Some of you are getting ready to pack your bags for the first ever Electric Daisy Carnival Tokyo. But hold up, there are a couple of things you need to bring and a few things to take note of if you’re raving in Japan. 

Unfortunately, this is not an article that will tell you what to bring physically. However, because I have been living here for about 3 years, I have some insight on the scene here as well as Japanese society. I hope to bring you the awareness that you will need to enjoy EDC Japan fully, or at least be able to understand it from a new perspective.

Festivals and EDM culture exists in Japan, but not as openly as it is in other countries. Societal norms and even the law had made it difficult for electronic dance music culture to thrive. 

By the way, DANCING USED TO BE ILLEGAL after midnight until recently, and now we are free to dance! So…

1. Bring your dance moves

An almost 70 year dancing ban is hard to believe, right? There’s some history behind this. Basically, anti-dance laws were created a little after World War 2. It is said that the reason behind the ban on dancing was because dancing halls or clubs, were often used to disguise prostitution. During this time, the economy was bad and times were hard. These dance clubs were connected to drugs, violence, and many times gangs. 

Of course, the dancing didn’t stop, especially because it is human nature to dance to sick beats, and the thought of banning dancing is ridiculous. But in the past, there have often been closures of clubs and events due to allowing dancing. Like, actual dancing. It doesn’t help that the police are very strict with clubs holding multiple licenses in order to play music. I’ve been to an event where police came and shut down the event after midnight. The main DJ didn’t even get to play.

Anywho, these laws were made to try to stop illegal things from happening but it ended up being an oppressive act against the people. Fortunately, people protested and the government agreed that banning dancing prevented people from exercising their human right of expression. So now dancing is okay! 

Whether it’s deep-seated fears of these laws or the reserved culture, I came to believe that people aren’t as dancey as they are where I am from. With my time being here, I noticed that only the brave, godly skilled, strange, or incredibly shit faced people dance. In America, I am an awkward dancer. In Japan, I am a dancer worthy of praise. (I am not anywhere near good by the way). This was because there was no one really around to compare me to.

The dance music culture is also shrouded in bad imagery. As I came from America, where it is common to go to clubs, I have developed a playboy image here unintentionally, especially since I often go to techno and house music events, and occasionally music festivals.

I wondered about this for a long time, but with some research and gathering opinions of hundreds of English students, I now know why (I’m an English teacher here). Combined with the restrictions of law, and clubs, and crazy music festivals being connected to sexual looseness, drugs, gangs, etc.,  it’s no wonder that people want to stay away from it.

Of course, the opinion of people who actually go to these clubs and the outsiders are extremely different. It may be that Japanese people like to party in a different way. But one thing is true – people are afraid to dance openly and freely. 

On the other hand, when a club or festival builds up, and if a good amount of people start dancing, everyone starts to dance. Especially in a collectivist society which values togetherness, people here are very skilled at sensing the energy of a certain place and atmosphere. Through my experience, Japanese people are exceptional at feeling the music, getting deep and right into it. It just takes them a little bit of a push..like “it’s okay to dance now. I don’t have to be resitricted by social rules”. That kind of thing. If you want to now a bit more, you can research “honne” and “tatemae”, which is someone’s real behavior which they show to their friends and public behavior which is required in a work/public setting. 

I’ve been to the most amazing parties in my life in Japan. The best ones of all were the ones where people just let go and enjoyed themselves. However, I feel that not many Japanese people on the surface know of this underground feeling. When people start dancing here, that’s when their true colors come out and it feels great.

This brings me to beg you EDM brothers and sisters to dance your heart out. Let loose, let go, be free. Don’t worry too much about the cultural rules here because you’re a foreigner and you’re not restricted to them. Do show people here that dancing is a form of freedom. Japan looks toward the west in terms of inspiration when it comes to music, fashion, and behaviors of expression. 

Which brings me to my next point. 

