Eastern Youth is a Japanese punk rock trio formed in 1989 in

Hokkaidō is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

. Their sound blends many different styles, and is especially complex for a three-piece band. Their lyrics express the helplessness of Japanese youths. Their influences include

Fugazi Fugazi (; ) is an American post-hardcore band that formed in Washington, D.C., in 1986. The band consists of guitarists and vocalists Ian MacKaye and Guy Picciotto, bassist Joe Lally, and drummer Brendan Canty. They are noted for their style-tr ...

, Jawbreaker,

Jets to Brazil Jets to Brazil was an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, USA. They formed in 1997 and were active until 2003. History Jets to Brazil was founded by Blake Schwarzenbach, the former frontman of Jawbreaker, and Jeremy Chatelain, w ...

Stiff Little Fingers Stiff Little Fingers are a punk rock band from Belfast, Northern Ireland. They formed in 1977 at the height of the Troubles, which informed much of their songwriting. They started out as a schoolboy band called Highway Star (named after the De ...

and Discharge.

Career

Eastern Youth was formed as Scanners in 1989 by childhood friends Hisashi Yoshino and Atsuya Tamori in

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...

. From 1989 to 1993 they were the top

oi! Oi! is a subgenre of punk rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The music and its associated subculture had the goal of bringing together punks, skinheads, and other disaffected working-class youth. The movement was ...

skinhead A skinhead is a member of a subculture which originated among working class youths in London, England, in the 1960s and soon spread to other parts of the United Kingdom, with a second working class skinhead movement emerging worldwide in th ...

act in Japan. The released 3 albums, 1 single and were on several compilation albums. The band changed the name from EASTERN YOUTH to eastern youth, and shed the skinhead image of their past. The band moved to

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

in 1990. In 1995, they put out their first release on their own record label, 坂本商店: (Sakamoto-Shoten) 口笛、夜更けに響 ''Kuchibue Yofuke-ni-Hibiku'' (''"A Whistle Rings Late At Night"''). Within the next 5 years, Eastern Youth became legendary to the Japanese

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

scene and in 2000 they played in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

for the first time, with

At The Drive-In At the Drive-In was an American post-hardcore band from El Paso, Texas, formed in 1994. The band's most recent line-up consisted of Cedric Bixler-Zavala (vocals), Omar Rodríguez-López (guitar, vocals), Paul Hinojos (bass), Tony Hajjar (dru ...

, largely broadening their popularity. They continued to tour America with

Jimmy Eat World Jimmy Eat World is an American rock band formed in 1993 in Mesa, Arizona. The band is composed of lead vocalist and lead guitarist Jim Adkins, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist Tom Linton, bassist Rick Burch, and drummer Zach Lind. They h ...

in 2001, and

Saddle Creek Saddle Creek Records is an American record label based in Omaha, Nebraska. Started as a college class project on entrepreneurship, the label was founded by Mike Mogis and Justin Oberst in 1993 (as Lumberjack Records). Mogis soon turned over his ...

band

Cursive Cursive (also known as script, among other names) is any style of penmanship in which characters are written joined in a flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing faster, in contrast to block letters. It varies in functionalit ...

in 2006, with whom Eastern Youth split sides on 2003's '' 8 Teeth to Eat You'' EP. During the "Bottom of the world"-Tour 2015 Tomokazu Ninomiya announces that he will be leaving the band. He was replaced by Muraoka Yuka.

Members

*Hisashi Yoshino – vocals, guitar *Atsuya Tamori – drums *Yuka Muraoka – bass

Discography

Singles

* For Skins and Punks EP (1991) * Noboru Asahi Abite (1991) * Hadashi de Ikazaru wo Enai (1996) * Aosugiru Sora (1997) * Kaze no Naka (1999) * Amazarashi nara Nureru ga Ii sa (1999) * Seijaku ga Moeru (2000) * Kakatonaru (2001) * Sekai ha Warehibiku Miminari no you da (2002) * Kyousei Shiryoku 0.6 (Corrected Eyesight 0.6) (2004) * Boiling Point 36 °C (October 24, 2007) * Akai-Inoatama Blues (February 6, 2008) * Tokeidai no Kane (November 14, 2018)

Albums

* East End Land (1989) * Time Is Running (1990) * Eastern Youth (1993) * 口笛、夜更けに響く (1995) * 孤立無援の花 (1997) * 旅路ニ季節ガ燃エ落チル (1998) * 雲射抜ケ声 (1999) * 感受性応答セヨ (2001) * 其処カラ何ガ見エルカ (2003) "What Can You See From Your Place" * DON QUIJOTE (2004) * 365步のブルース (2006) "365-Step Blues" * 地球の裏から風が吹く (2007) "Blowing from the Other Side of the Earth" * 歩幅と太陽 (2009) "The Pace With the Sun" * 心ノ底ニ灯火トモセ (2011) "Kokoro No Soko Ni Tomoshibi Tomose" * 叙景ゼロ番地 (2012) "Jokei Zero Banchi" * ボトムオブザワールド (2015) "Bottom Of The World" * SONGentoJIYU (2017) * 2020 (2020)

DVDs

* Sono Zanzou to Zankyouon (2001) * Archives 1997–2001 (2004) *日比谷野外大音楽堂公演 DVD 2019.9.28 (2020)

Notes

External links

Official Eastern Youth website

Eastern Youth Myspace Page
{{Authority control Japanese indie rock groups Japanese punk rock groups Musical groups from Hokkaido Musical groups established in 1989