
Far Western
Far Western
10/11/2021 | 1h 23m 14sVideo has Closed Captions
A devoted group of Japanese musicians pursue their passion for American country music
Seventy years after the U.S. occupation of Japan, a devoted group of Japanese musicians pursue their passion for American country and bluegrass music in honky-tonks from Tokyo to Nashville.
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Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback
Far Western is a local public television program presented by OPB
Far Western
Far Western
10/11/2021 | 1h 23m 14sVideo has Closed Captions
Seventy years after the U.S. occupation of Japan, a devoted group of Japanese musicians pursue their passion for American country and bluegrass music in honky-tonks from Tokyo to Nashville.
Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship(soft ambient sound) ♪ (soft country music) ♪ (soft country music) - [Charlie] Still now, some people think about... they hate America because of the bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki...
They don't like American people still, you know?
But, I'm different.
Of course, in some parts in the States, some parts in Japan...
I don't think it's good, but you know, I want to let Japanese people know the real American music culture.
So I'm singing Country music, you know?
(car rumbles by) First time I met Country music was on my 20th birthday.
I was born 1936.
(chuckles) I'm getting old now.
Some friends still live here, you know?
Most of my friends, you know, passed away.
(speaking in Japanese) This is a place...friend of mine's house, you know?
And here, you know... a friend of mine did for me a birthday party.
Then, you know, somebody--oh... (speaking in Japanese) (speaking in Japanese) And then, you know, knocked on the door, and it opened, And then four Japanese guys, country western cowboys, wearing cowboy hats, you know?
Here, I was surprised to see, first time in my life.
"Wow!"
You know?
Then they performed for me.
[Charlie] My birthday changed my whole life!
So that night, I made up my mind to follow them, you know, but...
I couldn't tell my parents at all.
Next morning, I went to the railroad station.
I called my parents at home: "I wanna join a Country band and be a Country music singer.
So let me do it."
You know?
But my father said "No!
You have to go to school, so come back."
At the time, most people think about the musician like a punk!
I swore to them I would never change my mind.
I will do this.
So I kept singing.
♪ (Country tune plays) (city street sounds) ♪ (Country band plays) ♪ Come on in, come on in ♪ It's so good to see you again ♪ It don't matter where you've been ♪ Welcome stranger, come on in!
♪ (band plays) I opened the Good Time Charlie in 1976.
We cannot hire any people, so we run it as a family, you know?
I do the music, my wife serves, you know, everything, and my son works as a bartender.
We don't have a holiday.
Seven nights a week here.
♪ It's so good to see you again ♪ It don't matter where you've been Many, many people joined my band, The Cannonballs.
From the start in 1961, 78 people changed.
(laughs) ♪ (Country music plays) At that time, we were just beginners, right?
We didn't think about money.
We just loved it.
That was more important for me and my friends at the time.
We just want to sing on stage, you know?
Thailand, Taiwan, Philippines...
In my life, I met many American people right?
Because I am singing this Country music.
Wow!
It's a honor for me, you know?
I just love this music... and I want to tell this music, spread this music to the Japanese people.
♪ Welcome stranger, come on in ♪ (band plays) (audience cheers & applauds) (speaking in Japanese) ♪ (traditional Japanese singing) ♪ (traditional Japanese singing) (city street sounds) ♪ (traditional Japanese singing) (city street sounds) (speaking in Japanese) ♪ (band plays) - ♪ (all singing) Stars ♪ Out in the morning ♪ And the still ♪ Rustle of corn ♪ What a good place ♪ To be born ♪ (band plays) ♪ 'Till the wind ♪ Blows them away ♪ And the still start... ♪ (band plays) ♪ Hey ♪ My Oklahoma ♪ Are you still ♪ Waiting for me ♪ With your gold grain ♪ Waving free ♪ With your gold grain ♪ (band plays) ♪ (city street sounds) ♪ (music plays on radio) - When we were both 21.
♪ (music plays on radio) [Dr. Mitsui] I just love these songs.
Woody Guthrie, from Oklahoma.
I majored in English and studied literature.
When doing that, I got interested in American music, and I researched very old traditional ballads dating back to the late 17th century, and found that they'd crossed the Atlantic Ocean and preserved in the Appalachian Mountains, and later I found that they are connected to bluegrass music, and Country and western music... and that kind of interest propelled me in writing about western music.
I wondered why this music became so popular in Japan.
Can I just take a look at this?
- [interviewer] Sure, anything.
- Let me see...
