TaKe Toriyama

An unthinkable thing happened to me.
I've been so disturbed by that last 10 days or so.
I don't know if it's OK to write this kind of thing on blog.
(I just don't know what blog is , anyway.)
But I 'll write , cause I want to move on.


A great Japanese drummer, my one of long time best friend
TaKe Toriyama passed away.
I don't know when exactly he died but on Memorial day,
this sad news came in from an another best friend of both,
fine bassist Yoshi Waki.
TaKe hung himself.


I met him at the Berklee College of Music about 12 years ago.
We practiced together, we did many concerts together.
We moved to NY almost same time.
We giged together.
(He was my drummer when I performed at the NY Blue Note
for my first time.)
We hung out.


Last time I played with was a Christmas eve at my regular Sunday nights
gig at the Cleopatra's Needle.
For some reason, I haven't seen him since this year.
He's been busy touring , recording and all that.
Yoshi told me last month that TaKe ran out of his visa status
so he decided to go home on June.
Yoshi and I were planning some farewell party for him.
But not this way......

He was gentle, always nice, joking around, funny,
and very sincere.
I didn't get why he had to end his life this way.
He didn't leave any notes, either.


Last Sunday was his funeral day.
It was strange.
More than 150 people (mostly musicians ) showed up.
He was loved so much by all people who know him
beyond nationalities.


Life is very ironic.
When I looked the way people gave their respect toward him,
I started to feel like he looked happy and people he left looked unhappy.


He died young (38 yeard old.)
But he'll never join funerals of his friends.
That seemed lucky.


I felt like I don't want many friends
because I' don't want to face this kind of sorrow many times.
But is it happy to be lonely?


10 days or so passed.
I still think of him.
I wanted to play together, talk ,eat and laugh together,
I wanted to struggle together.
I came to know that I liked him.
I regret why I didn't say to him I like him.
So many should have could have,


But that you can see the future could be also unhappy thing.
Can you say "I love you" to the person
who you know he'll commit suicide in 12 years
without any weird feelings?


I miss him so much.
All my prayers to his family.

Link to This | Back to top

Barnabus (2007-06-08)
You sure have my sympathy! and I'm praying for you and for his family. It's really hard to know what depression or despair drove him to do that, and I understand you hate to lose a friend, we all hate to lose friends, especially when it permanent! but don't give up on making friends, the rewards of having them far outweigh the risk of losing one!! Each one comes into our lives as a blessing!!

Hardcore_Pyro (2007-06-08)
My heart goes out to you and I pray as well for you and his family to find peace.

[ Back to top ]

Created with ShoutPost