{"id":27234,"date":"2012-10-05T14:32:02","date_gmt":"2012-10-05T18:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/?p=27234"},"modified":"2012-10-05T15:21:19","modified_gmt":"2012-10-05T19:21:19","slug":"justins-japan-nyc-gives-bz-an-a-at-best-buy-theater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/2012\/10\/05\/justins-japan-nyc-gives-bz-an-a-at-best-buy-theater\/","title":{"rendered":"Justin’s Japan: NYC Gives B’z an A at Best Buy Theater"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Koshi Inaba, left, and Tak Matsumoto of B’z played a sold out show at New York’s Best Buy Theater Sept. 30, 2012. (Justin Tedaldi)<\/p><\/div>\n

By<\/strong><\/em><\/a>\u00a0JQ\u00a0magazine<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0editor\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/a>Justin Tedaldi<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/strong>(CIR\u00a0Kobe-shi<\/a>, 2001-02) for Examiner.com. Visit his\u00a0Japanese culture page\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0for related stories.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not going to stand there the whole time, are you?\u201d a thirtysomething asks me in Japanese from behind the photo pit barrier.<\/p>\n

I tell her that I wouldn\u2019t be much of a rock photographer if I stood still the whole time.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood,\u201d she says, her face all business. \u201cBecause we lined up for this from yesterday morning. So please try to keep your head down, because it\u2019s in my way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her friend presses a slip of paper into my hand. \u201cGive this to someone with the band\u2014they know me,\u201d she purrs. On it is a name written in katakana followed by a phone number. The reverse reads the name of a nearby hotel.<\/div>\n

Welcome to the\u00a0Best Buy Theater<\/a>\u00a0in Manhattan, which drew a sold out Sunday crowd of over 2,000 on Sept. 30 for the New York concert debut of\u00a0B\u2019z<\/a>, Japan\u2019s all-time biggest band. Since 1988,\u00a0Tak Matsumoto<\/a>\u00a0and Koshi Inaba have sold over 80 million records, and hold an untouchable record for consecutive\u00a0number one singles in their native land (46 and counting). A colossal achievement in music, to be sure, but how would the rockers be received on this, their first-ever coast to coast North American tour?<\/p>\n

For the complete story,\u00a0click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

For Justin’s September 2012 interview with Tak and Koshi, click here<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0JQ\u00a0magazine\u00a0editor\u00a0Justin Tedaldi\u00a0(CIR\u00a0Kobe-shi, 2001-02) for Examiner.com. Visit his\u00a0Japanese culture page\u00a0here\u00a0for related stories. \u201cYou\u2019re not going to stand there the whole time, are you?\u201d a thirtysomething asks me in Japanese from behind the photo pit barrier. I tell her that I wouldn\u2019t be much of a rock photographer if I stood still the whole time. \u201cGood,\u201d she […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,26,340,21,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articlejournalism","category-celebrity","category-justins-japan","category-music","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t