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Northern Soul In Japan - The Independent Feature

Northern Soul In Japan - The Independent Feature magazine cover

The travel section of the Independent Website takes a look at the long running Northern soul scene in Japan

The northern soul movement shook up the UK music scene in the 1970s, and then went global. Duncan Forgan finds it still going strong in Japan

  Johhe rules the dancefloor at the Jam Jam club in Kobe. He spins, shuffles and launches a series of high kicks: his baggy trousers billowing as he syncs his moves to the steady tempo of singer Luther Ingram’s 1967 non-hit If It’s All the Same to You Babe...

Go here for the article, plus a slack handful of photos, its worth the walk...

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/asia/japan-northern-soul-music-kobe-club-night-nude-restaurant-o-jays-never-forget-you-gonna-be-a-big-a7990431.html



Edited by mike


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35 minutes ago, geeselad said:

a decent read, just interested to know how widespread is it, are we just talking about one club here or are there nights all over japan?

David Flynn (who gets a mention in the article) @Flynny used to be our man in japan, but not sure what happened to him on here ?

anyone else out there who can inform us all?

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1 hour ago, mike said:

David Flynn (who gets a mention in the article) @Flynny used to be our man in japan, but not sure what happened to him on here ?

anyone else out there who can inform us all?

He's still on FB (Anoraks Corner)

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The knowledge of soul and collections in japan are incredible they have been into soul right from the beginning.

 

I would guess som of the very best deep soul collections are in japan.

 

years ago i found some pictures online of soul clubs in japan in the 60s or 70s.

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It's not 'northern soul' as we knew and loved it. It's someone wearing a dressing gown reviving some of the records in a different time and place...

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Just read the comments at the bottom says it all

Quote!!!!  And what the PC Brigade don't realise, is that it is the ultimate homage & flattery.

I for one stand by that.

Kirsty

UkBeachBum
And what the PC brigade don't realise, is that it's the ultimate homage and flattery.
And what the PC brigade don't realise, is that it's the ultimate homage and flattery.
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Great article ,   visited my Daughter who was teaching in  Osaka  some years back ,  All aspects of  retro American culture   seemed to be worshipped , even  a  sizeable shopping section called Americamura, with outlets selling  vinyl , toys , comics ,clothes  etc  , mainly from that  golden 50s to 70s  American period . They seem to be loving it  , wish i  could go to that place . 

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1 hour ago, carty said:

Great article ,   visited my Daughter who was teaching in  Osaka  some years back ,  All aspects of  retro American culture   seemed to be worshipped , even  a  sizeable shopping section called Americamura, with outlets selling  vinyl , toys , comics ,clothes  etc  , mainly from that  golden 50s to 70s  American period . They seem to be loving it  , wish i  could go to that place . 

Not soul related but the best jeans are all made in japan.

 

they have the old looms and make them how they used to be made before mass production and cost cutting saw high street jeans turn into what they are now.  A shadow of what they used to be.

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I work in an academic library and about 12 years or so back I was taking around a group of new post graduate students explaining how the Library functions. We used to have a large spoken word collection on vinyl mainly poetry and plays and a record player for those who wanted to listen to them. At the end of the tour a Japanese guy came up and politely asked would it be possible for him to bring in his own records and we got talking and he was a big Soul fan and mainly into 70s and we did quite a few CD swops over the period he was here and had some great conversations. He was one the polite people I have ever met and would wait very quietly while I was dealing with students whenever he wanted to ask me something.

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