Yoyogi Rockabillies – How the 1950’s never left Tokyo

Hairspray, beer, and cigarettes. Denim, leather, and black tape. Not really your average list of stuff to bring to the park on a Sunday afternoon. But then these are no ordinary people. These are the essentials of the rockabilly guys and gals who hit Tokyo’s Yoyogi park every Sunday, no matter the weather, to dance around to music that was produced before many of them were even born.

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They start at around 2:30pm using an old guitar amp connected to a music player to provide the music. They crank up the volume to maximum leading the sound to come out tinny and distorted like there’s a small person inside rattling the case trying to get out as they sing. I’m not sure if they like it this way because the sound is reminiscent of an old 50’s transistor radio, or whether they are just used to it and so they don’t notice any more. Either way it doesn’t stop them.

They choose a song then begin their twisting, jiving, jumping, turning and any other 50’s looking moves that they can come up with. Generally, their numbers range from about 7 to 11 and they dance around for hours, breaking only for beer, cigarettes and to redo their hair. They dance so long and so regularly that the soles of their shoes are worn through, and now are only kept together by large amounts of black tape rolled around them.

Recently smaller sub-groups have appeared too. Teddy boys and girls often dance around nearby. They are younger and look less intimidating than the rockabilly crowd.

The rockabilly crowd though still seem to dominate. This is their cause and such is their dedication to it, nothing seems to stop them. This endurance is perhaps what’s made them part of the history of Yoyogi park. Rain or shine, hot or cold, if you go there on a Sunday you will see them. Today the temperature is about 30c, and while the spectators huddle into whatever shade they can find, these guys just take their tops off (and the girls don’t even have that luxury). Once the tops are off they reveal a host of tattoos that cover some of the guys. This gives them an intimidating feel, more so because in Japan tattoos are normal associated with the Yakuza – the Japanese mafia.

But after watching them for a while and seeing them happy to pose for pictures with tourists and spectators, you realise that they may not be as intimidating as they make out to be. This contradiction is just part of who they are.

And perhaps contradiction is the epitome of what these guys and gals do – bring back an era long since gone into a time of digital revolution. On Sundays anyway, what they do the rest of the week we can only imagine….