QUEEN TIMES Japanese fanzine volume 4
Jan 27, 2024 9:45:54 GMT
deathtoming, The Real Wizard, and 10 more like this
Post by merplot on Jan 27, 2024 9:45:54 GMT
The QUEEN TIMES was a Japanese-language fanclub magazine put together by a group of dedicated high school (and maybe college?) students in 1974-75 before there was an official international Queen fanclub. You may have seen a few scans floating around the Internet. Once international fanclub activities began in 1975, the Queen Times was rolled into that and the unofficial version was discontinued. Because of their history (and their reflection of Japanese youth in the Showa Era), I find these early fanclub magazines really interesting-- they were made by ordinary students who curried favor with the right people and garnered access to the band at a time when very little information could be found in foreign press. Even though it seems some real names are given, I think their identities remain obscure. I read on a Japanese twitter account that rumor has it some of these kids were expelled from school for not taking their studies seriously enough while running this fanclub.
As far as I can tell, the contents of these have never been translated anywhere. The magazines were released quarterly. I have vol 3, which at a glance seems to contain an interview done in England with Brian May in August of 1974, which I will be getting to eventually; vol 3 1/2, which appears to be a booklet of Japanese translations of contemporary English-language magazine articles and interviews, so probably contains a lot of redundant info; a loose set of photocopied papers which at a glance may involve more gossipy info about both Queen and Slade, which is handwritten and photocopied and dog-eared and hard to read but I'm going to try to see what I can do with it eventually; and vol 4 which as far as I can tell is the most common (I actually have two of these, and was lucky enough to get Brian to sign a copy last year which I was ecstatic about!). I also have something called QUEEN EXPRESS which is full of handwritten lyrics and sheet music. If you know where I can procure more materials like this, please let me know!
I began translating vol 4 as a way to practice my Japanese reading skills and there's some very interesting anecdotes in here so I thought I'd share. This volume covers Queen's first visit to Japan in Spring of 1975. I checked this against deathtoming's 1975 Japanese Tour Diary thread and everything seems to line up perfectly.
Things (in parenthesis) are in the original text.
Things [in brackets] are my own notes or clarifications.
I tried to make it as verbatim as possible, but necessarily had to change some things to sound more natural in English.
Our narrators are: Itsuko Furubayashi ("Ikko"), Megumi Mori, Risa Williams (I assume that should be "Lisa" but I'll use what they wrote), Roger Johnstone ("Little Roger") and Kathi Taylor. Whether those are all real names or pseudonyms I have no idea. I assume at least a few are either foreigners studying in Japan, or Japanese citizens with one or both Western parents.
QUEEN ON THE ROAD
"I read the QUEEN TIMES.
You read the QUEEN TIMES.
Wanna know more about their Japanese tour??
Here it is, Vol. 4!"
John and Brian have a great relationship, like brothers! They were like this at the reception!
"Hey Brian. In this 'Son and Daughter' film... you look pretty cool!"
"Hahaha... tsugarujamisen!" [tsugarujamisen is a type of stringed instrument and also a traditional music genre]
Bottom pic:
"Hey, Mr. Fukuda... we haven't seen you since the 'Ongaku senka' rock tour, right...."
"Has it really been that long?"
Two people reunited after quite a while.
Wednesday April 16th
Ikko, Mori, Little Roger, Risa, and Kathi of the Fan Club Staff were all set at Haneda Airport. Little Roger apparently even left school early in order to be there... and it was then that we received the news: those cruel words, "Queen won't be here until tomorrow..." Little Roger said "Oh god!!" There was nothing we could do, so we went to a coffee shop at the top of the lobby to chat. Suddenly we heard shrieking from the lobby, so, thinking we were given the wrong info after all, we threw our half-finished coffee away and ran over.
6:45 PM
Eight of Queen's engineers appeared in the lobby. One of the roadies looked exactly like Roger, so there was a big commotion. When Little Roger yelled, "AHHH it's Roger!", Mr. Orita from Warner [Music] said, "You moron! Can't you even remember the faces of the people you like?!"
Bahaha... everyone was embarrassed.
Mori very seriously wondered, "What will happen tomorrow when Queen REALLY arrives??"
The roadies went to the Tokyo Prince Hotel by bus, but about ten taxis were chasing them, so the promoter, thinking this was a bad idea, backed out and pretended to get off at the first stop, the Empire Hotel.
Since we were lodging at Tokyo Prince as well, we were a little rushed for a while but we managed.
When the Fan Club said to roadie John Harris, "Freddie said you were very beautiful in that Disc interview," he let out this dumb laugh! (The bastard...)
This was the same John Harris that was mistaken for Roger at the airport!
We became friendly with a roadie named Brian Spencer, also known as Nudger, while at the Tokyo Prince's Bar Windsor.
9:40 PM
At the Bar Windsor
Nudger looked remarkably surprised when we showed him a copy of the Queen Times.
By the way, let's introduce the crew this time around:
Brian Spencer and Rob Johnson, stage crew.
John Harris, sound engineer.
James Dann, John Broderick, Steve Hurston, all lighting crew.
Don Smith, Steve Dickerman, sound crew.
And then the tour manager, John Coray.
Other names included Jack Nelson, a manager.
Thursday April 17th
Queen was finally arriving in Japan for the first time today.
10:50 AM
Lord Nudger was near us in the lobby. "Good morning!" Everyone was in a really great mood.
1:45 PM
We ordered bouquets to give to Queen during their press conference [the next day].
Ikko & Mori were bitter-faced, since it was a private expense. (Shouldn't their parents have the most bitter faces, though?)
But they were such beautiful bouquets...
Around 6:45 PM
Queen arrived at Haneda, and we hired a car to go to the hotel. Because we were aware of the commotion that happened the day prior, we got there before Queen did. Oh, and our hired car was a Mercury! How about that...
Ikko & Little Roger waited at the front door of the hotel for the band, who arrived at 7:15 PM on the dot! They yelled "KYAAA, ROGER!" without stopping to think.
Roger and Freddie got out of the car, with Brian pulling up the rear to enter the lobby.
7:20 PM
When Nudger introduced the Queen Fan Club to Roger, he said, "Ah, I know about you guys!" and grinned. He was wearing black mascara.
Brian was chatting with the crew in the lobby.
Freddie was shaking hands and signing autographs for fans.
John was in a bit of a mood for some reason.
8:50 PM
We bumped into Brian on the 6th floor.
Ikko & Little Roger were wandering around the 6th floor looking for the promoter's room, when right there before their eyes there appeard a tall, lanky man walking towards them, his hair swaying.
F.C.: "Ahh, Brian!"
Brian: "Ahh, [in Japanese] how are..."
F.C.: "...'how are'...?"
Brian: "...you guys doin'?"
Our legs were trembling, our faces were hot, we were a mess....
Ahhh.... finally Queen was here!
Friday April 18th
3:45 AM (that is, in the middle of the night)
Oh, an earthquake! We wonder if Queen is alright?
10:00 AM
We had a meal at the cafe of the hotel. We saw the figures of J. Harris and another roadie whose name we didn't know. J. Harris smiled and shook our hands when he saw us.
10:50 AM
John Deacon came walking into the lobby from outside. None of the fans seemed to notice him, and when we told him that we were Fan Club staff, he just said "Hell." [I'm certain that's supposed to be "Hello", as there are many typos in here.] (He looked somewhat surprised and smiled....)
He was wearing a brown leather coat with jeans. He also had a totebag with him. We barely got to talk with him before the fans took notice of who he was and we were separated from him.
But, but.... we were having such an important conversation...
1:20 PM
The news conference.
Ikko & Mori attended this.
Little Roger joined them at the reception afterwards.
The questions that were asked were really asinine and pointless... How did the four of you meet, Why did you choose Queen as the name.... etc.
