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Tourists go to Asakusa to see Old Japan. In this Tokyo district you'll find ladies in kimono going to and fro, rickshaw runners touting for customers, and shopkeepers selling everything from Japanese dolls and samurai swords to azuki bean sweets and rice crackers. At the entrance of a Buddhist temple hangs a red lantern as big as a minivan, in front of which every sightseer feels compelled to have his or her picture taken.
Tourists don't go to Asakusa for the local music. But if they only knew…Asakusa is home to one of Japan's best rock bands, Asakusa Jinta, which gets its inspiration from this town and its traditional culture. They're one of the best live bands I've seen in a long while.
I only discovered this septet recently, but when I did I was sucked right into their musical world, a realm of rock with a Japanese popular music flavor. If regular rock and roll is barbecue chicken, these guys are yakitori.
Asakusa Jinta has two guys on horns, a girl on sax, and another girl on accordion, lending their melodies the old-fashioned feel of a pre-WWII Japanese movie or an old radio broadcast. But they add contemporary touches: an electric guitar, rock drums, and most prominently, a souped-up rockabilly double bass that booms like distant bombs at live shows and drives their songs forward. It's a retro-contemporary combination that, surprisingly, very few other Japanese bands have tried, and it makes them sound like no other band I know.
Asakusa Jinta call themselves an "Asianica hard march band." The march is their thing, vocalist and bassist Oshow told me, because they consider it the oldest and most basic form of ensemble music, music to celebrate and dance to. Asianica, meanwhile, is Japan's answer to soul, swing and the two-step — dance music with a Japanese sensibility.
Asakusa Jinta, photo courtesy of Asakusa Jinta
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The group also taps into older traditions: the jinta in their name, for example, refers to brass bands active in 19th and early 20th century Japan that played on the streets to advertise shows and circuses. You still occasionally see something similar to jinta in Japanese cities in the form of chindonya, street-musician bands in loud-colored kimono that march around pounding on bass drums and tooting clarinets.
Even though Asakusa Jinta is the most Japanese of bands, band spokesman Oshow (a stage name meaning "Buddhist monk") says he first considered basing the group in the Big Apple. "I thought about where the best place is to make new music, and felt maybe it's New York," he says. "But then I thought, in a way it would be easy to become slightly famous in New York doing what we do, whereas it would be a struggle to become a band that is accepted in Asakusa." That's because the artists, artisans, craftsmen, and shopkeepers that populate Asakusa are Old School, and don't easily let newcomers in their ranks — especially not rock musicians. But the members of Asakusa Jinta think the effort is worth it. "This is a town where Old Japan lives on," Oshow says. "And it's always filled to the brim with food, artisans, the arts, music, and festivals."
Asakusa Jinta, photo by Komei Nakatani
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If you're intrigued by the idea of Asakusa Jinta and live in a US city, you're in luck: They're touring the States in March. This band shouldn't be missed — at their last show, my eyes became watery because their rhythms were so razor-sharp and their melodies so sweet.
It's the band's first trip to America, but not Oshow's — a big fan of rockabilly, Buddy Holly, and early Elvis, he once made a pilgrimage to Memphis, New Orleans, and other cities. Not all of his memories of that trip are happy. For one thing, he was mugged in New Orleans: "I was dressed in a rockabilly outfit, and the guy said, ‘Hey, rockabilly boy,' and beat me up." But that didn't dampen his enthusiasm for the US for long. In fact, he's looking forward to communicating with Americans through music. "Japan's gotten shallow in some ways," says Oshow, "but we want to show them that isn't all so, that we have our own soul music with firm roots. We want to go there and show them this, and talk as equals."
Asakusa Jinta is touring the US as part of the Japan Nite US Tour 2007, playing in the following cities:
Asakusa Jinta, photo by Komei Nakatani
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Cambridge, MA, March 10, 8:30 p.m. at T.T. Bear's
New York, March 11, 7:00 p.m. at the Knitting Factory (main stage)
Philadelphia, March 13, 8:00 p.m. at Khyber
Chicago, March 14, 8:30 p.m. at Empty Bottle
Austin, TX, March 16, 9:00 p.m. at the Hideout
Los Angeles, March 18, 8:00 p.m. at the Knitting Factory (front bar)
San Francisco, March 19, 8:00 p.m. at the Independent
Seattle, March 20, 8:00 p.m. at Neumos
Listen to songs and get more info on Asakusa Jinta's MySpace page.
The Japan Nite tour, which includes an annual appearance at SXSW, is now in its 11th year. Learn about the other bands touring with Asakusa Jinta on Japan Nite's MySpace page.
Posted March 2007
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enfuego commented, on March 6, 2007 at 5:16 p.m.:
i very much appreciate your blogs!! thank you.