Date: October 29, 2010
Venue: Asia Sociey (NY)
Presented by Asia Society and New York-Tokyo
Text by Jim Hoey
What first caught my eye about the film Live From Tokyo was the mention of these obscure Japanese bands that most people I meet from Japan have never heard of: Kirihito, the Boredoms (or one of their side projects) or eX-girl. Float these names to your average Japanese visitor in New York and you get a blank stare or some polite response, just like if an American visits Tokyo and some crazed Japanese music-obsessive with a knowledge of enough English starts to ask questions about Lightning Bolt, Sonic Youth, Fugazi, the Minutemen, or Faith No More. The average guy on vacation is just like, “Sorry man, I don’t know those bands”. And if you meet someone who DOES, and YOU are the obsessive, you have an instant connection and end up in a long conversation about what’s new and on the way up, and you feel good exchanging information that has yet to permeate the further layers of the cultural experience elsewhere in the world.
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