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Concert Wakes Up Kansai
Japan Anti-Apartheid Committee - Tokyo newsletter
１９８９
Japan Anti-Apartheid Committee - Tokyo newsletter
１９８９
The Anti-Apartheid March 21 Big Concert made Japanese history as the first major event of its kind ever in this country. But you wouldn’t have known it by the way the Japanese press handled the news.
An estimated 5,000 spectators — about half of the anticipated turnout — attended the day-long event at Morinomiya Nissay Stadium, home of the Kintetsu Buffaloes baseball team. The crowd seemed more interested in the musicians than the message of the concert, but just the fact that the well-organized gathering occurred says much about the rising anti-apartheid mood in Kansai and throughout Japan.
That this epoch-making concert took place more than 40 years after apartheid was officially instituted does not excuse Japan’s complacency on the subject. Yet the event undoubtedly demonstrated that the tide is rapidly changing and the anti-apartheid movement growing ever stronger.
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An estimated 5,000 spectators — about half of the anticipated turnout — attended the day-long event at Morinomiya Nissay Stadium, home of the Kintetsu Buffaloes baseball team. The crowd seemed more interested in the musicians than the message of the concert, but just the fact that the well-organized gathering occurred says much about the rising anti-apartheid mood in Kansai and throughout Japan.
That this epoch-making concert took place more than 40 years after apartheid was officially instituted does not excuse Japan’s complacency on the subject. Yet the event undoubtedly demonstrated that the tide is rapidly changing and the anti-apartheid movement growing ever stronger.
(continued...)