Ikko & Mori could only be incredulous.
Freddie had so much confidence during the press conference that it was scary...
Roger smiled often with affection, and Brian was very conscientious.
John seemed self-conscious in front of the cameras and had the same facial expression as he did on the inner jacket of "Queen II".
1:50 PM
The second reception began.
2:00 PM
They were presented with the "Most Valuable Group" award. They looked like four proud little boys accepting it.
2:05 PM
The Fan Club presented them with the bouquets. Ikko gave one to both Freddie and John, and Mori gave one to both Brian and Roger. (That's the picture shown here.)
After the bouquets were handed over, as we went to get off the podium, we were told to take a commemorative photo with the group. (That picture won't be released in the newsletter.)
Eventually, everyone chatted at the table. Mori chatted with Brian. Ikko & Little Roger were able to take a picture and chat with Roger. They told him that we were attending every single performance except for Fukuoka, and Roger exclaimed, "You're crazy!" He was eating sushi the entire time. His eyes were black and white as he shoved it into his tiny mouth... (actually, blue and white!)
John was eating silently. Freddie was watching [the Rainbow '74 performance of] "Son and Daughter" that was set up on a screen in the venue with satisfaction.
Brian was smiling amiably.
2:30 PM
The reception ended. We promised to meet Brian again in our hotel room. We also told Roger "See ya later...."
[After taking stock of Roger's makeup,] Little Roger said, "Ah, damnit Roger...! Now I have to put on mascara, coat myself in double eyeliner, and draw my eyebrows on-" while grinning. (That said, Little Roger was already wearing mascara...)
Around 4:00 PM
Risa and Kathi were chatting with Warner Music people on the 11th floor when Queen came into the Fuji room. Brian had a bamboo toy gun which he pointed at the two and sad, "Bang bang!" ....and with a grin, he left.
Nudger shook Kathi's hand and Roger gave her a smile.
John seemed sullen for some reason....
4:55 PM
We chatted in the promoter's room. After that we returned to our room... (our room was on the 9th floor.)
Then as we made our way to the first floor via elevator, the manager Jack Nelson got on at the 8th floor.
Jack: "Thank you for the reception!"
F.C.: "No problem! By the way, Brian told us we could interview him, so..."
Jack: "Ah, yeah, okay. It's kind of hard, isn't it.... taking care of the Fan Club duties..."
He got off at the 6th floor and we decided to follow him. Then Brian came and Jack said, "They want to interview you tomorrow at 10 AM... is that okay with you, Brian?" and Brian immediately agreed.
Then he and the rest got on an elevator to go somewhere. We stayed on the 6th floor and chatted.
Ikko eventually decided to return to her room, so she went to the elevator and the doors opened right in front of her...
...and who should be there but Brian.
Ikko said, "Ah, Brian! and he looked pleased and smiled at her. He looked as though he was going to exit, but the bellhop held down the button and with a loud, "See you later!", the door closed and he was gone.
Shittt... that stupid bellhop...
Ahh, regardless, it was so great to run into Brian...
7:45 PM
Queen goes out to eat a Japanese meal.
9:40 PM
Kathi phoned us from the first floor to report that Queen had returned there. Ikko & Little Roger went to the 6th floor and Queen immediately showed up on an elevator.
At some point, six or seven groupies got off an elevator and surrounded Brian. (A different elevator [i.e. not theirs]...)
John, noticing us, said "Hi!" and shook our hands happily on the way back to his room.
Freddie didn't pay any attention to us.
Roger, noticing Brian's folly, turned around and returned to his room, grinning.
Brian desperately fought off the groupies and went to leave... but then he perked up when he noticed us and greeted us with "Hi!"
He's always so kind....
10:15 PM
At the Bar Windsor
Queen (minus Brian) were drinking tastefully. We were so tired but we perked up after having a drink too.
John was sitting all alone, detached, and staring at us.
He didn't say a word.
Saturday April 19th
10:15 AM
We interviewed Brian May in a roadie's room. (Details will be in a future issue.)
We arrived at the room at exactly 10 AM, and John and a roadie were standing there. We told the roadie, "We came to interview Brian," and "We could come back later..."
Then exactly fifteen minutes later, the interview commenced.
Brian was wearing a black velveteen suit and a purple and black striped tee. He wore two necklaces and on his chest was a penguin brooch.
He never stopped smiling. He really is a kind person.
10:37 AM
J. Nelson and John came in.
They began to look through an issue of QUEEN TIMES.
John took a look at the "Queen Best Tracks as chosen by YOU!" page [from vol 3], and seeing "Misfire" made eighth place, smiled broadly.
Jack also had a look on his face like "Hey.... it placed!" They communicated to us that it was a "good newsletter".
10:42 AM
John had waited for us and took a picture with the Queen Times staff.
He said, "Hang on...." and looked in the mirror, fixing his hair, and then "Say cheese!"
Turns out he's a fun, good-humored person.
10:48 AM
John left the room.
We showed Brian an issue of QUEEN TIMES and he kept repeating, "Amazing, amazing, heh heh..." over and over.
Oh yeah, and Little Roger returned to his room to get a present he had brought for John before he left, and while he was gone John began fooling around with his camera and broke it!
So we wanted to take pictures of Brian, but the shutter stopped working, and we were only able to take black and white photos with Ikko's camera....
John felt so bad....! It was.... adorable, we guess.....?
After 7:00 PM (?)
Finally the Queen gig!
Details of a different performance from May can be found in the "Performance Highlights" section of this issue. But here, Little Roger has a word for the rest of the fans:
"Didn't you hear Freddie telling us to sit down the last time?? As a fan, I'm embarrassed! What did you all come to see Queen do?? Especially Mariko (Last Name Withheld), I'm talking to you! Because of your actions, utter chaos ensued. Calm the hell down!
It must be said, the other staff members also agree with this sentiment. (He [Little Roger] was really upset.). Think about how bothersome you're being to both the band and other fans. If you stand up and make noise, we aren't able to hear the slower songs, and can't even see the band, right?!
We feel sorry for those people!
Because of the chaos, Ikko lost her shoes AND her watch!
Good grief...
Little Roger had his badge taken as well.
We wonder how the First of May will be....
11:20 PM
The Fan Club staff went to the Bar Windsor again. Risa, Mori, and LIttle Roger returned to their rooms after a bit. Ikko & Kathi decided to stay and keep drinking. J. Harris and several people were there as well....
We drank a little too much and barely made it back to our rooms, but once we were there we began to sober up. (As intended....)
Kathi has a bit of a fever for J. Harris so she was shocked by the sight of groupies hanging all over him.... after that she was cry-laughing...
Risa looked troubled.
Little Roger was too busy writing out [Queen et al's] airline itinerary.
April 20th
4:00 PM
Queen signed things for fans in the garden of the Tokyo Prince Hotel. We went along too and chatted with the promoter and the people from Warner.
John saw Ikko and said, "Hi!"
4:45 PM
Signing was over. We went back to our rooms and Queen went back to theirs.
Little Roger was gazing out our window on the 9th floor and a girl down below mistook him for the actual Roger and started waving up at him.
Little Roger had no choice but to wave back...
The girl screamed and started sobbing.
[Interesting to note: this means Little Roger had blond hair, and hairdye was/is strictly forbidden for students of most Japanese schools, so he must be at least part caucasian.]
8:50 PM
We went back to the Bar Windsor with Steve, a roadie with whom we had become chummy.
He's a New Yorker and great person.
He also seems to be a fan of Freddie's as well.
Kathi proposed going to Byblos , but backed out.
April 21st
10:05 AM
We bid Kathi, Risa, and Little Roger farewell [as they were not going on to Nagoya].
Brian stopped by our room.
He reiterated his promise that "we'll meet again" and said goodbye.
