Description

The Beatles' engagement with Japan, especially their 1966 tour, highlights a great deal about Japan's postwar cultural development and Japan's deepening relationship with the West. Up to the 1960s Japan's reconstruction phase was not fully completed, its "economic miracle" and the associated high level of self-confidence were not yet in place, and Japan was not yet considered a fully-fledged partner of the West. All these potential developments were there in embryo in the mid-1960s, and were consolidated around the time of the 1966 tour. The tour contributed to the construction of a new Japanese national identity, demonstrated the possibilities of Japan as a potential new kind of market to UK and US producers, and forged for Japan increasing transnational cultural links. This book explores these interesting and important issues. It describes the Beatles' 1966 tour and its huge impact, both the euphoria and the adverse reactions, discusses the impact of the tour on Japanese culture and identity, and outlines the Beatles' subsequent contacts with Japan, including John Lennon's marriage and artistic partnership with Yoko Ono, and Paul McCartney's later tours and warm reception in Japan.