It was 8 a.m. on Sunday in Brooklyn, and while my translator, Kana Motojima, and I groggily boiled water for our tea, Kenichiro “Ken” Tanaka was taking a quick 10 p.m. break at a shared space for freelance videographers in Tokyo. He had finished an all-day shoot for a 15-second video for The Fashion Post, a site that features short videos of Japan’s most popular models tackling the hottest trends, and had begun the initial edits. Ken sat down in the meeting room, folded his hands neatly on the wooden table and smiled broadly, ready for our interview over Line. We began to chat about his music videos—and his alter ego, “Pennacky.”
The man behind the pseudonym Pennacky (ぺんナッキー in Japanese), is the ambiguous and often elusive director whose effortlessly stylish charm is unmatched in the music video sphere. Pennacky often prefers to cloak himself in layers of anonymity, shielding his face from the camera when pictures are taken of him on set, all while he focuses the lens on his subject. Oversized hoodies and half-profiles of his face are his chosen weapons of illusion. But when we first sat down, it wasn’t the esteemed Pennacky talking. It was Ken, a highly expressive, effervescent, and goofy 23-year-old artist. Of course, one of the first questions was, “Why the name ‘Pennacky’?”. Ken admitted with a laugh that he chose the pseudonym because of the way it looks and sounds in Japanese, not because it has much significance or meaning.
The late hours, hard work, and passion hasn’t been all for naught. Ken relayed that he discovered his love for film in middle school after watching behind-the-scenes extras of his favorite movies, like the Japanese franchise Godzilla. He began making his own films during high school. As a freshman in college, he filmed the hardcore band Otus by going to their live shows, taking photos and filming their sets for free until they took notice of him. He continued to film less well-known artists while he attended university. By the time he graduated in March, 2019, he had earnestly cultivated his signature style and had established himself as a top-tier director. He now works with some of Asia’s biggest artists.
Pennacky’s most recent music videos have garnered hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of views on YouTube. He has been crowned “Indie Japan’s most stylish music video director,” by From the Intercom. His behind-the-scenes tour videos of English R&B/soul singer Yellow Days in Japan and the Korean rap group Balming Tiger in Europe employ a technical yet convivial quality—such as, seamlessly woven sound production and editing across the board with moments of serenity as the Yellow Days group walk through the streets of Tokyo, to capturing the mania of Balming Tiger’s live shows. From top Japanese indie singers such as Gen Hoshino, to American lo-fi pop stars such as Joji, more than 60 music videos contain these three simple words: Directed by Pennacky.
“Pennacky” has a few staple ingredients that he often uses, which is evident after one has watched a few of his videos. Clean, clear blue skies, a shimmering horizon, gentle waves against a shore, and wide expanses of earth with a single metallic man-made structure jutting out in the center of the frame. There is a coy and playful undercurrent in most of his videos too: like directing an actor (who plays a boom operator) to mic a gecko while a sweeping indie ballad unfolds in YeYe’s “うんざりですよ”, or blurring the face of an actor and putting another in a gimp costume with a smiley face drawn on his stomach like in Omega Sapien’s “Rich and Clear”. There’s a little something layered into his videos that one wouldn’t expect, like in the love-lorn 88 Rising’s and Joji’s music video for “Need is Your Love”, when (spoiler alert), the robot punches his love interest’s new beau into the stratosphere. Even at the end of “Kolo Kolo”, a wild and energetic song with a video to match, there is a peaceful scene of Omega Sapien swimming in a dazzling ocean, body surfing through a foamy wave. In all that chaos, a moment of tranquility. So, while all of his videos are visually captivating, there is also a pinch of irony sprinkled in for good measure.
Ken himself appears to be a frugal man. Kana, his close friend, even went on record about how she (and many of their friends) views him as a grandpa. He doesn’t buy new clothes, he said; the most he will swing for is a six-pack of white T-shirts from Don Quijote, a discount chain in Japan and Hawai‘i. Low-top cream Converse has been his shoe of choice since middle school. Once a pair wears out, he simply buys a new one. However, when his 11 p.m. cravings hit he’s not averse to spending $20 on delivery boba, which Kana confessed through a few chuckles. But Ken admitted that more often than not, he will run out to the local convenience store to grab a pack of cheap instant noodles—kimchi pork—like he did at one point during our interview. His favorite food though? “Hamburger,” he said with an impish grin. The reason? Because he ate his first “Big America burger” (the Japanese version of a “Big Mac”) from McDonald’s at age twelve while watching Avatar. Most of his cherished memories revolve around film, music, and of course, food.
All the money he saved over the years went toward the videos he made when he first started out in high school and early college, which were almost entirely self-funded. Even when he was paid by the bands he worked with, it was for a small fee. (He confessed that he is now paid more fairly, though he did not disclose his rate.) But when Ken was simply shooting videos for the experience, he paid for the majority of shoots. Like he did for rapper Omega Sapien, who he contacted via SoundCloud and who was a relatively unknown artist at the time. Both Ken and Omega Sapien—who is now a part of the group Balming Tiger—are rising stars in their own right. The two still work together, just with bigger budgets.
