Liverpool’s The Beatles Story and Japanese tribute act ‘One After 909’ have been celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ visit to Japan.
After an official welcome to the city by the Lord Mayor, the band gave two performances at the historic Cavern Club.
“It’s absolutely fantastic to have the guys from ‘One After 909’ here all the way from Japan on this significant anniversary, ” commented Martin King, director at The Beatles Story.
Describing Japan as John Lennon’s and Yoko Ono’s spiritual home, he said the band had been greatly influenced by the country's heritage and culture:
“In fact on John Lennon’s 1973 album “Mind Games”, the love song “You are Here” opens with the line, “From Liverpool to Tokyo, what a way to go”.
The visit is part of a series of celebrations in both Liverpool and Japan and is being seen as an opportunity to strengthen ties between the city and Asia.
Julia Baird, John Lennon’s sister, joined representatives from the culture and tourism sectors on a trip to Tokyo to promote the city to the Japanese market.
Chris Brown, director at Marketing Liverpool, praised the ‘grand scale’ of the celebrations:
“The anniversary is an incredible platform to promote Liverpool as a tourist destination to the Japanese market and to strengthen our already existing links with Asia.
“The band’s visit to the city is part of a series of events taking place both on a national and international level. We could not have undertaken this opportunity without the support of Visit Britain, the GREAT campaign, Turkish Airlines and our Beatles industry partners.”
