BLOG ~ The Man
Written September 9th, 2025 - Research
His Name
Before I even get into his history and what kind of person he is, I have to address the situation surrounding his name. In Japanese, it is written 川西杏, as for how I'll refer to him on this page, I've decided on Kawanishi Kyou/Kyô/Kyō or simply Kawanishi. My decision came from this video which romanizes his name and also has an audible pronunciation at the start. His name is often translated as "Anzu" or "An" Kawanishi. I'm not sure if this is a mistranslation or what but the only official pronunciation of 川西杏 I've heard read aloud sounds like "Kawanishi Kyou" so I'm going with it.
His name is a bit more complex than that though, since it seems his birth name is not 川西杏. The Imjin River Japanese Wikipedia page has a section on Kyou. Due to the language barrier I can only go off of what google translate tells me but it says something like this:
"(Chong Sohen, Kawanishi, today). His real name was 李泰禧, ..."
The page goes on to talk about him a bit more, I'll get into that later. Still, it does clarify that his birth name is not Kawanishi Kyou. I don't think his birth name matters all that much, but I am confused by the birth name given by the Wikipedia article. I haven't seen it anywhere else and trying to plop it into google translate gives me a romanization of a name I've never heard be used to refer to him. Still, I will hang onto that morsel of information.
Now, if that seemed confusing buckle up because it's about to get more confusing. BEHOLD!!
On the left you will find, 천서행. This appears to translate to Cheon Seo-haeng, which is much like "Chonsohen" and "Chong Sohen," which are often said to be the "Korean pronunciation of his name. So, add 천서행 to the list of aliases/names I suppose? I'm not sure.
On the right you will find what I think is a record label logo of some kind. Backed by this tokyodeep page which at one point states the following:
"If you ask me if I'd be willing to spend 3000 yen just for a joke, that's a bit of a tricky answer (lol). It's released by the independent label "Japan Korea 杏 AN Records." It's definitely an indie record. I ended up not buying it, though."
「ジャパン・コリア・杏ＡＮレコード」。That is the name of the label. What does the AN mean? It can be found on the logo and comes after the 杏 character which is often translated as "an" or "anzu." So does this mean that his name actually is to be written and pronounced as Kawanishi An or Kawanishi Anzu? I have no clue! The AN could be completely unrelated for all I know. I will continue to refer to him as Kawanishi Kyou or simply Kawanishi. If you have a bit more expertise on Japanese & Korean and would like to correct me on this please do.
His Deal
OK so... what's his deal? Well, he's certainly earned a reputation, whether it's good or bad I can't say. I think to fully know would require me to know the ins and outs of the history between Japan and Korea, something that I know a little bit about but not enough to call myself an expert by any means, so I'm mostly going to tell it how I see it without letting my own internal biases to poke out much.
This archived infoseek page serves as a small information page on him. It definitely hypes him up a bit, as seen in this little scrolling text banner:
"All of Kawanishi Kyo's CDs are available at Tacoche in Nakano!! Buy it now, or by the time you realize it, it'll be too late and you won't be able to get the original version no matter how much you cry and scream - even if it becomes a premium item, it'll be too late!! ...""
Uh oh, not good for me I suppose, lol. No use in crying and screaming though. Anyway, other sources don't paint him so kindly. The tokyodeep page I linked to earlier has a rather patronizing and mocking tone in its writing that suggets he isn't taken super seriously. It's not just that page, the vibe I get is that many people who know of him see him as a joke or pathetic.
Just searching 川西杏 on twitter gets some interesting results. These tweets are quite difficult to get any information out of since they usually assume the reader has a lot of context on who Kawanishi is and what he gets up to, but it's clear to see that he is a controversial figure who is not quiet about his beliefs. There are also some people who praise him, though because of the translation barrier it's a bit hard to pick out the tone of those who discuss him.
Perhaps a large part of why he is so controversial is Kawanishi's political beliefs. He is very outspoken about discrimination towrds Koreans in Japan, It's an issue that is close to his heart, he makes no effort in hiding that. I'm not super knowledgeable on this topic and I won't pretend that I am, but I will acknowledge that his Korean identity and "radical" views (according to some) might contribute to his reputation.
Over all, even doing just an ounce of research on Kawanishi will leave you reading about Korea, it's inevitable. Kawanishi's online footprint is inseperable from his activism, it comes up constantly. Much of his music is also centered around Korea. The infoseek page contains a phrase I found interesting:
"[He] sings songs on themes such as breaking down discrimination against Koreans in Japan, gaining local voting rights for Koreans in Japan, unifying the homeland, friendship between Japan, North Korea and Korea, life and the natural environment, and [his] hometown of Chofu, set to a wide variety of rock, rap and pop music."
I thought it'd be worth saying that google translate often uses she/her pronouns in sentences related to Kawanishi. I believe this is a mistranslation but if it's not let me know.
"Friendship between Japan, North Korea and Korea," and "Unfiying the homeland" are of particular interest to me. It makes clear that his beliefs don't only consist of wanting to end discrimination, but that he wants there to be deeper ties between Japan and North/South Korea. He also seems to support the reunification of the Korean states, another political topic that I am hopelessly uneducated on and could probably not do justice, so I'll let you decide how you feel about that.
Final Thoughts
Ultimately, whether you agree or disagree with his beliefs, it can't be denied that this guy is endlessly interesting. Dude is over 80 years old and has apparently composed over 1500 songs!! Whether that's true or not, even just claiming it to be true speaks a lot about what kind of person you are: a weird and interesting one. This weirdness shows in his music I think, especially 宇宙の叫び ①, an album that is unfortunately not archived anywhere online.
I would love to get my hands on a copy of the album one day, or even just have it digitally. It has such a mystical look and sound, and the creator has such a long history that I can't help but be hypnotized by its allure. If you know anything, reach me on my bluesky. Alrighty, zleze OUT!!