By Nora Clancy

[img_assistfid=240thumb=1alt=Gyo Tominaga]
You were born in Fiji and raised in both Rome and Japanƒ?”where do you call home?

I definitely love Rome, and Italy in general. So I definitely have some part of me in Italy, some part in Japan. Italy really, I stayed there from when I was 12 to 18, the important part of my life. I got exposed to many different cultural types of things that I never got exposed to in Japan. From exploring the ruins from 2,000 years ago to getting into partying, it expanded my perspective on things. It made me more open to people; more friendly, more understanding of more people. My Italian friends showed me how to care for each other more, how to think for each other more, to be more like brothers than being isolated, isolating yourself. Thatƒ?TMs a little bit different from the Japanese way of thinking of being collectivistic, you know.

Will you be working in Japan after graduation?

I might be working for Toshiba after graduation. I got [the offer] at this forum for recruiting Japanese bilingual students. Iƒ?TMm
not sure if Iƒ?TMm actually going to take the job. Iƒ?TMm still looking around for some. I
thought it was a good way to start my career. It will be in either human resources and management or marketing.

If Toshiba isnƒ?TMt in the plan, what will you do instead?

I donƒ?TMt like sitting behind a desk and just scribbling. Iƒ?TMm more active. I like interacting with people. I like to use whatever Iƒ?TMve learned, like the language skills I have and apply that while it lasts. I thought I might work for investment companies or some sort of companies that will interact with foreign companies.

Why did you choose to major in Psychology?

I thought, look, I like talking to people and I seem to understand people: why not go into psychology? It was this broad thing. I probably went in to it the wrong way. It was all about reading, all about theory. The reading was hard for me, I still canƒ?TMt get used to it. I could have taken Economics, a very stereotypical thing for an Asian to do. But Iƒ?TMm not good with numbers, so I threw that. I knew psychology was gonna be useful in the future. Whatever you do, thereƒ?TMs always psych. I just didnƒ?TMt want to be too skewed onto one side. Thatƒ?TMs what often happens, and thatƒ?TMs what I didnƒ?TMt want to be.

Do you have a favorite class or professor at Macalester?

I thought Industrial and Organizational Psychology was very practical. My best grade so far has been in art, believe it or not! But let me seeƒ?Ýgood classes? Thatƒ?TMs hard. I love sports.

What sports are you involved in?

Iƒ?TMve been playing intramural soccer. I used to play varsity soccer here, but I had to quit last year because I had too much stuff to do, which is a pity. I do martial arts, as well, as a stereotypical Asian. But soccer definitely became a big passion for me, especially going to Italy. That was my highlight. But since then, since coming here, I didnƒ?TMt go well with soccer. I never got used to the mentality of the American system, so that was a pity.

What is your artistic specialty?

I like molding stuff out of clay. I like inventing mechanical stuff. Instead of constantly gripping on to a pencil and scribbling, I like to just shut down my brain, just let it flow, and let my imagination go. Mechanical stuff, and inventing stuff for daily uses, thatƒ?TMs my interest. My dad hurt his backbone in his early twenties, and he had to be in the hospital for over 10 months. And his friend, an inventor came to visit him one day in the hospital and he told him that he should think up a new type of windshield wipers, because he could make money on it. You could think about it forever, what kind of wipers to invent, like invisible, or whateverƒ?Ý

Do you have an inspiration?

I like Leonardo Da Vinci, not because he was Italian, but [for] his way of thinking completely out of the box. He invented things, but not only that. Its just fascinating the way he thought, just out of this world. Out of human capacity.

Youƒ?TMre co-chair of the recently formed Spinnerƒ?TMs Suite at Macalester. What is this all about?

We do mixing. We have people with a lot of different backgrounds. We are trying to get funding for turntables so we can actually mix the two songs clean. A couple of people have experience with vinyl, so they help the club improve our skills. Otherwise we all have good music tastes, and thatƒ?TMs the most important thing about DJing.

What is your philosophy about mixing?

With Spinners Suite we are thinking about mixing traditional music with recent hip hop beats. Thatƒ?TMs happened in the past, but its not done often. We thought it was necessary for the school, because we are all talking about internationalism and all that stuff. But all the music for the Kagin dances is very limitedƒ?”itƒ?TMs almost all hip hop. We have a good place to dance, but we canƒ?TMt really share lots of music. To tell the campus that hip hop isnƒ?TMt the only thing you can dance to. I remember some hip hop lovers who came to [Eurobeat] and were going crazy on the music, and that really made me happy. I respect people who love hip hop. I love hip hop. But itƒ?TMs a waste that youƒ?TMre here at college and youƒ?TMre still listening to the same music that youƒ?TMve been listening to all the way through. I like to expand the peopleƒ?TMs tastes. I knew it was going to be hard if you canƒ?TMt grasp what the crowd wants. At the same time I think the DJƒ?TMs job is to make people understand that there are other beats theyƒ?TMve never heard and they should experience it before hating it.

What do you like to play for the crowd?

Trance will be one, trance and hip hop. Iƒ?TMve seen people enjoy trance a lot. Itƒ?TMs more like cyber, but they have beat as well, and many of them have singing. Trance is more ƒ?oeAbercrombie.ƒ??