I got acquainted with the names of Country and Western bands in Japan when I bought this special issue of "Music Life" in 1958.
The famous bands are all listed here in this book, with fascinating pictures, and I used to leaf through this booklet again and again, looking at the pictures.
So I almost remembered every page, but now more than 50 years have passed... (aircraft rumbles) (explosions) I think it was in 1941, I guess, when Pearl Harbor was attacked, and even before that, I think, the Japanese government began to prohibit American music on the radio and in dance halls.
It was simply the "music of the enemies."
- [Yasushi] When I was 13 years old...
I found this record my father kept... and we tried to listen to this one.
- At that time it was during World War II, so we couldn't listen to American music.
(chuckles) You know, maybe the police would come and...
So, we listened very, very carefully.
(chuckles) ♪ (lively Country music) "She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain..." this one is the record.
- ♪ She'll be coming around the mountain when she comes ♪ She'll be coming 'round the mountain-- - She'll be coming 'round the mountain, when she comes... totally different.
- Very bright!
- Yeah...you want to dance, you know!
(chuckles) ♪ (song plays) (sounds of war) (aircraft rumbles) (bombs exploding) (aircraft hums) (bombs whistle) ♪ (somber Country music plays) - My house was burned down... five days before the war ended.
[Charlie] When I was 10 years old.
I thought, "If American people came to Japan, you know, I wanna fight!"
Even though I was a kid, you know?
- American troops came to Japan, and into Kumamoto too.
First time I saw them, you know, we were all afraid that we may be captured.
Maybe they take'd us away somewhere...
But, you know... everything changed.
- [Dr. Mitsui] Soon after the war, the idea of democracy was sort of imported.
Not very specifically, but it reflected in the image of the wide West.
Freedom.
You can go anywhere, and that tendency must have been combined with the kind of music you hear through the radio.
You just dial, and you happen to hear the music.
♪ (Country music plays) - The broadcasting sent us Jazz, and Country music... and that's my music!
- Ernest Tubb, you know?
- [Hisashi] Blue Sky Boys.
- [Yasushi and Hisashi] Eddy Arnold.
- [Charlie] Hank Thompson.
- [Hisashi] Bill Monroe.
- And every Country artist, musician, and singer wanted to appear on the Opry, you know?
- Howdy!
- "Howdy!"
(imitating Minnie Pearl) - ♪ I'm back in the saddle again ♪ (singing) - 45 minutes, five sets every night... and 15 minutes break, but it didn't matter.
We didn't care about that.
So, we didn't get rich, but we were very happy to sing every night.
- ♪ Back in the saddle again ♪ ("Back In The Saddle Again" plays) - [Dr. Mitsui] And then, films, and of course TV, helped show every aspect of the American images, and by early 1957, the western music scene was vivacious.
♪ (Country music plays) (applause) But this combination of democracy, the wide West, and simple Country music was something...too romantic, and so on.
Inevitably, it didn't last long.
(liquid pours softly) (indistinct conversation) - [Charlie] Now, very few Japanese people are playing Country music.
They need to find another job, right?
But I never changed my mind.
So, most of the Japanese people don't know about this music.
So, I started the biggest Country music show in Japan: Country Gold Festivals, and I started in 1989 in Kumamoto.
I'm doing this Country Gold Festival as kind of a cultural exchange.
But, you know, it's very hard.
Nobody does this, you know?
(indistinct conversation) - [Seiya] Well, Mom is a big part of Charlie's life.
She's the boss around here.
Nobody says "no" to her, especially me.
(laughs) There's a song named "Good Time Charlie," and, Mama's in it... and, he really... he really needed her.
- [interviewer] Tell us how you met Toshiko.
- Oh, (chuckles) my wife Toshiko?
So she's from Tokyo...
So she's a city girl, and I'm a country boy.
(laughs) So, you know, thinking a little bit different.
- And then we fell in love with each other, you know?
And when I returned home to Kumamoto... she followed me.
Since then, so how many years?
- [Charlie] That was in 1961.
You can count, right?
(chuckles) ♪ - [Charlie] She never, never complained.
If...I couldn't get money, I lose a job, you know?
No money, you know, but she never asked me: "Charlie...quit playing.
No more.
Find another job."
She never asked me.
Nobody can endure... because you're always out.
I was out.
Yeah, so... now I think, I'm very sorry in my heart.
But I can't tell it.
Japanese people-- men--don't tell about that to the woman.
