Togawa Jun
I had a good time at a kickboxing match one of my coworkers had in Tokyo, but I had some more fun beforehand.
I had a crazy conversation in the McDonalds by the arena, though. The McDonalds was a four-story tall hole in the side of a corner with a smoking floor in the middle of the building (and with the only bathroom). I took the steps to the fourth floor, really seeing an actual fog of smoke hovering on the third floor. This girl and I walked in on the same floor with only one table left.
She wore bigg-ish dark purple glasses, had straight bangs, and was wearing a type of unicolor jumpsuit outfit. Her backpack was simple and had star designs. She fussed up her mouth as she played with her cellphone. There was something about her that bugged me.
I made a comment about her bag and got a little response. Then, I ate my food and decided to bite and what was in my mind.
“What type of music do you like?” I asked.
“Rock!” she answered quickly with a little bit of excitement. Maybe she was reading my mind?
“Are you going to the Togawa Jun concert today?” I said.
“Yes, I am! You know Togawa Jun!?” she said excitingly as she tapped me on my arm.
My original plan was to go to the Togawa Jun concert that day, but tickets sold out.
I knew everyone at the concert was gonna be interesting at the least(especially the young people), but it was sold out, and I don’t know if I’m a hardcore enough Togawa Jun fan to rock with them.
Because man, Togawa Jun is one crazy ass girl. Japan has a strong tradition for expressive female musicians, and Togawa Jun definitely isn’t an exception.
She started around the late 70s with a group called Halmens, then moved on to solo stuff with her album Tamahime-sama (which actually got put on Rolling Stones Japan’s top 50 rock albums). She has the voice of an opera singer, ridiculously innocent girl, and angry bitch all rolled into one. She has the rebellious nature of some type of rebellious riot girl or punk rocker, but is too theatrical to pull it off.
My favorite incarnation of her stuff is the band she formed called Yapoos. The only album I heard is their first one, Keikaku. It’s really eccentric and a little out of date(I like the old school bass sounds, though), so it’s not for everyone.
You can call it kitschy, or just random Japanese stuff, but it’s definitely unique. I’ll write more about her if I find anything new.
Links
Really great recent track - Preach
Video of an opera-like performance she did in NY
Yapoos-keikaku album
