Sense of Place: Tranquil Uji meets bustling Tokyo in the music of luvis

Please make sure your tray tables are stowed and your seats are in the upright position, because World Cafe‘s taking you to Japan!

We’re kicking off our latest Sense of Place series with an interview and performance from luvis. The singer-songwriter grew up in Uji, a beautiful city south of Kyoto that’s surrounded by nature and ancient history. Now, luvis resides in bustling Tokyo, and his music fuses those two experiences into a sound that’s both serene and full of energy.

This session was recorded in front of a live audience at Moon Romantic in Tokyo. Big thanks to interpreter Iyuko Carlson for helping with this interview.

And make sure to stick around — we’ve got more Sense of Place adventures from Japan on the way.

This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Kimberly Junod. The web story was created by Miguel Perez. Our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.