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Time Capsule: The Beatles Arrive in Tokyo
By Kathryn M. Young | August 14, 2012
We
found this famous shot in our archives of The Beatles arriving on a
Japan Airlines DC-8-55 for a five-concert event in Tokyo. It was June
30, 1966, and it was the one and only Beatles tour in Japan. The band
arrived as shown in Happi jackets given to them on their JAL flight.
They played five concerts over three days in Nippon Budokan Hall in the
center of Tokyo and were the first group to ever perform there. The
Budokan was built for the Summer Olympic Games held in 1964 and was
being used for martial arts exhibitions, so many in Japan were not
supportive of its use for a rock concert. Due to the fact that the
concerts were oversubscribed seven times and quite controversial, 3,000
police were on hand to keep peace at the events.The final Beatles concert was held in Candlestick Park in San Francisco on August 30, 1966.
