Buono! cancellation tip of the iceberg

Suzuki, right, one-third of the world-class trio of Buono!, performing with °C-ute sidekick Hagiwara, January 2009.

Why should the May 22-24 cancellation of the Stockholm Japan Expo 2009, and Buono!’s first appearance in Europe, carry any more significance that hundreds of similar incidents that occur around the world?

It’s just a concert, and it’s just another convention. Right?

Not!

Consider this:

*** In this period of economic uncertainty, Sweden’s tourism industry will lose not only a sizable piece of change with canceled travel plans for hundreds of foreign guests, it will lose credibility, and future travelers will think twice about traveling here for any reason.

*** An important cultural interaction will be missed. Only now is the music industry of Japan willing to share around the world what its fans have long known – the most amazing and compelling musical ensembles are being recruited, trained and otherwise prepared in Japan. Until this year, with Up-Front Artists groups Hangry & Angry playing in Seattle earlier this month, and Morning Musume scheduled to debut in the U.S. at Anime Expo 2009 on July 2-5 in L.A., these shows were limited to Japanese audiences alone. Only a handful of foreign fans could afford the time and resources to travel to Tokyo and Yokohama to see these performances "live."

Momoko, second from left foreground, and Miyabi, background center, of Berryz Kobo, January 2006, are the other two cogs of Buono!

*** Momentum toward a more open exchange of musical products between Japan and the West will be slowed. No doubt UFA, with oversees Buono!'s Hello! Project parent company, and many fans from other countries, have already put forth money and resources toward the Sweden project that cannot be recovered.

*** The world needs to spend money – not hoard or waste it. The Sweden reversal not only stops money being spent, it wastes money already committed. That compounds already ajngling nerves that consumers have about any kind of purchase right now.

Unfortunately, this incident underscores what I warned about in January 2008 after my first trip to Japan to see the Hello! Project Winter 2008 concerts at Yokohama Arena – such elaborate, extraordinary and no doubt expensive shows will never see the shores of the United States, or even Europe for that matter.

Hello! Project, January 2009, Wonderful Hearts tour.

But my reasoning was wrong: Instead of insular cultures, it is lack of interest (at least in the Swedish debacle) that has proven the case this time around. If enough tickets do not sell, whatever the reason – economics, illness, civil unrest – then the event just won’t happen.

So, UFA is 1-1 so far this year – apparently, things went well in Seattle at the Sakura Con with Yossie and Rika not only showing up but apparently putting on one whale of a concert – with Sweden going the other way.

That leaves Los Angeles, and AX 2009. For goodness sake, let’s keep that dream alive! Support the effort. Don’t miss a chance to sign up and meet Morning Musume, the top all-female musical revue in the world today. Find out more here.

This is Rad signing off, for now.