The return of the Beatles to Japanese stages with 'Backbeat'
As a concept, "if" may be mere conjecture in real life. In fact, though, if Stuart Sutcliffe hadn't taken his best friend John Lennon's advice back in 1960 and left art school to play bass guitar in his band, the music world would now ...
German police present John Lennon diaries and glasses stolen in N.Y., announce arrest
German police presented on Tuesday diaries, pairs of glasses and other items belonging to late Beatle John Lennon that were stolen from his widow, Yoko Ono, in 2006 and eventually ended up in Berlin. Police arrested a man in Berlin on Monday suspected of receiving ...
When it comes to the Beatles, we'll never let it be
The Beatles' career as a live band came to a — literally — screeching halt in August 1966, when on their final American tour, the howling of frenzied female fans became so deafening they could no longer hear themselves play. Author Tom Wolfe, describing ...
Yesterday: When the 'Beatles typhoon' hit Japan
Fifty years ago this week, the Fab Four played some of their final live performances in Tokyo. We speak to fans who were ‘swept off their feet’ by the visit.
100 YEARS AGO Wednesday, June 7, 1916 Aviation ace dazzles with flight over palace Aviator Art Smith carried out another flight yesterday afternoon. He flew from Aoyama at about 3 o'clock and steered his machine in the direction of the Imperial Palace flying at an altitude ...
Imagine all the children: Yoko Ono launches UNICEF global singalong
Yoko Ono joined an international cast of musicians and other artists on Thursday at the United Nations to kick off a project using one of John Lennon's best-known songs to highlight the plight of children denied rights. The song, "Imagine," calls for the abolition of ...
Dazaifu dalliance reveals curious case of a plum-struck deity
It's all thanks to the Spanish ambassador, really. Angeles and I were at the Spanish Consulate in Fukuoka, Kyushu's biggest city, to pick up her new passport. By midday, we'd done the business, slurped our way through the obligatory bowl of Hakata ramen, and ...
Beatles' luck shows success isn't pre-ordained
The Beatles' success was anything but foreordained — and that the same can be said about countless others whose iconic status we now take for granted.
Sitting at her kitchen table, sipping green tea, Yoko Ono looks much the same as she did when I met her 20 years ago. Dressed in black and peering intently over tinted spectacles, her face bears little trace of the passing of time and ...
'The day my mum looked after the Beatles'
In rock mythology, John Lennon was the cynical, acid-tongued Beatle, Paul McCartney was friendly and open, George Harrison was the quiet one and drummer Ringo Starr was the group's clown, always joking around. Satoko Condon remembers it a bit differently. "Ringo was a bit difficult," ...
Japan's growing diaspora reflects concern for the country's future
Here's a surprising fact: One Japanese in a hundred lives abroad. It's surprising because so much is made lately of Japan's growing insularity. Young people seem less interested than ever in studying overseas, and voters last month elected a new government whose platform includes ...
