Built from the live-music side of Japan.
Gigging in Japan grew out of the practical work behind Takato Jazz & Blues Festival in Nagano. Working with overseas artists quickly made something obvious: playing Japan involves much more than finding a few venues. Routing, immigration, local musicians, promotion, cultural expectations, accommodation, transport and audience development all affect whether a project actually works.
Japan can be brilliant. It can also be difficult to read from outside.
There are excellent venues, musicians, festivals and audiences here. But the live-music ecosystem does not always work in the way an overseas artist expects.
A promising tour can become expensive very quickly if the ensemble is too large, the routing is unrealistic, the wrong venues are approached or the immigration structure is considered too late.
How many gigs can we book?
What would make this a worthwhile project for the artist?
The artist is the client.
We do not take commission from venues, hotels, travel companies or the professionals we recommend. That means we can recommend a smaller tour, a different line-up, Japanese collaborators, a workshop, a festival appearance, a different time of year, or occasionally no tour at all, without another commercial interest pulling the advice in a different direction.
The aim is not to sell Japan. The aim is to help build the right Japan project.
Music first
The project starts with the artist, the music and the audience rather than a standard itinerary.
Local knowledge
Advice is grounded in working with musicians, venues, festivals and music professionals in Japan.
Independent advice
Recommendations are based on what suits the project, not on commissions from suppliers.
Takato Jazz & Blues Festival
Gigging in Japan comes from the team behind Takato Jazz & Blues Festival in Ina City, Nagano.
The festival has brought Japanese and international musicians together in a rural setting and has involved the same practical questions overseas artists face when planning Japan: immigration, travel, accommodation, production, promotion, collaboration and working with musicians here.
That experience is the foundation of Gigging in Japan, but the touring service is separate from the festival. A project does not need to involve Takato Jazz & Blues Festival to work with us.
Not a conventional booking agency.
We can help identify and approach suitable opportunities as part of a wider project, but Gigging in Japan is not built around collecting commissions on individual bookings.
We also do not act as an immigration law practice, travel agency or hotel booking service.
Where specialist professional work is required, we help coordinate with the appropriate people while keeping the touring project around that work organised.
Thinking about playing Japan?
Tell us about the music, where you are based and what you have in mind. You do not need to have the answers yet. That is rather the point.