This year sees the 40th anniversary of the Beatles concerts in Japan. The John Lennon Museum in Saitama is exhibiting their stage costumes and the press coverage of the time. The British Ambassador to Tokyo in 1966 wrote a confidential report on the visit which makes for a fascinating read. The trip was primarily sponsored by the Yomiuri Shimbun under proprietor Matsutaro Shoriki who had decided that the Budokan was the most appropriate venue. Tickets ranged from 1500 to 2100 yen and sold out immediately. Then the trouble began. Right-wingers objected to the use of the Budokan which was still primarily a martial arts hall and had never been used for a rock concert. The idea that the decadent Beatles would play there provoked an uproar as nationalists claimed it would be a desecration and represent a corruption of public morals. There were rumours of an assasination attempt on the band and the police were already concerned enough about security to mobilize 35,000 officers. Interestingly, the ambassador commented that Japan is "a country where crowds can easily become rioting mobs." Shoriki began to get cold feet and, a month before the event, announced that the Budokan would not be used. There was, however, no suitable alternative venue - the outdoor stadiums built for the Tokyo Olympics could be a disaster during rainy season. Indeed, the band's eventual arrival was delayed nearly half a day by a major typhoon which led the press to talk of the "Beatles Typhoon".
Good sense prevailed in the end as the executive board of the Budokan pointed out that the Beatles had received awards from the Queen and so should be regarded as upright citizens. The question did come up during their first press conference in Tokyo (full transcript here):
Security was tight during their stay. Police and firemen packed the aisles of the Budokan but mainly spent their time dealing with the fainting fits of hysterical fans. John and Paul did slip out of their hotel briefly; John to the Oriental Bazaar in Harajuku and the Asahi Gallery in Roppongi while Paul went to the Imperial Palace (pictures of that, and others from the trip, here). There's a breakdown of their whole schedule over the 5 days on Hiro Sato's Beatles Page. There is a more exhaustive account in Japanese here which gives details of the cost of the trip, how the tickets were allocated, which rooms they used in the Hilton etc. Apparently, they ate room service almost exclusively but were reported to have tried sukiyaki one night. They also bought kimonos (probably yukata) and arranged for a tailor to run-up some made-to-measure suits which they later wore on stage in the U.S.QUESTION: Some Japanese say that your performances will violate the Budokan which is devoted to traditional Japanese martial arts, and you set a bad example for Japanese youth by leading them astray from traditional Japanese values. What do you think of all that?
PAUL: The thing is that if somebody from Japan-- If a dancing troupe from Japan goes to Britain, nobody tries to say in Britain that they're violating the traditional laws, you know, or that they're trying to spoil anything. All we're doing is coming here and singing because we've been asked to.
JOHN: Better to watch singing than wrestling, anyway.
PAUL: Yeah. We're not trying to violate anything. Umm, we're just as traditional, anyway.
