A Visit with a 1960s-Era Musician and Actor!

Kazuomi Sasai with a signed copy of Ring of Memories (1968). Photo by Brett Homenick.

 

On Friday, March 15, I had the distinct privilege of spending an afternoon with actor and musician Kazuomi Sasai (born November 12, 1944), a member of the 1960s musical group Village Singers. He served as the bassist for the band for about three and a half years. According to Japanese Wikipedia, he left the group in 1969 but eventually rejoined the group in 2002. 

Notably, he is the son of film producer Hideo Sasai, who was most closely associated with Nikkatsu, but has also produced films at Toho and Shochiku.

Kazuomi Sasai with a signed copy of Lemon in the Rainbow (1968). Photo by Brett Homenick.

I'd met only one member of the band before this -- Yutaka Hayashi. I have to admit that my interest in the Village Singers is more related to their movie appearances in the 1960s rather than their music, but both are still intriguing to me. 

In fact, I brought two DVDs with me for Sasai-san to sign -- Ring of Memories (1968) and Lemon in the Rainbow (1968). Both films, in which the Village Singers more or less play themselves, were produced by Shochiku. 

Kazuomi Sasai in Toyosu. Photo by Brett Homenick.

We met near Toyosu Station and made our way to a nearby Starbucks. I got a hot chocolate, and Sasai-san got a coffee. We discussed numerous topics. Sasai-san hasn't seen Godzilla Minus One (2023) but is aware of the success it's had around the world. 

Sasai-san also told me that his favorite type of movies are suspense ones, like the works of Alfred Hitchcock.

When I asked him if he liked The Beatles, Sasai-san mentioned he prefers The Rolling Stones and Creedence Clearwater Revival. I share that opinion, so I asked Sasai-san if he knew the CCR song "The Midnight Special." I was surprised to hear that his band had actually performed it once. When I asked if there was a recording of it, he said it was just a live performance and not included on any album. Ah, well.

When I originally made plans with Sasai-san, I budgeted about two hours, though I was confident I wouldn't need that much time. To my surprise, we actually did! We hung out for the entire two hours. After Starbucks, we moved on to Hama-sushi, a conveyor belt sushi restaurant, where I ate a bowl of ramen.

As we were leaving the sushi restaurant, Sasai-san listed many Southern California towns, even pointing out that former President Nixon used to live there. 

After I got home, I found another message from Sasai-san, offering to get together much closer to me in the next couple of weeks. Of course, I'd love to do that! It was great to meet him, and I look forward to meeting him again very soon.