Japan’s Hirai Dai makes 1st headline appearance in Hawaii

Tokyo-based pop artist Hirai Dai was introduced to the ukulele when he was 3, starting writing music when he was 17, and released his first full-length album, “Ohana,” at the age of 20.

Oahu audiences have seen him play five times at the Honolulu Festival, a free musical event marketed primarily to Japanese tour groups — in 2006, 2010, 2011. 2012 and 2013.

With Monday’s appearance at The Republik, Hirai (that’s his surname) will make his debut as a concert headliner, performing music that has many connections to the islands.

“I haven’t been in Hawaii for a while so I am looking forward to coming back,” Hirai said, calling from Tokyo. An interpreter assisted with the interview, though Hirai sings and has a good understanding of conversational English.

He has a bilingual repertoire, he explained, saying, “Japanese audiences don’t worry about the difference between Japanese and English within the songs.”

A good example is “Song for Two” on his recently released CD, “Wave on Waves,” where he sings one verse in English, and the next in Japanese.

HIRAI GREW up in Tokyo, in a family with many cultural ties to Hawaii. His father’s interests in surfing and playing the guitar rubbed off on him in childhood. His grandmother put an ukulele in his tiny hands when he was 3; ukulele is prominent in many of his recordings.

The ukulele isn’t new to Japan, of course. Japanese musicians have been playing Hawaiian and hapa-kepeni (the Japanese-language equivalent of hapa-haole music) for almost a century. And from the 1970s onward, the music of acts such as Cecilio & Kapono and Kalapana gave birth to a parallel type of “summer music” that found its own market there.

Hirai’s breakthrough album, “Ohana,” made plain his affection for Hawaiian sounds and island culture. He followed that up with albums titled “Aloha” and “Aloooohana!!” One of his most memorable music videos, “Slow and Easy,” shows him walking on the beach at Lanikai.

“One generation behind (me) there was a Hawaii boom, and that’s coming back right now,” he said. “There’s a lot of audiences now listening to Hawaiian music, looking for those vibes.”

On Hirai’s current album, “Wave on Waves,” released in July, he brings together elements of urban pop, acoustic rock and mainstream reggae. Along with his original songs is a remake of Eric Clapton’s chart-topping version of “I Shot the Sheriff,” the Bob Marley-penned hit. Hirai says Clapton is one of the artists who inspired him.

In 2016 Hirai caused a stir among long-time fans when he replaced his long dreadlock-inspired braids with the shorter and more mainstream style he wears today.

“They got to be too heavy,” he said.

WHEN HIRAI debuts at The Republik, he’ll come a step closer to the success achieved by a short list of Japanese pop-music pioneers in Hawaii and the mainland U.S. The biggest of all is Kyu Sakamoto, whose 1963 song, “Sukiyaki,” made him the first — and, to date, only — Asian recording artist to top the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart. Pink Lady — the Japanese female pop music duo of Mitsuyo Nemoto (“Mie”) and Keiko Masuda (“Kei”) were the stars of an NBC-TV variety show in 1980 and are to date the only other Japanese recording artists to have reached the Billboard Top 40.

Japanese super-group Tube made history in 2000 when the quartet celebrated its 15th anniversary as the first Asian recording act to headline Aloha Stadium; Tube entertained a crowd estimated at more then 15,000 with a special-effects extravaganza that included thousands of gallons of water erupting in fountains and “water pillars,” synchronized lighting effects, pyrotechnics and great balls of fire.

And there’s Japan’s “Harajuku Pop Princess,” Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, who drew several thousand colorfully costumed fans to the Waikiki Shell in 2014.

Hirai isn’t comparing himself with his famed predecessors, but says he’s looking forward to playing for an American audience at The Republik. The show is presented by his management company TV Asahi Music.

Blayne Asing and Kalapana founder Malani Bilyeu will appear as his special guests.

“I am looking forward especially to working with Malani-san,” Hirai said. “I also want to check out the North Shore (of Oahu). That’s where it’s most relaxed and laid-back, with Hawaiian vibes. I like to relax there.”