Archive for May, 2013


Tokyo Dark Castle

Flyer for Tokyo Dark Castle’s last 2012 event (JGoth added question in red)

This blog entry is an update on the lack of overnight events this year in Tokyo’s dark scene.

In case you have not already noticed, iconic events such as Tokyo Dark Castle and Midnight Mess have gone strangely quiet in recent months. There could be a few reasons for this, but it seems one big issue is the re-enforcement of some old laws.

Tokyo has began re-enforcing a 60-year old law that makes late night dance activities illegal. There could also be some other re-animated regulations too, but that makes it hard to have the overnight events – especially lively events such as TDC.

Essentially, if an organizer wants to have late-night dancing, they need to have certification from a recognized dancing association to avoid the risk of them and their patrons being arrested. While it is possible to get certification for many standard dance styles, I do not think that there are any “disco” “mosho” dance associations out there, so it looks like the best of Tokyo’s Gothic night events have closed shop for a while.

Why was dancing without a license made illegal?

Well, it seems that it was somehow connected with prostitution when it was originally installed – perhaps offering a venue for solicitation. However, nowadays in Tokyo, walking down any of the night district streets will get you more solicitations than you can point a stick at.

So the question becomes… Why?

There was a case where one guy was beaten to death at a club last year, but that was more a case of gang members coming in with metal pipes and baseball bats, than being danced to death.

The end result is that overnight events are out for the time being. The early evening events appear to continue without problems, so if you are considering Gothing in Tokyo, an evening event may be the type of event to pursue…

Psydoll, I Psydoll CD

Igor’s first Psydoll CD – I Psydoll from 2004.

After a few months buried under work Igor has finally got around to writing an update. Today, I’m just want to show off my Psydoll CD, which I picked up at the Artism Market in April when I got a chance for a chat with Nekoi Psydoll and the gang.

Psydoll are a concept band whose sounds are built around the idea of escaped rogue robots from a slightly darkened near-future Japan:

Japanese companies (including S#NY, Mit#ubishi, Hit#chi, S#nyo and P#nasonic) usually use the word “DOLL” to name their production robots for military, business and home use. However, PSYDOLL (Psycho-Doll) are illegal robots manufactured and remodeled without proper licenses and with enhanced abilities unlike other “DOLLs”. View full article »