In this second installment of a two-part series, we continue our interview with singer NANO during her stay at the German convention DoKomi. The artist talked with us about her multicultural roots, her experience touring overseas, and even shared some of her favorite anime.
If you want to know more about “Dream Big, the first official DoKomi song co-produced by NANO and STEREO DIVE FOUNDATION, you can read Part 1 of the first part of the interview.
Q: You have American-Japanese roots, and now you are performing the song of a German convention. How does it feel to be this ‘international’?
A: It’s amazing! I have always been a multicultural person. When I visit conventions around the world and go on stage, I forget what culture it is. It’s just me and the crowd, no matter what race they are, no matter what country this is, we are there to rock on!
In the end, of course cultures are different, the languages are different, but when you have music in between, it doesn’t really matter. If I can do a good show, that’s all that matters to me. I just make sure that people in the crowd are having the best time ever.
Q: When I interviewed MADKID, they told me they respect and appreciate your support during your joint North America Tour last year. What would you advise Japanese artists to reach audiences overseas?
A: That is the most important yet difficult question for me. It’s still a question I ask myself all the time and I don’t have the answer to because I haven’t reached my goal. I don’t think I have done enough to tell people “you should do this in order to be successful overseas.”
This is a very deep theme which would take too much time to talk about, but you know Japan was very late in becoming worldwide. Many other industries or genres, like K-pop, reached overseas at an early stage, and became bigger. Japan was very slow in this process.
It’s not because in Japan we don’t like overseas. Japan is a very small country and we have always been doing things our own way, mainly for ourselves. We just don’t know how to reach out to people overseas.
Now everyone in Japan is surprised that anime and Japanese culture is so big overseas, but it wasn’t intentional. Japan didn’t say “we want anime to be popular around the world and we are gonna sell it.” That’s not the reason anime became popular. It was more like the world needing it.
In Japan, people are slowly trying to accept that. Little by little, artists are starting to do shows overseas and visit conventions overseas, but it’s still very new to us. For many new musicians, it can be a very scary step because they have never experienced it before. They are not sure if they would be accepted.
For me though, since I was born outside of Japan, I already knew what to expect when I went overseas, so I wasn’t scared. I’m a small artist, but at the same time these past years I did so many shows overseas [in the US and Europe]. Somewhere in my heart I hope a Japanese artist would look at that and say “maybe I can go for it too.”
MADKID also said that I was a good example because they saw me going around the world, which made them feel more confident about trying it. That told me that trying to do shows around the world is not pointless for the Japanese community as well.
If I had any advice, it’s that you need to just go for it. If you are only going overseas because you know it’s going to be successful, many fans are not going to be able to go. You just need to try it even if it doesn’t sell out, or it’s not completely a success moneywise. There are other important things to consider.
There are a lot of people around the world who love your music, you need to go there to fulfill those people’s passions too. I think I’m just that kind of singer who would say “yeah I would go.”
Q: Would you say a convention is a good first step for an artist?
A: It is! It was for me. If I had never been at DoKomi 13 years ago, I probably wouldn’t be doing so many overseas shows right now. At that time, even my label and my management had never been overseas before, so it was the first time for everyone.
Around that time, there were very few Japanese artists going overseas. I was one of the first penguins. Thanks to those early experiences, I realized that there were so many fans who actually showed up at my shows and autograph sessions. They were all like “Oh my goodness, NANO!”
Thanks to that, I was able to show my company that there are fans out there who would love to see more Japanese music live. We need to try to make this a bigger thing, it takes time but I’m glad that it’s changing a little bit.
Q: Overseas we normally discover Japanese artists through anime, but at the same time some artists don’t want to be labeled as an “anisong artist.” What do you think about that?
A: Some Japanese artists think that way. For many artists, singing anime songs was their dream and their goal, but there’s many other artists that don’t sing just because they want to perform in anime. They wanted to be musicians in general but maybe anime was their big way through or the reason they got known. Even in Japan, performing in anime can be a very important key to get a wider audience.
I personally don’t label myself as an anime singer. I love music in general, I’m a rock and roller. However, at the same time, when I visit a convention, I know people are there to hear my anime songs, so I’m very proud to say that I have songs for anime. I’m an anime singer when I go to conventions. But when I’m not singing at an anime convention, I’m a rock and roller, I can be whatever, I’m a chameleon singer!
Q: How hard is it to promote yourself as a musician?
A: It’s hard to promote in Japan. We are always trying to find ways to promote ourselves. I’m not sure if I’m promoting myself enough, but I don’t know exactly what the best way is, or if there are more things that I could be doing. It’s very difficult.
Q: Finally, could you leave a message to your overseas fans? We would love to see you in Spain!
A: First of all, to my lovely community at DoKomi, I’m back! It’s so good to be here; you have grown so big. I feel like a parent looking at their kids who have grown up so much.
To my overseas community, there are so many countries that I have not yet gone to, and I would love to go to. I’m always trying to find new conventions that I could visit too. I’m very excited about what new countries I could go to in Europe.
Next year is my 15th anniversary. I can’t believe I have been singing for this long. I do hope to be able to make some sort of little world tour, but I can’t promise anything. That’s one of my dreams. Hopefully if that happens, Spain would be in there too.
Bonus track
Q: I saw your first CD was from Detective Conan. Do you have any anime that inspired you in music?
A: Definitely my first inspiration was Detective Conan. The music from the anime was very rock and roll, with artists like B’z. I thought that was really cool and I love singing its anime songs. That sparked my passion to sing in front of my family in the living room. I thought “this is so much fun.”
Then I came across a series called Fullmetal Alchemist. I loved the music so much, it has wonderful music.
Q: Could you share if you prefer Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) or Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (2009)? Do you have a favorite song?
A: I first watched the original anime [from 2003], and I loved it so much that it was very difficult for me to watch a new one. I’m an ‘oldie’ and I thought that the music was so good. I watched all the 51 episodes in one run.
“Rewrite” is definitely my favorite song from Fullmetal Alchemist. I covered it once!
We want to extend our thanks to NANO for giving us her time during DoKomi, as we truly enjoyed her takes on the music industry. And don’t miss out NANO latest EP “aИomaly,” available on digital platforms!
If you are also interested in attending DoKomi’s next edition, the event will take place from July 9 to July 11, 2027.
Photos by @cdecasa_s (me).
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