The Beatles in Japan - 1966: photographs by Robert Whitaker  
Exhibition  
Daiwa Foundation Japan House  
7 November 2006- 15 December 2006  
  
On 29 June 1966, The Beatles arrived in Tokyo for their first and only tour of Japan.

Beatlemania had reached such a peak that concert tickets were oversubscribed by seven times. The band were confined to their room in the Tokyo Hilton (now the Capitol Tokyu Hotel) and with police roaming the hotel corridors, they spent their time painting and listening to acetates of what would become the ‘Revolver’ LP.

The concerts were held at the Budokan, the martial arts arena built for the Tokyo Olympics two years previously. Now familiar as a music venue, the Beatles were the first rock group to perform there – their appearance at the national home for martial arts was considered almost sacrilegious by some in Japan. To keep order at each of the concerts – and to make sure that people remained seated – the 10,000 audience were overseen by 3,000 police.

In this atmosphere of hysteria and controversy, the Beatles were accompanied by photographer Robert Whitaker. The only person to photograph the band on their flights and in their hotel room, his is a unique record of three intense days in Tokyo.

This will be the only public exhibition of the photographs in the UK during this 40th anniversary year.

Robert Whitaker was born in 1939 and began work as a photographer in London in the late 1950s. He moved to Melbourne in 1961 where he studied at university and ran a freelance studio. During The Beatles tour of Australia in 1964, he met manager Brian Epstein which led to him taking a series of images of the band. Epstein offered Whitaker a job as photographer at his artist agency where he also worked with Gerry and the Pacemakers and Cilla Black. His closest association, however, was with The Beatles and he accompanied them for the next two years. Amongst the famous images of the band that he created were the photographs for ‘Revolver’ and the notorious ‘Butcher’ album cover. After the Beatles stopped touring, he collaborated on Cream’s ‘Disraeli Gears’ album cover, contributed to ‘Oz’ magazine, and worked with subjects like Salvador Dalí and Mick Jagger. He also contributed to ‘Time’ and ‘Life’ magazines as a photojournalist. In the early 1970s, Whitaker retired from photography to concentrate on farming.

i wonder who owns the painting they all collaborated on....and what did mr w farm?

In late 1966, George Martin informed E.M.I. that there would be no new Beatles record in time for Christmas. This left the chance for the first Beatles "Greatest Hits" collection. It contained eight tracks not previously available on L.P. One track, 'Bad Boy' had previously been unreleased in the U.K, making it an essential purchase for the completist.

The front cover artwork was by David Christian, in very 60's flower power style.

For the rear cover a colour photograph by Bob Whitaker was chosen. It was taken on June 30, while on tour in Japan. Before the first show in the Nippon Budokan Hall they started an oil and watercolors painting on a large paper.



A Collection of Beatles Oldies back cover - Robert Whitaker

Bob Whitaker witnessed how, after the concert, the four of them continued working on the painting while listening to acetates of Revolver and smoking some pot. A different picture from the same evening is reprinted in 'The Anthology' book.



The Beatles are painting in Japan - Robert Whitaker



The painting - finished

wow thanks for the pics raxo   I was going to ask for the pics of the paintings XD i'm sure those paints are worth A LOT now does anyone have the original beatle hits? the LP i mean

Quoted from SieLiebtDich

wow thanks for the pics raxo   I was going to ask for the pics of the paintings XD i'm sure those paints are worth A LOT now does anyone have the original beatle hits? the LP i mean

You're (very) welcome, SieLiebtDich!   ... I'm sure too that they woth a lot but I expected something more psychedelic by the descrypticon ... but I su-pose that they were not in that phase yet