Between Chaos and Joy with Japanese Punk Bands Otoboke Beaver and Chittsu

Written and Photographed by Mitch Epenter, @lookinforbread

Kyoto, Japan

My girlfriend and I just got back from a two week trip in Japan. We try to really get in the local scene when we travel but it can be a gamble, especially with the language barrier. This time we got lucky and scored tickets to see some local Japanese punk bands.

We were in Kyoto, a beautiful old city known for its history with nearly 2000 temples and shrines. But there’s more than just history to see here - the live music scene in Kyoto is alive and well. The show was at Jittoku, a old sake brewery turned live music venue. It’s one of the oldest venues in Kyoto but is small with just an 80 person capacity, so you’re guaranteed to get up and personal with any band playing.

The headliner, Otoboke Beaver, is a chaotic four piece all girl punk band that has a “no apologies, take no prisoners” style of playing and energy that’s infectious. This was the last show of their 2019 Japan tour and normally they play much bigger venues (including Coachella and SXSW last year) but lucky for us, they chose something much more intimate for their hometown finale.

Still getting our bearings and sorting out jetlag, we are running late and decide to take a car to the venue. The taxi drops us off deep in a narrow alleyway lined with houses and a handful of restaurants. The vibe is certainly more of the hole in the wall variety and somewhat off the beaten path. When we got to the door, we were greeted by a friendly older Japanese woman, probably in her 70s. You could say this wasn’t what were expecting, but she looked genuinely enthused that were there and after she takes our ticket, we happily make our way inside.

Jittoku is brimming with people: teens perched on top of tables and old sake barrels, a kid on his dad’s shoulders, hip late twenty something locals, and a smattering of foreigners. The energy is already teeming as Chittsu, a wacky garage four piece band was halfway through their set - mostly shirtless and entirely captivating the crowd. On their records, they play tight and fun garage pop. But live, it’s transformed into full body exercises in controlled chaos and joy. Think nearly off-the-rails-Japanese Vampire Weekend at super speed. We’re stoked.

After a sweaty 30 minute set, Chittsu is done and the crowd is ready for a breather. We make our way to the back, exchange our drink tickets for two Asahi’s and are pleased to see we also got two packets of kaki no tane as well (Japanese rice crackers + peanuts snacks). It seems Japanese hospitality persists, even in dank old sake breweries. Surveying the crowd again, Jittoku seems like the kind of place I would go every weekend if I lived here.

Chittsu

We squeeze our way back to the front just in time as Otoboke Beaver is starting. I barely have time to pull out my camera before they lift off at full speed: if Chittsu was nearly off the rails, Otoboke Beaver is ready to burn those rails to the ground and crowd surf the ashes. They perform in brightly colored 70s patterned dresses, but don’t let that fool you into sitting on your hands. You’d think they caught on fire and their only way of putting it out is to play faster and mosh harder.

They quickly pump out back to back to back bangers like “Binge Eating Binge Drinking Bulimia” and “I’m tired of your repeating story”. The whole crowd is dancing and eating it up. A super fan in the front with pig tails and an oversized t-shirt sings every single word, only breaking her massive smile to headbang. Otoboke Beaver plays for nearly an hour, never relenting their breakneck pace. The singer jumps on a table platform that juts into the crowd and the guitarist crowd surfs - it’s easy to see how they really get their audiences going.

After a brief break offstage, they come back for an encore. When the guitarist returns, she belts “We are OTOBOKE BEAVER!!!!!!!” at the top of her lungs - something she had jokingly done a few times already between songs. The crowd happily echoes it and we’re back to the fire drill: a relentlessly tight flurry of notes, they quickly tear through several more tunes. During the last song, the guitarist tosses her axe to the super fan in front before jumping into the crowd to surf.

When the song ends, Otoboke Beaver heads off stage, leaving the fan still holding the guitar. She’s stuck somewhere between awe and overjoy. But after no more than a minute, the band returns for another quick encore. Rinse and repeat: “We are OTOBOKE BEAVER!!!!!!!” is shouted, followed by giggles and two more quick songs.

At this point when they head off stage, they barely make it 20 feet before returning for their final few songs. The crowd is drenched in sweat, grinning and still game. They finish the set with force and of course a much needed “We are OTOBOKE BEAVER!!!!!!!”.

We left the venue, not wanting it to end. Drenched in sweat, ears ringing and faces sore from smiling, we were totally content. Sometimes the gamble pays off - this time it most certainly did.