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Japan rocking out of
recession
By Chris Johnson
TOKYO - After 37 years of living by the
beach, Tomoko Takahashi finally decided this
summer to do business there.
To supplement
her modest earnings as a hair stylist Monday to
Friday, Takahashi has set up a weekend studio
offering 800-yen (US$7) henna tattoos under an
umbrella on jam-packed Zushi beach, an hour's
train ride west of Tokyo.
Zushi used to be
known for retirees and the occasional windsurfer.
But since July, the local government has opened
the beach to about 50 restaurants, bars and clubs
with breezy names such as Club Freedom, Sea Zoo
and Oasis Latino, bringing the Tokyo underground
club scene out into the sun and packing the sand
with youth in board-shorts and bikinis.
"Before, they just sold juice or beer on
the beaches," Takahashi said. "Only recently do we
have these kinds of bars open til night. This
summer has been really busy here."
And not
only in Zushi. Across Japan, business is booming
in the mountains and on the beaches, profiting
from a nascent youth culture of surfing, camping,
raving and rocking.
More than a decade
ago, when Japan Inc was challenging the American
business empire, Japanese workaholic salarymen and
uniformed office ladies had little interest in
tents or suntans. But  since the bubble
burst more than a decade ago, thousands of
under-employed youth have pioneered a footloose
sub-economy of music, food and fashion that often
goes unnoticed by government statisticians and
financial analysts.
The paradigm shift
began with the first Fuji Rock festival in 1998,
though it didn't seem that way at the time. A
typhoon that summer forced the cancellation of the
event's second day, and organizers say it took
four years to recover the lost revenue. "People
said 'there you go, it won't work'," said Johnnie
Fingers, an international coordinator with
Tokyo-based Smash Productions, which organizes
Fuji Rock, Asagiri Jam and other festivals and
concerts. "But we survived. Then everybody said
'somebody's making money here'. After that people
started to do their own festivals."
Massive outdoor parties mushroomed across
Japan, from the Japan-splash reggae fest in
Okinawa and the Summer Solstice and Metamorphose
rave parties in Shizuoka to the Summer Sonic rock
fest in Chiba and the Rising Sun rock fest in
Hokkaido.
The answer to Japan's economic
doldrums was blowing in the wind. Music-mad,
fad-conscious young people, especially those
living rent-free with their parents, still had
money to spend.
At most events, entrance
fees are usually more than 11,000 yen (US$100) per
day, not including fees for parking, camping, food
and water. Fingers said a record crowd of about
125,000 people attended this July's Fuji Rock
Festival at the Naeba ski resort in Niigata
prefecture, about four hours drive north of Tokyo.
Many paid about 16,000 yen for a day pass or
38,000 yen for a three-day pass to slosh around in
the rain and mud and check out an array of 160
artists such as Coldplay, Fatboy Slim, Beck, and
Japan's own topnotch acts such as The Sherbets,
Rosso, Los Alios, and Tokyo Ska Paradise
Orchestra.
"At first people came for the
headliners. But now it's become like a social
event, a chance to see people you haven't seen in
a while," Fingers said. "It's a holiday for most
people."
And also a successful business
enterprise and reputation-maker. In fact, Fingers
notes, the Queen of England awarded Fuji Rock
founder Masahiro Hidaka with the Order of the
British Empire for helping to promote British
music culture.
Japan's rock and rave
revolution is good clean fun, with a kind of
organic and orderly anarchy that's a refreshing
alternative to the bad-trip scenes of mass
arrests, overdosing and hospitalizations at
Thailand's full moon parties or the muggings at UK
fests. The social revolution also employs
thousands of body-pierced youth who wouldn't fit
into the corporate straightjacket.
"Hippie" clothing shops, which encompass
everything from African jewelry to frilly trousers
and Shanghai dresses, are springing up across
Tokyo, beyond the Harajuku and Shibuya fashion
districts into the less pricey bohemian climes of
Shimokitazawa, Nakano, and Koenji. A Japanese
actress who calls herself Aqui buys clothing and
instruments on journeys to Kenya, India and
Thailand, then peddles them at her small shop west
of Shinjuku. A Shinjuku entrepreneur and raver
named Hana Trance goes right to her prime market,
setting up makeshift stalls at upcountry raves.
Fuji Rock's foodcourt or "world
restaurant" features dozens of small business
owners from across Japan serving cheap 500-yen
Thai curries, tandoori chicken, Japanese noodles
and even food from Ghana, Egypt and Russia. These
so-called yatai bring back the kind of
freewheeling food markets that were swept off the
streets in the 1960s during Japan's rush to
Western-style modernization.
Across Japan,
many of the new entrepreneurs are foreigners.
Cesar Paucar, who came from Peru 13 years ago,
recently opened his dance club Oasis Latino on
Zushi beach, a few footprints from Takahashi's
Henna Tattoo. "I'm bringing our South American
culture here - the music, the dancing, the beach
life," Paucar said in Spanish as he hosed down a
customer with "Jet Bronze" suntan spray. "Japan is
open for business."
But the costs are
high, he said. He had to pay 350,000 yen for a
permit from the local authorities to build his
bamboo and thatch shop and sell South American
drinks such as Patagonia and Guarana. A few weeks
ago, he had to rebuild after a typhoon blew the
roof off his business. But like Takahashi and the
others in the new economy, he insists he's driven
by more than just the profit motive.
"Japanese people used to be closed. They
would sit tight and talk to no one. Now we are
loosening them up. They come in here and say 'hey
mang, how's it going'."
(Copyright 2005
Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please
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