Here's my busking experience:
In Japan I regularly busked in front of the train station (Asakadai)
near my apartment. In fact, it was once quite a poplular busking point
for musicians as it was a station where two different train lines
crossed (JR and Tobu Tojo). Sometimes I would be dressed in jeans and a
t-shirt and sometimes after work I would be in a suit and tie. If I put
out a bowl I would almost always catch a few hundred yen. Sometimes
people would buy me drinks from the vending machine. One of the many
interesting things that happened while I was at Asakadai Station was
while I was playing (usually honkyoku) a man stood right next to me just
listening and watching me. After I finished the piece he complimented me
on my playing and introduced himself. Then asked who my teacher and
lineage was. I told him Yokoyama Katsuya. Then he says that he played
shakuhachi too. I figured he was just a hobbyist, but as it turned out
he was quite serious once and taught at Geidai Univeristy. He was a
Tozan player and we chatted about Tozan things for a while and he even
called Yamamoto Hozan on his cell phone on the spot to ask him about one
young player I was trying to remember (Dozan Fujiwara). Then he invited
me to his home to see his flutes.
I found generally that most honkyoku doesn't bring in the money (in
Japan). Only occasionally when I played lively pieces like Tsuru no
Sugomori or San-an, would I get response from people. What got the most
response were folk or enka-like tunes . I played many of the Fukuda
Rando pieces which people really liked. Also, if you are lucky enough
not to get bothered by police, it is a plus if you stay at one spot for
a long time.
My most successful busking experience as far as money goes was during
Hanami (cherry blossom viewing) season at Ueno Park a few years ago. I
found a spot on a corner under a snowing cherry blossom tree, put out my
bowl and started playing. I couldn't believe how many people threw money
into my bowl! I emptied the bowl out twice then it started to fill again
when a policeman approached me to tell me to stop playing. He told me
that playing for money was forbidden. So I packed up walked to another
place to play, deeper into the heart of the park. It was just too
irresistable. Again I started to magnetize the money and then another
policeman approached me. This time he threatened to take me to jail. I
put on my best gaijin accent and said "Nihonjin was tabemasen" (I don't
eat Japanese people.) With a confused look on his face, he told me to
leave the park. So I went to another spot on the fringe of the park
where there were very few people and no police.
Within recent years I heard that police in Japan have been cracking down
on street performers. Even in Asakadai, when once it was a thriving
busking area where I and others played regularly, one day they told me
to stop and never play there again. Now it is a quiet, almost lifeless
station at night. The police said the music bothered the surrounding
shops too much. I think you have to get some kind of permission from
authorities to busk nowadays, but I don't know anything about this
procedure. Anyways, good luck Peter with your Japan busking!
Alcvin
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