NSP -- Bubble J ni Sasagu（バブルJに捧ぐ）

 

In 2010, I heard that the world's only museum devoted to John Lennon, located in Saitama Super Arena, was going to close down very soon after a decade. Not being a particularly huge fan of the former Beatle, I was still motivated to head over to the museum simply because I was curious about what I could find there and for the fact that I hadn't been to Saitama Prefecture all that much in the many years I was living in the Kanto area.

So, one morning when I had the day off, I took the appropriate subways over to Saitama City and took a look inside John Lennon Museum. What I found was basically a personal shrine to the singer-songwriter on a huge scale including the above collage of photos. It was all done with great respect and affection and there was nothing cheesy such as a John Lennon restaurant featuring something like Lennonburgers or Ono shakes. I was left wondering how Yoko Ono decided to have the museum established in Saitama since the Lennon family did have a love for the resort area of Karuizawa in Nagano Prefecture, but I guess logistics were a major factor.

While I didn't exactly smack my head in frustration over the discovery that I had missed out on ten years of John Lennon memorabilia, I was still glad that I finally got to see what a Beatles' fan would enjoy in their room.

The band NSP had created their own tribute to Lennon within their May 1983 14th album "Shun"（瞬...A Moment） via the track "Bubble J ni Sasagu" (A Tribute to Bubble J). Written by band members Shigeru Amano（天野滋）and Taisuke Sawachika（澤近泰輔）, it doesn't sound anything like something that Lennon would have composed himself; it's a very personal and elegiac ballad toward Lennon, and the band has noted about their hero's desire for peace and freedom in the lyrics while also mentioning in passing the events of December 8th 1980 in front of the Dakota apartments. As for the bubble in the title, I can only guess that it could be referring to Lennon's spirit rising off into the distance like a soap bubble.

As a slight PS, I've given Sawachika's name out before since he was also the composer for Riho Makise's（牧瀬里穂）"Kokoro ga Nemuru Umi"（心が眠る海 ～Heart in blue～）which I wrote about last week.