Tokyo’s First Bilingual Choir Creates Community
Alayna Blaylock (Tokyo)
Voices ripple through the rehearsal hall of the Tokyo Repertory Singers (TRS) choir. Shoes of all colors line the genkan as members rush through the wooden sliding doors, shuffling across tatami mats to take their places atop red-patterned cushions. There are only a few minutes left until practice starts. Laughter, omiyage, and greetings in both Japanese and English fill the air. When the choir director, Brian Mungia, stands up, heads rise, and a silence falls over the group. Rehearsal has begun.
This is a typical Sunday afternoon for Brian. He is the founder of Tokyo Repertory Singers, the first bilingual choir in the city. Established in 2020, international singers living in Japan meet every Sunday in venues around northern Tokyo to socialize and sing mostly a cappella music from different cultures and languages. In a country where more than 30% of foreign residents report levels of frequent loneliness (Immigration Services Agency, 2023), TRS has become a rare space where people from across the world can find belonging.
The roots of the choir lie in Brian’s drive to keep his passion for music alive. It had always been a part of his story—he sang in choirs from a young age, played in a mariachi band in high school, and later earned a master’s degree in music. But during his time in Japan as a JET, he felt something was missing.
“Coming to Japan, you know, I knew I wanted to keep up with music, but I wasn’t really quite sure about how to go about that.” After feeling more confident in his Japanese, Brian joined several choirs. He enjoyed singing again, but began to miss the variety and diversity in the music he sang.
“A lot of the repertory that a lot of the Japanese groups are singing is primarily in Japanese,” he explains. “That’s what’s most accessible to them—coming from a background of having a lot of variety in the music that I was singing in, different eras, different languages—that was a big thing for me.”
His solution was to create a choir that was both international and accessible. Today, TRS has grown from just eight members at its debut to around 40 singers representing countries including, but not limited to South Africa, the UK, the Philippines, France, Germany, and Japan. Rehearsals are conducted in both English and Japanese, with Brian switching fluidly between the two languages to make sure everyone can listen and contribute comfortably.
Brian says, “Even if [the choir members] are not fluent in English or they’re not fluent in Japanese, if they know a little bit of one or the other, that sort of opens the door that we come in—where we can share a bit of our cultures with one another.”
For Max, a teacher from South Africa, the choir became an anchor where passion and community met. He reflects on his worries before arriving in Japan. “My biggest worry was how I’d adjust to Japanese society—how I would be treated as a black South African man. That’s something I worried about a lot, and so did my family.”
Max spent the first three months going to bars in Shibuya speaking to strangers to make friends. “The pain of being lonely in Japan is worse than the awkwardness of talking to strangers,” he says.
When he found TRS, Max saw the chance to join as “an opportunity to find some sort of community in Japan, doing something [he] loved: singing.”
For many members—Japanese and foreign alike—the choir is more than just music. Members are actively connecting with each other all year long.
Friendships spark over post-rehearsal coffee runs, ohanami picnics and gift exchanges, and casual meet-ups. Gaitri, a lawyer from the UK, took “a leap of faith” and invited everyone to her house for New Year’s last year. Reflecting, she says, “I think making friends as an adult is hard. You’re not as surrounded by the kind of people who have similar interests to you. Being proactive, carving out time for things is important.”
She says that the choir gives her a more personal community. “I have my set friends, my work friends, and that’s kind of built in. But I think joining the choir is kind of like the community that I’ve chosen for myself.”
Christine, a second-year ALT from Hawaii, also appreciates the closeness of the choir. Her last choir had 80 members while TRS has 40. She thinks that being in a small and growing choir has made her feel a deeper connection to it all. “Brian has really. . . encouraged us all to build a community, whether it’s talking during breaks, welcoming visitors, or hanging out outside of rehearsal, but everyone contributes to the choir,” she says. “Not just in music, but in socializing—and just in building the community.”
The choir also stands out musically. Brian introduces members to a “movable Do” solfège system—a less common approach in Japan that helps singers without piano backgrounds practice more easily and improve their intonation.
For members like Max, this training is novel and very valuable. He says, “I had never sung Solfège prior to joining TRS. Back home, there are far fewer opportunities for people to learn Music Theory. I am learning to appreciate what makes Japanese Choral Music so unique.”
He also makes sure the repertoire reflects the diversity of the group TRS has performed pieces in Mandarin, German, Xhosa, and Tagalog, alongside Japanese and English works.
Now entering its fifth year, TRS continues to grow both in size and spirit. For Brian, the greatest reward isn’t just the performances, but the bonds that have formed along the way. “I’m just very glad that the group has grown as much as it has. I didn’t think it would get this big. . . Just seeing everybody getting closer and putting in more effort so that they can better contribute to their community and support each other. . . That’s made all the difference these past few years.”
As for anyone living or coming to Tokyo, Japan who is curious about joining? Brian has one final invitation: “If anybody wants to come join the group, especially tenors and bases, feel free to reach out, schedule a visit, and see if the group is a good fit for you!”
You can find out more about TRS here.
Author Bio:
Alayna Blaylock is based in Tokyo where she spends her free time darting between cafes, karaoke booths, and cute shops. She has a habit of turning every weekend into a mini adventure—whether that’s fast walking to the new flower viewing, pondering art that she doesn’t really understand, or just lounging with good company and better food.