As I mentioned in this post, the American hard rock band KISS were scheduled to perform in concert seven nights in a six-city tour around Japan this coming April (2011).
The KISS flyer for the four dates KISS were scheduled to perform in the Tokyo area.
I say that they “were scheduled” to come to Japan because it was announced today that KISS “postponed” their tour of Japan.
The "radio schedule" from the newspaper that the postponement of the KISS tour will be explained tonight.
My friend told me that the famous hard rock / heavy metal music critic / journalist Masa Ito mentioned on his radio show that KISS are now tentatively scheduled to come to Japan this autumn (2011).
Hopefully they won’t just decide to cancel the tour altogether.
First of all, as I mentioned in this comment, the “2011 Tokyo International Marathon” was held today.
30,000 people from Japan and other countries ran the 42.195 KM (over 26 miles) course through the streets of Tokyo.
For the past five years now, the Tokyo Marathon has been an annual event held at the end of February.
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Anyways, my friend has just informed me that the American rock band KISS will be coming to Japan this April to play seven shows around Japan to support their “Sonic Boom” album.
(I did an interview with the artist who designed this album cover, by the way.)
The dates of the shows that KISS are scheduled to play in Japan are:
2011 April 13 – Nagoya, Japan at the Aichi Prefecture Gymnasium
2011 April 14 – Yokohama, Japan at the Pacifico Yokohama
2011 April 17 – Saitama, Japan at the Saitama Super Arena
2011 April 18 – Kobe, Japan at the World Hall
2011 April 20 – Tokyo, Japan at the Nippon Budokan
2011 April 21 – Tokyo, Japan at the Nippon Budokan
2011 April 23 – Sapporo, Japan at the Makomanai Indoor Stadium
Tickets for the shows in the Tokyo area (which are Yokohama, Saitama and Tokyo) will go on sale on 2011 March 12th.
I have seen KISS play in Japan in both Yokohama and Tokyo before. In Yokohama, I saw them at the “Yokohama Arena” (not the “Pacifico”, where they’ll being playing this time). In Tokyo, I saw them at both the “Tokyo Dome” and the “Nippon Budokan”.
An interesting thing about this tour is that KISS will play a show in Sapporo, Japan. KISS has played many shows in Japan since their first time here in the 1970’s and they’ve never played northern Japan before. I’m sure that KISS fans in Hokkaido are happy to hear that there will finally be a KISS concert in their area!
The name of the 「日本武道館」 (Nippon Budokan) in Tokyo means “Japan Martial-arts Hall”.
Traditionalists don’t really like the idea of musicians playing pop music in this “sacred” hall. The first pop band to play there were The Beatles when they first came to Japan. The traditionalists protested their concerts. But The Beatles drew huge crowds to the Budokan…and they held the record for the most consecutive sell-out shows there. They played four sold-out shows in a row at the Budokan.
But KISS beat The Beatles‘s record when they played five sold-out shows at the Budokan on their first Japan tour in the late ’70s.
Since then it’s become quite normal for musicians to perform at the Nippon Budokan. Even with the bigger and newer “Tokyo Dome” not far from the Budokan, upcoming Japanese pop stars still consider it a sign of success to play at the Nippon Budokan…not unlike American musicians playing at the “Madison Square Garden”.
The famous "Nippon Budokan"; Tokyo, Japan
Have you ever seen a KISS concert? If not, you’re missing out on the best live show by any band. Their shows are quite exciting…fire-breathing, blood, flying guitars, flying musicians, outrageous costumes, kabuki-style face paint.
To get an idea, watch this music promotion video for the single “Modern Day Delilah” from their most recent album “Sonic Boom”:
And, in a more good news for us KISS fans…the band has announced that a new KISS studio album of brand-new songs is due out later this year (2011)!
A number of newspapers in Japan had articles about the upcoming KISS tour here.
I bought today’s copy of 「夕刊フジ」 (“Yuukan-Fuji“) evening paper:
Here’s a close-up of the article about KISS:
The headline says: "Hell's group" KISS return for a Japan tour after four-and-a-half years!
This post is about Mister Donuts Japan, but first I wanted to mention an email I just received from Michael Doret.
He’s the artist who painted the 1976 KISS album cover “Rock And Roll Over” and he also painted their album cover for last year’s “Sonic Boom“.
He did two interviews with me.
In my post about the second interview, I wrote a comment about an email he sent me last month about prints of the albums covers that are signed by both him and the band (KISS).
In the email that I received from Michael Doret yesterday he sent me a photo of KISS holding the prints and he wrote to me:
Just in case you were interested, I thought I’d share with you a photo that was just taken of KISS helping to promote my limited edition prints.
I hope you had a great New Years!
Best,
Michael
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Anyways, 2010 January 27 will be the 40th anniversary of the day the first “Mister Donuts” store opened in Japan.
「ミスタードーナツ」 (“Mister Donuts“) is an American chain that is very popular in Japan.
