Blue Nippon: Authenticating Jazz in Japan

by E. Taylor Atkins

Japan’s jazz community—both musicians and audience—has been begrudgingly recognized in the United States for its talent, knowledge, and level of appreciation. Underpinning this tentative admiration, however, has been a tacit agreement that, for cultural reasons, Japanese jazz “can’t swing.” In Blue Nippon E. Taylor Atkins shows how, strangely, Japan’s own attitude toward jazz is founded on this same ambivalence about its authenticity.
Engagingly told through the voices of many musicians, Blue Nippon explores the true and legitimate nature of Japanese jazz. Atkins peers into 1920s dancehalls to examine the Japanese Jazz Age and reveal the origins of urban modernism with its new set of social mores, gender relations, and consumer practices. He shows how the interwar jazz period then became a troubling symbol of Japan’s intimacy with the West—but how, even during the Pacific war, the roots of jazz had taken hold too deeply for the “total jazz ban” that some nationalists desired. While the allied occupation was a setback in the search for an indigenous jazz sound, Japanese musicians again sought American validation. Atkins closes out his cultural history with an examination of the contemporary jazz scene that rose up out of Japan’s spectacular economic prominence in the 1960s and 1970s but then leveled off by the 1990s, as tensions over authenticity and identity persisted.
With its depiction of jazz as a transforming global phenomenon, Blue Nippon will make enjoyable reading not only for jazz fans worldwide but also for ethnomusicologists, and students of cultural studies, Asian studies, and modernism.

Genres: Music, History, Japan, Jazz, Nonfiction

384 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2001

Reviews

[Wes Freeman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe the bestest book ever for confronting cultural "authenticity" in musical performance. Post-war Japanese jazz musicians, having only recently dropped the colonial/fascist Pan-Asian ego trip that led them to do some very bad things to some very surprised people, set about making a living in the American Occupation. In the decade that follows the end of the war, Americans give them a constitution, pinball machines, professional wrestling, a black market, and boatloads of soldiers who want to hear Charlie Parker while they drink sake. Japan, having been a party to the polarizing effect that American jazz had on the rest of the world in the 1910s & 1920s, saw its first "youth music" in recent memory stomped out by fascism in the 1930s. Heads came out of the war thinking the jazz story ended with Glenn Miller, and had to learn bebop with little to no context for it, just to keep American servicemen happy. Musicians hooked and crooked Bud Powell and Dizzy Gillespie records from every available source, transcribing music and notating solos so they could render perfect imitations of these musicians on stage. Thus began the long process of "catching up" to American jazz trends that lasted into the 60s, jazzmen dutifully learning bebop, then West Coast jazz, then hard bop, then free jazz, all as they came up, trying to obey the letter of the jazz law while experiencing none of the cultural resonance that created it (author makes the point that while Ornette Coleman's first recordings were incredibly controversial stateside, in Japan he was just the newest alto player to learn). Japanese jazz musicians found themselves in a tough spot, having given their lives to a music they loved but had tenuous cultural connections with; their central issue is how to play jazz the right way. Jazz is an intensely personal music, when played by Americans, it sounds American (at least to Japanese ears). How does a Japanese person make it sound Japanese? How do you participate in a culture that is not your own? Is a Japanese musician just kidding himself when he wails on a blues scale? Author wrestles with this mess, gets deep, presents all the relatable facets of this tangled argument like he's been waiting for the chance to tell you about them. Workable as a history of jazz in japan, and excels itself as a meditation on trusting the art not the artist. No easy answers because there aren't any, but watching the musicians herein ask the questions is a real thrill. 10 out of 5 stars.

[Katherine R. Sage · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very provocative and engaging! Great meditation on cultural hallmarks of "authenticity."

[Jacob]

Published in 2001, which leaves us with a twenty year cliffhanger about jazz in Japan since the late 90s, this book is a chronicle of Japanese jazz artists and listeners. It's fairly detailed and Atkins does an OK job of threading some of the key players and critics together through the decades. One of the main themes of the book is the tension between Japanese jazz artists imitating American jazz artists (which was certainly common during parts of this history) and Japanese jazz artists creating their own jazz (which was sometimes pigeon-holed by foreign jazz fans into jazz fusion that incorporated traditional Japanese instruments). Atkins shows how these tensions around authenticity, from within and outside, shaped jazz in Japan through the 20th century.

When it comes to Jazz in Japan, I can only comment on the the last 3 years in my little neighborhood. Jammin', my local jazz bar in West Tokyo, is sputtering along with trios and performances most nights of week. On the few occasions I've paid $25 to get in, it's usually just me and the drummer's girlfriend in attendance. The eccentric owner is there too, standing behind the bar watching the pianist from the best vantage point in the whole place. All the while I'm tapping my foot and wondering how he manages to balance the books at the end of each month.

[Hisham Hafez · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Blue Nippon, Atkins delves into the question of authenticity and jazz in Japan, and he does a great job of presenting different perspectives on the issue, highlighting the tension between imitation and originality. He examines the influence of U.S. cultural hegemony and the feelings of inferiority experienced by many Japanese artists, particularly in the post war years. Atkins really does a great job in portraying the journey of Japanese jazz from emulation of American styles to innovation, navigating cultural pride and the weight of American influence.

Atkins also covers a detailed history of jazz in Japan, from its introduction in the early 20s. In the early chapters up to the ’50s it was cool to learn about how jazz was introduced and incorporated in Japanese society, from dance halls to jazu kissas, and how that changed to being condemned during the war years. He does a great job in creating a narrative with some of the key players from that time as well, and it was interesting to see how jazz evolved over the decades.

He does start the book by highlighting that isn't possible to include every important artist, but after the ’60s, the book almost exclusively focuses on Akiyoshi and her circle. While she is an important part of it all and the same thing with Nabe-Sada, I would’ve liked more on Inagaki (and his circle of players), especially as Atkins interviewed him for this book! He is mentioned but doesn’t get much more than a repeated anecdote that pops up in like three different places.

On the plus side, I got introduced to a lot of great LPs through this book, which was a real highlight for me.

[Micah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is full of wonderful details on Jazz in Japan, and was perfect for my research project.