Fifty years ago The Beatles played their final tour with concerts in just seven cities over the course of four months, beginning in London, and ending in San Francisco. Millions of fans in England, Germany, Japan, the Philippines and America flocked to see the band.
On June 29, 1966, The Beatles arrived in Tokyo, to play five sold-out shows at the legendary Nippon Budokan. The venue had been previously reserved for traditional Japanese entertainment and famous for its sumo wrestling. It was built to commemorate the lives of Japan’s lost soldiers, and was a hallowed center of Japanese culture.
As the first rock act to perform at the Budokan, The Beatles paved the way for other classic rock giants to perform concerts there including Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin and Cheap Trick at what became an internationally recognized music venue.
This fleeting stay in Tokyo is captured in a new, limited edition book of photographs taken by Japanese photographer Shimpei Asai entitled Hello Goodbye: The Beatles in Tokyo, 1966, beautifully bound and printed, from Genesis Publications, well known for publishing collectors’ music, photography and art books.
Asai is the only Japanese photographer to have been given official access to The Beatles in Tokyo, and his photos have remained unknown to most outside Japan. They offer an intimate portrait of The Beatles in their first trip to the country, capturing their time on- and off-stage: performing, painting, and experimenting with traditional Japanese instruments.
Hello Goodbye is introduced with an essay by journalist and Beatles author Allan Kozinn, who considers the historical significance of The Beatles’ visit, and the turning point they were about to reach with the release of Revolver.
He writes: “When The Beatles left England on 23 June, the album was still unnamed. Revolver was a contender, along with ‘Abracadabra’ and ‘The Beatles on Safari’. It was in Tokyo, during the endless hours they sat in their suite at the Hilton, that they finally settled the matter, and on 2 July they cabled their decision to EMI in London.”
The hand-crafted, limited edition book is now available. Copies are numbered from 1 to 1,966, to commemorate the year of The Beatles’ visit to Tokyo, and each book is signed by the author. For more information and to order, click here.
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