“Anti-war songs by Imari Tones”
This is something we feel compelled to say because we are a Japanese band.
For the past two or three months, as I have watched what is happening in the world and in Japan, I have been wondering if I should post this.
This is not a political statement.
It is not about geopolitics either.
It is about power and control in the human world.
The material world, what Buddhism calls Shaba, is ruled by money and power.
It is a realm governed by Satan.
I sometimes feel that wars do not begin with clear warnings.
They start quietly, suddenly, as if nothing special happened.
It is always about convenience, the convenience of those in power.
The weak, ordinary people, and those who happen to be unlucky are forced to accept that convenience.
That has always been the case throughout human history.
One day, a war begins.
Then it becomes normal.
It becomes part of everyday life.
It may be reported in the news with the same casual tone as the recent headlines in Japan about bears appearing in residential areas.
At first, it feels distant, like a fire on the far shore.
And we say things like, “That’s terrible,” as if it has nothing to do with us.
One thing is certain.
The rights of ordinary people will be taken away, little by little, one by one, as if being slowly squeezed with soft cotton. (Ok, this Japanese saying was translated a little too literally😅)
This is not about blaming a particular country or a specific politician.
At its core, it comes down to the foolishness of humanity itself.
Every human being carries sin, and very few people are able to see the truth as it truly is.
In the end, all we can do is choose to believe in love.
Instead of blindly consuming the negative information flooding the world, we must open our spiritual eyes and make our choices at the level of the soul.
I do not believe in war.
I do not believe that humanity’s problems can be solved through violence or military force.
That belief may come from the fact that we grew up in a peaceful country, in a relatively peaceful era.
There is always a spiritual battle taking place in this world.
That is why human beings pursue knowledge, art, and other intellectual activities.
And that is exactly why we make music.
That is the kind of battle I believe in.
We are not a band that makes overt political statements.
At least, we do not make direct or explicit political claims.
But that does not mean we have been silent.
We believe we have expressed our worldview, our understanding of history, and our ideals through our music.
When we created Jesus Wind, that awareness was especially strong.
In that album, which portrays Japanese history from ancient times through the present and into the future from a spiritual perspective, we tried to express humanity’s true spiritual development beyond surface-level political ideologies.
The same can be said for Nabeshima.
Along the way, we have written several songs that could be described as anti-war songs.
They may not sound like typical anti-war songs, so many people might not recognize them as such.
But from our perspective, all of these songs clearly carry an anti-war message.
Once again, we place importance on the spiritual battle that exists in this world.
At the same time, we do not believe in wars fought through violence or military force.
Here is a list of songs from our catalog that we feel carry an anti-war message.
“This Is How Freedom Dies”
(It is an instrumental track, but it strongly expresses a political message.)
“Jee-You”
(While some people put their emphasis on the freedom to shoot and kill, we put our emphasis on freedom to die for what we really believe in.)
“The War”
(Written from a viewpoint of a soldier who wants to come back home.)
“When The Nation Falls”
(Old school bad sounding hiphop song in metal style.)
“Love Wars”
(Do you really think it’s a war song? It’s a Love song!)
“Heroes”
(Again, this is not a war song. It’s a song about love, forgiveness, understanding and sacrifice.)
“New Jerusalem”
(Isaiah 2:4 clearly says about the peace we will have in the last days. Jerusalem means “city of peace”.)
“Samurawanai”
(Ok, we are not samurais. We are just a bunch of farmers.)
“Revive The Nation”
(I should’ve sung this in English, instead of Japanese.)
“Yakamashii”
(Old style protest song in Japanese folk style.)
“Minorities”
(This is our statement! Should we write the English version?)
“D.O.I.”
(It sounds naive but I don’t care. This is our message.)
“Utsukushii Monowo Miyou”
(You still see beautiful souls even when the world falls apart.)
There may be others, but for now, this is enough.
Do you want a playlist for these songs?
Here is the YouTube playlist
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmYKNwAsofQmfnIkpWCFbAdrbhxYLv8qI
Let us keep on rocking for what we believe in😀