Review Through the Eyes of Japan

In front of us we have the recently published book ‘Elvis Through the Eyes of Japan - Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite’. It was supposed to be released in January, but due to a print error, a complete reprint of the book had to be done. Fortunately the Japanese Elvis Presley Society Took Care of “Books” so we did not have too long to hold this Deluxe book in our hands. 

Collectors worldwide know that Japan guarantees gorgeous vinyl releases. Often with extra’s like lyric sheets, a poster or a booklet. If you don’t know and are curious, just visit David Ward’s YouTube channel Elvis Presley in Japan and / or get a hold of a copy of his latest book ‘From Memphis to Tokyo’ which he co-wrote with Dick Dekker. David also contributed to this new book, so that should already be a guarantee that we are in for a treat. You can read an interview with him on the >>> Elvis Information Network website. 

Does this Japanese book release match the Japanese vinyl releases and is it worth buying for those lucky enough to own a, nowadays hard to find, copy of the 2008 predecessor book titled ‘The Day Elvis Came Closest to Japan’, which also features the photos by Yoshiji Kizaki? Well, we are lucky to own both books - and a few others - on the ‘Aloha Special’ so let’s compare them in this review.

By Robert van Doorn and Kees Mouwen.

Design

The 200-page photo-book is presented as a Deluxe book with a printed hardcover inside an appealing glossy dustjacket weighing 1.5 Kg. Divided in 5 chapters, the book covers the November 17 and 18th shows, followed by the press conference, closing with the ‘Aloha From Hawaii’ broadcast show. 

It comes with circa 20 pages of text with additional information on the events, the concerts and the creation and promotion of both the TV-Special and the record release. All written by people who played a role in the broadcast, production and rush release of the concert LP in Japan. Very interesting to read these inside perspectives from a business-side by people who became fans during the process. 

The lay-out is pleasant to the eye, with many full-page images. The flow of the book is good, but not as it should, more on that later. A big minor in this photo-book is that many pictures are unsharp and look grainy. Based on previous ‘‘Aloha From Hawaii’ books we had expected more high-resolution pictures. 

As a bonus, the book comes with 5 color cards with pictures by Yoshiji Kizaki.

Content

‘Through the Eyes of Japan’ is the second book on Elvis’ Hawaiian concert in November 1972 and January 1973 that features photos of Mr. Yoshiji Kizaki. Those of you collecting Japanese vinyl will undoubtedly be familiar with his photo’s as they graced some Japanese LP covers or were used as bonus posters for several releases.

Kizaki opens the book opens with a foreword in which he looks back at the 1972 and 1973 Hawaiian concerts he attended, and he asks himself “Is it a dream?”. And we as readers will probably answer “yes, a dream come true!”. To us these photographs prove that dreams can come true. Because that is what this book does, it documents the photographs and memories of Yoshiji Kizaki, so he can hold the proof in his hands.

The photographer wrote “It’ll be too dark with this lens, if only it were a bit brighter, it’d be out of focus” and “it would be a waste just to let the sound of this live singing voice go in one ear and out the other … I was snapping away with three cameras while this was going on”. And to be honest, that is what this photobook reflects 50 years later, even when the pictures are reprinted from the original negatives.

You can’t compare this book to the Boxcar ‘Elvis: Aloha Via Satellite’ hardback book, which focuses on the broadcast show (with better lightning), or Erik Lorentzen’s ‘Elvis King of Hawaii’ book. 

The Japanese authors decided to use “all” of Kizaki’s photographs - shot with the 3 camera’s hanging around his neck - the good the bad and the vague. This isn’t particularly a bad choice, but just like some of Lorenzen’s books, you have to look for the good pictures in between the slightly blurred or soft-focus ones. 

Fortunately there are plenty of good pictures in this book, many new to our eyes. For some reason, the unsharp pictures make the good ones stand out more, and add to the concert experience. 

