I noticed the PsyTrance scene decline in Japan last year Summer 2008 when Vision Quest (the largest of the summer mountain raves) had very few good artists and very few fans show up. The reason for this was a death in Gumma prefecture earlier in summer. Some young lady was found dead after drug overdose at a highway service area, still in her car. Earlier that night she had gone to a full moon party. From that point the cops were busting people at other raves throughout the summer. Astrix and Skazi both canceled their Vision Quest September 2008 date, they say because Astrix was in hospital and Skazi had visa troubles. Bullsh*t. The reason is the drug supporters and yattai supporters (Japanese food vendor) declined to go to the Vision Quest show because of risk of getting busted. After that girl died in Gumma in early summer, there was a marked decline in attendance at all raves thereafter, from what I have heard and from what I experienced. I also went to Mother, and Solstice, both of which also had low attendance. Vision Quest seemed the most bleak of them all. It had two or three food vendors, all foreign (Sasebo American military burger, Russian food, and Turkish kabobs). The main artist was Psysex, and there were very few fans. For once however, I was able to get the hotel right next to the stage. :-) The crack down on the drug scene has left psytrance in Japan in a difficult situation.
Having said that, there are reasons to believe that psytrance is still alive in Japan, albeit at a lower key (shall we say underground) level. I saw Skazi (is he really psytrance) in April 2009, and Infected Mushroom in early May 2009, and next week Hallucinogen aka Potsford will be here. These artists are quite impressive, and draw extremely large crowds elsewhere in the world, but here in Japan they are performing at pretty small venues. Skazi played at Differ Ariake and the number of fans was low compared to the size of Differ, so it made it look like a low turn-out; actually it was a low turn out. Infected Mushroom performed at Function (aka Club Face) in Shinjuku, and it was a kick-arse show. The problem was that there were very few people there before IM arrived, and the place emptied after IM left. The artist before IM was Domestic, who I think is pretty good, but, again, there just weren't that many people there, sort of putting a damper on the genki energetic psytrance scene we all crave for. I am looking forward to seeing Shpongle Hallucinogen next weekend at Elephant Club in Harajuku, yet another small venue that does not give justice to the Potsford excellence. I hope there are lots of rave heads though.
As for psytrance paraphenalia, I think Quintrex in Shibuya has or will close soon. The only place I know right now is Psychedlic Garden, which as of this writing May 22, 2009, is still open because I just called them to ask if I could get my Hallucinogen/Potsford Shpongle tickets there, and they said yes.
Hope to see y'all at the clubs! And please post more info here about the psytrance scene in Japan, because as you know it is extremely difficult to find stuff published in English.
PsychicPaulbyl
