Go West: Creating and Curating a Punk Scene on Kyoto’s Campuses

In 1979, a group of bands under the name Tokyo Rockers performed at Seibu Kōdō (the Western Auditorium) of Kyoto University. This is generally considered the first punk performance in the city, highlighting that Tokyo was ahead of the curve and bringing punk to the periphery. However, most of the acts that performed could hardly be called punk, and it was a Kyoto band, the SS, that really set the musical tone. Having heard of the Ramones, they figured they should just play as fast as possible, stealing the show and inventing hardcore at the same time. The SS would disband soon after, but the band’s members continued to nurture and grow the punk scene in Kyoto through the Seibu Kōdō Venue and their own organization, Beat Crazy.

Although it is mostly known as a center of traditional culture and a tourist destination, Kyoto has also long been a center of alternative cultural production. From the late 1970s on, Kyoto was a significant center of punk culture in Japan. Following the first wave of bands like the SS, Inu, and Hijokaidan, a second wave of bands, like S.O.B., Sekiri and others followed. Contrary to contemporary beliefs, however, punk did not burst out of nowhere. Kyoto’s own DIY style was born out of the praxis and infrastructure built by its fervent student movement and the artists, and misfits that upheld these traditions around university “autonomous zones” and other sites throughout the city from the 1970s on. Focusing on Seibu Kōdō, which historically was the focus of this scene, I argue that punks were able to thrive thanks to an ethos and organizational core which went back to the Sixties generation, whom punks loathed yet shared with much more than they would like to admit or even knew.