Musician/Singer-songwriter Milky Way Kaori Ijuin

From music to film: a broadening stage of expression

Musician/Singer-Songwriter Milky Way Kaori Ijuin

■ Profile
He is the guitarist and vocalist for Milky Way. His music video for "Cassette Tape and Cutter Knife," which is based on his own experiences, became a hot topic, garnering over 50 views on YouTube and reaching the unprecedented 5th place on the Oricon Indies Chart. He is currently active in music, having won the judges' special award at eo Music Try 2017, the largest music contest in the Kansai region.

Ijuin Kaori incorporates her experiences of isolation as a student and how music saved her into her songs. Using both her band and solo performances, she conveys messages through both words and melody, encouraging many people. In addition to music, Ijuin has also ventured into novel writing, and values ​​the power of words. We spoke to her about her thoughts on music and her film appearances.

■Music was my escape during my student days

I learned piano from a young age and had a vague love for music. From elementary school onwards, I began to feel like I didn't fit in at school, and by the time I reached junior high school, I had clearly become aware of bullying. I was isolated in class, but the brass band club, where I had friends, was the only place I felt at home, and my club members were the only ones who were kind to me.
Since then, music has been my escape and salvation in life. As I played the flute in the brass band and performed brass band arrangements of J-POP songs, I began to vaguely think that I wanted to work in a job related to music, such as performing music.
In my third year of junior high school, there was a boy in my class who could get along with anyone, and when he heard me sing during a singing test in music class, he praised me by saying, "You have an angelic voice." That boy said to me, "I wonder if Iju (Ijuin's nickname) will be able to compose music one day. It would be amazing if you became famous for it." I have always remembered that. I had a fixed idea that "it's absolutely impossible to make music your career, and even more impossible to become famous," but that was the first time I began to wonder if it was okay for me to want to make music my career.

■ Expansion and style of self-expression

When I was in high school, I formed a band with friends my age. However, when I went on to university, everyone's circumstances changed drastically and some of the members left. Then, at the age of 19, I thought, "I have no choice but to do it alone," and started singing and playing the guitar. I guess I was anxious, thinking, "I have to produce results while I'm still young."
At the time, I wrote a song about the bullying I experienced in junior high. I think everyone has trauma that's difficult to overcome, but until you've sorted it out internally, it can be hard to sublimate it into art. In my case, I was touched by the kindness of the people I met at live music venues and the musicians I played with afterwards, which helped me realize, "Ah, the reason I was bullied was just because of the unique environment I was in." As a result, the bullying became a memory of the past, and I think I was able to use it in my songwriting.
When I'm performing with a band, I place importance on a performance that gets the whole venue excited. On the other hand, when I'm performing with my own guitar, the audience is absorbed in the lyrics and sometimes even cries, so I try to keep them calm. I plan to continue performing in both styles, with a band and with my own guitar.

I always want to save people with my music. However, because each person has their own circumstances and circumstances, I think it's difficult to completely save everyone. So rather than offering theoretical solutions, I hope that by listening to my music, people can at least help to ease their trauma and problems. I believe that sometimes humans need music that doesn't go as far as saving them.
What made me want to write novels was the work of a novelist called Yamada Eimi. I felt like I had been healed from my own trauma through Yamada's novels. I was shocked to see how a novel, which is just a world of words, can save so many people. When I was in junior high school, I also wanted to write a novel, but because I had little experience and didn't read much, I didn't know what to write and would write just one line and then stop.
Later, when I started reading more, I started making music. I realized that if I wrote lyrics and composed music, I could satisfy both my desire to write novels and my desire to make music. I finally got around to writing novels in my late twenties, and I discovered what I wanted to write, which led to the development of my current style.

■Movie 『Bold As, you.When it was decided that I would be appearing in

movies"Bold As, you.My appearance in "The Last Samurai" began with a LINE message from Director Takashi Okamoto saying, "I'd like you to play the lead role." I replied, "Yay! I'll be in it!", and that's how I got the role. During filming, we were very frank with each other, more like fellow band members than as director and actress. Director Okamoto himself is in a band, so I was grateful that he was able to organize the filming schedule with an understanding of my band activities.
The character I played, Nanjo Tama, felt like half of me, and there were many similarities between us. Her "oshi" (the band vocalist played by Mariko Goto) and the movie theater manager are gods, and the rest of the world is not very interesting to Tama, so her oshi is what gives her meaning in life. I was a failure in both my work and my love life, and I was in despair and in a life-or-death situation. I was listening to Mariko Goto's song "April 6th" on repeat like crazy. I loved the song so much that I went to see her live, and the concert was amazing. After the concert, Goto hugged the audience, and when she hugged me back, I thought, "I'm glad I'm alive. I'll try my best to live," so she truly saved my life. When I read the script, I thought, "That's exactly what I mean (about the relationship between them as gods)," and I decided to project my own feelings into her.

The highlight of the film is undoubtedly the live performance scenes. Many real audience members attended the filming, so I think you can really feel the realism of the live performance. I hope you will go see it in the theater.

■ Future goals

I want to increase the number of people listening to my music and do solo concerts at venues like Spotify O-EAST and Hibiya Open-Air Concert Hall. If I had an even bigger dream, I would like to perform at venues like the Budokan and Osaka-jo Hall. I would also like to appear in films if the team is understanding of my band schedule. I would especially love to appear in another film directed by Director Okamoto!

■Message to university students

When I was a teenager, I was anxious, thinking, "I have to grab this opportunity and succeed while I'm still young." But looking back, I don't think I needed to be so anxious. I think it's great to motivate yourself, but I hope you don't beat yourself up too much. That said, the way music spreads has changed since I started my band, and now we live in an age where being absorbed in something you love can even become your job. I hope everyone will try to experience being absorbed in something they love.

Interviewed by Student Newspaper Online on July 10, 2025 by Yurie Watanabe, second-year student at Josai International University