Rethinking ‘collective effervescence,’ post-COVID-19: what Japanese punks can teach us about crowd control

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the case of grassroots-level live music in Japan during the height of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Despite imposing restrictions on cross-border movement, the Japanese government refrained from implementing the ‘lockdowns’ seen elsewhere. As such, this study provides an opportunity to examine what happens when infection prevention measures are delegated to the community level. Using qualitative data gathered from ethnographic fieldwork, this case study of punks in the northern city of Sapporo affords a ‘real life’ view of live music practice under such circumstances. Given that governments and policy makers are keen to avoid ‘lockdowns’ or similar measures should there be a future pandemic, a consideration of what actually happens in such a case becomes imperative. Qualitative analysis of this ethnographic case study reveals that whether an audience is able to sufficiently ‘control’ themselves in order to follow infection prevention guidelines is dependent on the social trajectories of those within it, and to what extent they are willing and able to employ their personal (sub)cultural capital to influence the emergent event. For policy makers, this suggests that any ‘community-level’ approach to infection prevention necessitates engagement with the group in question that is simultaneously ‘bottom up’ and ‘top down.’

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• live music
• crowd behaviour
• punk
• Japan

Acknowledgments

The author would like to express their heartfelt gratitude to the people of Sapporo’s punk community, without whose cooperation and support this research would not be possible. The author would also like to thank Dr Susanne Klien and Dr Paul Hansen for their ongoing mentorship, and especially Dr Caitlin Coker for her invaluable input on early versions of this paper. Thanks is also due to the anonymous peer reviewers, whose insightful and constructive comments made this a much stronger paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. With particular reference to articles 21 and 31, the Constitution of Japan may be read in full, here: https://japan.kantei.go.jp/constitution_and_government_of_japan/constitution_e.html.

2. 緊急事態宣言 (kinkyū jitai sengen)

3. ライブハウス – raibuhausu.

4. Parts of this research paper have been adapted from the author’s Master’s Thesis, which is available here: XXXX.

5. 北海道ライブ.エンターテインメント連絡協議会 (hokkaidō raibu entāteinmento renraku kyōgi-kai).

6. Sasaki regularly organizes charity events to support victims of natural disasters in Japan and abroad, as well as local groups that work with people living with physical, mental, or developmental disabilities. He has also been a prominent figure in demonstrations to protest against government proposals to revise Article 9 (the so-called ‘pacifist clause’) of the Japanese constitution, and has more recently organized small-scale protests outside the Russian consulate in Sapporo to object to the country’s military action in Ukraine, as well as protests against Israel’s military actions in Gaza.

7. 責任 (sekinin).

8. できる限り (dekiru kagiri).

9. 運動してんのかい？ (Undō shiten no kai?).

10. いやっ、ライブ感がすると、動かなっきゃね (Iya’, raibu-kan ga suru to, ugokanakkya ne).

11. Here, Shūhei used the word, tsurai (辛い), which can be used to refer to physical pain or discomfort, but also denotes a state of emotional pain and/or mental stress.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

James D. Letson

James D. Letson came to academia slightly later in life, having spent most of his twenties as an itinerant music tutor and heavy metal musician in South Wales, UK. After graduating from Hokkaido University’s Modern Japanese Studies Program, he entered the Cultural Anthropology Research Group in the graduate school at the same university, where he is currently a PhD candidate. His research focuses on the intersection of community and intergenerational relationships with live music practice in Sapporo City, centred on its longstanding and vibrant community of punks. He is also Assistant Editor at the Asian Anthropology research journal.