Japan

Japan (日本 Nihon or Nippon, officially 日本国 Nippon-koku or Nihon-koku) is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters which make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is sometimes identified as the "Land of the Rising Sun".

[2010] Back to the underground in JAPAN

written by Spliffnik
read this article in French

Japan for all its electric energy and dynamism has certainly not had a good year psychedelically speaking.

High-profile celebrities and sumo wrestlers (yes, no joke!) getting arrested for illicit substances, right at the same time as an unfortunate accident at an outdoor party, gave the trance scene the worst image in the media. In the past year, major organizers such as Solstice and Vision Quest left the big party market, while others which still thrive producing indoor parties like Mother Productions, have canceled their outdoor festivals. The Goa Gil party in Kyoto 2009 was even stopped by police at 10PM, just as the dancefloor was warming up. The police have been routinely setting up checkpoints leading to major outdoor parties, and while this may be common in other countries, the assault on the peaceful and free outdoor party culture has left Japanese freaks either paranoid or just not motivated to go through all the trouble to party.

The numbers are down, venues are becoming limited, prices top-shelf artists used to command are plummeting - combine that with dwindling CD sales that forced almost all CD shops to close down, and you have in Japan an official Psychedelic Recession.

But the party people don't just give up their ideals and love for the music so easily - after all, the public has a very short-term memory with sensationalized news and our party cravings never stop!! This year in Japan can be summed up as the return of the nightclub - in terms of both increasing amounts of indoor parties, and more people turning to mainstream dance music. Perhaps this is best crystallized at Ageha, the top nightclub in Asia, which after adopting a no-trance-on-the-main-stage policy, has seen a number of ex-trance producers making techno/electro sets on a constant basis. Every weekend 2000 plus people pack its 4 stages, definitely worth the stop if in Tokyo. The clubs are actually safer as owners have arrangements with authorities, and are much closer and easier to get to - so while it may not be the same, people are turning more to indoor events and this has kept the scene alive. More people are also going to house, techno, and electro-style parties as they either get older or just seek something new. Check www.clubberia.com if this is your style.

Of course the full power psychedelic parties are still happening, but if you come to Japan expecting a megamassive trance festival, you will be disappointed. Major festivals in 2009 and 2010 feature live bands and mainstream DJs, keeping a clean image that will hopefully help the public forget about the dark days of 2008-2009.

Flowing with the times is Mother which has been making parties at Ageha, catering to the trance crowd with progressive acts like Son Kite and D-Nox on the main stage and the more full-power Brainbusters producing the outdoor tent stage. The bright side of parties that fuse different spectrums of sound is that it has brought back a lot of nice party people that were turned off by the commercial and cheesy mainstream parties of the early 2000's - so, as with any hard times, many opportunities await around the corner. Here's to hoping for a Psychedelic Recovery.

Tell us more about JAPAN 2011

Support your local scene and let us know about it. Please write in the third person and take a neutral point-of-view. An article about a country should contain the following things:

history of the scene
overview about the upcoming year
parties
artists (acts, decorators, VJs & DJs)
labels
shops (music, deco, fashion, chillin and clubing)
other organisations (publications: radio, TV, print)
facts:

average price for a party,

average price for water/beer,

how many parties a week,

how long is a party in average,

how big are the big and the medium sized parties,

when is the best time to come by?

legal situation on drugs

contacts and addresses (links)

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Facts

Average party price: 20 euro for clubs, 40 euro for outdoor parties
Beer: 1.5 euro in stores, 4 euro in parties
Best party season: May~October (excluding June, a rainy month)

Links

Networks

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