2:15 PM
At the Nagoya Castle Hotel, we discovered Freddie & John in front of the first floor elevator. We greeted Nudger in passing. After that, once we had left our luggage in the room, we ran into Brian & Roger in front of the first floor elevator. We introduced Brian to Ikko in passing and then we parted ways.
4:10 PM
We met Steve and Mike in the Japanese restaurant of the Castle Hotel.
4:20 PM
We went to the venue's reception with the producer of World Leisure. The party had already begun on the second floor. John noticed us and greeted us with a big grin and "Hi! How are you?"
We mingled briefly with Brian.
It seems he's acquired a taste for sushi.
After that we returned to our room....
April 22nd
12:10 PM
Brian came back from somewhere. What were the other guys doing, we wonder...
And doesnt he have anything other than black or striped suits?
He's always wearing one or the other (but more often black).
1:15 PM
Roger left the hotel with a bodyguard and an interpreter. Was he going to tour Nagoya Castle?
1:55 PM
We ran into Brian in the hotel basement. He was looking at a picture postcard.
2:30 PM
We ran into all of Queen by chance in front of the elevator.
They were on their way to the sound check.
Freddie was looking flashy as usual, in a yellow, orange, and green -striped jacket.
Around 7:00 PM
Concert!
April 23rd
Queen went to Kyoto.
Ikko & Mori went home.
They'd be away from Queen until 4/27... so lonely...
April 25th
Fukuoka Performance
April 26th
Off
April 27th
Around 3:30 PM
Ikko arrived at Okayama International Hotel.
Since Mori hadn't arrived yet, she ended up just wandering around with nothing to do.
Steve sauntered up to the hotel entrance.
Steve: "Hey! You're here now?"
Ikko: "Yeah, I'm waiting here for Mori!"
Steve: "Mori? You mean Megumi Mori?"
Ikko: "Yeah, that's right."
Steve: "Ya mean she's not here yet?"
Ikko: "Nope. Remember how we taught you 'makesou' ['losing out']? (We had taught him this word at the Windsor Bar)"
Steve: "Ah, yeah I remember. But no one taught me what it actually means!"
Ikko: "Ahahaha!"
Around that time another roadie, Rob, faced us with a camera from about 50 meters away.
Steve: "Hey, Rob!"
Rob started taking photos of us.
Steve: "He can take photos from that far away because he has a wide lens on that camera..."
Ikko: "Here's my camera..."
They stood there for a while and Steve asked Ikko, "So are we planning on staying here forever?" She replied, "Nah, let's go inside," and they headed back to the hotel.
Then who should arrive but Mori....
Finally! Ikko was relieved.
Steve wanted to go back to the room to talk so we chatted with him. After a while, we received a call from a person at World Leisure that Queen were on the first floor cafe terrace, so we hurried down. Unfortunately, Freddie and John were already in the process of paying the bill. John noticed us and gave us a shout out-- "How are you?"
Brian remained sitting on the terrace, and he and the surrounding roadies were all gazing up.
A single big black bird was dancing all over the sky.
We tried to approach Brian to hand him a present, but we were stopped by his bodyguard.
Luckily, Steve noticed this situation and brought us over to Brian. Thanks, Steve!
Since Roger was close by, when we asked him to take a picture, he conveyed to us, "I'm in the middle of something, how about in a bit..."
Brian saw us and said, "Hi! Hello. I haven't seen much of you since we were in Tokyo. What have you been up to?"
We answered, "Well we didn't see you in Kobe, and we weren't able to attend the Fukuoka concert." Brian kept rubbing his nose and when we asked him, "Did you catch a cold?" he confirmed our suspicions by responding, "A little bit. But I'm fine!" Mori presented him with a sumi-e picture she had purchased in Nagoya.
We requested him to "Please, open it now!" so he undid the wrapping paper and opened up the cardboard box, his eyes widening with an expression as if to say, What do we have in here? The people surrounding him laughed as he quickly took off the lid. When he aw the picture, Brian kept repeating "Amazing" and "Lovely". When we explained sumi-e to him, he inquired "Where is this painted scene located?" We told hi "The city of Ise.... we think."
Mori bought a complete sumi-e set with this picture, complete with ink, inkstone, and brush. Brian said, "I'd like for you to show me how to use this," so we put a cup of water on the table and showed him how to mix it with the ink. Then he began to draw a line on the top of the box. When we showed him the brush, he inquired, "How do you say this in Japanese? How do I spell it [with the Roman alphabet]?" As we taught him, he wrote "Fude = brush" on the box. Then he turned the wrapping paper over and began drawing a picture. All the while, the bird from before swooped in the sky above.
Rob was tracking the bird with his wide lens camera, and the surrounding roadies were fascinated as well. Brian, squinting up at the bird, said "That's a really magnificent bird... is it a hawk? An eagle?" but no one knew for sure. (We suspect it was a black kite bird.)
"I like birds... my mum really loves them too... she paints them as well. It's her hobby. But I myself cant really draw." And then, we don't know why, but with the bird continually dancing in the sky above, he began drawing a candle. Since we had a camera with us, we took a photo of it with his permission.
As we leaned in to take another photo with the camera, he faced down and continued drawing. When we asked if he'd draw a guitar, he said shyly "I'm not very good at drawing... I ought to study it more... I'm really not good at it at all..." and yet began to draw the body of a guitar.
F.C.: "This right here is the first pickup, right? And this one is the second?"
Brian: "That's right, and this is the bridge."
When he finished drawing the guitar, next he drew an amplifier and a cord connecting it to the guitar, and from the amp, he drew a single note! He showed it to us, laughing.
At this point, we all wanted to take a picture with Roger, and when we mentioned that to Brian he said, "Well, I'm going to go show him this picture so follow me." We went from the terrace into the cafe, over to where Roger was sitting with Kanazawa-san from World Leisure, and Brian began to show him his drawing.
Roger seemed a little jealous as he boyishly looked over the drawing.
How adorable.... we thought to ourselves.
When we mentioned we were the Fan Club, Roger said, "Ahhh, I know about the Fan Club. You have a difficult job to do. Great!" We handed over a present from the Fan Club, a sensu folding fan, and he said "Is it okay to open it here?" When he opened it and saw the pattern on the inside, he cried, "Oh! Beautiful!" Then he swished it open with one hand, covering his mouth and posing like a geisha. Where did he manage to learn that??
We asked Brian if he could open it one-handed as well, but he couldn't do it. Roger was pretty good at it, and he kept doing it over and over. When we asked if we could get a photo of it, he cheerfully acquiesced. Up until then he had seemed boyish, maybe even a little feminine, but the post [in the photo] was very masculine. After we took the photo, he returned to swinging the fan around, having a good time.
Our conversation with Roger was as follow:
F.C.: "Do you know about the Fan Club newsletter?"
Roger: "Of course! The Queen Times! I've got two volumes myself. I'm really surprised at how much work you guys put into this. Do you put out an issue every month? How much time are you spending on this Fan Club?"
F.C.: "We put out an issue every three months or so. We work on Fan Club matters every day!"
Roger: "Is Warner Pioneer cooperating with you?"
F.C.: "Yes, they are. Roger, you look so tired..."
Roger: "I'm a bit tired, but I'm fine."
F.C.: "We're really worried about your health."
Roger: "I'm fine, really! So don't worry about anything. There's no need to!"
He made a gesture to oppose our concern and we admired his kind demeanor.
After that, we were chatting with Kanazawa-san [in Japanese] for a bit, when Roger suddenly sprang up from his chair, gazing at us with those big eyes, and in a loud voice demanded, "Hey! What are you guys talking about?" ....We were really surprised! When we told him "We're just discussing someone else," he made an expression like "Oh, well in that case..." and returned to his chair.
