Ryuichi Sakamoto 1952-2023

Ryuichi Sakamoto died at the age of 71 on March 28th, 2023, after fighting colorectal cancer for almost three years. For the past few days, I’ve felt anger, demobilizing sadness and watery, imprecise guilt. This is all compounded by losing my own family member to cancer, which is both irrelevant and an accelerant. My feelings around Ryuichi, puckering and childish, are the result of not getting to know him better. He was one of the three or four most remarkable people I’ve ever met. He sensed and thought in a way that most cannot. His gentle voice and piercing stare are often present at the edge of my thoughts. Any time I hear the rustle of seashells, I think of the gear he used to capture outdoor sounds. I still use the small portable mic he told me to buy.