Make Believe Mailer Vol. 39: Faces Places
The summer of DA PUMP dances on -- the group's surprise success with "U.S.A." has now registered on various charts, and landed them on TV shows (and discussed on TV shows). This re-imagining of '90s Eurobeat even prompted Avex to upload a bunch of their older videos to YouTube over the past week. By pure numbers, it isn't 2018's biggest hit -- nothing is going to catch "Lemon" if you look at data -- but it's the one song everyone is talking about.
Just as interesting to me, however, has been the live shows used to promote the songs. Nobody expected "U.S.A." to resonate with anyone, and at best it seems like everyone expected DA PUMP to coast by on whatever good will their name carries in 2018. Fittingly, their promo has played out at stores mostly geared towards tourists and malls. These aren't, in theory, glamorous places to play. But as "U.S.A." has mutated into a bizarre hit, these venues have also become packed. A recent showcase at Namba Parks in Osaka went viral for how crowded it was...by real people! To see "U.S.A.!" Just look at the photo below that circulated on Twitter.
Snapshots like this come at a time when the Japanese live music ecosystem -- specifically concerts and shows, not festivals (yet) -- finds itself in a weird and often user-unfriendly state. Going to big events resemble the TSA more than the music industry, while costs for smaller shows in big cities make going out not worth it to many. But these big, open-to-all gatherings offer an alternative, and help explain...at least to some degree...the success of "U.S.A" and other surprise numbers in recent times.
Over the last few years, going to a concert held by a top-level act in Japan has become a far stricter experience. Numerous Japanese artists have instituted face-scanning technology, garnering international attention when boy band Arashi instituted it a few years ago to find people who bought tickets on the secondary market (Johnny's & Associates might be behind the times in many ways, but they were ahead of the facial-recognition dystopia the world is inching towards). AKB48 instituted huge security measures to handshake events and other meet-and-greets following the 2014 attack at one of their events. Two of 2018's biggest tours have only upped the ante -- Namie Amuro's farewell tour and Utada Hikaru's fall tour both use a system requiring photos to be uploaded in advance, and for proper photo ID to be brought to the venue (and the photos having to match). In Amuro's case, their have been claims of fans being turned away for having the wrong forms of ID.
It's not all bad -- the re-sale market is a prickly maze to navigate in Japan, and Utada's system avoids making fans buying multiple CDs to get priority which is a nice touch -- but it also does make it much harder for more general fans to gain access (which also isn't a complete bad thing), and turns the whole experience of going out into something far less enjoyable. It is not too inviting.
And the same goes for smaller shows, which often charge upwards of ¥2500 to ¥3000 (about $25 and $30) for shows featuring relatively unknown groups. It's a well-documented issue, but one that lit up once again earlier this year after a tweet outlining the difference between US equivalent live shows (which cost like, $5) went viral. At least when you shell out money and simulate the LAX security line experience for Utada, you know what you are getting.
That's why these DA PUMP shows have been particularly interesting -- they happen in public spaces that anyone can go to. I don't know the specifics -- if it's anything like the Kyary Pamyu Pamyu mall-live I went to in Kanagawa a few years back, the set is free for all but you need to buy a CD to shake hands afterwards -- but these are attracting large and diverse crowds of viewers, which is good in terms of reaching more general listeners. DA PUMP are hardly ahead of the time here (just one notable recent example -- BiSH's Osaka boat live), but it has felt more pronounced in recent years as other forms of live music feel more closed off. Ultimately, it's a reminder of a greater shift in Japanese music (and pop culture in general) -- that while established performers cling and update traditional systems, a new set opt for events that are open and easy to access (and free, an obvious big one).
News And Views
This year's number-one vote getter at the AKB48 election Jurina Matsui will be taking a break from SKE48 and drop out of Produce 48 for health reasons. Here is how she was represented at a TV event today.
Tetsuya Komuro and KEIKO are now separated.
Never doubt the power of TV, even if it has to work in tandem with other platforms.
Cinra has an interesting essay on why Hello! Project groups attract so many female fans, which flies against the face of most stereotypes leveled against Japanese idol music. I think it goes further, as most idol groups do have lots of women who count themselves as fans -- it's just that they also tend to be younger and with less disposable income, unlike male fans who tend to have more money to burn. So men get catered to more, resulting in "women only" seating at idol shows and just a general push to the male audience.
Oricon Trail For The Week Of June 25, 2018 To July 1, 2018
A sea of bad press didn't stop NEWS from taking the top spot on the Oricon singles chart this week. The song is alright in a yelpy kind of way, though this clip of them playing it on TV features one of my least favorite tricks in J-pop performance -- waving towels around. You'll be nonplussed to know Utada's new album moved over 200,000 copies in its first week.
Perfume's GAME (33 1/3)
My entry in the 33 1/3 Japan series is out now! Get a copy at Bloomsbury or Amazon. Or at Kinokuniya bookstores in the US. To riff on the above, Perfume was once in the play-any-public-place-you-can dilemma, highlighted by a show in the corner of an Apple Store. I focus a lot on this in the book.
Look At Me!
After a few months away, I'm back in Metropolis, with a feature on cero. One of the year's top albums.
In completely different topics, I wrote about how smoking bans are popping up in Japanese chain dining. Kushikatsu Tanaka makes a mean fried chicken, by the way.
Blog highlights: Elen Never Sleeps, Yurufuwa Gang, Zombie-Chang
Written by Patrick St. Michel (patrickstmichel@gmail.com)
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