Brian said he was going to return to his room, so we asked, "When can the Fan Club meet up with you again?" and he answered, "I don't know, maybe another time. Well... see you later.
After that, Roger was surrounded by fans in the lobby.
Afterwards we got on the elevator with him and he had a pack of Glico Premium Caramels and a box of Seven Star cigarettes that fans had given him, looking at them in his hand with an expression of wonder.
"These are a sort of Japanese candy," we told him, as his expression grew increasingly suspicious. We wonder if he enjoyed them afterwards?
Suffice it to say, this day saw us reap a big harvest. We wondered what noted Roger fan Little Roger would have to say when he heard about this....
(After he heard about it, Little Roger cried: "SHIT!! I shouldve gone to Okayama too! AHHH ROGER!" ...Risa and Kathi felt the same...)
Night of the 27th
All members of Queen went to a disco. [Apparently Gorakushima, where they jammed with a Filipino band.]
We ran into Steve the roadie by chance, and at his suggestion went back to our room to chat. Here's a quick rundown of what we heard happened at the Fukuoka rehearsal:
"Freddie sand that old Kinks song, 'You've Really Got Me', two or three times. Maybe it's because he's a drummer or whatever, but Roger seems to really love knocking things around. Brian yelled 'It doesn't sound [good]!' and was really disgusted with things that day. John was all by himself, grinning and keeping the pace."
As far as I can tell, the contents of these have never been translated anywhere. The magazines were released quarterly. I have vol 3, which at a glance seems to contain an interview done in England with Brian May in August of 1974, which I will be getting to eventually; vol 3 1/2, which appears to be a booklet of Japanese translations of contemporary English-language magazine articles and interviews, so probably contains a lot of redundant info; a loose set of photocopied papers which at a glance may involve more gossipy info about both Queen and Slade, which is handwritten and photocopied and dog-eared and hard to read but I'm going to try to see what I can do with it eventually; and vol 4 which as far as I can tell is the most common (I actually have two of these, and was lucky enough to get Brian to sign a copy last year which I was ecstatic about!). I also have something called QUEEN EXPRESS which is full of handwritten lyrics and sheet music. If you know where I can procure more materials like this, please let me know!
I began translating vol 4 as a way to practice my Japanese reading skills and there's some very interesting anecdotes in here so I thought I'd share. This volume covers Queen's first visit to Japan in Spring of 1975. I checked this against deathtoming's 1975 Japanese Tour Diary thread and everything seems to line up perfectly.
Things (in parenthesis) are in the original text.
Things [in brackets] are my own notes or clarifications.
I tried to make it as verbatim as possible, but necessarily had to change some things to sound more natural in English.
Our narrators are: Itsuko Furubayashi ("Ikko"), Megumi Mori, Risa Williams (I assume that should be "Lisa" but I'll use what they wrote), Roger Johnstone ("Little Roger") and Kathi Taylor. Whether those are all real names or pseudonyms I have no idea. I assume at least a few are either foreigners studying in Japan, or Japanese citizens with one or both Western parents.
QUEEN ON THE ROAD
"I read the QUEEN TIMES.
You read the QUEEN TIMES.
Wanna know more about their Japanese tour??
Here it is, Vol. 4!"
John and Brian have a great relationship, like brothers! They were like this at the reception!
"Hey Brian. In this 'Son and Daughter' film... you look pretty cool!"
"Hahaha... tsugarujamisen!" [tsugarujamisen is a type of stringed instrument and also a traditional music genre]
Bottom pic:
"Hey, Mr. Fukuda... we haven't seen you since the 'Ongaku senka' rock tour, right...."
"Has it really been that long?"
Two people reunited after quite a while.
Wednesday April 16th
Ikko, Mori, Little Roger, Risa, and Kathi of the Fan Club Staff were all set at Haneda Airport. Little Roger apparently even left school early in order to be there... and it was then that we received the news: those cruel words, "Queen won't be here until tomorrow..." Little Roger said "Oh god!!" There was nothing we could do, so we went to a coffee shop at the top of the lobby to chat. Suddenly we heard shrieking from the lobby, so, thinking we were given the wrong info after all, we threw our half-finished coffee away and ran over.
6:45 PM
Eight of Queen's engineers appeared in the lobby. One of the roadies looked exactly like Roger, so there was a big commotion. When Little Roger yelled, "AHHH it's Roger!", Mr. Orita from Warner [Music] said, "You moron! Can't you even remember the faces of the people you like?!"
Bahaha... everyone was embarrassed.
Mori very seriously wondered, "What will happen tomorrow when Queen REALLY arrives??"
The roadies went to the Tokyo Prince Hotel by bus, but about ten taxis were chasing them, so the promoter, thinking this was a bad idea, backed out and pretended to get off at the first stop, the Empire Hotel.
Since we were lodging at Tokyo Prince as well, we were a little rushed for a while but we managed.
When the Fan Club said to roadie John Harris, "Freddie said you were very beautiful in that Disc interview," he let out this dumb laugh! (The bastard...)
This was the same John Harris that was mistaken for Roger at the airport!
We became friendly with a roadie named Brian Spencer, also known as Nudger, while at the Tokyo Prince's Bar Windsor.
9:40 PM
At the Bar Windsor
Nudger looked remarkably surprised when we showed him a copy of the Queen Times.
By the way, let's introduce the crew this time around:
Brian Spencer and Rob Johnson, stage crew.
John Harris, sound engineer.
James Dann, John Broderick, Steve Hurston, all lighting crew.
Don Smith, Steve Dickerman, sound crew.
And then the tour manager, John Coray.
Other names included Jack Nelson, a manager.
Thursday April 17th
Queen was finally arriving in Japan for the first time today.
10:50 AM
Lord Nudger was near us in the lobby. "Good morning!" Everyone was in a really great mood.
1:45 PM
We ordered bouquets to give to Queen during their press conference [the next day].
Ikko & Mori were bitter-faced, since it was a private expense. (Shouldn't their parents have the most bitter faces, though?)
But they were such beautiful bouquets...
Around 6:45 PM
Queen arrived at Haneda, and we hired a car to go to the hotel. Because we were aware of the commotion that happened the day prior, we got there before Queen did. Oh, and our hired car was a Mercury! How about that...
Ikko & Little Roger waited at the front door of the hotel for the band, who arrived at 7:15 PM on the dot! They yelled "KYAAA, ROGER!" without stopping to think.
Roger and Freddie got out of the car, with Brian pulling up the rear to enter the lobby.
7:20 PM
When Nudger introduced the Queen Fan Club to Roger, he said, "Ah, I know about you guys!" and grinned. He was wearing black mascara.
Brian was chatting with the crew in the lobby.
Freddie was shaking hands and signing autographs for fans.
John was in a bit of a mood for some reason.
8:50 PM
We bumped into Brian on the 6th floor.
Ikko & Little Roger were wandering around the 6th floor looking for the promoter's room, when right there before their eyes there appeard a tall, lanky man walking towards them, his hair swaying.
F.C.: "Ahh, Brian!"
Brian: "Ahh, [in Japanese] how are..."
F.C.: "...'how are'...?"
Brian: "...you guys doin'?"
Our legs were trembling, our faces were hot, we were a mess....
Ahhh.... finally Queen was here!
Friday April 18th
3:45 AM (that is, in the middle of the night)
Oh, an earthquake! We wonder if Queen is alright?
10:00 AM
We had a meal at the cafe of the hotel. We saw the figures of J. Harris and another roadie whose name we didn't know. J. Harris smiled and shook our hands when he saw us.
10:50 AM
John Deacon came walking into the lobby from outside. None of the fans seemed to notice him, and when we told him that we were Fan Club staff, he just said "Hell." [I'm certain that's supposed to be "Hello", as there are many typos in here.] (He looked somewhat surprised and smiled....)
