Japan Jukebox

July 16th was the final Tokyo date for the pillows’ “Return to Third Movement! Vol.3 tour”.  The “Return to Third Movement!” series of tours are “reproduction tours” for their earlier albums. Vol.1 was held during the end of 2017 and covered the albums “Please Mr. Lostman” and “Little Busters”. Vol.2 was held in May and June of 2018 and covered the albums “Runners High” and “Happy Bivouac”. Finally, after the pillows’ “long vacation” following their 30th anniversary in October of 2019, they returned in 2021 for Vol.3, which covers “Smile” and “Thank you, my twilight”. Each tour corresponds roughly with the albums’ 20th anniversary. Around 20 years ago when Smile and Thank you, my twilight were released, I was just a teenager in America who could only dream of attending the album tours. So, some 20 years later, being able to attend the “reproduction tour” was an incredible experience and felt like fulfilling a childhood dream. The most unique thing about these series of reproduction...

  A tree along a path that I walk every day has become a makeshift lost-and-found. These are belongings that people have dropped, picked up by others, and placed hanging in the tree for easy visibility. Similarly, when I go to parks I often see toys that children have left, but they remain until the owner comes back to retrieve them. This fluffy capybara plushie has been sitting on this concrete pilar for the past few days, waiting to be reunited with its owner. Once, my phone slipped out of my pocket while sitting on the train. A man picked it up, exited the train, and tracked me down through a swarm of people to hand it back to me. It’s a stark contrast to the “finders keepers” attitude of the western world. I munched on some chestnuts while thinking about this. 🌰