Meet Yukino Takenaka | Music composer/ producer/ songwriter

We had the good fortune of connecting with Yukino Takenaka and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Yukino, do you have a favorite quote or affirmation?
I think I touched on something similar in my previous interview with Shoutout LA in the risk-taking question, but one phrase that keeps me motivated is, “What if I can do it?” When people, including myself, want to try something new or start over, it’s easy to focus on the negative—asking, “What if I can’t do it?”—because of the fear of the unknown. Whenever I feel that fear holding me back, I try to imagine myself succeeding at the very thing that scares me and focus on staying as positive as I can.

Another quote that resonates with me lately is “人生は死ぬまでの暇つぶし” (which translates to “Life is just killing time until you die”). As life becomes more serious, I find myself feeling more pressured and stressed about making music. Creating music has always been my dream since I was a kid, but lately, it’s started to feel more like an obligation than a joy. Reminding myself of this quote helps me take things less seriously and approach my work with a more relaxed, easygoing mindset.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My music journey has started since I was 3 years old, that is when I started to learn how to play the piano. if you ever ask me if it was an easy journey or not, I would say it was smooth until now-when things get more serious. When I first realized that I want to work with music was when I was in the elementary school, and I dreamed to be a singer-songwriter at that time. When I was in the middle school, I decided to learn English to be able to write lyrics in English so that my music can be heard by more people in the world. I asked my parents to give me an opportunity to study abroad in Canada in high school to pursue that goal, and I tried my best to learn English as language and culture. However, after I graduated high school, I got stuck. I knew I wanted to pursue my music career but for some reason, I did not know what I wanted to do at the same time. I moved to the U.S and started studying at the community collage to “figure out my life,” when the truth was that I was not even lost, I was just scared of facing the reality of pursuing my dream. After 6 months of my life at community college, I realized that it was not for me and I felt like I was in the wrong place. So I quitted the college and decided to go to university to study music production. Even though I have been dreaming to be a singer songwriter at the young age, I never learned it seriously. And I think I was avoiding to do it because I was scared of following my dream. However, I cannot keep running away from what I truly want to do, so I decided to take a courage. After two years, I graduated from the university, and that is where I am from. I am still trying to overcome the fear I have for doing what I actually want to do. I have so much conflicts in myself, and that causes me slumps frequently. However, I am so proud of myself of 3 years ago, to encourage myself to start this journey, so I would love to keep challenging myself to get where I want in my life.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If my best friends ever visit me in LA for a week- first I would definitely take them to show around Hollywood. As I am a foreigner in the U.S (I am from Japan), I think Hollywood is one of the most American places in the U,S. I still remember the first time I visited Hollywood, it made me feel like my dream come true. If my friends like baseball, I should go watch the dodger’s game together for sure. After that, I personally would like take them to Orange County. The reason is that I really enjoy the nature in Orange county such as Newport beach, Huntington beach and Laguna beach, these are my favorite places to go. There are so many cute cafes there, and one of the favorite places to eat is called “La Farola.” One of my friends from Uruguay recommended me this place 4 years ago and their empanadas are the best ever since I tried it! If it’s in summer, I would love to go to Catalina island as well, and try activities such as scuba diving and canoeing.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I really don’t know how lucky I am to have what I have right now- so I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who has been here for me and supporting me in any point of my life. I cannot appreciate enough about the fact of how much your presence and word help me keep going today and I hope I am able to return those appreciation to you in some way. I also would like to give special thanks to my family and close friends who stand by me through my high and low, and lift me up no matter what I am going through. It took me a while to truly appreciate how much extra support I was given, especially by my parents, who guided me and gave me a lot of opportunities to learn how to open each door of my life. With those appreciation I have, I would like to be a person who can also give other people hope and support with my music.

Website: https://y02takenaka.wixsite.com/website

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yukino213_

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yukino-takenaka-718044239/

Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1YmrgqrxQpyRtJ6qe6mM3S?si=5fJLHqbjT1Gzpsmnk4fW-A