Inside, I think, she knows... ♪ (soft music) - When I was kid, like a Monday morning, we'd go to school, and every other kid is talking about their trips to somewhere, or, you know, just a... just a regular family dinner they'd have on Sunday night.
I really hate to... hear that, because Charlie's not there all the time.
I mean, you know, he's somewhere...
It's me and Mom and my brother, and we'd just stay in the house and...didn't do anything else.
So...I really hated him when I was a kid.
- During the Vietnam War, we had to go to Southeast Asia.
Nine months, I couldn't come back here.
Nine months, you know?
And three months, but the job is U.S. military bases.
So, I couldn't come back to my home.
♪ (soft music) - I...made him so sad.
(bottle cap clanks) - [Seiya] Four beers... ♪ (soft music) (door creaks open) ♪ (banjo plays) ♪ (banjo plays) ♪ (banjo plays) (laughter) (carving sounds) ♪ (banjo plays) ♪ (banjo plays) (train rumbles) ♪ (bluegrass music plays) (aircraft rumbles) ♪ (Country music plays) ♪ (Bluegrass music plays) ♪ (Bluegrass music plays) ♪ ♪ (Country music plays) ♪ (Country music plays) (birds chirping) (indistinct conversation) ♪ (guitar plays) ♪ (guitar plays) ♪ (guitar plays) - No.
♪ (guitars play) - ♪ (singing) We said our goodbyes long ago ♪ Never thinking we'd miss each other so ♪ All the memories we can't leave behind ♪ Oh, we must have been out of our minds ♪ (guitar plays) ♪ - ♪ (singing) Let's forgive and forget the past we've known ♪ And reap together the wild seeds we've sown ♪ Surely they can forget us in time ♪ Oh we must have been out of our minds ♪ I thought I love another, not you ♪ Oh how foolish, I thought the same, too ♪ They both turned out to be the wrong kind ♪ Oh, we must have been out of our minds ♪ Oh, we must have been out of our minds ♪ (jaunty Country music) - [Charlie] Country Gold Festival is the biggest country music show in Japan, and last year was the 25th anniversary.
♪ (laughter) ♪ (speaking in Japanese) I made up my mind to do it.
For all the country music fans, all over in Japan.
♪ ♪ (indistinct conversation) [Charlie] Judy Seale works not for me, but for Country Gold, you know.
She does it from the heart.
- I was actually working for a booking agency, and the Country Music Association, CMA, received a fax from somebody named Charlie Nagatani.
Handwritten, back then, no email, fax, and they sent it to all the booking agencies.
Well, I think every booking agency threw it right in the trash because it said, "I wanna do a Country music festival in Japan."
And he just, he had a dream.
He had an idea, he had no money at all, and I got caught up in it.
- Yay!
(indistinct chatter) ♪ (indistinct chatter) - [Charlie] Lots of people come from all over the cities in Japan, lots of cowboys and cowgirls.
♪ Many, many wonderful artists came to Kumamoto in the past.
Yeah...I can't believe it, you know?
Bill Monroe, Roger Miller, Charlie Daniels, oh, I can't count, you know?
They are, you know, kind of idols when I was young, you know?
I was so happy.
- When we were having the really big names years ago, you know: Emmylou Harris, Dwight Yoakam, Brad Paisley; they just couldn't believe the experience that they have over there.
He has so many fans and friends in America that love him and support him and know what he's done for Country music.
- Most of people I think, you know, came before, do something, a big concert, you know?
Most of the promoters worry about weather or money, or everything, right?
But you know, I'm a musician.
I'm not the business man, you know?
So...I didn't think about that, you know, at all.
Just, you know, my passion for Country music made me to open it, you know?
I know, I understand what Country music means, you know?
But people said, "Forget it, because you lose money."
Yeah, who comes to Country Gold?
To Kumamoto, so far from Tokyo, you know?
♪ (wind blowing) In my life, you know, I never think about political things, you know?
Some good things, and some bad things happen in each country, you know?
All over.
But...I really want to let Japanese people know the good part of the States.
America... so you better listen to Country music!
♪ (fiddle plays) This is the one!
♪ (band plays) (fan whistles) ♪ (band plays) ♪ (band plays) - [Judy] Especially through the last few years, every year I would think this is it, this is the last year... and I think that's what keeps Charlie young, is Country Gold.
It's something that he lives for, it was his dream, and he's not gonna let that dream die.
♪ (band plays) (cheering & applause) (speaking in Japanese) (cheering & applause) (indistinct chatter) ♪ (fiddle plays) (indistinct chatter) ♪ (upbeat Bluegrass music) - ♪ My girl well left me ♪ She let me go the blues ♪ (band plays) (ambient festival noise) - [man] Bluegrass in Japan has a long history.