When I reached out to Omega Sapien over Instagram for comment, he wrote, “(Ken) has lots of insane and sometimes bizarre ideas and that’s what we (Balming Tiger) are exactly looking for. Me and Ken are constantly feeding each other’s creativity since there are not many artists/video directors who are willing to take the risk of going beyond the horizon.”
It’s no coincidence that the majority of artists Ken has worked with so far have been of Asian descent. Besides the fact that Ken himself is Japanese and most of his clientele are Asian artists, Ken has a strong desire to continue to work with and highlight other Asian creators. This desire started because he grew up watching films from the West, films that have international appeal. He would always see American and European films with Caucasian actors and artists but noted that there were very few from Asian creators making as much of an imprint on the Western canon. He wants to broaden Japanese and Eastern culture and make it more universally known and appreciated. Ken said that he just wants to show, “We are cool too! We are doing cool things and creating great art! So I just want to help the underdog and show off and elevate Asian artists.”
Since working worldwide, his perception of Asian artists has shifted. He became aware that Japanese artists often tailor their art to what will be popular with the Japanese public and that there are a lot of artists in Japan whose only goal is to “make it” in Japan. But Ken wants to change that. He wants these artists to be recognized across the globe, to have their work be internationally and globally received, “Just like mainstream American art,” Ken said.
The perception of Asian art/artists is something else that Ken wants to change. He wants the West to amend the idea of stereotypical Japanese culture—anime, hentai, docile and fragile people—the idea that permeates across the broad scope of America that make people think, as he put it, “This is ‘Japan,’ this is ‘Japanese.’” Instead, he wants the focus to be on the music and art—with no origin or stereotype attached.
“I don’t think people really focus on the country (of origin) when they listen to music. At least, it’s not the focus. They don’t often think, ‘this is English or American or Icelandic,’” Ken said. “When they first listen to (a song) they don’t focus on the country. But I think in Japan that happens sometimes, people often focus on the fact that it’s Japanese if they listen to Japanese music. It’s more stereotyped, and people who like it are put into a group. Some people only listen to it because it’s Japanese or others don’t like it because it’s Japanese.” Ken added, “Not many other countries (besides Asian countries) have to deal with that kind of scrutiny.”
Ken believes that the first step to modify the way these artists are perceived is to recognize that there are amazing, diverse artists all over Japan and Asia. And to adequately showcase them as such. Then, he hopes it will become normal for Asian artists to be featured in worldwide festivals, as it’s often very rare. Blackpink made history after being the first K-pop idol group to play at Coachella in 2019. Parasite made history for being the first foreign language film to win Best Picture at the Oscars in 2020. Ken would love to be able to leave his mark on both the Eastern and Western canons. He thinks that it would be incredible if someone watched his video and regardless of where they are, they can identify, “Oh, this is Pennacky!” based on his art and not because of his origin. He chuckled, relenting, “I’m not sure how to do that yet but it’d be cool!”
When it comes to creating the music video itself, the most important part of the process for Ken is making sure that there is a high visual impact. He focuses on the feeling of the song, the lyrics, the vibe and sound to create strong visuals that will resonate with the viewer. He puts himself in the shoes of the central character and explores themes and, of course, defers to the judgement of the artist. But typically for a music video, the visuals are of the highest priority. “That’s why I want to make my own independent film, so I can work with storylines and characters more. I’m working on a few different upcoming film projects, a short film and a feature film. My goal is to create a film that is one-hundred-percent mine, where I write the screenplay, I direct, edit, oversee everything,” Ken said.
Ken has a few ideas in mind for his films—something beautiful and grotesque; a slasher film with a female protagonist, a monster and, of course, high visual impact—and is actively working on the screenplay. He admitted that working on a feature length film is very different from filming music videos, but that’s a challenge he is excited about. When we first spoke, he said that he had slated his production schedule to shoot his short film in the spring of 2020 with a release date sometime in the summer or fall, and that he was ready to shoot his feature length film in the summer of 2020 with a release date to be determined.
However, under these new circumstances, he has had to postpone production of all ongoing or upcoming films, both his own and the projects for which he was commissioned. This is something that many artists have dealt with during the COVID-19 pandemic and mandatory quarantine. But Ken seems to be an adaptive filmmaker. He recently disclosed that he is in the works to shoot a music video over FaceTime, which, much like some of the innovative ways people are trying to create art and remain in touch, could be stored in the archive of this time. Ken is also taking this time to dedicate himself to screenwriting, working closely with a few other filmmakers on his screenplay. He revealed that once his own films are released, he wants them to bear his real name. Not his pseudonym. So, instead of “Directed by Pennacky,” we will soon see films that bear the four words, “Directed by Kenichiro Tanaka.”
All photography by Kana Motojima.
Special thanks to Kana Motojima for help with translations.
Find more of Kana’s photography on her Instagram and website.