キャンペーン署名を届ける旅 – Summary of Campaign (EN) –

Summary of Campaign

The following is the summary of our “Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Japan Tour Realizing Campaign”.

765 signatures were gathered in our two-year campaign from January 10,1999 to December 31, 2000. The campaign website collected 520 and other media, such as postal mail, fax and e-mail, collected 245. The signatures rose constantly in the two years, and were expected to increase with further continuation of the campaign.

The number is very small; this is due to lack of campaign’s promotion. All of our staffs are nonprofessionals and have absolutely no connection with the music business. The promotions were limited; it was held through the Internet and leaflets distributed to CD shops in the metropolitan area. No mass medium was used, suggesting that our campaign was not spread widely to all the Japanese fans.

Not all autographed fans left the information about their residence, so our data is incomplete. We will show you the demographic data according to the available data on Table 1.

Table 1:　The analysis of the gathered signatures by location

district	major city	prefectures	number of signatures
Kanto	Tokyo	Tokyo	164
	Yokohama	Kanagawa	62
		(Chiba, Saitama)	44
		(Ibaraki, Gunma)	4
Hokkaido	Sapporo	Hokkaido	5
Tohoku	Sendai	(Miyagi, Yamagata)	9
Joshinetsu		(Nagano, Niigata, Fukui)	4
Chubu	Nagoya	Aichi	7
		(Gifu, Shizuoka)	4
Kansai	Osaka	Osaka	42
		(Kyoto, Nara, Hyogo)	11
Chugoku	Hiroshima	(Okayama, Hiroshima)	2
Shikoku		(Ehime, Tokushima)	1
Kyushu	Fukuoka	Fukuoka	5
		Kagoshima	1
		total	365
		out of Japan	6
		unknown	394

* ( ) denotes multiple neighboring prefectures

I would like to inform you about the music industry situations in Japan. Please forgive me if you already are aware of it.

While Japan owns a domestic music market of its own, rock music from the United States and Europe takes an essential part of the music business, and the consumers’ demands are huge and vast. Concerts from artists worldwide are constantly held on daily basis. Especially in the past few years, major American and European artists succeeded their Japanese tour (Table 2), and the number of concerts keep increasing.

Table 2:　Major rock concerts held in Tokyo

• Brian Wilson　(Jul 1999; Tokyo International Forum ×3)
• Eric Clapton　(Nov 1999; Budokan Hall ×8)
• Aerosmith　(Dec 1999-Jan 2000; Tokyo Dome)
• Red Hot Chili Peppers　(Jan 2000; Budokan Hall ×2)
• Santana　(Apr 2000; Tokyo International Forum ×2, extra show at Budokan Hall ×1 )
• Bon Jovi　(Jun 2000; Tokyo Dome ×2)
• Phish　(Jun 2000; Shibuya On Air East, Zepp Tokyo (extra show), Hibiya Outdoor Amphitheatre)
• The Smashing Pumpkins　(Jun-Jul 2000; Budokan Hall, Tokyo International Forum (extra show))
• Jeff Beck　(May-Jun 1999, Dec 2000; Tokyo International Forum ×3, Tokyo Bay NK Hall)
• Limp Bizkit　(Jan 2001, Makuhari Messe X 2 (approx. 20,000))

In the recent years, rock festivals are becoming a new Japanese rock tradition. Especially, Fuji Rock Festival is now world-famous, and artists like Oasis are voluntarily offering the promoter (Smash Japan) to join the festival. Safety and cleanliness (virtually trash-free) is another appeal, which is not seen elsewhere. Artists shown on Table 3 were among the major artists to play in the Festival.

Fuji Rock Festival started in 1997 as a summer rock festival. For the past two years, it was held in Naeba resort in Niigata prefecture. Naeba is a beautiful winter ski resort, and is located about 100 miles away (two hours of Bullet Train ride) from Tokyo. Last year gathered more than 70,000 people in three days; this year’s festival is scheduled to be from July 27th to July 29th.

Following the success of the Festival, another promoter (Creativeman) started another rock festival, Summer Sonic, last year. James Brown, Weezer and Green Day were among the artists that joined the festival.

Table 3:　Artists that joined Fuji Rock Festival

Beck / The Black Crowes / Rage Against The Machine / Phish / ZZ Top / The Foo Fighters / A Perfect Circle

The ordinary concert ticket costs from 7,000 to 10,000 yen (approximately $70 to $100); even though the cost of living is considerably expensive, this is yet a high price. Nonetheless, most of the concerts are sold out, showing the Japanese music lovers’ desire to spend their money to what they truly enjoy. They also have a true devotion and respect to the artists coming all the way to the Far East. Since the frequency of the Japanese tour is obviously limited compared to the U.S., not only the fanatical fans but other music fans gather to the concerts.

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One of the hottest topic at the moment is the Japanese tours of The Wallflowers and Bob Dylan. They both are promoted by Udo Artists, Inc., the major Japanese promoter. I will show you the tour details as examples.

The Wallflowers will have their first Japanese tour in February, and are scheduled for two nights in Tokyo (Shibuya Public Hall, 2,318 capacity), and one night each in Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka (approx. 2,000 capacity each). The ticket costs from 6,000 to 7,000 yen ($60 to $70).

It has been four years since Bob Dylan made his last tour, and the upcoming tour from February to March is planned to be held on an unprecedented basis. The tour will cover not only the metropolitan areas but small cities where foreign artists hardly play. The tour includes ten cities in 18 days; Sendai, Akita, Omiya, Tokyo (three nights), Yokohama, Hamamatsu, Nagoya, Osaka (two nights), Hiroshima and Fukuoka. Tokyo concerts includes a night at Budokan Hall (13,499 capacity) plus two extra nights at Tokyo International Forum (5,012 capacity). The tickets costs from 8,500 to 9,500 yen ($85 to $95).

Obviously, this is a very special and an enormous tour, and cannot be applied to other artists. Most artists usually plan their tour around Tokyo and Osaka, plus few cities, such as Nagoya and Fukuoka. Tokyo and Osaka are huge metropolitan area with population of over ten million people each, and Japanese cultures are centered around these districts. People in the surrounding areas will gather at Tokyo or Osaka metropolitan areas.

Japan is a small country, with a size smaller than that of California, and Nagoya and Osaka are only two and three hours away from Tokyo by Shinkansen (“Bullet Train”), respectively. Compared to the States, transportation infrastructures are conveniently maintained and cities are gathered closeby; serious fans do not mind traveling around Japan to enjoy the entire tour.

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We will return the topic back to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

It is now evident how much the Japanese fans are desperately waiting to see them. The signatures symbolize the fans’ commitment to go to the concerts if it becomes a reality; that is, regardless of distance, money, and time.

Needless to say, we understand the signatures are not the only decisive factor for realizing to see TP&HB in Japan; while we showed you the summary of the present Japanese music business, this may not give you enough information necessary for the planning. We also truly understand that there are many difficult obstacles businesswise, especially the high expenses, in order to put it into practice.

But, please do understand that so many people are waiting to see Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in Japan. It is a true tragedy not be able to experience the peerless and magical concerts.

We appreciate if you would generously inform Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers about the Japanese fans. Please do consider their Japanese tour. We hope our wish, on behalf of all the fans in Japan, will reach you and the band, and will be looking forward to have our dreams to come true.

Once again, thank you very much for your kind-heartedness.