I've played for so long that it's just such a natural part of my life that it's actually kind of hard to imagine, like what my life was before I played Taiko.

[drumming] I feel like now that I'm well into my 28 years of playing Taiko, it's definitely become a part of my identity.

I consider TAIKOPROJECT my second family, [drumming] Taiko drumming in its form that we see here in North America is called kumi-daiko or ensemble drumming, and that's actually a relatively new idea in the Taiko community, because before Taiko was a solo art form.

It was just one person playing on the drum in the middle of a community.

It's kind of an oral tradition.

So someone will teach you saying words that kind of sound like what the drum produces, and then they'll teach you line by line.

I feel it's a lot of responsibility because you're kind of passing on your knowledge of what Taiko is.

Being Japanese-American, there a little bit of erasure in my family because after World War II, they were trying to be as American as possible to fit in back in with society once they came back from the internment camps.

And so there was that loss of language, loss of culture.

And so having Taiko there, I was like, oh, this is a way for me to bridge that gap.

[drumming] To be on stage together obviously, you have to have a level of trust, right?

That you can create the music together and adjust.

[drumming] We are an American Taiko group.

And we try to incorporate different elements outside of Taiko.

So we've collaborated with dance groups.

We try to use other instruments, when we make our music.

[drumming with bells] Taiko for me has that really low bass speed that I'm sure you will hear if you're in the audience and you'll feel it resonate in your body.

Everyone's connection with the drum is different.

Maybe it's their weekly workout.

Maybe through their cultural roots or musically.

[drumming] Just like any music genre, I feel like Taiko can embody both positive and negative sadness, happiness, all different types of emotions.

When I connect with the drum, there is a feeling of empowerment.

I think that comes with understanding it more and more too.

And the special thing about drumming is that it's found almost in every single culture.

And so we all have that sense of heartbeat to our music or in our drumming.

And I think that kind of connects everybody all together.

That, to me, is important to continue and uphold Japanese-American culture in the United States.

[drumming] [vocalizing] [vocalizing]