Music
How a Tokyo record shop owner brought Bristol bass to Japan
Naoki E-JIMA was the man responsible for turning Tokyo onto the sound of Bristol bass. Following his death earlier this year, we look at how his passion for all things Bristol inspired a generation.
As the crow flies, Bristol to Tokyo is a 9,650km journey. Countries, seas, continents and a whole hemisphere separate the two cities. They are, however, twinned by one man's obsession.
Few will ever be able to match Naoki E-JIMA's encyclopaedic knowledge of the Bristol sound. In fact, Naoki's passion for the scene bubbling away in the UK's southwest made him something of a household name among the DJs and producers plying their trade there. From filling his own record shop with trip-hop and bass to starting his own Bristol-inspired crew, Naoki loved the city as if it were his own. Sadly, he passed away on February 11 this year, at the age of 48, after a short battle with cancer.
As soon as news broke of his illness, Annie McGann, head of Save Bristol Nightlife, collaborated with local drum 'n' bass legend Rob Smith (of Smith & Mighty fame) on a fundraising compilation of Bristol (and Bristol-inspired) bass. "The default reaction when friends are in trouble is to raise money for them to get through a hard time," McGann explains. "For musicians, it's to put some music out for them. That was the root of it."
Naoki E-JIMA caresses some valuable Bristol Sound vinyl (probably)
© Mitsuru Nishimura
Within a week, though, Naoki's health had taken an unexpected turn for the worst. "Initially, we didn't realise how sick Naoki was," says McGann. "So the idea was to be able help the family through a hard time until he could go back and reopen the shop. But, as the days went by, we realised that wasn't going to happen."
Naoki and his wife Miwako first visited Bristol in 1994, when they travelled to see one of his favourite bands, The Moonflowers. "I agreed to host them," frontman Sean O'Neill wrote in tribute. "We had no money. We were a bit embarrassed about what we could offer them – a mattress on the floor of a dining room of someone else's rented house." Naoki, though, wasn't phased. "Naoki and Miwako were so beautiful and funny, they photographed everything, they laughed at everything," O'Neill continued. "It was hard to comprehend their knowledge without ever being to Bristol before; it was like they really got it and it resonated with them."
We haven't even got a collection like his in Bristol. I used to say we should box it all up and bring it back to Bristol and make a museum
Five years later, Naoki and Miwako returned: this time, for their honeymoon. Their choice of destination even made the local papers, with the Bristol Evening Post running a feature. "Everybody laughed at us when we went there," Naoki said at the time. A Tokyo address was included at the end of the article, stating that "up-and-coming bands and singers can send demo tapes to them," as "they're still looking for new musical talent from the city [of Bristol] that they can sell in Japan."
By this point, in 1999, Naoki had established his record shop, Disc Shop Zero. Tucked away in Tokyo's trendy Shimokitazawa neighbourhood, it stayed open until 10pm every night of the week, becoming a magnet for young DJs and bassheads lured in by Naoki's uniquely large stash of Bristol vinyl. "No one else has bothered to collect like he did," McGann says. “We haven't even got a collection like his in Bristol. I used to say we should box it all up and bring it back to Bristol and make a museum."
The music policy at the time was centred around Bristol's emerging trip-hop scene. ENA, a Tokyo drum 'n' bass DJ who now runs local bass night Back To Chill, remembers how she first got into the sound. "It was the trip-hop era – Massive Attack, Tricky and Portishead. We naturally listened to a lot of music from Bristol," she says. "Naoki was always speaking about Bristol, so I understood there was something special."
Mars89, a Tokyo-based resident DJ on Bristol's Noods Radio, also became obsessed with the scene. "I was just a fan of this kind of music, but I didn't know where it came from," he says. "Many DJs learned about Bristol from Naoki and Disc Shop Zero."
Naoki's compulsion to collect and archive as much of the Bristol scene as he was able to wasn't a new thing for him. DJ Sinta, from Tokyo grime duo Double Clapperz, first met Naoki five years ago and got an insight into Naoki's obsessiveness. "He told me as a child that he collected [action] figures, like Star Wars figures," he says. "By collecting information, he could map out the theme of music."
