RAISING FUKUOKA On a High with Teens By Simon Bartz

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The Japan Times, April 11, 2004

Friday, March 19: There's an explosion of noise and color in the heart of the Ten-jin district in Fukuoka City and the locals don't know what has hit them

Models dance down a runway through a clothes-shop complex commonly known as Oshareyoko-cho and straight into the street outside as groovy '60s psychedelic and Group Sounds music blares behind them; a chanteuse sings some Showa ballads. But three girls steal the show, gliding down the runway in vivid orange, red and yellow kimono

This trinity of exploding stars — Tomo, Honey and Kei — are the reason I've traveled halfway across Japan to be here. The street outside was empty when the show started, but by the end it is packed. Passersby snap away with their camera keitai. Motorists honk their horns in a bid to get by.

Why all the fuss? Because, as far as fashion goes, Fukuoka appears to have about as much going for it as a mountain village inhabited by a farmer, his wife and a bunch of goats. On the surface, that is. If you've got inside knowledge, it's another story. And thanks to Thee 50's High Teens (that's Tomo, Honey and Kei), this is that other story

The High Teens are the best-dressed band in Japan, they deliver thrilling live shows, and they blast that retro garage sound into the future through bassist Tomo's hoarse punk-rock vocal blitz, Kei's demented keyboard antics (she dances so crazily she often collapses during sets), and the cool demeanor of mysterious and beautiful guitarist Honey. The girls have promised me a five-day rock 'n' roll guided tour of a city that has spawned such indie-rock notables as Number Girl and Mo'Some Tonebender. And who could turn that offer down?

The High Teens swear by the Keith Flack livehouse, where they often play, but tonight we hit the aptly named Oyafuko-dori ("Make Parents Unhappy Street"), home of many of the city's live venues, and end up wasted at a garage night at Butterfly, watching a cool local band called Lovebites

Saturday, March 20: Tomo screeches to a halt in her cute white Mira Daihatsu and I climb inside. "If you write down I've got this car everyone will know how poor I am," she says in her incredibly husky voice.

"Tonight, we're taking you to the only place in town that does genuine '60s-style haircuts," says Kei, excitedly.

Do they wish they had lived in the '60s?

"Nah!" says Tomo. She's wearing a black-and-white woolen coat with orange trim and matching retro orange-lensed glasses and is hunched over the wheel like a hip but nearsighted grandma. "I'm sure it would've been fun to live in the '60s, but now we get to do keitai and e-mails as well as do the stuff they did in the '60s — so it's cooler now."

At the door of Beehive Deluxe, which is tucked away in a otherwise dour Akasaka back street, I'm greeted by Hiroko Ueno. She runs the place with husband Tatsuya, who looks up from cutting a customer's hair and waves. Fifties and '60s style books are stacked on a table, and in a far corner are the retro crown jewels — a 2-meter-high fridge and a enormous cooker with cute red knobs.

"We shot part of our video down here," says Tomo.

"It's pure '50s California," says Kei. "And upstairs it's pure '30s Chicago."

"Kei changed her hairstyle seven times last year," says Tomo. (Tonight, Kei will go home, check her photo albums, and report that it was 10 times.)

After ramen at one of the packed-out yatai stalls that line the riverbank in the Nakasu area, we buzz off to Fuzz. It has the best record collection I've seen in a bar — Television and The Velvets sit next to Murahachibu and obscure '60s garage discs. While Juichiro Tanaka mixes cocktails his wife, Mami, emerges from the kitchen bearing trays of exotic desserts, which is what this cozy joint is famous for

We were gonna do an interview here, but Kei is scoffing her Snow Dome Pie, and then stealing mouthfuls of Honey's Rare Cream Cheese Parfait. Tomo wants to do the interview, but, errr, we get drunk and end up at a karaoke parlor until dawn.

Shukan ST: July 13, 2004

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