He was wearing a brown leather coat with jeans. He also had a totebag with him. We barely got to talk with him before the fans took notice of who he was and we were separated from him.
But, but.... we were having such an important conversation...
1:20 PM
The news conference.
Ikko & Mori attended this.
Little Roger joined them at the reception afterwards.
The questions that were asked were really asinine and pointless... How did the four of you meet, Why did you choose Queen as the name.... etc.
Ikko & Mori could only be incredulous.
Freddie had so much confidence during the press conference that it was scary...
Roger smiled often with affection, and Brian was very conscientious.
John seemed self-conscious in front of the cameras and had the same facial expression as he did on the inner jacket of "Queen II".
1:50 PM
The second reception began.
2:00 PM
They were presented with the "Most Valuable Group" award. They looked like four proud little boys accepting it.
2:05 PM
The Fan Club presented them with the bouquets. Ikko gave one to both Freddie and John, and Mori gave one to both Brian and Roger. (That's the picture shown here.)
After the bouquets were handed over, as we went to get off the podium, we were told to take a commemorative photo with the group. (That picture won't be released in the newsletter.)
Eventually, everyone chatted at the table. Mori chatted with Brian. Ikko & Little Roger were able to take a picture and chat with Roger. They told him that we were attending every single performance except for Fukuoka, and Roger exclaimed, "You're crazy!" He was eating sushi the entire time. His eyes were black and white as he shoved it into his tiny mouth... (actually, blue and white!)
John was eating silently. Freddie was watching [the Rainbow '74 performance of] "Son and Daughter" that was set up on a screen in the venue with satisfaction.
Brian was smiling amiably.
2:30 PM
The reception ended. We promised to meet Brian again in our hotel room. We also told Roger "See ya later...."
[After taking stock of Roger's makeup,] Little Roger said, "Ah, damnit Roger...! Now I have to put on mascara, coat myself in double eyeliner, and draw my eyebrows on-" while grinning. (That said, Little Roger was already wearing mascara...)
Around 4:00 PM
Risa and Kathi were chatting with Warner Music people on the 11th floor when Queen came into the Fuji room. Brian had a bamboo toy gun which he pointed at the two and sad, "Bang bang!" ....and with a grin, he left.
Nudger shook Kathi's hand and Roger gave her a smile.
John seemed sullen for some reason....
4:55 PM
We chatted in the promoter's room. After that we returned to our room... (our room was on the 9th floor.)
Then as we made our way to the first floor via elevator, the manager Jack Nelson got on at the 8th floor.
Jack: "Thank you for the reception!"
F.C.: "No problem! By the way, Brian told us we could interview him, so..."
Jack: "Ah, yeah, okay. It's kind of hard, isn't it.... taking care of the Fan Club duties..."
He got off at the 6th floor and we decided to follow him. Then Brian came and Jack said, "They want to interview you tomorrow at 10 AM... is that okay with you, Brian?" and Brian immediately agreed.
Then he and the rest got on an elevator to go somewhere. We stayed on the 6th floor and chatted.
Ikko eventually decided to return to her room, so she went to the elevator and the doors opened right in front of her...
...and who should be there but Brian.
Ikko said, "Ah, Brian! and he looked pleased and smiled at her. He looked as though he was going to exit, but the bellhop held down the button and with a loud, "See you later!", the door closed and he was gone.
Shittt... that stupid bellhop...
Ahh, regardless, it was so great to run into Brian...
7:45 PM
Queen goes out to eat a Japanese meal.
9:40 PM
Kathi phoned us from the first floor to report that Queen had returned there. Ikko & Little Roger went to the 6th floor and Queen immediately showed up on an elevator.
At some point, six or seven groupies got off an elevator and surrounded Brian. (A different elevator [i.e. not theirs]...)
John, noticing us, said "Hi!" and shook our hands happily on the way back to his room.
Freddie didn't pay any attention to us.
Roger, noticing Brian's folly, turned around and returned to his room, grinning.
Brian desperately fought off the groupies and went to leave... but then he perked up when he noticed us and greeted us with "Hi!"
He's always so kind....
10:15 PM
At the Bar Windsor
Queen (minus Brian) were drinking tastefully. We were so tired but we perked up after having a drink too.
John was sitting all alone, detached, and staring at us.
He didn't say a word.
Saturday April 19th
10:15 AM
We interviewed Brian May in a roadie's room. (Details will be in a future issue.)
We arrived at the room at exactly 10 AM, and John and a roadie were standing there. We told the roadie, "We came to interview Brian," and "We could come back later..."
Then exactly fifteen minutes later, the interview commenced.
Brian was wearing a black velveteen suit and a purple and black striped tee. He wore two necklaces and on his chest was a penguin brooch.
He never stopped smiling. He really is a kind person.
10:37 AM
J. Nelson and John came in.
They began to look through an issue of QUEEN TIMES.
John took a look at the "Queen Best Tracks as chosen by YOU!" page [from vol 3], and seeing "Misfire" made eighth place, smiled broadly.
Jack also had a look on his face like "Hey.... it placed!" They communicated to us that it was a "good newsletter".
10:42 AM
John had waited for us and took a picture with the Queen Times staff.
He said, "Hang on...." and looked in the mirror, fixing his hair, and then "Say cheese!"
Turns out he's a fun, good-humored person.
10:48 AM
John left the room.
We showed Brian an issue of QUEEN TIMES and he kept repeating, "Amazing, amazing, heh heh..." over and over.
Oh yeah, and Little Roger returned to his room to get a present he had brought for John before he left, and while he was gone John began fooling around with his camera and broke it!
So we wanted to take pictures of Brian, but the shutter stopped working, and we were only able to take black and white photos with Ikko's camera....
John felt so bad....! It was.... adorable, we guess.....?
After 7:00 PM (?)
Finally the Queen gig!
Details of a different performance from May can be found in the "Performance Highlights" section of this issue. But here, Little Roger has a word for the rest of the fans:
"Didn't you hear Freddie telling us to sit down the last time?? As a fan, I'm embarrassed! What did you all come to see Queen do?? Especially Mariko (Last Name Withheld), I'm talking to you! Because of your actions, utter chaos ensued. Calm the hell down!
It must be said, the other staff members also agree with this sentiment. (He [Little Roger] was really upset.). Think about how bothersome you're being to both the band and other fans. If you stand up and make noise, we aren't able to hear the slower songs, and can't even see the band, right?!
We feel sorry for those people!
Because of the chaos, Ikko lost her shoes AND her watch!
Good grief...
Little Roger had his badge taken as well.
We wonder how the First of May will be....
11:20 PM
The Fan Club staff went to the Bar Windsor again. Risa, Mori, and LIttle Roger returned to their rooms after a bit. Ikko & Kathi decided to stay and keep drinking. J. Harris and several people were there as well....
We drank a little too much and barely made it back to our rooms, but once we were there we began to sober up. (As intended....)
Kathi has a bit of a fever for J. Harris so she was shocked by the sight of groupies hanging all over him.... after that she was cry-laughing...
Risa looked troubled.
Little Roger was too busy writing out [Queen et al's] airline itinerary.
April 20th
4:00 PM
Queen signed things for fans in the garden of the Tokyo Prince Hotel. We went along too and chatted with the promoter and the people from Warner.
John saw Ikko and said, "Hi!"
4:45 PM
Signing was over. We went back to our rooms and Queen went back to theirs.
Little Roger was gazing out our window on the 9th floor and a girl down below mistook him for the actual Roger and started waving up at him.
Little Roger had no choice but to wave back...
The girl screamed and started sobbing.
[Interesting to note: this means Little Roger had blond hair, and hairdye was/is strictly forbidden for students of most Japanese schools, so he must be at least part caucasian.]
8:50 PM
We went back to the Bar Windsor with Steve, a roadie with whom we had become chummy.
