The Fluffy Delight of the Marshmallow Prince

SNA Travel (Tokyo) — The moment of inspiration hit him in the spring of 2014. A young Japanese street musician was strumming his guitar in his bedroom, trying to figure the way forward in his career. He was working part-time jobs and had pretty much given up on street performances. He had reached an impasse.

And then he transformed himself into the Marshmallow Prince.

He dyed his hair blond and began dressing head to toe in white outfits. His pockets were filled with marshmallow treats that he handed out to his fans, admirers, or anyone else that he wanted to make smile.

Why marshmallows?

“Because both music and marshmallows have healing power,” he explains. Marshmallows have a delightful, fluffy taste that everyone enjoys. Crossing race, gender, language—who doesn’t enjoy a good marshmallow from time to time? It’s appeal is universal. He hopes that his music can be the same.

The Marshmallow Prince admits that the reaction to his transformation two years ago has been mixed. Some people call him stupid or crazy. Others think he just happens to be very, very cool. His fan base is largely made up of female high school students and those in their 20s, but the Prince’s ambition is to reach a wider audience, including an international one.

He still does some unannounced street performances of his music with acoustic guitar and his vocals, though not as often as he did before. It takes a lot of effort to prepare for a street performance, setting up the mic, amps, and so on. Then, thirty or forty minutes after he begins the music it is not uncommon for the police to arrive and send him off. The Japanese authorities don’t quite live up to the marshmallow spirit.

The Marshmallow Prince also plays at some clubs or live houses several times a month. Occasionally he plays in larger venues, and the living he makes from his music mainly comes from the bigger events.

SNA Travel caught his performance on July 24 at Womb, a nightclub in Shibuya. The video of his original song “Marshmallow Eyes” is presented below.

Whether it be in front of a small audience or a large one, on the Tokyo streets or in a club, the Prince’s goal always remains “to unite people through music and marshmallows.”

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