I’m surprised I haven’t written about this before, but there is a surprisingly large number of recording artists among the people I know, or who are related to those I know, here in Fukuoka.

The first is Riki Azuma, lead vocalist/rapper of the duo Small Circle of Friends. He is the brother of a friend and has been active since 1991.

The son of that very same friend is also a rapper, who goes by the stage name Mako Marets:

The niece of student is Wakana, former lead singer of the vocal unit Kalafina:

The daughter of another student is Fumika:

The son of yet another student is the guitarist for the band Polka Dot Stingray:

The above video is of PDS performing at the Budokan, which is pretty damn impressive.

Among my university students were two members of the now defunct idol group Rev.from DVL which became the platform for Hashimoto Kanna to rocket to the top of idol earners.

If I were to included friends of friends, the list would be even larger.

It goes without saying that Fukuoka’s Got Talent.

Oh! I just remembered: the younger sister of one of my students at the junior college is a member of HKT48.