Takashio Matsumoto did not set out to become a YouTube creator. He set out to remember his wife.
She passed away at 58. The years after her death were, in his own words, years of paralysis – an intense sense of loss that did not lift quickly and did not lift completely.
About four years later, he started writing. A blog, at first – a way to remember their life together and keep some record of it in the world. Readers found it. And more reach, eventually, meant video.
His first YouTube upload went live in 2022. Coverage followed in domestic and international newspapers. Television appearances. A published book. He had not planned any of it.
Who Is pecorino?
Takashio posts under the name pecorino from Tokyo, Japan. His channel is built around retirement – not as a winding down but as a new kind of life. “People close to my age who can find wisdom and take action to enrich their lifestyles in retirement,” is how he describes his audience.
What they come back for, he says, is his approach. “They always applaud my free-spirited, positive, and fearless approach to life, no matter my age.”
He is honest about his own blind spots. He does not watch YouTube. He cannot identify what makes his videos interesting. “I can’t create killer content,” he says, without apparent concern. What he can do, clearly, is make something people recognize.
What He Started Talking About – and Why
The grief that preceded the channel was real, and it shaped everything about what followed.
Losing his wife left him without a clear way to hold onto the life they had built. Writing gave him one. It became a way of preserving something – and, gradually, a way of moving through the loss rather than around it.
“When you gain something, you lose something,” he says, though he adds with characteristic honesty that he is not sure he has gained that much yet.
The shift to video was practical. More people could be reached. But the content stayed personal – themes around accepting aging, finding meaning, making something out of a smaller pension. Things that land differently when the person speaking them has lived through the kind of loss that changes how you count time.
His First Video and What Happened After
He uploaded his first YouTube video on March 1, 2022. He had no template for what came next.
“That first video went viral and is now approaching 9 million views,” he says. “The impact became a hot topic, leading to coverage in domestic and international newspapers, numerous television appearances, and the publication of a book.”
That book – I’ve outlived my wife. I have no money, but plenty of free time; an old man living happily alone – is a title that could only belong to him.
He is matter-of-fact about it in the way that people sometimes are when something extraordinary happens before they had time to form expectations. “In a way, that first video is what made me unable to quit YouTube.”
What has followed is a channel with a consistent audience of people around his age, watching someone navigate the years after work and loss with something that looks, from the outside, like equanimity.
Why He Picks Music That Doesn’t Match
Before Thematic, pecorino used YouTube’s Audio Library. Sound was an afterthought – something to fill silence between the ambient noise he recorded in his videos.
“I thought of music as just background music,” he says, “so I included ambient sounds and everyday noises from my videos in the tracks.”
That changed when he started using Thematic. Not because of a specific moment, but because of what he noticed in the comments. Viewers were praising the music. Not just tolerating it – actively responding to it. He had stumbled into something he had not planned.
The reason, it turned out, was a deliberate choice he had made about what kind of music to pick.
“I deliberately choose beautiful songs as background music that don’t quite fit the image of an elderly person,” he says. “The reason is simply because no one else is doing that.”
His audience noticed. Some pushed back. “Occasionally, some people say it’s too stylish and doesn’t match the video,” he says, “but to me, those comments are compliments, so I gladly accept them.”
The Music He Keeps Coming Back To For His Videos
His favorite artist on Thematic is Ashton Edminster – “a lot of chill and cozy songs,” he says. A few of his favorite songs on Thematic:
He finds music by browsing recommendations and checking what he has not used recently from past licenses. No genre filters. No elaborate system. He looks for what he has not played before and trusts his instincts about fit.
The Only Question He Asks Before Making a Video
His advice to new creators is specific and direct.
“Does your video resemble someone else’s video?”
That question comes first. Before the topic, before the format, before the edit. If the answer is yes, that is the thing to fix.
“While there are no themes that haven’t been covered before, it’s important to be as original as possible. Make sure it doesn’t resemble other videos. This is very important.”
For creators who have been making content for a while and feel stuck, he is candid: “That’s me,” he says. “But it can’t be helped. Every creator must be struggling to come up with their next piece of content.”
There is something useful in that. Not a solution, but a permission – to be stuck, to keep going anyway, and to not mistake struggle for failure.
“Getting older isn’t all bad,” he says.
Find Music That Fits the Content You’re Actually Making
pecorino did not start with a content strategy or an audience in mind. He started writing to hold onto someone he missed, and found that what he was saying resonated with people navigating the same part of life.
The music became part of that. Not filler – something that adds to the feeling of a video, sometimes in ways the creator doesn’t fully anticipate until the comments arrive.
Thematic gives creators access to music from 1M+ independent artists – tracks built for real videos, cleared for YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and more. No copyright claims. No hassle. Just music that fits the content you’re already making.”Thematic helped me see how YouTube
Follow pecorino
YouTube: youtube.com/@peco
Instagram: @pecorino_work
Thematic profile: pecorino on Thematic
Book: I’ve outlived my wife. I have no money, but plenty of free time; an old man living happily alone. (Japanese)
pecorino’s Favorite Tracks on Thematic
🎵 Ashton Edminster – Bring Me Flowers
🎵 Angela Predhomme – Beautiful Truth
🎵 Caly Bevier – Prescription
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