Watching "The Strangers" Rockabilly Group perform in Yoyogi Park, Tokyo, Japan.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ต.ค. 2024
- On my first trip to Tokyo in 2008, I came across a group of rockabillies performing in Yoyogi Park. In 2024 I returned to see if they were still there.
The Strangers are one of the biggest and oldest groups of rockabillies in Tokyo (consisting of) founder Jess Yamanaka, group leader Charlie, sub-leader Miki, music mixer Haruo and assistant music mixer Tatsu. Yamanaka tells us that there used to be an American military base in Yoyogi Park. He still remembers hearing the first sounds of rock ’n’ roll coming from apartments where Americans lived. The music piqued his interest and developed into a passion that burns to this day. It also led to his founding and maintaining of the Strangers. The name came straight out of an English dictionary.
“I was looking for something cool, and I saw ‘stranger.’ The definition of ‘outsider, alien’ hit close to home,” he tells us.
The rockabillies will tell you that in Japanese, the preferred terms are rock ’n’ roller, roller-zoku (meaning tribe or family) or, simply, roller. Harajuku has long been an epicenter for non-conformity, a safe haven for those who stand out, a power spot where you can find your people. But before there were kawaii Harajuku girls or strawberry cream crepes, there were Tokyo rockabillies with greased hairdos and taped-up shoes. They’re the OGs of Harajuku’s subcultures and are consistently there every Sunday, rain or shine. They even brave hailstorms, dancing while the music player howls under umbrellas.
The Strangers have existed for 33 years, although some members have danced as rockabillies even longer. Haruo, the most experienced senpai after Yamanaka, has been into rock ’n’ roll since his high school days when he saw dance groups on TV. “I knew I had to go to Tokyo and be a part of it,” he says.
“He has more stamina than all of us,” Miki adds, pointing to the younger members. “He also knows the best dance moves.”
Rockabilly subculture hit Tokyo’s streets in the ’80s, the time of Harajuku Hokoten - “hokoten” is short for “hokousha tengoku” and means “pedestrian paradise.” Young and fashionable people came to stroll and dance on a 2.2-kilometer-long stretch of vehicle-free roadway in the Harajuku Station area, and one of the most prominent groups was the vintage fashion-loving ’50s rock music aficionados we know as the rockabillies.
“There were, like, 2,000 to 3,000 people in total, 100 or 200 teams. And the Strangers was one of them,” Charlie tells us.
In 1998, Harajuku’s pedestrian paradise closed, and the Strangers had nowhere to dance. “That’s when we brought the rock ’n’ roll to Yoyogi Park,” Miki explains.
Charlie has always admired the Harajuku rockabilly culture, but it took him a while to join the Strangers. Once he did, rockabilly became his whole lifestyle, not just something he did only on Sundays.
“Being a rock ’n’ roller comes from the heart and the soul,” the silver-haired leader adds.
Miki and Tatsu both share that they were fascinated when they first came to know the Strangers, by their dedication, their coolness, their camaraderie. “I thought that they were so inspiring and wanted to be one of them,” Miki says. She’s one of the most prominent female members at the moment.
The Strangers gather every Sunday afternoon at around 1pm at the clock tower in Yoyogi Park, have also represented Harajuku culture worldwide in their 33 years. Yamanaka tells us the story of meeting Paul McCartney, who came in secret to watch the Yoyogi rockabillies dance while on tour in Japan in 1993. McCartney was so impressed with the Strangers that he asked them to perform with him at Tokyo Dome.
The group shares that they also performed at a Paris Fashion Week after-party in 2016 and starred in the music video for 5 Seconds of Summer’s single “Youngblood” a few years later. In 2018, Yamanaka was invited to train a youth rockabilly group in Dalian, China.
“Tell everyone: The keyword is ‘yoroshiku,’” the Strangers say.
And don’t be just a stranger - say hi.
This text was originally published in Tokyo Weekender (05 June 2023) - Rock Around the Clock: The Stories of Tokyo’s Rockabillies’ “The Strangers”, Yoyogi Park’s iconic rockabilly group. BY ZORIA PETKOSKA.
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I was there in 91 and 93. Harajuku on a Sunday was absolutely awesome.
And there were so many bands set up playing all different kinds of music. Were you there on a Sunday?
👍👍👍 my kind of music
Nice looking girl there greeting s Mika from🇫🇮
Beaty girls there wow great 😮🇫🇮🍺 Mika Helsinki 2024
I first saw these guys when Michael Palin did Full Circle in 1997. Brilliant then and now.
Thanks.
Japan has so much more to offer culturally than Philippines! The contrast is crazy when you visit both countries one after the other
Do you remember the “Kill Bill”movie with the Japanese girl band from Tokyo called the 5.6.7.8‘s? They had that hit song called “Woo Hoo” .
I remember them
wheres all of the japan content?!
Are these leftover trims from a much tighter edit?
Joker in red outfit probably making 6 figures❤
The Crazy dude in the Red outfit, I wonder how many subs. he has?
Riveting channel that one!
Obviously the guy with the tats on his back is a keen dancer of this form of movement, thought it was a band you were going to show us from the headline, bit of break dancing I saw to, you should have stripped off shown us those weight trained pecs and some British moves ! so your in Japan, thought you were headingv to Malaysia , great park , god video of it, and also those photos of 2008 and the Rockabilly dancers, hope the Brits do well in Paris, Keely looks a cert after Athing fell in the US trials, cheers and beers !
黒髪に黒のタンクトップの女性の人カッコいい👍それにしても炎天下で踊るのは、ハードだな！
If the “Rock and Rollers” actually played instruments and sang, they would get a bigger crowd of specatators and tips. Just having Elvis hair-dos and playing air guitar is not enough on it’s own.
The girl at 11:26
Please no more of these videos❤
Move on from Hillbillies
Gawd!! Pitiful...exposing one's fantasy to the world...and so unJapanese!
Japan is a beautiful country, but if one doesn't speak the lingo, it's hard to mix/ socialise. I looked around then left to go somewhere more linguistically accessible