He's a New Yorker and great person.
He also seems to be a fan of Freddie's as well.
Kathi proposed going to Byblos , but backed out.
April 21st
10:05 AM
We bid Kathi, Risa, and Little Roger farewell [as they were not going on to Nagoya].
Brian stopped by our room.
He reiterated his promise that "we'll meet again" and said goodbye.
2:15 PM
At the Nagoya Castle Hotel, we discovered Freddie & John in front of the first floor elevator. We greeted Nudger in passing. After that, once we had left our luggage in the room, we ran into Brian & Roger in front of the first floor elevator. We introduced Brian to Ikko in passing and then we parted ways.
4:10 PM
We met Steve and Mike in the Japanese restaurant of the Castle Hotel.
4:20 PM
We went to the venue's reception with the producer of World Leisure. The party had already begun on the second floor. John noticed us and greeted us with a big grin and "Hi! How are you?"
We mingled briefly with Brian.
It seems he's acquired a taste for sushi.
After that we returned to our room....
April 22nd
12:10 PM
Brian came back from somewhere. What were the other guys doing, we wonder...
And doesnt he have anything other than black or striped suits?
He's always wearing one or the other (but more often black).
1:15 PM
Roger left the hotel with a bodyguard and an interpreter. Was he going to tour Nagoya Castle?
1:55 PM
We ran into Brian in the hotel basement. He was looking at a picture postcard.
2:30 PM
We ran into all of Queen by chance in front of the elevator.
They were on their way to the sound check.
Freddie was looking flashy as usual, in a yellow, orange, and green -striped jacket.
Around 7:00 PM
Concert!
April 23rd
Queen went to Kyoto.
Ikko & Mori went home.
They'd be away from Queen until 4/27... so lonely...
April 25th
Fukuoka Performance
April 26th
Off
April 27th
Around 3:30 PM
Ikko arrived at Okayama International Hotel.
Since Mori hadn't arrived yet, she ended up just wandering around with nothing to do.
Steve sauntered up to the hotel entrance.
Steve: "Hey! You're here now?"
Ikko: "Yeah, I'm waiting here for Mori!"
Steve: "Mori? You mean Megumi Mori?"
Ikko: "Yeah, that's right."
Steve: "Ya mean she's not here yet?"
Ikko: "Nope. Remember how we taught you 'makesou' ['losing out']? (We had taught him this word at the Windsor Bar)"
Steve: "Ah, yeah I remember. But no one taught me what it actually means!"
Ikko: "Ahahaha!"
Around that time another roadie, Rob, faced us with a camera from about 50 meters away.
Steve: "Hey, Rob!"
Rob started taking photos of us.
Steve: "He can take photos from that far away because he has a wide lens on that camera..."
Ikko: "Here's my camera..."
They stood there for a while and Steve asked Ikko, "So are we planning on staying here forever?" She replied, "Nah, let's go inside," and they headed back to the hotel.
Then who should arrive but Mori....
Finally! Ikko was relieved.
Steve wanted to go back to the room to talk so we chatted with him. After a while, we received a call from a person at World Leisure that Queen were on the first floor cafe terrace, so we hurried down. Unfortunately, Freddie and John were already in the process of paying the bill. John noticed us and gave us a shout out-- "How are you?"
Brian remained sitting on the terrace, and he and the surrounding roadies were all gazing up.
A single big black bird was dancing all over the sky.
We tried to approach Brian to hand him a present, but we were stopped by his bodyguard.
Luckily, Steve noticed this situation and brought us over to Brian. Thanks, Steve!
Since Roger was close by, when we asked him to take a picture, he conveyed to us, "I'm in the middle of something, how about in a bit..."
Brian saw us and said, "Hi! Hello. I haven't seen much of you since we were in Tokyo. What have you been up to?"
We answered, "Well we didn't see you in Kobe, and we weren't able to attend the Fukuoka concert." Brian kept rubbing his nose and when we asked him, "Did you catch a cold?" he confirmed our suspicions by responding, "A little bit. But I'm fine!" Mori presented him with a sumi-e picture she had purchased in Nagoya.
We requested him to "Please, open it now!" so he undid the wrapping paper and opened up the cardboard box, his eyes widening with an expression as if to say, What do we have in here? The people surrounding him laughed as he quickly took off the lid. When he aw the picture, Brian kept repeating "Amazing" and "Lovely". When we explained sumi-e to him, he inquired "Where is this painted scene located?" We told hi "The city of Ise.... we think."
Mori bought a complete sumi-e set with this picture, complete with ink, inkstone, and brush. Brian said, "I'd like for you to show me how to use this," so we put a cup of water on the table and showed him how to mix it with the ink. Then he began to draw a line on the top of the box. When we showed him the brush, he inquired, "How do you say this in Japanese? How do I spell it [with the Roman alphabet]?" As we taught him, he wrote "Fude = brush" on the box. Then he turned the wrapping paper over and began drawing a picture. All the while, the bird from before swooped in the sky above.
Rob was tracking the bird with his wide lens camera, and the surrounding roadies were fascinated as well. Brian, squinting up at the bird, said "That's a really magnificent bird... is it a hawk? An eagle?" but no one knew for sure. (We suspect it was a black kite bird.)
"I like birds... my mum really loves them too... she paints them as well. It's her hobby. But I myself cant really draw." And then, we don't know why, but with the bird continually dancing in the sky above, he began drawing a candle. Since we had a camera with us, we took a photo of it with his permission.
As we leaned in to take another photo with the camera, he faced down and continued drawing. When we asked if he'd draw a guitar, he said shyly "I'm not very good at drawing... I ought to study it more... I'm really not good at it at all..." and yet began to draw the body of a guitar.
F.C.: "This right here is the first pickup, right? And this one is the second?"
Brian: "That's right, and this is the bridge."
When he finished drawing the guitar, next he drew an amplifier and a cord connecting it to the guitar, and from the amp, he drew a single note! He showed it to us, laughing.
At this point, we all wanted to take a picture with Roger, and when we mentioned that to Brian he said, "Well, I'm going to go show him this picture so follow me." We went from the terrace into the cafe, over to where Roger was sitting with Kanazawa-san from World Leisure, and Brian began to show him his drawing.
Roger seemed a little jealous as he boyishly looked over the drawing.
How adorable.... we thought to ourselves.
When we mentioned we were the Fan Club, Roger said, "Ahhh, I know about the Fan Club. You have a difficult job to do. Great!" We handed over a present from the Fan Club, a sensu folding fan, and he said "Is it okay to open it here?" When he opened it and saw the pattern on the inside, he cried, "Oh! Beautiful!" Then he swished it open with one hand, covering his mouth and posing like a geisha. Where did he manage to learn that??
We asked Brian if he could open it one-handed as well, but he couldn't do it. Roger was pretty good at it, and he kept doing it over and over. When we asked if we could get a photo of it, he cheerfully acquiesced. Up until then he had seemed boyish, maybe even a little feminine, but the post [in the photo] was very masculine. After we took the photo, he returned to swinging the fan around, having a good time.
Our conversation with Roger was as follow:
F.C.: "Do you know about the Fan Club newsletter?"
Roger: "Of course! The Queen Times! I've got two volumes myself. I'm really surprised at how much work you guys put into this. Do you put out an issue every month? How much time are you spending on this Fan Club?"
F.C.: "We put out an issue every three months or so. We work on Fan Club matters every day!"
Roger: "Is Warner Pioneer cooperating with you?"
F.C.: "Yes, they are. Roger, you look so tired..."
Roger: "I'm a bit tired, but I'm fine."
F.C.: "We're really worried about your health."
Roger: "I'm fine, really! So don't worry about anything. There's no need to!"
He made a gesture to oppose our concern and we admired his kind demeanor.
