Women of the Wheel: DJ Sumirock
Womanica
Acast Creative Studios
4.3 • 920 Ratings
🗓️ 19 September 2025
⏱️ 5 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Sumiko Iwamuro (1935-present), known as DJ Sumirock, is a Japanese DJ. She worked in her family’s restaurant for decades before deciding to go to DJ school in her seventies. In May 2018, she was recognized by Guinness World Records as the oldest professional club DJ at 83 years old. She is now 90 years old and still playing live shows at DecaBarZ Shinjuku’s Kabukicho district.
For Further Reading:
- Midnight Rebels: Meet DJ Sumirock, the World’s Oldest DJ Who Started Her Career in Her 70s
- Watch the Netflix docuseries Midnight Asia
- DJ Sumirock’s Instagram
This month, we’re talking about Women of the Wheel – icons who turned motion into momentum and spun their legacies on spokes, skates and potter’s wheels. These women harnessed the power of the axle, pushing their crafts and professions forward through their works and lives.
History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.
Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.
Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Sara Schleede, Paloma Moreno Jimenez, Luci Jones, Abbey Delk, Adrien Behn, Alyia Yates, Vanessa Handy, Melia Agudelo, and Joia Putnoi. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, and this is Wamanica. |
| 0:09.0 | This month we're talking about women of the wheel, icons who turned motion into momentum |
| 0:13.3 | and spun their legacies on spokes, skates, and potter's wheels. These women harness the power |
| 0:18.8 | of the axle, pushing their crafts and professions forward through their works and lives. |
| 0:23.7 | If you walk through the streets of Tokyo's Shinjuku City, you'll see the glowing neon lights, tall buildings, and the energy of Japanese nightlife. |
| 0:32.2 | Maybe you'll step into the energetic Deca Bar Z, a nightclub in Kabukicho district. |
| 0:37.6 | And if it's one of their Deca Dance nights, you'll hear a mix of techno, jazz, and French |
| 0:42.2 | chanson. |
| 0:44.0 | Perhaps you'd expect a hip young DJ to be spinning these tracks. |
| 0:48.0 | But take a closer look at the DJ booth and you'll see a 90-year-old woman in a sequin jacket. |
| 0:54.6 | Please welcome Sumiko Iwamuro, also known as DJ Sumirak. |
| 1:03.4 | Sumika was born in January of 1935. |
| 1:07.5 | Growing up in wartime Japan, her father played jazz music on their gramophone, |
| 1:11.6 | but did so secretly because he didn't want neighbors to know they were listening to enemy music. |
| 1:16.6 | At the time, her father worked as a jazz drummer, |
| 1:21.6 | performing in a company for American soldiers who occupied Tokyo. |
| 1:25.6 | After the war, her father decided to open a dumpling restaurant. |
| 1:30.7 | Sumiko was 19 years old at the time. |
| 1:33.6 | She later inherited the restaurant and still works there to this day. |
| 1:37.7 | She cooks and serves dumplings six days a week, from four until around 11 o'clock at night. |
| 1:43.8 | Sumiko has described music as a daily |
| 1:46.0 | essential for her, just as much as a necessity as food. Her two essentials merged when she |
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