Enka, The Beatles, and Postwar Japanese Music Identity

Introduction

This paper examines Japanese music's reach around the world, as well as the impact of world music on the evolution of Japanese culture, focusing on the postwar period. Using web and Google Scholar searches related to postwar Japanese music — including specific search terms like "enka" and "Beatles in Japan" — a series of primary and secondary sources were collected showing how music in Japan evolved throughout the twentieth century like a dramatically changing kaleidoscope of clashing cultures. Music and culture evolve concurrently, often paralleling and mirroring each other while echoing each other's politics, values, and aesthetics. In the generation immediately following the end of World War Two, enka and the introduction of the Beatles to Japan represented the dichotomies between conservative and progressive, between old and young, between past and future.

Evolution of Enka

Even though enka has changed over time, the musical style has always carried strong political and cultural connotations. Enka, which literally translates to "performance song," traces its roots to the prewar Meiji Era (Cahoon 1). It was a style of singing that used lyrics to convey political messages during a time when political parties were beginning to communicate their platforms in public but were restrained by laws prohibiting speeches (Cahoon 1). Enka therefore became a way for Japanese politicians to subvert Meiji reform policies, and it also showcased the ways in which Japan was changing.

Enka was — and still is — characterized by its fusion of Western and Japanese elements. Yet through blending Western instrumentation with classical Japanese vocal styles and some Japanese instrumentation and scales, enka has been called one of the "musical markers of Japaneseness" (Shamoon 113). It retains sentimental value in the culture today, mainly among the older generation that came of age around the 1960s. Enka is primarily a ballad genre, but its style has changed considerably since it first evolved out of kayokyoku styles and began to take on different forms in the 1960s (Shamoon 113). The closest American parallel to enka would be country music, owing to the ballad format and the conservative nature of the genre, which has evolved but still adheres to strict stylistic rules (Cahoon 1).

In fact, enka has been called "rigid and concerned with nostalgia for a 'pure' Japanese past," even while significantly changing many elements of the music itself, including instrumentation and vocals (Shamoon 113). Even when enka emerged as the dominant popular music in Japan during the 1960s, sentimentality was central to its spirit — an attempt to reach back to a purer era in history. Japan was industrializing rapidly during that decade, and these changes transformed the social and geographic landscape of the nation. Enka served as a symbolic, aural bridge between the past, present, and future. It arguably reached its peak in the 1960s, which is why it is now perceived as the music of an older generation.

The British Invasion

When the Beatles first played in Japan in June of 1966, the event was more than just a concert. It was a symbol of bridge-building between Japanese and British culture, harmonizing East and West. The Beatles performed at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, a building that during the postwar period was "considered a national shrine to Japan's war dead" ("Live: Nippon Budokan Hall, Tokyo" 1). Located within the grounds of the Imperial Palace and constructed during the 1964 Olympics for martial arts events, the Budokan was an emblem of Japanese power and identity, much as enka had been in the postwar era. The venue possessed deep symbolic power, and so the Beatles' performance there became a major political and social issue.

The younger generation might not have been troubled, but many "saw it as sacrilegious that a rock 'n' roll group were allowed to perform there" ("Live: Nippon Budokan Hall, Tokyo" 1). The "annoyed elders were postwar right-wingers," according to Sathian, who mistrusted the new type of invasion coming from a Western power: the British Invasion. For them, the Beatles symbolized the war all over again. The performance was as much about politics and Japanese national pride as it was about music. Prime Minister Eisaku Sato declared at the time that it was "inappropriate" for the Beatles to play at the Budokan (Sathian). The outcry had become so pronounced that death threats were made against the band, and security was extensive: some 30,000 uniformed police were deployed along the routes between the airport, the Beatles' hotel, and the concert venue ("Live: Nippon Budokan Hall, Tokyo" 1). By contrast, there were only 10,000 seats inside the Nippon Budokan, yet the Beatles played several sold-out shows.

Whereas enka symbolized the past, Japanese identity, and nationalism, the Beatles symbolized the future, a new role for Japan on the geopolitical stage, and multinationalism. After the Beatles played their historic shows in Tokyo, a major barrier had been dismantled between Japan — previously the war enemy of the Allies and Great Britain — and the Western world that had once fought against it. For the older generations, the Beatles symbolized their national identity being usurped by Westerners. For the younger generation, the need to participate in a global community while still retaining Japanese identity was what the Beatles' performance offered. Enka may have been the thread that tied the younger generation to its parents, keeping alive the memory of the costly war. The Beatles and other Western influences on Japanese music, however, made a stronger impact on the avant-garde scene in Japan. Both threads — sentimental enka and the forward-thinking Beatles — combined to create the Japanese music of the future that would go on to influence the world.

Conclusion

During the postwar period, Japan needed desperately to reconstruct its national identity. It also had to rebuild after the ravages of war and redirect its energy toward economic development. While grappling with disarmament issues and diplomacy at the political level, Japanese culture was also going through its growing pains. Art and culture — and particularly music — became a way to renegotiate Japanese identity and ethos. Starting with enka, Japanese music evolved a strong folk-driven element that represents the conservative thread in Japanese society. Although enka has changed perhaps more than people care to admit, the musical style is sentimental in much the same way that blues or country music is for Americans.