It seems that this chain wasn’t so popular in America, though…and the U.S. stores were bought out by rival chain “Dunkin’ Donuts”, which has more success in America.
Ironically, it’s the other way around in Japan.
“Dunkin’ Donuts” failed in Japan because Japanese people found their donuts too sweet so they closed up all their stores here years ago.
「ミスタードーナツ」 (“Mister Donuts“), being less sweet and more simpler, appeal to Japanese.
「ミスタードーナツ」 (“Mister Donuts“) in Japan is owned by a Japanese company so the menu is tailored to Japanese taste. They even sell Chinese food in their Japanese stores.
One of their best-selling donuts in Japan is the simple “Old Fashioned” donuts.
There are a few varieties of this one. I like the 「オールドファッションハニー」 (“Honey Old Fashioned“).
So, to celebrate 「ミスタードーナツ」 (“Mister Donuts“)’s forty years in Japan, this month they’re giving away “Lucky Cards” to customers who spend ¥600 or more.
These are scratch cards. When you scratch them, it tells how many “points” you won (either 3, 5, 40 or 150 points).
The points can be collected and redeemed for prizes such as a dish set, coffee cup, stuffed toy, cell-phone strap, donuts, etc.
KISS was on the American TV show “Late Show With David Letterman” to promote their new album (Click here to read my post about their album).
I haven’t seen the David Letterman show (or any other American TV show) in many years…but thanks to YouTube, I was able to find out about this and watch it!
As I mentioned in an earlier post (click here to read it), the band KISS has recorded a new album titled “Sonic Boom“.
"Sonic Boom", 2009
It’s due to be released on 2009 October 6.
Well, thanks to my friend Masa, I was able to get the CD early.
I got it today and listened to it already.
It’s very good!
It’s not their best work…but it’s still a great KISS album.
Gene Simmons, bass player of KISS, said that their new “Sonic Boom” album is similar to classic ’70s albums…in particular, their 1976 album “Rock And Roll Over“…
"Rock And Roll Over", 1976
…and their 1977 album “Love Gun“.
"Love Gun", 1977
Personally, I don’t think it’s like either of those or any of their other albums from the 1970s.
I think it sounds more similar to their under-rated 1989 album “Hot In The Shade“…
"Hot In The Shade", 1989
I think “Hot In The Shade” is a very good album, and “Sonic Boom” reminds me a bit of it.
Those two albums have another similarity…”Hot In The Shade” is the only album to feature former drummer, the late Eric Carr, singing a new song (he sang vocals on the song “Beth” on the Smashes, Thrashes & Hits album…a song which the original KISS drummer, Peter Criss wrote and sang on).
On “Hot In The Shade“, Eric Carr sang lead vocals for the song “Little Caesar“.
And “Sonic Boom” is the first KISS album to feature current drummer Eric Singer and current lead guitarist Tommy Thayer each singing lead vocals on a new KISS song. Eric Singer sings on “All For The Glory” and Tommy Thayer sings on the song “When Lightning Strikes“.
The track listing for “Sonic Boom“:
Modern Day Delilah
Russian Roulette
Never Enough
Yes I Know (Nobody’s Perfect)
Stand
Hot & Cold
All For The Glory
Danger Us
I’m An Animal
When Lightning Strikes
Say Yeah
I’d say “Modern Day Delilah” and “All For The Glory” are the best songs on the album. But the whole album’s good!
Also, KISS have new costumes for the Sonic Boom Tour:
In my previous post, I wrote about the new KISS album that will be released in the U.S. on October 6.
According to KISS Online, their upcoming album (titled “Sonic Boom) will be released in the U.S. on October 6…and available exclusively at Wal-Mart.
What does that mean? Regular record stores in the U.S. aren’t going to sell it? It’ll only be sold at one chain of stores?
I’ve never heard of something like that before. Has that become common in America? Why?
In Japan, record stores are still common. I’m sure the new KISS album will be available in every record (CD) store across Japan once it’s released here.
Speaking of which, I wonder when the album will be released in Japan? And when KISS will bring the Sonic Boom Tour to Japan.
Anyways, the album cover artwork for “Sonic Boom” was designed by Michael Doret.
KISS "Sonic Boom" album cover
Michael Doret designed the iconic cover for the KISS album “Rock And Roll Over” back in 1976 and he was asked by Paul Stanley to design their new album cover, too.
KISS "Rock And Roll Over" album cover (1976)
Last April, Michael Doret did an interview with me (Click here)…
KISS have announced that the name of the new album is “Sonic Boom” and it will be released in the U.S. on 2009 October 6 (the date that it will be released in Japan hasn’t been announced yet).
It will contain two CDs and a DVD of a live show. One of the CDs will be the songs from the Japan-only release 「地獄列伝」 (“Hell’s Biography“).
KISS Japan-only release 「地獄列伝」
And the other CD will contain eleven new songs. The new song titles will be:
Tokyo Five 
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