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Jan 19 2010 13 Comments

Yoyogi’s rockabilly boys

Considering that Yoyogi Park’s much-pictured rockabilly dancers were one of the first things I ever saw in Tokyo, the disappointment of slowly finding out that all the city’s green spaces aren’t frequented by phenomenally quiffed fruggers has been decidedly difficult to deal with to say the least; however, on a recent Sunday saunter around Harajuku, it was nice to see that despite a certain amount of posturing,

Yoyogi rockabilly Tokyo

posing,

Yoyogi rockabilly Tokyo

and meticulous preparation,

Yoyogi rockabilly Tokyo

the practice is not only ongoing, but is still, above everything else, focused very much on fun.

Yoyogi rockabilly Tokyo

Along with the habit of happily flaunting far from fashionable fashion,

Yoyogi rockabilly Tokyo

and more than a fair bit of flamboyance.

Yoyogi rockabilly Tokyo

Categorized: Music, Photography

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Gershon says

    1/19/2010 at 12:58 pm

    Really like the first image! That could easily have been taken 50 years ago. Timeless!

    Reply
  2. Kafkaesque! says

    1/19/2010 at 7:32 pm

    Wow, great pics. I’m gonna tweet this 🙂

    Reply
  3. Lily says

    1/20/2010 at 6:01 am

    Your pictures are wonderful! These are really brilliant shots.
    Do you ask these people to have their pictures taken? You’ve got some guts!

    Nice work!

    Reply
    • Lee says

      1/20/2010 at 12:08 pm

      Thanks!. No, I’m not a fan of posed shots, I like to capture people as they naturally go about their business, although with these fellas it’s slightly different, as they know they are going to have their picture taken.

      Interestingly, however, one or two people did ask them to pose for shots, and whilst they agreed, they didn’t look very happy about it.

      Reply
  4. phossil says

    1/20/2010 at 11:10 am

    Golden age of rock!

    Reply
  5. thejapaneseeye says

    1/20/2010 at 11:56 am

    It is amazing how much these guys have been photographed. I was there the other week and considered talking to a few of them for my strangers project but didn`t, think it would be interesting to get a bit of their backgrounds, they are probably all salarymen in the week!

    Reply
    • Lily says

      1/20/2010 at 12:11 pm

      That interesting… (does this count as cosplay then..??)

      Reply
    • Lee says

      1/20/2010 at 12:15 pm

      That’s what I kept wondering the whole time I was there. Is he perhaps mild mannered Suzuki from marketing, or Watanabe from accounts? Men whose colleagues, quite conceivably, have no idea what they get up to on a Sunday.

      It’d certainly be interesting to know. And yet at the same time, maybe it’s more interesting to ponder.

      Reply
  6. tokyoso says

    1/20/2010 at 12:53 pm

    love those hair and moves. if they could throw in a non-smoking sign somewhere in the mix, it’d be just peachy.

    Reply
  7. oj says

    1/22/2010 at 12:20 pm

    i love the pictures, i wish i could get inside the head of these rockabilly boys.
    i just discovered this site and the backreading is engrossing!

    Reply
  8. Adam says

    1/23/2010 at 2:03 am

    When in Nagoya in 2008 I was surprised to see a small contingent of rockabillies dancing in a city-center park on a Sunday afternoon. They looked straight out of Yoyogi Park.

    Reply
  9. JackCrow says

    2/8/2010 at 12:19 am

    Amazing set, really good blog.

    Reply
  10. Glam Rock says

    5/3/2010 at 2:13 pm

    Wow really amazing pics…We don’t get this in Los Angeles much anymore

    Reply

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