Honky-Tonk Tokyo (2020)

In 2018 I had the pleasure of seeing "Elvis" at a Kyoto nightclub called "Live Spot Nashville" (closed since the pandemic) which was decked out like a cross between an American honky-tonk bar and the Grand Ole Opry. Highlights included line dancers (in cowboy hats and boots, of course), as well as somebody singing "My Way" in Japanese.

A couple of weeks earlier, in Seoul, I literally stumbled across the official Korean Elvis Presley fan club HQ (his name is in large letters across the top of the building; you can't miss it) and walked in. The president didn't speak a word of English but he was super excited to show me around and even gave me a few souvenirs.

Not honky tonk, but when I discovered the collection of Japanese tributes to (once great) The Muffs [1]. That punk vibe: getting together to play raunchy music is something I sorely miss from my college-days. And the two tributes, while celebrating the music of a very American band, feel like the most Japanese thing ever.

[1] https://youtu.be/5GiL7FJIHRQ?si=9Sm32c-TRrtLuil1&t=1139

From 1983 until it closed in 1999, I used to play guitar and mandolin with friends at a country bar in Akasaka, Tokyo, called Stonefield’s. Until his death a few years ago, the owner, Sam Ishihara, continued to perform regularly at country places around Tokyo, including some of those mentioned in the article. I occasionally sat in with him when the bar had a piano, which is the only instrument I play now.

Sam was unusual among Japanese country singers for writing his own songs in English. Earlier this year, one of his friends released some studio recordings Sam had made of his originals in 2002:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V_uncczgZ4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDwUHp61X40

Last year, some of us got together again and did a few shows in Sam’s honor at a live house in Akabane. If the audience was representative of the current state of country music fandom in Japan, then the answer to the author’s question about “whether or not Tokyo’s country music underground can hold on for another generation” is “probably not.” At one show, at the age of sixty-seven, I was the youngest person there.

I used to see the Rockabilly dancers all around Yayogi Park in Shibuya (1). These guys would hang out in the park on the weekend with pompadours and jean/leather jackets and do goofy dances. It was sick. Something about Japanese culture encourages dedication to your hobbies, and people get super involved in them.

1) https://www.tokyoweekender.com/art_and_culture/tokyo-rockabi...

I’m a bluegrass fan, and can confirm that there are some awesome pickers in Japan.

my gf in Tokyo years ago was a country folk singer. played slide on a metal resonator guitar. for much of my time there my evenings were spent at folks and roots music bars, listening to talented live musicians. in States we live in abject poverty, culturally.