Your Granny may say that Christmas has become too commercial and that people have forgotten its true meaning. Well, to our mortification, we do seem to have forgotten its original meaning in Japan. Oh, please make sure your dear Granny will never read this! What do many youngsters in Japan expect from this festive season? A Christmas date– It’s time for relatively shy Japanese youngsters to ask someone out for a romantic date for the first time in their relationship history. Not religious at all but that’s at least fairly romantic? Ahem, can I interest you in a wee tour of Tokyo?

Itinerary for Boys:

You are supposed to have saved enough money to buy your girlfriend a decent dinner at an expensive restaurant as well as a sophisticated gift that has to cost you enough to convince her you are serious enough but not too serious—as she doesn’t really like to be the only one—just as yet! Having just the right touch is crucial to your success. You are also expected to be ready to take her to any of the famous Christmas spots nearby, so prepare yourself well ahead of time; it is not very stylish to consult your map on site!

The most known and popular one would be the Christmas illumination show at Tokyo Midtown, a multi-storey shopping complex in Roppongi (above), where the garden gets lit with 250,000 LED bulbs and you may be lucky enough to spot a LED shooting star that is to appear three times in 15 minutes. (Have a look at this video)

Tokyo Midtown’s Christmas slogan this year is “We’re Santa Clauses for one another!” by the way. Bring a fat purse if you can…

Itinerary for Girls:

While boys are busy saving money and being flooded with waves of information about Christmas spots, restaurants and trendy gifts (and for some ambitious ones hotel room availability as well), you girls need to concentrate on yourselves. Are you entitled to buy something new to wear for the night? Of course you are. Better try lots of new makeup stuffs? Of course! It’s Christmas!!! Shop till you drop, girls! If you like it that way, you can change the whole gigantic capital city to a costume party venue. Whatever you decide to wear, make sure it be a great craic for yourself (and optionally for your boyfriend) but not for other boys. No need to try to look sexy; that’s one of the privileges of being a Japanese girl and so far it has been working well in a strange way to impress people overseas –apparently.

Cute (or ‘Kawaii’ in Japanese) ones may always win in Japan, but “on this night, on this holy night, as long as you are a super-cute girl, you’ll be a winner, and you know that” – the advert of a big department store encourages you openly (see left image).

Hang on – actually you don’t need to go out at all. You can buy anything ON YOUR MOBILE PHONE as you always do, from cosmetics to trendy fashion items and fancy dresses. Don’t forget to bring your mobile phone to your Christmas dinner and to take as many photos to please your boyfriend.

Oh, did I tell you this already? We don’t have Christmas Holidays in Japan.

Welcome to Yabaii Japan, a series of posts on Japanese music and pop culture from our friends at Eejit Records and It Came From Japan.

I was literally stunned by what Belfast had to offer last time I was there. And rightly so. One of my local friends invited me to a “ping pong night” at one of the renowned music venues, which was a cosy, hiding-place sort of pub in the town. Running in circles around a table tennis table with a racket in hand -alternately a pint glass – for hours!

And anyway who could think of throwing a “ping pong night” party in a pub but lovely Belfast people, more precisely a member of a Belfast indie band, perhaps? I thought to myself: Tokyo is no match for Belfast! Well, maybe not in the drinking spree part by any means, however, I didn’t know then that we do have a PING PONG pub in Tokyo! This pub is always a ping pong pub, not just for occasional evenings. Could this be something I can feel proud of about my hometown? I hope so as I hate to lose as long as it is over ridiculously trivial stuff like whose shoe lace is the longest…

Enough of my drivel. Let’s talk about music. First of all, here is the promo video for Oxytocin by Kid Adrift who was born in England and developed his musical gift in Scotland. Enjoy a fearful fantasy with an attractive Japanese young girl of falling in mortal danger!

Oxytocin-Kid Adrift


Nobody seriously thinks you would encounter such a girl in a street of Tokyo, right? If you do, you’ve probably read too many Japanese anime comics or watched Kill Bill too many times. Having said that, I sometimes wonder myself what the 5, 6, 7, 8’s are doing. Remember that girls band playing in a pub in Kill Bill? Woo Hoo! Rings the bell? If you enjoyed the Woo Hoo song, then you might love this song from another girls band from Tokyo, Zarigani $. These Zarigani (crayfish) Dollar girls are giving you a basic Japanese lesson in the song into the bargain. Repeat after them: Ohayo (Good morning), Oyasumi (Night night), Konnichiwa (Hi) and Sayonara (Bye). Welcome to Japan!

