Last month I wrote a hastily conceived piece for this column documenting the immediate reaction of the music scene in Tokyo to the Great East Japan Earthquake. It was a difficult article to write because the situation was still unfolding and so much was unresolved; however, a month later, a picture of the postquake music scene is emerging.
The initial effect on the live music scene in Tokyo was short lived. Gigs were called off at most live venues between March 11 and 13, but soon after that (a few isolated cancellations aside), schedules returned to somewhere near normal. However, since most venues book their shows at least three months in advance, the real effects are only just starting to emerge.
There isn't necessarily a problem with audiences. In the early days of widespread power cuts, irregular train schedules, and deep uncertainty over things such as aftershocks and the situation in Fukushima, people, especially those outside the central Tokyo area, tended to stay home rather than risk being stranded. However, audiences are starting to return to live venues now that those worries have, if not gone away, at least dragged on long enough to make fear of them mundane.