On Jun 8, 2004, at 5:10 PM, Manolis wrote:

hi I will be spending a few days in Tokyo and Niigata between July 22nd and August 4th, and am now trying to get the trip organized. I would really appreciate any suggestions and recommendations from people who live there or know some "insider" hints. Where can I find an agenda of what's playing around those dates?

Ha! That's a good one :) Tokyo is very frustrating because there is a ton of stuff going on but if you're not in the loop it is very difficult to find out about. Or else I am missing something. Here's about all that I know: First, stop at http://www.japanimprov.com/ (Improvised Music from Japan) and visit the pages for the artists that interest you; they usually have a quite up-to-date list of upcoming date for every artists, even though there is not one big page. They also have the program for Off Site, as featured in the Wire; unfortunately it is only in Japanese. Anyway, you can try to have a look at http://japanimprov.com/offsite/offsitej/index.html Then, you can try this list of upcoming shows; it's not very Zorn-y but you might find something interesting (in English too): http://www.geocities.com/mrcraige/ They have a big list of venues: http://www.geocities.com/mrcraige/venues.html You can check their program, but most of them are in Japanese so you may find it difficult. Recommended places would be: Cay (Aoyama), Enban (Koenji), Penguin House (Koenji), Super Deluxe (Roppongi), Star Pine's Café (Kichijoji), Uplink Factory (Shibuya). Hope this helps, Julien