THE TRANSFORMATION OF HITO

We are always learning; about the world, about people, about our interests, and things that inspire us. But most of all, we’re always learning about ourselves. Take Hito, for instance. An established international DJ for 10 years, and a Berlin-based DJ for many years prior to that, the Japanese headliner has come out of the lockdowns enriched with a fresh perspective on many aspects of her life.

From her creative approach to DJ formats to her own relationship with her Japanese roots, Hito describes the effect of the last two years as a profound transformation. It’s one that’s still ongoing and, most importantly, involves her listening to herself and her own wishes much more than before.

Fresh from an extensive world tour and starting to lay the foundations for an exciting new chapter as a producer, we catch up with Hito to discuss this moment in her life and find out what comes next…

Travel has always been such an important part of your lifestyle. So how was that during the lockdowns? Was it challenging?

It was a challenge, but also I was lucky to travel and be able to play a few times. I could enter Japan and do some shows and projects and see my family. During the lockdown time, I actually spent five months in Japan.

Japan had very different lockdown rules, didn’t it?

It was very different. It wasn’t 100% stay-at-home. There were different rules – like you can buy alcohol but only until 8 pm. Or a venue could be open until midnight but not sell alcohol, or clubs could open but with masks and hygiene. We’ve been wearing masks for a long time, so it’s not new for us and we take care of the next person. This has been taught to us for a long, long time. It was a very different situation over there.

It sounds like you made the best of your time and embraced the change that the global situation imposed on us all…

It led to a big change for me.

How so?

Let’s go back; I started Enter Sake with Richie in 2012. We did four seasons, up to 2015. Then I toured with Richie as an Enter Sake pop-up project. We went to so many different places in the world for three years. So I was with Richie for a total of seven years.

Then, after that, I became more independent and could do my own projects, like Hito Presents Oto. It started in Watergate Berlin and the concept is that I invite older professional DJs and younger up-and-coming ones. I am in the middle, like a bridge.

Oto means sound, doesn’t it?

Yes. We present the sound. For me, that is my life. I have come to understand this; that my personal purpose or mission with my work is my life itself. My lifestyle is music. Everything. Staying here in Naples; it is music. I see beautiful scenes, old buildings and architecture, and the people and the history. It’s all sounds to me. All these beautiful things I see. They transform through me, through my music and my perception. This is how I am. So I translate this concept into Hito Present Oto. So, the first seven years. Then three years. That’s nearly 10 years of working internationally.

You go back further than that though, right? You were DJing in Berlin for a long time before. I think DJing was a happy accident for you, wasn’t it?

Yes, that’s true. I never set out to be a DJ for my career. And I also met Richie through a happy accident. We met through sake culture. I was playing more locally then. Correct. I didn’t care where I was or what plans I had for the future. I don’t really make some goals in that way, but I used to study languages. That’s my curiosity – to get to know different cultures, different languages, different ways of doing things. That was my only goal; I always wanted to work globally. But now, after these two years of changes, these last few months I’m completely transforming.

How many languages can you speak?

I can speak four languages.

Five including music…

Haha! That’s very true. I listen. Everything is like sound to me. I hear many things all the time. I don’t concentrate on what’s being said, so I don’t follow up the conversation. But I hear a lot of sounds from morning to bedtime. Some sounds are annoying, or I have to be patient, but every situation is sound. It’s like a smell or a taste. A stimulant. But now I am listening to myself a lot more.

What are you hearing?

Finally, little by little, it comes to me… I ask myself, “What do you want to do now, Hito?” Before, I was paying attention and taking care of other people. It was normal for me to do this. In Japanese culture, we pay attention to others and, through that, we forget ourselves sometimes. So I needed to pay attention to myself and my own expressions. My pure feelings. It’s hard to keep them wrapped up like they do in Japan. That’s why sometimes in Japan you might find interactions artificial.

So it’s taken you all this time to listen to yourself?

Finally! This is the result of the pandemic. As a beautiful consequence, I am surviving. I realized I still have new feelings in me. Feelings I have not thought about. For example, if you focus on my kind of life, for the last 10 years, it has been this… “When is my set time? Where do I have to be, and when do I have to be there?”

Point to point. That was me going through life. Between those two points, it was always a different bed, different temperature, different place. That was my routine, I couldn’t have a pet because I could not take care of one because I was moving around so much. If I stay somewhere as long as a week then I’ll buy a flower – to add a bit of life to my room and give it a bit of my own personality.

