If I remember correctly we appeared fourth from last on the bill at the Keio University gig. However because some of our members let off a fire extinguisher they had found somewhere during our set, the audience (not to mention the band) found it difficult to breathe and we were forced to cut short our performance. At the time this writer prided himself on his performance abilities and was thus not overly impressed with this gig, however it must be admitted that the energy expressed was something extraordinary. If you listen to the tapes of this gig you can hear someone, probably one of the venue's staff, continually whispering "This isn't Shibirekurage" - a most interesting effect. If I remember correctly Shibirekurage were a unit connected with Taco, though I may be mistaken. The PA man had also been affected by the fire extinguisher and he packed up and went home early, thus greatly inconveniencing the bands who were due to appear after us. They did all manage to perform just using their amps though. Also on the bill that day were Akebo Noise, Taco, Pungo, Fushitsusha, Vedda Music Workshop, and The Stalin. According to one story, Keiji Haino of Fushitsusha who were due to play after Hijokaidan got angry and said "So this is how you express yourselves!" This writer didn't hear these words directly so I am unable to comment on the truth of this story. It also seems that some of the members of Hijokaidan were themselves angry at the PA man's decision to leave and that they ran around breaking the windows in the classroom. The only direct danger that your writer experienced at this gig was caused by my climbing up one of the signboards that had been erected by members of the student protest movement. I was discovered by one of the students who had erected the signboard and he mistook me for a reactionary element. Fortunately one of the promoters of the gig had some influence with the student revolutionaries and things passed over without serious incident. This experience taught me the valuable lesson that when on unknown territory it is always better to restrain yourself. The line-up at this gig was Jojo, Oka, Zuke, Kami, Woo, Ichiguchi, Taniyan, the author and an old friend of Jojo's called Oura on synthesizer. I've forgotten Oura's first name but he himself asked to be credited as Sumire-man (Violet Man) - as far as I remember no one actually called him that. Jojo originally called him Sumi-san. I remember with affection that he ran off as soon as the fire extinguisher was released, thus earning everyone's derision.
As I mentioned above, our next gig was the "Flight 7 Days" event at the Shinjuku Loft. This event was organized by Masaichi Chibiki, a photographer and owner of Telegraph Records, who was also one of the leading lights in the Tokyo New Wave scene at the time. One of the days of this event was entitled "Unbalance Day" and was given over to bands from the Kansai scene. Appearing were NG, Auschwitz, Hoburakin and Hijokaidan, and apart from Hoburakin this was to be everyone's first real gig in Tokyo. I don't think it's an overstatement to say that this gig has now become legendary. Almost all the audience laughed with blank amazement at the sheer Kansai-ness of Hijokaidan - beyond even the imagination of Hoburakin. Then the next moment they were forced to flee in panic by the direct assault from the stage - at the same time they were unable to look away, transfixed as though by some terrifying sight. In a word I think their wide-ranging violent experience can be summed as being akin to extreme culture shock. Hijokaidan had a ten member line-up for this gig - Jojo, Oka, Zuke, Kami, Woo, Semimaru, Ishida-kun, Ichiguchi, Taniyan and the author. This was our largest ever line-up. The shaven-headed Oka and Zuke stood rigid in their combat clothing as they threw around buckets of gunge, ripped up raw fish with their teeth, using their own flesh as musical instruments - the bizarreness of the atmosphere created before our eyes was truly astounding. Thanks to the impact of this performance Hijokaidan's name became much more widely known. It is also worth noting that Semimaru's urination performance (?) at this gig drew much comment from the audience. Incidentally the author wore a specially made costume made from rubbish bags as he played the drums. Afterwards when Hijokaidan were mentioned in a series of articles (called "Hot Gigs in Kansai - A World unknown to adults") in the Kansai edition of the Nikkan Sports newspaper, I was credited with playing lead signal generator. To quote from the article, "Toshiharu Mikawa...plays lead signal generator, a very strange instrument. In the photograph booklet that accompanies the album (NB "Zoroku no kibyo") he is playing drums. Maybe in Hijokaidan they refer to drums as signal generators" - not very likely. It's even wrong to refer to it as a "lead signal generator." I played a reed (not "lead") instrument that I called a "marcolinet" which I had made by attaching a clarinet mouthpiece to an alto recorder, and a homemade signal generator. The newspaper just joined these two together. After this gig the members of the group were interviewed for the monthly erotic magazine "Target" (I had to go home early so I wasn't present). Afterwards I heard from the other members that in order to make the interview more interesting the journalist had invented quotes and that he had twisted statements to an absurd degree. Thus I came to know for myself the irresponsibility of the media.
After returning to Kyoto from our successful appearance at the Shinjuku Loft, the next appearance by Hijokaidan was again at the Eve Festival at Doshisha University, produced by Doshisha Productions. The person at Doshisha Productions who put the most work into this event was a woman called Yamazaki (again I can't remember her first name, but it wasn't Harumi. Everyone called her Masataro. When Mada had played their masterpiece "Yanyayayan" at the afternoon Tengoku Chusha event, it was her who sang). She had come up with a plan whereby all the bands appearing had to have female members. The other artists appearing on the bill were Chie Mukai, Koyuki Ito, C. Memi solo, Kimiko Suyama, Honey and the Costume, Zag Arunda, RSR Band, and C. Memi & Neo Matisse. This time Hijokaidan played without Jojo (the first and last time), so the unusual line-up was Oka, Kami, Ichiguchi, Taniyan, Yuka, the author, Hayashi from Auschwitz who I mentioned earlier, and then the organizer Masataro, and even Chie Mukai. It goes without saying that Oka went crazy as usual, Hayashi threw a bench around, and even this writer who was supposed to be a musician smashed a stove to pieces with a hammer. The audience which hadn't been particularly numerous to start off with, all ran out as soon as we began to play and the members had to rampage unnoticed. Hayashi and myself were particularly pleased by the comment from the soundman Seijiro Ishibashi (who also worked at the Drugstore) that "it was great - like watching tag-team wrestling." Ishibashi used his body to protect his equipment from the members of the group who had totally lost control - he was like a junior wrestler standing guard outside the ring. In the midst of this Hades, Masataro's shout of "Enough! Enough!" brought us back to sanity and I remember seeing Chie Mukai standing up as though in a daze. I can't remember what happened after that.
Our last gig of '81 was at the "Last Answer" event at Studio Ahiru. As you can probably guess from the title this was to be the final gig of the "Answer" series. The line-up read like a virtual encyclopedia of the Kansai scene at that time - Hijokaidan, Up-Maker, Dendo Marionette, Viola Renea, Laughin' Nose, Akai Nodo, LD-50, Plutonium, Animal-Z, Reform, NG, and Auschwitz. For various reasons this turned out to be a comparatively restrained performance. Also at the end of '81 we were beginning to concentrate on preparations for the release of "Zoroku no kibyo."