I'm 65 years old now.
When we were college students, almost all major colleges had a Bluegrass club.
That was popular, so popular.
Our generation kind of started the movement, of organizing the festival of the Japanese Bluegrass.
(announcer speaking in Japanese) ♪ (band plays) (speaking in Japanese) - (announcer) Here they are...!
♪ (Bluegrass band plays) - And they released four LP albums, Bluegrass 45, and then they came back to Japan and brought lots of, you know, Bluegrass festival tapes and Bluegrass magazine called "Muleskinner News," and then we started reading that, and then we thought it was great.
So, me and my friends in Tokyo published a Japanese Bluegrass magazine, and then we started to organize the festivals all over Japan.
That is kind of the beginning.
♪ (band plays) (cheering & applause) - You know, when I was in high school I came here, you know, looking... See the show window and, "Oh!"
(laughs) This shop opened in 1963.
So, it's been 51 years?
Like that one, you know, 1927 Bella Voce.
This is a very rare place.
The banjo was the first instrument which gave me those many notes, many abilities, many possibilities, in the world, you know, everything.
This one.
(laughs) - Do you wanna hear some more?
(audience cheers) Let's bring 'em back for one more number.
Come on out, fellas.
The Bluegrass 45 from Tokyo, Japan.
- The first time we went to play in the United States, Bill Monroe showed up: "Let's play!"
You know, we jammed.
My whole...dream came true that moment.
♪ (band plays) In Japan, every year, 200 young pickers are coming to our world, and they're great.
So, that's really pure...tradition.
♪ (band plays) [Saburo] Bluegrass is from Appalachia, or rural South, but it can hit, you know like me, in Japan, 15 years old.
I thought it was American music, but when I grew up, I never thought it's American.
I'm sorry, it's not American music.
It's world music now.
I mean, it's art.
We are playing our music.
♪ (Bluegrass band plays) (applause & cheering) (applause) (city street sounds) - [Charlie] This is a very, very famous noodle shop, you know?
I think, you know, oh, I think 130 years or more, I guess.
Oh, my second home!
[Charlie] Yeah.
He's the owner here, you know... my old friend, yes...Chihiro San.
(speaking in Japanese) Everyday, you know...
I came here and I took a noodle, you know, everyday, yes...before he was born (both laugh).
Oh, we are getting so old now.
(laughs) (indistinct conversation) [Charlie] Thank you, so much.
This picture was taken, you know... (speaking in Japanese) - [Charlie] Ah, when I was 10, 9 or 10 years old, you know?
Yeah, I remember, in this.
Yeah... (speaking in Japanese) [Charlie] I was so lucky that I was born here, you know?
When I was young, you know, my dream is to go to States some day, you know?
Because you know, many, many servicemen told me, "Charlie you should go to Grand Ole Opry, Nashville, Tennessee, someday."
You know?
So I was dreaming, "Okay, I should go, I should go."
You know?
And then 1985, you know, was a great year for me, when I was in my 30 years anniversary singing Country music.
I was lucky, you know?
I got a chance to appear there, you know?
So, I went to Nashville.
Ah...
I still remember, you know, ohh!
You know, trembling, trembling, inside of my heart, you know?
I walked up there...
I was welcomed so well.
I couldn't believe it.
I still have doubts.
Since then, you know, the Grand Ole Opry lets me sing every year.
This is special, very special for me.
So, you know, all my friends say "Charlie, I wanna see you singing at the Opry."
"Okay, I'll take you!"
♪ (Country music plays) [Charlie] So 30 people have decided to go with me to the Grand Ole Opry.
Not only Nashville, but all over, you know?
I want to take them, my fans, and show them around in the United States of America.
(speaking in Japanese) ♪ (upbeat Country music) Everybody is excited, because this is the first trip to the States for most of them.
Different cultures, you know?
Different customs.
Japan and the States are different, you know?
♪ (Country music plays) ♪ (Country music plays) (applause & cheering) Every time I come here, I pick up a cowboy hat to bring back, so I have lots in my house (laughs).
I have to wear one to the Grand Ole Opry.
- Is Country music big in Japan?
- Not so big, but the people who love Country music are very tight, you know.
- I lived in Japan.
- Oh, you did?
- I lived in Nagoya.
- Nagoya, oh!
- My father was in the service over there.
- [Charlie] Oh, he's from Nagoya, the guy over there.
