Table of Contents
Haku. Went to Vocational School and All We Got was This Great Band
Introduction
There are lots of musicians who make names for themselves on video sites like YouTube and social media…and leave it at that. Now, they have every right to do that if they wish; no disrespect intended. Keep doing it as long as you feel it. But there are also musicians who understand that, if you really want to make music work, you have to get out there in the trenches and work it. Meet the Osaka band Haku. (ハク。). They are Ai (vocals, rhythm guitar, main songwriter, self-described “broken robot”), Nazuna (lead guitar, “mom” of the group), Kano (bass, backing vocals, “external relations”) and Mayu (drums, “alien”), and they play music influenced by Japanese pop and 90’s American and English indie rock.
What’s in a Name?
After meeting in a light-music club in a vocational high school (hi, fellow K-ON! fans), a teacher suggested that they form a band, since they play different instruments. In 2019, they got it together under the name Haku.. The name means “white,” representing that the band’s music is not meant to be figuratively dyed any color, because it’s already every color combined; in a sense, trying to express the full spectrum of human emotions. The period at the end – specifically, the circle in the Japanese stylization – represents their meeting at first in that club at school, also known in Japan as a circle. However, they revealed a new official logo last year that fills the circle in.
Would You Like Some Pie?
In 2020, Haku. premiered on YouTube with “アップルパイ (Apple Pie).” An innocuous little tune about food, like Shonen Knife? Not quite. It’s about trusting in someone to keep your secrets. You’d think that Ai and Nazuna would want to step out with a crunch, but both guitars in this song are refreshingly clean. While the arrangement sounds simple and a bit tentative, the performance is quite tight, and even totally switches up the rhythm and tempo for the bridge.
Why Be Blue?
Their next song and first digital single, “BLUE GIRL,” kicked things up a notch with a little more confidence, a light touch on the overdrive, and a galloping rhythm. This song won them the Grand Prix in the Kansai teen music talent contest Judaihakusyo in 2021, and was used as the theme song for the drama #青春カムイ (#Seishun Kamui/#Youth Kamui). After four more digital singles (“本物 (Honmomo/Genuine),” “ワタシ (Watashi/Me),” “hitonatsu” and “ふたり基地 (HutariKichi/Two-Person Base)”), they were signed to Space Shower Music, and released their first mini-album, 若者日記 (Wakamono Nikki/Youth Diary) in 2022, featuring all these songs and a couple more.
Since then, among other digital single/EP releases, Space Shower have released their first full-length album 僕らじゃなきゃだめになって (Bokura ja Nakya Dame ni Natte/It Has to be Us) in 2023, and the 2025 EP Catch, marking the beginning of their work with producer 河野圭(Kei Kawano). This has helped them develop their sound even further and open up new musical ideas that help them express emotions they can’t yet put into words themselves.
Are You Being Honest with Me?
One thing that makes Haku. distinctive is the emotional honesty of their songs. They value this quality above everything else, including that slippery beast known as “cool.” Ai’s musical inspirations include 山口一郎 (Ichiro Yamaguchi) of SAKANACTION, 中村佳穂 (Kaho Nakamura), and 青葉市子 (Ichiko Aoba), all of whom she credits with helping expand her musical thinking and lyrical expression. However, she makes it clear that this doesn’t mean that they’re trying to sound like any of them; her goal is making music that only Haku. can make.
Kano revealed to rockin’on.com that she was originally thinking of taking a normal career path, but, when she heard “Watashi” for the first time, she said to herself, “This person (Ai) is amazing. I’ll follow her anywhere. I don’t want anyone else to play this song.” The attention that the band started getting, and the ensuing opportunities – and her tight playing – established her place on the drum throne. Ai told rockin’on.com that she feels that songs are fully written when they express what really moves her, but, like it is with a lot of bands, the songs are forged further by playing them live.
How Do You Get to the Live House?
