International acts coming to play in Japan in Jan/Feb 2011

January and February are always the best season to enjoy international acts live in Japan. Many international acts aim to come and play in Japan in either months. The season is always good for most of the international acts who play at Australia's music celebration "Big Day Out"taken place in January. Also there are many smaller festivals and bands' own Australia tour around the time. They go to Australia anyway so it's more convenient and cost-effective for them to stop by Japan before/after the festival.

There are tiny but great Japanese promoters for international acts. However, these two biggest promoters are always the most influencial: Smash and Creativeman. They organise Fuji Rock Festival and Summer Sonic respectively. The bands coming to Japan in the winter tend to play at either of the festivals as well. Offers for these bands seem to be a bundle of their own Japan tour in Jan or Feb (or possible in Spring) plus a festival slot. The theory doesn't apply to all cases but to the fair number of the case.

So, who are actually coming to Japan in the next Jan/Feb? As far as I know, this looks like this:

<Smash>
January: Digitalism, Donavon Frankenreite, Local Natives, Mice Parade,
February: Foals(special guest: Holy Fuck), Mae, Moe, No Age, Scissor Sisters,
Info: smash-jpn.com/index.php (Japanese only)

<Creativeman>
January: Klaxons, Hurts, Crystal Castle, Jamaica, Sleigh Bells, Firewild,
February: M.I.A., Taylor Swift, Two Door Cinema Club, MGMT, Halloween, Nas / Damian “Jr Gong” Marley, Bring Me The Horizon, Skillet, I'll Be Your Mirror (curated by ATP!!!yay! Lineup is to be announced)
Info: www.creativeman.co.jp/english/

<Others>
January: 4AD evening (Deerhunter, Blonde Redhead, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti) (info: Contrarede)
February: Mogwai (details are to be announced)

Gosh! Too many bands to come! Please note that each of the gigs are so expensive. The price range will be Iguess approximately 5,000-8,000 JPY (50-80 US dollers/ 40-65 pounds). Therefore Japanese international music fans are now all contemplating which gig they should go with their own limited budget. Regarding that, I would say coming to Japan in Spring can be possibly better than coming to the winter so that your fans can afford to buy their own tickets and go to your gig.. But touring in Spring might cost bands more. It's like a hell in heaven and we never can get away from that.

Turning Japanese (from guardian.co.uk)

A number of goers came to see Jonsi at Summer Sonic 2010.

Have you ever read a string of articles called "Turning Japanese" on a British broadsheet The Guardian's website? It finished a year ago but it's still available on the website. Here is the link to: www.guardian.co.uk/music/series/turningjapanese

Some of the articles cut into the heart of problems that the Japanese music scene faces. However, as far as I read, the author of this Alex Hoban seemed to slightly misunderstand what the music scene is like and what people there think about...

Anyway,  the beneath is my favourite one from the Turning Japanese series:

 - Turning Japanese: The dark side of touring - The Guardian (21/1/2010)

All bands, who I worked with, seemed to enjoy their stay in Japan really but Late of the Pier reportedly was not the case. Tight schedule and strict time keeping. Unfortunate accident happened. Tiredness from a long-lasting world tour. Oh, poor them...

With contributions from people who are involved in the Japanese live music scene, this article sums up the things that people who want to tour in Japan have to go through:

• High cost of touring in Japan (currency rate + bands are charged high fees by venues)
• difficulties in booking (booking managers are not interested in overseas bands who don't speak Japanese. I think they don't need them as the Japanese live scene thrives enough without international acts)
• Cultural differences

They're all true as far as I'm concerned. Although I'd disagree with some opinions mentioned in the string of articles, Turning Japanese is a good introduction of the Japanese music industry (but just an introduction)..

I will look at the live music a bit more deeper next time.