Tokyo Jihen's breakup show at the Nippon Budokan, February 29, 2012

About the artist

Tokyo Jihen was the band of Ringo Shiina, who had debuted as a solo singer in 1998 with the single “Kōfukuron” (“on happiness”)^[1]. In 2003, as she had said she would, she brought her solo work to a pause after her third album and its tour, and in 2004 she started a band with musicians she trusted^[1][2]; one article dates the formation to 2003^[3]. That year the band, with the bassist Seiji Kameda among its members, released its first single, “Gunjō Biyori” (“ultramarine weather”), and its first album, Kyōiku (“education”)^[4].

In 2005 the keyboardist Ichiyo Izawa and the guitarist Ukigumo joined, completing a five-piece lineup with the drummer Izao Hata, and the album Adult was the first by the five^[4][3]. The albums that followed were titled like TV channels: Variety (2007), Sports (2010) and Daihakken (“great discovery,” 2011)^[4].

Why this was thought to be the end

On January 11, 2012, Tokyo Jihen announced on its official website that it would break up^[5][6]. The split would come on the coming leap day, February 29. In a message, Shiina thanked everyone who had enjoyed the band and said it would end on that day^[5]. The reports of the announcement gave no reason for the breakup^[5][6].

The same month brought a final album, color bars, made up of songs that each of the five members had written, words and music^[4][7]. The farewell tour, Tokyo Jihen Live Tour 2012 Domestique Bon Voyage, was six shows, two nights each at Yokohama Arena from February 14, at Osaka-jō Hall and at the Nippon Budokan^[5][8]. The very last was set for the day of the breakup, February 29, at the Budokan^[6].

On January 1, 2020, the band announced a new song, “Erabarezaru Kokumin” (“the unchosen citizens”), and a nationwide tour. Shiina, Kameda, Hata, Ukigumo and Izawa were together again, and the return was billed as saisei, a rebirth^[9][4]. Because the band came back under the same name, this archive places the 2012 show in the category “Not the end after all.”

What is known about the day

The Budokan had two nights, February 28 and 29^[8]; the 29th was the second of them and the last show of the tour^[7]. That same day, the music magazine ROCKIN'ON JAPAN came out with a cover story billed as the band’s “last,” reporting on the tour’s February 15 show at Yokohama Arena^[10].

According to the music site Natalie’s report, during the opening song, “Ikiru” (“to live”), the screen at the back of the stage split open to reveal a 40-piece orchestra led by Neko Saito. Four female dancers in matching red dresses also appeared^[7]; a retailer’s description of the video names them as dancers from the company Idebian Crew^[11]. Shiina was not the only singer that night: the drummer Izao Hata took the lead on “Honto no Tokoro” (“the truth of it”), and the four men sang “Aisukurīmu no Uta” (“the ice cream song”)^[7].

The main set of 24 songs ended with “Sora ga Natte Iru” (“the sky is ringing”). The encore brought “Marunouchi Sadisutikku” (“Marunouchi sadistic”), the debut single “Gunjō Biyori” and “Seishun no Matataki” (“the blink of youth”), and a second encore closed the night with “Tōmei Ningen”^[7]. Shiina also thanked the audiences watching in cinemas, and at the very end said she was too overwhelmed to find words and thanked everyone once more^[7].

What the show left behind

Bon Voyage, the video of the final show, came out on Blu-ray and DVD on June 13, 2012^[12][13]. A retailer describes it as a complete record of the concert^[11], and its track list includes two instrumentals that do not appear in Natalie’s setlist^[12][7]. On August 29 the band released Chin Purē Kō Purē (roughly, “bloopers and great plays”), highlights from all seven of its headlining tours, including three songs from the Budokan night: “Atarashii Bunmei Kaika” (“new civilization and enlightenment”), “Nōdōteki Sanpunkan” (“three active minutes”) and “Gunjō Biyori”^[14][15]. That August also brought Shin'ya Waku (“late-night slot”), a collection of B-sides with one previously unreleased song, “Tadanaranu Kankei” (“no ordinary relationship”)^[2].

According to rockinon.com, members of Tokyo Jihen played on the 2016 recording of Shiina’s solo song “Jiyūdamu”^[2]. After the January 2020 announcement^[9], the band played its first show since the breakup on February 29 at Tokyo International Forum, on a leap day once again^[16][17]. With concern over the coronavirus growing, staff took temperatures and disinfected concertgoers at the doors^[16][17]. The weekly Shukan Josei suggested the band cared about the date, noting that the 2012 breakup had also fallen in an Olympic leap year^[17]. The tour’s March shows in Osaka, Sendai and Sapporo were canceled^[4]. On July 24, at NHK Hall, where the tour had been due to end, the band played without an audience, and the show was streamed and screened in more than 70 cinemas^[18]. That August, the satellite channel WOWOW aired the February 29, 2012 concert uncut^[19].

In June 2021, Ongaku (“music”), the band’s first full album in ten years, topped Billboard Japan’s download album chart^[3]. That December came Sōgō (“comprehensive”), the band’s first all-time best-of, opening with the new song “Genzai to Fukuin” (“original sin and the gospel”)^[20].

The band that ended on a leap day came back, eight years later, on another one.