It has already been a week since we came back to Japan.
I want to take this opportunity to say thank you once again to everyone who supported our USA tour.
(These are photos from our final show of the tour at Bunk Bar in Portland, Oregon. We were so happy that we were able to play not only at Christian concerts and festivals, but also at a regular music venue and become part of the local music scene.)
Photo Credit @sepdx.digital
First of all, I want to thank all the people who supported us in so many different ways.
When we started planning this tour at the beginning of this year, there was a huge financial risk involved.
At first, we thought it would be possible and made our plans accordingly. But as you know, war broke out, and gas prices went through the roof.
Life in Japan is not always easy, either. Japan is a good country, but it is not always kind to musicians who step outside the normal path of society.
We lost our jobs, took on a lot of financial risk, and still had to make this tour happen.
But God was faithful.
So many people supported us.
This was a crazy journey, driving all the way from Pennsylvania to Oregon, but amazingly, we didn’t have to spend a single dollar on lodging.
That was because kind people in different places opened their homes and gave us places to stay.
We honestly don’t know how to thank you enough.
The time we spent with all those people became one of the greatest blessings of this tour.
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And all of our shows were successful.
(Well, we are excellent musicians, after all! ๐)
Over three and a half weeks, we played a total of nine shows.
Every single one of them was a blessing, and I believe we were able to give our best performances everywhere we went.
There were even some unexpected moments. At one show, the PA system suddenly lost power in the middle of our performance.
But even that became a blessing.
We were still able to deliver our message to the audience.
As musicians, we believe our mission is to put the love of God into our music, deliver a message of love, and bring happiness to people.
We don’t want to make ordinary music.
We want to create something special.
We want to bring something unique that can only come from a Japanese band โ something different from what you might expect from a typical Christian band in the USA.
And I believe we were able to give people a unique and one-of-a-kind experience.
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One of the greatest things we accomplished on this tour was building connections between people.
We made new friends everywhere we went and met so many wonderful people.
We also had many happy reunions with old friends.
Musicians we had toured with in the past came together, and we had opportunities to play music together again.
Being able to build these connections in different places, expand them, and connect them with new friends was one of the greatest gifts we received from this tour.
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Touring America is not new to us.
But this time, we traveled through what is often called the American Heartland.
We saw the vast and beautiful American landscape, and we had the opportunity to meet and spend time with the wonderful people who live there.
For us, it was a valuable opportunity to understand America in a much deeper and more personal way.
We have seen both the good and the bad sides of America over the years.
But somehow, during this tour, God seemed to show us almost nothing but the good side of America.
Through God’s guidance, I feel that we regained our trust in America during this tour.
We came to understand once again that America is, in many ways, a country deeply rooted in faith.
And not only that.
I feel that we also regained our faith in rock ‘n’ roll, our faith in Christianity, and even our faith in the future of humanity.
Maybe that’s because we were able to see something bigger than the small events and ups and downs happening right in front of us.
We were able to see a little more of God’s greater plan.
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This tour was also a time of healing โ for us, and for some of our friends.
Our tour partner, Funky Sunday Party (Scott Jones), had just lost Willy, his service dog of 13 years.
He needed this tour as part of his journey through that grief.
(He is still on tour with The Extreme Tour.)
In the same way, each of us had our own personal things we needed to overcome.
We regained our confidence in making music.
We never lost our faith in Jesus, but we found our answers again to the question of why we are doing this.
And without a doubt, God showed us a vision for the future.
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So, let me talk about our plans for the future.
We are definitely going to tour again.
We don’t want to tour only America.
We don’t want to tour only Japan.
We want to tour everywhere we can.
We believe it is possible.
And we don’t doubt that God will guide us.
But before we do that, there is something we need to do.
We still have music to create.
We have to create the ultimate “Christian Samurai Metal.”
It will be a huge undertaking.
I believe it will have the same kind of impact as “Nabeshima” and “Jesus Wind” โ or perhaps something even greater.
And for that, we need time.
An artist needs two different phases.
One is the phase of going out into the world and touring.
The other is the phase of looking inward and creating.
For a while, we are going to enter our “creative phase.”
During this time, we may have fewer opportunities to play live shows.
But I want you to understand why.
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While we are in this creative phase, we are going to share more of the music we have already created, the things we experienced on our journey, and recordings and memories from our performances online.
Ironically, we have been so busy that we haven’t had enough time to properly share all the music we have already made with you.
So we are going to remain active on social media.
Even if we don’t play live for a while, you might not even notice that we are taking a break from the stage. ๐
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There is so much art waiting to be created.
We have so many projects.
Not only the “Christian Samurai” album I mentioned earlier, but also a “Heavy Metal Church” worship album, several side projects, and many other ideas.
And there is art to create beyond music, too.
(If I tell you that my ultimate goal is to become a Christian writer like Shusaku Endo, will you laugh at me? ๐)
After we face all of these projects and spend some time in this “creative phase,” we will go back out on the road again โ hopefully in a better form, with a bigger tour.
And we want to walk that road together with all of our friends and fans.
Thank you so much.
Thank you for your prayers.
Thank you for believing in us.
And thank you for being part of this journey.
God bless you all!
Tak / Imari Tones (Japan)