2. Bring your extroverted Western nature

It is popularly believed that Japanese people are shy, withdrawn, and hard to communicate with, especially in English. This is true to some extent, but not necessicarily. As long as you show interest in Japanese people, they will show interest in you.

In this society, initiating small talk isn’t as socially accepted as in other cultures. In trains, cafes, and convenience stores, I have had little to no interactions at all with strangers for three years. If I wanted interaction, I would have to be the one to initiate conversation. A simple “how are you doing?” is really strange for many people here if you don’t know the person. Even at events, this is true. However, I have overcome this barrier by trying extra hard to talk to people during events. It’s not that they didn’t want to talk to me. It was because they didn’t know how to and I noticed that our communication styles are different. 

Thus, I encourage you guys to be the first ones to initiate contact. If you want to talk to the people here, don’t hold back. They will be receptive to you as long as you’re gentle. As we already know, people come to festivals in order to socialize, meet friends, and break through barriers that prevent us from connecting to each other in “real life”. Speaking in English, Japanese, or whatever native language you speak, is okay too. I believe that language shouldn’t hold us back to enjoy life with other people and music.

With great friends around me in the music community, I was able to feel apart of the whole. I advise you guys coming to not be afraid to communicate to people here. Show them how we do and show them the way of the festival which is why it’s important to…

3. Bring your PLUR 

Because I haven’t talked to many people about it in my time being here, I feel that there is a serious need of PLUR. As I went to a few festivals and shows here in Osaka, I have not exchanged kandi often. Actually, I only remember trading once with a close friend, PartyFishYuri. As a kandi kid, coming to Japan and not knowing many people who made kandi, I felt a bit lonely. Not that trading kandi is a pre-requisite to understanding PLUR, but to me, it represents something more symbolic than just a bracelet. It represents a sharing of a mutually understood culture.

However, you don’t have to trade kandi. You don’t have to be all touchy or anything.  I just ask of you to pass on those feelings of your first event..how good it felt to be connected with someone and not be alone. You know, those warm and fuzzy feelings. I talk a lot about how EDM is connecting the world and how the normalizing of PLUR culture can do great things for us. 

With that being said,

Japan is a still an AMAZING place to party.

And there is a lot to this society that makes it an amazing country to live in. The safety, the extreme politeness, respect, and reserved culture are all great things – It helps people work together and keeps the peace among people. I have never felt in any danger here and I can easily walk out in the streets, crazy drunk, around 4 AM with no fear of being robbed or groped. Plus, I have lost my wallet three times and had it returned to me because someone turned it in. 

By the way, ALL YOU CAN DRINK beer, cocktails, sake, etc. is a thing here and many of them are less that $20 (called NOMIHOUDAI). 

Something tells me that Japan naturally has PLUR embedded within the culture. You will be amazed at how polite people here are. But it is some parts of the culture which make it difficult to connect with people, communicate, and express oneself fully. Don’t get me wrong: Japan knows how to party when everyone is feeling the music. I was lucky to have met many great people here who party just as hard as I do and aren’t afraid to do so.

 As I said earlier, it just takes a push, or spark to ignite the fire. We can party as hard and as best as we can by sharing the festival culture – By showing that we are able to move, dance, and love freely. 

For you and I, those who have experienced it many times, festivals have become an outlet to escape societal restraints so that we could do these things. EDC Japan presents this chance for the people of Japan as long as we share the love and freedom we know of. 

Apparently, this IG girl lived in the same city, not too far from me (actually just one stop away by train). I had never written about any kind of fashion in my life (my fashion sense sucks as well), so I had no idea how to approach this interview/blog. However, I decided to take on the challenge. For three months I have been  trying to plan this interview and work out schedules. Due to my elementary level of Japanese, communicating became so difficult to a point that I considered bringing in a friend to translate, but that plan dissolved quickly due to the complexity of involving other people. Thus, with my limited Japanese, a little English, a lot of patience, and huge amounts of effort, Yuri and I managed to work it out somehow. Some information I filled in from my time having conversations with her and not the actual interview, but you’ll get a sense of her personality as you read on.

