This Japanese ukulele prodigy is changing how people view ukulele

Meet Rena, also known by her stage name ukurena, a Japanese ukulele player from Kobe, who became the junior world champion in 2016. She sits down to talk to us about her discovery of the ukulele and subsequent career, how the ukulele is so often misunderstood, and how she's reinventing what people think of as ukulele music. -- 0:00 Intro 0:50 Meet Rena 1:56 Learning from a former champion 11:00 The piece that drew Rena to ukulele 13:32 Early wins in ukulele competitions 16:03 What is a ukulele competition? 19:45 Ukulele in Hawaii vs. Japan 23:38 Winning international competition 27:52 Ukulele in Japanese music 33:44 Becoming a professional musician 35:58 Different genres with ukulele 39:28 Studying jazz and performing with emotion 47:58 Signing with a record label 52:32 Composing her own music 57:59 Goals for the future 1:01:21 Ukulele performance -- Follow Rena: ‪@rena_ukulele_japan‬   / rena_ukulele     / rena.ukulele   https://x.com/rena_ukulele Follow us: https://unpacking.jp/   / unpacking_japan     / unpackingjapan     / unpackingjapan      / @unpackingjapanshorts   https://www.x.com/unpacking_japan https://creators.spotify.com/pod/prof... Subscribe for more in-depth discussions about life in Japan! Interested in working at a global e-commerce company in Osaka? Our parent company ZenGroup is hiring! To learn more, check out https://careers.zen.group/en/