Head-banging in Japan

Visual Kei then and now: grasping for the right to be irresponsible

Illustrations by Louisa Bertman

We got to the concert three minutes late. There wasn’t a line for security outside the Playstation Theater, and the interior lobby was empty. As we rode down the escalator, we heard the strains of bass and heavily-distorted guitar warming up the audience. I worried aloud to my friend: Maybe no one had shown up…