I lived in Japan for three years and visited Tokyo a number of times. Tokyo is a massive city and I certainly didn’t explore it all, but I don’t remember seeing any street performers there. Neither did I see any in Kanazawa, the biggest city in my prefecture. What I do remember were formal recitals of classical music in concert halls and taiko performances on well-lit stages in front of seated audiences.
The street performance that I did experience were the yearly matsuris (street festivals) that almost every town in my region (and in regions all over the country) hosted. Each July in Suzu, my hometown, enormous wooden, decorated floats weighing several tons a piece are carried through the streets. The carriers bellow rallying chants as they take turns pouring saki down one another’s throats. My Japanese friends were very proud of these ancient festivals and felt the celebrations were a part of their identities. One big difference between the matsuris and the street performance we’re documenting for The Busking Project, is that the matsuris require the participation of hundreds (sometimes thousands) of people. They’re community events.
Photo by Yumemakura
In Suzu, I came to appreciate the Japanese taste for collectiveness, their preference for groups over individuals. Quite a few of my colleagues explicitly told me that they were uncomfortable with the idea of not fitting in, of not being a successfully integrated part of a larger group in whatever social context – work, sports, friendship circles, the larger communities in which they lived. It was even explained to me that fitting in was evidence of intelligence, and I’d witnessed the agitation (and subsequent isolation) an individual could inspire if he or she did something out of harmony with the group.
Pedestrians in Harajuku
The Japanese have a saying: “The nail that sticks out gets beaten down.”
Of course, there are conformist cultures everywhere in the world, and there are eccentrics in every culture. Rural areas tend to be more community minded and big cities tend to be more accommodating to misfits. Most people have seen photographs of the outrageously dressed “Harajuku Girls” in Tokyo, but even crazy teenage fashion trends signify individual expression less than they signify membership to a subculture.
Wikipedia’s Photo Entry for ‘Harajuku Girls’
I was initially skeptical about finding artists who’d subject themselves to potential ridicule on Tokyo’s streets in exchange for money. Maybe there’d be foreigners singing endless rounds of Let it Be or Yellow Submarine, buskers who were not expected to know or understand the horror that exhibitionism can arouse in Japanese society. Maybe loud American, Australian, or European college kids raising travel money by juggling for tips. But my preconceptions prevented me from being hopeful about finding native performing artists.
In one sense, I was correct, we didn’t find many Japanese performers. And not all of the performers we did find were interesting, talented, or taking significant risks in pursuit of artistic expression.
But one group of performers was definitely all of the above.
Ethnic Minority in Shibuya
Not long after we arrived I read Shane Berry’s interesting online blog about busking in Tokyo. Shane mentioned Ethnic Minority and listed the performers’ names, so I was able to I find and message saxophonist Hiroyuki Yokota on Facebook. Hiroyuki responded to my message almost immediately. Yes, we could film him, but we had to get there on time because, contrary to what Shane had written about the tolerance of Ethnic Minority’s music, Hiroyuki claimed that the police would arrive soon after they began playing, and then it would all be over.
Ethnic Minority Stopped by the Police
He wasn’t joking. We were about five minutes late and were only able to see a few minutes of their performance before they were broken up by officials. The drummer was fingerprinted and the other members of Ethnic minority were forced to pack away their equipment and leave the area. But our brief introduction to their music was enough to impress the hell out of us. We begged them to play again later in the week so we could film a whole performance.
Hiroyuki Yokota of Ethnic Minority
Even if Ethnic Minority isn’t a solo artist standing alone on a crowded street corner battling the disapproval of the status quo, they are still the nail that sticks out. Hiroyuki Yokota (saxophonist), Kazuki Shimano (drummer), and Sato Hiro (bassist) are talented. They are loud, emotive, confident, and blatantly stepping outside of “performance norms” (i.e. concert halls, paid gigs, and night clubs) to express themselves publicly. Their presence under the Q-Front building is as incongruous with the hoards of surrounding shoppers as sushi in a redneck bar.