Tokyo Dance Party

04.26.05

It's crunch time in Tokyo- got only ten days left before I head over to Hong Kong- and there's still much to do. Yesterday I took the day off from writing to scour the record shops in Jinbouchou + Ochanomizu, and there I found the #1 record on my want list- Mieko Hirota's "Nagisa No Tenshi." Oh my lord, what a fabulous day it was! I'll upload a photo so you can check out the sublime sleeve.

So let me explain why there's a naked man in my diary. On Saturday night the very sweet and sexy Ayano (who always drives the boys wild) invited me to a Shouwa dance party in Ikenoue where Pizzicato Five, Readymade Records' main man Yasuharu Konishi would be Djing. Shouwa is technically the term for Emperor Hirohito's reign (1926-1989), but it is more commonly used as a reference to '60s-'70s Japan. The Shouwa era marked the introduction of kayoukyoku (Japanese popular songs), an umbrella term that covers '60s beat girls (Linda Yamamoto, Jun Mayuzumi), Group Sounds (The Tigers, The Carnabeats), and countless pop idols (Mieko Hirota, Ayumi Ishida). I'm a Shouwa girl- a little too obsessed with '60s Tokyo, which is why this dance party turned out to be one of the greatest nights of my life.

This particular night was a CD release party for the "Moodsville Presents Shouwa Dance Party" compilation, which was put together by the event's three DJs- Readymade Records' Konishi, Moodsville Records' Hirabayashi, and Ballroom Records' Uchimon (the stripper). It was all-you-can-eat, all-you-can-drink all night long, and while the event began on a tame note, by 10 pm Uchimon was Djing in the nude and flocks of fashionable girls and boys were getting hot and heavy on the dance floor. By drink #6 I had finally gained the confidence to go up to Konishi and introduce myself. He was incredibly friendly, and he kept grabbing all his mates, saying: "Yo- this girl knows the words to Sayuri Yoshinaga's "Koi No Yorokobi" Give her your business card." He seemed totally shocked by my Shouwa obsession. The dance party wrapped up at around 12:30 am, and just as I was about to head home for some much-needed rest, I was whisked off to the after-party at Aoi Heya- Tokyo's premier Shouwa club. Of course I couldn't decline such an invitation (though I probably should have seeing as I don't quite remember the rest of the night).

For the next few days I'm staying in to work, and then it's off to a friend's Mount Fuji lake house for barbecue, hot springs, and more debauchery.

Sheila

Photos: the naked DJ, crowd @ Shouwa Dance Party, my glorious find, DJ Konishi

Posted by Sheila at 11:47 PM