I do these things continually and it became my discipline. My Samurai way, if you like. But those two years have given me time with my family and time with friends who I’ve known for 30 years. I explored my roots and reconnected with them. Home! I would meet my parents, which was strange for them. I was seeing them every day for five months. They had to get used to this because I had been away for 20 years! It was all very new and a different way to see where I come from, you know?

Seeing your roots for the first time, as an adult…

Yes. Since 15 I have traveled. A summer in the USA, come back. A season in the UK and come back. My parents are professors in physical education, so they also traveled.

Are your parents proud?

When I left, no. My father, he loves me, but he was disappointed. We didn’t talk for two years. But they realized I was okay when they came to visit me in Ibiza. Space. They came to my console. Then came again to Paris, Barcelona, and the Mexico BPM Festival. Also sometimes while touring in Japan, with Richie, and they’ve met friends like Joseph Capriati and everyone.

What do they make of it? Did they dance?

Oh yes! I have the videos!

Beautiful. Let’s chat about your tunes… Producing is a very recent piece in the Hito puzzle. You started with that collaboration with Background, I think?

To be honest I am more of a DJ than a producer. I remember I asked Richie… I said, “I don’t know how to produce, but do I need it now to represent myself?” He said, “Don’t worry, it will come automatically.” One day I will have the realization, “Okay, now I have to do it.”

He said, “Just go with the flow. Don’t pressure yourself – observe and try and start when you feel the call to.” I started in 2019, just before the covid. I got Ableton lessons with a professional trainer. That was on the internet, but I also wanted to have more real experience, so when I like a producer’s sound, I ask them if I can visit them. I don’t like talking online so much. I want to share the same experience with them. Eat the same food, take walks, discuss things, and share thoughts. So I visited Background. It’s not far from here, he’s in a suburb of Naples.

Excellent. Shared experiences!

I also want to share my culture and elements of my life that they might participate in, so we both learn from each other. For example, I went to Thessaloniki, where George Adi lives. We make tracks… One track is “White Tower”, which is a symbol of Thessaloniki. And the other is “Sonic”, because of the waves of the sea and the music. Through our experiences, we made that release.

And now in Naples, I have a friend who is living in London, but he’s from Ischia Island, which is just near Naples. His name is Blackchild, maybe you know him. We spoke on social media little by little, and he’s sending me his tracks, and he was asking for feedback. I sincerely listened and wrote back to him. I thought he was very mainstream and I didn’t have much of a connection with mainstream. In the underground everything is your creation, your invention and you just experiment. I didn’t know why he sent it to me, but we got to know each other and we realized – “Okay, I have an opportunity to visit you. Why don’t we have a session?”

So before Christmas, I visited Ischia Island. We had a little boot camp, we listened a lot, we shared ideas and we tried to make a track. We had a very nice experience. I met his family and even his grandmother. I like that. I do the same – I’ll introduce my family to friends touring in Japan. Like the music we create, it has to be authentic. We eat the food where the locals eat. I transform something of my culture, and we see the differences and things we have in common. It is something that transcends genres and generations – to make that connection. He said he hadn’t collaborated much before, but it worked with me.

Did you end up making a mainstream record?

Well, it is a little in the middle. I asked him, “Why me? It’s not like I am a big producer.” He said, “That is why.” He told me I represented underground culture and that he wanted to know what underground was. He explained how he wanted to learn about vinyl and how it was new to him. He’s very brave. I call that courage. For me, the same. I started to go to school to study how to use the Rekordbox properly.

Oh, wow! I thought you were vinyl forever!

This is transformation time for me. Why don’t I open up to challenges? No judgment. I don’t need to judge. Everything has good points and bad points. Why limit myself to just vinyl? “So Hito, let’s do it,” I said to myself.

Totally! How do you find Rekordbox?

I prefer vinyl because I have full control over it. I’ve grown up with it and I like how it’s by hand. But I enjoy the loops, the EQ, and FX, I love that. But I realized I play different styles with different technology. I play melodic techno on vinyl and I play more tech house and deep tech on Rekordbox, which is more groovy. I get used to FX the techno way with looping and filters, so whatever genre I play, it sounds like techno. But this is life. I try new things. If I enjoy it, I take it, if I don’t, then it’s not for me.

This is the transformation of Hito!

Yes. Now, after the covid, I feel like my transformation is now. I feel like I’m growing up in a way. I am super happy to be at this stage in life. I know myself more.