→ Hello-Zarigani $ – Japan – A Black XS Live Sound Take Away Show

Zarigani $: http://www.myspace.com/zariganidollar

What is a typical Japanese town like? Do you think of a chaotic jungle of skyscrapers and garish temples? Well, not quite. That would be Hong Kong or Singapore. You can catch a glimpse of an ordinary small town in Tokyo in this video where the finest of Japanese alternative music artists, Shugo Tokumaru, takes you to a magically mysterious tour, singing his subtly beautiful tune to his guitar.

→ Linne-Shugo Tokumaru – Japan – A Black XS Live Sound Take Away Show

Shugo Tokumaru: http://www.shugotokumaru.com/

Daniel Robson is a British music journalist and events organiser based in Tokyo.
For info about Japanese bands playing in the UK and a free podcast, visit his site It Came From Japan.

Natccu photographed by Masako Miyazaki

It’s a volume thing. As we all know, the most oft-used phrase in the international dictionary of rock’n’roll is ‘turn it up’ – and music venues don’t come much louder than those here in Tokyo.

It’s not only the Budokan-sized mega-halls that are pushing air: even the venues on the toilet circuit are merciless ear-crushers. It’s a combination of the fact that these ‘live houses’ are usually underground and soundproofed to the teeth, that Japanese people are world-class obsessives for pro technology, and that bands have to pay to play there. The result is a glorious cacophony of visceral live bands – take grrrl-punk trio Bo-Peep, whose fierce show has battered stages not only around Japan but also the UK and US. Or Guitar Wolf, the chaotic garage band whose 1999 album ‘Jet Generation’ was touted by Matador Records as the loudest CD ever made.

It’s not only the punks who get to make a racket. Chart-friendly bands such as GO!GO!7188, whose albums of genre-hopping leftfield pop are recorded with painstaking restraint, leap several decibels when they take the stage. Meanwhile, velvet-voiced post-pop class act Natccu (pictured above) has honed such a sharp edge recently that she’s even coerced Stooges bassist Mike Watt to guest on her forthcoming album.

This is not to suggest that Japan is the most rock’n’roll country on earth. In daily life, conformity is king, and most Japanese conduct themselves with dignity, care and grace. Rules are everywhere, whether explicit or otherwise – don’t eat on the street, don’t litter, don’t use your phone on the train, don’t wear dowdy clothes, don’t disrespect your superiors or elders, don’t use your paid holidays, don’t leave the office before the boss. The music industry is tightly controlled, and the media bends to the will of the major management companies and talent agencies, which wield extraordinary power.

But to judge Japan’s music industry by the Western definition of rock’n’roll is of course as ludicrous and ignorant as comparing sushi with a Sunday roast. The culture is just too different. There’s virtually no crime or poverty here – great staples of rock’n’roll zeitgeist. There’s very little to worry about, and if everybody lives in comfort, why rebel? Why complain? So the vast majority of bands here play positive music untinged by the heavy cynicism that is so essential to us Brits. It’s actually quite refreshing, because it’s more honest. After all, it’s not like Arctic Monkeys or The Enemy are about to lead us into revolution.

Of course, life isn’t perfect here, and the best artists are those who buck convention and address society’s darker elements. Originally hailing from Osaka but now based in Tokyo, jazz-punk band Midori combine tight musicianship with an anti-conformist message and the most disturbing frontwoman you’ve ever seen. Soutaiseiriron, meanwhile, take a subtler route, with gorgeously crafted songs about Japan’s seedier side – schoolgirls seducing their teachers, spoiled princesses turning sour, weird cults and superficial relationships. The band make a further point about their distaste for celebrity society by refusing to ever do interviews and forbidding photography at their live shows.

Japan’s music scene is one of the most diverse and vibrant in the world (and also the only one that’s still making money). Genre boundaries are often less strict than in the West, and you’ll hear bands here that turn your ears to jelly. Sure, 90% of the music in the charts is shite – just like in the UK, or anywhere else. But do a little digging and you might just find something that steals your heart – and ruins your hearing.

Subscribe to It Came From Japan on itunes
or listen here:

All tracks used with permission.
©2010 It Came From Japan