#yoyogi

Tokyo and MJ: Bad Tour 1987 and the Japanese Obsession

September 12, 1987. Korakuen Stadium, Tokyo. Michael Jackson steps onstage for the first time as a solo artist on a world tour. The Bad Tour did not open in Los Angeles, did not open in London, did not open in New York — it opened in Japan. It was MJ's personal choice. He considered Japan "the land where pop is taken seriously without anyone trying to destroy you." Over the next 87 days he would play 14 shows at Yoyogi National Gymnasium in Shibuya, plus 6 at Korakuen, drawing 542,000 paying Japanese fans. He would return in 1996, in 2006, and in 2007 he rented a penthouse in Roppongi with a stated intention to move there for good. This guide maps the addresses he actually frequented in Tokyo — from the Park Hyatt where he stayed in the 52nd-floor suite, to the Akihabara where he bought toys in bulk, to the Cup Noodles Museum in Yokohama, to the Shibuya crossing where he filmed a homemade imitation of "BAD" — and how a fan can build a 5-day trip following those footsteps without falling into tourist traps.

Curadoria Voyspark · May 24 · 🇯🇵 Tóquio