When Ryan Adams performs at Studio Coast on Dec. 9, it will mark his first ever headlining gig in Japan, after playing Fuji Rock twice — in 2005 with the Cardinals and 2015 with the Shining. On his third visit to the country, he's hoping this one goes better than his first.

"The first time I don't remember because we played Fuji Rock and in trying to get there I had a Meniere's episode," Adams says over the phone from his Los Angeles home, referring to his chronic illness. "So all of the winding, twisting roads we took to get up there made me so violently ill that by the time I played I couldn't see straight. I was undiagnosed so I didn't know what was wrong with me.

"And the last time I was (in Japan) I was only there for 24 hours," he adds. "I played and then had to leave. So I've never actually had any real time to hang out there. I'm working, so it's not like I was on holiday. But I will probably be doing interviews and then the gig, which is two or three hours of singing. And I try to get as much rest as possible so I don't blow out my voice."