Photo/Illutration Singer-songwriter Eito works at a seaside hut in Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Aug. 28. (Ryuta Sometaya) 

ZUSHI, Kanagawa Prefecture—Singer-songwriter Eito was nursing a hangover in an electronics store massage chair when notifications started streaming in.

His song “Kosui” (“Perfume”) was going viral on TikTok and YouTube. Its unexpected success would land him a spot on Japan Broadcasting Corp.’s “NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen,” a New Year’s Eve music and entertainment show, later that year in 2020.

“Ten years ago, I could not have imagined even a millimeter of what I am now,” said Eito, who wrote the track while studying at a music vocational school.

Rather than focus solely on his love of music, however, Eito eventually realized that it might be better not to cling to it alone in the years after his breakout hit.

To “stay natural,” the now-28-year-old began running a seaside hut in Zushi, Kanagawa Prefecture, last summer after grappling with his “one-hit wonder” status.

Some beachgoers were leaning in to get a look at him in late August as he prepared a cocktail in a T-shirt, shorts and a straw hat.

“Our lockers and showers are clean. How about dropping by our seaside hut?” he’d call out on the beach.

Two women responded, “Oh, it’s really him,” and, “I listened to ‘Kosui.’ I seriously love it.”

“Thanks,” said a beaming Eito. “That makes me so happy.”

ALWAYS THE SAME TUNE

The winding path to this artistic peace began in 2017, when Eito enrolled at a music vocational school after graduating from high school and working part time.

However, his motivations were hardly lofty. More than wanting to pen his own songs, he simply liked karaoke and knew a student ID would get him discounts.

Eito soon stopped attending vocal and instrument classes, but he never missed the weekly songwriting lesson. He was able to finish an assignment to write three songs in three hours with help from his instructor and uploaded them to music streaming platforms.

They got little traction, and he quit school after a year.

However, Eito unexpectedly heard one of those songs at an “izakaya” Japanese-style pub in Yokohama at the end of 2019.

A man around the same age sitting nearby was humming it. “I am really into this song right now,” he said.

Overhearing that, Eito could not help but speak up. “That’s me. I wrote that,” he said.

The following spring, Eito found himself with time on his hands when his part-time job suspended business due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

It was during this quiet period that “Kosui” blew up, charting on music streaming services and being featured on TV soon after. This culminated in an Instagram DM from TV Asahi asking, “Would you like to appear on Music Station?”

Eito, who had been a normal part-timer, was now standing alongside celebrities. It felt like being in a dream world.

But he also felt a sense of disconnect. What people wanted was always the same song. Even when he wrote new ones, sales struggled. “I have to get better,” he thought.

PERSONAL GROWTH ABROAD

At odds with his urgency was his growing disdain to even pick up the guitar.

In 2022, Eito was invited to the Japan Festival that is put on annually by Japanese residents in Thailand.

He assumed singing “Kosui” in hastily learned Thai would still work because it was an instantly recognizable hit back home. This overconfidence backfired when one audience member said, “I could not understand a single word.”

Wanting to try something different, he began taking private Thai lessons. He also made friends in the Thai music scene and together created a Thai-language version of “Kosui.”

Reactions poured in with its release. “Thank you for singing in Thai,” one comment read. “What a great song,” said another.

Eito felt his music was “reaching” people for the first time in a while. While touring the country by car, he played at venues that held 200 people at most—sometimes only 100. He decided to “stop pretending to be bigger than I am.”

Telling himself, “I am more than just that one song,” Eito was gradually able to sing “Kosui” with genuine emotion once more.

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