MANILA, Philippines — Japanese rapper and businessman Tomoro recently came to the Philippines to promote his music and establish a fan base here.
Helping him achieve that is his Filipino friend, actor Polo Ravales. The two met in Japan through a common friend.
Tomoro shared some information about himself and his music plans during a recent media conference in Quezon City.
The entrepreneur-singer initially dreamt of becoming a baseball player when he was in high school but had a change of heart. When he was 16, he ventured into the (street) business in Yokohama and moved to Roppongi in Tokyo when he reached 23 to expand his horizons.
His career as a rapper started at the age of 18 as he was influenced by rappers, disk jockeys (DJs) and dancers he met along the way.
Tomoro went to New York City when he was 19 and there, he bumped into some record producers and music artists.
During the press event, he expressed his intention to grow his music reach and make a name in the international music industry, starting off in the Philippines.
He described himself as a “wonderful, crazy and full of rap” person.
Tomoro has just dropped a track and a music video called Let Me Hold You with American-Jamaican artist Sean Kingston, featuring Filipino actress Arci Muñoz.
“Sean is a very funny boy,” he said of the hitmaker behind Beautiful Girls and Eenie Meenie. “Very crazy but very cute… Sometimes, (I) ‘fight’ with him but two days later, he’d call me up (and said) I love you Tomoro (laughs).”
Meanwhile, Tomoro and Arci’s paths crossed about five to six years ago when the latter visited his restaurant and they exchanged Instagram and WhatsApp details. They ran into each other again in Los Angeles. He told Arci, “I wanna be a famous rapper and she said, ‘Ah OK, I (will) help you when you have a music video,’ and so we did that (Let Me Hold You).”
According to a media release, Tomoro’s World Money song featuring Nice & Smooth placed first in the Billboard World Digital Song Sales Chart.
Aside from Polo and Arci, the Japanese singer also knows personalities in the Philippine entertainment industry, such as Manny Pacquiao, Daniel Matsunaga and local rapper Abra.
He had been to the Philippines a couple of times before the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns happened. He DJ’d a show in Manila twice or thrice. “I love Filipino people because (they) have good hearts, are kind to me and Filipinos like music. Japan and the Philippines are very near, only four hours (of travel time). I have many friends here and I wanna do music in the Philippines, too.”
He is currently single and open to having a Filipino girlfriend someday.
Tomoro left this message to his Filipino fans: “I’m gonna hit it big on world stage. Now, I’m just a business owner who is famous in Japan. But from now on (hereafter), I’m gonna be a world-famous rapper… I’m gonna go out from Japan, I’m gonna go (around) the world and take over the world with my music.
“My life wasn’t easy… But I have vision… And I never quit. So, don’t you ever quit,” he added.