You call yourself a 'world-famous DJ'. How did you earn these props?
My music friends all around the world started to call me Alex from Tokyo and 'world famous' when I started out on the scene in Tokyo more than ten years ago. Malcolm McLaren's World Famous Supreme Team's album project in the mid-'80s really inspired me when I was starting to get into hip hop, disco and house music, etc. When I did this compilation series in Tokyo in early 2000, I thought 'world famous' would be a good name for my 'label' as a brand name fitting with my identity in a fun way. I thought it was a great name!

What made you want to start deejaying and producing?
I have been into music since my early age when I was a kid growing up in Tokyo, thanks to my dad and friends at school. I started playing records at friends' birthday parties, at the French School dance parties in Tokyo, at International Schools, etc. I have always loved to listen to music, to dance and to enjoy with my friends. It is in me! I got deeper into the music and the club scene in Tokyo when I was a teenager in the late '80s, when hip hop, rare groove, house music and techno started to blow up! The whole underground dance music experience changed my life forever. I was fascinated by the DJ, the sound system, the vibe, the unity etc in those underground parties. It was a total feeling and a lifestyle.

I started to organise underground parties in Tokyo with two friends. I moved then to Paris for my university studies, where I met up with DJ Deep and DJ Gregory and the whole Paris scene from which I learnt a lot. We had a quite popular daily radio show on Radio FG 98.2fm. Everything was very new. I moved back to Tokyo in the mid-'90s and this is when I decided to do music. Producing was always in my mind but I never really had the chance to focus. Some friends of mine gave me some opportunities to do remixes in the late '90s, the timing was right and this is how I started producing.

What is Tokyo Black Star and how did it get started?
Tokyo Black Star is the special collaboration electronic dance music unit between myself and my music friend/partner sound engineer Isao Kumano. We met each other in Tokyo ten years ago in a recording studio where he was working.

We got closer to each other, and one day Isao asked me to do a track with him for a compilation project in Japan. We then did a remix for the legendary afrobeat drummer Tony Allen and a remix for Kerri Chandler's label around 2000 which were well received. This is the beginning of our collaboration as Tokyo Black Star. Our collaboration went to another level when we started to release our very first EP for Dixon's Sonar Kollektiv/Innervisions label in 2005.

Who are some of the people you have been collaborating with recently?
On our Tokyo Black Star album Black Ships which just came out early April on Innervisions, we worked with the DJ/poet Rich Medina from Philadelphia on the track 'Black Star'.

What is the philosophy behind your night at Club Yellow, Timewarp?
Unfortunately Club Yellow in Tokyo has closed down last June. I started Timewarp three years ago at Yellow with my partner Taro Kashima [who plays synthesizer] as my Tokyo resident party. Being based in New York, I felt the necessity to start a new type of party each time I come back to Tokyo approximately every two months.

The idea behind it is a different type of party linking art and music beyond genre, time, style and frontier collaborating each time with artists from different fields. We are a real family behind the party. Last January we relocated the party to Mado Lounge in Tokyo, which is a beautiful venue on the 52nd floor of the Mori Tower Building at the Roppongi Hills complex in Tokyo with the best view of the city.

How long has this night been going on, and how has it evolved over the years?
The party has been going on for three years now. We have collaborated with the Japanese visual artists codec and Tomokazu Matsuyama; we have had great guest DJs like Dixon and Ame, Charles Webster, Ian O'Brien, and we have released two exclusive mix CDs. We have done a few Timewarp parties outside Tokyo, but still in Japan.

What is the most valuable thing you got out of the experience of runningTokyo Club Mix Showcase on Shibuya FM?
I have been hosting my show for 12 years now! I love radio. Selecting, mixing and introducing new club music from all around the world on a weekly basis is a wonderful thing to do and it has been a great exercise for me as a DJ. When I am in Tokyo I do my show live, which I find very exciting. I do talk and I do introduce every song/track I play. I find it very important to tell the listeners some information about the song, the artist and also some stories about my travels, etc.

What is the best party you have ever played at?
Too many to list. Of course there are a few ones I will always remember. Playing at a secret party a few years ago with Laurent Garnier at Club Yellow on a Monday night for ten hours together back to back all night long. We played 'classics' the whole night, the vibe was electric, it was truly amazing! On a different note, I played for a party for Louis Vuitton in 2001 in Tokyo. The theme was '2001: A Space Odyssey', the party was in a warehouse by the Tokyo Bay under the Rainbow Bridge transformed into a spaceship, it was totally surreal! The best set-up ever.

Sunday afternoon party 'Gallery' in Tokyo, which has been running 11 years, has also been a fantastic journey and party. I was the resident DJ on Fridays for nine months in New York around 2006-07 at this great underground club 205 Club in the Lower East Side which was really happening, with the funkiest crowd I ever played for. It was crazy every week!

What are some of the other projects you have been working on outside of the music industry?
Music is always at the centre of my activities. Besides my DJ and producing activities, I do co-ordination works from time to time. For example, three years ago, I co-ordinated Laurent Garnier's book publication in Japan, translating it into Japanese. Recently, I have been working closely with the fashion brand Y-3 - I have been doing the music for their stores worldwide, and I have been helping them for their fashion show in New York.

What are some of your plans for the near future?
To keep doing it what I do, and to take it to the next level! This year is a very important year for Tokyo Black Star. I will be promoting the album and I will be touring a lot this year. I am also planning to work on a big event for Louis Vuitton this fall in Tokyo.


Alex From Tokyo plays at Worldwide Festival 2009 at Cafe del Mar.