With CHAI Complete

Centerpiece Japan production relationship, from the Sub Pop WINK TOGETHER remix (2022) into official production for NHK and film themes, Japan singles including ラブじゃん（ That's Love）, and a Shingo Murakami TV collab. Remix credit escalated into international creative trust on CHAI's Sub Pop / Sony cycle.

CHAI were a Nagoya-formed quartet built around twin frontwomen MANA and KANA with YUNA and YUUKI. Their core concept was NEO KAWAII: pop, punk, funk, hip-hop, dance, and bright visual language pushing against narrow Japanese beauty standards and turning “complexes” into art. Pitchfork's early Rising profile remains one of the clearest English-language articulations: CHAI were not just colorful; the whole project was an argument about self-acceptance and redefining cute.

The international arc matters. CHAI moved from local Japanese releases into a serious overseas profile: PINK, PUNK, then WINK on Sub Pop, with U.S. and international press treating them as one of the more distinctive Japanese pop/rock exports of that era. Sub Pop's artist page frames WINK as the point where remote collaboration became part of the band's sound and CHAI looked outward into an international community.

Walton's entry point is the WINK / WINK TOGETHER era. “Miracle (Scoobert Doobert Remix)” sits on CHAI's 2022 WINK TOGETHER EP alongside rework passes by Confidence Man, ZAZEN BOYS, Busy P, STUTS, and Beenzino, the official remix companion to their Sub Pop album cycle, not an obscure dump. CHAI had heard his “I'm an Idiot” (Spotify New Music Friday); the remix opened a long working relationship.

The relationship escalated beyond remixing. WHOLE (まるごと): Sub Pop describes it as produced by San Diego-based Scoobert Doobert with 1990s Japanese TV-drama influence; Apple Music credits programming and arrangement; it became the theme for NHK drama 恋せぬふたり (Koisenu Futari). MY DREAM (夢のはなし) was written for the film さかなのこ (The Fish Tale); Sony Music Japan documents Walton on sound production, building on the まるごと work. ラブじゃん（ That's Love） followed as a Japan single (played, produced, mixed). Chill Takatsu (CHAI × TAKATSU-KING, Shingo Murakami of Kanjani Eight) is a TV-only production from the same era.

Across other CHAI releases he also played guitar, bass, keys, and sang on selected works, often uncredited in public metadata. Studio work on the broader catalog was profiled in Japan's Sound & Recording Magazine (サンレコ). The thread continued post-disband into OKAME mixing and KOMAGOME production.

See also: Press & credits · Catalog