Deep in the Heart of Tokyo

Two Sundays ago, the J-folks treated us to a concert. We all flew to Dallas for an afternoon of country music. Not really. We actually headed to the 11th Annual Lonestar Picnic, in the Tokyo suburb of Tokorozawa.

It was a pretty entertaining day. I'd say the place to get into the country music scene is in Japan. As long as the music is close, you don't really need to have the lyrics down.

Here's a picture of the headliner: J.T. Kinehara. He almost looks just like George Strait. He really wasn't that bad and I have a copy of the CD he recorded in Nashville. It has one his own songs, She Called Me Japanese Willie.

However, this fella here was the closest thing to a Japanese Willie at the show. He even sang The City of New Orleans. I seemed to be the only one in the crowd that knew this tune. I don't think most Japanese country music fans stray too far from whatever's new and current. He's also the only act that had a harmonica.

Here's a picture of the Wildwood Roses. They were a pretty big hit, as the dance area quickly filled when they started singing. This is a shot of her doing some kind of Shania Twain thang.

I tried to use the digital zoom and get a closer look at her Twain thang, but only managed to get a shot of J-Pop. By the look on his face and the body language of the other two guys, I'm guessing her Twain thang was close enough to the real deal!

They are probably dancing to lines like "I'm fwom the countwy and I wike it that way," or "God [bwey] the day I discover you..." But the music was spot on. It was kind of strange. If you didn't really look at anybody, but just scan the crowd, it looked like any group of Native Americans or Hispanics, in Oklahoma, having a hoedown.

Apparently, this hipster's image of "western attire" is something different. It might be how they're dressing in west Harajuku. Incidentally, his group had the loudest whoopers and hollerers. They were also drinking the most.

These guys know exactly how real cowboys are expected to dress. The American flag guy had on Ol' Glory sunglasses and earrings. He was quite the glamourboy. The other one is just your regular rodeoer. I saw a couple of guys with what looked like cans of Skoal in their back pockets.

Here's J-Ma and Pa getting jiggy with it.

A little rodeo clown.

J-Ma going solo.

One of the three members of the "Wake Up Tulsa" dancing club. A lot of gangs were wearing their "colors."

J-Ma still going solo.

A Man in Black (he looked like a Japanese Lee Van Cleef) offering "Willie" some firewater, while an A's fan looks on.

This cowpoke was pretty drunk. He sat down behind me and gave me a shoulder massage for about 5 minutes. He kept yanking back and hugging me. He announced a few times that I was his new American friend. The people with whom he shared didn't seem to care. He had some basic English, because he works on a U.S. base. He made his kids come down and say "Hello" and "Nice to meet you." They later came back down to give me a rice cracker. His wife seemed like a good hearted woman that fell in love with a good timin' man.

Here we are! I'm wearing the only western shirt that I brought to Japan. She's representing, by wearing a ballcap with the face of OSU's Pistol Pete on it (At least Oklahoma was represented in Longhorn territory).