- Do you have a seven?
- [salesman] Let me see.
We've got one.
- I think a seven.
- Try it on.
- Yeah I need a small.
- You need a seven, okay.
Let's try that.
- [Charlie] That's it.
- [salesman] Okay. '
Cause it's out flat here, and it's got a little turn to it, but if you like this down like this... - Yeah, yes.
Yes.
- [salesman] Okay?
It's George Straight.
(steamer hisses) [salesman] Do you have any of your music on the internet that I could look up and listen?
- [Charlie] Yeah yeah!
- Okay.
- Yes, or you can listen to me singing at the Opry on the 16th.
- Okay.
- Friday night.
- [Charlie] Through WSM, you know.
- I know.
WSM, Nashville, Tennessee.
- [Charlie] Yeah.
- Okay, yeah I wanna hear you.
- Yeah.
Yes.
This is good.
- Alright.
You like it?
- Yeah, I like it.
Alright.
Thank you very much.
- Arigato.
(Charlie chuckles) (cars rumble by) (indistinct chatter) (horseshoe clangs) ♪ - Tell me a little bit about what's been going on!
When was your last festival?
- [Yoshi] Ah, the... last festival?
In Tokyo!
- Oh you played in Tokyo last?
- Yes.
- Okay!
Looking forward to y'all.
- We don't speak English.
(laughs) (indistinct chatter) - [announcer] Ladies and gentlemen, from Tokyo, Japan, Blue Side of Lonesome!
(applause) ♪ (banjo plays) ♪ (band plays) (audience cheers) ♪ (band plays) (audience cheers & applauds) [announcer] Blue Side of Lonesome!
Let 'em hear it!
Mighty fine job!
(audience cheers & applauds) (indistinct conversation) - [woman] Thank you so much!
- Thank you.
- Very nice.
- [woman] Can we get a picture with you?
- Sure!
- Oh, I tell you what, that about made me cry!
Oh, that was great!
(chuckling) (indistinct conversation) ♪ (banjo plays softly) (woman laughs) - [man] No more fireball!
No more fireball!
- [woman] Fireball!
- [man] Fireball!
(bus rumbles softly) (speaking in Japanese) ♪ (soft Country music plays) - Thank you so much!
- Thank you so much.
Okay, see you next time, right?
- It's nice to meet you!
- Thank you very much.
Thank you!
Thank you very much.
[Charlie] Most of the Country musicians' dream is to sing on the Opry stage.
I guess so, you know?
So, many many people think about that, you know... but it's hard to do here, (chuckles) yeah.
I'm not an American, you know?
(laughs) I'm Japanese, so I didn't think I could do it.
Yeah...just like going to Heaven, you had to go to the moon, you know?
So, but you know... this happened to me.
♪ ♪ - [Charlie] I think about everybody that sang on that Grand Ole Opry stage.
Same floor.
Hank Williams, great artists, you know?
They're all gone now, but I think about it... and sometimes I tremble, right?
Yeah... (audience chatter) (audience chatter) (clears throat) Oh much better.
(audience chatter) [Charlie] I really like it, I really like it.
Thanks, thanks, thanks and especially to my wife Toshiko.
And, the song I'm going to sing tonight is the story about me, and the song goes like this.
(indistinct conversation) ♪ (music plays) ♪ (music plays) (door opens) (applause) (applause) (audience cheers mildly) (audience chatter) - [woman] You excited?
Yeah?
Good.
- [Charlie] I worry.
- [woman] (chuckles) Are you worried?
It'll be good.
You'll do great.
- [Charlie] Every time I come here, my heart trembles.
- [woman] Yeah, yeah...
I know, there's nothing like playing this place.
But you'll do great.
- [Charlie] Thank you.
- [announcer] Boy, do we have a special guest for you!
He's come all the way from the Land of the Rising Sun, I'm talking about Japan.
Please welcome... Charlie Nagatani!
(audience applauds loudly) ♪ (band plays) - ♪ (singing) I was just a young man ♪ When I heard that Nashville sound ♪ From clear across the ocean ♪ It turned my life upside down ♪ I bought all the records ♪ And I learned all the licks ♪ I've been singing Country music ♪ Since 1956 ♪ ♪ I got a good-hearted woman ♪ She's always by my side ♪ I couldn't live without her ♪ I'd be so lonesome I could cry ♪ You'll find us down at Charlie's ♪ Seven nights a week ♪ Come on down and see us ♪ When you feel the Country beat Okay, everybody!
