keiji haino and i think makoto kawabata are both no drink no drugs types, but then kaoru abe was (i think) a boozer or drughead. and sun ra never consumed any kind of intoxicant as far as i know, not that he's japanese, i'm just saying.

Oh, I do, I feel I know what you mean all too well. That's why I wait until someone else brings it up (whatever "it" may be) instead of bringing it up (i.e., starting a topic) myself.:confused:

I'm not exactly sure what Abe's poison was but he certainly hit it hard whatever it was. I've read it was a drugs overdose but I'm pretty sure I also read that it was booze related.

Anyway, I wish someone would put out that Endless Waltz film with Haino in that's about Abe. With English subtitles. That would be ace.

"Because you touch yourself at night!"

Does one person looking for a bit of info count as "and ever growing obsession"?. I don't think it's anything new really...the Occident has been fascinated by the Orient for centuries.

Dunno about Kawabata. When I asked him why he barely plays Holland with AMT he told me an anecdote that he was so drunk that he fell off the stage last time he played here. He also smokes.



There's a torrent of a VHS rip of Endless Waltz on Karagarga if you have a membership or can manage to get an invite. It's without subtitles though.

Urgh. I'd probably watch it all without subtitles and hope that I got the jist.

I don't understand why no-one has put it out on dvd with English subs. I'd guess whoever owns the rights wants mucho $$$$ for it or there is a tricky rights issue. I mean it's about Abe, it has Haino in it and it's directed by Koji Wakamatsu and a bunch of his films have been released stateside. It's not a goldmine or anything but I'd have thought it would have shifted a few units.

Didn't Savage Clone have an anecdote about making Makoto Kawabata a dodgy margarita?

yeah, kawabata smokes.

they are simply not the excesses-types in general, japanese musicians.

i remembered what it was about kawabata, i read an interview with him where he said people always assume he takes lots of drugs but he doesn't take any

Japrocksampler: How the post-war Japanese blew their minds on rock ‘n’ roll, by Julian Cope

Available 3 Sep 2007 (subject to change).

Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 9780747589457

Julian Cope, eccentric and visionary rock musician, hip archaeologist and one time frontman of Teardrop Explodes, follows the runaway underground success of his book Krautrocksampler with Japrocksampler, a cult deconstruction of Japanese rock music.

Japrocksampler reveals what really happened when East met West after World War Two and the mayhem that ensued … and is a must for anybody interested in modern music and Japanese culture. It explores the clash between traditional, conservative Japanese values and the wild rock ‘n’ roll renegades of the 1960s and 70s and tells the tale of six seminal groups of artists in Japanese post-war culture, from itinerant art-house poets to violent refusenik rock groups with a penchant for plane hijacking. The book concludes with enticing reviews of Julian’s Top 50 Jap Rock albums.

www.bloomsbury.com

Ace, ace, ace. Can't wait for this book. Hope they actually make the Sep 07 publishing date. My experience of books actually being pubished on the day they say they are going to be published is sketchy. I reckon early 08 if we're lucky :(

Tori Kudo's blog may have some useful information. Browse the first few pages. I think he discusses his involvement in radical politics/terrorist groups and the early days of the Japanese underground a little bit. http://elogedelamour.blogspot.com/

also...
Asahito Nanjo interview
http://www.squealermusic.com/reviews...interview.html

Munehiro Narita interview
http://www.squealermusic.com/reviews...interview.html

Fushitsusha interview (without Haino)
http://noise.as/fushitsusha

Keiji Haino interview
http://www.halana.com/haino.html


There's also a fairly extensive interview with Kan Mikami in which he specifically discusses late 60 /early 70s Tokyo scene and his involvement (or lack thereof) in the student movement. I can't remember where I read it though.

i'm slightly apprehensive about that book, if cope has some dislike of haino then i won't be able to get down to what he's saying.

at least it will have some historical facts and reasons on paper; that's the ticket for me to buy it.

of course, he'll say something like the boredoms being rather bad or something since it's cope and he loves controversy.