Big in Japan -- The Way It Was!

[Greystoke]

It's quite well-known among fans that Elvis was very popular in Japan, both in the sixties and the seventies, especially with regards to his acting career, the success of Aloha from Hawaii, and even Do the Clam. And I think the article below, from the November 13th, 1971, edition of Billboard, gives some sense of just how popular Elvis was in the Land of the Rising Sun.

Written by Ben Okano, one of Billboard Japan's journalists, the article gives quite a detailed account of Elvis's popularity over the years, with comments regarding a party of 200 fans planning a trip to Las Vegas in January of 1972, somewhat mirroring the influx of fans from England and Europe to Las Vegas in the 1970s. Which is something that apparently came to disgruntle the Hilton hotel's management, due to the amount of booked rooms for patrons who weren't there to gamble.

This, however, was to be the first "Presley Tour" organised through a Japanese travel agency (the Fujita Travel Service being one such company), coming on the heels of the movie, "On Stage," or, Elvis: That's the Way It Is, as it was otherwise known. Released in Tokyo on February 11th, 1971, Elvis's concert film was clearly a success, with the article stating that 485,000 tickets had been sold for screenings in the Kanto region of Japan. Which was impressive by most standards.

Kinematograph Weekly, the U.K.'s foremost trade magazine with regards to the British film industry, noted in April of 1971, that "On Stage" made $700,000 in just six weeks during its Japanese release. Whilst the accompanying soundtrack album sold over 300,000 copies in 1971 alone.

The Billboard article also looked back at Elvis's acting career in the sixties, and whilst the likes of G.I. Blues, Blue Hawaii, and Love in Las Vegas were very popular, "On Stage" is said to have been the most popular Elvis film to date in Japan. Which is quite a contrast to how this film performed in North America where, by the end of 1970, That's the Way It Is had earned little more than $330,000.

Much like other countries, the likes of Paramount and M.G.M. marketed and promoted Elvis's most prolific and successful films quite heavily in Japan, with gala screenings and major premieres that found widespread attention. Elvis, at one point in the sixties, was apparently offered the opportunity to star in a film made by a Japanese studio, whilst Mitsuharu Ishii, the Japanese newspaper publisher and head of the film production company, One Way Productions (which was established by the Unification Church), planned to make an Elvis Presley biopic not long after his death, although this (thankfully, perhaps) failed to materialise. The only film made through this company was 1981's disastrous Korean War epic, "Inchon."

The success of Aloha from Hawaii in the Far East, including Japan, is something that should have encouraged Elvis to perform in Japan, and there was surely enough interest for him to do so. We've discussed this before, of course, although there's also the notion that Aloha from Hawaii was designed to appease an audience Elvis would never see in person. Unless, of course, they came to him.

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Japanese movie poster for "Elvis On Stage."

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Comments in Billboard regarding Aloha from Hawaii's broadcast in Japan, which reached 37.8% of the television audience.

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Eager patron's of the Scala-za cinema in Tokyo, waiting in line to see G.I. Blues.

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Ushers at the Shibuya Tōkyu dressed in Hawaiian-style clothes for the release of Paradise, Hawaiian Style in Japan.

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Tokyo billboard for Paradise, Hawaiian Style alongside a billboard featuring Stanley Donen's 1957 film, Funny Face, which starred Audrey Hepburn and was re-released in Japan at this time.

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Kinematograph Weekly reporting the success of That's the Way It Is in Japan, prior to its U.K. release in April of 1971.

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[londonflash]

Cool!

And very timely as I bought a Japanese That's The Way It Is LP that arrived on Monday.

[Greystoke]

Cool!

And very timely as I bought a Japanese That's The Way It Is LP that arrived on Monday.

The Japanese vinyl looks very nice, indeed. Enjoy!

[colonel snow]

LP from Japan.



colonel snow

[Ciscoking]

Fantastic research as always
Looking forward for more to come