♪ Kumamoto to Kentucky ♪ Tokyo to Tennessee ♪ I dreamed one day I'd sing in front ♪ Of the Grand Ole Opry ♪ It's all I've ever wanted ♪ All I've ever known ♪ My name is Good Time Charlie ♪ And I play that Country Gold ♪ I am Charlie Nagatani ♪ And I play that Country Gold (speaks in Japanese) Thank you so much!
[Charlie] Thank you!
(audience applause) Thank you!
(audience applause) (audience applause) - [announcer] All the way from Kumamoto, Japan, Charlie Nagatani!
(audience applause) - We thank you for all you do for Country music, and we'd like to congratulate you for the success of your festival in Kumamoto, Country Gold, and thank you very much.
Here's to 25 more performances.
Charlie Nagatani, everyone!
(audience applause) - [announcer] Thank you, Charlie Nagatani!
♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ (indistinct chatter) (indistinct chatter) (indistinct chatter) (audience cheers & applauds) - "My walking shoes don't fit me anymore."
♪ (band plays) (audience claps) ♪ (band plays) - ♪ My walking shoes don't fit me anymore ♪ My walking shoes don't fit me anymore ♪ Stay on your side of town Honey, I won't be around ♪ My walking shoes don't fit me anymore (audience claps) ♪ (band plays) - ♪ It's a long way from here to over yonder ♪ My feet they're getting mighty sore ♪ I ain't coming back you've made your mind to wander ♪ My walking shoes don't fit me anymore - ♪ My walking shoes don't fit me anymore My walking shoes don't fit me anymore ♪ Stay on your side of town Honey I won't be around ♪ My walking shoes don't fit me anymore (audience cheering) ♪ (band plays) - ♪ I'll be a long time gone from you baby ♪ You'll never hear me knock upon your door ♪ Thought you were worth it once but I was crazy ♪ My walking shoes don't fit me anymore - ♪ My walking shoes don't fit me anymore ♪ My walking shoes don't fit me anymore ♪ Stay on your side of town Honey I won't be around ♪ My walking shoes don't fit me anymore (audience applauds & cheers) - [audience chants] One more song!
(city street sounds) (speaking in Japanese) (city street sounds) (indistinct chatter) ♪ (soft music) ♪ ♪ - [Seiya] It's not about money.
You know what I'm saying?
Through music...we can connect in some way.
Charlie, you know, I think he opened this bar because if he got a bar here, he really don't have to move and you know... he really can get together, you know, with us, with his family.
So...right now, I really respect him... as a man... and as a father.
♪ [Seiya] This bar is a business, you know, right?
And...if Charlie is not here, this is over.
That's what I think.
♪ But Country Gold's a little different.
It's got a spirit... that Charlie tried to leave.
We have to keep doing it.
I think that's my job...yeah.
♪ You know some kind of fish, if they stop swimming, they die?
Charlie is that kind of fish, you know?
So...if I, you know, tell him to stop it... that means I'm telling him... "You die," you know?
So...
I really, you know... wanna make him... keep swimming all the way.
♪ (sentimental music) (birds chirping) - Can it be called tradition or not?
Is a question, I think.
Is it simply an imitation?
Or is it just a copy of the original?
Without consciousness, they... kept on playing, and which turned out to be... a sound of their own.
(carving sounds) (audience cheers) ♪ (sentimental music) ♪ (sentimental music) ♪ (sentimental music) - [Yasushi] It's rather simple...
The harmony, and feeling... that's, you know... the best language... across the country, and across the world.
♪ (sentimental music) - People think, you know, "Why I keep doing this?"
They don't understand though, why I love this music, why I'm doing this, you know.
They don't know.
♪ (sentimental music) [Charlie] Country music is the... best part of my body on the inside, you know?
And without this, I can't live on, I guess.
So from morning 'till night...
I'm gonna sing Country music.
♪ ♪ (upbeat Bluegrass music) ♪ (banjo plays) - ♪ (singing) Oh ladies won't you marry me ♪ And set my heart at liberty ♪ Oh dear how happy we would be... ♪ Young ladies won't you marry ♪ Oh ladies won't you marry Oh ladies won't you marry ♪ Oh ladies won't you marry... ♪ You stole my heart away ♪ (banjo plays) (singing in Japanese) ♪ (banjo plays) ♪ Oh ladies won't you marry Oh ladies won't you marry ♪ Oh ladies won't you marry... ♪ You stole my heart away ♪ (banjo plays) (ship horn blares)
Far Western is a local public television program presented by OPB