This is Party Fish Yuri,

Decked in out in savormeditation apparel and kandi looking cute, sexy, and slightly dangerous, this rave babe is definitely not like other Japanese girls (who are generally thought to be, kawaii and innocent looking). Yuri is not afraid to show her rave booty (she’s currently doing the famous 30 day squat challenge).

Yuri has been featured on EDMMaxx, a Japanese EDM magazine, for her rave fashion sense, and has starred on a nation wide broadcast television show called Bazooka!!! where she shared what it means to PLUR to a Japanese audience with two of her friends (Ichika on her right and Miyu on her left). Partyfish is in her twenties and was born and raised in Osaka, Japan where she currently resides. She’s also a young entrepreneur who runs her own shop called PLURNET where she sells rave apparel and kandi. Occasionally, she gogo dances for clubs around Osaka city and is well connected in the night life scene here. On December 29th she will star in an Osaka-locally broadcasted show to again educate the Japanese people about Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect.

I would say, she’s a big deal in the EDM world here in Japan. She already obtained a few fans that cosplayed as her at this year’s UMF Tokyo 2015. Compare with her 2014 UMF Miami 2014 photo.

Somehow kandi raver fashion made it’s way to this small island country and deeply moved Yuri to embrace and live PLUR culture. You’ll easily see why.

[THE INTERVIEW]

Why Yuri Party Fish?

“Party is from Knife Party, my favorite group and fish is my nickname from 5-6 years ago”.

What were your first experiences with EDM and PLUR culture? How did you get into it?

“It was an event in Japan. I saw Zedd sometime in 2012. I was wearing normal clothing. At first I was like ‘What is THIS?!’. After the event, I searched it up and started to like it. I found rave fashion and saw things like ‘rave booty’, kandi, etc. It was so cute. I thought ‘this is me’.”

Before the adopting rave fashion, she was into cyber fashion which is a bit similar to what we see in festivals and events. I suppose this is why she closely related to rave fashion in the beginning stages of her EDM discovery.

When was your first festival?

“After that Zedd event, I saw a promotion video on YouTube about UMF Miami. It looked so fun so I told my friend, ‘Let’s go!'”

“I went! UMF 2013 was my first big festival. It was the best! Big stage, big bass, everything was BIG. I enjoyed it because everyone was so happy and kind”

“UMF 2013 was my first time to experience PLUR. I received kandi and hugs. I will never forget it. At first I said to myself “What was THAT?!”.

“After this event, I learned how to PLUR. I fell in love with PLUR culture.  In Japan there is not much PLUR or kandi raver culture so after UMF  I wanted to reach out to Japanese people and teach them. I wanted to share what I experienced because I was happy”.

She enjoyed her first festival so much that she continued to go to UMF 2014, UMF 2015 and other festivals in Japan. Yuri hopes to go to other festivals around the world.

Your most favorite DJs/groups?

You can probably guess due to her name as mentioned above:

“Knife party! I knew their group before they turned into Knife Party: Pendulum. I like high energy music”.

Yuri is a die-hard fan of knife party as you can see here. She even ordered a custom piece of their logo to be made as an accessory of her outfit. It’s not complete without it. She says it was expensive, but that didn’t stop her from buying it. Yuri recently attended an event in London in October 2015 for Knife Party. She was able to see them, and she explained how she cried and was not able to talk properly upon meeting them.

Yet, although she leans toward the more harder stuff, she also loves Kaskade.

“I went to see Kaskade in Tokyo in 2013. He was so good! Watching him was so moving. I cried when I heard ‘Eyes’.”

Where do you get your inspiration for your outfits?

“I get inspiration from artists and Japanese culture. I mix them together.

There wasn’t really anything to compare because she stated America there are a lot of people who do it, and in Japan there isn’t. She says that Japan needs more festivals and events.

