Of course, checking out some of the local reggae events while in Japan was a must. We started out in the old city of Kyoto, mainly a place to go visit if you’re interested in Japanese history. “There are temples for days there”, a friend of mine put it.

All good, but when you’re done with that hit Rub-A-Dub Bar, well hidden in a basement somewhere down by the canal. This reggae spot, which we actually found by accident, has been there since 1986 and is apparently the first and best in Kyoto. It’s got a kind of tiki-bar feel to it, but with more Caribbean than Polynesian vibes. The bartender, a dreadlocked Japanese dude wearing one of those face-masks they use when they have a cold, but with the Jamaican flag on it, mixes up a pretty mean Planter’s Punch.

I guess Rub-A-Dub is usually just a bar and a mellow place to hang out, but the night we went there some selectors from Tokyo were present and things were jumping. Not sure which soundsystems they represented, but the selections were pretty damn sharp. The crowd of locals went really nuts for two things: reggae covers of eighties R&B, and the original version of “Sweets for my sweet” (is that The Drifters, maybe?). These guys really played stuff that I’d never heard before.

Not so much the case when back in Tokyo. We went to a night in Shibuya called Rocker’s Paradise, organized by the people behind the record store Rocker’s Island. In Tokyo all the clubs are open until 5 AM, which means nobody shows up anywhere until 2. Quite the culture shock from LA, of course. We got there at midnight and the place was empty. The soundsystem, belonging to a crew called Two Wings I believe, was amazing though. There was a ton of huge boxes, really some of the loudest I have ever heard. Anything sounds good when you play it on a rig like that.

The main attraction at Rocker’s Paradise was a crew from Osaka called Scorpion. Their selection wasn’t inspiring though, very much a by-to-rulebook modern roots set. You know how that works - first a Sizzla medley, then some Richie Spice, the Garnett Silk standards, followed by even more Richie Spice. Don’t think I heard a deejay tune the entire night. The local kids were into it though - including the girls decked out in full on dancehall queen outfits (and that’s on a Tuesday night!).

The risk of being bored by regular tunes was zero on Friday though. Behind the decks at a night called Dancehall Classics were Tony Screw’s disciple Fingaz from Downbeat The Ruler, Crush from Judgment Sound Station, and Double H from the Shibuya record store Jammers. This was going down in another small basement, a reggae bar in Shinjuku called Open, around the corner from The Dub Store. The place has a nice pile of speaker boxes too, and a great, energetic bartender. The guy took turns dancing, yelling “tu-tu-tweet” (a la Junior Reid) in a bullhorn, and mixing good drinks. I recommend the gin fizz.

Fingaz, who’d spent the last two months living in Japan, was playing Downbeat classics. That’s enough to keep my gunfinger in the air for a whole night, but both Crush and Double H actually gave him a run for his money. The Judgement guys have some smart, original dubplates. It’s a shame they’re not seen on the western soundsystem circuit more often. Double H came out in a Rodigan educational style, lots of “You remember this riddim, originally recorded by The Gladiators - here’s the long forgotten Papa Tullo version!”-type speech. Plus a sweet special by a singer I didn’t recognize based on “Strangers in the night” (”strangers in the night… exchanging dubplates”). Overall a very entertaining night.

Seems like there are exciting reggae events going on in Tokyo pretty much every night of the week. My tip is to head for the record stores and pick up all the fliers you can find. There doesn’t seem to be any magazines or websites in English that list this stuff. And if you’re old like me, remember to take a nap before heading out.

We spent most of the time in Tokyo around the Shibuya area. This part of town is more or less a gigantic shopping mall for the Japanese kids, with flashing neon lights, music blasting everywhere and a billion people heading to or from the subway all the time. Thanks to some advice and a couple of great maps supplied by Downpressor, I was able to find the best stores in this area, and they’re most likely the best places to go for reggae records in the world. There’s definitely some truth to the rumors that all the good Jamaican vinyl has ended up in Japan.

The way addresses work in Tokyo is insane. There are no real street names, so you get something that’s like a coordinate number instead. Like “Shinjuku 2-3-2″ — which means “go to the second section of the Shinjuku neighbourhood, then find the third block, and in there you want the second building”. It was hard to find any corresponding numbers on the actual buildings, so without a good map you’re pretty much screwed. Actually, even with a map I always had to circle the block a couple of times to make sure I was in the right place. Most things are not on the ground floor, and typically only have small signs. The trick is to do your research beforehand and not give up.

The first spot was Cisco (no relation to the network company, I suppose). This is actually four different shops around the same building, each one covering a different style of music (house, techno, hip-hop, and reggae). The reggae one turned out to be closed down and when I walked into the room there was a wrecking crew in there busy tearing down the walls. Luckily a small sign in Japanese explained that they had moved their reggae records over to the hip-hop / r&b store so I went over there instead. Cisco had a good selection for a place with limited focus on reggae (”good” translates to totally amazing by Los Angeles standards, of course). They had a lot of vinyl from the popular local j-reggae artists.

Next stop: Gloria’s. With a name like this it sounds like it should be a pizza place, but it’s actually Tokyo’s or maybe even Japan’s oldest reggae shop. Probably my favorite of the ones I visited. It’s on the fifth floor of some building that’s got a bunch of other record stores in it, and has a ton of 45s to go through — everything from original presses from the seventies to the latest bashment. Friendly staff too, who spoke good English and supplied me with fliers for events going on the week we were staying. The records are about 600 yen a piece everywhere, which translates to around $5. Not dirt cheap perhaps, but then again I managed to find a lot of stuff I’d been looking for for a long time.

After a can of ice-cold Suntory Coffee Boss goodness from the closest vending machine I hit Rocker’s Island. This place focuses on modern dancehall, so it’s all about juggling material from the last 5 years or so. Good to stop by if you’re missing some recent but critical pieces. I finally got hold of that great old Buccaneer / Bounty Killer track on the Star Wars riddim that I’ve been trying to find on fortyfive for years. They’ve got a good selection of mixtapes by Japanese soundsystems here too (more on that later).

The final place to check out in Shibuya is called Jammers, a small shop on the seventh floor of what looks like a regular apartment building. It’s run by a friendly and very knowledgeable Jamaican guy called Double H, who’s been in Japan for fifteen years. They’ve got a nice selection of stuff here as well, and plenty of oldies. For example I found the Japanese repress of Supercat’s “Permit Fi Gun” here, impossible to find anywhere else.

After this my budget for records was pretty much exhausted. There’s supposedly some nice shops in the Shinjuku neighborhood too (lot of people recommend a place called the Dub Store), but by the time I was done with Shibuya I was happy.

Cisco - Udagawacho 11-1, 2nd floor, Shibuya
Glorias - Udagawacho 33-13, 4th floor, Shibuya
Rocker’s Island - Jinan 1-20-16, 4th floor, Shibuya
Jammers - Udagawacho 39, Noa Building, 7th Floor

But first thing’s first. Got an email from Finnish selector Ville Geitel, who’s put together Digitalick — a nice mix of early digital tracks. Definitely worth checking out. Download it from here, and check the tracklisting here.

Just got back from Tokyo a few days ago. They’re definitely crazy about their reggae over there, and I found a lot of great stuff. I’ll try to write a couple of posts about the Japanese scene over the next week or two. Keep posted.