HIWADAKOUGEN, Gifu Pref. -- I was inside my tent changing from damp clothes to dry when the whooshing thuds of a low-flying helicopter took the campsite by surprise. I thought little of it until the commotion started. News travels fast in a village of nylon walls. Clearly something was amiss.
Excited eyewitnesses described the stunt with glowing admiration. Tokyo's Third Culture DJ Bryan Burton-Lewis played it down later as just some way-out doable idea, "pushing the limits," he said.
For his midmorning DJ set entrance, Bryan jumped out of a perfectly good helicopter and para-sailed like Austin Powers (without machineguns) down onto the hill in front of the stage area, shedding his harness and trotting up to the decks. This was only his third jump.