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You can talk into the camera if you want. That's probably more natural for you?
Born in Burbank, California.
My dad's kind of a hippie who does his own thing and really loves music
Receives a guitar from his dad when he was 15.
My hometown of Burbank, CA has an exchange program with Ota, Gunma in Japan. That was what brought me to Japan in the first place.
His life changed!
I still don't understand how my life could change in just 2 weeks, but there was something inside me that just fit with Japan.
On our last night in Ota, there was a Sayonara Party where the exchange students had to perform something to show our thanks to the host families and friends we met.
His first time singing in front of people.
I just fell in love with the country, and I wanted to learn the language so much.
When I got back to the states, I went to libraries and book stores to pick up some Japanese study books
And I would practice writing Katakana and Hiragana between classes at school.
Then when I got home, I would watch Japanese dramas, TV shows, listen to Japanese music...
All my friends at school would call me a wannabe-Japanese white guy.
While studying Japanese, I would repeat lines from dramas, like whatever Takuya Kimura would say. "Cho matte yo!". I just did a lot of copying how actors spoke.
He learned pronunciation from popular TV dramas.
My best subject in school was Computer Science. I was taking really high level courses and having no problem passing them. I was really good at it.
Accepted to the famous university, UC Berkeley.
I started off majoring in Computer Science, but after a month or so, I realized I didn't want to spend the rest of my life sitting in front of a computer.
It just wasn't fun anymore. No matter how good I was or how much money I could make, it just wasn't fun.
He decided to master Japanese.
I could actually speak pretty fluent Japanese at the time, but I figured I might as well try and master it, like I would have done with Computer Science.
At 19, he studied abroad at Keio University in Tokyo.
UC Berkeley had an exchange program where you could get credits for graduating while studying abroad, so in my sophomore year I applied.
I actually wanted to take normal classes with normal Japanese students, but there was some rule where only native speakers could do that.
In the end, I was put in an advanced Japanese class for exchange students, and, well, it was pretty boring.
He starts playing music on the street.
There was this show I really liked on TV Asahi called "The Street Fighters" which featured young Japanese teens playing music on the street and following their dreams.
It was interesting to see, because in America, most street performers are either homeless or are professional performers who make their living off tips.
But in Japan, it's more like a way of self-promotion and a place to improve your skills, so I was planning on doing some street performances when I got to Tokyo.
At that time, I was really into Mr.Children and Spitz, so I just sang a lot of covers.
You can probably imagine, a white guy singing Mr.Children in the middle of Ikebukuro really gets everyone's attention.
He gets scouted by an indie label.
I was partnered up with a female singer in the label, where I played guitar and she sang.
So I was playing music while attending Keio, and actually there were talks of a contract with a major label, but unfortunately I couldn't get a visa to stay in Japan.
He returns back to UC Berkeley.
It felt like some higher power was telling me that music wasn't what I should be doing.
At the time, I was the only member of my family who had actually moved onto a 4-year university.
And that school happened to be UC Berkeley, one of the best public schools in the world, so there were a lot of high expectations of me.
My grandma said something like "3 years after you graduate, you're buying me a house, right?"
So since music wasn't what people expected from me and I had to go back to the states, I figured I'd just graduate and get a normal job.
He played music only as a hobby.
One of my Japanese friends from Berkeley was having a birthday party and he asked me to sing SMAP's "Orange" at the party, and I was like "SMAP? Yeah, all right."
So I went home and practiced the song, and recorded myself with a cheap digital camera just to make sure I wasn't completely butchering the song.
When I checked the video, I really got a kick out of it. Some white guy who speaks really good Japanese is singing a SMAP song.
He posts the video on YouTube.
The video really blew up in popularity. Within a week or two I was getting an insane amount of e-mails from Japanese fans.
And they were like "Nel-san, you're amazing!" I honestly just put up the video for kicks, and next thing I know is my inbox is full with song requests.
In 2007, he returns to Japan.
I think it was just about the time when YouTube was really starting to get noticed around the world.
And among the Japanese YouTube channels at the time, I was one of the top channels, both in subscribers and video plays.
I got popular enough that I would get recognized on the streets of Tokyo just walking around. "Are you Nel-san from YouTube?"
He receives an offer to be on the popular music show "HEY!HEY!HEY!"
I went crazy. "HEY!HEY!HEY!" was definitely my favorite music show on Japanese TV at the time.
There was this new corner called "Cover Champ," which had people come on to the show and sing an artist's cover song in front of the artist.
There was Ken Hirai and Downtown, of course, and I sang "HItomi wo Tojite".
He wins the first "HEY!HEY!HEY!" Cover Champ!
I knew my time had come. I was about to make it big in Japan. But the night right before the program aired, I got an e-mail from YouTube.
"Your account has been erased due to copyright infringement." Everything was gone.
All his cover videos and original videos disappear.
So "HEY!HEY!HEY!" was aired, and afterwards on the popular blog services in Japan, so many people were like "Who is this Nelson Babin-Coy guy!?"
