The sound of youth echoing through the city: The dawn of Japanese rock music on the stages of Teshima and Suginami in 1977.

The sound of youth echoing through the city: The dawn of Japanese rock music on the stages of Teshima and Suginami in 1977.

In 1977, Makoto Kubota and the Sunset Sunset Band and Sentimental City Romance appeared at the Toshima and Suginami Public Halls, and a unique Japanese musical culture blossomed at the intersection of folk and rock. With the end of Japan's rapid economic growth, young people turned not to politics but to personal expression, flocking from the countryside to Tokyo in search of "their own sound. Makoto Kubota and his group introduced blues and Hawaiian music, and Sentimental City Romance, from Nagoya, showed the free sensibility that originated in the countryside. A live house culture sprouted in Shibuya and Shinjuku, and public halls radiated pure enthusiasm as hubs of music. Compared to Asakusa and Harajuku, the less commercial atmosphere of Toshima and Suginami became the starting point for creative activities. 1977 was a milestone year for the intersection of the major labels and the underground, just before the rise of Tatsuro Yamashita and Yumi Arai, and this group of per
formances was a record that symbolized the dawn of "Japanese rock. This group of performances was a record that symbolized the dawn of "Japanese rock.