Nagatomi, Kenji and the Kyoto Country Music Scene

The core group of country music performers in Kyoto, of which the singing dentist Kenji Nagatomi and the Tennessee Five, are the most prominent, were members of the Doshisha and Ritsumeikan University American Music Clubs in the period 1948-60. The current band, which includes two young guitarist recently celebrated its 40th anniversary. Country music-especially the music of Hank Williams- was it's peak of popularity in Japan in the 1950's-a product of the American occupation army's heavily Southern makeup. Indeed the late Kyu Sakamoto, famous for his worldwide hit "Sukiyaki," began his career in the late 1950's as a county singer. Of course what this means, is that the typical country music fan in Japan is 50-70 years old, and while very knowledgeable about artists from the period 1955-70, knows little about contemporary country. Fortunately the success of some crossover artists, the use of country music on some famous movie soundtracks and the ready availability of country music CDs at Tower and Virgin Records in recent years, has led to an increase in younger fans. Still, at 45, it's nice being one of the youngest people at any music concert. The other interesting thing, of course, is that because the core fans are graduates of elite universities during a period when perhaps 2-3% of the population attended any university, they are a pretty well educated and wealthy group withvery little in common, sociologically, with their American counterparts. As a fan of the music rather than the subculture that exists around it in the U.S., this suits me fine.