Tokyo • Thursday, April 23, 2015

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This was the first of three nights in Tokyo.

From For Whom The Bell Tells, July 6, 2015:

TOKYO DOME, first show (April 23, 2015)

Yesterday we shuttled between cities – from Osaka to Tokyo – on the bullet train, jet lag and the results of a late night post-show beginning to creep up on us. Nevertheless everyone is in great spirits and Paul in particular is excited to be on the high-speed train. He tells me, “It’s a great way to see Japan and some of the country’s culture. It’s really very interesting and different to the trains we go on at home and in the US.” 

Today, we are joined at The Dome by the Morning Bird Breakfast TV crew who are spending the day with us. It is the biggest morning show in Japan and the team are doing a special report on Paul’s triumphant return. They are being given a behind-the-scenes tour backstage, chatting to Paul and seeing how an event of this huge scale comes together.

The presenter’s interpreter tells me he is very nervous. Despite the programme being so successful, the host has never interviewed anyone quite like Paul before. I do my best to reassure him and explain Paul is a cool interviewee, but I get the feeling it is doing little to allay his anxiety. The stakes are high because other networks were desperately clamouring for this interview and he is feeling the pressure. As soon as Paul arrives though, I can see the presenter visibly relax as our interviewee chats happily and excitedly about being back in Japan. There is a funny moment where the TV presenter says he cannot believe he is standing next to the real Paul McCartney. Paul grabs his hand assuring him he is real and urges him to touch his face to prove it.

Interview over, we then follow Paul to his dressing room where he has agreed a Q&A for Japanese social networking site LINE. Forget Twitter and Instagram, over here it is all about LINE and Paul’s stats are crazy. He’s even launched his very own set of stickers (think along the lines of emojis) which feature him speaking Japanese. Paul loves them and before the session gets underway he is having loads of fun using them to answer any questions that we have for him, even before the fans take part. As his media duties wind up, we leave Paul to get ready for the first night in Tokyo. Again, the show is a roaring success. Our friends at Morning Bird go on to dedicate a full 45 minutes of their programme to Paul and the tour. My PR man on the ground, Masa, assures me this is unprecedented – which is exactly the sort of thing we like to hear! 

Ah Tokyo, you make my heart go, “boom, boom, boom!” Thanks for the beautiful noise you made #OutThereJapan

Brian Ray – from Twitter, April 24, 2015

Last updated on March 1, 2021