While there may be many EDM fans out here in Japan, through our conversations, we talked about how Japan lacks a strong connected EDM community which shows through her lack of friends in Osaka. Yuri often finds it hard to find a close kandi raver friends which is why she is considering moving to Tokyo next year, where many of her friends are at.  She also says that people here can’t really differentiate between the genres of EDM. Many people think of it as only club music.

From my own experience, I went to a music festival called Music Circus here in Osaka back in October. The attire for this event ranged from sexy leopard Halloween costumes to clubbing suit attire; barely any rave fashion or kandi. This made me believe that there’s no consensus on the image of EDM here. However, when there are moments of people revealing themselves as kandi ravers, there are fine distinctions between Japan and American rave fashion. This is due to the influences of each culture and the uniqueness of the individual. And we all know Japan; always making things better than the original. The Japanese know how to do things right as they take one thing from another culture, and make it entirely their own. Especially rave culture.

However, as rave culture isn’t as popular in Japan as other places in the world she wants to teach everyone about rave culture, and again, about the feelings that she had felt from PLUR at that UMF in 2013.

While rave fashion flourishes in places like America, in a society where they value conformity and being normal, her strong enthusiasm of PLUR and rave fashion sets people back here. Many people would consider this as deviant and over-sexualized behavior, even more than people would in America.

This doesn’t stop her from doing what she loves and believes in. Yuri wants to teach the people of Japan what EDM is all about.

What is your dream?

“I want to become a goddess”.

When I first heard her say this, in my head I was like “what…the f?”. But as I started asking her more questions, it came clear to me why she wanted to.

“I want to connect people. I want to connect the world”.

This comment wasn’t of a psycho, but was of someone with a big heart. It all goes back to the way she wants to teach people in Japan the virtues of EDM.

Japan from what I know and what she has told me, is a detached society where people are not able to show emotion openly. Many people are uncomfortable when receiving a gesture, which is normal to us, like a hug – depending on the person of course.

“Japanese people are shy”, she says.

That is to say, possibly she loves it because it gives her freedom? – A freedom to show emotion and be herself through music? Maybe this is what she wants to teach her people: The ability to show peace, love, unity, and respect.

“I changed through music. I became more kind and friendly. It’s not just by EDM, but all music. I can’t live without it”.

Okay, last question. Do you have anything you want to say to the world?

“People of the world! Hello, I’m Party Fish Yuri! I was happy to be able to do this interview because I love savormeditation. I’m a lucky girl! I have a lot of places that I haven’t been to, but I want to meet a lot of kandi ravers from different countries. I want to give everyone my happiness! I want to be able to meet all of you who are reading this! Thank you!”

[Final thoughts]

The one thing that does bother me, is the time it took me to write this. However, I realized that the delay of the actual interview was all in good time. Through those three months and every time Yuri and I met for takoyaki, sushi, or a few beers, I got to genuinely understand Yuri as a person, not just an image that people often see on IG or social media. Not just as a sexy PLUR goddess (with an amazing rave booty), but as girl with a big heart, and dream to change the world through rave fashion, and sharing PLUR. Needless to say, she’s charmed me with her daily persona.

Towards the end our interview, she told me how she “must” teach PLUR to Japan, so she has decided to focus on her dream of becoming a goddess to do so. She hopes to gain more attention of the public in order to reach out to other people, starting from Japan. Yuri is already having great success by showing on the public media. You can help her by following her on Instagram, reading her blog (if you know Japanese), or just being a fan of hers.

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Interviewing Yuri was quite an interesting experience. Other than having the chance to talk to an amazing woman for hours, I was able to learn a little more about Japanese culture and reaffirm my beliefs about EDM and just music in general. These feelings Yuri explained to me about EDM and PLUR are things that we all can personally relate to due to our experience of festivals and raves. Our love for the music broke down cultural and language barriers that are previously thought are things that separate us. It all goes to show how EDM is connecting the world.

The bottom line is that music connects us all and Party Fish Yuri is on a mission to spread this message.