It was pretty crazy, and I was like "I'm right here!" But... my YouTube channel was gone. It was like my existence was wiped completely off the internet.
The 3 years I spent creating my brand and building a fan-base, all gone in an instant.
And what's terribly ironic is that just 2 months later JASRAC (Japanese copyright company) signed a contract with YouTube that allowed users to make cover videos.
I suddenly lost all trust in the Japanese entertainment and music industry. I mean, I wasn't even making any money. Why did you have do completely erase me from the internet?
He forms nothing ever lasts in 2008.
It means nothing lasts forever, so let's live and enjoy each day, each moment as if it could be our last.
He focuses on being an indie band.
For a lot of young Japanese bands and artists, their ultimate goal is to sign with a major label.
But honestly, I don't believe there is much meaning in signing with a major label anymore. On the contrary, a lot of your freedom will be gone and you won't make that much money.
And if you make a hit song, it'll most like be a one-hit wonder and label will just throw you out.
I believe music is the universal language, no matter what language it's sung in.
And one thing I hear a lot of from fans is that because I'm this white guy who learned Japanese, became fluent, and sings and writes Japanese music
I actually end up being what gets people back into studying English or picking up a guitar, doing what they really want to do.
I don't believe my music can change the entire world, but I've always believed that if I can leave an impact on someone and change their world, it's pretty much the same thing.
I want to change the way Japanese people enjoy music.
At a Mr.Children concert, thousands of fans will be doing this same strange movement, and it kinda freaks me out! Like it's a cult or something.
As someone who loves Japanese music, I'm kind of embarrassed by it. I wish they could just enjoy the music much more naturally, you know?
With nothing ever lasts, although it did take a few years, we've finally reached that point where our fans are realizing "so this is how to really enjoy music!"
Music that Moves.
It's a lot of fun. I really wasn't expecting much. I figured a normal street performance would be better.
Yoshi would carry a portable bass amp with him and he would play bass, I would play guitar and sing while walking around Tokyo.
It was a quite a success. Everyone around us was smiling. Music is something that's in our lives everyday and is always around us.
But in Japan, there's the "Live House" system, where if you don't pay top dollar, it's really hard to enjoy live music.
Music never used to be a business.
Music really began being profitable when during the Beatles era, and since then grew into a major business market.
But if you think about it, for hundreds of years, artists have always been poor, traveling from town to town, playing music and asking for change, food, etc.
That's what artists were for hundreds of years, but in the past 50 years, it really became a booming business.
And now, since CDs aren't selling and the business isn't working well anymore, it's a chance to rethink what it means to be an artist, what good music really is.
During the 3.11 disaster.
I never even thought about leaving Japan. But the 3 or 4 days afterwards really gave me a lot of time to reflect on so many things.
He writes a song.
I was watching twitter and seeing everyone tweet these really good and uplifting quotes, so I borrowed some of those words and put them into a song.
It was basically a song written by everyone.
About Japan...
Japan, as it is now, I feel like there is so much potential being wasted.
In America, the amount of times you fail is really important. When a start-up goes in for funding, a lot of times the important question is "How many times have you failed?"
Failing many times, but still trying, is a very positive attribute. In Japan, that's completely opposite.
Just like the Arab Spring, people are using social media like Facebook and Twitter to change the society we live in.
It's such an exciting time to be alive. It's like the whole world is about to reach a major turning point.
I really believe decisive power will be back in the hands of everyday people and not old-school politicians in it for money. But in Japan, it just doesn't feel like anyone even sees this movement or even cares about it.
As a foreigner who loves Japan, it's scary. I'm really worried about the future.
He wants to leave a positive influence.
Currently I work for a TV production company, since I need a visa sponsor to stay in Japan, and I work with people I have really respected since I came to Japan.
And right now I'm in charge of overseeing an English educational program on TV Tokyo called "Hello! Mainichi Kaasan", which airs every weekday at 6:40am, where I help write the script, lessons, check English, etc.
I also do a lot of translation work, especially with Japanese songs and translating them into English, which is really popular at the moment, as well as helping Japanese artists sing in English.
He streams all of his music for free.
I don't want to be rich, I just want to be able to make a living off doing what I love.
My goal isn't to be famous or make a bunch of money... of course, it would be nice to have money, but still
As long as there are people who are moved by my music, people who relate to my music, people who I can leave a positive influence on... I will keep doing what I'm doing.
Because Japan is his home.
One of my dreams I want to accomplish in the next few years is to run my own live music bar.
Not exactly an American bar, but a place where no tickets are needed, where artists don't have to pay insane amounts to play music. Someplace you can have a drink and listen to good live music.
And the music needs to be able to be heard and seen from outside the place, definitely.
I don't plan on going back to the states anytime soon. If I ever feel satisfied that I've done what I can in Japan, I'll probably move onto another country.
Because I really believe that the moment you are satisfied with life is the moment when life begins to end.