After that, we were chatting with Kanazawa-san [in Japanese] for a bit, when Roger suddenly sprang up from his chair, gazing at us with those big eyes, and in a loud voice demanded, "Hey! What are you guys talking about?" ....We were really surprised! When we told him "We're just discussing someone else," he made an expression like "Oh, well in that case..." and returned to his chair.
Brian said he was going to return to his room, so we asked, "When can the Fan Club meet up with you again?" and he answered, "I don't know, maybe another time. Well... see you later.
After that, Roger was surrounded by fans in the lobby.
Afterwards we got on the elevator with him and he had a pack of Glico Premium Caramels and a box of Seven Star cigarettes that fans had given him, looking at them in his hand with an expression of wonder.
"These are a sort of Japanese candy," we told him, as his expression grew increasingly suspicious. We wonder if he enjoyed them afterwards?
Suffice it to say, this day saw us reap a big harvest. We wondered what noted Roger fan Little Roger would have to say when he heard about this....
(After he heard about it, Little Roger cried: "SHIT!! I shouldve gone to Okayama too! AHHH ROGER!" ...Risa and Kathi felt the same...)
Night of the 27th
All members of Queen went to a disco. [Apparently Gorakushima, where they jammed with a Filipino band.]
We ran into Steve the roadie by chance, and at his suggestion went back to our room to chat. Here's a quick rundown of what we heard happened at the Fukuoka rehearsal:
"Freddie sand that old Kinks song, 'You've Really Got Me', two or three times. Maybe it's because he's a drummer or whatever, but Roger seems to really love knocking things around. Brian yelled 'It doesn't sound [good]!' and was really disgusted with things that day. John was all by himself, grinning and keeping the pace."
Another interesting story that Steve told was that he and Roger ran out of Marlboro cigarettes, but they didn't have any more at the Okayama Hotel, so he went out into the city to find some, and he said several times how surprised he was when Japanese people kept pointing and saying "Look! Look! An American!"
So today, Roger had to smoke Seven Stars instead. (When we told this to Little Roger, he said "Wah! I wonder if I should give Seven Stars a try.... but I really like Marlboros better." What would you do?)
Steve has the cheerful kindness of a New Yorker. He said goodnight and left the room. This was around midnight.
Ikko went to meet Queen in the lobby when they returned to the hotel. Brian came up to her and said, "I can't come see you all tonight, gomen ne [Japanese for "I'm sorry"].... how about tomorrow morning?
Ikko said O.K. and left smiling.
April 28th
Around 1 PM
When we went to the lobby, Freddie, Roger, and John were in the middle of a meal at the cafe. Roger and Freddie were leaning in close, conversing. Their bodyguards were seated a bit behind them, having a meal. Freddie and I coincidentally made eye contact, and I couldn't help but gaze at him. After that, Roger left and returned to the lobby, and Brian took his seat. Apparently all four of them had just woken up, so we guess this was both lunch and breakfast.
After 1:30, we went to go visit Ikko's relatives who lived near the hotel and ended up staying for nearly an hour. One of the relatives was a girl who is also a huge fan of Hiromi Goh, and spent nearly 600,000 yen chasing after her together with us last year...
Ahh... the headaches these darn kids cause their parents....
At around 2 PM, as we returned to the hotel entrance, Queen were just leaving in their limo to head to rehearsal.
After lunch, the two of us went back to our room to begin tackling some Fan Club business: the Fan Club organization chart and a draft of a written introduction to hand over to Queen.
Around 4:45 PM
Once Ikko finished up her Fan Club organization chart she began wandering around the room. Mori was getting irritated with the lack of skill apparent in her own writing. Just then, there was a knock at the door.
Ikko opened the door and yelped to see Brian standing there with an amused look on his face.
Mori thought that room service had come, so she was shocked to see that it was actually Brian. We let him in and he said, "I'm so sorry I couldn't meet with you last night nor this morning! Will you go down and have something to eat with me?" He had a look of apology on his face.
We were caught off-guard and unprepared. But of course we just said, "Could you please wait just one moment?" and hurried up to get organized and go down to the cafe on the first floor.
As always, he wore a black suit with a white dress shirt, and he also had that scarf tied around his neck that we've all seen in so many pictures, the multicolored one. He had his penguin brooch on his left lapel like always, and under that he had added a badge that spells "Love". He saw us peering at the white penguin brooch on his right lapel-- we hadn't seen that one before. "It's new," he explained.
As soon as we got down to the cafe, Brian apologized to us again, and we really felt quite humbled. We did our best to tell him, "Please, don't worry about it." It as already after 5 PM when the menu arrived and since he had to go back to the venue soon, we asked the waiter to please tell the kitchen to cook fast. No sooner had we let the waiter know about the situation when Brian ordered a time-consuming gratin. Of course the waiter said, "But... that'll take about 10-15 minutes...". We told Brian that "We recommend the pilaf!"
"...Pilaf?" He eyed us suspiciously, but he did order it.
After the food, we didn't have much time left, so we ordered juice.
Our interview with Brian at this time went as follows:
F.C.: "Is it fair to say that your song 'She Makes Me' is a love song?"
Brian: "Ahh... yes. It's a love song, more or less."
F.C.: "What area of London do you reside in?"
Brian: "Kensington."
F.C.: "With your parents?"
Brian: "No....."
F.C.: "Has the Japanese audience made any particular impression on you?"
Brian: "We love the Japanese audience. They're so enthusiastic, so friendly, and so empathetic. They're very good. I'm really happy we've come to Japan."
F.C.: "You have an interest in cameras, right?"
Brian: "Yeah. I bought some when we were in Tokyo the other day! It's really a hobby of mine."
F.C.: "Are you still studying astronomy?"
Brian: "Now? Yes... but I don't think I'm going to have time for it much longer. Yeah, I have no time. It's really too bad. But I just don't have the time anymore."
At that point, someone from World Leisure came and announced that it was almost time to leave. Brian noticed an extremely small cassette recorder that we had put on top of the table and murmured, "Look how small it is! Nice! That's really neat." When we parted ways at the elvator, we gave him our words of thanks and he smiled and thanked us back.
That night was the concert. Two hours of fun.
April 29th
Ikko headed out to Shizuoka prefecture.
But she and Mori missed the shinkansen [bullet train] and didn't make it to the venue in time.
Lodging was at the New Grand in Yokohama.
Little Roger's narrative is as follows:
"Today was the show at Shizuoka. It was four of us: me, my two sisters, and Risa.
Shizuoka is unexpectedly far away, isn't it? We arrived at a lonely station out in Kakegawa.
Without thinking, Risa said, "Mama...."
That's the lonely thing about being a loving wife... [note: I'm sorry I can't really make sense of this part]
At first we were worried like, "Are they really going to put on a concert this deep in the backwoods?!" but as we got closer to the exhibition hall we heard them rehearsing "Now I'm Here", so we felt relieved.
7:10 PM rolled around and the concert began. The third or fourth song in was White Queen and as the intro began, John started acting a little odd.
He was all alone, looking downwards and smirking. Then he'd look up at Roger and giggle and smirk some more... it was a little strange, to be honest.
But once everyone was onstage, someone threw a chair towards the stage. Luckily it didn't make it, but John glared intensely at the direction the chair was thrown from!
Hey, what do you know! John's a badass!
Since we were on the aisle and we wanted to avoid being singled out by security, we were sitting patiently, but as soon as Freddie shouted 'Stand up!' Risa and I jumped up and yelled 'KYAAA~!" John was able to see us now.
(I bet I had a frantic look on my face)
Then I noticed the only ones standing in the front were Risa and I.
We wanted to stay til the very end, but since we couldn't miss the last train, we had to leave after shouting for an encore. The encore was Big Spender, Modern Times RocknRoll, etc., stuff that I bet blew everyone's hair back..."
