand. In the first few months, I received a call from a British art agency whom saw my posts and asked if I would be interested in selling opLo’s works as NFTs, and I was able to get a contract with them. In the meanwhile, the quality of my works continued to improve and I was able to reach five thousand followers on Instagram a year after I left the company. However, unfortunately the account was hacked in December 2021, and I lost everything I had worked hard to build up to that point in an instant. But, I started over my current account from the beginning right away and continued to create and post. Then I realized the money I had saved when I quit my job had run out by that time and I had no choice but to start working to make a living.

Then I started working as a delivery person for Uber Eats and I have been managing to maintain my creative activities while earning a bare living. My income is reduced to a quarter of what it was at previous company, people call me Mr. Uber while I’m working and I felt like I had lost both my social status and my identity. Delivering by bicycle is physically demanding but while my anxiety about my daily life is increasing, I was able to get a glimpse of a very interesting social structure through my job at Uber.
There is a wide variety of deliveries in the city center. On the same day, some deliveries to ultra-luxury residences and on the other hand, some to run-down apartments. In ultra-luxury residences, I have to go through several security lines to get the customer’s door from the entrance. And those apartments where people with low-income live don’t even have decent entrances or single security. I knew it’s common sense, and I thought I knew that there is a gap between rich and poor in society through the media, and that the structure of society is based on an economic hierarchy. Such data as differences in average annual income and living standards by region and age group was essential for me to handle my previous job, so I thought I understood it in my head but was surprising to see it for real.
Though the value of life is supposed to be equal but the number of security system requirement is completely different. There should not be much difference in what Homo sapiens need to maintain life such as securing the three great desires in moderation. However, there are huge differences in living space and clothes which can be glimpsed through delivery and it satisfied my curiosity to see such reality of society. I also noticed another thing at the same time. The look on each customer’s face during delivery taught me something very interesting. I mean, there are both seem to be happy and unhappy among people who may be economically wealthy. I began to feel that a person’s level of happiness which can be read from facial expressions without speaking may have nothing to do with their economic wealth. Then I found that this also applied to low-income customers when I carefully observed them from this perspective, means some people seem happy even if they are poor while others are not. And before I knew it, thought that it applies to myself as well. I noticed that I look happier now if I compare a photo of myself when I was in a privileged environment with no inconveniences and a photo of today where I’ve been struggling to survive each day.
This very strange realization changed my sense of values. I needed to change my blind mindset that “financial success is proportional to happiness” because I think the purpose of life is to be happy. I’ll make decisions based on the conclusion that financial success and happiness are not always related from now on though I’m still on a journey to find the answers to what it means to be happy.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I have always been very interested in the difference between an artwork and a product. I think that products designed to meet market needs are more appreciated by customers than creators, and there are likely to have more business opportunities. However, works I want to create are not products. Twenty years ago, if you wanted to make music your career, it was impossible to get your works to people unless you signed a contract with a record label and release CDs. I think you needed an “outside-in approach” if you want to succeed with that logic. It means analyzing the market needs and trends, and then designing products that meet the standards based on the research results of “What kind of products can match the demand?”. However, my interest is in the “inside-out approach” instead. For a long time through my previous job, I always used “outside-in approach” to sell products, creating business plans, sharing it with my team and working toward financial goals. In other words, I had been doing conducting business in which we research and analyze consumer trends and competitions in the market, clarify the needs by analyzing sales reports, and create products and develop business plans to meet those needs. However, I completely shifted to “inside-out approach” after I decided to quit my job and become an artist. The reason for this is that for me, art is creation what is generated from the artist’s individual intuition and instincts. I think there are pros and cons to this opinion, but of course I think that works designed to meet people’s demands and needs can move and please more people. In fact, there is no doubt that many of such artists create works toward the needs are so-called “successful” who are famous and supported by many fans which is fantastic. But I want to create works like nameless flowers blooming on the roadside or clusters of crystals. Because I think that such things created by nature “just exist” and are “beautiful” without considering market demands or needs. Therefore, I create works with the awareness that I want opLo’s works to be as close to be like them as possible. Rather than adapting to needs or trends, I create works based on intuition and instinct. Means, I eliminate my strategies and thoughts from the production process as much as possible. In other words, it may be essentially similar to “drawings by a child”. I pick what my intuition and instincts feel “beauty” over and over to build it into a form. Of course, there are techniques that develop as I create thousands or tens of thousands of works even if I do it in such way. For example, this may be the ability to balance the overall composition, or the ability to visualize the final image in my mind beforehand which will improve as I gain more experience. However, the tens of thousands of choices and decisions I have to make during the creative process are made by using intuition and instinct intentionally.

The flowers that bloom by the roadside are not designed to be beautiful to please people. They are just beautiful. I would value continuing to create works that are as close to nature as possible by intentionally using “inside-out approach”. No wonder, it’s difficult for majority of people to understand and accept works created by such way. But, I believe that there are people in the world who sympathize the same or similar way of thinking and values ​​as I do. It would be my greatest happiness if even one more person can resonance with opLo’s work and recognize its value.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.oplomusicvideoforart.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oplogram/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@oplosexhibition5684