Japanese lyricist sings Wuxi's praises

Many of Kawakami's lyrical works weave stories of Wuxi, Jiangsu province, a place he referred to as his "second home". In 1988, Kawakami was dispatched to work in Dalian, Liaoning province, by a Japanese corporation, and he relocated to Wuxi in 1997, where he spent almost 23 years before returning to his hometown of Hiroshima in 2019.

It was in 2020, a year after leaving Wuxi, that Kawakami embarked on his lyrical journey, inspired by his Japanese friends' love for Chinese music and his deep-rooted affection for the city. Upon his return to Japan, Kawakami actively participated in local song gatherings, where he often performed popular Japanese songs like Love Story in Wuxi — a hit that drew many young Japanese to the city in the 1980s, and a couple of Chinese folk songs.

Singing the songs during his time away from Wuxi amplified his yearning for the city. In his words, crafting songs became a way to express his emotions, "akin to how Tang Dynasty (618-907) poet Li Bai conveyed his feelings through poetry".