(This concludes Little Roger's recollection.)
April 30th
After 12 PM, while we were in the cae eating lunch, we looked out the window and saw Freddie and John getting out of a taxi. Freddie had on a stylish yellow and black striped blouse and white slacks. John had on jeans and a tee shirt. They had gone out with bodyguards in order to find something to wear to the venue on May 1st, but hadn't found anything they liked.
This is what Kathi has to say:
"On the day of the Yokohama performance, Little Roger and Risa were supposed to meet up with me at Tokyo Station. I waited for them for 25 minutes but they never showed, so I had no choice but to leave without them."
This is what Little Roger has to say:
"Finally, the time for two more Japanese shows had come. Risa and I were quite late and entered during the second song.
(Ikko wasnt very happy with us...)
I didn't want to ignore that Ikko was unhappy, but since there was an angry security guard right in front of us, I just sat down.
This was during Stone Cold Crazy.
Several people tried to get in front of me but I fought them off so I could hear everything until the end."
("Seeing this was something else! Little Roger swinging those long limbs around, looking those girls dead in the eye and braying 'MORONS!'" --Ikko)
That night, Ikko & Mori met up with Little Roger and the gang for the first time in quite a while...
Ah! It had already been ten days since we had last seen each other.
May 1st, Tokyo.
We the Queen F.C. received an invitation to meet Oda, chief exec of Warner Pioneer, for the second time at 10 o'clock.
That evening, all five F.C. staff members took in the concert.
Little Roger and Kathi were kind enough to write a bit about that, so here we go:
First, from Kathi:
"Right after school was out, I went to the Budoukan. I couldn't find Ikko and the others and after searching high and low, found them together with Steve. Steve saw me and said, "Oh, Kathi!" and gave me a kiss. I was embarrassed that the surrounding people were privy to that.
Because the concert began late, everyone was getting really excited. Kamayatsu Hiroshi and Mark from the band Garo were sitting in the south stands on the first floor. Everyone was even more excited about that than they were about Queen."
Now, from Little Roger:
"This was the day of Queen's last performance in Japan.
Ahh, is it really going to be another year until we can see Queen again? (Well, for me anyways.)
The performance was supposed to begin at 6:30 but time stretched on and before long it was 7:30. The announcer said, 'Those who stand will be asked to leave!'
I applauded that announcement without even thinking twice.
Procession began, then Now I'm Here.
One by one the songs came to an end.
Right before Keep Yourself Alive, Freddie told us to 'Stand up!' but since the powers that be told the F.C. staff not to stand, I stayed sitting down. But I was so enthralled to listen to the music that I couldn't really move a muscle anyhow.
For the second encore, Freddie, John, and Brian wore kimono. [note: womens' kimono at that, they were also effectively cross-dressing.]
I lost my mind when I caught Roger's thrown scarf!
("Little Roger went nuts at this point! Yelling 'Roger! Roger! Gyaaaaa!' and holding onto the scarf for dear life... I didn't care for it... it was unbecoming of a man..." -Ikko)
After that the stage lights went on, and we knew it was really the end this time. All the staff were in tears... sniff... sniff...
P.S. To Mariko (Last Name Withheld), yes YOU who were screaming how you HAD TO HAVE a carnation that Freddie threw...
Between that and the way you behaved on the 19th, I'm at a loss for words. Your behavior is truly disgusting."
(This ends Little Roger's POV.)
Sometime after 11:00 PM
Before Mori returned to the Tokyo Prince Hotel, she was standing at the taxi platform seeing Kathi off, and Brian and Roger came out of a side door and got into a waiting taxi.
Freddie and John headed toward Byblos in a taxi with a bodyguard.
One more taxi full of fans chased after them.
The following day, we were talking with a bodyguard and according to him, all members of Queen are insanely serious about what they're doing; they only went out to drink about four nights for the entire two weeks they were here, and they never drank very much. On top of that, girl fans followed them everywhere they went but the band would never hang out with any of them. Queen said, "We're not in Japan to spend time with girls, we came here to perform," and asked the bodyguards to keep the girls at arm's length.
May 2nd
Sometime afer 4 PM
Tokyo Prince Hotel Lobby
After Imaizumi Hiroshi-san finished recording an episode of [the radio request show] "Young Echo" on NHK, he came to see us and chat about Queen. Roger, Brian, and John returned from a shopping trip. Freddie came back last.
6:30 PM
We were given the chance by the people at World LEisure to have the Fan Club be formally introduced and give gifts to the band, but only two of us were allowed to go.
So we headed towards Queen's room on the 8th floor.
First, we saw Freddie in the room grooming himself in the mirror.
As we were introduced to him, he kept nodding his head so many times, and answered us in such a gentlemanly and polite manner with words of thanks.
Next, John was standing in the hallway-- with an amused expression of surprise on his face, he thanked us sincerely for our gratitude. His smile never fell the entire time.
Next was Brian. We had brought him another sensu fan and a necklace that Ikko was wearing. The necklace was relatively cheap but it had a really neat design, like something beautiful from the Middle East. Brian's eyes got big and he said "Oooh... how beautiful!" Mori had heard that Brian liked cats so she presented him with an English translation of the Souseki Natsume novel "Wagahai ha Neko de Aru" ["I am a Cat"]. Then he told us tha the would read the F.C. introduction letter we had personally handed to him in Okayama on the plane.
Last was Roger-- since we had already presented him with a sensu fan in Okayama, we also gave him a "fukusa" cloth that we had purchased on an off day. "Too bad I got another fan!" he said, scratching his head over and over again with his left hand. When we thanked him, he said, "No, no, thank YOU!" with a serious tone and gesture. So polite and kind, Roger.
The hallway from Roger's room was filled with luggage and attendants, and we couldn't really get through. Brian's room was nearby and he was wearing the necklace Ikko had given him and admiring it in the mirror. We were able to hear him say, "Beautiful". After he left the room, there was still someone from World Leisure there, so the three of us chatted about Queen's departure time. As soon as that guy left, Brian returned, and bowed to us. Then someone called him and he left for a minute, then returned again and sat in a chair.
"Since we can't get through, would it be alright if we stayed in here for a minute?" we asked and he said "Of course! Sit over there," and pointed to the sofa. He had begun drinking orange juice, and turning to us, asked "You guys want something to drink?" We said "Oh, please, don't worry about us," but he had already opened the fridge and was peering inside. "Ah, there's only one more can of orange juice in here. Is that alright with you?" He said it with such kindness.
We noticed at this point that he really has a sweet tooth. He had McVitie's Cream Biscuits with him and those are something even we ladies find pretty sweet. We were amazed he was able to eat those...
Brian began playing his guitar, and we requested a few things. We could only be in awe as he began playing "Doing Alright". He had the nails of a guitarist, all extremely well taken care of and kept in good condition, and we were struck by how beautiful his fingers were.
Before 8:00 PM
Some bodyguards entered the room and announced, "Hey, it's time to go." We said some last words of gratitude towards Brian, who called out from the back, "Take care, see you later!" in a loud voice.
But there would be no seeing him later, for this was the end of Queen's trip.
8:27 PM
At Haneda Airport
Little Roger was standing before customs and shouted, "Ah, Brian!" in a loud voice.
With that one exclamation, Queen began to run, 17 surprised staff members began to run, and fans gave chase-- such a commotion!
After that we had no opening...
The four of them left on a JAL plan at 9:45 PM.
Staff:
Itsuko Furubayashi
Megumi Mori
Roger Johnstone
Risa Williams
Kathi Taylor
From Roger Johnstone:
"At the autograph signing event on the 20th, to the girls who waved at us up on the 9th floor........
It wasn't Queen waving to you, it was me...... I wasn't trying to trick any of you, I swear......
I'm really sorry!"