As the philosopher and cultural critic Walter Benjamin once put it: "For a real collector... ownership is the most intimate relationship that one can have to objects." Naoki's collection of dub plates, art, tapes and records from Bristol wasn't just for him alone however; it helped inspire a host of Tokyo DJs, producers and promoters.
Tokyo's Disc Shop Zero wears its Bristolian heart on its sleeve
© Mitsuru Nishimura
The Bristol Sound
© Mitsuru Nishimura
Heavy Bristolian vibes at Disc Shop Zero
© Mitsuru Nishimura
Can you dig?
© Mitsuru Nishimura
Opening his house up to the Bristol DJs and producers he loved so dearly, Naoki brought over the names on the records he was importing to Tokyo. Bristol bass legend Kahn, who's also McGann's son, reminisces about his famous hospitality: "I stayed at his house. He was such a sweet man and very selfless – such a gentle and kind man." Naoki helped Kahn and his partner-in-dub, Neek, tour Japan, squeezing him into his home and showing them around Tokyo. "I could really tell how important a figure he was in Tokyo, for bringing people over – he was such an integral part of the scene over there."
Future trips to Bristol were short and required plenty of saving up first, but Naoki kept on evangelising about the Bristol sound and eventually, in 2015, gave Bristol its first-ever Tokyo postcode.
He spread a fascination with Bristol music throughout the country, making Bristol music familiar to many Japanese people
Naoki's BS0 crew and club night named themselves after a fiction Bristol postcode and featured three other Tokyo DJs: 1TA, owner of Riddim Chango Records, and local promoters DJ Dx and Osam Green Giant. Over the years they invited important Bristol names to play at the Star Lounge, including Young Echo and Addison Groove. Along with Back To Chill, BS0 brought a new sound to the streets of Tokyo. The guys behind Newdubhall, an experimental dub label setup in 2017, underline the legacy that Naoki left behind: "He spread a fascination with Bristol music throughout the country, making Bristol music familiar to many Japanese people."
Although BS0 went on a short hiatus in 2018, they came back strong in 2019, starting a new online base for bass: BS0 Radio. Naoki said at the time, "I like how raw and live it is, so we were really considerate of the day and time to air. We thought about when people would go home and when would be a good time before turning in and, finally, we ended up airing at 10.30pm."
BS0's station may have been 9,650km away from BS1, playing nocturnal bangers while Bristolians were enjoying their lunch, but the crew's reverence for the city, its loyalty to its lo-fidelity sound, put it firmly on the map.
It's one of the reasons why so many Bristol artists came together to support Naoki when he fell ill earlier this year. Although the collaboration was initially setup to help fundraise for hospital fees, the money is now going to support his surviving family. Titled Bristol X Tokyo, it's a bumper, 64-tack compilation featuring the much sought-after 16mm by Kahn & Neek, a hazy, dub-wise track by the hugely influential Bristolian duo Smith & Mighty, two midnight steppers from Japan's Karnage and a woozy, shoegazing finale from the band responsible for Naoki's first Bristol visit: The Moonflowers.
Naoki E-JIMA
© Mitsuru Nishimura
The compilation is a way for artists in Bristol, Tokyo and beyond to celebrate the impact Naoki had – and also acknowledge the loss of such a great man. "Someone from the BS0 crew was in London when I played the other week," says Kahn. "He was in tears, it was quite intense. It hit him really hard. He wasn't related to him, but Naoki was such an important person to him, it really hit home."
Mars89, recorded a special mix for N00ds in tribute to him. "The last 50 minutes was a live recording of his set at our party, BS0xtra at Contact Tokyo. I remembered him standing in the DJ booth." Rob Smith, who started the fundraiser alongside McGann after many years of collaborating with Naoki, travelled to Tokyo for the funeral.
"Unfortunately, we won’t ever find another figure like Naoki," Newdubhall says. "At the same time, though, we have several Bristolian artists who we keep in touch with and there are many other artists and labels like us throughout Japan. If we keep connected and make the bond stronger by making music and organising events and gigs, that scene will continue and Naoki's legacy will stay alive."
BS0 may have lost their ringleader – the man who first brought the Bristol sound to Tokyo – but the story isn't over. After turning an obsession into an occupation, Noaki E-JIMA has brought the two cities together forever.
