Prices have been revised as of July 2023 due to rising costs.
Shipping to the US and Australia has resumed as usual.
Please contact us at hopkat1japan@yahoo.co.jp with any questions.
Thank you for your continued support of Public Bath Press!
Rumors of Noizu: Hijokaidan and the Road to 2nd Damascus
Many critics have discussed the genre of noizu as a strange subculture arising in a strange place, Japan. In this book, Noizu is discussed as a natural organic expression arising in a country full of experimental culture. Tracing the earliest stirrings of noizu in various places, this micro-history, based on extensive interviews with participants and witnesses, will provide context to make sense of something that intentionally has no meaning.
￥2,700
税込 / 送料別途
- 0.32 kg
- 在庫あり
- お届け日数：1~3日
Dokkiri! Japanese Indies Music 1976-1989 A History and Guide
Dokkiri! tells the history of a remarkable complex of musical subcultures that developed in Japan from the mid-1970s. Starting with a discussion of the earliest rumblings of punk and new wave, all types of independently produced music are covered in more detail than has ever appeared in English before. Punk, art music, noise, hardcore, psychedelic, dance music and more.
"This book fills in the gaps in my own appreciation of the Japanese independent music scene and provides context for sounds, lyrics and personalities that were all opaque mysteries until now."
---Steve Albini
"Knowledge, affection and respect for the music illuminate an incredible creative and innovative scene. The what. The why. The how."
---Ian MacKaye
"Hopkins is that rare scene historian who was there at the beginning: and he's still there, recounting the details and telling the stories that no one else can remember. Maniacs and beginners alike, start here!"
---David Novak, author of Japanoise
￥2,900
税込 / 送料別途
- 0.52 kg
- 在庫あり
- お届け日数：1~3日
Show会 Fanzine download
This was a legendary Public Bath Records scenezine from 1991, covering many topics of the Japanese underground, and more specifically, the Osaka underground of that era. There are reviews of CDs, tapes, shows, videos and more. There are interviews with several bands, including an important interview with the Boredoms. There is fiction and other silliness. An interesting time capsule. It originally came with two full cassettes of listening material, but difficulties contacting the members of now defunct bands for permissions mean that the sounds will not be available at this time. Maybe later.
AND! The low budget host for this site would not easily allow a digital download, so the incredibly inconvenient process is, send your ¥100 to us through paypal and when we confirm it we will send you a password that will open the download. That's the theory anyway. We'd really rather deal with ink and paper.....
￥100
(税込)
Gaseneta Wasteland
Temporarily SOLD OUT!
Osato Toshiharu's memoir/novel of the origins of Tokyo's most uncompromising punk band, Gaseneta. It certainly sets a record for literary references in a book about artcore music! Funny, thoughtful, and ultimately moving account. Awarded Best Book of the Year for 2017 by terminal-boredom.com!
￥2,500
税込 / 送料別途
- 在庫切れ
A Life in Folk (and other bitter songs)
Legendary folk singer Mikami Kan's 2000 autobiography plus additional writing and interview material. Includes a live CD of Mikami in Sapporo in February of 2017. A deep inside look at "the most radical folk singer in Japan," where he came from and where he is now.
Creating Enka: The "Soul of Japan" in the Postwar Era
When this prize-winning (Suntory Best Non-fiction 2010) history of the music known as Enka, one of the dominant forms of postwar popular music, appeared, it rearranged everyone's understanding of the history of postwar pop. Love it or hate it, Enka is a necessary background for anyone hoping to understand the music of Japan. With a new introduction by the author, an index, and full color printing (unlike the Japanese original), this is a must-have for your collection.
Creating Enka: the "Soul of Japan" in the Postwar Era
Int'l shipping as per main page.
￥3,000
税込 / 送料別途
- 0.41 kg
- 在庫あり
- お届け日数：1~3日
Ginga
The acclaimed collection by Yamamoto Seiichi, with all new art and photography and a new CD of remixed and new music by Omoide Hatoba and Suido Megane Satsujin Jiken.
Postage to Europe and North America will be ￥780 for airmail, ¥480 for SAL air. Japan Post informs me that SAL rates are not available at this time for France, Netherlands, or Spain.
Free Jazz in Japan: A Personal History by Soejima Teruto
This book, the only history of free jazz in Japan, has been reprinted many times in Japan and is finally available to readers overseas in English translation. From its earliest stirrings in the 1960s until it reached international recognition in the 1970s and after, free jazz in Japan is a unique music that has found its perfect scribe. Soejima Teruto was a writer who fell in love with a music and devoted his life to it as promoter, critic, label owner, tour organizer, and much more. All new photos in this edition, none used from the original Japanese volume. Introduction by Otomo Yoshihide.
If you like jazz at all, if you like the unique voices of Japan at all, this book will open your ears to many sounds you haven't heard, or heard of, before.
Airmail postage to Europe and North America: 1050 yen
SAL economy airmail: 680 yen
Once upon a time.
Way back in the early 1990s, Public Bath Records' American partner, Betsy Bath, began to have some health problems. I was toying with a plan to move PB headquarters to Japan. As part of that, I did an experiment called Sento Records. The first test was to try and sell US indies records that were not well known in Japan, and to that end, I got Steve Albini to license the Big Black live CD Pigpile to me for a very low rate. (It's exactly the same content as the T&G release, but the art is a bit different.) Next I got Mike from Steel Pole Bath Tub to let me put out a Best Of CD, as part of a promotion for their tour of Japan. Most of these, alas, were sold in the US and not Japan. Next, I got Ron Anderson and The Molecules to make a tape for me for a unique Japan release. In the meantime, I also put out a mini-album by Kyoto band Screaming Pinch Hitter, just a bunch of kids whose live shows I liked a lot. At precisely this juncture, Betsy Bath's health took a catastrophic change for the worse. She needed money for medical treatment and I needed to help her, so all of this got suddenly dropped. My deepest apologies to the bands that got abandoned in her hour of need. This was also the point where Public Bath Records moved to San Francisco, but that also got dropped shortly after, and for the same reason.
So, cleaning out the warehouse I found some boxes. There are only a few dozen of the Steel Pole Bath Tub, and when those are gone, the offer will be adjusted to include only the others, but there are more than a hundred of all of the others. If you'd like an interesting time slip experience, all four can be yours for the low, low price of only ￥2000.
Sento Records complete set
4 New, yet rather old, CDs from the almost unknown Sento label.
￥2,000
税込 / 送料別途
- 在庫切れ
Sento Records complete set, minus one
3 New, yet rather old, CDs from the almost unknown Sento label.
(Best of Steel Pole Bath Tub, Big Black by Pig Pile, Morokyu by The Molecules)
￥1,500
税込 / 送料別途
- 在庫あり
- お届け日数：1~3日
Best of Steel Pole Bath Tub
A new, yet rather old, CD from the almost unknown Sento label.
(Best of Steel Pole Bath Tub)
￥500
税込 / 送料別途
- 在庫あり
- お届け日数：1~3日
Collectors' Corner
This will not be used with a shopping cart, but from time to time, rare Japanese records will be posted here.