We all know the answer to this one – practice like mad. As nice as it is to have a large online presence (over 450,000 YouTube subscribers), Haku. know that the real proof of the pudding is in serving it directly to people, live. At first, they were treading the boards across Osaka in venues like 2nd LINE, Pangea, JANUS and, eventually, Umeda CLUB QUATTRO, and then word spread about them and they played shows all over Japan. Their January 2025 CD EP Catch sold out of copies in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, and Space Shower wisely isn’t letting it go out of print.
The band want to keep expanding their reach not just domestically, playing “one-man” shows (where they’re the only band on the bill) and larger halls, but internationally. Their first overseas performances were in South Korea in June 2025 at the Asian Pop Festival. In September, they were part of the Next Music from Tokyo 17 showcase for several dates in Canada, and the NMT website is buzzing about trying to get them to headline the 18th edition later this year. If this works out, I hope I can get a lift with someone to the Montreal gig.
What is “Going Viral”?
The video that Haku. are best known for is a cover version of labelmates MONO NO AWARE’s 2019 song “かむかもしかもにどもかも！ (Kamukamo Shikamo Nidomokamo!/Maybe I’ll Bite!),” which was released on YouTube on July 13th, 2024 as one of their “Cover企画” (Kikaku/Project) series. It was shot at Studio 246, where they rehearse, on a vertically mounted cell phone (which makes the space look even smaller), and was used to promote a forthcoming show in Osaka with MNA themselves. This has 18 million views on YouTube and about 80 million likes on TikTok at the time of writing, and it has spawned reaction clips and even covers translated into other languages from all around the globe. In comparison, MNA’s original music video has only 3.3 million views on the ‘Tube, and who knows how many of those are “I’m here because of Haku.”?
Just What are Haku. Singing in That Song, Anyway?
The lyrics of “Kamukamo” are made up entirely of hayakuchi kotoba, or Japanese tongue twisters, and the speed at which syllables fly by sometimes even gives Eminem’s “Rap God” a run for its money. The “maybe I’ll bite” title implies “…my tongue trying to sing this,” but both acts pulled it off without doing so. At least, not on the takes they released. Haku.’s cover is so respectful to the original that both videos are exactly 2:20 long on YouTube.
The viral fame that this brought them, though, gave them a bit of a dilemma – how do they follow up? The solution was to treat it like the bit of fun that the Cover企画 normally deals in, and proceed like they never even put it out. The video’s still up, though; the band isn’t foolish. “Kamukamo” has not been released outside of the video – not even digitally – and the show with MONO NO AWARE it was promoting didn’t even sell out like you’d think it would. You can draw your own conclusions on how effective “going viral” is in the long run.
One good thing that did result from it was a video of MNA performing the song on 2024’s “Haku.’s Day” gig (August 9 – 8月9日 – “ha ku”) with 玉置周啓 (Tamaoki Shuukei) and Ai trading verses and lines. A similar performance at the Asian Pop Festival in South Korea was considered a highlight of the show.
What do Haku. Have to Say About Being a Band and Osaka?
When they started out, Haku. struggled with self-doubt and isolation, but playing live, meeting fans, and then releasing recordings let them know they weren’t alone, and it strengthened their resolve. They’ve managed to last over six years with the lineup unchanged because of their ability to communicate well with each other, including about struggles and doubt. This has resulted in their songwriting maturing from totally straightforward to expressing ideas from other angles and conveying their experiences in lyrics using more nuanced imagery, and placing more trust in their collaborative efforts.
While this may make the band sound too serious for their own good, their self-described roles listed in the line-up above convey their senses of humor, and Nazuna says in a SPACE SHOWER MUSIC interview that, “I think one of my roles is making sure the mood in the band doesn’t get too heavy.” While Ai was born in Tochigi, her family moved to Osaka when she was eight years old, and she considers herself having grown up here. Profiles of the band identify them more as on Osaka band than as a Japanese band, and their starting out here and the community ties they’ve made with other Osaka musicians and events are sure to keep it this way.
How Do I Check Out Haku.’s Music?
Haku. have their own official YouTube channel, with a lot of clips on it. Here are six songs from it that stand out from the rest (because I couldn’t narrow it down to five), which show that there’s much more to them than the tongue-twister song. All of them are official music videos unless indicated, and in chronological order.
