Category: Japan News


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…

It is time for another Halloween in Osaka, and what better way to celebrate this dark night than turning up to another iteration of the famous Gothic club event, Black Veil!

Produced by Territory-D’s Taiki, Black Veil is one of the coolest events to go to in the Osaka Goth scene. The event is an all-night affair featuring DJ’s Taiki, Bonzin and Syarman along with support from locals Moe:t and Elmina, plus a special guest performance from Nagoya’s Stigmatic DJ, Doomspider. There will also be performances from an-jali and Midori (a toast to her hallowed name!) and a shop booth for Territory-D, of course.

The event is priced at 3,500 yen (plus one drink) for advanced bookings and 4,000 yen (plus one drink) on the night. I am not sure if this is dress-coded, but for any Dark Veil event it is always worth dressing up as it will be one of the best dressed events in the local calendar.

Starting at 9 p.m. the event will continue on until the dawn so remember to bring a photo ID with you!

Dark Veil :: Halloween
When: October 30
Where: Club Neo
Address: B2, It Bldg., 2-18-9 Nishi-Shinsaibashi, Chuo-ku, Osaka :: 大阪市中央区西心斎橋2-18-9 ITビルB2F
Tel: 06-6213-3211
Booking: sabbat[@]territory-d.com
DJ’s: Taiki, Syarman, Bonzin, Moe:t, Elmina and Doom Spider
Open: 21:00
Price: Advance 3,500 yen (+1 drink), @door 4,000 yen (+1 drink)

While checking out Psydoll at my latest adventure to Urga in July 2010 I came across Shredni Vashtar, a rather interesting duo producing peppy electronica. Excuse the audio quality, I was standing too close to the speakers again.

A small snippet of news for you. The Ueda College of Fashion have announced a new course for 2011 in Gothic and Lolita fashion design, reflecting its unique Japanese origins. This does not have much to do with the Gothic scene in Japan (although EGL is represented to a small extent at events), but is an interesting development showing that Gothic Lolita-ism as a growing trend.

Psydoll performing @ Urga in Shinjuku, Tokyo on Saturday, May 29.

Visit Psydoll

[Uber Goth-Industrial Live & DJ] Finally, the second half schedule for TDC. Tokyo Dark Castle (TDC) is the main event for the Gothic underground in Tokyo. Populated by the best-dressed Goths from all walks of life TDC delivers some of the best live acts and DJs in the scene. This makes TDC a must on any Goth agenda.

TDC have the second half’s event schedule for 2009 and rather than do a single post each time the event is set to roll.

Unless otherwise stated, TDC begins at 12 midnight Saturdays and goes through to the early morning (around 6 a.m.). Remember that as with all overnight events you need photo ID to enter. View full article »

A special multi-city party celebrating the countdown for the new year. More details to come.

– Edit –
Sorry for the false alarm. The reference I saw was that all DJs from Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya would be in Black Veil’s 2009 Count Down.

Well, guess who’s been a busy boy today.

Yes, Koizumi, Japan’s PM and self-professed lion king, presumably because of his hair-do, has kicked into overdrive the last couple of days.

First it was yesterday, when the helmsman gave a tongue-lashing to young MPs who were too busy playing with their mobile phones and reading comics during Parliament sessions. Don’t believe me? Well check this story out before it disappears. There are all kinds of adult (themed) comics in Japan from alien sex to pro-golf heroes to cybernetic businessmen called Yamazaki. Hopefully none of them were carrying old copies of Misshitsu into the sessions.

Then today, there’s the announcement that the big boy is off to see Kim Jong-il to talk about Japanese abductees and nuclear issues. So the two Ks, Kim and Koizumi, will be getting together for a pow-wow on May 22. Should be an interesting tour….

Hopefully too interesting for people to pay much attention to the revelation by K’s staff that Japan’s permed prince of politics failed to make pension payments for several years. So what? I hear you say. Well, Japan’s pension system is buckling as the population gets older, and the pollies are the ones who should be doing something to overhaul the thing before it’s too late. Now the guys who are responsible for the systemic mess are getting caught for not even making payments. Okay, just trust me here. It’s a big fiasco and people are bowing like crazy, apologizing profusely and tendering resignations (from posts, not from parliament). Go check out Koizumi’s announcement, the political dilinquents, and the polly-berating TV anchor who just got busted.

Anyway, one thing is for sure, Koizumi will be too busy to turn up to Zombiefied at Rock Ya and that is a great reason to go!