The-truth-behind-Aphex-Twin-s-first-visit-to-Japan

Aphex Twin Japan Tour 1997: Rediscovering the “Lost” Schedule after 29 Years

Summary

• Reconstruction of Aphex Twin’s 1997 Japan tour using primary sources.

This page documents verified evidence of Aphex Twin’s 1997 Japan tour, including the Osaka Bayside Jenny show on January 30, 1997. Contrary to widely circulated misinformation, this article is based on verified primary sources such as magazines and original flyers from that era. This serves as a corrected historical record.
Also, this is the official mirror of the code snippet from my Dev.to article. That’s because it’s a highly valuable piece of research that corrects a 29-year-old misconception in music history. For more information about Dev.to, please click here::Proof of Aphex Twin’s first-ever Japan tour schedule, which had been lost to music history for 29 years

he schedule for Aphex Twin’s first-ever Japan tour—which had been lost to music history for 29 years—is as follows.

Conclusion

1. Osaka Performance

• Venue: Osaka BAYSIDE Jenny
• Date and Time: Thursday, January 30, 1997 (Showtime: 6:00 p.m.)
• Capacity: Approximately 1,800–2,000 people

2. Tokyo Performance

• Venue: Shinjuku LIQUIDROOM
• Date and Time: Saturday, February 1, 1997(Showtime: 10:00 p.m.)
• Capacity: Approximately 700 –900 people

Support acts,booking agents

1.Support Act

• DJ: Grant
• Opening Live Act: Cylob

2.Booking Agents

• BA: Chaotica
• BA: Value Added Talent (U.K.)
• RC: Sira

Primary Evidence

1. Pollstar Magazine (January 20, 1997, p.15)

On page 15 of this U.S. music industry magazine, Aphex Twin’s 1997 tour schedule and booking agent are listed, and it states the following:

• Jan 30: Osaka JAP — Bayside Jenny
• Feb 1: Tokyo JAP — Liquid Room

The January 20, 1997, issue of Pollstar has been converted into a 44-page PDF and is archived on the Internet Archive.

• Pollstar, January 20, 1997 Issue Archive
• An enlarged photo of the Route Book featured on page 15 of the magazine

2. Original Flyer

The physical flyer for the January 30 event at Bayside Jenny. This is the strongest direct proof of the first Live PA date. The details, including the date, venue, start time, and opening acts, are clearly listed.
I unearthed it around March 2026 and saved it to the Internet Archive.

• Archive of the original flyer for Aphex Twin’s first live tour in Japan in 1997

3. Quick Japan vol.13 (April 25, 1997)

InQuick Japan Vol 13(ISBN 4-87233-329-2), a subculture magazine published by Ohta Publishing in Japan, there is a record of a conversation with Aphex Twin (Richard D. James) and Yamantaka Eye (known as “Yamantaka Eye,” an artist and musician), pages 88–90.The headline on pages 88–89 of the magazine reads, “And this January, he finally came to Japan for a live performance,” confirming that this was Aphex Twin’s first visit to Japan as a live act on that same day of the same year.

QuickJapan Vol.13 has been converted to PDF—including the cover, back cover, table of contents, dated color live photos, and the Aphex Twin and Yamantaka Eye interview on pages 88–90—and saved to the Internet Archive.

• QuickJapan Vol.13 Archive

Visiting Japan for a DJ set

Before coming to Japan as a solo live act in 1997, Richard D. James had visited the country several times as a DJ at club events.

1. Year 1994 (date, time, venue, etc. unknown)

According to the music magazine ele-king Magazine Vol. 1, published on April 1, 1995, he is said to have visited Japan as one of the DJs for the techno event “Megadog”. organized by “The Megadog Organisation”. However, the magazine contains no information about the event itself, and this account survives only as a record based on the recollections of a single music writer. Consequently, the date, time, and venue of this event remain entirely unknown in official records, and there is absolutely no evidence to support it.

• PDF of the Aphex Twin interview section from “ele-king Magazine Vol.1-released on April,1 1995”
• Web article “Aphex Twin Live Stream” by music writer Tadashi Mita (April 19, 2026)
• The Megadog Organisation Official Website

2. November 24, 1995 (Friday)

He visited Japan to perform as one of the support acts (opening DJs) for LFO and Plaid at “WARP NIGHT,” an event organized by Sony Music Entertainment at Shinjuku Liquidroom. The event was listed on Sony’s official website, where the live recordings are still available for streaming. Consequently, this event stands as the oldest extant primary source documenting Aphex Twin’s visit to Japan.

• Sony Music’s Official “WARP NIGHT” Website

3. November 19, 1996 (Saturday)

He came to Japan to perform as one of the DJs at an event called “Megadog” held at Shinjuku Liquidroom. An official video of the event has been released, so details such as the date, time, and venue can be verified. Since Aphex Twin was not yet well-known at the time, Eat Static appears to have been billed as the headliner.

• Megadog in Tokyo with Eat Static, Banco de Gaia and The Aphex Twin

Note

• It should be noted that false information claiming Aphex Twin’s first visit to Japan was on January 2, 1997, has long been circulating. This was caused by an AI-generated hallucination resulting from a bootleg recording purported to be from a Tokyo performance being disseminated worldwide with an incorrect date. Since Aphex Twin was in Australia on January 2, 1997, it was physically impossible for him to have performed in Tokyo on that date.
  Furthermore, the bootleg recording in question was not from the Tokyo show at all, but rather from the Osaka show on January 30, 1997. The person who recorded that audio has since uploaded a clearer, original version with the correct date and venue name.

• It took a tremendous amount of effort to verify the schedule for Aphex Twin’s first visit to Japan, which had been missing from web archives and music history records for nearly 30 years.These primary sources will likely help correct the distorted accounts of music history.
  I’ve updated the Japanese Wikipedia page as well. Aphex Twin fan sites and setlist sites have also made changes based on my contributions. Thank you.

• Until now, the Tokyo show has generally been regarded as the main event; however, according to magazine editor Yoshiaki Yoshinaga, many audience members at the Tokyo show remained seated on the dance floor throughout the performance, and it has been reported that Aphex Twin left the stage after about an hour.
  In contrast, there are multiple accounts stating that the Osaka show - which had more than double the capacity of the Tokyo show - drew a crowd of about 2,000 enthusiastic fans, and Richard D. James has described the 1997 Osaka performance as “the second-best live show of my life.”

• This documentation relies exclusively on verifiable primary materials. No secondary recollections or unconfirmed bootlegs.

• Note that I have written a similar post on the Japanese free blogging service note, but since I have uncovered more compelling primary sources, I have written this article as a revised and updated version.

May 5, 2026, from Japan.

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