Japan : Life in Tokyo
In 1979 Japan released "Life In Tokyo", written and recorded with disco producer Giorgio Moroder. It would be reissued over and over again until it finally made the U.K. charts, peaking at #28 in 1982. It certainly sounds like a song from a year Duran Duran, ABC and Soft Cell scored top 10 hits than 1979, when Gary Numan's Tubeway Army and Squeeze were competing with Anita Ward and McFadden and Whitehead.
This was a new turn for Japan, a band that had sounded more like Glam Rockers up to this point. They now have the arty synth pop sound that would carry Japan into the charts, and Sylvian's lyrics reveal his infatuation with all things Asian. Japan, the country, was so far the only place in the world embracing Japan, the band. Not for much longer.
The single also marks the beginning of David Sylvian's dominance of the band which would break up in late '82.
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