No sooner did I return from Tokyo in November than the agency decided to close down for three
weeks at Christmas. My son would be with his mother in England. And me? I bought a rail pass and
a ticket, made my reservation at the Fukadaya, and came back to Tokyo.
I was arriving in the late afternoon on Christmas Day, and my plan was to race into Shibuya and then
catch a cab to Roppongi, where Reiko and LTCB would be performing at a little live house called Y2K.
Only Satoshi knew, so it would be a surprise. Everything worked out, and I arrived to catch their last
three songs, including “I Wish,” the Christmas single. Satoshi walked me through the maze that led
to the dressing room and we walked in. Ha! We meet again.
I was almost completely out of energy, otherwise I would have gone drinking with everyone
right then. We made plans, and I walked back to Shibuya. Didn’t get lost at all.
Roppongi is where the foreigners find their action. Bright lights. Foreign rock bands and alcohol
brands in all-night bars with English names. Prostitutes are everywhere for take-home or consumption
on the premises. Tough-looking punks and slick gangsters wait around like crows. Schoolgirls
looking for uniform money. Intriguing, but I didn’t want to look like an ex-pat in Tokyo.
The week was cold and grey. The trains were pretty empty. I located some museums, and raced
to see as many as I could before they closed for the end of the year. But for the weather, there
wasn’t much to make me think of the holiday. No decorations to speak of, and no carols!
Christmas is the time of year for wedding engagements, or at least an intimate evening. No one
expects you to be home with the family. No turkey, because the ovens just aren’t that big and
turkeys probably aren’t native birds. No eggnog, but there is kurisumasu kehki. Grumpy drunks
in sagging Santa costumes standing forelonely in front of stores, yes. Colonel Sanders, of course.
And militant, unsmiling Christians in crowds with banners and bullhorns, yes.
Of course there were the many New Year shows. Hamasaki Ayumi was peaking, with a huge album,
a never-ending string of hit singles, and endorsement advertisements everywhere I turned. At the
end of the year she played a concert at the gymnasia at Yoyogi. No tickets for me. But, I could see
her as a guest on every TV special. I heard “Voyage” a couple dozen times. I only saw the Tsunku-
produced fun girls, Morning Musume, more than Ayu. Third place went to the huge charismatic
American wrestler, Bob Sapp, who was on most of the shows and had a documentary, too. He liked
to walk on in Speedos, roaring like an animal and lift up whichever girl happened to be there.
Great television for a visitor at the end of the year. There was a pop music hits retrospective that
reached back to the 80s and YMO. An interview with Mika Katoh, from Sadistic Mika Band, and
the photographer who shot the Black Ships cover. A fabulous sleight-of-hand artist. A master
billiards player who made shots from another table. And a exciting dorama with a pair of samurai
women who were unbeatable. Surprisingly few cartoons.