(Unboxing video from the Elvis Presley Gesellschaft)

The designers decided not to put the pictures in chronological order, so sometimes Elvis does and sometimes doesn’t have his belt on, and he ends some concerts with Charlie Hodge hanging a cape on his neck instead of opening the concert wearing a cape. This also happened in the previous outing of Kizaki’s photographs and is a little confusing, especially when we see pictures with and without a belt next to each-other. In the 16 years since the first book, this should have been corrected.

The Thunderbird (November 17th) and Aztec Star (November 18th) suits really look like a casual overall without the belts. And since they are a bit ‘tight around the waste’ not too flattering for our man, who was a little overweight at the end of 1972.

The belts definitely are the finishing touch. This is less visible with the Black Conquistador and the American Eagle suits that Elvis wears for the other two shows. 

For us, the pictures of the November 18 concert with the many close-ups and action pictures stand out from the other 1972 shows. While it is usually hard to get good pictures of Elvis wearing a black suit - remember the Boston Garden 1971 pictures? - here the suit really shines compared with the other two suits Elvis selected for his performances, even without a belt. 

Some of the best and very close-up pictures were taken during the November 20 press-conference at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. The 20 pages contains also a transcript of Elvis of the press conference, confirming that “I would like to come over there, I would like to get over to Japan” … if only! 

‘The Day Elvis Came Closest to Japan’ was a 98-page softcover book, published in 2008 in Japan. Apparently these book only saw the light of day after a very long lobby with Mr. Kizaki, trying to convince him to publish his photographs. The book featured 30 color and 66 black and white photographs, 4 short stories both in English and Japanese, a Japanese only essay and 4 pages with black and white scans of newspaper articles about the ‘Aloha from Hawaii’ show. 

Word is that after the book was published, Mr. Kizaki regretted the fact that so many photos were published in black and white, as the majority of the photos he took were shot in color. 

Fast forward 16 years, to the book ‘Elvis Through the Eyes of Japan’. This time we get 200 pages filled with 168 color photos and 78 black and white photographs. 

Also, we get a couple of new very interesting stories on the Hawaiian concerts, TV-Special and LP release. All “through the eyes of Japan”. We read eye-witness reports from people involved in the LP release, and what effort had to be made to have a release out just one week after the concert. But also on the promotion and broadcast of the concert in Japan and other parts of Asia - which may explain the timing of the broadcast - and the problems they met as the setlist for the special was changed from the rehearsal to the broadcast show. We never knew that a contribution of US$730,000 from NTV-Japan made this special possible. 

We especially enjoyed the story of Akiko Takahashi, RCA's Japanese director of Western Pop Music, on how she was in charge of securing copy of the LP master for the Japanese rush release of the album. 

She flew in from Japan, joined the producers in the studio in Los Angeles where the album was mixed overnight - with James Burton joining them, new to us too - getting a copy before the UK and other important Elvis countries received theirs, simply by making the effort to fly in. Can you imagine, she had the tapes in her luggage flying back to Japan … but she made it and two weeks later the LP topped the charts. A great story! 

In the book you will find photos of all 3 November 1972 concerts Elvis did in Hawaii, complete with setlists, the November press conference, including a complete transcript, and photos of the January 14, 1973 Aloha show. All concerts are covered on 35 to 40 pages.

A big upgrade from the first book is the publication of Japanese memorabilia - for the concert, the production, marketing and LP release - in color. A feast for the eyes.

If you already own ‘The Day Elvis Came Closest to Japan’ and are wondering whether to buy this new book, the answer would be a big “yes”. The first book was aimed at Japanese fans, but this new book has been written for fans worldwide. It is not a copy of the first book. It is not even a 2.0 version, it is a 4.0 version. It has the double amount of the pages, six times as many color photographs and 12 more black and white ones. But also new, interesting stories and lots of memorabilia. 

If you are a collector of Elvis Japanese releases and / or a fan of the Aloha show, the decision to buy this book is a no-brainer, and you can stop your search for the first book. For all the other Elvis fans, this probably is one of the many book new releases for 2024. 