ワタシ (Watashi/Me) (2021)
The song that Ai and others regard as the point when her songwriting truly came into its own. The band plays more upbeat than in their previous songs, the lyrics (English captions are available) address uncertainty and growth without coming off as woe-is-me, but knowing that they will pass in time. Nazuna is the lead guitarist, but not in the way you may be used to—stay in the background, step forward, widdly widdly plus a wail or two, then fade back. She plays melodic counterparts to Ai’s vocals high up on the neck, with little to no overdrive or other obvious effects, which is a style she developed after learning to play in primary school.
僕らじゃなきゃだめになって (Bokura ja Nakya Dame ni Natte/It Has to be Us) (2023)
The title track of their first full-length album. Mayu drives the song forward by tricking out the rhythm, and Nazuna understates her style to minimize distraction from the power of the lyrics and vocals. Commenter littlenz4 summed it up perfectly (and provided Romaji and English translations of the lyrics) by saying, “This song is a quiet tug-of-war with growing up—between the self that won’t change and the self that aches to. Words hang in the air, the aftertaste stays, and under the mess is a gentle resolve: keep what’s precious, even when it hurts, and wake up choosing each other again.”
One of the things that grabbed commenters about this video was the inclusion of home video footage of the members as babies and little girls, with little Kano being notably adorable. Mayu started playing the Electone organ when she was three years old (she took up drums in high school), and there are scenes of her performing on that on stage. We can’t hear them, but the songs were most likely cover versions they couldn’t legally share anyway.
dedede (2024)
One of Haku.’s faster songs, with a catchy melody and lyrics (also with English captions) that sum up the inner uncertainties that a young woman in a relationship feels, while acknowledging that some of them may be unfounded. As a nice touch, Kano gets to step into the spotlight and play a bit of a bass solo at the end. I should add here that the biggest influence on her playing is ハマ・オカモト (Hama Okamoto) of OKAMOTO’S, and she even plays his signature model Fender Precision Bass.
あいっ！ (Ai!) (Lyric video with English captions, 2024)
あいっ！ synaspusyu animated video (2024)
A song made as the “tsukiuta” for the TV Tokyo’s children’s show シナぷしゅ (synapusyu) in December 2024. This song stirs up their arrangements a bit, with a teaspoon of jumpy new wave-ishness added. So far, it’s the closest that Haku. have gotten to making a standard love song, but Ai adds her own touch to the lyrics, since, well, that’s what she does so well. The whole band sings the catchy “Hai! Hai!” vocal hook. It’s also only two minutes long, because that’s all it needs. It could be a limit that the people behind synapusyu imposed, but it still makes you wish that more bands knew when to hit it and quit it. There is also a studio movie from 2026, which shows off the band’s growing guitar pedal collection.
なつ (Natsu) (Live movie, 2024)
I wasn’t kidding about Haku. playing live, was I? Starting with a melodic riff into which all three string-slingers cycle, it settles into a midtempo chug with lyrics about summer…and how much it sucks with no one to really love. Near the end, the audio segues from sound board to audience mic…and the clangorous ending that the band reaches, showing that they do like having a bit of fun with noise, but are careful to not get carried away by it.
南新町 (Minami-Shinmachi) (2025)
Their most recently released song at the time of writing, and the theme song for the movie 6人ぼっち (Roku-nin Bocchi/Six People Alone). While it’s uptempo, the band somehow manages to make it sound relaxing, with Nazuna playing more rhythm than lead, and the lyrics’ overall message is to move forward, because any setbacks will eventually end. Combining the movie’s setting, their own origin and their early video “Honmono,” most of the scenes show the band playing in (and playing around in) an otherwise unoccupied school, wearing school uniforms.
Okay, How Do We Find out More About Haku.?
Haku.’s official website is the main stop on the web, as it not only lets you know when and where the band is playing live, including an appearance at Umeda CLUB QUATTRO on March 13th (Sold Out–sorry!), but points you to their collective and individual social media pages for more immediate information. See you in the audience somewhere, sometime.