To help you decide if you should add this book to your collection, we’ll compare it with various books on Elvis and Hawaii in our library. 

The first one is ‘Elvis ’73 Hawaiian Spirit’ by Joseph A. Tunzi. This 103-page softcover book, published in 1992, features black and white photo’s only (yes, all are sharp) of the September 5 press conference, the January 10 helicopter arrival, the rehearsal show, a rare photo of Elvis on stage for a rehearsal on January 13 and of course the Aloha show. All photo’s seem to be in the right sequence in that book.

Number two is’ Elvis in Hawaii’ by Jerry Hopkins. This 88-page softcover book, published in 2002, features stories and photos of all the Elvis events from the November 10, 1957 concerts in Honolulu (which only happened because the year before Elvis received 21,000 Christmas cards from Hawaii) until Elvis’ last vacation in March 1977. Stories in this book include a chapter called ‘How Hawaiian Was He?’, a chapter about James Shigeta (Elvis’ co-star in ‘Paradise Hawaiian Style’), one chapter about Kui Lee, and a chapter about memorabilia titled ‘How Much Is That Hound Dog in the Window?’. You will also find a copy of the handwritten setlist for the Aloha show and a photo of journalist Bruce Spinks with the Elvis cape he caught at the end of the Aloha show.

Number three is also by Jerry Hopkins, and it is called ‘Aloha Elvis’. It is a little hardcover book with dustjacket book published in 2007. This 100-page book is smaller than the A5 format. It is not a copy of the 2002 release. Although this book also covers all Elvis event that took place in Hawaii, it features different stories. It start with foreign influences on Hawaiian music and it ends with the Elvis scene in Hawaii post 1977. 

Erik Lorentzen’s 384-page hardback photobook ‘Elvis King of Hawaii’ was published in 2011. Like the Jerry Hopkins books, it covers all the events in Hawaii from November 1957 till March 1977. Every chapter start with a story which is followed by loads of great photos. Most of them come in great quality. But for the chapter on the 1972 concert, you will find some out-of-focus photo’s too. Also from Lorentzen, is the book ‘Elvis Files 1971 - 1973’ where we just find a few of Elvis’ three November 1972 show. This new book adds a serious number of new pictures of these shows to our library. 

The ‘Elvis Aloha via Satellite’ book from Boxcar, with additional input from Joseph Tunzi and Steve Barile, focuses on the Aloha broadcast show the may high quality color and black and white photographs, including photos by Yoshiji Kizaki from the press conference, but not in the quality we see in this new book. Also, the pictures in this new book were not featured in the Boxcar book. 

Conclusion

Is there room for this new ‘Through the Eyes of Japan’ book, with at least 5 other books about Hawaii already released? In our opinion Yes. This book offers a unique insight of the contribution of the Japanese television company NTV Japan, the RCA record company and of course the Japanese Elvis fans. For them it really was the “concert of the century” as Billy Morokawa writes in the final chapter of the book. 

By documenting the Japanese contribution to this TV Special and preserving Yoshiji Kizaki photographs, the Elvis Presley Society of Japan added an interesting and visually attractive book to the ever growing Elvis Presley library. Looking back, we think it would have been great if the club could have joined forces with the Follow That Dream collectors label in 2023, to create a real 50th Anniversary ‘Aloha From Hawaii’ box, adding a photobook like this with the 2023 Anniversary release. 

For us it only confirms that we made the right choice to add this book to our collection. Leafing through the pages of this book we can only be jealous of Yoshiji Kizaki, having witnessed all these Hawaiian performances. We end with saying “Thank You for sharing, Thank You very much!”.

For more information and to order the book go to the >>> Elvis Presley Society of Japan site. 

The book is also available from >>> Bennies Fifties. 

Note: the images are taken from previews and screenshots of the promovideo's, the quality of the images in the book is much higher of course.